Claire Bear

Well, it has been a while since I posted - the kids and I have been out of town visiting my sister, Sara, and her family. Before we left town, we celebrated with my other sister, Emily, and her husband the first birthday of their little one. Claire Alyse was born last July 31, and I had the honor of being in the birthing room seconds after she arrived, as I was the photographer of the big event. It was wonderful seeing the joy on Emily & Allan's faces as they saw their baby for the first time and getting to see my little niece as she adjusted to her first few minutes in this big world. After only a few minutes of that joy and celebrating, I realized that something was terribly wrong with my baby sister. I heard words like hemorrhage and hysterectomy being thrown around, and I could see that she was in intense pain and was becoming very lethargic. I went from being the photographer to being the big sister. It was almost an out of body experience as I was not emotional at the time – I just wanted information. I wanted to understand what was happening and to make sure that Allan and Emily understood too. I have never prayed so hard in my life as I watched the doctor work to save Emily's life. Thankfully, she was fine and after a procedure and blood transfusion she was able to move on to the normalcy of being a new mommy - if there is such a thing. I have loved watching that continue as I have had the privilege of watching her mommy Claire over the last year. She is great at it! And Claire Bear is a joy to watch too. She is hilarious, and it was fun to have the whole Selke family together to celebrate her last weekend.