When Claire was born, the nurse said she had never seen a more beautiful newborn. Sure, she probably told all the moms that, but it was the only sensible thing that woman said all day, so you bet I'll always remember it.

I will never forget Claire's birth day 5 years ago. It was unforgettable for so many reasons, not all of them being good. That was the only labor where I was induced. For me, horrible. That was the only labor where my nurse was C.R.A.Z.Y. Seriously. Upon first being introduced to her, she rambled on about the excruciating migraine she had that day and how the ice pack she had strapped to her neck just wasn't working. Sorry lady. You're looking for sympathy in the wrong place. I'm going to have a baby today. Don't tell me about pain.

Then as she began hooking me up to all the monitors she started telling me this story about how the previous day a woman came in to give birth to her twins and when they hooked her up, they couldn't find either of the babies' heartbeats. They had both died. Um, yeah. No sane person would tell a laboring woman that story. Like I said, she was crazy.

After Claire's birth they gave me Lortab which I didn't know would cause me to hallucinate, throw up, and be so drowsy and out of it that I couldn't stay awake to breastfeed my newborn child for the first time. My sister Shelly stayed the night in the hospital with me because she was scared to leave me alone... or leave me alone with my baby. She would wake me up to feed Claire and actually had to hold Claire up to me for her to nurse. That night I rambled on about ants in my dinner and muu muus, having no clue what I was saying. Good times.

Don't worry, my story's not over yet. (And yes, I realize this is a sort of weird birthday post, but lately it's been weighing on my mind that I haven't recorded much in the way of my babies' birth stories.)

When I got home from the hospital, I was lucky enough to be the 1 in like 3000 women who experience post-epidural migraines. They're caused when spinal fluid leaks out around the spinal cord due to the way the epidural is administered. I'd rather be in labor any day. No meds can touch that pain. The Dr. said I could either wait out the pain (about a week) or go in to receive a blood patch which may or may not work. He said it could easily take mulitiple attempts. I chose the at home pain, mostly because the thought of having to get up off the couch and get to the hospital sounded too hard. Too painful.

After the nightmare ended, I was finally able to enjoy the fruits of my labor (he he). She was more than worth it. I was able to love on this beautiful baby girl who had come to our family. She is affectionate, sassy, sensitive, a cuddler beyond cuddlers, and always has something insightful to say, like "Mom, the floor's looking pretty dirty. Can I mop for you?"

She loves pink, princesses, icecream, sparkly things, clothes, new shoes, and playing with friends. She is full of life. Nearly every morning she wakes up and asks, "Am I going to see any of my friends today?" She's so darn cute I hate it if I have to disappoint her.

.

Claire is grateful. She's the only one of our kids who would regularly thank me after wiping their bums, or making them asparagus. She always remembers to thank me for the little things.

She's easily excited (like by a ring pop) as shown here:


She's a chocolate loving maniac just like her mom. She thought it would be really cool if she had birthday cupcakes that spelled out her name. Maggie and Ty helped out with that one. You have to look really hard hard to see it. The first one's a smiley face per her request.

We love our Clairebear! She has brought so much joy and happy craziness to our family.

Happy 5th to you! So glad you're mine.

One cute, marble size strawberry for each member of the family. And you can count on there being some arm wrestling going on for the biggie on the right.

Reas has forbidden all gift buying for his birthday this year, and so we've had to get a little creative.

I attempted my first ever icecream cake.

Not saying I want to make a career out of this business, BUT...

dang, it was good!

The birthday boy was happy (and rather impressed)...

and the kids now think I'm an icecream genius.

On Friday, Reas and I are going to see "Defending the Caveman" down on the strip. Anyone heard anything about it? I've researched all the reviews online. It sounds like good wholesome fun, but you never know with Las Vegas entertainment. Reas got the tickets for free with his dedicated service to United Blood. Seriously, he is the most generous blood donator I know of. He has "baby blood," you know - the most pure kind, so they use it for infant blood transfusions.

And if that doesn't make a wife proud...well, it does. The only blood I've ever given has been taken by the OB tech and cost me much wooziness. I'm wimpy like that.

I do find it kind of funny that Reas is literally paying for his birthday outing with his own blood, but I'm just following the rules. I haven't spent a dime. Happy birthday, Reas!! We love you.

I followed these directions for the most part, but instead of soaking my wheat kernels over night like she said, I let them soak about 24 hours, or until I could see obvious sprouts coming from the kernels. I think my mistake last year was I didn't soak them long enough or keep it moist enough in those first few days. Maybe it's different depending on the kind of wheat you use...mine is hard white. This time I'm keeping a squirt bottle handy and spraying them down throughout the day. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one in this house caring for my grass, so if you're concerned about overwatering - don't be.

Once the wheat starts sprouting it grows like crazy... kind of like your husband's toenails.

Day 1...

Day 3...

Day 5...

Day 6...

Crazy fast, eh? This means there's still time if you want to sprout your own before Easter. I'm not sure how long the blades will get, but I'm hoping mine will get good and shaggy. The Easter bunny is always on the lookout for new hiding places for his eggs.

Those little green containers inside the big white box are from Dollar Tree. I wanted smaller, more shallow boxes to actually grow the grass in. They're only a couple of inches deep, and a perfect fit. And yes, I did walk around the store for longer than I'd like to admit measuring everything that could possibly hold dirt trying to find the perfect combination to fit inside my box. I only got one funny look when I was standing in the aisle measuring the dimensions of a plastic sandwich container.

I should've said, "What? You don't measure YOUR plasticware before buying it?" :)