The newest member of the family.

 Clara Lydia Brown was born on October 15, at 3:53 a.m.  She weighed 7 pounds and 15 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long.  In our family, that is a TINY baby.  Fear not, though - at her one week check up, she weighed just shy of 9 pounds.  :)  We'll see if that continues.  We arrived at the hospital at about 2:30 a.m., got into our room just before 3:00, and I pushed for less than ten minutes.  Let's all pause for a prayer of thanksgiving that this baby wasn't born on the highway. 

Bethany is thrilled to be a big sister.  She wants to hold, kiss, and hug Clara all the time.  She also likes to decorate her with stickers.  Mama is not such a huge fan of that last thing.  Unlike Bethany, Clara does not view sleep as a mortal enemy.  I think she is within the "normal" range - nothing freaky like sleeping through the night - but a far cry from big sis.  Or, rather, just a lot LESS crying than big sis.  Life with newborn and toddler is interesting, but we are taking it one day at a time.  Some days are just a lot easier than others!

 

Here are Mom, Dad, & Clara just before leaving the hospital.  We'll see if I can remember to get these pictures every month.  No promises...

Oh - and if you visit the MonkeyBean Photos website, you can see Miss Clara's amazing newborn portraits.  She already doesn't look like that anymore.  Crazy.