Park DIscovery

Today we discovered amazing Pan Pacific Park which spans 3rd St. to Beverly Blvd and Stanley to Gardner. Claire had a ball and several of the playground areas. She was screaming with glee about the "interesting park." It was so inspiring we are planning to go back tomorrow with Vaughn and Andrew after LaBrea Tar Pits.

love these girls

Claire and I have been praying a children's morning prayer I found in my new prayerbook every day for a few weeks. On Thursday I was nursing Emily in my room and Claire was looking at my Bible and another book by my bedside and took the book and sat quietly on the floor and recited most of the morning prayer. So sweet. I was blessed.
The prayer is as follows:

Lord Jesus thank you for the bright sunlight of a new day. As you made the sun to rise in the heavens, so come to shine in my life today. For you are the light of the world. guide me, direct me, lead me that I may do your holy will and please You in all that I do this day. Bless my parents, teachers and all who care for me. Amen.

When we pray prayers of thanksgiving, Claire says she is thankful for cats and for the moon and stars.

I am thankful for my sweet daughters.
Claire's behavior has improved a lot over the past couple of months. Some things that have helped: giving lots of choices... even silly ones. "Do you want to wear matching socks or unmatched socks under your PJ's" "Do you want to walk home now or in one minute?" "Do your want to walk to your room or hop?" "Do you want that with ketchup or without...heated up or cold?" This then gives us leverage when we say you can hold my hand in the store or you will ride in the cart. And she gets in the cart without a tantrum. We are still working on the whining and fussing but the tantrums are few. She is also getting used to asking politely when she wants something.

I love having my baby Emily as a constant companion. Emily is at such a fun cute stage. She is so smiley and likes it when anyone smiles at her and talks to her. On a car trip today she was smiling and making conversation for a long while. She also impressed the nurse at the NICU follow up clinic with all her vocalizations.

Another thing we try to do to encourage Claire and build rapport is to sprinkle our conversations with "I noticed that..." statements, for instance: I noticed that you like to make dough. I noticed that you like to pretend. I noticed that you can dance.

Gotta run.

3 months

It is 3 months since Emily's due date. She is 8 lbs 6.9 oz. Yesterday we went to the NICU Follow up clinic and the Doctor, Nurse, and physical therapist all said she's doing great.

We had a great time with Nanu and Papa visiting us this week. My Dad installed some shelves in the white bathroom which look great and will be very helpful for storing towels Tp etc.

Claire Nanu, Emily and I went to the Natural History Museum the other day and Claire went yesterday with Nanu and Papa to art galleries in Santa Monica.

Epiphany

This morning the wise men appeared at the stable of our creche with gifts for baby Jesus. Claire also opened her last gift of the holiday season... Two children's prayer books.

Emily went to the eye doctor today and he said her eyes are normal...no retinopathy of prematurity. She weighs 7 lbs 15 oz. She is cooing and making all kind of cute noises right now as she bats at her toys. She has a ready smile and laughs occasionally. The most recent occasion was a few days ago when her dad was holding her and smiling at her and he laughed his joyous laugh and she laughed back. So sweet! She is able to lift her head a little during tummy time and tolerates tummy time for 5 mins or so.

I spent an hour or so putting away the stacks of papers and things that had accumulated on our dining room table. It's still not quite done, but it's looking better. I also had the chance to edit some photos and upload them to Wallgreens to be printed.

Claire went to the Natural History museum and California Science Center with her babysitter today while Emily and I were at the doctor. Now she is napping.

Emily likes:
smiling faces
batting at her toys
her sister
baths
having her clothes changed
nursing
being talked to

Claire Quotes

yesterday, Fri Jan 2
Claire: Fish eat. They eat pancakes.
today Sat. Jan 3 (After reading this quote.)
Mark: Claire what do fish eat?
Claire: Fish food.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

We got back to LA this morning. We sure enjoyed our time spent with Mark's various relatives in Oklahoma. At the big family party on the 28th there were 38 people and Claire was in "cousin heaven." She had a great time playing with 2-year old Maverick and all his toys. The older girl cousins liked to pick her up and hug her. We also got to meet the youngest cousin, Molly, who is even smaller than Emily. We helped make spaghetti at Mark's Grandma's and hung out at Uncle Howard's and at Aunt Peggy's. One day we took a little boat ride in the canal at Bricktown and later met Maverick and his sisters at the Science museum. We all had a great vacation and enjoyed spending time reading and relaxing and eating good food at Mom's house and hanging out with Uncle Peter and his kids. Sarai and Rebequiah were very fond of Emily and very adept and entertaining Claire. One highlight for Claire was walking down the street to feed carrots to "Arrow" the friendly neighborhood horse. (pictures on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/hudsonthego/)