Claire's first month

I am so in love with my daughter.  She is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I mean, just look at her...

Her tiny feet

Her little hands

Her perfect belly button

Her button nose

Her sweet cheeks

Facial expressions like this one...

 But it's more than how adorable she is.  The song that keeps coming to my mind is "I knew I loved you before I met you" by Savage Garden. The title describes my feelings perfectly.  I feel like I've always known and loved this little girl.  The other lyrics are pretty good, too...  I think I found my best friend.  I think I dreamed you in to life.  I have been waiting all my life.  I am complete now that I found you...

Here's some highlights from her first month:

• Claire has been awesome at breastfeeding from the start... sometimes a little too awesome.  Our first night together in the hospital, she latched on and stayed!  When I would try to break the latch, she would immediately start fussing and rooting around.  All of the books I had read said to let your newborn eat whenever they wanted and every two- three hours so I felt like I had to just keep going.  I knew that I just had colostrum at that point, and I was worried that she was hungry and not getting enough from me.  So she  kept sucking- for HOURS.  My nipples, that were brand new at this, were KILLING ME.  Finally, after a 3 hour feeding, a nurse came in.  (It seems like they came in every 15 minutes except for when I needed them.)  I explained the situation to her and asked what I should do.  She said Claire probably just wanted to suck- she didn't need more food.  So Jason took her and put his pinkie in her mouth and she happily sucked while I got some sleep. The damage had been done, though.  My nipples were cracked and bleeding, and it took a while to be able to feed her without a lot of pain.  (I hear that's pretty common for most women, though. Don't listen to the books and nurses when they tell you that pain means the latch isn't good.  It hurts everyone for a week or two.)
• Claire continues to love eating and sucking.  Jason offers his pinkie whenever he can.  One time I was burping her after a good long nurse, and she rooted around, found her arm, and gave herself a hickey!   I had read that you should wait three to six weeks to introduce the pacifier.  We made it two.

• She is definitely an emotional eater like her mother.  She wants to feed anytime she is bored or sad.  After anything "traumatizing" (a diaper change, a bath, time in the car seat, etc.) she thinks she deserves to be nursed.  She also goes through periods in the day when she just wants to live at my breast.  My body is used to it now, so I'll just settle down with a good book or TV show and let her have at it.  She makes up for this by sleeping for pretty long stretches at night.  (After the doctor saw how good she was at gaining weight, he gave us the green light to let her go longer than three hours without a feed.  This is a good thing, because trying to wake her up to nurse when she wants to sleep is impossible.)  
• My Mom, of course, is thrilled.  This is her first grandchild, and she is in love.  She came to visit for a week right after Claire was born.  It was AWESOME.  She doted on Claire and made sure I got a nice long nap every day.  She made yummy food for us every day, and kept the house clean.  Everyone talks about how difficult that first week with a new baby can be, but for me, it was like a trip to Disneyland.  My Mom is one of my best friends.  (She got demoted to number 3 after Claire was born- Now it's Jason, Claire, then Mom.  Just two years ago, she was number 1.  I still love her just as much, though.  I just have a lot more love now.)  It's hard being so far away from her, so to have her around was an exciting treat!  We chatted for hours while I nursed and she cooked.  It was SO much fun.  I felt a little guilty that she'd come up twice and hadn't done any touring (Her first trip was for my wedding.)  So we tried to do a few things.  We took a walk around Mill Lake and went up to a lookout point by New Westminster Abbey.  It wasn't Stanley Park or anything, but she at least got a taste of how beautiful B.C. can be.

• While she is the 1st grandchild on my side, she is the 40th on Jason's side.  Even though a new baby is nothing new for them, she is still quite beloved by the whole Harvey clan.  Jason's sister, Meaghan, threw a surprise shower for me before she was born.  All of the women in the family came and spoiled me rotten.  She is named after Jason's Mom, Judith, who absolutely dotes on her namesake.  Grandma is always eager to help in any way that she can.  She loves holding Claire, and Claire must love her, too, because she is always very peaceful when she's with Grandma. We've had lots of help and visits from Harveys since Claire was born.  And when we go to Harvey functions, I can pretty much plan on not holding Claire much, because she'll be getting passed around the family.  (This sometimes makes me incredibly nervous, but I try to be careful without being overprotective.)
• Jason is the best Daddy ever.  He can't wait to get home from work and hold her.  He is great at changing diapers and is always willing.  I think he's a little jealous that I'm the only one that can feed her, and he's definitely better at soothing her if eating is taken off the table.  At least once a day (usually more) he says, "Look at how cute our baby is!" and  "Katie, you did a good job at making a cute baby!"  I spent a lot of years wishing that I had a good Dad and promising myself that my children would have one.  I'm so glad I married Jason and kept that promise to myself.  I fall in love with him all over again when I see how much he loves and cares for Claire.

• Claire caught a bit of a cold from Jason, and it ended up giving her a mild case of diarrhea.  She was consistently messing her diaper.  It was next to impossible to keep it clean, and as a result, she got a nasty diaper rash.  She's going to be prone to those anyway, with her sensitive skin that she inherited from both of her parents.  Anyway, I was at least as traumatized about this as she was.  (Probably more so.)  I decided we needed help on the Saturday morning of a long weekend, so I took her to a walk in clinic.  (The only place that was open.)  They said she wasn't dehydrated and gave me a prescription for extra special diaper rash cream.  She spent lots of time over the next several days without a diaper as we tried to keep her clean and dry.  Of course, this meant bright yellow runny poop all over towels, change pads, and (often) our clothes.  The laundry was ridiculous.  Worth it, though, because she's doing much better now.     

• Claire became much more alert at three weeks old.  Suddenly she was awake more and staring at everything.  It has been lots of fun.  Jason found an app on our phones that plays white noise and shows bright colors.  If she's in a good mood, it can keep her entertained for quite a while.  It's probably just a coincidence, but during General Conference, she stared right at the TV during President Monson's entire talk.

Letting technology babysit

Listening to a prophet's voice

• Her first holiday was Canadian Thanksgiving.  We had a big Harvey get together at the church.  Claire was very good about sleeping while she was being passed around.  She started to stir as I started to eat my meal, so I had to scarf a little bit to make sure I was done before she started crying for her own food.  The food was great, and Claire was a hit. 

Grandma Harvey with some of her Grandchildren.  Claire is in a pink blanket being held by her cousin Aydan on the left.

• Claire is just a really good baby.  She's laid- back.  She sleeps well. She doesn't cry very much. She loves to cuddle.  She's just brought so much peace and joy to our home.  I love being her Mom!