Talking

I hope to have a whole slew of posts coming soon because I'm really really really behind. But at least I have pictures and stuff to say. I'll get it done eventually.

This is just a fun video. Ignore me on the video please. Anna has started "talking." A little more like babbling and cooing, but its super fun. She's just adorable and I like that we can play with her more. There is nothing like the look she gives me when I'm completely focused on her. Also, as Anna has started to talk I realize that I'm a horrible baby-talker. I used to be 100% anti-baby talk and then I came around to the fact that using a different voice for babies is important for their vocal development (thanks school) plus it lets them know they are the one you're talking to. Now I use bad grammar and don't pronounce "th" or "r's" correctly. Maybe I'll fix it. So, here's the video of Annalee.

One Month

Squeaker is now a month old! We've all learned so much in the first month, but mostly mom and dad have learned a lot. We've learned that she does not like to be cold at all, and thus does not like her clothes off. Or bath time. Or diaper changes. She does like to snuggle especially again our chest. She absolutely loves to swing! And most of the time she likes to be held. She's a good eater and weighed in yesterday at 11 pounds 1 ounce and 22 inches long. We're all making the adjustment fairly well. Enough that mom has started teaching piano. Dad is going back to school to be a police officer and for the moment being a substitute teacher until we can find a more permanent job that works with his school schedule.

I know what everyone really wants to see is pictures of the cutie. So just for the record I have difficulty figuring out how to work with pictures on blogger, so I'm going to deal with them in the order that they decided to be put in here. Hopefully it makes some sense.

Daddy said that she looked like a koala bear in this outfit, snuggled on mom's chest.

The cub scouts made paper bag hats this week and so we decided to make a paper bag hat for Squeaker as well.

Her outfit 2 Sundays ago, I thought she looked beautiful in the yellow dress. This was the second time we'd gone to sacrament meeting.

Mom just taking pictures while Anna models.

More pictures, this one with her name that we had carved this summer at Peach Days.

Our first outing outside, just walking around the yard.

Ain't I cute :)

Not edited, but a sample of the pictures my sister took for us just recently. I love my baby!!

Squeaker

Just a few words about my little girl in her first couple weeks of life. She is a very good eater and mostly a really good sleeper. When they first handed her to me it made me laugh. She was sticking her tongue out and moving it around. Genetic trait, my dad's story about my birth always included that I did that. I knew she was actually my daughter. I'm also amazed that she actually had hair, I expected a bald baby. I didn't know that she would come out with furry ears. No one had ever mentioned that to me with a different baby, but they are just a little furry :) She likes to lift her head up and when she's on her tummy now, she can lift it and change which side her head is turned to.

From the beginning, she squeaked. In fact after her first day it took her a while to get her cry back. The first couple of days home she just squeaked when she cried - it sounded like she was hoarse. She continues to squeak frequently, when we're playing, when she's sleeping, after she's finished eating. So her first nickname has been "Squeaks" or "Squeaker."

Mom and Dad both love spending time with her and holding her. She's sure precious. I have to admit that I've always found newborns a little bit boring and was worried about how I would feel about my own. Thank goodness, I never began to think that being Anna's mom would be as much fun as it is. It's fun to watch her personality develop, to figure things out and to just snuggle with her.

January 4th

January 4th is one of the biggest days of my life now: the wonderful day I became a mother. Also the day that I slept the least out of probably my whole life. The night before we went swimming with Matt's sister, brother and his wife and their kids. It was lots of fun and so nice for my huge pregnant body to be in water. So we came home that night and went to bed. I woke up just a few hours later at 1:30 a.m. because my water had broken. We left for the hospital. I got there and they hooked me up to monitors. I had regular, not too strong contractions but strong enough to keep me awake until the normal morning hours. At this point they slowed and almost stopped. To keep this from being forever long I think I will just list the memorable events from this point forward.

- I went in not wanting to have an epidural. Not 100% sure why, but I just didn't want it.

- All morning some of the equipment in my room wasn't working, so I had this I.T. guy popping in and out all morning. Somewhat awkward.

- About 10:00 am they started me on pitocin. Thank goodness, I wanted to get things moving. I'd already been there too long for me.

- Early afternoon I decided to get pain medication through the I.V. which was a bad plan. It made me excessively dizzy and nauseous. After that I decided that the pain from the contractions was much better than the pain medication.

- Anna was posterior, I think was the term they used, I had to work to get her forward, part of what took so long.

- About 5:00 pm after now 16 hours I was completely exhausted and about ready to go ahead and get the epidural. Luckily the nurse that came in at this point was really helpful and coached me a little to help me manage the pain and get things moving. I managed to stay natural which I was happy about :).

- The last centimeter or so took forever. She was turned sideways and wouldn't turn the right way. Later we found out that the reason was probably because she had the cord wrapped around her neck.

- Pushing was such a relief. I much preferred this part because I was actually doing something. I finally started pushing just before 7:00 and Annalee made her appearance at 7:29.

I felt so relieved. I was tired enough that I think I mostly just had complete disbelief that she was actually here after waiting so long. But it was amazing holding her. She weighed in at 8 pounds and half an ounce, but sure didn't look that big. Before weighing her, everyone guessed she'd be 7 something. She measured at 20.5 inches. And now she's here. It's great.

Annalee

I'm currently holding my beautiful brand new baby which means this will not have very much text because I don't have the patience to type much one-handed. So here's some pictures in no particular order of our sweetheart, with more of the story to come.

Friends

I just have to say that I don't know how, but I got blessed with the most amazing group of high school friends ever. We've managed to keep in decent contact thanks to blogs and Facebook over the years (now almost 8). Now many live out of state, in fact of six of us girls we live in five different states right now. But the track record is amazing. Everyone either has a college degree, or are in the last stages of finishing their degree. Everyone has gotten married in the temple.

So these said amazing friends have come up twice recently. The first was just over a week ago. I came home from a family Christmas party to a giant box on my doorstep. Unable to really get together, one of my friends still organized a baby shower. Here it is.

I had balloons, treats, a diaper cake, confetti, gifts, and cards all stuck in this box. They went in on the crib set I'd picked out for the room that matches the border. And this was my happy surprise. It was so much fun.

Also recently, the largest group of these friends got together for breakfast. Its sort of an annual tradition to get together for breakfast shortly after Christmas. This year more people came than have in a long time. We were only missed a couple. It was fun to see people's families and hear where everyone is right now. We forgot to take pictures before a couple of people left, but here's the picture when we did take it.

Just the girls (and kids) Everyone left and families

Pregnancy

Just so I get all my tummy pictures on here, a recap of pregnancy. I feel like I've been pregnant for a very long time. It was funny, because for so long I would get comments on how tiny I was. No longer. I'm not tiny. But its fun to see the growth. So here is my collection of me pregnant. Hopefully not too much longer.

Pretending to look pregnant at three months Four and a half months, not much better.

My Halloween costume and Anna's first costume as a basketball. 6 1/2 months along.

Not quite sure exactly when, but getting big. Something like 8 months.

And just before Christmas (Dec 23) almost 9 months.

So baby is big and I'm big and now its time for this belly to disappear :) I have to say, I've never put this many pictures of myself anywhere, its a little unnerving. One funny thing I find is ladies that I talk to who mention they miss being pregnant. Although there are some upsides to it, mostly I can't imagine ever missing my entire body being out of whack. Come on little Annalee, its time to come meet mommy :)