Welcome to the Blog on Clara and Wilson McGarvey!

Clara's amniotic sac ruptured on June 7, 2011 when we were 24 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Ten days later, Clara and Wilson were born. They have already enriched our lives in ways we couldn't have imagined, and we wanted to share those experiences with our friends and family. So sit back and enjoy the read - they are full of excitment and surprises!


Thursday, February 2, 2012

Welcome Home, the Crazy Lady, and Whole Foods

WELCOME HOME!

The biggest news of the last two weeks was Uncle Dave returning from Afghanistan and meeting Clara and Wilson for the first time. Dave closely followed all the excitement from afar and we were thrilled for him to finally meet his niece and nephew. Of course, when the big introduction finally happened, we forgot about Dave being a single, childless 35 year old male. His initial excitement quickly morphed into fear that one or both of the kids would spit up on him. It was an endearing response and a perfect introduction to Uncle Dave. Throughout his week at home Dave was able to spend a lot of time with Clara and Wilson. His fear of babies quickly subsided and, once his guard was down, Wilson made sure to spit up on his shirt.

Uncle Dave joyfully (and cautiously) met Clara and Wilson

Clara was on her best behavior for Uncle Dave.
The effort was appreciated by everyone.

Almost six months in a combat zone and that is probably the most
disgusted Dave has been in quite some time.

Bull's-eye!

THE CRAZY LADY

About two weeks ago, Michelle, our nanny, called to let us know the power was out. Without electricity, she did not want to open the refrigerator to get out Clara and Wilson's bottles. That was the most immediate concern, but we also had to address the possibility that power would not be restored in time to save the milk stockpiled in the fridge and the deep freeze. Not wanting to relive the headache we experienced during a power outage this summer, Chris immediately lept into action.

When Chris got home, Michelle told her an LG&E truck had just driven by our house. Chris jumped back in the car and went on a mission to find the LG&E workers. Chris is a results driven woman and when she sets her mind to something . . . watch out. Unfortunately, these poor LG&E workers didn't see her until it was too late. They were working on the power in someone's yard and Chris pulled over, got out of her car and waited for them on the grass. The foreman politely approached and assured Chris they would be finished soon. I don't think he ever saw the attack coming. Bam! Chris was on him and wasn't letting go. She urgently explained about the twins, the milk, and everything else. The LG&E foreman kindly deferred and explained they would get to our house as soon as possible. He even offered to take Chris' cell phone number and call her when they got to our block. That was not good enough. Chris made him call her while they were standing in some stranger's yard. She proudly explained later this was to capture his cell phone number so she could check in on his progress. (And yes, she did call).

Not more than a few hours, and three cell phone conversations with Joel the LG&E foreman, later, our power was restored. Joel is probably on our Christmas card list, Chris is probably on a customer "watch list", and I'm glad I was in depositions. To make things worse better, Chris sent an email to the CEO of the largest utility company in Kentucky in an effort to reward Joel for his great customer service. We refer to this incident as "the Crazy Lady" story, but we should be diplomatic and call it "A Mother's Love."  

Wilson is happy Mom saved his food supply

WHOLE FOODS
Last Saturday was another big day at the McGarvey house; Clara and Wilson started eating rice cereal! I thought rice cereal would be similar to Rice Crispies, but there is no snap, crackle, or pop to the slime we force fed our children. Rice cereal is a textured liquid that resembles incredibly runny Cream of Wheat. However, it is served with a spoon and is supposed to prepare Clara and Wilson to eat other foods. Basically, rice cereal is like a gateway drug - we hope they'll eat this and be willing to try other things.

Wilson immediately took to the rice cereal and has eaten some every day this week. Clara is a pickier eater and wants nothing to do with the bland liquid we're eagerly convincing her to try. No amount of airplane noises, funny faces, or kind words will convince her to enjoy the rice cereal experience. Hopefully she'll get better at eating so we can move them along to apple sauce. Yum!




3 comments:

  1. My sister has a picture of her son Nathan (baby A, always been at least 1 lb larger) making a similar face to Clara's. She captioned the pic, "Soylent Rice Cereal is PEEEEOPLE!!!"
    We skipped the rice cereal and went straight to pear sauce for my boy. He's a big fan of Earth's Best Banana Oatmeal, now. :)
    Best of luck!
    Buffy

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  2. I have been quietly reading your amazing blog for quite a while--cheering along with your good news and tearing up at the setbacks. Clara and Wilson are so very lucky to have you two wonderful parents to raise them in a home filled with love and laughter! I greatly appreciate the time you take to document your days (and nights) and look forward to continuing to read about your future family adventures. Now I feel the need to abandon my "lurker" status and comment on the fabulous pictures of Clara and Wilson's Uncle Dave (one of my favorite former students) coming back to the States and meeting his niece and nephew for the first time. It was terrific to see him looking so well (wet shirt sleeve and all). ALL of you are such wonderful role models without even trying to be. AND those McGarvey smiles are priceless!
    All the best,
    Susan Waterman

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