Little Claes Too

2007-04-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

7 pounds, 1 ounce - 20" long - born at 4:08p.m. on April 18, 2007 - Click this link to see photos of Little Claes Too...

Had A Baby It's A...... (ooh.. click)

All Signs Point to Baby

2007-04-18T03:06:00.000-07:00

We're off to the Hospital...
All signs point to today as being the day life as a 4 member Claes household begins...

HOORAY!

Less Than 48 hours.... Little Claes Too will be named!

2007-04-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

It's been decided

That is right, it's been decided. The baby will be induced on 4/18/07. It's an amazing time. I am officially on "paternity" leave. I'm making the final preparations for the homecoming of the little Claes. The smallest Claes.

The photo at top is Jodie on Saturday, just after Marlee's birthday party at McDonalds (yes, Marlee's birthday is the 21st... but we celebrated on the 14th so we could make sure it happened. It was a blast by the way).

The middle and bottom photos are the "kiss the belly" shots. Our good friend Greg McReynolds took a similar shot of me kissing Marlee in Jodie's belly about 3 years ago... but he's on his way moving from Idaho to New Mexico right now (Hi Greg and Denise) so not available. So, I took these shots (I used the 10-second-dash method for me). I'm pretty happy with them.

Well... this is possibly the last post of an unnamed Little Claes.

I'll come back in a few days and introduce Evan or Harper.

Updating in April... the first week.

2007-04-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

April 6,2007 Update

Here we are in front of the bus at The Broken Spoke after seeing the last show while the baby in in the womb... it was Walt Wilkins... of course....on 3/17/07 (SXSW week).. the Palo Duro Records showcase. Good stuff.

So... now Jodie is on her "every week" appointments. I've bee traveling for the new job. In the last month I've been to Midland, Beaumont, Asheville North Carolina, and St. Louis. I'm home for the next few month... as we've got some preparing to do and then... before we know it... Little Claes Too will be a child with a name.

We're looking forward to meeting you Harper or Evan...
We'll find out next Tuesday if we will be scheduling an induction...and when. The feelings are the 17th or 18th right now... we'll see.

I felt Jodie's stomach tonight and the baby was really, really active.. I think it was high-fiving me. Fatherhood part deaux is going to be amazing!

A BIG Update...

2007-03-10T05:18:00.000-08:00

OK... I was taken to task by the two people who actually read this (sorry Hoot and Denise) so I will do my best to keep this thing more updated than I have thus far this year. Heck... we're headed into the homestretch. It's March 10... Little C Too is due April 24. Whoa...

We did take photos.. I just didn't update here... so if you can... please act like these were all posted by themselves... and on the right date.

January 15, 2007

Kyle, Texas froze over the week of January 15. It even snowed... so Jodie hung out for a few minutes on our back porch so we could expose Little C Too to his/her first snow!

February 24, 2007

In case you didn't know it... I was offered and I accepted a position as a Client Consultant and Copywriter for a company called Wizard of Ads. My office is located on 22 acres of land that includes a chapel, meeting hall, and will soon have student housing and a whole lot of other things. If you click the photo it'll go to the Wizard Academy's Web site and see the buildings. Well... we took a family field trip out there on February 24 (it's located about 3 miles north of The Salt Lick) and took a family photo.

February 25, 2007

The Kyle United Methodist Church honored us with a diaper shower... Amanda and Scott Brown, who are also expecting thieir 2nd child were our co-honorees. Pretty exciting stuff.

March 10, 2007
How are things going? It's an odd, odd time... but it's going great. Like I said, I started a new job. I've got clients all over North America. I flew to Delaware in February, and in March I'm going to go to Beaumont and Midland, TX and North Carolina. I've requested not to travel again until June after my North Carolina trip...

I'm really loving my job. I am getting paid to do for family owned businesses what I was struggling to do with musicians. I promote good people and help them become more known. It rocks.

Jodie is feeling fairly well. She is full into the painful back and swollen feet stage and pretty much... I think she's pretty much ready for this kid to come. We're really excited to meet Little Evan or Harper.

Marlee is ready to be a big sister.

I am in awe of this whole baby thing. It's still just as magical the second time around.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that we will welcome a new baby into our house in just under 5 months...

For Christmas this year, big sister Marlee decided she wanted to give a present to the baby (who she is convinced is a girl). We went to a Christmas Sale in the neighborhood and she wouldn't stop getting this rattle "for the baby." Problem was it cost about $2 more than dad (Sean) had in his pocket... I guess it was good that it was late in the sale... so we got a good deal.

Marlee kept the purchase a secret from mom until Christmas when Jodie got to open it up! It was a neat moment.
Happy New Year all!

December 1 Update

2006-12-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the doctor's for a scheduled appointment and did the sonogram (great video!). Dr. Blair took about 5 different "photos" of LCToo... and apparently LCToo was getting tired of it, as you may be able to make out in the photo below:

This is a 3-d photo of Little Claes Too... apparently flipping the camera off. If you know what you're looking for you can even kind of see the little finger up in the air (the eye socket is just about at the center top of the shot.. with the hand covering some of the face....)

We also went to the Sights and Sounds of Christmas in San Marcos and took Little Claes Too's first photo with Santa.

All is going well.

The November 27th Update

2006-11-27T06:53:00.000-08:00

Little Claes Too is kicking! Maybe it was the anticipation of Jodie's mom's homemade stuffing... or the thrill of having four cousins around for Thanksgiving. But LCToo started kicking on Thanksgiving day.

Just one more things to be thankful for... the fluttering sensation of a little baby stretching in the belly.

Marlee kisses the baby goodnight every night before going to bed. She's telling everyone she's having a little sister. I don't know where she gets her information... since we don't know the sex of the baby. I think we decided last night that we are not going to find out. We'd been on the fence about it... we thought about finding out... maybe having the doctor write it on a piece of paper and putting into an envelope and openinig it on Christmas... but when you get down to it there's just nothing like not knowing until the moment the child is born.

I promise I'll tell Jodie if it's a boy or a girl quicker this time. I think Marlee was about a minute old before I told Jodie... that whole "miracle of birth thing" made me forget that Jodie didn't know...

On a funny note, this morning the baby was really active.. and Jodie said "I imagine that the baby sees Marlee doing summersaults and is just joining in with big sister."

We go to the doctor this Thursday for a check-up.

16 Week Update

2006-11-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

We went to the doctor yesterday and heard the little baby's heartbeat. That never ceases to amaze me. What was an extra blessing was, we took Marlee with us so big sister got to hear the heartbeat as well.

Awesome.

So.., the baby is doing fantastic.
Second Trimester time!

September 28th update

2006-09-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

Just a little note of update... from the baby daddy...

I think LCToo is having a ball inside mom right now... but mom's not feeling too well because of it. Morning sickness and headaches have been going on... and it's not great.

Simma....down..now...LCToo...

I'm really getting excited about this... I have this feeling it's a boy.... and for some reason all I keep thinking is "how am I going to keep this baby from arching pee everytime I change him? We went ton Bob and Michelle Newmann's this past weekend and they have two boys (2 and a half and 1). I didn't really think about it until Marlee had to use the bathroom.. and their child's seat had a "little boy splash guard." This is going to be really different if "Orange" comes along...

Of course... Jodie thinks it is going to be a girl. If that's the case... I know what to expect in the bathroom department. "Paprika" will probably not even wait until her 2nd day of life to poop on me like Marlee did.

Well.. just wanted to knock out a little update before getting a little more work done before heading to bed.
Hope all are well. Please.. feel free to leave a comment. I don't know if anyone is actually reading this.

- Sean

Little Claes Too's First Show

2006-09-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

I had passes to ACL Fest, so we took Little Claes Too to his/her first show - Van Morrison on September 15, 2006.

My brown-eyed Girl danced with me to "Brown Eyed Girl" while Little Claes Too did a belly dance.

Little Claes Too loves listening to live music (hopefully)!

Seven Months To Go... Sonogram

2006-09-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

Today we had an appointment with our OBGYN and things look really good. We got to see LC Too on a sonogram again.. and so I give you the latest photo:

Little Claes Too belly shot... the 9/11/06 version.

I hear we'll have one of thos 3D sonograms at about 28 weeks... were barely approaching 8..so a little time for that. We have decided not to find out what sex the baby is... so that answers that question.

Jodie is doing well. Her headaches have reemerged (she had bad ones with Marlee) but hopefully they will subside soon.
Happy Monday.

The Reactions.. FANTASTIC

2006-09-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

So, we decided to tell the new-again grandparents in a fun way. Marlee drew a couple of pictures and we pasted the sonogram of "LCToo" in the middle and I wrote "I'm going to be a big sister" on it. They were framed and when Marlee gave them the "picture she made in Day Care" they would get the surprise.

Friday afternoon we met Jodie's mom for lunch and Marlee handed Mimi a drawing she had done... With low light she couldn't focus on what the black blur was... but when she read what it said she was very happy.

Outside Chinese Restaurant in Seguin... taken September 1, 2006.

After lunch, we headed down to Laredo to visit my parents. After a fantastic dinner we headed back to the house. Before going to bed, it seemed the right time for Marlee to give Papa and Grammy her drawing. You can see by the reaction in the photo that they were a but surprised.

The reaction in Laredo... taken September 1, 2006.

It was a fantastic weekend. I can't wait to make this "public" and tell folks that aren't immediate family about this site...

In The Beginning: August 31, 2006

2006-09-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago, Jodie was feeling a bit off... really tired and not really feeling like she was functioning normally. She took a pregnancy test in early August and it came out positive... she then woke Sean (me) up and took two more in a row... positive..positive. A few days later she took another.. REALLY positive.

The fourth test... taken August 17, 2006.

We made an appointment with "the baby doctor" on Monday August 21..and he confirmed it. Marlee is going to be a big sister.
So...

Jodie, Sean and Marlee Claes present..... Little C Too!

LC Too's first photo... at about 5 weeks old. We saw the little heartbeat.

According to Marlee... if it's a boy, his name should be Orange. If it's a girl, her name should be Paprika.

We're going to meet Jodie's mom for lunch tomorrow (Friday, September 1) to tell her... and then drive down to Laredo to let my parents know. Kind of appropriate..Labor Day Weekend?