2 weeks

As you can see, I haven't gotten any fabulous pictures of Claire lately. Maybe I should learn a thing or two about my camera?? Or just get my mom over here more often to take some for me! 

She is pretty much at the end of her newborn clothes days. I'm just happy we got a good 2 weeks out of them! I really liked this little grey striped outfit. It has a few little ruffles with tulle on the front - these pictures don't quite do it justice.

And until this morning I just could never quite get around to making sure these two were wearing their complementing shirts and getting a picture of it. Too bad nothing really turned out great, but that's okay. Max needs a haircut. (He is sitting on my lap right now plunking out the letters I am telling him so this post is taking a while. Still obsessed with letters!)  

Claire went to the doctor at 13 days old and everything went well. It was nice to talk to her doctor about her delivery and finally finish processing everything in my head. I was a little traumatized about how things went at first but feel fine now. :)

21 inches long (78%)
9 lbs 5.5 oz (82%)
37.6 cm head circum. (85%)

She seems to be quite proportionate, just like Max was (although definitely a little ahead of the curve ... Max was always right around the 50s). Here are some other things to remember about 2 week old Claire:

- usually sleeps 2-3 hour stretches, day and night
- hiccups pretty much every time she eats
- is always choking on my milk
- has never cried for more than a few minutes at a time (usually stops as soon as we pick her up). Knock on wood!!
- is working on holding her head up for longer stretches. We laugh because Max was already doing long periods of tummy time and even rolling to his back by this point (no joke).

Since she basically sleeps, eats, hiccups, and poops, there is not much else exciting to report. I still can't believe we have a baby sometimes!! We all can't get enough of her!

Love that little Claire

In case you hadn't heard, Claire Christine has joined the family! She was born May 4 (induced, 5 days late) and tipped the scales at a crazy 9 lbs 7 oz. (We were SHOCKED!) And 20 inches long. Now it's hard to believe she's 11 days old. Fortunately she has been such a good baby so far. I'm so grateful! If I had another Max-type on my hands we would barely be hanging on right now. As it is, we're doing well (just tired ... obviously :). She does have day and night confused but that is the only little issue which I'm sure will work itself out eventually. We can't get enough of her and I for one am just so happy she's here, and so grateful that she's healthy. Here are a few pictures I snapped yesterday & today. 

Daddy loves his little girl! 

 Isn't she beautiful??!

Max really loves his sister, I think. He is always eager to see her and touch her softly and give her kisses. For the first week I barely saw him since he spent a lot of time with grandparents, which was a huge help. But I am happy (although kind of exhausted) to have a lot more time with him again now. Claire is a pretty great sleeper during the day so that helps. Otherwise, we'll just keep figuring out this 2 kid thing one day at a time!

As for my little princess, she easily found her spot in my heart. I didn't know how it would be to love two kids after loving my Max so so much, but it turns out it is effortless. She is so so sweet and I am so happy she's my daughter. I love that little Claire!

Sigurd, Utah

So obviously this blog is seriously lacking in attention, and it most likely will stay that way somewhat. But I thought it would be fun to throw up a couple of Max-related posts before his little sister comes along! These pictures were taken last Friday in Sigurd, Utah, where we went for Joe's Grandma's funeral. Although it was a sad occasion, it was also neat to have ALL Joe's family together and to celebrate the life of his Grandma. It was her time to get to join her husband who passed away about 8 years ago. I didn't get to hear much of the services since Max wasn't about to still sit and be quiet for 2.5 hours, so I am a little sad about that. But I am glad Joe got to listen, and it was neat for all of us to be there. Max kept saying "Goodbye Great-Grandma" since I guess that is what we told him this was all about. (Also during the viewing he kept saying "Great-Grandma sleeping.")

At the cemetery, Max and Reese were running ALL over the place. By now it was way past naptime but that didn't seem to bother them! They are darling together and would be such perfect playmates if only they lived close.
Max, our little letter-obsessed child, enjoyed studying the graves and naming the letters. (He has known all the letters and their sounds for a while now and can't resist naming just about any letter he sees and saying what sound it makes. Pretty cute!)
Here I am, looking a bit (okay, more than a bit) whale-like. This was at 6 weeks to go, now I'm at 5. HURRY UP ALREADY.
These two took off and didn't even look back.
Then when they saw the pile of dirt the running turned to sprinting.
And the Dads had to sprint after them.
Reese is Queen of the dirt pile! Hooray!
Being carted back by Dad. Luckily I had an excuse for not doing all of the chasing.


Papa, Max, & Reese. Max was SO excited to see his Papa. Before the funeral started he kept looking around saying "Find Papa, find Papa." He got to see him for a few minutes, but then when Papa gave the "family prayer" before the funeral (the entire chapel was packed with family; others got seated in the overflow) Max started yelling for him like crazy. Always good to be loved, right?
Little family of soon to be 4! Ahh!
Max got super smiley standing next to this grave for some reason. Hans Lorentz Dastrup was the very first of the Dastrups to join the Church in Denmark, immigrate to the US, and settle in Sigurd. Now the cemetery is full of Dastrups. Pretty cool.

Before the day was over we went to visit Joe's Grandma's old house. Joe and his siblings had a lot of great memories there and were pretty excited to visit it. This is the backyard!

This was Max making friends with a rooster moments before the rooster flew up and landed on him, I screamed, and Max started crying. The crying was from my scream, not the rooster. Oops.
These two little monkeys loved the trampoline!


And when we finally headed home around 5:30, Max passed out in the car. Until we stopped for gas 15 minutes later. ;)

Cornbelly's

I was super excited to try out Cornbelly's this fall. I thought it was a pumpkin patch / corn maze / other fun activities kind of place .... but it turns out it is not a pumpkin patch, but it does have a huge maze and a TON of fun activities for kids. We didn't even try any of the mazes, but the almost three hours we spent there were not nearly enough! Well, it was about enough for one day, I guess.

We got to go with the Burnhams, who have season passes and knew all of the fun things for us to do, which helped us hit all the highlights in one day. First were the bounce houses. Max was a tiny bit unsure about it at first (his first reaction was "no"), so Joe went in with him. And he loved it, of course.


And then there were the big bouncing pillows. Max liked those, too. But it did make him feel a little out of control, so enough was enough.

He climbed this rope wall like a pro.

And then rode with Dad on a pedal-cart.

And played in tunnels. (Max loves saying "tunnel" - it is a game he makes us play all the time where we have to spread our legs and he rides through on his little vehicle, or gets a running start and pushes his vehicle through).
Max and Blake got distracted by a little singing theater of pigs, sheep, and cows. They sat there and stared and stared.

Then Max found a tractor - one of his favorite things!
You better believe he knows how to drive it. He drives one with his Vati whenever he can get the chance.
And then he saw the train ... oh my. He start running toward it at full speed.

We did get a few pumpkin pictures, but didn't actually have time to pick our pumpkins. We'll have to go somewhere else for that.

Doing the duck races.
Watching the pig races with Dad.
Riding on the cow train - one of two trains we got to ride.
Then of course we tried to get a picture of the three boys. I have a million but they all are about the same.



It was a pretty fun morning for Mr. Max. He fell asleep in the car on the way home - and he NEVER does that!