Julianne's Birthday party

We had a birthday party for Julianne last weekend. Yes, I am a bit crazy throwing a birthday party just four weeks after giving birth but I didn't want our special little lady to miss out on a birthday celebration just because mommy is tired. The party wasn't until four in the afternoon so I had all day to get ready to get out of the house (it pretty much took all day too). I had to get myself ready, Claire needed a bath, Julianne had to be down early for her nap so we could make sure she was up on time and got enough sleep, I had to go get balloons and a few last minute items and get the birthday girl ready. We were actually on time for the party. I was amazed.

Shaun and Jules even had time to pose for a photo on the way out the door. Is she not the cutest in her polka dots and pigtails? To quote Rachel Zoe "I die!" We had her party at Playground World. It's a place that has those big play sets that people have in their backyards inside so that kids in Ohio have something to do in the winter! They also have some Step 2 toys for the littler kids. We had kids of all ages so it was great. The trampolines were a big hit! We had a lot of neighbor friends as well as some of Julianne's buddies from her playgroup that she's been in since she was just a wee one. It was a really fun time and boy did the kids burn off some energy!

Here she is getting warmed up on the slide. She almost ate it (daddy was supervising). Steven is looking at Shaun like "shouldn't you be catching her dude?"

Any swing is always a big hit with our girl
She is telling Shaun something in this photo but I'm not sure what

She loved the little playhouse. We thought about buying her one but the price tag was $449...seriously? It's plastic!

They had the same roller coaster that we got Julianne for Christmas. Hazel loved it!

Future pilot?

It's always fun to kick a basketball!

First time on a trampoline. She liked it!

I loved the cake. Polka dots you know...to match her outfit. Yes, I'm a dork!

She likes to push things instead of riding in them...not sure what that's about.

She kept saying "bye....see you in the morning" and closing the door to the playhouse

Weeeeeeee

Sliding backwards...dad's are creative!

The slides were probably her favorite part

Steven really enjoyed them too!

She looks a little scared in this picture but she really was having fun!

After we got home I realized I hadn't taken a picture with my birthday girl. So we took some at home

A kiss for my birthday girl. I can't believe she is 2 already!

This is a picture Shaun took the morning after the party. Doesn't she look hung over? That must be a sign that it was a good party!

Happy Birthday Jules! We love you so much big girl!

Happy 2nd Birthday Julianne!!!!

You are 2 today. I can't believe how fast the time goes by. I'm sure I will say this for every birthday you have from now on. Two years ago today, I became a mother. It has been the greatest joy I have ever known. It seems like yesterday that we watched you make your grand entrance into this world, brought you home, and stared at you in complete amazement wondering what adventures lay ahead and what kind of person you would be.

Never could I have imagined the pure joy of watching you grow, learn, walk and talk or the happiness that you bring to your daddy and I. The delicate little baby we once held is gone, growing up so fast, and getting more and more independent with each passing day.

You are such a special little girl. Watching you grow from a baby into a little girl this year has been amazing. We are really starting to see your personality shine through and it is so fun to see what you will do next. You are so full of energy and spunk. You go non-stop from waking up until you go to bed at night. Mommy wishes that she had half of your energy!

Some of your favorite things at the moment:

Reading books - you LOVE books and are constantly bringing books to me and saying "read this". Your favorites at the moment are anything with Elmo and 10 little ladybugs.

Counting - you can now count to 10 and you love to count. You especially love the number "zero" and "tennnnnnn"!

Dancing - this has been one of your greatest loves for most of your life. You've got the music in you girl and you start dancing the second that any music comes on. Daddy and I love to watch you dance - you have some great moves including your signature "shoulder dance".

Singing - you have recently started singing quite a bit. Your favorite songs for me to sing to you are "Old McDonald" and "If you're happy and you know it". You sing along with me now and it is so much fun. If there is a song on that you want to sing and you don't know the words you just sing "laaaaa" or "ahhhh" or make up your own words.

Watching movies - you love to watch Happy Feet and any Elmo DVD. You also love to watch Sesame Street and Jack's Big Music Show.

Loving on your sister - you ignored Claire for the first three weeks she was here. Now all of a sudden this week, you can't get enough of her. You want to hold her and hug her and kiss her. It's very sweet to watch you be a big sister and I can't wait for more and more moments like those we've had this week.

It's been such a special year for us watching you grow. Daddy and I feel so blessed to have you. It's hard to express with words how much you mean to us. I made this slide show for you of your second year and I hope you can see all the joy you have brought to us. We love you so much baby girl. Happy Birthday to you!

Julianne's 2nd year slideshow from Jennifer Senter on Vimeo.

How to name a baby

It took us 2 days to name her. Pretty ridiculous. I had a name picked out. Shaun had a name picked out. Problem was...they were two different names. I wanted to name her Charlotte. Shaun wanted to name her Samantha. Neither of us wanted to cave. Shaun went to far as to start calling her Samantha while we were in the hospital. I responded by calling her Charlotte. Every nurse, technician and janitor that came into the room was told the two options and gave their vote. There were more votes for Charlotte by the way! I even considered filling out the name form when Shaun wasn't there (only the mom has to sign it). OK, not really..I would never do that but the thought did enter my mind.
After a day of back and forth it was pretty clear that neither of us wanted to switch to the other's name. Shaun does not like the name Charlotte. I liked Samantha but it just didn't feel right for her. We decided that we should probably pick a name from our other list of names that we both liked. We kept tossing a few around (Whitney, Jocelyn, Molly) but none of those seemed to fit either. Then we went to Claire. It was the name we were going to use as the middle name for Samantha. It fit her. That was her name. We settled on Elizabeth as a middle name because it is a name I've always loved. And so, just 48 short hours after she was born, I finally filled out the form to name our girl. We think it's perfect for her.

Claire's birth story

Hi everyone! I am alive and still here. Although extremely tired, we are doing pretty well. I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted anything. I figured I better get with it and post Claire's birth story before my lack of sleep completely wipes out my memory and I forget all the details. So here goes, Claire's birth story in pictures and a little narration by yours truly.


Shaun and I had to leave for the hospital at abut 6:45 a.m. I didn't sleep much the night before because of the anticipation of the surgery and meeting our new daughter and also because I got up 10 times to pee. I'm thankful those days are over! My parents arrived the night before to stay with Julianne while we were at the hospital. I got up at around 5:30 to shower, get ready and paint my toe nails. Yes, I painted my toe nails the morning we went to the hospital. A girl can't possibly go to the hospital with unpainted toe nails! We made our way to the hospital and checked in at 7:30.


The nurse went through all the check-in information, got my IV started (ouch!), we met the anesthesiologist, my Dr. came in and we waited. And waited. I was supposed to be in surgery at 9:30 a.m. but it ended up being about 10 instead. Thirty minutes may not seem like much of a delay but when you are extremely nervous from anticipating getting sliced open, it feels like an eternity. This is a picture Shaun took of me right before I walked back to the OR. Don't let my smile fool you, I was a nervous wreck. I started crying because I was so nervous. My c-section with Julianne went great so I have no idea why I was so nervous but I just had a horrible feeling rush over me. I was mostly nervous for the spinal (I hate that part) and that something could go wrong. Shaun saw my nerves, tried to comfort me and said a prayer as he held my hand. I felt better.


I walked into the OR and climbed up onto the table. Why are OR's so cold? I was shaking from being so cold (or being scared...I'm not sure which). The nurse helped me get into the appropriate position to get my spinal. It's hard to sit hunched over like that for so long. Once I was set with the spinal, they laid me back on the table. If you are a modest person, being laid out on an OR table pretty much naked while 10 people scurry around the room making preparations, it will cure you of your modesty. They invited Shaun in and then got started. It's so weird to lay there on the table and be able to hear what's going on but not see anything. Shaun kept peeking over the curtain, taking photos....thanks honey. Here is a picture of me during the procedure... do I look annoyed that he was taking my picture...because I was.

A few minutes into the surgery, I felt a wave of heat come over me like I have never felt before. I began sweating and I looked at Shaun and said "I'm going to pass out!" Then I looked at the anesthesiologist and told him the same thing. I kept saying "I'm so hot" and "I feel like I'm going to pass out". I was sure something was wrong because of how I felt. I looked to Shaun for an explanation. He just kept saying "it's fine....your blood pressure is a little low but it's fine." One of the great things about being married to a Dr. is that he knows what's going on in the operating room. He can read the monitor's and tell me what's wrong. I could tell that Shaun was not telling me the whole story but I trusted him that everything was o.k. I found out later that my blood pressure had dropped to 59 over almost nothing. Apparently, this is a side affect of the anesthesia. They gave me some medicine to help with the situation and I felt better after a few minutes. I felt better just in time to enjoy the sound of the Dr. telling us that our daughter was about to enter the world. Shaun snapped some pictures (some very graphic pictures) for all of you to enjoy! Well, he probably snapped them for us but I have decided to let all of you enjoy them!

Head out

Half way there!
Here I am world!

Me hearing Claire cry for the first time (isn't that just the best sound?)

The worst part about a c-section is laying there while they put you back together. It takes FOREVER. I got to listen as they looked Claire over and Shaun kept coming over and giving me updates. They checked her out, suctioned her, cleaned her off, weighed her, and then gave her to Shaun.

She looks wiped out doesn't she?

Holding on to daddy

Our first photo of the 3 of us

After they had me all taken care of, they put Claire on the gurney with me and wheeled us into a recovery room. The nurse checked my vital signs like every five minutes and kept saying, can you move your toes yet? She must have asked me 20 times. I really wanted to say, "can I just tell you when I can move my toes?" It's a weird feeling to be laying in a bed and only be able to move from the arms up. My feeling eventually started coming back and I felt well enough for my parents to bring Julianne to the hospital. Here are the photos of Julianne seeing her sister for the very first time.

If you're thinking she doesn't look to impressed, she wasn't. She wasn't interested at all. We asked her if she wanted to kiss the baby and she said "nooooooooooooo"! She still says that over two weeks later but that is for a different post. My parents stayed just a few minutes and then took Julianne to get a bite to eat while they took me to my hospital room. We got settled in and then they brought Julianne up to room for a few minutes. Then everyone went home and left me to get some rest while the nursery had Claire for a few hours for her bath and to be monitored for a while. They all came back a few hours later and we had some family time. I had to change into my cuter hospital gown (those blue ones they give you are hideous and 10 sizes to big even when you are 9 months pregnant). We spent some time enjoying one another and taking photos of our new family.

Our new family of 4

Me with my newest daughter

Daddy, mommy and Claire

This is a picture of Claire next to a newborn picture of me that my dad pulled out of his wallet. I think my second baby might actually look like me.

My mom, Claire and I

My parents with their newest granddaughter (#4)

Cuddles with grammy

My parents with both of our girls

This is the day after Claire was born. Julianne warmed up a little.

Julianne hanging out with her papa. If papa is around, pretty much no one else exists.

I stayed in the hospital for 4 nights. I miss the hospital. They bring you pain meds every four hours, hot meals right on schedule, and they take the baby to the nursery at night so you can sleep and bring her right to you when she needs to be fed. It's pretty sweet. I could have stayed longer but I did want to get home to Julianne. So on February 9th, I got us both up and ready to come home:

Bye hospital!

Getting wheeled out

Me and both of my girls

Driving away from the hospital

There you have it - the birth story of our Claire. Of course, it took us 2 days to name her that but I'll save that story for another time.

Introducing......

Claire ElizabethBorn February 5th, 2010 at 10:24am
7 lbs., 2 ozs. 19 inches long

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. We are spending our last night in the hospital tonight and will go home in the morning. She is the sweetest little baby and is so content. We've only heard her cry a few times. Right now, she is sleeping the day away and I'm thinking about joining her. I'm very sleepy but have been getting some rest while here in the hospital. We are looking forward to going home and settling in. More pictures and birth story coming up soon. Enjoy your week!