Many faces of Anabelle, Weeks 3-4

Happy 30th Mike!

This weekend we joined Em in surprising Mike with a 30th birthday celebration! It was beautiful weather, lots of friends and kiddos running around and an all around great night! Hope you had as much fun as we did b-day boy!!!

Brad and Gavin cheering on Mike as he blew out his candles
It was all a bit much for Anabelle! (can you say migrane commercial?)

Sabrina and Kyla really got into the celebratory mood and busted out the moves with pom poms!Sabrina is of course rockin the "I just yanked out my cute ponytail" mohawk like only she can!!! :)

Anabelle week 3

Anabelle continues to grow and has more and more alert time. We are also hearing her voice more than we had before which even though it usually is in the form of crying, it is kind of nice to hear her make her presence known!

Sabrina has adjusted well to having a little sister. She loves to hold her and read her books and kiss her. She is a great helper to mommy and rarely gets jealous! What a blessing!

I cracked up at this interaction yesterday, "What a cute suster I have"
"I think I'll give her a kiss"
Anabelle: "WHAAAA" Sabrina: "Why doesn't she like my kisses? Did I do it wrong??"

Sabrina Ballerina

This afternoon Sabrina found her tutu and had a great time putting on a show for mommy and her camera! After each performance she would run to the camera and ask to see it. After she would watch it once or twice, she would say "'gain mommy, vid-o gain!" It kept us quite busy all afternoon and used up plenty of camera space! This is just one of many takes :)

Feeding, Visits, and fancy "Hemit"

Many have asked for an update on Anabelle's eating issues and I am happy to report that things are getting better. We have been going to speech therapy (who knew you could do sppech for a newborn, right?) where they have confirmed that her mouth and tounge are structurally fine which is a huge blessing. It is their estimation that Anabelle, having been 2 weeks early, needed to gain strength and coordination to master eating. She also likes to stop feedings on her own terms by rolling her tounge back in her mouth blocking milk from going down. She still does this from time to time, but we are getting more adept at using fingers to flatten it and slip the bottle back where it needs to be to keep the feedings going.

Another positive is that as the feedings have gone better, she has begun to gain weight! Yeah! At our two week appt. today Anabelle was 7lbs 12 oz, "great progress" according to Dr. Green. She still is hanging out in the 25% for weight, but I'm guessing that will change soon! We are very happy to see our little peanut making some progress and are excited that all this also means mom can let her sleep longer between feedings at night!

With all the appointments we have had in the last couple weeks we have had to rely on family alot to help entertain Sabrina. Thank you thank you to you all who have helped and offered to help in this regard! We are so lucky to have such great family and friends! Sabrina has been having fun spending time with all the visitors! Here she is after hanging with Auntie Jay for the morning. Jay was the first one to take on both girlies at once while mom was at the Dr., she handled it like a pro!! Go Jamie!


Sabrina has also been taking an interest in biking, both with dad in the burley and on her bikes in the driveway. Grandmee always makes sure the grandkiddos are stylin, even when it comes to safety gear! Sabrina loves to wear her "hemit" inside and out!

And yes, the "cheezer face" has made a raging comeback in photos!!

Another photo session

This week we did Anabelle's newborn pictures and a couple with her big sis. Again, Christy did a great job and we got some beautiful pictures! For those that are curious, you can see them at www.clpphotography.com, and click on "the client" and type in "anabelle" to see the proofs :)

Fourth of July

After a couple days at home alone with Anabelle, we were missing Sabrina terribly and headed up north to be with her and Nana and Poppy, Katie and Austin for the holiday. We had a really great weekend in Lake City who is known for having the "Greatest 4th in the North". We went to the parade, the carnival and our for ice cream. We even were able to have some alone time with Sabrina thanks to Nana and Poppy!


Sabrina strutting her stuff with her toddler style accessories, they rarely left her side the whole weekend and went back and forth between the sand and lake at least a thousand times a day!

Sabrina's first popcicle at the parade.

Waiting for the festivities to start.

Anabelle and daddy at the parade. Anabelle was woking on getting rid of her jaundice by getting a little sun while taking her bottle.

Family time and coming home!

Anabelle has been enjoying meeting friends and family over the last couple days in the hospital. She has also been getting some "moments" in with ber big sis. Thank you to all who stopped by to see the newest member of the family and we can't wait to introduce her to the rest of the awesome people in our lives!




We are so excited to finally be coming home with our sweet Anabelle and start the business of day to day living! She has been making some gains with her eating and will hopefully continue to do so in the next couple days. Right now the toughest part is getting her to stay focused on the task of eating and keeping her tounge off the roof of her mouth!! Right now Sabrina is staying with her grandparents so we can spend the time working with Anabelle on this, but soon we'll have an 18 mo. old to contend with while feedings are happening so we hare hoping this process speeds up soon!