We’ve now been home from the hospital for four days. I’ve heard a lot of people say that the first days home are the hardest, and on Sunday I was thinking “this isn’t so bad. We just have the perfect baby, so we won’t have hard days.” Ha! That’s what I get for being over-confident. Clare started alternating fussing and screaming on Sunday night and pretty much didn’t stop until Tuesday. The sleep deprivation, demands of nursing, recovery from the C-section (and maybe some postpartum hormones) caught up with me, in addition to Jeremy starting working and being home less, and created a bit of a perfect storm. Fortunately, Mom and Jeremy to the rescue and an afternoon spent with my mom (who came bearing grocery bags of good food) and a good night’s sleep (courtesy of J who took all of the night feedings last night) has made all the difference. I woke up this morning, looked at Clare’s tiny little face and said “I missed you last night.”
Besides our first challenging days, we’ve had fun visiting with people and introducing them to Clare.
Uncle Jon and Cousin Eric met her on Sunday. Eric wasn’t sure about holding her, but he did a good job.
Jeremy showed off his patented Baby Soothing Technique 
Talking to Baby Clare
On Tuesday we went to visit our friends David and Jennilyn. They were due with their second baby on July 4 (the day before us) and we both went over a week late. Our babies were born on the same day, an hour and a half apart. Jenn and I were pregnancy buddies and would commiserate in late pregnancy. David is a wonderful photographer and took our maternity pictures. He also took some shots of us while we were there. Here is an impromptu pic of Jenn and I at our ‘nursing bar.’
Clare and Violet. We were joking that Violet looked like a Zen Buddha baby – while Clare (who was squawking and wiggling) was not very Zen.
Jenn and I with our babies.
Cross-eyed Baby. This picture cracks me up!
Proud Mama!
She has Jeremy’s eyebrows and expressions.
J lovin’ on Clare.