Claire Elaine Reeve

I never would have thought that our next post would be introducing our sweet little girl... but it is! Claire surprised us by coming 3 weeks early on 4/23/2010 at 8:23am. Thursday morning I had a completely normal 37 week check up. At my 9am appointment I was not dilated or having contractions... but by 2:45pm I knew something was up. Later that night we figured it would be good to head in to the hospital. We continued the night like nothing was up... and our good friend, Luke came around 11:15pm to cover the night shift at our house after Carter and all the guys were in bed. My water broke right before we left for the hospital and I was 3 centimeters by the time we got there. I labored through the night with the help of Dan and my awesome friend, Michelle... but at 7am Claire's heart rate was dipping too low for anyone's comfort. That's when I ended up with an epidural and they wheeled me to the O.R. It all happened so fast we still can't believe she's here with us. Here are some pictures from our first couple of days in the hospital:

Claire has some pretty bad bruises on her arms and chest from being stuck in the birth canal. :( My doctor had such a hard time getting her out that she said her hand was still sore the next day.

Claire wasn't breathing on her own for the first 7 minutes (so scary not hearing her cry)... so she had to be taken to the special care nursery for a while. This was the only time I got to see her that morning.

One of our favorite pictures... Carter's first time meeting Claire. He was so excited to see her!

A picture of life right now...

I never would have thought we would be preparing to have a 2nd child in the middle of the craziness where we live right now. Sometimes other people look at us like we are crazy... sometimes I think we are crazy... and then I remind myself of all the families that are doing similar things but are living overseas and working on the mission field. We live and work in the middle of a community that we LOVE! Anyway... while I was walking through the kitchen last night I noticed what had been left out on the counter from earlier in the day... some bpa free bottles next to someone's chips and soda. Such a funny contrast... and perfect picture of our craziness right now.

This guy made my day...

Yesterday afternoon, Carter and I joined some friends at one of our awesome neighborhood playgrounds. This particular playground is right behind our community center... so Ty're... never one to pass up a chance at a basketball game... came along with us hoping to find some friends in the gym. For once, the gym was empty... so Ty came around to the playground to wait until we were done. He ended up spending the next 45 minutes playing with Carter and his friends. So awesome! I haven't been feeling well... so Ty did all the fun things that are hard for me right now... like taking Carter down a 2-story slide that he wouldn't go down by himself. Carter had a blast... and I think Ty did as well!

Don't know what I would do without my camera phone!

Carter's 1st Portfolio

Our little photographer...

Lately (and not so surprisingly) Carter has started to show some interest in photography. We want him to grow up getting the chance to experience as much as possible. That's one of the reasons we love his school so much. They get to work with so many different materials. The other day Carter actually looked at me and told me he was a painter. So... when he started to ask about taking pictures... we were excited! We've actually started to pack a camera for him when we're taking our cameras somewhere. We don't give him any direction. We just put the camera around his neck and make sure the settings are right. It's so fun to see what he chooses to focus on. Here are some pictures of Carter taking pictures yesterday. My next post is going to be Carter only images... in their original form.

36 Weeks

I can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I can never remember how many weeks I am. It's kind of like trying to remember how many months your child is after their first birthday. Why can't people just say 1 1/2... or almost 2? Anyway... I am about 3 1/2 weeks from my due date. I keep thinking that if Claire is born at the same week Carter was... I'll have her on Thursday. We are hopeful... and pretty darn sure that will not happen... but it's still kind of crazy to think about. Since I've passed the week I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia with Carter... we've decided to cancel the c-section I have scheduled for May 10th and go for a VBAC. We do know that she is for sure head down... and that she is for sure a she (I had the doctor double check for me on Thursday :)). Since I've had a previous c-section... they will not induce me... so we'll see how it goes. We are praying for a smooth delivery and that no one will even have to mention the word c-section to us. We are just so excited to meet her!!

Here are my 36 week pictures (a few days late). It's getting harder and harder to post pictures of myself since I feel so blah... but I just keep reminding myself that I wish I had these kind of pictures with Carter.

I am having to take an iron supplement now. My blood work came back last week within the normal range... but on the very low side of the normal range. I'll take that over all the other things I could be dealing with any day!

Carter

It's amazing how much little minds can soak up! Dan has been going through the Children's Catechism with Carter during his bedtime routine. They made it through the first 25 tonight... so I wanted to document it with video. I don't totally love putting videos on the blog... mostly because I just love pictures so much more... but it is fun to have these to look back on.

I missed the first question. It is... "Who made you?"



The top video on this post is my favorite Carter video of all time!!

His and Hers

Carter is already learning what Dan learned 8 1/2 years ago... sharing a closet with a girl is no fun! Actually... in our last house Dan didn't even get a closet... his clothes hung on a rope stretched across our basement.

Anyway... yesterday, I took some time to finally clean out Carter's closet to make some room for Claire. I thought the dresses looked so cute hanging up next to Carter's clothes. It's so crazy to see pink... I actually still don't think I'll totally believe we're having a girl until the day she's born. I've been slightly panicked about even having enough stuff for Claire... but thanks to some awesome friends and family... she's pretty much set for the first 3 months (I actually think she might have more than Carter right now)!

I ♥ our park!!

We met some good friends here for dinner on Friday night. Just what I needed! I'll post some more pictures soon...

The things husbands do for pregnant wives...

We live in a great house... but there are things about it that drive me CRAZY! The windows are one of those things. Half of them don't have screens... and the ones that do are hidden behind heavy pieces of furniture. When I'm not pregnant I can usually move the furniture enough to get them open... but right now I can't lift anything. So... the other night Dan permanently moved the couch so I could fit behind it to open the windows. I was worried I still wouldn't be able to get the shutters open because of my belly... but he tested it out for me to make sure I had enough room. What would I do without this guy!?

One of those weeks...

Has it been since Monday that I last posted?? Wow... it's been a full week... full of great parts and hard parts. We are so happy that Propositions Y and S passed on Tuesday!! Means a lot for our school district. We are also thrilled that I'm at 35 weeks and doing great! My appointment yesterday went well. I did have to have my blood drawn to test for low iron (thanks to everyone who said something about my ice craving... had no idea that could be related to iron)... but I'm so much better about needles now!

It's amazing how different life is now compared to when I was pregnant with Carter. I would go to work and come home... now I'm chasing an almost 4 year old, trying to keep up with 3 teenagers, and a photography business. We also still have a lot of contact with a good number of the kids who have lived here at different times... can't believe we've had 11 here in 3 1/2 years (that's not even counting the huge list of boys we've had this year that are possible candidates)! Anyway, it has been an emotional week here at the house. There's a lot that we can't ever say about the lives of our guys (past and present)... but it's a sometimes devastating road we walk with them. I never realized how much of their pain we would feel... and we've felt pain this week. It just makes me so thankful for this place that these guys can call home and still come home to.

And... because I hate to do a post without pictures... I thought I'd include these two totally unrelated photos of Carter. Dan took these on Easter morning. LOVE them!

Please Vote Yes!

I'm going to try and have Dan do a little write up on this later tonight... but I wanted to at least put up this little bit. Tomorrow is a big election day for our school district... if Propositions Y and S do not pass... our high school will lose it's sports program and a lot of teachers in the district will lose their jobs. If you live in our community... please take the time to vote tomorrow!!! If you don't... please pray that this passes! We know first hand what this sports program means to these students... and what a big difference small class sizes make to the kids in this district. You can click here to read more about it...

The tomb is empty...

Easter was a little different for us this year. Partly because of this crazy stage of life we are in right now... but also because we have a child who now really understands the meaning of things. We've been working through The Children's Catechism with Carter for about a month now... and he has blown us away with his understanding of these questions. We keep asking ourselves why we waited this long to start going through it with him! Anyway, we are exhausted right now (partly Joe's Place and partly because I'm at the end of my 3rd trimester and can't sleep) so we decided not to do any of our own Easter egg/hunt/basket type things with Carter this year (MeganDunham actually tweeted about doing egg hunts on the first day of Spring instead of Easter... I think we'll try that next year if we're a little more on top of things). So... this morning before church we spent our time reading the Easter story, talking about it and making Resurrection Rolls. It was great... not something Dan and I probably would have taken the time to do if it were just the two of us. The Resurrection Rolls were awesome... they didn't work out quite like I had hoped (Carter thought we were eating Jesus and then the marshmallow didn't disappear because I took the rolls out too early )... but tonight Carter totally made the connection when Dan was putting him to bed. He said... "The marshmallow and Jesus are out of the tomb." Very cool! Here are a few pictures of our sweet little guy...

I can't believe we have a photography business and it took us until after church and lunch with friends to actually take a picture of Carter in his Easter outfit. Better than no picture at all I guess...

Carter on Palm Sunday... not the greatest picture but I wanted to post it because that's the 3rd year he's been able to wear that little coat (Here he is in 2008). He is so small!!

I also wanted to post a picture of a fun little Easter dessert. This is the second year I've made them... but I'm realizing now that I never did an Easter post last year. Anyway, I got the recipe off my friend Shannon's blog... they are super easy to make and actually don't taste that bad.

Bed rest stay away...

I'm finally at the point in this pregnancy that I've been super anxious about... 34 1/2 weeks. This is right around the time that I was officially diagnosed with Pre-eclampsia with Carter and was put on bed rest. Everything has been great so far... although my blood pressure is usually a bit high when they check it... but I know that's just because I'm thinking about Pre-eclampsia when they take it. I can't help it! I keep telling Dan that they must have crazy written somewhere in my chart. :) I have an appointment on Thursday and I'm really hoping everything will still check out ok! One thing that's been good is how much more active I've been this time around... you wouldn't think taking pictures would require exercise... but it really has been my favorite kind of workout!

My man of many talents...

You never know when one of the random jobs you've had in your life will come in handy years later... and Dan has had some RANDOM jobs! Dan's love for climbing was one of the reasons he started a tree trimming business in Seminary (so glad that ended after a year!) and now he's added that skill to our photography business. I love these two pictures from our photo shoot this morning... more than that... I love having a business with my husband!