THANKFUL #3 Claire Hope

Claire in her bouncer. She loves to be outside and loves to watch her sisters play.

At Halloween Claire got to dress up as Snow White. What a cutie and she left the wig on for quite a while.

The girls having their morning bottles. Yes Ellie still takes a bottle but it's the only way she gets down one of her meds. Plus the girls always have some good bonding time in the morning.

THANKFUL #3-CLAIRE HOPE

If you saw the recent news clip on Ellie, they forgot to mention Ellie had a sister born after her named Claire. We wanted to clarify that for those of you wondering what happened. She was born sixteen months after her. And let me tell you it has been a lot of fun having two babies. My life the past seven months has been quite a blur. Lots of diapers, lots of poop, lots of blowouts, lots of throw-up and a whole lot of laughing to help us get through it. One of these days I will get my side bar updated to show that she is part of our family also.

This little one has been such a blessing to our family. She is such a happy baby. When she wakes in the morning, I check on her to see if she is awake because she usually will not cry to let me know that she is up. Family has given her the nickname "Smilely." Her demeanor was exactly what we needed, when we needed it. She gave us a good distraction during some very trying times. There were many a nights at the hospital, where I had to remember the new life growing inside of me. Even though I wanted to stay up all night and watch my Ellie sleep.

Claire at six months is already scooting around. She started crawling on her seventh month mark. She loves to laugh at her sisters when they throw a plastic ball in her face. Or when you rub your nose in her neck. She has the cutest laugh. She sleeps fairly well despite her very scary start. She would sleep all day and cry (literally) all night. It was pure torture for about a month. Nothing would quiet her down. The swing, holding her, sleeping on us, gas bubbles, nothing! Then we discovered it. Rays of light are coming down this moment and the heavens are opening up to blue skies. As we were facing another night of no sleep, I happened upon a bin of clothes that my sister gave me. I pulled out this glorious garment that was white and had velcro tabs on it. It was a snuggie! We wrapped it around her that night and instantly she settled down. Nate and I looked at each other and with a glimmer of "HOPE" for the first time in a month and crashed. We woke the next morning at five to find her sleeping snuggly her snuggie. Best invention ever!!! This saved our Claire Bear from a disastrous beginning and into the beautiful little girl we know today.