Harris Update! (2w, 1d old)

Harris Caldwell is doing very well - as of today he is off all oxygen and not sedated since the surgery on Wednesday. He is in an open crib now, though still in the NICU. His nurse gave him a little spa treatment yesterday, his hair was so soft and fluffy today! We're still on Poop Watch, but the doc(s) aren't worried as of yet, they expect him to get that rolling this weekend, ideally.

Here are some pics from today -

Harris Caldwell is here!

Big Sister Claire says:

Harris Caldwell was born at 10:49 a.m. on Thursday, January 15th, 2009! He weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz and was 20 inches long.

All is generally well, but he's got some breathing issues and is in the NICU for a few days. Julia goes home on Monday, hopefully Harris will go home the same day or just a day or two after.

Claire's becoming a big sister today!

It's about 6am, and in about 4 more hours Claire will have a baby brother out and about - or at least as out/about as a newborn can be!

Stay tuned for details.

New Video and Updates

I'm uploading some new videos of Claire tonight - well, "new" means 1 from July 4th weekend at Shelter Island, 1 from this Christmas and 2 of us goofing around tonight. They should show up in the ClaireTV window over on the left in the next day. I didn't realize we had video from the 4th - compared to what the little girl looks like now, it's such a huge change!

Speaking of huge changes, Harris Caldwell Springsteen is scheduled to be born at 10 am on Thursday, January 15. We'll put pictures and video (no worries, not of the actual birth) up as within the week after, I hope.

And since Claire is going to have to start sharing her blog, among many (many) other things, I guess we need to think of a new name soon. Suggestions?

Bubbles!!

Claire's grandparents gave her a "Bubble BBQ"...it's quite a hit with the little girl. We had to clean out CVS of small containers of bubble juice because apparently large containers are a seasonal thing at Target. In theory you can make your own...I have yet to channel Martha Stewart, though.

Excuse the slight fuzziness of the pictures - I don't know if its because it was getting dark or if our much-abused digital camera is finally close to biting the big one. I suspect the latter.

Claire the Congested Kitty Cat

Claire has a miserable cold this weekend (bonus: with a fever) but since Old Navy was selling costumes for $5 and she has a Halloween party at school next Friday, guess where we went? The idea of a duck, frog or bee went straight out the window thanks to the sale, of course. Claire could not have cared less. I thought the cat outfit was much better than poodle or bat.

So this is our miserably congested cat in her first try-on of the costume. She was watching a Backyardigans, so I could have put her in pretty much anything. She dealt with it for a little bit, but the thing is HOT, so once she started cooking it was time for the thing to go. Luckily it velcro's on/off like a little jacket, nothing over the head, so she can strip it off herself easily. The pants with the feet slowed her down a bit, which was funny. I had to help with that.

In addition to the Halloween party on Friday, her school moved their Halloween festival to Nov. 1 since it rained all day today, so she'll hopefully have two opportunities to wear this. Her daycare is affiliated with a local private school that also owns 3 daycares, so they are having a festival for all the schools. Might be fun if she can get and stay well for a week or so. "They" keep telling me her immune system will benefit from this. I hope so.

Pumpkins!

We made the trek up to Butler's Orchard in Maryland on Saturday. Ray's family used to go there when he was younger. They have a lot for kids to do - animals to see/feed, tunnels and slides and such. Claire had some fun - she liked the chickens and pig.

She liked picking out her pumpkin and insisted on carrying it all the way from the field to the checkout share. (Mommy's back almost gave out, but that's ok.)