Work Hard/Play Hard

After long last, the room is finally done.  The carpet was the last major piece to completion and boy, is it nice.  We haven't moved Annie in yet but we are slowly adding toys and other Annie objects to the room and has she been napping in her swing up there under the skylights.  She is finally sleeping in her crib in the other room so at some point, we'll move the crib on upstairs.  We had a rough couple of nights getting used to the crib but since then, she has been making it through the night.  So life is good. 

School's out for summer and that feels pretty good.  Annie's going to take her first river float on the Sandy for Father's Day this Sunday.  She tried out the pool for the first time last week in Sunriver with her cousin Otto.  She was indifferent.  Her bathing suit was mighty cute though.

We do have enrolled in swim lessons for a couple of weeks and that should be pretty fun.  I'm sure it will involve a lot of splashing and singing and not much swimming.  She will be a lot of fun this summer, that's for sure.  She's totally sitting up on her own but not crawling yet.  She rolls from belly to back pretty quickly and doesn't often play in that position for long periods of time so she might be slow on that one.  I mean, it's pretty nice to be able to plop her down in the middle of the room and go into the other room knowing she won't go anywhere. 

We've had our first peas, strawberries and beets from the garden the past couple of weeks.  It was so nice in May, all the plants did really well.  It's been cooler lately but it's usually a few more weeks before summer gets into full swing.

Hannah and Ian decided to stay in Portland!  They got an apartment and will be moving out next week already.  It's been awesome having them stay with us, it will actually be kind of weird not having them around.  And we'll have to do all our own dishes again.  They'll just have to come over for dinner often and do our dishes then ; )

The Time's They are a Changin'

Annie is almost five months old and has a new baby cousin!  Otto was born on April 8th and Jeff and Allie are both enjoying parenthood so far.  Annie seemed like quite the giant baby compared to the little guy.  They have already hung out a few times and I'm sure will become quite the pair of trouble makers. 

Annie is thinking about rolling over.  But so far just thinking about it, not doing it yet.  She is chewing on EVERYTHING and drooling everywhere.  She gets more interactive and entertaining everyday.  She's laughing which is the greatest thing in the world pretty much.  She's also really starting to enjoy her baths and learning how to splash and kick her legs around in the water.  We've been going to a singing story time at the library and she's starting to squeal and enjoy all the bouncing and singing and interacting with other babies.  She likes to sit in her little bumpbo chair (don't let the picture below fool you...).  She's losing all her baby hair and has quite the bald spot going in the back.  The new hair that is growing in is much lighter, maybe even a little red!

 Hannah and Ian arrived a few weeks ago and are both enjoying Portland spring time.  The daffodils have come and gone and it's now tulip time.  The cherry trees and magnolias are also just about done and the dogwoods are taking over.  Spring in Portland is gorgeous for sure!  My peas, beets, and onions are up and strawberries are starting to flower.  Won't be long now!  Ian is deciding between Minneapolis and Portland for grad schools...I think he's sadly leaning toward the midwest.  I might have to hold them hostage.  Annie wants them to stay.

The room is almost done!  Carpet is going in next week and boy is Doug glad to be finished with that!  Now what will he do with his free weekends?

12 weeks!

Our 12 week old munchkin is becoming more and more like a person all the time. Her biggest accomplishments of late are purposefully trying to grab things, cooing and smiling at little toys with faces, holding her head up and a little bit of squealing.  She's sleeping like a champ, only getting up once in the middle of the night.  She is not the biggest fan of naps but will sleep if we go on a walk or I carry her around in a wrap in the afternoons.  She's gaining weight and has chunky thighs and a belly that hangs over her pants.  She's getting more fun everyday and we think she's pretty darn cute.

We took our first plane ride to Denver to visit with the Bowermans, Hannah and mom.  Henry was very interested in her and wanted to check out her toes and point at her nose.  It was really fun to have them together and to have all the girls in the family together for a weekend.  Hannah and Ian will be making their way out to Portland the end of March for Hannah to continue her nanny escapades.  I'm really excited for her to be here and to kidnap her so she stays in Portland forever.

We've been taking Annie out as much as we can. She's been to the mountain and the coast, cross country skied with us, been to the bar, taken lots of walks and has been going to a story time for babies at the library.  She is pretty interested in the other kids there.  By interested I mean she stares at them.  I still have a month left of my leave from work and I'm very glad about that.

Doug has been working on the nursery after taking some time off to split wood from our fallen tree.  Too bad we don't have a fireplace...  Her room looks really awesome and the end is near!  We ordered a fun bright rug that we will put over the carpeting whenever we get that installed.  The trim really gives it a nice finishing touch and the bench is looking great.  What a cool place to hang out!

It's time to start thinking about the garden again.  I have seeds for peas, spinach, lettuce, onions, beets and carrots which can all be planted soon in the cooler weather.  Time sure does fly!

Merry Christmas, Baby!

Our little Annie hit the six week mark this week.  She has been filling out and chunking up due to her love for eating.  Her feeds are starting to space out a bit more and she is sleeping well at night, passing out for about a five plus hour session and letting me get some uninterrupted rest.  Just this week she has started to coo a tiny bit and is being much more vocal.  She still is doing the majority of her vocalizing through grunts but every once in a while her cute little voice comes out.  I love it.  She has outgrown her newborn clothes, wearing some of them only once and some things never...too many clothes!  I put her in some pants today just because she never wears them and will outgrow them before she gets the chance.  It's just so nice to be in PJs all day, why wear real clothes if you don't have to? Here are some week by week shots of the little munchkin. 

The family (minus the Bowermans) were out for Christmas.  Little Hannah was making her grand entrance home from the Peace Corps and it was so great to see her and for her to meet Annie.  It was so nice having everyone out to celebrate the holiday with and meet the newest addition to the family.

We also had our very old and gigantic Big Leaf Maple taken down over the holiday.  Doug and our friend Tommy are out splitting some of the remaining rounds today.  Last night was super windy but I could sleep without feeling so anxious about it falling and smashing our house.  Or the neighbor's house.  Or passing cars/pedestrians.  The tree was so huge that the house shook when they brought down some of the larger segments.  I can only imagine the vibrations it would make and the damage it would do if an entire limb - or the entire tree - fell on its own.

Happy new year!

Sweet Thing

This little bundle of joy arrived on Thanksgiving day.  Our Annie, Sharon Ann Lewis, came at 5:27 am weighing 7 lbs 4 oz and 20.5 inches long.  We stayed a couple days in the hospital and brought her home last weekend.  We are very much in love with her.  She's not on any schedule yet but has been feeding really well and letting me get a decent amount of sleep at night. 

This weekend Aunt Norah and cousin Henry came to visit.  Henry is so big and mobile; he's quite entertaining. 

Doug is still busy working on the nursery.  Things are really coming together!  The bead board is almost all done and it's looking great.