She rolled over from front to back for the first time at seven weeks old, but she hasn't done it again. I think she surprised herself!
Every time I held the camera button half-way to focus, she squinted at the bright light
Perhaps it's just because she's a singleton (and not colicky like Josiah), but I think she's our easiest and mellowest baby so far. She's not the Little Lord Jesus, of course, so crying she does make. But she starts with a little yelp that she repeats for a bit before launching into a cry.
This was almost a month ago now--Dec. 11th
She enjoys watching the household doings from her rock'n'play cradle. Yesterday she was happy to be there even at the "witching hour" of dinnertime prep when I brought her into the kitchen with me: as long as she could see me cooking, she didn't fuss.
"Waxy flexibility," as my mom says--hands held up in sleep, as if to ward off dangerous siblings
The Christmas chaos, noise, relatives, siblings, etc. up in Flagstaff hardly phased Clara. She enjoyed lots of snuggles from aunts, uncles, Grandma, and Pa. She survived Lydia picking her up and almost dropping her (saved by Daddy before she hit the ground). She survived curious cousins poking at her and squeezing her toes.
Littlest of the cousins
We even slept all together in the same room (six crammed in now!), and she didn't wake her siblings once (I did make sure to get to her quickly when she woke at night, though!). Actually, she typically did a nice 4-6 hour stretch once I put her to bed in the room. And the pack'n'play didn't bother her.
Snuggles with Grandma at Christmas
Her placidity when traveling amazed us: we did not need to stop once for Clara on the trip up to Flagstaff and on the trip back! I made sure she was changed and fed before we left, and then she just slept the whole way--even through a sibling bathroom break on the side of an exit ramp. She slept through her siblings' whining and crying, she slept through a sister kicking her chair, she slept through a stop for gas and eggs, and she even slept through our trip to Trader Joe's at the very end of the journey--and she only started fussing about a minute from our house.
December 10th
These days she smiles readily when we look at her (and often even when we don't--if she sees someone walk by or if she's looking up at the fan, she'll smile). She is bright-eyed and so cute, despite a little balding and the double chin she's developing. Lately she loves to "talk" to me, responding to my voice with coos and gurgles along with her smiles. Her big brother and sisters love to see her smiling at them.
Each of the others had trouble sleeping long stretches on their backs by this age, no matter how we swaddled them. Clara is a happy back-sleeper, though! She has even done a seven-hour stretch at night (though five to six hours is more common). If I put her in her bed in our room, she sleeps pretty well during her daytime naps, too (usually an hour to three hours at a time). When in her rock'n'play in the living room, she'll fall asleep but now has more trouble sleeping through the racket of her siblings.
Like her sisters, Clara likes to suck on her hands. She hasn't found an individual thumb yet, but I often find her working away at a fist--usually her left.
More and more, Clara loves to be with people and part of the action. She sometimes starts yelping and fussing when she can't see people around her, but cheers up and quiets down when we bring her to the dinner table, lean over and talk to her, pick her up, etc.
Clara has been an excellent nurser right from the start, when a Labor and Delivery nurse commented that she had never seen a newborn nurse so well or long as Clara just minutes after birth. I'm grateful that so far we haven't had any trouble (not even mastitis yet, despite all the lack of sleep and rest!). I've really enjoyed nursing her--and really enjoyed her as a baby, too. She's sweet, pleasant, cuddly, and so kissable (as all of them have been).
We all love Baby Clara so!
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