The First Few Days

It's hard for me to remember those first few days with little Anna because I was so drugged up.  I wish we would have taken more pictures and especially more videos for that reason!  Oh well.  This is one of the two we have from the hospital.  She had managed to get that one finger in her mouth and it was so cute!

At the Park

I'm trying to figure out how to upload videos to this thing but it's taking forever (I think my video files are too large or something) so in the meantime, here are some pictures of Anna at Ft. Tryon Park last Wednesday.

She loved laying on the blanket and looking up at the trees!

Anna May's Blessing

Anna May's baby blessing was on September 18th in our ward.  It was a special day for us!  My parents came all the way from Wyoming and Josh and Mattie also drove in from New Haven.  

John's parents were planning to be there as well, but were unable to come because they got in a terrible bicycle accident a few weeks ago.  John's mom especially needed to stay home and finish healing before coming out to New York to visit her granddaughter.  We were so sad that they couldn't be here but we are glad that they are alive and well.  (And excited that they are making up for it by coming to visit us at Thanksgiving!)

Anna's blessing dress is the same dress that I was blessed in 29 years ago.  My mom cut off the train of her wedding dress and made it.  John was so proud of the dress he told everyone about it.  Maybe Anna May will have her daughter blessed in it someday.

(These pictures are a little too bright to see the detail in the dress so I'll post some better ones later.)

Newborn Pictures

Here are some of Anna May's newborn pictures.  They were done by our friend Whitney Hardie and you can check out her website here.

These were taken when she was one week old!  She is growing so quickly and already looks really big compared to herself in these pictures.  

Enjoy!

So Cute

That's what our baby is going to think her name is because that's all she ever hears: "You're so cute!" "You're so cute!" You're SO CUTE!!"

But really her name is Anna May.  We just can't get over how cute and adorable she is.

Anyway, the last two weeks have been so wonderful!  Even after all the books we read to prepare for parenthood, we still feel pretty clueless sometimes.  But we are slowly learning.   We are really enjoying this new miracle in our lives.

It took a lot to bring our little baby into the world--18 hours of labor followed by an emergency Caesarean section.  The why and how is a story that I will save for another day.  But I will say that my recovery has been going GREAT and other than a little lack of sleep, I feel like a million bucks.  Anna May however has a moderately scary case of thrush which has been much harder for me to deal with than the c-section.  But she is on the mend now and we are so grateful!  There were a few days last week when she had a terrible time eating because her mouth and throat were so sore from the thrush.  Emotionally it was really hard on me but we made it through and now she is almost back to normal.  Whew!!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has visited, called, and video chatted with us.  We love being loved and we love showing our baby off.  We have had so many delicious meals from members of our ward and this last weekend Josh and Mattie (John's brother and sister-in-law) came, made food for us, and deep cleaned our kitchen!  We cannot thank them enough.  This coming weekend my parents and brother are coming and we are excited to see them.  I hope the apartment isn't too messy when they get here.  :)

Baby Anna's first picture

Our first family picture

Hanging out in our hospital room

Look how big John's hand is compared to hers!

Taking a nap with daddy

So CUTE!!

Our first outing--to the Pediatrician's office

Sometimes she rolls into this position in her sleep.  She looks like she's praying!  (John thinks it's so funny but it scares me so I always roll her back onto her back.)

Ok, enough pictures for now?  Don't worry, I'm sure there will be more!

No Baby Yet

BUT...

I did eat a hamburger yesterday!  (First time in 7 1/2 years!)

A friend of ours took us to Bobby Flay's Burger Palace yesterday for dinner.  We drove all the way across the bridge to New Jersey to get there.  I wouldn't have done it, but Bobby Flay (you know, from the Food Network) has the best burgers anywhere and I decided that if I am ever going to eat a hamburger, now is the time.  Plus John told me that he would give me 5 massages if I ate one!  So I did.

And in the end, I mostly regretted it.  It wasn't that good.  I was able to eat it without gagging though, which surprised me.

Next time I will order the grilled cheese sandwich, which is what I had last time (the best grilled cheese I have EVER had, by the way).


Anyway, we are anxiously waiting for our baby to come.  My due date is in two days, but I am ready NOW!!  I keep telling her, "I'm ready whenever you're ready!"  I don't know what I'll do if I go a week over.  Probably deep clean the entire apartment again.  :)

By the way, we are taking name suggestions.  We have yet to come up with a name that we really like.  So feel free to help me out.

  

Some Gifts

Here are a few of my favorite gifts that we've received from family members.  I can't wait for our little girl to be able to use these things.  

First of all, my cousin Jody and Aunt Clea came to visit me a few weeks ago.  Wow.  That was a great gift.  It was probably my last great adventure before the baby comes.  We packed everything we could into the five days they were here.  Including Wicked, which was the highlight (other than getting to spend time together.)  But anyway, they also brought gifts with them from my family in Utah.  

My cousin Sam (and Jody) made this cute car seat canopy:

And Aunt Beverly made this absolutely beautiful, soft, cozy, afgan and booties!!!

And I am SO blessed that Aunt Beverly also sent a blanket that Grandma Bowen had started years ago, but never was able to finish before she passed away.  Aunt Bev finished it for her and now our little baby girl gets to have something from her Great-Grandmother:

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Aunt Clea and Jody also bought me a cool "mom-bag" while they were here.  All the ladies in New York carry these huge purse/bags around with them (maybe in other places too, I don't know).  I never thought I would do that but... they talked me into it because I will need the extra purse space with the baby.  (And guess what--I've already started using it and the baby isn't even here yet!!)

 And, just the other day I got a great gift in the mail from Mattie, my sister-in-law:  a homemade nursing cover!  So cute!

And finally, a gift from me.  And my mom, actually.  My mom made a baby quilt for me while she was pregnant and I wanted to do the same.  She brought some cute fabric with her when she came out to visit back in April.  And with the help of a really nice lady in our ward, I made it into a quilt.  My first one!  It is so soft and snuggly, I hope she likes it.