Anna's Blessing

We blessed Anna on Sunday, March 3rd.  We were so grateful to have so many family and friends there for her special day! Anna was awake through the whole blessing.  She started to fuss at the beginning, but then she was quiet.  Among other things, Derek blessed her that she would continue to grow and be strong, to follow the promptings of the Spirit, and to be obedient to her Heavenly Father.

We had a nice lunch afterwards at my grandparents' home. Thanks to my grandparents for hosting the event, everyone who helped with the food, and my Aunt Beth for taking all the beautiful pictures!

Socializing upstairs...

 

And downstairs...

Charlotte and Rebecca were instant friends :)

Beth had a heck of a time getting Derek to not make goofy faces.  Luckily Anna was being photogenic, as she was asleep!

Bunny ears, really? Pretty sure I just finished rolling my eyes in this picture. Like mother like son!

Four generations!

Great-Grandma Ireland gave Anna this beautiful blessing dress

Grandma Karry got accused of being a baby hog...but I don't blame her!  Who can resist that adorable face?

She looked just like an angel. :)

Love that sleepy little smile!

What a sweet, beautiful baby!

2 months old!

Anna turned two months old today.  Here are some of her recent changes, developments, and funny quirks...

• At her two month check-up, Anna weighed 10 lbs, 15 oz and measured 22 in long.  She has outgrown most of her newborn outfits and wears mostly 3 month clothes, although most of the pants are a little big.  She also outgrew newborn diapers and wears size 1 now.  Here's a couple pictures that I think really show how much she's grown.

Here she is leaving the hospital at 2 days old.

Here she is at 7 weeks.

• She is starting to smile!  It's my favorite thing ever!  Her smiles are really rare...she has to be in just the right mood, and we usually have to tickle her cheeks and coo at her to be rewarded with a smile.  But it's so worth the effort!  Derek says that when I get her to smile at me, he enjoys watching my elated smile more than the baby's. :)

• She still hates tummy time, but I try to put her on her belly for at least a few minutes every day.  She's starting to get some strength in her arms.  Before, her arms would just be flailing out to the sides, but now she can push herself up a little.
• Anna's eyes are changing. She had barely any eyelashes when she was born, but now they're long and full. They're also starting to change color a little bit.  They were blue when she was born, but now they're more gray. And sometimes in certain light, they look a little brownish.  I kind-of wanted her to have blue eyes at first, but now I hope they turn brown so they look like mine. Because I think her eyes might actually be one of the few features she inherited from me and not her daddy. :)  But whatever color they end up being, I think she has very pretty eyes.
• Anna is still really cuddly when she's sleepy.  But now when she's awake, she does NOT want to be cuddled.  She wants to be held upright, faced forward so she can see everything.  She is a curious little thing—always wide-eyed and looking all around.  

Looking all around...with Dad making funny faces in the background.

• She is sleeping better most nights.  Her night hours are from around 10 p.m. to around 8 a.m.  On her good nights, she only wakes up twice, usually once around 2 and again around 5.  We've had a couple miracle nights where she only woke up once. We also still have the occasional not-so-good night where she wakes up 3 or 4 times. But I can't complain too much. Overall, I think she's a pretty good sleeper.  
• I'm trying to teach her to fall asleep in her crib rather than needing to be rocked to sleep in my arms.  Everything I read says to put babies down when they're "drowsy but not asleep."  So I wait until her eyes start to get droopy and then lay her down.  If she starts to cry, then I'll pick her back up, rock her for a little bit until she's starting to look sleepy, and then put her back in her crib.  The first time, it took about five times of picking her up and putting her back down before she finally fell asleep and stayed asleep.  But on the third night, she fell asleep on her own the first time I put her down!  So that was really encouraging.  Unfortunately, most nights it still takes 2-3 tries before she will fall asleep on her own.  But I'm hoping we'll get there eventually!
• Funny story...we swaddle Anna in a blanket every night.  When she's asleep, she really likes it.  When she's awake, not so much.  Usually when I go to get her in the morning, she has kicked until she's gotten her legs free.  The other morning, she had kicked her legs free, but in the process, had also wiggled her way down in the blanket.  When Derek went to get her, the blanket was up over her head and only her little legs were poking out the bottom!  It was so funny.
• We've given Anna a bottle a couple times now.  Sometimes she'll take it, sometimes she won't.  The other day, I left her with Derek to go to a book club meeting.  I left him with a bottle in case she got hungry.  Apparently, it was a day she did not want to take a bottle, and according to Derek, she cried the whole hour and a half I was gone.  Poor Daddy!
• Anna really only has one pacifier that she'll take consistently.  (Well, actually there were two that she would take, but one is lost. Sad day.)  So we're down to only one acceptable pacifier.  She likes to have something to suck on when she's falling asleep, so I can tell usually if she's hungry or just tired by whether or not she'll take the pacifier.  If she's hungry, she'll suck on it for a few seconds and spit it out.  If she's just tired, pop that sucker in and her eyes will start to close within minutes!  Works like a charm!

• She takes a LONG time to wake up (definitely my daughter!).  She will spend a good five to ten minutes tossing and turning and then stretching before she finally opens her eyes.  I think it's so funny when she stretches.  She gets all tense and arches her back and raises her arms up above her head.  If I pick her up while she's stretching, she'll just stay in that position with her little body all arched and stiff.

Stretch! (Isn't her Sunday outfit adorable? Thanks, Grandma!)

• Derek and I are starting to recognize her different cries.  She has her "I need something cry" where she'll pout her bottom lip and makes a "Mwaaa!" sound.  She has her grouchy "I don't like this/I'm tired" cry that involves a scrunched up face and more of a growling sound.  She also makes a little high pitched whine/whimper when she's scared or if something hurts.  And then there's what we call her "The world is ending!" wail...which is what all her other cries develop into if whatever the problem is doesn't get fixed. :)

The pouty lip

"I don't like getting my picture taken!"

Weekends are the best!

"What is a weekend?" (Any Downton Abbey fans out there? :)) I really thought that's how I'd feel being a stay-at-home mom... that every day would feel the same.  But, no, I definitely still like weekends best.  While I love being home with little Anna everyday, it is so much better when Derek is home too.  It's especially nice because Derek doesn't have too much homework this semester and can just be home.  He adores our little girl and love to take care of her.  Nothing makes me smile more than watching them together.  Plus it's so much easier to get things done around the house with an extra pair of hands around!  I also love going out together as a family, even if it's just to run errands.  Before Anna came along, Derek and I always did everything together on the weekend.  I thought that once we had a baby, it would be so much easier to have one of us stay home with the baby while the other ran the errands.  And it probably is easier.  But it's so much more enjoyable to do things together.  So on Saturdays, we bundle up Anna in her car seat with blankets and take her with us grocery shopping, or to the gym, or wherever we need to go.  It definitely takes longer, but I think it's worth it. :)  So, yes, the weekend is still set apart from the rest of the week as something to look forward to.

This weekend was an especially fun one. We were able to take a quick trip down to St. George to watch Kyle's rugby game (Kyle plays on BYU's varsity team).  We drove down Friday evening and stayed with Brittney and Matt.  Brittney is 9 months+ pregnant, and we had been hoping we would get to see a new cousin as well as the game!  But unfortunately (more for Brittney than us) she didn't have the baby while we were there.  It was fun to see them though.  They're two of my favorite people!

The weather in St. George was absolutely beautiful...65 degrees and sunny. Perfect for watching a rugby game!  Anna loved the sunshine.  She would just close her eyes and tilt her little head back soaking it in.  Derek and I enjoyed it just as much.  It was hard to leave!  

We also had an unplanned visit while in St. George.  My friend, Amanda, from back home moved to Cedar City about two months ago.  Since Cedar is on the way to St. George, I texted her to see if we could stop by on our way home.  But she was actually in St. George!  And she was with Sister Cornelius, who served a mission with her husband in Mitchell a couple years ago.  They were at a soccer game which got over just about the time we left the rugby game, and they invited us to meet up for some ice cream.  I hadn't seen either of them in at least three years, so that was really neat.  And now I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a picture!  Oh well.

Anna was a great traveler.  She slept almost the whole way both there and back.  It kind-of threw off her sleep schedule at night, but I would much rather be up in the night with a crying baby than in a car for three hours with one!

Sunday we went to church...late.  Our meeting starts at 9:00 and we have not been on time yet this year.  At least we have a pretty good—and pretty cute–excuse. :) I thought that after I had Anna I would maybe miss a week or two of church.  I almost didn't go the first Sunday, but thanks to my wonderful mother who got Anna dressed and made me breakfast, I didn't really have an excuse not to go.  I'm so glad that I went that week and every other since.   Even though going to church with an infant is sometimes hard, it's still one of my favorite parts of the week.

Sunday evening we went to a family dinner at Kevin & Laurie Hyers.  For a lot of relatives, it was their first chance to meet Anna. (Again, kicking myself for no pictures).  We had a fun time visiting with family and enjoying a break from holding a baby... there were plenty of volunteers to take her!

Here's a couple pictures from the rugby game.  I at least got the camera out to document Anna's first sporting event! 

 I don't know how she slept through all the cheering and yelling.

  Anna with a rather sweaty Uncle Kyle

Lots of Love for Anna

Anna is the first grandchild, great-grandchild, and niece for lots of people, so lots of people were really excited to meet her! Here's some pictures of family members holding Anna.

One month old!

So I've had this post ready to go for over a week, but I was waiting for pictures! (Because cute baby pictures are the best part about this blog, remember?) Sadly, we lost the USB cord for our camera. Derek went to BestBuy and bought a new one, but it didn't fit. I ordered one of Amazon...but IT didn't fit! So we finally went back to BestBuy and just bought a SD card reader. So now I can finally post some of the 153 pictures of Anna we've taken so far. :)
Well, I can hardly believe our little girl is already a month old. She's already changed and grown so much! She's really starting to be more "aware" and will make eye contact with you when you talk to her. I'm really looking forward to when she's more responsive and can smile and play. (I try to read books to her and sing songs and play peek-a-boo...and it's just a little one-sided right now haha.) But I know this sleepy newborn stage is going to be gone before I know it, and I will miss it when it's over. I keep reminding myself to just savor every moment!

At her two week appointment, Anna had gained almost a pound and weighed 7 lbs 9 oz. We guess she's well over 8 lbs now. She can lift her head up pretty well now, and she's starting to get a little more control of her arms and hands. In fact, the other day her pacifier fell out of her mouth onto her chest and she was able to push it back into her mouth with her fist! I was impressed. :) She is eating much better now. For the first couple weeks, she would only eat a little bit and then fall asleep and wake up an hour later hungry again. Now she'll go at least two or three hours between feedings. She is also sleeping better at night. She usually sleeps at least one three or four hour stretch each night. On Sunday night, she slept a record 5 hours straight. I'm hoping that will soon become a nightly occurrence. :)

Here are some of my favorite things about Anna.
1. She is SUPER cuddly. Her favorite place to sleep is snuggled up on Mom or Dad's chest. I love snuggling up with her on the couch for our afternoon nap (an almost daily occurrence).

2. Her chubby cheeks. They're super soft and kissable. :)

3. She makes funny faces. My favorite is when she puckers up her lips. She also scrunches up her face every time someone kisses her cheeks. And she smiles, usually when she's asleep.

4. She also makes really funny noises. We laugh at her a lot. She makes a soft "cooing" sound when she sleeps. When she knows she's about to get fed, her eyes get really big and she opens her mouth really wide and goes, "Ahahahah!" She grunts when she's gassy or has to poop. And she gets the hiccups CONSTANTLY and sounds like a squeaky toy haha. I've also caught her laughing a couple times in her sleep!

Here are some of Anna's likes/dislikes.

Anna loves to be held and cuddled. Especially by Daddy.

She loves to look at lights. When the sunlight is shining through the window, she will just stop and stare at it for several minutes. Same with her nightlight. And the glow of the ipad screen. :)

Anna loves music...everything from the CD of lullabies we play at night to Mommy or Daddy singing to the organ at church. Sometimes it will be the only thing that soothes her when she's crying.

She also likes the sound of the vacuum. Weird, I know.

Anna hates being cold. She cries every time we take her clothes off for a bath and through the whole bath if the water isn't warm enough.

But she loves getting wrapped up afterward in a nice warm towel.

She also loves getting her hair brushed.

Anna likes her hands. She likes to suck on her fingers/fists (as well as other people's fingers) when she can get them to her mouth. She also likes to cover her face with her hand when she's eating.

She is starting to like her pacifier more.

She hates getting buckled in her carrier, but once she's in it she usually falls asleep and sleeps for hours (which Mom and Dad love).

She hates tummy time.
She really doesn't like being put down at all. She'll tolerate it for a few minutes before crying to be picked up again.

The one thing she will let us put her in is her bouncer...but only when it's on the vibrate setting. (We figure it's like a massage chair). Unfortunately, the bouncer is a hand-me down and has a short in it. It will turn off and on randomly. So someone has to be right there ready to push the button in case the vibration turns off because she'll start to cry. But as long as that vibrator is going, she's content as can be!

We're loving every day with our Anna girl! She really has quite the personality for such a little baby. She keeps us smiling every day!

First Month of Parenthood

As Derek put it to his grandpa the other day, Anna has completely turned our world upside down. We were living on a pretty set schedule before she came along. Woke up at 5:30, went to school/work, came home at 5:30, ate dinner, then homework (Derek) and grading papers/lesson planning (me), and then bed around 10:30. We were like clockwork. And then this little person came along and threw everything out of synch. Obviously sleep is completely messed up. Nights start at about 9:00. We're trying to get a bedtime routine in place for Anna...pjs, feeding, story, prayer, and then her lullaby CD. Unfortunately, Anna's not always tired at 9:00. Generally, she falls asleep after an hour or so of rocking. Then she usually sleeps until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. Then after that it's pretty much awake for a half hour, sleep for an hour or two until about 10:00 a.m. Days are pretty much the same as nights, except with sightly longer awake periods and shorter naps.
I had this silly notion that I would be able to get a lot done around the house during Anna's naptimes. Ha! Anna doesn't like to be put down for more than a few minutes. So when she's awake, I'm holding her. And then when she's napping, I'm often napping too. :) The hour or two during the day that she's asleep and I'm actually not tired, I try to get some cleaning done. This is how that typically goes...
Anna goes down for a nap. I sort the laundry and put one load in. By the time that load is finished, Anna is awake. Two hours later, she's asleep again and I put the load in the dryer and a new load in the washer. Another two or three hours before I can switch the new load into the dryer. Then maybe two days later I finally get around to folding it. :) Same thing for other chores. I get halfway done with the dishes, and then Anna wakes up. Or I sweep the kitchen and am about ready to mop, and Anna wakes up. Everything just takes a lot longer.
I haven't done too much venturing out of the house with Anna yet. Mostly because it's been FREEZING here pretty much since she was born. If I need to go somewhere, I'll wait until Derek gets home and then leave Anna with him while I quickly run my errand. But this week the forecast is above 30 degrees all week. So maybe we'll actually get out of the house and go to the library or something! That will definitely be an adventure. :)

January 1st, 2013!

After nine long months (plus three especially long days) of waiting, our little girl is finally here! Anna Mckenzie Lontine was born on New Year's Day at 10:52 p.m. Here's a little timeline leading up to her birth...

Sunday, Dec 30th: Started having regular contractions in the evening. We stayed up timing contractions, ready to head to the hospital as soon as they were less than 5 minutes apart. With no change by 2:00 a.m., we decided to try to get some sleep.
Monday, Dec 31st: Contractions continued pretty regularly. Had a doctor appointment at 3:30. By 6:00, the contractions were coming every 5 minutes and we decided it was time to go to the hospital. Sadly, after monitoring me for an hour, the nurse determined that I was just in "pre-labor" and that they were going to send us home. She gave me a shot of morphine to help with the pain and help me sleep. By 9:00 New Year's Eve, I was dead asleep. Happy New Year.
Tuesday, Jan 1st:
-2:00 a.m.: Woke up with contractions coming STRONG. I thought they were painful the night before, but these were a whole different story!
-8:00 a.m.: By this time, the contractions still coming about every 7-10 minutes and I was ready to go to the hospital, just so they would give me something to stop the pain! I was undecided about getting an epidural for pretty much my whole pregnancy. By this time, I was convinced there was no way I was going through this WITHOUT an epidural! Derek was determined to wait until the contractions were consistently 3-4 minutes apart before going to the hospital again. He did NOT want to get sent home a second time! (I'm grateful now that we waited, but at the time, it was the longest, most miserable 14 hours of my life).
-4:00 p.m.: My contractions were finally 3 minutes apart for almost 45 minutes. We AGAIN put our bags in the car and headed for the hospital. When we got there, they checked me in and this time, gave me a wrist band to wear. Derek and I looked at each other and were like, "They totally didn't take us seriously last night!" I guess they could tell from my face that this was now the real deal. I obviously was not in enough pain the night before. They took us to the labor and delivery room and the nurse checked my cervix and hooked me up to the monitor. She told me that she had already sent home two other patients today and she really wanted to keep me!
-5:00 p.m.: After checking my progress again, the nurse told me the best news in the world! I was in labor and they were going to keep me! I could have hugged her, I was so happy. She asked if I wanted an epidural, and I said, "Yes! Please. As soon as possible."
-5:30 p.m.: The anesthesiologist was still not there! They got me turned on my side and all ready for the epidural. While we were waiting, my water broke. Ok, I thought I was in pain before, but the contractions after my water broke were unbearable. My whole body was shaking uncontrollably, and I went from whimpering to literally screaming through each one. Derek told me afterward that the nurses started shutting all the doors to the other rooms so other patients wouldn't hear me... :S
-5:45 p.m.: Mercifully, the anesthesiologist arrived. I only had to endure about 5 of those contractions from hell, and then the sweet relief came. I don't think I will ever attempt to go through childbirth without an epidural. The rest of the labor was almost pleasant! We watched a movie, Derek went down to the cafeteria to get some dinner (since I no longer needed his hand to squeeze every three minutes), I took a little nap. It was amazing!
-7:00 p.m.: When they checked me again, my progress had slowed down a little, so the nurse gave me a small dose of pitocin just to get the contractions going stronger again.
-8:00 p.m.: The pitocin did the trick. An hour later, I was dialated to 6 cm. Another hour, another 2 cm. The nurses switched shifts about this time. My new nurse was about 7 months pregnant with her first baby (a girl), so that was kind-of cool. :)
-10:00 p.m.: I was fully dialated, and they told me it was time to start pushing! I started freaking out a little...was I ready for this? The nurse went and got another nurse and started getting everything ready for a baby!
-10:25 p.m.: I let the epidural wear off to where I could feel the contractions and know when to push. It was still a little weird because I could feel the contractions, but I couldn't really feel myself pushing. I wasn't sure if I was using the right muscles or pushing hard enough. The nurses kept telling me I was doing a great job, so I just kept doing the same thing.
-10:40 p.m.: The nurses told me they could see our baby's head! "She's got lots of dark hair!" They told us it was time to get the doctor. He was next door with another patient, but it was looking like our baby was going to be born first.
-10:45 p.m: By the time the doctor got there and got ready to deliver the baby, she was practically here! They asked if I wanted a mirror to see...I didn't think I would want to watch, but when it came down to it, I wanted to see my baby as soon as she was there to see!
-10:50 p.m.: They got the mirror in position, I pushed once, and I could see her head! I think finally seeing her gave me extra motivation to get her here. I pushed two more times and her head was out! Then one more push and out came her shoulders and the rest of her body. She was here!
Derek's smile was the biggest I've ever seen. I was in between laughing and crying. I couldn't believe she was actually here! Anna hardly cried at all! She just made cute little squeaks the whole time they were cleaning her up and checking her vitals. Derek was snapping pictures and grinning from ear to ear the whole time. He kept looking back at me with this look like, "Can you believe this? She's actually here!" She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and was 19 in long. She had tons of dark hair and the longest fingers I've ever seen on an infant. She was absolutely beautiful, and she was ours!

Here she is just a few seconds old.

All cleaned up.

In mama's arms. :)

Our little family. :)

Love her! Anna, we're so happy to have you here!