Dress Up

I picked up several dress-up skirts on the 10/$5 for Melanie while I still worked at Claire's and we just got one out for her to try on the other day

As the pictures show, she's thrilled with this one. Can't beat fifty cents worth of entertainment!

Claire's Baptism

Claire was baptized on the 15th after the 12:30 mass. Family and friends came for the baptism and we then had a little party with BBQ and cake afterwards. We were glad she came a bit early so we were able to have her baptized before Lent started and didn't have to wait until after Easter when she would be almost 2 months old!
Here are some pictures of the wonderful event:

Fr. Ken performed the baptism

Washed clean!

Family picture time

Claire made it through the whole baptism without crying - we're two for two on the no crying!

Godmother Aunt Katie

Godfather Fr. John Hay
Poor John, we accosted him like the paparazzi.
Katie knew what to expect, but John had no idea what he had signed up for when it comes to pictures and our family!
(Claire's yawning, not crying in case you were wondering)

Claire with her great-grandparents

Special guest Michelle who happily just happened to be in town that weekend

The cakes Aunt Katie made for dessert

One was white cake with lemon filling, the other was chocolate with cherry filling - Yum!

A Baby and a Not-So-Big Sister

Our attempt at giving a good size comparison between Melanie and Claire

When Claire was measured for her 2 week appointment she was 20.5 inches
Matt measured Melanie while we were there and said in shoes she was right around 30 inches
You'd never guess they were 22 months apart...

One of Claire's few awake moments

I think the Stockemer ears may be popping out...

New Furniture

We finally got around to picking out new furniture and ordered it a couple days after Claire was born, so it was just delivered this week. I'm pretty excited about it, although it does mean I'll need new curtains in the living room since the old ones are green to match the furniture that is now in the basement, same with the lamps and most of the decor in the living room for that matter...

The flash really makes the pillows (and walls) look lighter than they really are.
I really like the teal accent color, but the nice thing is that I just have to switch out pillows to get a new look since the furniture itself is just a basic brown.

Notice the green curtains in the background? Not so attractive in my opinion...

Eventually I hope to get a recliner that will coordinate with this furniture for Matt, but I'm sure that will take a while to accomplish. Furniture shopping while pregnant was difficult, but I'm sure having 2 kids will take it to a whole new level.

Melanie immediately started trying out the drawers.
Fortunately her sippy cup is too tall to close the drawers, otherwise I'm sure I'd be finding day-old surprises when I least expected them.

Silly Kiddos

One of the last pictures taken of Melanie as an only child

This was taken the night before Claire was born while I was trying to get Melanie ready for bed.

She didn't want her diaper changed, and I was having difficulty chasing her around, so as she ran her diaper gradually traveled south, so I took the opportunity to get a good blackmail photo for when she starts dating

Trying on dad's ties when he was deciding what to wear for Claire's baptism

32 Down

Small, sometimes smelly, cries and takes lots of mom's attention

We don't know what brought this idea into her head, but it amused us
Had to get a baby picture in here somehow!

Claire's First Bath

This is no fun!

All better now

Ok mom, when's dinner?

Chocolate

After my attempt at homemade peanut butter cups turned out too sweet for our liking I was left still craving some chocolate peanut buttery goodness, so I decided to make the chocolate peanut butter crackers that usually only make an appearance at Christmas time. Very easy and quick to make, and they taste pretty darn close to Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties, and they seem even better when frozen. Oh, and I got a great deal on the chocolate bark coating since Dillons had it on sale for 74 cents a package, when I normally stock up when they put it on sale 2 for $4, so how could I go wrong?
Claire was sleeping, so to squeeze in a bit of Melanie time I let her sit on the counter while I made the cracker sandwiches and waited for the chocolate to melt in the double boiler. She seemed to really enjoy being able to see what was going on and helping out by handing me crackers and eating some in between. So now we have a sweet treat that has been stashed in the freezer where it isn't a constant temptation since I can't see it, but remains a welcome treat from time to time.

Betcha can't tell which one Melanie snacked on... she stacked it right on top of the others when she decided she was done with it

Unfortunately dad had put a candy dish on the island to get it out of Melanie's reach, but mom put it right back within her reach when she let her sit on the counter to help make treats, so she got a special treat of her own

The finished product

Our First Few Days at Home

So far things are going pretty well in the Stockemer household. Melanie seems to have given Claire her seal of approval, albeit that seems to be waining a bit from time to time in recent days if Melanie feels she isn't getting enough "mom time". It'll be interesting to see how things really work out once Matt goes back to work later this week...

The morning of our first day home

Claire had a clogged tear duct, so her left eye was a bit irritated for a couple days.

Melanie gets pretty excited seeing Claire in the mornings, gleefully exclaiming
"Bee-beeee!" when she sees her first thing when she gets out of bed

Trying to share Spot the dog and Bunny with Claire
We're working on the "don't put things on Claire's head" aspect of sharing
At least Melanie isn't jealous yet, although I'm sure that will change once Claire is mobile and can take toys for herself

Our first attempt at tummy time after our first trip to church

It took her quite a while to get upset, which is good I suppose

The new center of attention

Melanie loves it when we put Claire on the floor
She's still in the fascination stage I think

"As long as you remember I'm the one in charge around here we'll get along just fine..."

"Thirsty?"

Our two little ones

Observing Claire from all possible angles...

I think Melanie kinda likes that she can move around but Claire can't
It's the little things...

Hospital Pictures

Claire's hospital pictures are available to view, just click here

Granola

Here's a recipe for some tasty granola that I came up with after enjoying a yogurt parfait in the hospital - Matt and I are really chowing down on this stuff (mostly me - moo!)

Maple-Almond Granola

1/4 c. pure maple syrup
1 T. honey
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 c. old fashioned oats
1/4 c. slivered almonds
scant 1/4 c. dried cherries

Heat the syrup and honey in a microwave safe dish for 1 1/2 min or boil on the stove top in a small saucepan for 1 min. Stir in almond extract. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well. (I cut the dried cherries in half with kitchen scissors b/c the cherries seemed a bit large to me) Spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet with rims to prevent spilling. Bake at 275 for 25-30 min., stirring a couple times depending on how large you like your granola clusters to be. If you like slightly chewy granola, take it out after the 25 minutes. If you like crisp granola turn off the oven heat after 25-30 min. and allow to stand in the oven for up to another 10 min. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet and store in an airtight container.

Alternately, you could use 1 tsp. vanilla extract and use raisins or blueberries instead of the cherries and add 1/2 to 1 tsp. ground cinnamon for a different take on it. I did this the first time and really liked it, but Matt isn't a huge cinnamon fan and he liked the pairing of the almond extract and cherries better but said both were good. Very tasty with yogurt.

It's not a huge recipe, but it's really easy to make quickly, and I like the idea of it being fresh - I've already made two batches since we got home from the hospital!

Welcome Claire!

Claire Therese Stockemer was born at 9:25 AM on the 5th weighing 8 lbs 0.2 oz., 19 1/2 inches long and with a head circumference of 13 1/4 inches.

I woke up around 3:30 and felt fine, just couldn't sleep, so I had a snack and took a shower. I was having contractions, but they weren't bothering me any more than just keeping me awake. Around 6:00 I went ahead and started keeping track and they were all fewer than 5 min. apart and lasting more than a minute each,the standard "go to the hospital" timing, but they were totally manageable so we just piddled around the house. Between 7 and 8 they got to be closer to 3 minutes apart and much more intense, so when Melanie woke up at 7:45 Matt got her dressed and we took her to my parents house, getting there around 8:20. Matt switched Melanie's car seat to my mom's car while I waited in the car. By this time the contractions were extremely intense and I was making whatever noise I could to get through them. It took about 20 minutes to get to the hospital from there, which was no fun because towards the end of the ride I was starting to feel like I needed to push.

We arrived at the hospital a few minutes before 9:00, Matt went in to check us in while someone came out to bring me in in a wheelchair. They took me upstairs while Matt finished the paperwork. Fortunately I made it from the van to the perinatal unit without any scary guttural noises, but while waiting for Matt and for a laborist to get there to check me I was climbing the walls, telling them I needed to push. Matt got there, they got me on a bed, checked me and announced I was at a 10, so they pushed me in my bed to the room next door and got me onto a new bed. They asked me if I wanted to reposition myself from the haphazard side-lying position I had gotten onto the bed in but I said I was ready to push, so with their help to hold my leg and about 5 contractions later Claire was born. My doctor didn't even have time to get there, walking into the delivery room about a minute after Claire was born (at some point I asked if they had called her and they said she was on her way and I could wait for her if I wanted, to which I obviously gave an emphatic no). Matt was great, staying calm the whole time, reminding me how to get through the contractions, letting me squeeze the life out of his hand and spoon feeding me the most wonderful ice chips I've ever had in my life.

So without further delay, here is our little Claire!

8:10 AM - Mom's going to the hospital to have a baby sister for me!

9:45 AM - That was tough work getting here mom - I think I'll take a little nap!

Proud Daddy

Our little Claire

Hello world!

Big yawn! Gotta get those lungs stretched out!

Sisters meeting for the first time

Melanie was interested in Claire for a bit, but then didn't really get why she wasn't the center of attention for the 7 adults in the room.

First picture of our family of four

Me and my girls