Happy Birthday Clare!

It’s Clare’s 2 week birthday today. She’s had a big couple of days lately – though she may not be aware of it. A few days ago she received her first piece of mail, her social security card came in the mail. So she is now an official, legal citizen. Today she went to the orthopedic pediatrician (more on that later) and we found out that she now weighs 6 lbs. 14 oz. This is a big deal since she has exceeded her birth weight by 4 ounces in 2 weeks (which is what our pediatrician wanted). I’m thrilled that she’s eating so well and is so healthy. We must be doing something right.

We went to the orthopedic pediatrician today because of a concern we had about Clare’s right foot when she was born. It is turned in slightly like a club foot, but unlike a club foot the bones aren’t fused inward and her foot can be moved back to a normal position. The pediatricians who examined her in the hospital after she was born recommended that we have an orthopedist look at it ‘just to be sure.’ The orthopedist proclaimed it a ‘perfectly healthy foot’ and said it should straighten out on its own over time. We weren’t really concerned about it, but I feel better now knowing we don’t have to watch it in the future.

Besides these things, the other bit of excitement in our house is that Clare has had five-hour stints of sleeping over the last two nights. This is mostly exciting for me, but I think Clare likes it too. We seem to be over last week’s fussiness and she’s been very sweet, alert and interested in the world around her these last few days. We think her eye sight is beginning to improve and she’s focusing on things that are farther away. She also let out a little coo the other day – which was absolutely adorable. In general she’s become more verbal. It’s most little grunts and sighs, but she makes quite a bit of noise for someone so small. It’s so fun watching these tiny little incremental development changes and she seems to change a little bit every day. I just keep my fingers crossed that the changes keep moving in the direction of sleeping more and crying less.

Below are some pictures of Clare ‘talking’ to Jeremy and I.

I especially love the picture of her and Jeremy because you can see her little hands in the air. She’s very expressive and her little hands and arms especially are always moving around, even in her sleep. I’ll try to get a picture in the next few days of her sleeping with her arms over her head.