A Few More Pics

Blissfully asleep in Grandma Sherra's Arms

Future babysitter Addy

and her brother Brodie.

Daddy Photographer

Chris's grandparents gave Liza a camera in honor of her birth and Chris is rapidly getting plenty of practice with it. The pictures are great and we love to see Liza's expressions; they are priceless. We've titled this picture - Floating Baby!

Liza's Grandmother Sherra (or ShayShay as her Great Aunt Susan suggests) arrived for a visit on February 16th. We were so glad she was able to stay with us all week - never have our bath towels been washed every single day nor have they ever smelled as good!


I'm not 100% sure but I think this outfit is one she inherited from her friends Lexi and Brea. I wonder if their mother Jenn recognizes it?


We love to see her pretty eyes looking back at us - what am I going to do when she grows up and I can't spend time staring into them?


Liza's doggie sisters, Hallie and Molly, gave her a look-a-like stuffed animal so she would never be away from them. This one is for the two of you - come see Liza soon!

How some things change

Today at 4:15 pm we received excellent news - Liza gained weight! Since we've been home from the hospital she has likely lost and gained the same ounce several times; we just couldn't get forward momentum and by the two week mark she should have returned to her birth weight (9 pounds and 2 ounces). Fortunately, Liza was able to maintain 8 pounds and 10 ounces for a few weeks but we needed her to bulk up. Who would have guessed that a child of ours would have trouble putting on ounces! After several feeding experiments, tears from her Mother, encouragement from her Father and endless sessions of washing the pump accessories by her Grandmother Jones, Liza gained weight. On Wednesday she weighed in between 8 pounds 9 and 10 ounces and today she weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces! We were expecting a 1-2 ounce gain and let me tell you when the nurse said 8 pounds 15 ounces I almost didn't believe it; I had to check for myself. This 5 ounce gain was cause for celebration. Her Grandmother Jones and I celebrated by having hot tea and a diet coke and her Father, who was in Des Moines picking up the chair for nursery, celebrated by getting a Quizno's sub for dinner - my how things change. Before the arrival of our little bundle, celebrations could range from a night on the town to a good bottle of wine now a diet coke, a good sub and a healthy little girl are all we need.

The Best Valentine's Day Present

The cutest little girl in the world is the best Valentine's Day present her father or I could ask for. In her father's case it's the only present he's getting because I haven't been able to make myself presentable enough to go to a store. Fortunately for me I have the greatest husband in the world and in the midst of all things baby he took the time to send me flowers from Liza and him - thanks you two (and thanks to our friends at Bates for sending such a lovely arrangment).

Liza in her downstairs bouncy seat - she's already becoming aclimated to the winter and loves her blankets!

I can't get enough of spending time looking in her eyes - wonder what she is thinking?

Sometimes she is a little bit grumpy when she gets all bundled up for trips into the tundra.

One of Liza's favorite positions is hands up and out of her blanket or her swaddle - we don't think she can get any cuter than this.

I think this is one of my favorite pictures thus far! We love you Liza.

Grandmother Margie needs help

If you've been following the blog closely you'll notice that we've repeatedly changed the name used when referring to my Mother, Margie. It seems she can't decide what she'd like Liza to call her. We all know that Liza is advanced but I don't think we're in danger of words flowing out of her mouth any time soon. However that doesn't eliminate the need for Margie to pick a name she likes. Of course we'll all find it pretty funny when Liza spits out something entirely different than what we've tried to teach her. Margie wishes she could have a cute name like Giddy, the name her great niece and nephews call her brother, or like Nana and Gaggy what Chris' cousins and I call his grandparents. So we are asking for your participation...please post a comment with your suggestions. We've tried Gigi, Gran and maybe Mimi but nothing is sticking. My Daddy wants Liza to call him Popa so make sure your suggestion "fits" with that name. Thank goodness for Grandmother Sherra - she doesn't care what Liza calls her as long as we do a good job using the telephone lines and interstates that lead to Florida.

Since we have so much time on our hands and Liza's Daddy is experimenting with digital photography we couldn't resist sharing some of our latest images with you.

I should also say THANK YOU to everyone who has made Liza's arrival so joyous. So many of you have sent wonderful gifts (I'm behind on my thank you notes - I promise they'll be out soon) and because of your generosity we've been able to go into her room and find just about everything a little girl of two weeks could need. The outfit she has on in these pictures is a gift from our friends, the See family and the Boppy that she is lounging on came all the way from Knoxville, TN from my long-time friend Maxie. I'm going to try my best to acknowledge the gifts we show in the pictures; please forgive me if I miss some. While I'm thanking people I want to give huge thanks to my Mother - she has been here in this snowy weather fixing every meal, washing everything that is dirty, cleaning up the house and doing everything and anything she can think of to help us with our new journey. THANK YOU MOM - do you and Daddy want to move in?

Who Goes There?

One, two, three, four, five - yep they are all there!


Hi Mom!


Make My Day!

My Yet-to-be-named Grandmother Margie!

Baby Bjorn and Heirloom Cradle

Finally! The sweet child is sleeping in the family heirloom cradle. Her Mimi or Nannah (emphasis on the ann as opposed to ah like Nana), who is still trying to pick out her grandmother name, made the skirt when I was born and fortunately it held up through the years. I think that my great grandmother was the first one to use the cradle and since that time several other generations have enjoyed it. This may be the only time Liza sleeps in it because the baby books of today make you think anything antique will somehow harm your child. I'm pleased we have this picture to show Liza how she was part of continuing family traditions. By the way the mobile plays Grandmother Sherra's favorite song...Hush Little Baby.



Her Daddy and I can't resist taking cute pictures of her. Tonight we figured out that on average we have 10 pictures for each day of life so far. Heaven help us and you the readers of this blog if we keep up that pace.

Thank you Suzy for the Baby Bjorn carrier. Last night she was fussing and her Daddy strapped on that carrier and she slept right on this chest while he read a book about digital photography. What a great invention!

This face is the one her Mother most often sees so we had to capture the moment!

Collage

Liza's Grandmother Sherra requested a collage of photos with lullabies as the background. Somehow I used the same lullaby twice.