Bath Time

I know I posted a picture of Anna in the tub on the last post, but we just gave her a bath today and got some more good ones. I just love naked little babies! These pictures show off her beautiful blue eyes, and you can see how curly her hair gets when it's wet...we'll see what it does as she gets older. Daddy was playing around with her hair at one point and gave her a slicked down, old man comb over...it made us giggle. :) The last picture is the first semi-smile that we got on camera...she looks pretty silly. Can you believe those chins?! :)

Enjoy the pics...I'll post more later.

Road Trip

We just got back into town today from our trip to Oregon. It was Anna's first long car ride and she did great...we are very lucky that she does so well in her carseat and in the car. She sleeps the entire time, only to wake up to eat, and then it's back to sleep she goes! I know these things can change, so we're enjoying it while it lasts. :) We took off Tuesday morning and drove down to Monmouth, OR where Anna got to meet her great-grandparents and we all enjoyed the visit very much. Dane's grandma made us a wonderful dinner and we visited for a couple of hours and then headed over to his aunt's house for another visit. It was wonderful to see everyone and I think everyone agreed that Anna is pretty precious. :) That night we headed back to Portland to stay a couple of nights with my parents. It was Anna's first stay at grandma and grandpa's house and she was welcomed with eager and open arms. My mom had Wednesday off from work so we had a nice and relaxing day around the house which included a nap for me (that was my highlight!) and a yummy beef stew for dinner.

On our drive home today I got completely stressed out thinking that I had LOST my wedding ring. This was a ring that Dane received from his grandpa (he was a jeweler) and just for Christmas this year Dane replaced the diamond in it with a gorgeous new, larger diamond that was passed down after his grandma passed away a couple months ago. So needless to say, this ring has a lot of sentimental and monitary value to it and as we were just getting back into town I look down and I don't see it on my finger. YIKES! I remembered taking it off to put lotion on my hands, but I just couldn't remember where. So we get home and I look all over the car and under the seat...nothing. I call my mom and pray that she was going to come across it there...nothing. I even went as far as calling the restaurant that we stopped at for lunch and asked them to go out into the parking lot and look on the ground thinking that it was on my lap when I got out of the car and now it's laying on the pavement somewhere...nothing. By now I am near tears and I decide to take a flashlight to look in the car again and I point it under my seat and it catches something shiny way back there up against the seat...MY RING!! My beautiful, beautiful ring!I've never felt so much relief as I did at that moment! I can't imagine if I had actually lost it...no other ring would have been able to replace it and I think I would have felt guilty for the rest of my life. But alas, I can sleep easy tonight! :) Just thought I'd share my scary story!

I'm attaching a couple cute pictures that we've taken of Anna. I love the bathtub shot. :) I'm going to try and be better about posting pictures on here...I feel like she's changing so much, we need to capture it more often!

One month old!

Is it unbelievable to anyone else that Anna is already one month old?! Dane and I can't believe it...our little baby girl has already been with us for a whole month. It has been such an incredible experience so far, unlike anything that we will ever go through. She has completely stolen our hearts and it's so much fun to see her growing right before our eyes. We've experienced her first smile (while awake) and that was so rewarding. To hold her in front of us and talk to her while giving her big smiles and to see her return the favor is so awesome! I've yet to capture it on camera, but once I do I'll send out pictures. I feel like she's growing every day, and Dane and I both notice her hair growing already. It's so cute after we give her a bath and it dries, her hair is really fluffy and kind of stands straight up. :) It's pretty adorable. :)

We took Anna for her first camping trip this week, and she did great! Our friends Adam and Courtney invited us to go along with them and their little boy Jaxson to rent a cabin on a lake about an hour away. So when I say "camping" I mean staying in a four bedroom cabin with a kitchen, bathroom/shower, and queen sized beds. Like I would go tent camping with a 1 month old! :) It was a lot of fun and it was great to have a change of scenery for a couple days. We left Tuesday morning and came home Wednesday afternoon...just the right amount of time. We went for a walk around the campground, went for a boat ride (slowly) on Adam's new boat and spent the evening inside playing Apples to Apples, Cribbage and Phase Ten. It was just what we needed, and Anna did fabulously. She slept like a champ and was such a good girl for her first trip away from home. We have planned another road trip for next week. It'll be her first visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house! We are going to leave next Tuesday and drive all the way down to Monmouth, OR where Dane's grandparents live. Hopefully Anna does good on the drive so the great-grandparents can meet her, and then that evening we'll head back up to Portland and stay with my parents until Thursday. My mom has Wednesday off, so she should get sufficient snuggle time in! :)

Some exciting news that happened this week is that Sara had their third baby on Monday! It was another little boy and they named him....Dane! That is a name that they had chosen before my Dane came into the picture, but it's still so much fun to have another Dane in our lives! Little Dane is so beautiful and perfect and we are so happy for the Jones' family. We can't wait to meet the newest addition. I'm already thinking up ways that Anna and little Dane can grow up and fall in love with each other so that we can be in-laws with Sara and Greg! Wouldn't that be great Sara?! :)

Anna is starting to fuss, so I'd better go tend to her. I've attached some new pictures for you all to enjoy! We hope that everyone is having a wonderful start to their 2008! All our love.

Our growing girl

Tomorrow marks Anna's 3 week birthday, and it's so hard to believe that that much time has passed already...it makes me sad to think about it too much. We are already seeing so much change in her and while it's exciting to see her grow, I just want to bottle her up and savor every moment. Dane and I are completely in love with our little girl and we can't wait to see the little person that she develops into.

We went to the doctor on Thursday and she had almost put on a whole pound since the week before! She now weighs 9lbs 1 1/2 oz. and was measuring 21 inches long! That's our big girl!! When we undressed Anna down to her diaper the doctor took a look at her and said "well you certainly haven't been missing any meals!". :) One of the pictures I've included is of her after her bath and showing off her big belly...it's so kissable, we just love it!

As wonderful as this experience is, I'd be kidding myself if I said it's been easy or that I'm not exhausted. It's been a strange adjustment to live life in 2-3 hour increments, in between feedings. At night, I get done nursing her and by the time we change her diaper and get her back to sleep, it'll be time to do it all over again in about an hour and a half. I know it won't be like this for too long, but for now, I'm missing my sleep. Dane and I are finding some relief by taking naps during the day when we can. But during the day, I'm also trying to figure out how to get things done around the house, when what I really want to be doing is just sitting and snuggling Anna. :) I've got to admit that housework has kind of taken a back seat to everything else for now. I realize that she will not always want to by snuggled my mommy and daddy so we're trying to soak it all up while we can!

We've enjoyed lots of visitors from friends and family, including my parents and Dane's parents, and last weekend my brother and his family stayed with us for a few days to meet thier new niece. We had a great time and it was wonderful getting to spend some quality time with them. I have ventured out with Anna on my own and I managed pretty well. I must say though, having Dane with us is MUCH easier! We're also finding out how much longer it takes us to get out of the house with a little one. We went over to a friends house today to watch football and Dane told him that we would be there "in a half an hour" and I think we pulled up to his house an hour later. :) I'm telling people to just double the time that we tell them!

I'm attaching a few pictures of our ever growing baby girl...I'll keep them coming as often as I can!