Soul Sisters

Claire and Eliza have been friends from the beginning.  BFFs and soul sisters.  They have been through more than any one of us or you that are reading this blog.  And they are only 9 and 10 months old.  Claire was due December 22nd and Eliza (and her brother and sister) was due December 27th.  Eliza was born about a month before Claire and was waiting for Claire in the ICN when Claire arrived. 

Although they didn't start out in the same room, shortly after Claire was born, we were moved to Eliza's room and their isolettes were next to each other.  And that's the beginning of their friendship. 

While at Duke, it was hard to get pictures of them together.  One, they both had to pretty much stay attached to all of the monitors 24/7.  One night, I unhooked Claire and ran over to Eliza's space and took a picture of them together.  Claire and Eliza were finally back together again and you never knew from day to day when the babies would be moved again.  This was when they were both in TCN - several months after they were born (after Christmas).  We also broke them away to get pictures one day with bows in their hair. The next time we got pictures of them together was the day Claire left Duke.

Today Claire and Eliza were reunited again!  The first time since Claire left Duke in January.  It was so great!  It started out crazy when Heather texted me and said they had a flat tire on I-40 on the way.  But they got the tire fixed and met us for lunch at a pizza place in Clayton.  The girls did wonderfully at the restaurant.  We caught up on everything that was going on with Claire and Eliza and enjoyed some great food. 

We all then went to Julie and James' house to get some good pictures of the girls and enjoy some YUMMY chocolate chip cookies that Heather fixed.  Of course, none of the pictures that I took turned out because I was just too excited about it all.  So the pictures in this post are courtesy of Eliza's dad.  I took some pictures of Claire with Julie, James, and Amanda but don't have my camera cord to upload them.  So I will do that soon in another post. 

Check out how much they have changed:

Then here they are today:

can you tell I am just a LITTLE excited?!?!

Eliza brought Claire a special gift - Baby Legs.  They are some too cute baby leggings/leg warmers.  Eliza has a collection of them and just knew Claire would love them too.  She was right!  And they matched perfectly with Claire's outfit today.  Great minds think alike!

Then Claire and Eliza decided to play with the cardboard wrapping to the Baby Legs.  I took it away and gave Claire the bow because I thought it would make cuter pictures.  Well, I was the mean momma then and upset both babies!  :(

I will say that neither baby had adequate naps today, so maybe it wasn't ALL my fault for the meltdown.....  Just sayin'.  ;)

We had a great time and hope we can do it again soon.  These girls are more than special.  They will always have a bond that we may never understand.  I swore they would whisper to each other at night in the NICU.  I really think they did.  I am so proud of both Claire and Eliza and so glad that God gave them each other.  I can't wait to watch them grow up together.  As hard as it is to plan something and get together, I hope that we can make it possible for their sakes (well, and maybe our sakes too to be able to share the joys, concerns, etc. with someone who knows where you are coming from). 

Claire says "I love you Eliza!!"

Love,
The Scott Family

Preemies

When I looked at this picture, lots of words came to mind like love, family, strength, courage, McLean blood, and preemie. 

Never in a million years did I think that the term "preemie" would play such an integral role in our lives.  But when I really think about it, preemies have really played a huge role in our lives in the past and now the present and future. 

See the picture below?  The word "preemie" means a lot to each of these people. 

Of course, you already know Claire's preemie story.  She was born at 29 weeks, 3 lbs 2 oz, and 16 1/4" long.  Due December 22nd and born October 6th, 2011.

Sarah (Trent's first cousin, but more like his sister, and more like one of Claire's aunts) was also born a preemie.  Claire's due date was actually on Sarah's birthday - December 22nd.  She wasn't due until March and was born at 30 weeks.  She weighed the exact same as Claire - 3 lbs 2 oz.  Coincidental with Claire's due date and Sarah's birth date and the same exact weight?!?!? 

"Preemie" also means a lot to Grandma Neat Neat.  Not only does she have a preemie grand daugther, but she also had a preemie of her own.  Trent's brother Taylor was born at 28 weeks on December 5th, but wasn't due until March 5th. Taylor was born weighing 2 lbs 2 oz and measuring 12 1/2" long.  He lived on this Earth 24 days before earning his angel wings.

So needless to say, the word "preemie" is pretty significant in our family.  It was then and it is now. 




Two "preemies" in a pod!


And to say we are excited about seeing our preemie friend Eliza and her mom tomorrow is an understatement!!!!!!!

Love,
The Scott Family

La Princessa's photo shoot

Many of you know that I love to take pictures.  Photography is sort of my hobby, but has really been put on the back burner since Claire was born.  I have always taken pictures for friends and family of themselves or their kids, and always knew that when we had kids, I would be doing so many different photo shoots!  Yeah right!  I have had in my mind so many locations around the farm that would be perfect for different pictures of our family.  But I just haven't done it.  One - because there just isn't a whole lot of "spare time" at the right time of the day to take the best pictures.  Two - Trent hates pictures taken of himself, so to get him in a family picture is a task. 

Anyways, Sarah's flowers are blooming so beautifully right now.  I have taken several different family photos in their flowers over the years and definitely wanted to get Claire's pictures in the flowers.  So we planned for this morning.  Claire is totally a morning person.  So to try to take her pictures at dusk is not an option.  It has to be dawn.  So we were up early (4:45 am) and started getting ready for the day and the pictures.  I had picked out several outfits just in case she decided she wanted to take a lot of pictures, but knowing I better use my favorite one first because that would probably be all I got.   And I was right!

Usually I take so many pictures.  Today I took 70 in about 75 minutes.  You know there HAS to be at least ONE good one in that many pictures, right?  Well, after looking at them, there were lots of good ones.  So many that I can't really pick and choose which ones to post on the blog.  So I will post all of my favorites and you will just get to enjoy lots of pictures of Claire! 

I will start with my most favorite one:

To me, Claire is the most beautiful little girl in the world!  She is our world.

Love,
The Scott Family

Esther Williams

Claire had a good weekend!  She visited the farmers market, ate lunch at Carolina Bagel, visited with family, ate lots of beans and carrots, and swam.  She is making a new sound now that sounds like a dog panting.  I am thinking this is because she spent so much time with Aunt Amanda's dog, Miller, last week!  It's funny!

This morning I was telling my mom how well Claire did swimming yesterday.  Trent handed her off to me in the pool and once we got her in the float properly, she started kicking and kicking.   We floated around the pool for a long time and she continued to kick and laugh.  She loves it!  When I was telling my mom about it this morning, she called Claire "Esther Williams."  I guess she saw the look on my face like I had no idea who Esther Williams was.  So she explained that our Granny Rose would always say we were "swimming like Esther Williams" when we would go over and swim in her pool.  And that Esther Williams was one of those beautiful actresses/professional swimmers from way back in the day of Granny Rose's time.  Like the ones who would stand on the side of the pool and dive off sideways so gracefully in line with several other beautiful swimmers. 

So looks like we now have an Esther Williams on our hands! 

Esther Williams

Yes....this is EXACTLY what Claire looks like in the pool.....  ;)

Love,
The Scott Family

Happy 9 month birthday, Claire!

Claire is 9 months old today!  We can hardly believe it, but are so thankful we can celebrate it.  Here she is this morning as happy as ever!

We love you and are so proud of you Claire!

Love,

The Scott Family

Fourth of July weekend

Our 4th of July weekend was full of fun things with Claire! 

She tried peas for the first time and didn't like them very much as you can see.  She just sat there with her mouth open and looked at me like I was crazy.  So I mixed them with applesauce and they seemed to go down a little easier. 

We went to the farmer's market again and visited with cousins Anna and Connor.  Claire also posed with some of Deep Gully Gardens' flowers and a baby squash from Scott Farm Organics.

Saturday afternoon, Connor and Anna came over and we all swam in the pool and ate pizza on the deck.  This was Claire's first time in the pool and she loved it!

Sunday, we went to Claire's first 4th of July party at William and Christopher's house right down the dirt road from us.  We got in the pool, but I think it was a little overwhelming for Claire because there were so many people.  William and Christopher swam right over and were so enthralled with Claire.  Their mom said it was a good thing because they will protect her like big brothers as they get older, and will run all of those city boys away!  Trent was a little concerned that the boys were already flocking towards his baby girl and she's only 9 months old...  Too funny!    Claire wore herself out, so she decided to take a nap at the party with the river breeze blowing on her while momma and daddy got to enjoy some wonderful food.

 Monday, Claire and I attempted the grocery store again.  She didn't like it, but she did ok.  I rushed around and got what we needed.  Then after checking out, I saw they had Diet Pepsi on sale!  Ugh!  So we unloaded the groceries in the car and ran back in to get the drinks.  I am so glad we did because we ran into Samantha and her grandmother!  Samantha's mom and I were best friends growing up.  They now live in Georgia, but Samantha was up staying with her grandparents for a few days.  I HAD to get a picture!  It seems so strange to see our children together, and brings back so many memories!  Samantha's mom is actually the one who introduced me and Trent. 

We had planned to swim again Monday but it was so hot, then the smoke from the forest fires blew in.  So we just stayed inside most of the day.  Claire was sad that the holiday weekend was over.

But I told her we could do it again next year, and she was ok with that!

We hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July!  Claire also had a new baby cousin born this weekend, Dean Everette Stephens.  She hasn't been able to meet his brother or sister yet because they live in Texas, but hopefully one day they will get to all play together!  He was named after Claire's great granddaddy Everette (who Claire was gardening with last week).  GG Everette is also having surgery this morning, so please keep him in your prayers.  With us being NC State and Duke fans, we won't say where he got his first name from.....  ;)

Love,
The Scott Family