Silly bear

We took this picture on Friday when Anna fell asleep in her swing. This was the first time that she pulled herself into a sitting position while IN the swing. I kept going over and gently leaning her back but she was insistant that she wanted to sit up. Well, finally she just got sleepy standing her ground and thought she might just rest her head for a minute and then fell asleep. :) Dane and I got a kick out of that.

It's Sunday afternoon and we are trying to keep cool in our family room. We just got home around noon from spending the night in Port Townsend. Our friends Zach and Joanna are having a baby boy in August and Joanna's parents hosted a bbq (or baby-q as Zach was referring to it!) in celebration of the expected bundle of joy. We had a wonderful time and I just have to say that this house was AMAZING! It sat up on a hillside right on the water with the most spectacular view of the water, mountains and marina. It doesn't get much better than that! We enjoyed a wonderful feast of chicken wings, bbq ribs, bbq corn on the cob, fruit salad, green salad and delicious cupcakes. We ended up spending the night there with Zach and Joanna, and it was nice to be able to put Anna to bed and with the monitor we were able to still enjoy our visit without having to leave by 7:30 or 8:00. We ended our stay with breakfast this morning at a great little cafe and a little more visiting before we had to hit the road. Anna was a trooper, but was due for a nap (and promply fell asleep as soon as we got on the road).

After we got home, a couple of Dane's buddies called and said they were heading out to float the river, so he ran up and got his swim shorts on and was out the door again! I'm happy to stay here with Anna...as nice as it would be to be out in the sun and on the water, I don't really feel like sitting there on an inner tube staring at my belly hanging out. :)

Welcome Home Daddy!!

Anna and her cousin Myla in their matching
dresses that Nana made them

My dear husband has been gone since Monday morning and got home late last night and boy, was I was ready to see him...it's amazing how much I still miss that guy when he's not around. :) Dane coaches high school football in the fall and this week was their football camp over in Spokane at Whitworth College (your old stomping grounds Sara and Greg!). So you might be wondering what we did with Anna while daddy was away, since I just took vacation to be home with her. Well, for most of day we just left her in her swing and I would come home and check on her during lunch and if she was good, then I would change her diaper. What...she was FINE. We left a little boob milk for her within reach and some toys on her lap.

Ha! Okay, I guess that's not the whole truth! :) Dane's mom Marcy was gracious enough to spend her week with us and watch Anna during the day. She and Kevin are staying in Alaska for the summer where they and Dane's aunt and uncle are building a house. While Kevin might be okay being away for several months, Marcy had planned a week to come home in advance to see her kids and grandbabies. Okay, mostly the grandbabies. :) So, when she heard we were trying to figure out what to do wiht Anna this week, she offered to stay with us and be with Anna. The week went very well...much better than I had anticipated. This was the first time that Anna had been away from Dane and myself all day long. We'd left her with a friend for about an hour and a half a couple of times, but nothing like this! Big step for us! Monday was a little rough with a few fits and resisting naps and bottles, but nothing that was out of control. Then Tuesday and Wednesday went really really well...Marcy must have gotten into Anna's "circle of trust". :) They ran some errands together and played with toys and jumped in the jumperoo (well, just Anna). Marcy ended up just staying the nights with us too since their house had all the water turned off and everything...it worked out very well that she was here in the morning to watch Anna while I got ready for work. All in all, it was a success and we VERY much appreciated Marcy offering her services! My husband is back home and Marcy flies back to Alaska in the morning...it was grea to spend a few days with her, especially since they're not coming home until September 1st.

The couple of pictures that I've attached are of Anna and her cousin Myla. Dane's brother and his family were all here last Sunday for brunch and Marcy had made the two girls matching dresses, so we snapped a few pictures of them wearing them. How adorable are they? I don't know about you guys, but every time I see Anna's smiles in the pictures I just have to laugh. She cracks me up!

1/2 Year Old!!

Look, I can reach my toes!!
















Just came home from a walk around the neighborhood















The second this girl sees a camera, the smiles disappear

Our baby turned six months old today. I've got to say that the past six months has been the most rewarding and fulfilling time that we have ever experienced. To see this little tiny baby that we created, grow and become this interactive and giggly little person has been amazing. You can never be properly prepared for your first newborn baby, but I also wasn't prepared for how much my love grows for Anna each day. It's the best thing in the entire world. Dane and I are very lucky because she really is a very good baby. The only time she's cranky is if she's tired or hungry...aren't we all? :) She sleeps really well (still not through the night, but what can I say, my girl likes to eat!) and she makes us laugh constantly.

Some things that just melt our hearts:

1. When we get her out of her swing after she's been sleeping, we crouch down and say "hi sweetie" and she gives us the biggest smile with the tip of her tongue hanging out a little bit. So adorable.

2. When daddy blows on her belly or feet she lets out the cutest squeals and giggles. It's hard to beat that.

3. After I feed her at night I lay her up on my shoulder and she falls back asleep...I usually sit here for a few minutes and soak up her snuggles. It's not very often that she sits still long enough to snuggle any more.

4. While she's jumping in her jumperoo, if Dane or I stand in front of her and get all excited, she gets this big smile on her face and she looks so proud of herself for jumping so great.

5. She is old enough now that she loves it when you toss her in the air...she just thinks that is the greatest thing ever. That is a sure way to get some giggles out of her.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. It makes me a little sad to think that in the amount of time that's already passed, she will be a year old. But I also can't wait to learn more about her and see her personality grow even more. Happy half birthday Anna, we love you!

My week off

Sitting up and playing like a big girl




















Anna in her dress that Nana (Dane's mom) made her

I took my week vacation this last week and I' m sad to see it come to an end. It was a VERY busy week for Dane and we saw no way of it working out unless I took the time off to be with my baby. Dane had a catering event Tues. through Friday in the morning and afternoon...setting up a breakfast and a lunch for a meeting of about 20 people. Then at 3:00 in the afternoon, he had football practice. The team that he helps coach is able to practice for a week in the spring while the kids are still in school, so that was last week. So his day started at about 5:45 a.m. and he was pretty much gone all day until 5:30 p.m. Busy busy!!

As much as it wasn't my "dream vacation" it was wonderful to be home with Anna all day and we had a lot of fun together...I could get use to this. My mom came for a quick visit in the middle of the week staying Tuesday night with us and spending the day with us on Wednesday. It was nice to have the adult interaction during the day for me and Anna loved seeing her grandma. She melted my mom's heart by giggling and giving lots of her big smiles. My mom is such a stud...on Wednesday morning she got out in our yard and did lots of weed pulling and we VERY much appreciated it. Once Anna went down for a nap I got out there and helped and pulled up a lot of ferns that had taken over a flower bed. I ended up pulling everything out of there and we went to Fred Meyer and bought some annuals to plant (I can't remember what they're called--yeah, I'm no Martha Stewart!). They add some nice color to the front of our house. There's still a lot of yard work to be done, but it certainly put a dent in it! Once our yard waste gets picked up this week, I have big plans of getting out there and doing a lot more. Once you see one area looking good, I want it all to look like that! :) Dane and I HATE yard work, so we appreciate my mom's help and it lite a fire under my butt to get the rest done.

We had the pleasure this week of meeting the newest baby in our group of friends!! Leah Rose Donnelly was born on Monday night and we went over to see Alex and Lexa and their new baby girl. I've got to say I was shocked to hear it was a girl...they waited to find out the sex until delivery and they (especially Lexa) was positive it was going to be a boy. But Leah was a welcome surprise and she is just beautiful...congrats Mom and Dad Donnelly!! When we were driving home from thier house I was talking to Dane about how much anxiety that brought back for me...seeing Leah so tiny and crying and not being able to soothe her easily; being stressed out about nursing; having raging hormones overtaking your body. Augh! It all came flooding back to me! New parenthood is NOT an easy task, and if anybody says it's easy, they're lying. We are very excited for Anna to have another good friend as they get older. :)

Tomorrow is Father's Day and we plan to spend the day together as a family. Dane has been so busy this last week and has been gone all day today for a football scrimmage, Anna and I are ready for some daddy time! We're planning on taking him to Cabella's so he can pick out a new stereo for his boat or a fish finder...or maybe both. He deserves it. :) Then Anna and I are going to take him on a picnic lunch at Tolmie State Park...it's where Dane proposed to me and it is right on the water and beautiful. It's suppose to be about 70 degrees tomorrow so it'll be nice to spend a little time outside. Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Do I have something on my face?

We've been feeding Anna rice cereal for a couple of weeks now (not every day, but when we have time) and so far she's been liking it. Tonight we tried mixing it with some sweet potatoes for the first time and she looked so funny I had to share. :) She's doing a great job of learning how to eat solids and actually swallowing instead of pushing it back out with her tongue like she use to. I know I keep saying this, but she's just becoming such a big girl. Her daddy and I think she's pretty much the coolest person ever.

Surprise!

Me and Anna at my parent's house


This past weekend, Dane and I and Anna decided to plan a surprise visit to my parent's house. It had been a while since we'd seen them and we've been hearing about how they needed a baby fix. So Saturday afternoon we didn't have anything planned and we just decided on a whim to drive to Portland and stay a night with my folks. I had just talked to my mom, so I knew that they were at a restaurant with a group of their friends (from their Mustang car club) and we decided to just go and surprise them there. We walked in and spotted them at a big table and I went and sat down next to my dad and just stared at him until he looked over at me. You can imagine his reaction! :) They were both shocked to see us there and all of the squealing led to Anna crying from all of the commotion. :) Once we all calmed down she was just fine and actually did great over our stay there. Grandma and Grandpa got sufficient snuggle time and Anna was a very good girl, giving them lots of smiles and giggles. The above picture is one that my mom took...take note of Anna sitting up by herself. Such a big girl! Please disregard my pasty white legs, they haven't seen sun in a really long time! I'm thinking of using a little self-tanner just so that I don't blind my daughter or scare young children.

Tonight is the second night that Anna is sleeping in her big girl crib in her own room! This was a big step for mama. She's been in her bassinet next to our bed but I had to finally admit that she just didn't fit in it anymore. When I lay her down at night and she puts up a little fuss, her arms were hitting the sides and her feet were all cramped up at the bottom. So I sucked it up and put her in her crib last night. She did great...I missed her being next to me. I'll admit that I kept her next to me for a selfish reason. She's still waking up twice a night to eat and it's just really convenient to pull her in bed with me and feed her (while I'm still snuggly warm in bed) and then put her back when she's finished. Now I have to get up out of bed, go into her room, sit in a chair that's not nearly as comfortable as my bed (or warm) and then by the time she's done (10-15 min) my side of the bed isn't warm anymore. All the while, Dane is cozy comfy and snoozin' away. Hmfph...it's not fair. Besides all of that, I just really really loved having her in our room next to us as she slept. I'm going to miss that.

All of this talk about bed has gotten me very sleepy. I think that is where I shall go now. :)