Twas the weekend before Anna's first Christmas

I get so excited about eating, that my hands are able to hold my own bottle.

I have also mastered the art of turning on my side from my back.

I'm getting so big!

Mom's making me smile to get a good picture in one of my new dresses!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Love,

Gary, Christie & Anna

The Banana is 2 Months!

Our attempt at a beautiful family picture. :)

Oh, the sleeping beauty

Little did she know, her pipe fell out of her mouth.

Gotta love a pipe up the nose!

We have found our fingers and if there isn't a pipe or bottle near, we suck on them!

I'm so behind....

I'm not on top of my game this year. I do have a valid excuse, but this is the closest I've cut it to Christmas shopping and Christmas cards. I have about half of my presents purchased, some to be assembled yet. Since I can't do a normal Christmas card or Christmas letter, I had to finish it up and print it out last night only to cut and fold today on my lunch. Oh well, the shopping will get done before Christmas anyway and the cards should go out tomorrow to arrive Saturday or Monday. :)

I started work last Monday. The day was a little easier than I thought it would be. A few tears were shed on the way to work after Gary and I dropped Anna off at daycare. Gary brings Anna in the morning. She's usually sleeping when they arrive. I pick her up at the end of the day. The woman who is the primary care giver in the infant room, Ms. Mamie, is a sweetheart of a woman. You can tell she truely cares and loves her job. Everyone loves Anna there. She always gets great reports of how well she does, very social as she now watches the bigger ones in her room roam around. She's always happy, takes good naps and just seems to do well there. That makes me feel good, even though I wish I could be home with her, I know that this will be a good experience for her and she's so good when she's there. Work is going fine for me, a little slow right now, but that's alright. Gary's job is going well, still learning, but the sense of being overwhelmed is lessoning. He heads to Virginia in the middle of January for a seminar on the program he's working with. It'll be weird not having him home with having Anna now, but I think Alex is staying with me some or all of the week.

Anna is still a peanut, but I know she's gotten bigger. Her face is filling in, the wrinkles on her arms and legs are less wrinkley and you can really see her hair now! She's like a little Q-tip after her bath. Love that! She's smiling a lot now, letting out little squeaks and "a's" every once in awhile. She want's to talk so bad but hasn't quite figured out how she does it every time. She's looking more like an infant instead of a newborn now. She'll go to the doctor with daddy next week for her 2 month shots and to see how much she's grown.

Well I better get back to work as I need my lunch to finish those Christmas cards! I'll post again later this week or over the weekend with some pictures.

Have a great Wednesday!

Gary, Christie and Anna

Hi ho, Hi ho, it's back to work I go....

Well the time has come. Monday I head back to good ole Spring Lake to get back at it. I'm looking forward to having a little structure back during the day where I can get a little odds and ends done without worrying about Anna's eating, playing and sleeping schedule, but I really don't want to leave my little girl all day everyday. I know Monday is going to be hard, but I know what we have to do as a family and pray that we all remain safe each day.

The past week we've introduced prune juice and soy formula to Anna. As usual, she took to both of them just fine, she'll even take them both cold if need be! What a tropper she is. She didn't poop (yes more poop stories) for a week, my doctor said use a rectal thermometer to stimulate her and walla, we have poop. Then she wouldn't poop again, lots and lots of stinky gas, but no poop. So in comes prune juice and walla, we have poop again. The soy formula is easier to digest, so we have her on that right now and an occasional prune juice 1oz bottle.

She's a smiley thing these days. Right after she eats, she's usually in a really good mood and you get her to smile for quite awhile. She's also really trying to find her voice and I'm sure we'll soon hear different sounds coming from her. She's filling out, still a little peanut. She won't be going back to the doctor till the end of the month so I won't find out her weight and height till then. My guess is she's about 7 1.2 to 8 pounds and about 22 or 23" long. She has to get her 2 month shots at the end of the month. Daddy gets to do that with her. :)

This weekend we're debuting as Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus for Journey of Joy at my home church. No speaking parts, unless Anna has something to say, so that's good. It should be a good time and a good witness to those who haven't heard the true Christmas story.

Otherwise, Gary's doing well at work, doing a lot of training sessions and has a couple business trips to learn more about what he's doing for Calvin. It's a nice environment with great people. We are certainly blessed to have great places to work.

Well back to business here. Have a great weekend and stay safe with the snow that's coming!

Love,
Gary, Christie & Anna