Christmas Card Lane

In our neighborhood, Christmas is a BIG deal! There are two streets referred to as "Christmas Card Lane," and every house is decorated Clark Griswold style. Multiple other houses in our huge neighborhood also participate, but these two streets take the cake. There is even a Wikipedia page for it! Traffic is insane with people driving through to see. There are also limos, horse drawn carriages, bake sales, fire pits, and garage parties. Luckily, we are on the end of one of the streets so we aren't in the middle of all of the action. We just have people parking by our house to walk the neighborhood. Here are some pictures of the madness that Blake and I encountered last night while we walked it in the rain.









































In comparison, here is our house:




Merry Christmas!

Family of Four

We are quickly adjusting to the life of a family of four! It has been so nice to have Alex home this whole week to get used to taking care of two young kids. He goes back to work on Monday... THAT will be the real test! I anticipate the hardest part to be pumping while watching Blake and Claire. We tried the whole nursing thing, just like we did with Blake, and it is just not for me. Alex will not be traveling again with work until mid-January, so hopefully, by then I have a system worked out for pumping and taking care of the kids during the day, bedtime, and through the night. Blake is not a good sleeper, so the bedtime and through the night goals are difficult! Claire is gaining weight like crazy. We have been to the pediatrician for her twice, and she was already back up to her birth weight plus some! No jaundice or other issues. We feel very lucky and blessed to have two healthy children. Here are some pictures of how our time has been spent over this past week and a half of being home. Notice that we have already taken some trips out with Claire! We have been to IHOP, the mall, to see Santa, Target, and the park! I also threw in a couple pictures of our "fancy" Thanksgiving!

Claire's Room

Now that Claire is here, Lauren has moved into our formal living room temporarily. I say temporarily because she signed a lease. She will be living the dream... Apartment in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego... 3 blocks from the beach... Ocean view from her street... Blocks from nightlife... Tons of people her age... She is going to have a blast! She will be moving out probably around December 12th. We will miss her!

With Lauren moving out, I now have pictures of Claire's room! Enjoy!

Claire's Birth Story

I figured that I could go ahead and write this since I am laying in the hospital letting Claire sleep on me for some skin-to-skin time.

Well, I went to the doctor on Friday. I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. With Blake I was 0 and 0 up until my water broke, so this was new and unexpected. Monday, I believe I lost my plug (sorry, TMI). I was pretty much uncomfortable the whole day after that. Of course, Lauren started a new job and Alex had to work, so it was just Blake and me. I eventually started having contractions. When Alex got home at 4:30, we started timing the contractions. It was so hard to tell if they were real, just cramps, or Braxton Hicks! They appeared to be between 6 and 13 minutes apart, so we got packed, picked up some Subway, and texted Lauren to leave work. Since Blake came so fast (see Blake's birth story blog for details!), we were really nervous about how fast Claire was going to arrive. We called the doctor, and he said they don't admit patients with contractions that are 6 minutes apart, unless they are super strong or the water has broken. He said we could go ahead and come to the hospital if we wanted, and just hang out until something happened or go back. We decided to go ahead and go, and have Lauren meet us at the hospital to pick up Blake. We got to the hospital around 7pm and my contractions were painful, but not too bad, and all over the place. Nothing regular. Lauren and Blake went home, and Alex and I went walking. No change, so we decided to go back and sit in the car. Suddenly, at 9pm I had this super painful contraction and hear/feel a pop. That's right. HEAR AND FEEL A POP! It was my water breaking! And it seriously broke! It gushed everywhere. Thank GOD I was not somewhere public or, even worse, teaching! Alex had to go get a wheelchair because my contractions were immediately way worse, and water was gushing all over the place. Once we got inside, I was soaked, water was dropping down my legs and all over everything. Sorry, TMI. Next, I got checked. 3 cm still. What?! Ok. I decided to hold off on the epidural. I mean, I didn't want to prolong the whole thing. Two contractions and lots of pressure later, I go for the epidural. It works this time, unlike with Blake! I still was able to feel some things and when to push. I got checked again shortly after the epidural was in... 10 cm and then some, fully effaced! Ready to push! Ten minutes later, Claire Harper Sienkiewicz. 11/19/2012. 11:51pm. 7 lbs. 2 oz. 19 in. Weirdest thing? Her being born on the 19th here in CA, but technically on the 20th in IN. Crazy!

Blake has been awesome, by the way. Very sweet and attentive. He tries to soothe Claire's crying and gives hugs and kisses!

Trick or Treat!

Blake loved trick or treating! He ran to every house holding his little pumpkin! He spent most of his time looking for dogs at each door and trying to ring doorbells. We were able to at least get him to say "bye" to most people! Blake dressed up as a boxer, Alex was a football player, and I was a witch.















What was Blake's favorite candy? All of it.






Blake also tried on our costumes.






And here are my Halloween decorations with Lauren photobombing my picture!




By the way, I hate to rub it in, but the weather was perfect! It was 65 degrees and clear. I cannot remember a time I had that warm of a Halloween!