What’s in a Name

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When CJ and I first found out we were expecting, we immediately jumped into coming up with name options for both a boy and a girl. We had a ton of names on our girl list but not so many on the boy list. For some reason, coming up with a boy name was too difficult for us (maybe that was a sign that we were expecting a girl?). But anyway, we went through our list of names for girls and kept narrowing it down and then expanding it when we found a new one that was a contender. We tried to imagine what name would fit best when I read someone’s blog post about how they came up with their daughter’s name and it really resonated with me (and CJ too, once I told him about it).  I wish I could find that post because she was so eloquent with how she explained her reasoning but allow me to try in my own words…

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Claire. A name that I’ve known since I was four years old when I first met my best friend. Claire was magnetic even then. A person that you would look up to and admire even if you were decades older. When I moved to California, I feared that we would lose touch but we never did. In fact, we became closer. She is that friend that you can talk to once a year and it’s like no time has passed. She’s one of my heroes even though she’s only 3 months older than me. She’s the type of friend where you don’t have to say a word but she knows exactly what you’re thinking. She has supported me and been there for me no matter what. Not to mention, she is strong and independent and so incredibly accomplished. She knows what she wants and will do what it takes to make it a reality. I’ve never met someone who doesn’t love Claire and I don’t think I ever will.

When CJ and I were coming up with names and I read that blog post that I mentioned, I told CJ about it right away and we agreed immediately – if we want our daughter to be like anyone in the world, it’s Claire. She’s kind, caring, driven, independent, inspiring, and most of all – the best friend you could ever ask for. So we decided then and there, even before we knew we were having a girl, that if we were having a girl, her name would be Claire Elizabeth. Claire, because we hope that our daughter will grow up to be like the powerful and wonderful person that she’s named after. Elizabeth, because I’ve always loved my middle name and the names sound beautiful together. Not to mention, we hope she’s a bit like me too. 😉 It also works out perfectly because her name has both of our initials, C and E.

Our Claire <3

Our Claire ❤

So there you go, now you know how we decided on her beautiful name. 🙂

Claire and I at my 16th birthday party

Claire and I at my 16th birthday party

So cheers to every friend out there that inspires you to be a better person! Those friends are the ones that you should hold onto and never take for granted.

 

Introducing Claire Elizabeth!

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Claire

Photo Credit: photographybyshawnee.com

 

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Claire Elizabeth, born May 8th at 9:28pm. She weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce (the same as me when I was born!!) and was 18.5 inches long. She already has quite the personality and definitely knows what she likes and doesn’t like.

It’s amazing to think that almost 2 weeks have already passed by since she entered the world. The birth was very long and difficult but so worth it. Now we understand what people meant when they said to us, “Forget the birth plan”, because that’s exactly what happened with us.

Claire was estimated to be about 8 pounds 3 ounces the Friday before her due date which made our OB nervous because I’m so petite. When we went in for our appointment on her due date, we decided to go for an induction since I had not gone into labor yet and she was only going to get larger. The hospital’s inductions were booked for the rest of the week but luckily there was a cancellation that day so they thought they could slip us in to that slot. We had to call almost every hour that night to see if they could take us but it ended up being an extremely busy night for them. The next morning, I called and they said we could head on in. We arrived at 7:30am on Wednesday the 7th. 36 hours of labor and a c-section later, we were holding Claire in our arms. It definitely wasn’t what we planned but, in the end, the #1 item on our birth plan was satisfied – making sure that she was safe and healthy.

We left the hospital last Monday and have been trying to get into a routine since then. So far, it’s been going fairly well except for the exhaustion. It’s hard to adjust to waking up every few hours for feedings and I’m sure all parents out there understand that. But, looking at our beautiful daughter makes it all worth it. She is such a dream come true.

 

Happy Due Date to Us!

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40 Weeks

Today is Baby T’s due date! Since I’m writing this, you’ve probably figured out that she has not yet arrived.

We are very patiently waiting for her to join us and are just so incredibly excited for her to finally be here! We will keep you posted on when that happens to be.

The Waiting Game

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Maternity Photos

Today is officially my first day of maternity leave! I’m proud to say I’ve been quite productive so far. I’ve deep cleaned the entire house, vacuumed, dropped off dry cleaning, unloaded the dishwasher, did 5 loads of laundry, and so much more. Some might say it’s nesting but I honestly have always loved cleaning especially on my days off. I knew that when Baby T arrives, the last thing we will want to do is deep clean the house so this is my last chance before she arrives and I’m so happy to have the time to do it.

Another thing on my to-do list for this week – figure out some time to paint my toes… or I should say figure out if I’m still capable of painting my toes. Last time I painted them was when I was about 7 months pregnant and man was it quite the task. It was much harder to navigate around my baby bump than I thought. That belly has only grown larger so I may end up throwing in the towel and heading to a nail salon.

I also plan on going on daily walks and resting as much as possible.

Tomorrow will be exactly one week until the due date. It’s only a matter of time until we get to meet our little girl!

 

38 Week Update!

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Taken before our delicious Easter brunch!

Taken before our delicious Easter brunch!

We’re getting closer! I kind of wish I organized my weekly updates like this from the beginning but oh well!

Bump Update: I’m constantly amazed at how large my belly is these days. Now, when I sit down, my belly rests on my legs which is the strangest feeling ever. The only comfortable sitting position for me lately is sitting on an exercise ball. And, I officially look like I’m smuggling a basketball under my shirt. It’s nuts! I’m told that from the back I don’t look pregnant at all but, let me tell you, I definitely do from the side!

Sleep: My sleeping isn’t horrible. I can’t really get comfortable but I do fall asleep right away and stay asleep the entire night except for the occasional bathroom breaks. It doesn’t really bother me though because I literally fall right back asleep. CJ says that I move around a lot at night and he wakes up a couple times in the middle of the night to rotate me back onto my side (since that’s better for circulation). Unfortunately, that means that my poor husband isn’t sleeping through the night anymore.

Food: I really really enjoy the taste of a nice cool milkshake or ice cream in general. But milkshakes are really where the party’s at. I’m not having them more than once or twice a week but, boy do I enjoy them when I have them. Other than the occasional milkshake, I’m generally eating really healthy.

Weight Gain: I’ve gained the perfect amount for my size! My doctor says it’s been steady throughout the pregnancy and has been a healthy amount. I don’t plan on revealing any actual numbers though. 🙂

Baby T: During our weekly appointments, we’re told she has a perfect heartbeat and is measuring large. I knew I had a big baby in there! She gets the hiccups allll the time and loves moving around all day. She’s quite an active little one and I love every minute of it.

Work: Tomorrow is my last day at work before maternity leave starts. I’ve been working from home the past couple of weeks which has helped avoid any stress from commuting. But it’s definitely bittersweet – I’m really going to miss everyone at work and miss my job because I truly love what I do, but at the same time I’m sooo excited to relax a bit before Baby T arrives and plan to soak up all the time I get with her over these next few months. I know it will be hard to return to work when the time comes.

Nursery: It is officially complete!

Other than that, we had a lovely Easter this last Sunday which wouldn’t have been complete without a delicious Easter brunch!

37 Weeks!

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37 Weeks

In approximately 3 weeks (depending on when Baby T decides to join us), we will be holding our little girl in our arms for the first time. It feels so surreal and is SO exciting!!

We’re definitely ready for her arrival – car seat is in the car, stroller is set up, glider is put together, nursery is done, overnight bag is packed, diaper bag is packed, all of her clothes that we’ve received as gifts have been washed and put away… You name it, I’m sure we’ve done it.

Over the New Years Eve weekend, I started to teach myself how to crochet and have officially finished my first blanket for Baby T this weekend! I’m pretty proud of myself for actually finishing it. I’ve tried so many times to teach myself to crochet/knit over the years but have never gotten close to actually finishing a project so this is a momentous occasion. I have my amazing husband CJ to thank for keeping me motivated.

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We had two date nights last weekend since we won’t get many of those once she arrives and it was so nice. I will never ever take date nights for granted, that’s for sure. We also have a gift card to one of our favorite restaurants in Walnut Creek that we’re saving for our first date night after she arrives…whenever we’re ready to venture out on our own.

We still can’t believe that we’re going to be meeting our little girl so soon. I know that she’s been in my belly for the past 8.5 months and feel her moving around in there all the time (she has quite the dance moves!) but it’s still crazy to think that we’re going to officially be parents in a few weeks. The suspense is killing us! But, we’re happy to wait until the due date for her to come, we wouldn’t want to rush her out. 😉

As far as how I’ve been doing, not much has changed since my last update except my belly has grown quite a bit more. I’m still sleeping well and am not too uncomfortable. Although, if I’m walking or standing for an extended period of time, I definitely feel it in my back. And it’s really hard to get in a comfortable position when sitting down but I eventually figure it out. I’m trying to stay active so wearing my fitbit every day has kept me aware of how much walking I’ve been doing. I have a pregnancy workout DVD as well which I’ve been doing and really enjoy. It’s only 30 minutes for each workout but I definitely feel a difference after I’m done.

We took another hospital tour last weekend as a “refresher course” since we last took the tour in January and wanted to make sure we were fully prepped on all the details of how to arrive and check in. It was nice to do another walk through before the big day. I can’t even tell you how excited we are for her to be here.

We also can’t wait to tell everyone her name and show off her nursery – along with obviously showing off our adorable little girl! We’ve been calling her by her name when it’s just the two of us around so it will be nice for everyone else to finally know. I’ve had a few sneaky individuals try to trick me into saying her name but I didn’t fall for it! They will have to wait with the rest of the world to find out.

My last day at work before maternity leave is next Friday (April 25) and I have so much to do before I’m gone. My coworkers threw me a surprise baby shower which was the sweetest thing ever. It was definitely a perfect example of why I love my job and love the people I work with.

Office Plans

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While trying to prep for the baby, we’ve also been thinking about what to do in our office. While it’s not on the top of our priority list, we really want to reconfigure the office so it could work for two people. Right now, we have one desk in there which we can both squeeze into but it’s definitely a squeeze. Lately, on the occasional Friday, we’ve both worked from home and either shared our current desk in the office or one of us went into the family room to spread out. It would be so nice to be able to both work in the office and have enough desk space to spread out any paperwork that we may be looking at.

There’s also limited storage space (I’d like more file cabinets) and we haven’t done much to decorate the room other than paint it. We’ve held off on hanging any items because we want to figure out how to maximize the space and make it useful before putting any holes in the walls.

So, one idea we have is to add/make a double desk. We really like how Young House Love configured their office in their old house.

Young House Love office

To build a desk like this, we would first need to find lower units for storage. We went to IKEA recently to see what they had but were not impressed with the options. Now, we’re trying to figure out where else we could look. Ideally, we’d like them to be affordable and are open to repainting something we find. The ones in the picture above were originally kitchen cabinets that they repurposed. They found them for $6 at a thrift store! If only we were lucky enough to find something like that. I guess the first thing we would have to do is actually go to a thrift store. 😉 But, then again, I really really want file cabinets and I doubt we’ll find them there. CJ thinks we could also just find kitchen cabinets like those and then have file cabinets somewhere else in the room. That could work… but only if we don’t fill up the room too much.

One problem we have is that our office isn’t huge. How do you add in storage, a double desk, and still make the room feel inviting and not too cluttered? I absolutely detest clutter so I will do anything to avoid that.

So the story on the desk is to be continued… but we’ll definitely continue brainstorming ideas. If you’ve seen any great double desk setups in a small room, we’d love to see them! I want lotsss of storage because I like staying organized so that’s high on the priority list.

Oh and by the way, I realized just now that we’ve never taken a picture of our office! I’ll need to do that so, when we do decide what to do, we have before & after photos! I’m making a mental note to take a picture soon. 🙂

Baby Shower

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We had the most wonderful baby shower this weekend thanks to my mom and sister! Also, shout out to CJ’s mom and sister as well who helped them set up the bridal shower and organized the games!

Baby Shower Decor

Even though it was raining on the day of, the day turned out perfectly. All of the tables were set up inside and looked beautiful. The food was amazing (we got rave reviews on the tri tip so thanks to our brother-in-law for those!) and we loved having Kara’s Cupcakes as the dessert.

We’re so glad we chose to have a couple’s shower because it was nice to have all of our friends and family over to celebrate. We can’t believe how fast the party flew by! The party started at 1pm and, at least from our experience, we blinked and it was 5:30pm. It went by so fast that we didn’t get through all the games that were planned but we played one of them later that night and it was so fun!

Overall, it was the perfect day and the perfect weekend. We’re so thankful that everyone was able to come to the shower and especially to those who traveled in. It meant so much to have everyone there.

Our Baby Shower!

As you can see, I have quite the baby bump now!

P.S. Holy cow! How do we only have 5 weeks left until our little girl is here?!?!? (if she’s on time)

Maternity Photos!!

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So we’re pretty much in love with our maternity photos!

Without further ado, below are some of our favorite maternity photos. You can click on any one of the photos to make them bigger and you can also comment on an individual photo once you click on them.

We’re planning on framing a few of these as well as printing a pregnancy photobook as a keepsake for us. We’re ALSO going to print custom thank you cards for our baby shower using a few of our favorite photos.

 

A huge thank you to our photographer Kelly Boitano for doing such a fantastic job!!!

P.S. We are 34 weeks today! 6 weeks to go!!

33 Week Update

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We are so ready for our little girl to join us! We can’t believe that we only have 7 weeks left and then she’ll be here (if she’s on time).

We had our checkup with the doctor last Friday and when I told the nurse that the pregnancy has gone by so quickly, she looked surprised and said, “You’re the first person who’s ever said that to me.” I can understand how my opinion would change if I had morning sickness throughout the entire pregnancy or one of the other less positive side effects of pregnancy but I really do think it’s flown by! Then again, at the same time, I feel like I’ve been pregnant forever. Not in a negative way, I just feel like it’s become the norm that I can’t eat my coveted over easy eggs or enjoy a cold deli sandwich. Yes, I think those two things are what I’ve missed the most during pregnancy. You better believe it when I say that those will be one of the first things I eat after Baby T joins us! I can’t wait!

The nursery is pretty much done at this point. We have some minor items we want to add to the room but, if she came tomorrow, we would be prepared for the early arrival.

As far as how I’m feeling, I’m definitely feeling much bigger now. I get out of breath easier, am feeling more tired, and have been getting some acid reflux which is no fun. Tums are my new BFF, if you were wondering. Those little things work wonders! Some days my feet seem to be a teeny bit swollen but not a ton. I notice it mostly after a full day of work and wearing flats. I have been drinking a TON of water which I think has been helping make things easier… not to mention, I’m thirsty all the time.

We’ve been attending some classes that our hospital puts on for expectant parents which have been really helpful. So far, we’ve taken Childbirth Prep, Breastfeeding, Infant/Child CPR, Shopping for a Car Seat, and a Newborn Care class. We figured the more classes, the merrier. We’ve been reading some books (What to Expect When You’re Expecting for Me, Baby 411 for CJ) which have been helping us throughout the pregnancy and for when she arrives. We might schedule another hospital tour just to make sure we’re all prepared for D-Day since we took the tour in January and our memory might be a little rusty.

P.S. A huge thank you to our photographer Kelly Boitano for taking such wonderful maternity photos! Check her out, she’s amazing and sooo sweet! www.kellyboitano.com