Happy Halloween!!!

It's hard to believe that Halloween has arrived once again!  Emma and Samantha have been not-so-patiently waiting for it to arrive and they have had their costumes planned out for several weeks now.  Of course, you can't celebrate Halloween without carving the pumpkin.  Thanks to Daddy for doing such a good job on the carving!

At first it was decided that we were going to have a "scary" face on the jack-o-lantern.  I guess we'll just settle for the girls posing with scary faces.

As you can see, Samantha went as a cheerleader this year.  Here she is posing in her classroom before the school costume parade. 

Emma was a sneaky cat.  I wasn't able to make it to her classroom before the parade started so I caught this picture of her in the school gym.

We headed to the church for the annual "Trunk-or-Treat."  Samantha was dancing around in her costume all day.  I'm sure that she now has a new goal in life and that is to become a cheerleader for reals!!!

A friend of mine let us borrow a costume for Clara - it is a little pink monster and it was adorable on her and she seemed to like it when we first put it on her but after about five minutes she wanted out of it!  At least we got a picture of her wearing a costume for her first Halloween.

This picture has nothing whatsoever to do with Halloween, but she was taking a little nap in her swing this afternoon and she was really snuggling with her blanket.  It was too precious not to share.

This year I made a deal with the girls that I would buy their candy from them for $5 so we could donate it somewhere.  We don't need the extra sugar!  They accepted my deal (I still can't believe it) so now we are left with a VERY large bag of candy.  Hopefully I'll find a nice place to donate it to before Daddy finds the stash!

Cold and Flu Season

The past couple of weeks have seen our family catch the dreaded cold and flu bug that has been going around.  Samantha had it first, then Emma, then me.  Unfortunately, Clara picked it up and since she is only three months old it hit her the hardest.  She had horrible congestion, a terrible cough, fever, and she lost her voice.  Our little sweetie has been so miserable!  Knowing that because of her premature arrival she is at a higher risk for RSV, we quickly made an appointment with the pediatrician.  Dr. Lim gave us a nebulizer and a prescription for albuterol but unfortunately there isn't much else you can for an infant this young.  This is a picture of Clara receiving her first breathing treatment.  You can see in her eyes just how sick she feels. :(

She finally fell asleep after her treatment.

We also got out the humidifier to help moisten up her nasal passages but the moist air didn't seem to reach her very well.  So....

....we made a little fort to keep the steam near her where it would be more beneficial.  It was her own personal spa!

She is breathing and sleeping so much better after several days of the breathing treatments and the humidifier.

Of course, Emma had been so anxious to hold her sister since we didn't allow the girls near Clara because of extra germs.  We finally let them play together a little bit this weekend.  Two happy girls!

Clara still has a raspy voice and a bad cough, but we're working through it and she is on the road to recovery.  Hopefully this isn't a sign of a very long cold and flu season for our family!

More of Clara

It's been nearly two months since my last blog post and I feel terrible about it!  I thought I would have lots and lots of time during my days to take care of things like this but of course, the days get filled up with all of the other things that I have to do.  So.... I wanted to take a few minutes and post some recent pictures of little Clara.  She is growing so fast and I wish that I could "pause" time to keep her little.   About a month ago we switched her over to soy formula and she is a much more pleasant baby.  She sleeps really well at night - six to seven hour stretches a few days a week.  We feel very blessed!

Here she is in her swing.  At first she was a big fan of it but now she would much rather just be in her bouncer.  We still keep it around though for the rare moments where she enjoys herself in it.

We took this picture for Grampa since we know he is so good at napping!

Here she is looking over Daddy's shoulder while he is on the computer.

Of course her big sisters love holding her and playing with her.  They are such good helpers!

We have been trying out the Bumbo seat - her neck still isn't quite strong enough to sit more than a couple of minutes but we're getting there.  She usually just curls herself down to a comfy position.

Clara really enjoys stretching out under her little gym.  I play with her legs and do tummy time with her.  She's starting to grab at the toys that hang down.

This is such a precious picture - she was sleeping so soundly.

As you can see Clara has grown a lot in the past while.  She's starting to smile more and coo at us.  Sometimes I feel as if we are having actual conversations. :)  Emma and Samantha feel like she is finally starting to recognize them and that makes them very happy!  We are loving every minute of our baby girl!