10 weeks old is lots of fun!

Mary Claire is already 10 weeks old! Goodness time has flown! She is cooing and smiling a lot! I weighed her at my moms yesterday and she weighed in at 11.5 pounds! Her hair is still black! I am wondering if that will stay since Mallory's didn't.  She still hasn't rubbed it off the back of her head like Mallory did. She loves sucking on a pacifier just like Mallory did. I honestly don't know what I would do sometimes if she didnt like it! She is sleeping from 8:30 to 3:00 /3:30ish most nights and then wants to eat. I can usually get her to go back asleep pretty easily and she will sleep until 6:30. I actually feel somewhat rested again! Yay for sleep! Mallory was sleeping all night at 8 weeks which really spoiled us! We are still swaddling Mary Claire and she sleeps terrible if she isn't swaddled! I just love everything about her! Babies are just so precious and she is at such a fun stage! 

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17 

 I truly feel so blessed that God allowed us to be Mallory and Mary Claire's parents!  Our children are definitely Gifts from God!  I pray they will both grow up loving our Heavenly Father and will one day accept Him in their Hearts and follow Him! Amen. 

My favorite baby items!

My baby must have items! Most I couldn't do without! I am sure I will add more as she gets older, but this is my list for the moment! 

1. Swing - Mary Claire takes lots of naps in this and so did Mallory! It also plays

Instrumental music and has a white noise that that sounds like birds chirping. I use the bird noise every night to help her sleep! 

2. Bouncer - the one we had with Mallory broke so I had to get a new one. I found this one at kids market for only $10! It will vibrate and play music. Mary Claire loves to sit in it. 

3. Rock and play - this is what Mary Claire sleeps in majority of the time, especially at night. My friend Erica let borrow this! I had never heard of it before , but it helps let her sleep on an incline which is better for reflux babies. It's also very light weight, rocks and folds up very easy to put in your trunk to travel with. It's awesome! 

4. Medicine paci - this has totally transformed how Mary Claire takes her medicine for reflux! She had been spitting it out the minute it would go in her mouth and now she swallows it! Found this at Winn Dixie actually for a few dollars! 

5. Pacifiers - these have been a must have for both of our kids. They have so many different types available.  Without these and swaddle blankets I don't think I would get any sleep! Ha! 

6. Swaddle Blankets - these have been a requirement for Mary Claire and were for Mallory to sleep as well. Without these, their hands would wake them up! It also makes them feel like the are bundled back in your tummy. The Velcro ones are my favorite! They are very reasonable price wise and  help to calm my child down as well as sleep for longer periods of time. I could not make it without these! 

7. Pack -n-play - great for a crib on the go! Used it so much with Mallory when we traveled! I am sure we will use it a lot with Mary Claire too. This is not the one we have it's a lot fancier. Ours is a cheaper  model ,but it more than handles the job just fine! 

8. Boopy Pillow - this is great to help either bottle or breast feed the baby. What I have actually used it most for is, to let Mallory hold Mary Claire! It's so much easier to just put this pillow in Mals lap and then I don't have to worry about her head being supported. 

9. Infant Gowns - these are great! Mary Claire sleeps in them every night! It's so much easier to just pull up gown to change diaper in the middle of the night then to worry about all the snaps sleepers have! 

10. Bibs and Burp Cloths- these are a must at our house. We go through like 5 a day! Both of my girls have been spitters, so I couldn't have made it without a lot of these! 

11. Stridex sensitive - both of my kids got baby acne several weeks after they were born. I was told it had something to do with me passing them a hormone during birth. It usually only lasts a few weeks but with Mary Claire my doctor told me to get these and it would help dry it up quicker. It really did help and is now almost gone! Yay! 

12. Baby monitor - since our original one was on its last leg, we upgraded to a newer fancier one this time around. I will say this is not something I would have splurged on if we didn't own a 2 story house with all the kids bedrooms upstairs. The monitor we got is the brand Summer. It's a video monitor and came with 2 cameras and you can view them on 1 handset! It's awesome to be able to see what mal is doing upstairs in her bedroom during nap time! Lol My favorite feature of all is being able to push a button and talk to her! I no longer have to scream/yell to answer her when she would talk on the monitor or ask if she could do certain things.  It's awesome! Mallory was the child who wouldn't even leave her room to use bathroom unless she asked! I have now trained her to just go, but it's nice to be to answer her and not yell for her to here me! 

13. Maya wrap - a must have for having 2 small kids! I wear her grocery shopping , at church on Wednesday nights, and when we took mal to zoo. I have used it a lot already! Mary Claire loves to sleep in it! It also allows me to be hands free which is awesome at grocery store! The infant car seats take up the entire buggy and leaves no room for food! This wrap is so easy to put baby in and get her out. It also has a awesome pocket at bottom I can put cell phone, wallet and a burp cloth in. That allows me to be purse free, which is awesome! There are many different positions the baby can be worn as she gets bigger. It will hold up to 35 pounds! 

So these are my top 13 must have baby things! Not every baby will like all of these items, but that have all had huge impacts in taking care of our 2 little ones! 

8 weeks old and lots of smiles!

Mary Claire is already 8 weeks old now! It's so hard to believe its been that long! She is smiling and cooing lots more now and we are really enjoying all her expressions. Here are a few I caught on my iPhone. Enjoy! I seriously can't get enough of her! Our 2 girls definitely have my heart! We are blessed by more than we deserve! 

7 weeks old and shots!

Well Mary Claire is now 7 weeks old and had her first round of shots this week. She cried of course ,but it didn't last long and was probably harder on me than her! Ha! After Mallory saw her little sister get shots, she told us she doesn't want any of those! Ha! I guess she doesn't remember getting any of hers over the last 3 years. 

Mary Claire is doing much better  and growing! She is still on Zantac which has made a huge difference in her reflux pain! Her spitting up has gotten worse , but she isn't crying in pain like she was so I will gladly take the mess and extra laundry! However, if you decide to hold our sweet Mary Claire, you have been warned your clothes might get soaked with lovely spit up! 

She weighed in at a big 10.7 pounds at her dr visit. This is about the same size Mallory was at 8 weeks. She is only 22in long which is about an inch shorter than Mallory was. At 8 weeks is when Mallory decided to quit gaining weight so I am hoping we don't visit that trend with Mary Claire. 

Mary Claire isn't as good of a sleeper, but last night She managed sleep 7 hours from 9-4. That was awesome! Hoping this trend continues. She is drinking anywhere from 4-5 ounces of similac sensitive formula every 3-4 hours during the day. 

Today Sunday, September 1st was Mary Claire's first Sunday at church! I let Mrs. Lillian a sweet lady keep her in the nursery during Sunday school. She is so great with all the little babies and loves them so much! I think they must have held her the entire time and let her sleep cause when I picked her up she still hadn't  woken up to eat! 

She is now cooing and smiling at us, which is such a fun stage. Mallory loves to talk to her and will get so excited when she coos back! Mallory thinks its Mary Claire's way of telling her hey! 

This week Mallory also started back to preschool at Trinity. She was so excited to see all her friends, but mostly about having her great-aunt Kathleen for her teacher! 

Thankful that God blessed us with 2 wonderful little girls! Tomorrow Mary Claire will be 8 weeks! My how time flies!