Pictures

Enjoying the Bumbo chair


I don't mean to brag but I guess I do have the right to since it's about my little girl:)

I can't get over how beautiful she is!



She is perfect in every way. Even when she cries because she wants her way.

She makes it up with her happy personality.

I was thinking about things and realized how much people (I know) are going through right now. Loss of job, loss of income, loss of a child, stress of how to support your family, stress just from everyday life. I was thinking about my own situation and challenges. Wondering what else I can do? Wondering if I am doing something wrong? Wondering if I can change the situation? Thankfully I read my cousin's wife blog today. She has always been a great example to me even though she lives so far away and we dont really talk. She said she came across and article from the Ensign that Elder Richard G. Scott wrote title "Trust in the Lord". He said, "Just when all seems to be going right, challanges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience , they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding and compassion, which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain."

The scripture D&C 84:88 was also quoted, "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

I am grateful that I read her blog. It was well needed.
I thought to post this because I was needing this and it gave me peace. Maybe it will help someone who reads this on my blog?

Sneak Peak!

Sorry I am having the worst time trying to download the pictures from Claira's blessing. We have two cameras. One is for pictures and the other one we got for videos but it takes pictures as well. The bad problem is that we took the camera that only takes pictures and I havent used it in awhile so I forgot if there is a special trick to getting it to download because the little memo screen that pops up to download doesnt come on the screen. Stan is suppose to help but he hasent had a chance to.
This picture was taken when Claira was 2 weeks old. My cousin, Shalisa, took pictures of Claira and we decided to do a few in her blessing dress. This picture came from my camera off my phone. I took it so its not edited or anything and its not very good quality.

My birthday was September 18th. Originally for my birthday we were going to go to Krispy Kreme doughnuts to get a dozen free doughnuts and then go Joe's BBQ to get a free birthday meal for me and get our dinner there. We did this for Stan's birthday (August 3) and it was a lot of fun especially since we got a lot of good (junk) food and only had to pay for my meal.lol Well my birthday was coming up and it landed on a Sunday. Dang...

We were told several times just to take advantage of the free doughnuts and get them anyways. As tempting as that was, we decided not to. Stan also had to work that day:( He talked to me to see what I wanted to do but I told him that I would just want to sit and relax with him and that would be perfect! Honestly true.

My birthday comes and Stan makes me a little breakfast before we go to church. We came home from church and Stan gives me a birthday card and a present. He told me that he wants me to have a movie that I like (chick-flick).

Side note: We normally pick movies that we both like so we can watch and enjoy them together. Normally if I drag him to a chick-flick movie he blurts out something embarrassing in the theater or just makes fun of it at home, so we don't watch those movies often.

So I open the present and it's a twilight movie. He knows I love the books. He said we could even watch it together. ha ha poor guy or I guess poor me? I was about to open it up but I noticed that the case is smashed like someone stepped on it. I didn't want a damaged DVD especially since it wasn't a $5 dollar movie. I told him that I should switch it out and we can watch it tomorrow. Stan had to go to work and while he was at work he told me he got a few free pizzas because they were practicing for a pizza competition between stores. Score! Later that night Stan came home and he had 3 pizzas! I was kind of shocked that he got that many. He opened two of them and the third he told me to open the next. I open to find a delicious dessert! (picture above). He has been sneaking around and his sister Allison helped him make a big choc chip cookie and put whip cream, Rollos and m&ms on it. Stan put chocolate and carmel syrup on the cookie pizza. It was so good! In the pictures you can notice a few missing pieces of candy.... I couldn't help but eat a few Rolos before we cut some for us to eat:)

About the movie: I went to exchange it and the Walmart I went to didn't have it but they had a few other good ones I would want. I decide to go to another Walmart closer to my house and they had a smaller selection of Blu-ray movies and they didn't have it either. So annoying! Very difficult to keep going to different Walmarts with a hungry baby. Since they didn't have it I decided to pick another movie....I pick Pride and Prejudice (newest version).

It's amazing how time flies. Claira is now 2 months (9/21)! She had her 2 month check-up last Wednesday, Sept. 21st. She got some shots and had a hard time. She cried in pain when she got them. Poor baby:( The doctor checked how she is developing. He also checked her ears, throat, and nose and asked Stan to hold her hands down while he checked her. While he was checking her she lifted her legs and was pushing him with her feet. He started to chuckle and said she is trying to get him with her feet and that children don't normally do that until they're 6 months. Claira weighed in at 11.9 lbs (60%) and measured (height) 23 1/4 inches (90%) and (head circumference) 15 1/4 inches (70%).
After the doctor appointment Stan had to go to work. When we got home I gave Claira a warm bath and gave her Tylenol. She sadly didn't want me to hold her because her legs hurt. It made me sad that I couldn't really do much to make her feel better. It seemed like the routine for the day was bath, Tylenol, eat, and sleep. I am glad that Claira loves to take baths and doesn't cry. She actually stops crying and relaxes once her feet touch the water. She likes to kick and move her hands in the water. She is just too cute:)
I thought to make a few list to organize my thoughts so sorry they are so random.

List of things that I love about Claira:
-She smiles a alot. She smiles when she wakes up. Smiles when she sees Stan and I. She smiles when you talk, make noises and weird faces at her. She smiles when she hears someone laughing.
-She looks like her daddy
-She squeals when she gets excited.
-She sleeps through the night (sleeps 10pm- 6am, eats, back to sleep 7am-9am)
-She doesn't cry constantly. ha ha. We are able to sit through church and activities without having to leave. Of course she gets fussy when she is hungry or tired.
-She likes to see new places. I am able to take her places and she will just want to sit up and look at everything.
-She makes daddy melt. Stan gets a special smile on his face when he sees her and when he holds her. I can tell they have a special bond when she smiles back at him. Priceless...

List of things I didn't know or realize what it was like after having a baby:
-Being in pain after you have your baby is worse than labor
-Your emotions go up and down. I feel self-conscious, I would be beyond happy that I cry then I cry because I am so tired, I would feel guilty that I am not working and that Stan has to work so much, stressed that I don't have enough milk to fill Claira.
-You lose you social skills easy. I stay at home so I don't talk to adults that often.I realized when people come over to visit they would just play with Claira and I would just sit there in silence forcing myself to come up with something to talk about. I felt like I had a hard time keeping conversation. I don't know if that had to do with my brain not working or me being self-conscious. I am getting better with that.
-Yes, I know this one is a no brainer but I will still list it. Your body will never be the same.lol

I list these not to scare myself or others but I had to get my feelings out and share them. I wouldn't change any of these because I get my sweet little girl. I understand why mothers say that having a baby is a great blessing. I think women have another baby because they forget how much it hurts to have a baby or/and the want of having a baby is so great that the pain is worth it. I am pretty sure that is why Heavenly Father has given us this great gift and ability. Men would probably stop half way through. ha ha
We are sure excited that we have our sweet Claira and hopefully have more (when Claira gets a little older.lol)

NOTE: We did bless Claira Sunday, September 4, 2011. I am waiting to post about it until I can download the pictures

Few pictures

She is full of smiles

Dressesd up on labor day

Found these sunglasses @Target and had to try them on Claira. She happened to make this face and made this pic so funny. Just love her!

Out of Service

So we are making some budget cuts so I can stay home and take care of Claira. Internet was one of the cuts so I cant update my blog as much and its a pain to upload pictures. We should get internet back around December. Sorry. I will try to add some pictures of Claira soon because she is growing so fast. wish me luck.lol

She makes everything look cute!

A friend gave Claira a hat with a big butterfly and socks that look like a flower and the socks even have a caterpillar on them. I have never seen anything like these but I think Claira wears them well. I don't know about her wearing them out especially because its so hot outside but they are fun to have.
We were bored today and it was way too hot to go outside and drive around. So we had to find stuff to do. Claira got pictures taken a couple weeks ago and we ran out of time so my cousin wasn't able to take pictures of her with this hat on so I thought I better get some pictures before she gets to big to wear it. A quilt that my aunt made matches perfectly so it worked great for the background.
Note: I don't have a high quality camera and I don't have the tools to edit my pictures. I still think they turned out pretty good. Enjoy:)

Did you spot the caterpillar on her socks?

What's been going on the first 3 weeks.

Claira is 3 weeks today! I can't believe how quick time has gone. I am completely tired. It's amazing how my body still runs on such little sleep.
At 2 weeks, Claira has been staying awake more often. She is more alert and reconizes our voices. She lets us know when she doesn't like something. She is really strong. She holds her head up really good but she still wobbles her neck. We have to be careful when we hold her certain ways because she pushes off you with her legs. I call her my little frog.

Here is a picture of her all ready to go to her first doctors appointment. Alot of her cute bows were too big so she got to wear this big flower on her head. All her clothes were too big as well. Her socks didn't stay on for long.

Claira loves car rides. I am asked alot if she breaths through her mouth since she leaves it open alot. She does like to have her mouth open especially when she sleeps but she breaths through her nose.

She had a tough day at the doctors. They took blood from her foot. See the band-aid? She was jaundice and the doctor wanted to check her level. We got the results for her test later that day and they said it was higher than normal so they wanted us to go back to check it again to see if she needs the light treatment to help her jaundice go away. She also lost more weight than the nomal percent so they wanted to check up on that as well. Luckily, she gained her weight back and her color improved within 24 hrs. They checked her blood again (poor girl) and they said everything looks great.

We had her 2 week check up and she is at 8.1 lbs and 21 1/2 inches (90% on the growth chart). We go back to the doctors for her 2 month check up. Babies sure do cost alot.....lol

Alot of people told me that I should wait awhile to go back to church. Told to wait a couple months and even more. To me missing one week of church was rough and missing 2 sundays made the week go by so slow and I felt like I was missing something. Threw the whole week off. Stan and I decided I would go if I felt good. I decided to just go to sacrament because I didn't think I could sit longer than 1 hr so 3 hrs would be too much for me. So Sunday came and I felt pretty good and we headed to church. Here is cute little Claira in her sunday dress. Thanks Shalisa for getting such a cute flower to match this dress.

She did so well in sacrament. She slept most of the time and when she was up she was pretty quiet. A lot of the primary kids came up to me and gave me a hug and they were so excited to see us. I love the primary kids especially the 4-5 year olds I teach. It was so neat to see how excited they were that I was finally at church and that they could peak at Claira. They have been excited and anxious to see her. One little girl use to rub and poke my belly bump.lol

P.S- I was so excited to wear my old clothes and not the same dress I use to wear.

Claira sleeping. Note: Do you reconize her bracelet, Aunt Sherri? She is wearing one you gave her. Thanks:)

Her long feet.

Stan loves to hold Claira especially when she falls asleep. She is so cute!

Of course.....

Wide awake:)

Got a little smile from her. She loves smiling at her daddy.

She crashes after her baths.

Her first real bath. YAY!!!

She loves to get her hair washed. I think she thinks it feels good (little head massage). She wasen't too sure about the bath at first but when we added more water she stopped crying. She was still being funny with her feet. She kept lifting her legs up so her feet wouldn't go in the water. ha ha

Check out her feet. See.

Of course Stan had to be funny. Poor girl. ha ha

Thats all for now. I hope you enjoyed. I will have more pictures soon because I can't stop taking pictures of her. Speaking of pictures... My cousin, Shalisa, took baby pictures of Claira. She is so good at what she does. Grateful for all the time she takes to help me. I am really excited to see the pictures. Claira look so cute in all her shots. I will post them when they are finished.

Claira is the sweetest little girl. I can't wait to see more of her personality and have her react more to us but for now I am enjoying her while she loves to cuddle, little grins when she is sleeping, and her little sheep cry.

First week

Decided to post more pictures of Claira. She already has changed so much in one week. Enjoying every little moment with my little girl.

Claira was very fussy until we removed her legs out of her pjs then she finally relaxed. ha ha

Sleeping Beauty. She some how always managed to get her little mitten off at least one hand.

Got all dressed up to go to the doctors. Yes I know her flower on her head is big.lol It was the only head band that would fit her tiny head.

I LOVE cuddling with my little sweet pea and just watching her sleep peacefully. She is so cute!

The Big Day!!!!

Hope you read the previous post before you read this so you get the story in order. I wasn't planning on sharing the delivery story but changed my mind. I hope you don't mind the TMI moments and I hope you dont judge me.

Well I got up at 630am and called the hospital to see if they are able to take us at 730am. They told us to head on over. When we got there, we were the first to show up (first come first serve) to get induced. We got right in and started at 830am. When I got there the nurse checked me and said I was already at a great start and that I was 4 cm! I guess I was having real contractions and didn't know. I wanted to stay drug free as long as possible. I was open to use pain medications but I based it on what I felt was right. I prayed that I would know what to do and that I would know what was right and what would be best for me and my baby.

Here we are. I started feeling the contractions when I hit 5 cm. I forgot to mention that during this delivery, I felt nauseous with every contraction and had horrible heart burns! I was given nauseated medicine that helped but the medicine to help with heartburn didn't do a thing.
Stan took a few pictures when I was having a contraction so this is the best one. I look worse than what I felt.
When I hit 6 cm the pain started increasing and I became very uncomfortable. I had many options for pain meds that I wanted before an epidural but I thought that I better get the epidural. With how quick things went, I am glad that I thought that. The nurse helped me sit up on the edge of the bed so I would be ready to get my epidural. The nurse was told that it would be 5 mins or so. Once I got to the edge I felt a little pop and felt an uncontrollable gush of fluid. My water broke! The nurse paged the anesthesiologist to hurry up. By this time it was noon. A few mins later my doctor came in saying that he came to break my water but now he doesn't have to. He then went back to his office and would come back when the baby was crowning. I was given the epidural and it didn't take all the pain away. I had this knife stabbing pain that wrapped around my left groin area to my back when I had a contraction. This pain later helped me know when to push.
Well the nurse gave me a "peanut ball" to put between my legs. It suppose to help my body move along. With in 15 mins of using this I started to feel sick. All of a sudden I threw up! I threw up a few times and the nurse said that she had to check me again. She said surprisingly that I was already 9cm (15 mins). At this time my body started trembling and I couldn't control it. I was then told to start pushing a little after 2pm. This was the longest part. I was told to keep pushing and after 1hr or so I was completely tired! I had no energy because I haven't been eating and couldn't keep anything down as well that I didn't sleep. After pushing for so long I was told to rest until the doctor got there. The doctor showed up a little after 4 pm and I finally had my baby in my arms at 437pm. It was seriously one the best experience. I thought I would cry but I was filled with so much love and amazement that I was just silent.
The best moment that I will always remember is holding Claira and having Stan lean over Claira's head and started talking to her. She moved her back and looked upside down at Stan and smiled at him. Sweetest moment.

Claira Kimiko Avans
Born: July 21, 2011 @ 4:37pm
7lbs 6oz
21 inches

Proud daddy!

Here is Stan, Claira, and Dr. Doswell

I love this picture of Stan and Claira.

Our first family picture:)

This is a funny picture of Claira. She is getting all cleaned up.

Big yawn.

My perfect and sweet baby girl.

Great Grandma (Mari Dawn) and Claira.

Great Grandma (Baba) and Claira

Now an uncle (Santiago) and Claira

We stayed in the hospital until Saturday morning. Here is Claira all ready to go home. She is wearing new born size and its still too big.

Baby info.

I hope you enjoyed.I will be posting more pictures of our beautiful girl!