Twenty Eight, Two Months and a Blessing

Well in case anyone was wondering if I was going to be a better blogger once I was a stay-at-home mom, I guess you now know... I am not. I have at least taken a million pictures of our little one like any good first time parent. I just have not found the time to post them. So forgive me for overloading you with pictures of the last two months, they have been a whirlwind.

For starters, although I had every intention of posting my birth story it just got too long and it's just not happening so this is the super abbreviated version. I ended up going to the doctor January 5th and my doctor suggested an induction since I had a horrible rash that could not be soothed. Since I was already so far dilated we decided to go for it. It was nice to know it was coming in some ways because we got to be totally prepared and the night before Scott and I went out to Chili's for one final date.

So the picture below is the night before, my final belly shot. Everything went pretty smoothly in my labor and delivery it didn't take that long on the pitocin for things to move right along and in the end they were actually trying to hold her off to wait for my doctor. So when it came time to push, I only pushed through three contractions and she was out. It was truly amazing, the delivery was so exciting-thanks to epidurals!

The first week we came home from the hospital my mom came and stayed with us which was so nice. Sadly I didn't get any pictures with her. Then a week and a half later my sisters came down to see Anna and do a "photo shoot" it was so fun to have them and visit for the day. These are some of my favorites that they took.



My sister Chrystal had her baby exactly one month after Anna and named her Ainsley Karma Stanley. They have already seen each other once, it will be so fun to have a girl cousin so close in age!
We were able to bless Anna on February 14th, Valentines Day! Scott's whole family was able to come down and stay for an extended weekend, it was a really fun and busy weekend. Here is a picture of Anna with her Stephens grandparents.

We really wanted to use Scott's mom's blessing dress but it needed a slip to go under it and I could not find one small enough for her so the week of the blessing I took on the project of sewing a baby slip and I have to say it turned out pretty good. I still don't think I will make a habit of sewing my childrens' clothing but a slip is a good place to start, I also ended up making the matching headband.


Over the past few weeks Anna has just grown to be more and more fun. She started smiling at six weeks and they have just become bigger and more frequent since then. She is also getting better at entertaining herself and really seems to enjoy her awake time. She has slept through the night a couple of times but not consistantly. And she got RSV a couple of weeks ago which has set us back some in the sleeping department but she is getting better and I am so glad it never got too serious.
We have these huge mirrors for closet doors in our bedroom and they have become a built-in toy for Anna, I just lay her on a blanket infront of them and she stares at herself and smiles it is really too cute! I kind of captured it in the picture but it is a little out of focus.
She also LOVES spending time in her swing. She could just stare and smile at that mobile all day long, it is so sweet and a life saver when I want to get anything done!Last week was Scott's twenty-eighth birthday and Anna's two month on the same day. Since Anna was sick and Scott had to work on his thesis most of the day we did not get to do much but we still have plans of going out to dinner once she is feeling better. He did choose Brats with coleslaw for his dinner and cheesecake for dessert. I just love this picture of the two of them. She just loves staring at her daddy and he loves to make her smile, it is so cute!
I just had to add a cheesy grin picture because, well, I am in love with it. I could spend my whole day talking in a high pitched, baby talk voice if I can get smiles like this out of her! We are so grateful for our Anna girl, she brings us so much joy and we already can't imagine our lives without her.