6 weeks old already!

Anna is plumping up slowly but surely. We don't go back to the doctor until the end of December for her 2 month shots, but I would have to guess she's about 7 1/2 to 8 pounds and about 21-22" long now. She's definitely becoming her own little person. She's smiling a lot now, even to her butterfly friends on her mat. It's really cute. She's trying so hard to talk but hasn't quite come out with it yet. We introduced her the bottle a couple weeks ago and this week we started with a bottle each day of formula. She's taken to both of them just fine.

Only one more week left of maternity leave. :( Then back to work I go. Anna will be going to Busy Feet Daycare down the road from us. It's on the way to Gary's work, so he'll bring her and pick her up most days. It's a nice place with very caring people, so we feel comfortable bringing her there but still don't want to. But we wanted to provide her with a nice place to live in a nice area, so this is what we have to do to pay the bills right now. Hopefully someday Gary will work up the ladder and I'll be able to stay home or at least work from home doing my side work or for my current job. It's going to be an adjustment, that's for sure.

We've been spoiled again. We have a contact for someone that works at Gerber and they gave us a ton of bottles and bath stuff for Anna and can get a lot of other things too when we need them. What a blessing to have such generous people in our lives!

Gary started his new job at Calvin this week. He's got a very large cube in the basement of the library and has found that he's going to be in charge of a lot of different areas. It's an overwhelming week, but it's been a good week for him. The staff is very nice and I think Gary will be a good fit there. There are a lot of perks to working there, so we're ready to take advantage of those! :)

I went for my 6 week post pardum appointment on Tuesday and everything looks good! It's crazy that I'm saying this, but I won't see my nurse or doctor for another whole year! I've been seeing them every month or more in the past 9 months and have established a great relationship with them.

I guess I'm ready for structure to be back a little with me going back to work, but I'm certainly not wanting to be away from Anna. But God will take care of us when we're all apart as he has so far and will continue to do. We just pray each day for safety and that He'll bring us through another day.

That's all for now, but I know I had avid readers that I'm letting down by not writing as much, so I had to do something! Enjoy the pictures (I'll add more soon)!

Love,

Gary, Christie & Anna

Pistol Pete

Our darling little Anna is just a perfect angel during the day, with other people, but at night, things change. The past couple nights, Anna has decided to burn the midnight oil and stay awake until 2am or so. Gary set the tone the first night by putting her in her "Party in my Crib at 2am" onesie on, from there she spit up in his mouth (I saw that coming, never put a well fed baby in the air over your face). Hehe. It's been a bit frustrating as she is usually just fed and changed, yet she continues to scream at the top of her lungs. We've decided today that she sleeps too much during the day, gets cuddled a little too much and isn't in her crib with it dark and quiet, so she's in her crib sleeping right now with it dark and quiet and when those 3 hours are up, we'll get her up to feed her and keep her awake for awhile again. I'm going to try to get her on a better schedule, have her sleep more often in her crib and have her do more tummy time and awake time during the day, so at night, she sleeps for goodness sake! We're also introducing the bottle this week so she gets used to eating from that as well. She's a cronic sucker anyway (she sucks on her own hands, our fingers, her pipes and even Gary's hairy arm!). She did well this morning, she drank almost 3 ounces. So that seems to be an easy transition. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, pumping is an interesting event and just another new thing to add to the list.

Other than her days and nights being terribly mixed up at times, she's doing wonderful. She's starting to smile a lot more (mostly in her sleep, but still..), her cheeks are filling out, her wrinkley legs and arms are not as wrinkley anymore, she's more alert and responding to toys, she likes laying on her Rainforest mat and looking at all the animals, and hopefully gaining weight at a good pace. She's still as cute and adorable, probably getting more so each day. :) We also had our last baby shower and boy did she get a load of clothes! This girl has more clothes than Gary and I combined! I hope she's able to get use out of them, if not, hopefully we have another girl at some point. She also has a ton of books, a whole library now and a box full of toys and stuff animals. What a spoiled little girl... and it's only the beginning. :)

Gary and I are enjoying our time together at home, getting some side work done, going new car shopping (yay!) and just having some extra time adjusting as a family (the help at night has been great!). God has truely blessed us with our awesome marriage, our beautiful home, our amazing little girl, our great jobs and wonderful family and friends. He truely has been with us through all these ups and downs and will continue to do so.

**This just in..... Anna decided to save up some quality projectile poop and pee for dad this morning. Hehe. It was great.

Have a great mid-week!

Love,

Gary, Christie and Anna

Projectile poop and a programmer position

This is her sleeping face. Aww.... :)

(Above and below) This is how we hang out during the day when I need to do some work and she wants to be held. :)

Sheilding her eyes from the bright basement lights.

Usually she likes her baths, but today she wasn't having any part of it (expect under the faucet, she loves!)

Our big eyed girl!

Too cute. :)

Well life isn't dull, that's for sure. As cute and adorable as Anna is, her bowels are alive and well. She was fussing, so I figured I'll see if she needs to be changed. Yep, she had a wet diaper. I took that one off, wiped her up and as I was putting on the new diaper, she started to pee. I was like ok, we'll have to change the onesie, no biggie. Nope, she wasn't going to stop there. She proceeded to poop all over her clean diaper, on the changing table, on my shirt and pants and on the floor. So it wasn't just a little squirt, it was projectile poop. (I know this is gross, but as so many have told me and I've heard, you start talking about such lovely things.) That was just the start of my day, with a long night before, with everything taking extremely long and me not really getting anything done all day. Oh well, it's such a joy to be home with her and watch her grow. I forgave her, but have learned to cover up in the midst of the diaper change. :)

Well the call came. Gary got the job at Calvin College! What an answer to so many prayers. Sometimes we felt that this day wouldn't come for quite some time, but the Lord is right there with us, urging us to trust in Him even when we're getting impatient. He starts on November 26. He'll get full benefits with 4 weeks vacation and 1 week at Christmas. They are very family oriented and seems to be a great place to be a part of. Gary will be done at GFS at the end of this week or mid next week, so we'll have some extra time together as a family and be able to be in Chicago for a few extra days. We're looking forward to that.

I started doing some work from home. A few things to work out, but so far it's going alright. Anna certainly takes up a lot of my day, but during naps I'm able to get some things done. Anna has only given us a couple hard nights so far, otherwise she is eating a lot and sleeping a lot, but is still staying awake longer. She's filling out little by little, but is still a peanut.

Well back to work before the little pistol wakes up again. :)

Love,

Gary, Christie and Anna

She's 2 weeks old already!

Our little pumpkin

Great Grandpa Tiemens came to visit Anna on Thursday.

I think she was thoroughly bored with mom today. :)

Daddy and Anna all dressed up for church!

Me and Anna

Gary said that's my scowl on her face. Hehe.

How can you not love this face!?

Well we got to the 2 week mark already. We went to the doctor today and everything looked great. She was supposed to be back at her birth weight by this point and we're a whopping 6 pounds 10 ounces (1 ounce heavier than when she was born)! She's 20 inches long now, growing right now a half inch a week. So obviously I'm doing something right. :) She definitely lets you know when she's hungry or needs her diaper changed, but otherwise she's wide eyed or soundly sleeping.

Last night was not the best of nights. She wanted to eat about every hour and wouldn't go to sleep till about 4. She slept till I got her up at 8:30, so that was good but it made for a very emotional and frustrating night. So it's quite possible we're hitting a growth spurt right now.

Otherwise she's wonderful. She starting to develop a personality (more Gary's right now, than mine, hehe), she gives so many facial expressions, it's hilarious. She can go from a smily smirk to the face where she is just going to wail. It's great. She's filling out in her face and her little arms and legs are getting there. We're so excited to see what each day and week brings.


I'm going to start helping my office do some work from home next week. They are quite busy. Gary is still waiting to hear back on his interview from Calvin and the one way back from Gentex. It's trying, but we know the right opportunity will present itself.

Well that's about all for right now. Hope you keep enjoying the pictures!


Love,

Gary, Christie and Anna