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!


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The Grateful Dad, Part II

One year ago today we brought Wilson home from the hospital. It remains one of the happiest moments of our lives. We wrote about it here and won't take too much time now to reminisce. The last year hasn't been easy, but we can already say it has been rewarding in ways we never imagined. What a long strange trip it continues to be!
Getting ready to leave the hospital on September 4, 2011

Getting ready to leave the house on September 4, 2012

Summer Break Is Over

We realize we haven't updated the blog in quite sometime. Please don't think that means the past 2 1/2 months haven't been interesting . . . in fact, it is quite the opposite. Clara and Wilson blossom with personality, curiosity, and ability daily. We know you'd probably rather see pictures than read stories (and it's easier for us), so here you go:

Shortly after our last post, we started going to all the
one year checkups with various doctors.
Clara was happy to show off her new weight and proudly
entered the 7th percentile of weight.

Don't jump Wilson, the doctors have good news! We don't have to go back to the eye doctor or heart doctor for a year and the neonatalogists and pediatrician are also happy with their progress.

From July through August, we enjoyed our first complete month without a doctor's appointment.
So we started swinging into summer . . .

We opened the pool at the Strathmoor Village Country Club (SVCC)

With the extreme summer heat wave, we also utilized our "indoor pool"

When the kids had too much bath time, we got creative.
Yep, that's the baby pool filled with spaghetti noodles.

But don't think we just stayed at the house. Once we got the "okay" to go out in public, we hit the town.
The most fun thing was getting to have them around other kids. 

Wilson saw Caysen eating with a fork and immediately wanted to try.
Wilson and Clara finally got to attend their baby shower at Morgan's work

and they still really enjoy going to Mimi and Mac's.

Clara and Wilson love the zoo

And we did finally take them to a real pool.
We also started taking big steps at home.

Which means Clara and Wilson are now into everything

But they also have settled into somewhat of a routine.
Every morning around 8:00 a.m. Wilson climbs into or around these cabinets
for his morning constitutional. Eventually, we started leaving a book in the cabinet for him.

And things continue to just roll along.

As you can see, everything is going well. Clara is still in physical therapy, and will likely require additional therapy for her fine motor skills, but she is gaining weight and developing a hilarious personality. Wilson is on the verge of walking and you can't turn your back on either of them for long. We were getting ready for bath time the other night and only had Clara's diaper off for a second before putting her in the tub, but it was enough time for her to leave us a present. They are also incredibly adept at finding electric outlets, loose change, or anything else that could be remotely dangerous. We have taken all the precautions but child-proofing the house is daily chore . . . and they aren't walking yet.

We also just had our first illness go through the McGarvey house. We all felt miserable, looked worse, and are glad things are clearing up. We reverted to being paranoid first time parents and made at least three trips to the pediatrician within a week. Unfortunately, I don't think we can blame our craziness on not feeling well. It was also interesting to see how Clara and Wilson handled the virus differently. Clara had more severe symptoms in her chest and had to go back on breathing treatments. This isn't a long term treatment but does serve as another reminder of the problems Clara experienced at the very beginning.

Thanks for checking in!