This is just horrible to admit out loud, well write about, but I remember at one point or another during each pregnancy thinking, "I wonder if this baby will be cute?" After having two babies, I now understand that you never think your baby is ugly. Ever. I do however, look back at newborn photos of the girls and think they are much cuter now.
When we were pregnant with Claire we didn't find out what we were having and while the cute question crept up every now and again, my bigger question was, of course, "Will the baby be a boy or girl?" Followed second to "I wonder who the baby will look like?". We had joked around if we were having a girl, we hoped she looked like me and acted like Ryan.
When Claire was born, there was NO DOUBT who she looked like, she was nearly identical to Daddy. It was so strange how a little girl could look so much like her dad, but she did.
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| Newborn Claire |
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| Newborn Ryan |
I was feeling a little jipped, I mean, I carried her for 39 weeks and she didn't have an ounce of my looks at all. As she got older, I only heard the occasional "I think she's got your eyes" or "She's starting to look more like you" but this was primarily from mommies who had kids that looked like their dads too. I think it was all for sympathy purposes. These pictures will illustrate why I felt this way:
Not only does Claire look like her dad, she acts just like her mom. Go figure.
Fast forward almost 2 years. While we were at the 20 week ultrasound for Natalie, Ryan pulled up Claire's ultrasound pictures on his phone so we could compare baby profiles. I was shocked at the profile resemblance at 20 weeks! So I left the ultrasound convinced that this baby would look like Claire. We toyed around with the idea of finding out the gender this time around. We even had the ultrasound tech put the gender in a sealed envelope so we could open it on Christmas morning as our gift. We never did open that envelope, but considered doing so multiple times. It never just felt right - I know, this sounds so strange. So the second time around, our question became, "Should we open the envelope?". My question of cute-ness never came up, since we had settled on the fact that Baby #2 would look like Ryan/Claire. Since Claire has always had red hair, I anticipated baby #2 would have red hair, so I bought green stuff for baby to wear home from the hospital. Green with pink flowers for a girl and green frogs for a boy.
I was so excited when Natalie was born that Claire had a sister. For those of you with sisters, you know that special bond that sisters have. Since I have a little sister who I am still close with, I desperately wanted Claire to experience this.
Natalie didn't look anything like Claire when she was born. Her hair was thick and dark, her skin was a different completion and her face structure was slightly different. However, when my parents came up to the hospital they couldn't stop talking about how much Natalie looked like me as a baby. I figured the resemblence had to do with the hair, since I had a head-full as a baby. When we got home from the hospital, I pulled out my baby pictures and was shocked and elated, she actually looked like me :)
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| Newborn Natalie |
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| Newborn Heather |
However, as she has gotten older, I think she is starting to look more like her sister. It helps that most of her dark hair has fallen out and her new hair is lighter. I think pictures tell this part of the story better than I do anyway:
2 Weeks Old
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| Claire |
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| Natalie |
1 Month Old
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| Claire |
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| Natalie |
2 Months Old
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| Natalie |
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| Claire |
3 Months Old
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| Claire |
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| Natalie |
4 Months Old
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| Natalie |
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| Claire |
5 Months
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| Claire |
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| Natalie |
So we will see as they grow how much they look alike. Either way, the special sister bond is apparent already and that makes this momma very happy!
It's crazy how much Claire looks like Ryan and Natalie looks like you, but yet they look so much like each other too!
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience. Dominic is his Dad. In all ways. As he is getting older he is a little more leaning toward looking like me. I felt jipped too. I had to constantly hear about how much Dominic looked like Gary. It actually got pretty annoying. I had him at 37.3 weeks but I was super sick so I thought it was unfair that I was just an incubator. But as time went on, I got over it. Dominic was suppose to be our only child. Having super hard pregnancy and a delivery that was horrid, I did not want to go through it again. I decided if I wanted more kids that adoption would be our answer. That did not last long. (Gary and I were not married when we had Dom) When we did get married a few years later, we decided we wanted another child. Logan came along and looked like both of us :) yay! Then Charlotte came along and looks like me and like Dominic as a baby but with dark hair. I am so glad we decided that going through roughness for 9 weeks is completely worth it because I could not imagine not having all 3 of these little boogers ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is phenomenal!! Claire looks like your husband and Natalie looks like you! I definitely see resemblance between the girls though. I love all these pictures. You did a fantastic- job on this post. Both of them are so adorable!!
ReplyDeleteSara - I know, isn't it nuts?! I didn't realize how much they looked alike until I started comparing pictures :)
ReplyDeleteTracy - I felt jipped too at first but got over it too :) After Claire I didn't want more kids either, then we found out about Natalie ;) Wouldn't change it anyway!!
Mel- Thank you!!
What a great post! I love this idea! I definitely see the resemeblance of Claire and your husband and you and Natalie, but from three month on the girls really start resembling one another!
ReplyDeleteCecilia was the spitting image of her dad when she was born. Now? She looks so much like me that when she sees pictures of me at 2 or 3, she tells my mom "That's Cici!" It's adorable!