China

(By Aubree)

On Friday Clara and I were taking a walk, and I passed a sign for an estate sale. I didn't have much on my schedule for the day so I decided to take a look. When I walked into the garage, I could tell that there really wasn't much, just old blankets and sheets and things like that. Then I walked past this china set. Jeff's mom has a set almost exactly like it that I have always loved. It's so simple but elegant. It's all white with a stripe of silver around the edges. Anyway, I decided to do some research on the real price, and although they were selling it for a great price I couldn't justify buying it. The next day was the last day of the sale and I had kind of forgotten about it until I took Clara for another walk and saw the sign again. I decided to just take another look at it. I called Jeff and we thought maybe if they went down a little bit, we might consider buying them. I went on a limb and decided since it was just hours away from the end of their sale, that I would ask if they would drop the price by 1/3. They agreed and now I'm the proud owner of this beautiful China set. It has 12 dinner plates, 11 saucers, 12 cups, a serving bowl, and a serving platter. I love it!

Sleeping Like a Baby

(By Aubree)



I feel like I have been complaining too much in the last couple of blogs. I don't want to come across as not liking motherhood. I've never had so much meaning to my life as I do now. I wouldn't choose to do anything else but be Clara's mom and Jeff's wife right now. I am so in love with my life, even if I do have to make some sacrifices.

That said, I have been trying something new at bedtime. I've only done it a couple of nights, and a few times during nap time. My pediatricion said that as soon as Clara is really good at sucking on her fist, between 3 to 4 months, to lay her down when she is drowsy, but awake. I have also talked to several other moms who have had success with the book "Baby Wise", which from what I understand, is the same idea. I tried this over a week ago, but didn't succeed, because I couldn't let her cry like that. So I tried again on Satuday night, and I decided to try using a mobile to help comfort her. It is the best. It plays music and the mobile does it's thing, and it also has kind of a light show too. It definetly helped, and she would cry or cry harder when it turned off.

So on Saturday I layed her down drowsy, but awake, and it was so hard. I think I cried almost as much as she did, for two reasons. 1- I don't like just letting her cry and not think that I don't care that she's upset, and 2- I'm going to miss the time I spent with her rocking her to sleep. But I feel like this will help her in the long run. I was watching her the whole time. She would watch the mobile, and then cry, dose off a couple of times, find her fist, and cry, then cry harder. I picked her up to calm her down, then layed her down again and not too much longer she was asleep.

Last night was much easier. She cried a lot harder at first, so I thought maybe she wasn't ready for bed yet, so I calmed her down and she actually fell asleep in my arms. She then woke up and I layed her down. She wimpered for a second and then she was fast asleep! And what's even better is she slept for almost 10 hours!

Nap time is still not quite as good, but at least she will lay down by herself for a short time. Who knows, maybe she will get better, or maybe she won't, but it's worth a try.

Three Months Old

(By Aubree)

This month has gone by so fast! Probably the main reason is because Clara, Jeff, and I have been sick. Clara got RSV and Influenza B. We were really lucky, because she didn't end up on oxygen or have to stay in the hospital at all. There was really only one scary day and I took her in to have her oxygen level checked and it was between 88-90%, which isn't very good. I went back later that night and it had gone up to 93%. They ordered a little vacuum that sucks out her nose, which she hates, and that helped so much. Then Jeff and I got the flu and Clara and I ended up with ear infections. So this took up a good portion of the month, but we're all pretty healthy now.

Clara has been a lot of fun this month. Her favorite toy is a mirror. She will smile and talk to herself forever! It's the cutest. She slept through the night for the first time last night! 8 and 1/2 hours baby!! She is really grabbing things, but doesn't realize it all the time. She will be holding a toy and not even know it's there. I can't wait until she can entertain herself better, because she's still pretty clingy, but I'll take the snuggles while she'll give 'em.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to help her to sleep during the day, please tell me. I've probably heard them all, but I want to hear it anyway. I don't know why she won't nap, but it's really frustrating. She will sleep for maybe 30 to 45 minutes while I'm holding her and anytime I try to lay her down to nap, she'll wake up not even 5 minutes later. Any suggestions are welcome.

This is her favorite toy. There's a mirror that she's looking at and she will stare at herself and just smile and talk.

My sister-in-law Wendy let us borrow this. It's to help with tummy time, but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. It sure makes for a cute picture though!

We love bath time! She is very content and relaxed in the tub now. It's one of our favorite times of the day.

Clara loves hanging with her daddy. She will talk to him more than anybody else. Look at those chubby cheeks! It seems like she's gotten so much chubbier in the last couple of weeks.

This is the first and only time she has sucked on her thumb that I know of. I have tried and tried to get her to do it since, but she won't. It would help her be more content by herself if she got the hang of it.

Clara still loves her walks. She usually will sleep most of the way.

This is the walk to the park. It's only about 1/2 mile from our house.

The park has a track that we walk around.

Five Generations

(by Jeff)

We spent last weekend with both of our families. We left Friday afternoon and stopped in Preston, Idaho to visit Aubree's sister and her family. They were unable to make it to Clara's blessing, and most of them had not yet seen Clara. We then drove up to Grace and spent Friday night and most of Saturday with Aubree's family.

Late Saturday afternoon, we drove to Smithfield so that I could attend Priesthood session with my dad, followed by a family meal with most of my family. On Sunday, we watched conference with my family. Everyone came for lunch, including my Grandpa and Grandma Ashcroft and Grandma Florence. Grandma Florence is my great-grandma. She will turn 100 years old this year, and is still going strong. While we had everyone together, we figured it was a good time to take a five-generation picture.

Five Generations
Clara, me, my mom, Grandpa Ashcroft, and Grandma Florence

Grandma Ashcroft didn't get in on the five-generation picture, but we did get this picture with her having fun with Clara.

Clara is so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandma!

St. George and a Wedding

(By Aubree)

Just so you all know, I posted 3 posts today, so if this one is too long for you to read and you want to skip it, the next 2 are mostly pictures!

This post is a little late, but we wanted to write about it. The first week in March we went down to St. George because Jeff went to a work-related water convention. He had to get a hotel anyway, so Clara and I decided to join him. We were there for 3 nights. On the way down, Clara slept most of the way until just before Cedar City. We had to stop to feed and change her and then she fussed for a little while, but finally slept again. She slept really well that night at the hotel. I think it was the first night that she slept for 7 hours straight, which was surprising for how much she slept during the day.

During the days, while Jeff was gone to the convention, Clara and I went shopping and took walks in the nice weather. It was nice and relaxing.

We didn't dare go out to eat with Clara--you just never know how she's going to act. So we ordered in every night. The first night we had some really good Mexican food, the second night we had some pretty good Chinese, and the last night we had hamburgers, fries, onion rings, and shakes.

The last full day we were there we decided to get Clara's pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids that was across the street from our hotel. Boy, was that an experience! We had made an appointment, and I had timed it just right. She had just woken up and I fed her so she was happy and smiling. But we got there, and waited and waited and waited. It was more than 1 hour and 15 minutes later when they took us back. By this time, Clara was hungry, tired, and fussy. Although Clara was unhappy, I thought we got some pretty good pictures. But I'm sure we could have got some great ones if we had been able to get in when we were supposed to. When it was time to choose the photo package, the girl rushed us and was acting all sorts of impatient. In retrospect, I would have totally redone some of the pictures we chose! Nevertheless, it's nice to now have some good-quality pictures of her.

That night we also went over to Jeff's old mission president's (President Larkin) house to visit with him and his cute wife. They are always so nice to visit with, and she has such good decorating skills. I love to look around to get ideas to decorate my own house.

We left St. George on Friday morning, and on the way we picked up Katelyn, Jeff's niece. We made it to Farmington, did some laundry, relaxed, and stretched our legs for a couple of hours, then it was off to Smithfield. Once again Clara did really well until the very end. So in one day we went from the very south of Utah to the very north. We spent the night at Jeff's parents because his brother's wedding was on Saturday morning and we thought it would be easier to get ready there. Clara had a really bad night, and I was beyond exhausted, so Jeff took her and put her to sleep (he even had to drive around with her for a while). I have the best husband. Altogether though, I think we each got about 5 hours of sleep.

On Saturday I got her ready and she was wearing her pretty new dress and guess what happened? Do you remember her blessing day? Yep, she blew out AGAIN, only this one was way worse. It was almost as if she weren't even wearing a diaper. Luckily I had brought another dress. My sister Amy sat with Clara in the waiting room during the sealing and I was nervous about her being a little pill, but she was so good for her!! Thanks Amy! The sealing was beautiful.

Jacob and Amy at Clara's blessing. (We don't have any pictures from the wedding because we forgot our camera for this whole event-filled week!)

One thing that's funny is Jeff's brother Jacob married a beautiful girl named Amy, and Jeff's other brother Ben also has a wife named Amy, and I have a sister named Amy, so we have to use all sorts of code names when talking about our many sisters named Amy!

Surprise!

(By Aubree)

On Monday, my friends threw Lyndzi a surprise party because she is moving far away and because she is having a baby in June. We had lunch and chatted, and it was so much fun to get together. Lyndzi, I'm going to miss you so much!

Top from left: Me, Amelia, Lena
Bottom from left: April, Lyndzi

I think they both look so cute!!

Clara slept so good for me. I think she like to sleep with noise, because she always sleeps better in public.

April's daughter, Carlie

Amelia's son, Grayson

Lyndzi's son Camden. The balloons were a hit with the kids!

Do I dare say we have a routine?

(By Aubree)

Knock on wood! This week has been pretty good and consistent. Four nights in a row, Clara slept for 6 hours, woke up for about 20 to 60 minutes, and went going back to sleep for another 2 hours. Last night wasn't quite as good, but she slept for 4 and 1/2 hours and then 3 hours. This makes her mommy very happy!

Daytime is pretty much the same old, but I am seeing small improvements. She has found her fist, which soothes her for a short time, so she will sit by herself for a little longer than usual. She still wakes up when I try to put her in her crib during the day, which I don't understand because the last 2 nights she didn't even flinch when I put her down. She must be super tired from not sleeping well during the day. Actually, right now she is asleep on the couch, but we'll see how long that lasts. She take about an hour nap in the stroller on our daily walk (Mommy's favorite time of the day!).

Here are some current pictures.

I thought this one was funny, and it also shows her putting her fist in her mouth.

Two Month Check-up

(By Aubree)

On Monday I took Clara to the doctor for her two month check up. Here are her stats:
24 1/2 inches - 97th percentile - 3 1/2 inch gain since birth
12 lbs 6 oz - 90-95th percentile - 4 lb gain since birth
head - average
I don't know how this works, but he said that she is still lean for her height. I still don't know how they factor that.

Clara has been a lot of fun lately, but at the same time more difficult than last month. She has the smiling and gibberish thing down pat. It's so much fun to be able to connect with her a lot more. She is using her legs to push herself up while I'm holding her and she will sit on my knee with very little help except for balance. She enjoys the bath a lot more, which is nice. When she has no clothes on we will stand her up and there's something about the width of her abdomen and the skinniness of her legs that reminds us of a frog. We laugh every time we do it!

The reason why she is more difficult is that she is just fussy all day long. She still sleeps fairly well at night. I even get an occasional 7 hours straight! But during the day, that's another story because she just does not sleep well. She doesn't want to do anything except eat. There are moments when she will be happy and talk and smile with me, but that usually doesn't last more than 10 minutes. When I try to put her down she will sit by herself for about the same amount of time before she wants me to pick her up, and usually the only thing that will make her happy after that is nursing her. Some days are better than others, but I just find it so hard to try and get anything done during the day. I try to watch what I eat most of the time, but I think she has a little bit of colic.

All in all though, she really is a joy to have around and I know it can only get better from here. She has already shown small improvements. We love our little Clara!!