Baby Claire Week 1

So can I begin by saying this baby is a dream child. She is such a blessing to our home and we couldn't be happier. She came home from the hospital pretty much sleeping through the night and has given me 7 hour streches the last 2 days. With the extra sleep at night I feel like a million bucks. She nurses really well something that hasn't always worked with my other kids. On top of that she is very calm and easy to sooth. With that said I know we are only a week in and that could all change when 3 weeks hits. The whole family is really just enjoying every minute. Here are a few photos from our first week.

Some photo shoot attemps as soon as we took out the camera she decided to stop sleeping and be wide awake and fussy. Something she never does since she is sleeping most of the time. My friend Emily came over and caught a few others between Claire's fussing.  Check them out here.

I love a good photo of my kids crying. I think when they grow up I will want to remember that too.

Somehow I have a ton of clothes for 0-3 months. Everyday has become a fashion show and it is really quite fun. That is the girls favorite thing to pick out her outfits.

Out cold in the pack in play. She loves to have her legs straight out. Something she did right from the start at the hospital. I find it hilarious because my ribs hurt so bad while I was pregnant I wonder what she was doing stretching out in my tummy. If I wrap her up to tight with her legs tucked she cries.

As a friend of mine did with her little guy. A picture in the chair once a month. Here is our first day home from the hospital picture.

She spends most her time snuggled in these aden and anis blankets that I absolutely love. Also I splurged on a new swing that is awesome she takes most of her naps there during the day.

Here she is coming home from the hospital. It is amazing how small they look in there.

Ronan really likes her. Here he is the first time he held her. He asks to hold her a couple times a day but then wants me to take her back 10 seconds later. That doesn't mean we aren't having an adjustment period with him. He is being a little stinker. Lets hope that stops in the next few days.

First bath I had a family of helpers. Leah my assistant and Davy the photographer.

Claire Cait Ratchford

Clair Cait Ratchford.  Born at 1:45 PM on March 18th

 Davy did not Faint...enough said.  Actually he did really well and was a huge help.

 Claire getting her first bath.  She loved getting her hair washed. 

 Getting her first tan under the heater lamps. 

All the kids came over to see the baby.  Leah and Eva are "little moms".  Ronan was a little scared but did touch her foot before he left.

She's been sleeping a lot.  So far, so good.  She is a great little baby.

So Rachel here just wanted to add in some details about the delivery and Claire's birth. We decided to get induced on this one. The excitement of rushing to the hospital on Ronan and feeling contractions to a ten needed to not be repeated. Plus my doctor was going out of town and I really wanted him to deliver me. So we check into the hospital at 6:45 and got all set up. As they were monitoring me we noticed that I was having regular contractions on mine own but just not feeling them. I got started on pitocin and then the doctor came in and broke my water at 9:00. I got my epidural shortly after. It was very painless but then I only got numb on one side. I could still feel my contractions on the other. So we turned me and dosed me to try to numb the other side. It helped but I never got completely numb and felt a portion of my contraction for my whole labor. Besides that everything went perfectly. The babies heart rate stayed good the whole time. When I got to a 8 they called the doctor. By the time he got there I was ready at a 10. I pushed for 2 contractions and out she came. What was the most shocking was her dark hair. We have had all blond babies. So in the hospital we had a bit of a problem because I couldn't walk by myself until 8 am the next morning. Dave and the 60 year old nurse had to take me to the bathroom every time I needed to go. By the next day I was feeling good and ready to get out of the hospital. So we packed up and headed home around dinnertime Saturday night.

Happy Birthday Ronan

Ronan turned 4 on March 20th. I can hardly believe my boy is so big. He keeps telling us his leg bones have gotten bigger. We celebrated on the 17th since we knew we would be coming home from the hospital with Claire on his birthday. He is going to get a friend party here in a few weeks when mommy is up for it.

The top 4 reasons we love Ronan

1. He is the funniest kids seriously there are multiple quotes a day that I laugh over hours later.

2. Boundless energy he is alway up for anything fun.

3. His sensitive loving nature. I always get hugs and loves and songs about how much he loves me. He also gets his feeling hurt really easy if I get mad at him.

4. Our boy! It is fun having him in the mix of all this pink here. He and Davy are best buddies. I love his boyness. The wrestling, sports, and energy.

 

The kids decided that they would see how messy they could get with their cake.

Present time he loved everything he got. 

Leah got him a pillow pet we picked out the perfect husky online. Eva picked out a car racing track that has been his favorite thing. Nana and Papa got him his own tennis racket and some tennis balls.

Davy and I got him a plasma car, helmet, and light sabor.

Looks like he likes everything.

St. Patricks

The St. Patricks celebration starting with the annual SLC parade. This year was especially special because Davy was invited to be the Grand Marshall and he brought Leah along. I was at home large and pregnant so Dave took care of getting some great pictures.

Leah met some Irish Wolfhounds.

 

Davy and Leo the Lion in their kilts.

Isn't this the coolest picture. It is a really fun parade that goes down the center of the Gateway mall.

Love this picture of Leah on the float. She of course was in heaven.



This is what they rode on. Leah loved that the horse was decked out in green too.

 

Here is everybody dressed up in their Irish gear. Davy picked up these dresses for the girls the last time he went to Ireland. He is dressed like a leprechaun to go visit all the kids classes at school. Seriously he is the best sport. He even took the day off from work so he would have time to go to all of them. The kids woke up and Shamus our lephracan had made a mess in the house and died the kids hair green. That sneaky lephracan, he followed Dave here from Ireland and plays tricks on us every year.

Davy taught the kids a few Irish words and read them a story. They loved it.

Eva Turns 6

Eva has been begging for a pedicure since I went a few months ago. I promised her that we would go on her birthday. She loved it. 

We also got to go with her good friend and mom who has a birthday just 2 days before Eva's. Eva actually got to go to her friends party on her birthday. Pretty fun huh.

Finished product. They turned out darling. She got her fingernails painted as well as flowers with gems in the centers.

I can't believe that Eva is 6 already. She is delightful to have in our family. We are so lucky that she is ours. This year she has turned into a great help. She plays with Ronan all the time and has become such good buddies with him. She also has developed quite the love of music and dancing. My favorite thing to overhear is her singing along to her ipod with her headphones on and there is often dancing involved as well. At school she is the model student and is reading really well. She has also made lots of new friends and treats everyone so kindly.  

Birthday night personal pizzas

And present opening.  She got a cupcake necklace, itouch cover, new kid sized headphones, How To Train Your Dragon the movie, a recorder from Ronan, and a dinosaur from Leah. The sand art is from her cousins. She liked it guys.

The next day we had her friend party at Boondocks. A great choice for a really pregnant mommy.

How To Train Your Dragon cake of course.  The thank you gift boxes were full of totally non-girly stuff like snakes and rubber geckos. I still am not sure how I raised all these tom boys but I love it.

Blowing out the candles I love this shot.

Most of the party guests except for a couple that couldn't quit playing long enough to stop for a picture.

Happy Valentines Day

We wrote heart shaped notes of all the reasons we love everyone in our family.

My sweetheart brought me home roses. I got him some exercise gear.

Candlelight dinner

We chocolate dipped pretzels, marshmallows and strawberries.

A Few Ronan Quotes

These kids are constantly saying things that crack me up.  Like at the store yesterday Ronan said to someone passing us, "well pardon me madame," as he bows. Or lets talk about trying to name the baby. Dave and I have had a thousand conversations lately with baby names as the topic. Leah reads my baby name book and picks nearly every name she reads. Then tells us we are picky because we don't like anything. Ronan thinks we should just name her "baby". Then he adds, "baby bat girl." But the funniest this week had to be getting ready for church Sunday. I asked Ronan if he wanted his hair spiky or down. He decides,"I want it down if it is spiky everyone will think I am a rock star."

Family Photos

We took these back a few weeks while Karla was visiting. Thanks sis. I kept thinking I was going to get the heads swapped and then figured I may as well use them now before I get new photos in the summer with the baby. So here yah go.