Sweet Baby Claire :)

Disclaimer: Be prepared for lots of pictures!

She's finally here! Claire Fay Channer was born just over a week ago on November 8th at 8 lbs 5 oz. Labor and Delivery went as smooth as I could have hoped, and amazingly we only had to spend 24 hrs in the hospital post delivery. Logan's delivery was fairly smooth as well but we ended up having to spend nearly 3 days in the hospital because he struggled to breastfeed (which was miserable). Luckily, Claire came out eating like a champ, much to my joy and relief. The hospital is great and all, but nothing tops a short visit and a quick return to your own home. Claire is doing wonderful and Logan seems to be adjusting fairly well to her arrival. He surprised us in the hospital by identifying mommy, daddy and baby, especially since we'd never heard him say baby before. This morning he surprised us again by pointing to both himself and the Claire and saying "cute". Yeah, he knows he's cute. :) We definitely have to keep a close eye on him around her though because he's a little rougher than we'd like, trying to push her enthusiastically in the swing or touch her eyes when he's identifying body parts. I'm sure Claire will get used to being roughed up a little bit by her big brother. One of the cutest things he's done is sharing his fuzzy blanket with her and occasionally just coming up and giving her kisses on the head and cheek. Yesterday, while Claire was laying on a blanket Logan came and sat down next to her and started to try and read her some books. He nearly sat on her head, but he was trying to be nice. He really is a sweet boy and I think/hope he's going to be a protective older brother.



Grandma Stoker and Logan watching Claire through the nursery window




Deer in the head lights

Logan giving baby Claire kisses (this happens fairly frequently during the day)


Claire chilling with Grandpa Stoker

The Stokers minus Jacob (and soon Kait!)


I truly have been blessed, both with a wonderful husband and children, and also with amazing extended family and friends. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful, and we really have been overwhelmed with love. We were lucky enough to have my mom and dad come in town for a few days before Claire's birth and they helped us make final preparations on the house and spoiled Logan with all the attention he could ask for. My mom then stayed for the delivery, helped us out with Logan and literally served us all week long. I'm worried that Eric will have gotten used to all her good cooking and mine will pale in comparison from here on out. To top things off, my dad, brothers and Kait (my brother's fiance), all came this past weekend to meet Claire and spent an early Thanksgiving with us. There's been so much good food and wonderful company these last few weeks and it's only going to continue. My brother Jacob is getting married on December 4th, so we'll get to see them again in just a couple of weeks. Also, Emily and Adam are coming in town for a Channer Thanksgiving in just over a week and the rest of the Channer family will be coming to town in a little less than a month. We couldn't be more excited to see everyone and for Claire to meet the rest of her wonderful family! This truly is a time of Thanksgiving. :)

Mommy's Little Helper

As my due date has been approaching (less than a month away!) I've found myself riding a daily emotional roller coaster. Sadly, Logan has been forced to come along for the ride (on more than one occasion pushing the right buttons to set me off), but overall he's been a total stud. Eric's been working through a month and a half long mini-busy season out at work, so Logan and I have had a lot of one on one time. I've created a pretty intimidating to-do list for myself of things I want to accomplish before the baby arrives, and Logan has been right there helping me get things done. He's seriously been a huge motivator to be productive, from cleaning, to organizing, to being crafty. Especially the cleaning. If he ever finds something on the kitchen or living room floor (and he finds EVERYTHING), he gets all concerned and drags me around the house to pick them all up. Slightly OCD, I don't know, but it's definite motivation to vacuum and sweep, which he loves to help me do. Overall it just makes me really happy that whenever I need to get some cleaning done, all I have to say is "can you help mommy?" and arm him with a dusting cloth or wash rag and he's happy and helping. Things like unloading the dishwasher and folding laundry are occasionally counter productive or just take an extra long time, but I can't complain because if he really wanted to, he could make sure I couldn't accomplish anything. Plus, how do you stay mad or frustrated with a kid this cute?

Gotta Love Sesame Street

So in the past month or so, Logan and I have become fans of Sesame Street in the mornings and I tell you what, that show is hilarious! I don't know if in recent years the show has changed much, or if I just didn't catch the pop culture references and celebrity appearances when I was a kid, but this show seems aimed at entertaining parents as much as teaching kids. A recent favorite of mine was the appearance of "Iron Monster", Super Grover's spoof of Iron Man. We turned the show on halfway through the segment, which starred Super Grover all shiny red and gold with a laundry iron for a head, working his magic in the laundromat. The characters kept referring to him as "Iron Monster", but as slow as I am I totally didn't catch the reference until an electric guitar started rocking out when he said his own name. Maybe it's lame but I couldn't stop laughing. Anyway, if the opportunity arises and you find yourself in the room with an episode of Sesame Street, I personally recommend watching. :)

(image from toughpigs.com)

First Day of the Rest of Our Lives

We've taken the plunge and officially entered the "adult" world... Eric has a job! He started working for an accounting firm called KPMG in Boise on Monday and boy is he off to a start. He went in to his first day thinking he'd be spending a day or two glued to a computer screen completing training courses, and instead they have him helping finish some massive project that has a very strict deadline. Talk about hitting the ground running. His first day of work he didn't get off until 9:00P and tonight's even worse. He's helping wrap up their big project so they can meet the deadline in Asia, so consequently it's after one in the morning and he's still not home. Oh my heck. The time commitment and hours required for this project is abnormal but if I didn't know any better I'd think they were hazing the new hires or something. And this isn't even supposed to be the busy season. Gah. Here's hoping things mellow out a little sometime soon...

Here's Eric getting ready to head out the door for his first day of work.

Somehow I got lucky and ended up with these two handsome guys. :)

PUPPIES!

I never would have thought but we're currently the proud "parents" of a litter of puppies. Eric's oldest sister, Amy, and her husband Sam own a female border collie named Felina who gave birth to four beautiful little puppies just over a week ago. Amy and Sam didn't even realize Felina was pregnant until about 3 weeks ago, and it didn't come as good news because they're moving to New Mexico soon and they're only allowed one dog in their apartment. They're temporarily living here in Boise for another week so the puppies have been staying with us. Out of worry for the puppies futures, Eric and I volunteered to bottle feed them until six weeks when they'll be mature enough to go to homes of their own. After only a day we grew so attached that Eric and I have decided to keep one of the puppies. The puppies are half Border Collie, half Australian Shepherd, with coincidentally two of them looking just like their father and two just like their mother. We're planning on keeping the only girl, and Eric's brother Nate is going to keep one of the boys, but we're still looking for good homes for the other two. One is speckled like the father and the other is black and white like Felina. They should be great dogs since both breeds are very smart, obedient and fairly easy to train. My parents own a Border Collie/ Australian Shepherd mix and he's been a wonderful family dog these past six years. If anyone is interested in taking home one of these puppies in about five weeks, just let us know.

This is the puppy we're planning on keeping. Any ideas on a girl puppy name?

It's a girl!

This is a little belated, but we found out about a week ago that we're going to be having a baby girl! Before the ultrasound Eric and I made our guesses as to the gender and I was victorious. I honestly would have been just as excited about Logan having a baby brother to play with, but I was really hoping I was having a girl because this pregnancy has been different than my last. I was way lucky with Logan, with hardly any pregnancy complaints (besides 5 months of heartburn) but this girl has thrown me for a bit of a loop. For most of this pregnancy I've felt a little "off", with a bit of food aversion and of course some heartburn. I was really hoping that these general feelings of icky-ness could be a sign in the future to let me know early on if I was having a girl, and not just a sign that all pregnancies from here on out were going to be increasingly worse. Who knows if my system will actually work in the future, but for now I'm feeling pretty good about it. All in all though we're really excited to be welcoming a little girl into the family to even things out a bit. Now we just have to come to an agreement on a name. Wish us luck on that venture! :)

Oh Baby!

Baby Channer #2 is on the way! We're way excited about the newest addition to our family, and we're pretty sure Logan will be too. Since leaving Utah and my cousin's kids, he's been getting a little lonely without small people to play with. We're keeping him busy, but I'm sure he'll enjoy a playmate, be they girl or boy. As for me, I'm just starting the second trimester and I feel like a whale already. The baby's due November 11th and already that date can't get here soon enough. Yay for babies!