Mattie's 3rd Birthday

Happy Birthday to meeee! I'm threeeee!

- Mattie Clem, on her third birthday

Easter Sunday was also Mattie's birthday, so we had lots to celebrate. The morning was spent doing Easter baskets and finding eggs. Then after a nice Easter lunch, Mattie opened birthday presents and had Minnie Mouse cupcakes after we sang Happy Birthday. Pawpaw and Gigi came over to celebrate the festivities with us too. On Monday, the celebration continued with a party at the park with friends from Mattie's preschool class.

Yay! Happy birthday to me!

Her party was the easiest one I have ever thrown. We did at a park right by their school and did it at 2:30 on Monday, right after they got out of school. So it was more like an after school play date that I provided snacks for. And the weather cooperated to be a beautiful day! I picked up a few dollar store decorations the week prior and right before I headed over to the park, I stopped at the grocery store and bought ready to eat sliced fruit, cheese cubes, and crackers. I brought an ice chest with me and had juice boxes and bottles of water to drink. I did make the cake pops because I figured that would be a lot easier for a bunch of active 3 year olds to eat. It made my day when one of the moms asked me where I bought the cake pops from because they were delicious! The kids played on the playground for entertainment and that was all she wrote! Us parents were able to sit and chat and watch kids - it was very relaxed for a kid's party. Gigi was also there and held a sleeping Hailey the whole time. After a couple of hours of playing hard, we had a couple of sweaty, dirty, happy kiddos.

First Outing

Today I finally braved taking all 3 kids out by myself. I had us all dressed (in something green!) and ready to go in time to drive to Brenham for lunch. I've been wanting to take Levi to the Southern Flyer Diner, located at the Brenham airport. We got to see a few planes from a distance and watched one land just as we were leaving. It was pretty neat and they had a good time. For dessert, we stopped at the Bluebell Factory for a scoop of ice cream. They aren't open for tours yet, but you can still stop by the store and parlor where a large scoop of ice cream is $1. After that, we headed home. Not too bad for a first outing with just the kids and me. Hailey slept the entire time!

Mattie had the perfect shirt on!

First 2 Weeks

The first couple of weeks have blown by and before it all becomes a blur, here are some memories.

Levi and Mattie are always wanting to hold Hailey but she's usually eating or sleeping so they haven't had too many opportunities.

First bath - she seemed to enjoy the water.

My kids!

Our family

My Mom, aka Gram, came and stayed with us for 2 1/2 weeks to help out. The end of my pregnancy was quite miserable with heartburn, swelling, trouble breathing and sleeping, and aches and pains. She was a saint and kept my kitchen clean, clothes washed, and played outside with Levi and Mattie for hours on their playground and taking them for long hikes around the property. She didn't get to hold Hailey very much because she was busy doing everything else, so this was a rare moment. Thank you Mom!

I've been trying to capture one of her big smiles:

Clem Number 5

Hailey Grace made her debut ahead of schedule on Friday, February 26th at 2:49 am. I had been having contractions all day Thursday but in no set pattern until about 10 pm. I had 4 contractions 10 minutes apart, then they went to 5 minutes apart. Being over an hour away from the hospital, I quickly called my parents to come over and Justin and I hopped in the car. We had already loaded our bags because I was supposed to have a repeat c-section that Friday at 11:30 anyway. Hailey just decided to move the schedule up. Unfortunately, my doctor was not the one on call which was really disappointing. (Nothing against the doctor that did it, but I wanted MY doctor.) The whole way to the hospital I had contractions 3-4 minutes apart and was 5 cm dilated when we got there. It was another 2 hours almost from the time we checked in until they finally had everyone there for the c-section and I finally got my spinal/epidural. I was SO ready for it. Hailey was 7 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long with a head full of blonde fuzz and blue eyes. We didn't decide on her name until after we met her.

Going home. She slept the whole way!