First of all, thank you THANK YOU for all of your kind words and well wishes about the birth of our little Clara. It means so much to have so many people sharing in our joy. Now, who of you would like to share in our diaper changes?
Obviously the winner of the baby pool (and the $100 West Elm gift card that goes along with it) is someone who picked May 14th as Baby P’s birthday. And while I’d love to tell you how many people guessed the right date, going through 5600+ entries is admittedly not high on my daddy to-do list. But trust us when we say it was actually a rare choice, with many people guessing (like Sherry) that she’d come a bit late or on her actual due date (which just happens to be today). And in the informal family baby pool that we did with our extended family, not a single person guessed May 14th. Surprisingly, I actually had the closest guess (May 15 at 4:15am – which was only about 10 hours off). But it’s not because I have any sort of daddy intuition at all, I just selfishly selected my own half birthday as the random day that she’d arrive. And apparently she decided to drop in a bit early to surprise us all.
But there’s not a hundred dollar West Elm gift card in my future. That prize goes to one random spot-on guesser from our baby pool who picked May 14th (as selected by random.org). And that lucky lady is… Sue! We’d love to know if you used any secret method when it came to predicting the right date (phases of the moon? pulling numbers out of a hat?). Oh and we’d also love to know what you’ve got your eye on at West Elm! Happy shopping…
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not to be a suck up…but i would totally change that adorable babys butt :)
what a sweet picture of clara!
I respect that this blog is about your house, but can you please post more pictures of your sweet little bean? She is just darling. Congratulations!
I LOVE that you dress Clara in such bright, fun colors! So refreshing from the pastel, pale colors…my friend is due in July w/ a little boy and I haven’t found anything I liked in the stores, because it’s all blaaaaaaaaaaah.
I second Laura!
Congratulations! She is adorable!
Just soak it in, it goes so fast!
Isn’t she the cutest thing! congrats!
I just wanted to say that your little one is absolutely adorable. Nice work!
Have you guys thought about printing out or preserving in some way the 1200+ welcome comments Clara received on your first post? I can’t imagine there are many babies in the world that get a welcome from so many different and exotic places…she’s certainly a lucky girl! It would be so neat when she’s older to be able to look back at how many people were happy to hear of her birth.
Capturing those words of welcome in a creative way seemed to be the kind of thing you two cute kids would do, so I thought I’d ask.
Hey Emily,
We hadn’t thought of that (’til someone else suggested it on the other post) but think it’s a fantastic idea. We’ll have the brainstorm the perfect way to do it, so stay tuned. Thanks for suggesting it!
-John
p.s. I totally second Laura’s comment- I don’t think anyone would mind if you put your decor posts on hold for a week and just posted photos and updates about Clara!
Never thought I’d say this, but yeah, yeah, yeah, home design. MORE BABY PICTURES, PLEASE!
i agree….more baby please? :) she is just precious!
also, if you ever care to post about the cloth diaper how to, i would love to read anything you can say on the subject as i will be CD when my little bundle comes in sept.
Hey Alli,
It seems as if a bunch of people are interested to hear how cloth diapering goes, so we hope to share some info with everyone after we’ve put them to good use.
xo,
s
Yes, more about Clara!!! Just for a little while at least! :)
Such a cutie. Clara is high on my list of potential names when (if) I have a baby. Like you, Clara is a family name — my maternal grandmother’s middle name (and a much better choice than her first name, which she happens to share with a very popular car rental agency).
Congrats to you all! What a beautiful little girl!
I think that she looks a lot like you, John.
I agree with the others, we love baby updates too! My husband and I are planning to cloth diaper as well. Here in Indy, we have a great diaper service, http://www.toastybaby.com, that provides free in-home demos of all kinds of cloth diapering options. If you have any questions or want to try any other types of diapers, they are a great source! They have been able to answer tons of our questions. They explained that some cloth diapers are better for day, some are better for night, etc. Great info…
well she didn’t wait for the full moon like I thought she would. I actually had a feeling she’d be early but I didn’t guess it. Oh well.
I agree with some other posters – your readers love your home advice, but we also, well, kinda love you! Maybe a little more in the way of baby updates, just for a little while? Pretty please!
Congrats on your sweet baby – she is just adorable! I am new to your blog and just love it. My hubby and I are buying an old home with lots of charm next month, so it has been so helpful! I love to check it out everyday!
PS – your West Elm banner is hyperlinked to westlem.com instead of westelm.com. Just wanted to let you know! =)
Thanks so much for the heads up Tasha! All fixed. And for everyone else clamoring for more Clara- we don’t blame you! We’re totally smitten too. We’re thinking we might create a flickr or facebook album that we can update with photos for anyone who wants their fix of Baby P. Stay tuned for those details…
xo,
s
she looks like her daddy on here
I agree with the others, we’d love to hear all about Clara! Have you thought about having another blog on your website? Like pioneerwoman.com has different blogs on her website for photography, cooking, etc.
Hey Steph Anne,
Great suggestion! We’ve definitely thought about it but we’re not sure if having a baby means there are more hours in the day. We wish that was the case but we’re not sure we can juggle YHL and Clara and a whole new baby blog. We’re definitely brainstorming a way to provide regular Baby P updates and photos without creating a completely new blog (which would definitely take time away from bonding as a brand new family). Stay tuned to see where we end up…
xo,
s
I can’t get over how beautiful your baby pictures of Clara are. I don’t know what is do to the new camera and what’s due to her being absolutely cute as a button, but I think they’re the best baby pictures I’ve ever seen. And I’m with everyone else; keep the Clara posts coming!
congratulations on the birth!! omg, what a cute baby!! :-) i wish you both all the best, thanks for always being so inspiring.
Well, since Burgs loves the new sis so much, maybe he is willing to share his Burger blog and it could become Burger & the Bean’s blog??? That way we could get our fix of house AND baby…cause count me in on wanting to hear more about the baby!!! ; )
(I know, like you have a lot of extra time right?)
Haha, love it. Burger & The Bean. That sounds like a movie we have to make about Clara and Burger having adventures together. So cute.
xo,
s
COngrats to Sue :). I honestly can’t even remember when i picked for your Angel to drop in.
Hey I wanted to ask, that blanket you have on BabyP is SUPER CUTE, could you tell me where I can get one? I have a 2yr old girl, and another one due in a couple of months, and I’d love to get one for each :)
Hey Funmilayo,
That hot pink and blue blanket was actually a gift from one of my best friends. We love it for the bold colors (and the fact that it’s organic) and the tag says HappyGreenBee so hopefully that will help you google around to find a distributor. Happy hunting…
xo,
s
Dang! I was too late getting into this baby pool!
If I did get in I totally would have picked May 14th! My daughter was born last year on May 14th and her Name is Claire! Congrats on your little Clara (she’s soo cute!)and I wish you all the best as new parents. Hopefully your little Clara will be like my Claire and start sleeping through the night at 2 weeks… it makes the world of difference when you get sleep at night!
Clara is a cutie – nice work on making her! :)
I would love to see more baby updates and pictures as time goes on like so many other people have said! I’m really curious as to how you will juggle a new baby and still keep up with home improvements, changing decor, projects etc. So I’d love to know your secrets for handling it all as you go about the next few months. I’m already impressed you’ve kept up the blog posts these first few days! Maybe you could do a weekly baby update? Bi-weekly or Monthly? Something just to keep us all up-to-date on your sweet little one!
Hey Liz,
We’d love to do some sort of regular update on being parents (perhaps on a separate page from our main one so the DIY lovers don’t feel like Clara is taking over the blog). We’ll start to think about how we can work that in (if only we could clone ourselves- then we’d have twice as much time to tackle projects like this!) so here’s hoping we come up with something!
xo,
s
My daughter’s dorm at her college was renovated last year, so she was the among the first to live in the new digs. They have dual flushing toilets, the first I’d encountered – what an awesome idea! I’m going to suggest it to our military housing office, too (and probably upgrade our unit on our own dime, Just Because.) I’d assumed the toilets at the college were super expensive – and obviously, they do take a lot more abuse than a family residence, so they have to be higher grade . . . how cool to know a $20 piece can do the trick!!
I also wish I’d known about toilet sprayers Back in the (Diaper) Days! I’ve only heard of them more recently, from someone who lived in Asia where they are common. She said they are nice for washing down the toilet on cleaning day, too.
Mazel Tov on the babe, she’s wonderful!
Thanks a bunch YHL, I found their website and ordered one :), Congrats again on little Clara. I hope mommy is recovering well and quickly!
So I’m really bad at the whole “figuring out who she looks like” thing. I’m convinced you can’t really tell until the baby grows hair and the whole thing, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say she looks a little more like Mama than Dada.
Ah, who cares?! She’s still cute as a button!
xoxo,
Lindsay
Baby Clara is adorable!!!
We have a Clara at our house, too. She’s Clara Rose and named after my husband’s great-great-great aunt.
I agree with all the comments clamoring for more baby updates. And the bonus that comes with blogging about the baby is that it is even better than a baby book! I’ve blogged about my kiddos for the last few years and my relatives and friends that are out of town love it as a way to keep up. It probably seems overwhelming now, but I think it’s definitely easier to blog about kids/babies than home improvements . . . plus, you’ll have tons of pictures of Clara readily available, so you might as well put them to good use!
If you do a baby themed blog, section, or whatever, the tag line should totally be “Baby Clara: Our Ultimate DIY” hahaha.
Haha, that’s awesome.
xo,
s
Aaahhh…Clara is adorable! Congratulations – it will be interesing to see how the baby affects your design choices. Of course, you have several months before Clara is mobile but once she is you may find that you have to move a few things around. We have a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old and our built ins in the family room have nothing on the bottom 2 shelves! Enjoy your new addition to the family!
She’s beautiful!
I agree on regular Clara updates! :)
She is so adorable! So happy for you two! Post more pictures!
Hope to see more Clara updates/pics. :) She’s a cutie! I agree with some of the others, having the comments from all over the world to welcome her would be super cool.
Congrats to Sue! Enjoy your giftcard. I heart WestElm.
~Karla
She looks like John in this picture!
Well John, I picked May 16th because it’s my birthday. Guess Clara fooled us all!!
OMG, I just want to say I’m loving that little face!
Congrats on the beanette! I have total baby fever looking at your photos. Please post more :)
Also interested in information about your cloth diapers and the thought process behind how and why you chose to go that route. I dont have babies yet, but will someday and I’m always curious what’s out there!
I’m going to agree with the posters above and say she looks more like Daddy. But it’s so hard to tell at this point. Congrats on baby Clara!
Oh, My. Goodness. Those cheeks! I’m with the demanding masses- we’ll take as much about Clara as we can get!
Congrats! I just adore the pics of your little one. I know you don’t want your blog to be the Clara blog…but we really don’t mind! If I lived closer I’d come change diapers just to enjoy that sweet baby smell newborns have. Enjoy her!
She is just so precious!!! More pictures please!!!
Congratulations, John and Sherry. What a beautiful baby. Thank you so much for the West Elm gift certificate. Strangely enough, I was at a West Elm store this last weekend and have my eye on the organic cotton pintuck duvet cover in natural. The nearest West Elm store is 70 miles away from me so I don’t shop in the store that often. My scientific method was to pick my mother’s birthday. I thought about picking mine, which is tomorrow. However, I figured the last thing a pregnant woman wants to hear is that she is going past her due date.
CONGRATS! She is adorable! Lucky parents..lucky girl!
Little Clara could not be any more perfect. Congratulations to you both and welcome to the wonderful world of parenthood. The hardest, most rewarding job of your lives.