Claire is born!

I induced labor on Jan.2, 2012 after having 12 hours of contractions that weren't gaining in momentum. Claire was almost 9 pounds so I'm so glad I didn't wait any longer! The delivery was super smooth. I barely felt any pain and the delivery was much faster than doctors expected.

We are now settled at home and getting used to the new baby with existing baby routine. Which basically means you have that same vampire lifestyle of being up all night but now need to be taking your toddler to preschool, swim lessons and other activities. Some people say having a second child is more than twice the work. I'm not sure about that but I'm definitely exhausted. Exhausted to the bone. Thankfully the recovery from pregnancy has been faster (though more painful) this time around.

Baby Claire is just beautiful, and so far has a great disposition. She's a big eater and sleeps for relatively long stretches at a time (3 hours). She doesn't cry much (so far). She looks a lot like Oliver did at this age and it's such a thrill to have a little girl this time around.

Oliver is a great big brother. He's been very understanding and has seemed to mature drastically in the last week to help us out. I'm very proud of the way he has responded to this huge change in life.