Back when it was still just the two of us...

I am slowly going through pictures.  Even though these are from a while back, I just have to post a few because I love them!

Our home teacher is Joseph Brickey, who is known for his LDS art.  Check him out here.  Anyway, one Sunday afternoon back in August we (along with his awesome wife) decided to do an impromptu photo shoot before having a home teaching lesson.  John wanted to have some pictures of me and my big belly.  And they turned out so nice!  

We love the Brickey family.  They were so nice to do this for us.

By the way, these are totally raw and unedited.  I thought about trying to edit them but life is too short and I am already sleep deprived.

Two Months

I can't believe it has already been two months!

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!