Smiley

How cute is she?! Check out those chubby cheeks. Anna is doing great and is even sleeping better at night. I can't believe she is already eight weeks old. I love each stage as we come to it, but this one where she is learning to smile and coo is especially fun. Sometimes she startles herself with what comes out of her mouth and that is fun to watch, too. Cute, cute, cute....what else can I say? :)

Our Growing Boy

Andrew turned eight this month. I keep looking at him, trying to remember what he looked like when he was born and how it felt to hold him. It is amazing to me how much children change in such a short time! I realize this is nothing new and that people say all the time how fast kids grow....but when it is your own kids, it is still pretty amazing! I look at his adorable face and can see a glimpse of that little baby boy with the skinny legs and the long dark eyelashes that the nurse handed to me in the hospital eight years ago. He has grown into such a wonderful, caring kid who is unbelievably intelligent and talented. (Sorry, I have to brag a little.) He just finished a great basketball season (see pictures) and is looking forward to another exciting baseball season. He is in the Chess club at school, still loves reading (he is working on the second Harry Potter book), breezes through math, and helps lead singing at church once a quarter. God has truly blessed him with many talents, which is wonderful....and yet a big responsibility. Tim and I have our work cut out for us, teaching him how to use those talents to glorify God.

Andrew, for the third time in a row, wanted to have his party at the Rollarena. Having a Birthday in the Winter is difficult because options are limited. He Loves to skate, though, and got rollerblades for Christmas this year, so the party location was a no-brainer this time. When Andrew turned five, however, he had his mind made up that he wanted a pool party at his Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood club pool. We explained to him that he would have to wait until Summer, and he did just that. We hosted a "Andrew turns five and a half" Birthday party that year and had a blast. Twelve kids showed up for Andrew's party this year and they all boogied to the Hokey Pokey, twisted and turned under the limbo stick, and held hands with a buddy for friend skate. I chuckled, watching kids put rented skates on that I am sure are the Exact same skates that were there when I was a kid. I wonder how many layers of disinfectant spray are actually on the inside of those shoes. Maybe next year, Andrew can do some research on the bacteria inside the skates of the Rollarena for a science project. :)

Tubby Time

Tubby time is one of my favorite times of day. Each morning, somewhere around nine or so, I give Anna a bath. She hated it at first, but is growing to appreciate this ritual. After her bath, I give her a lotion rub down which she does like, and then she always wants a little post-bath snack. :) After eating, she has a little conversation with me, talking and cooing as much as she can (which isn't much, but I can see the rest in her eyes)! I am loving this stage!

Andrew had a great birthday party this last Saturday and I will post new pics when I get them uploaded! I can hardly believe my litte boy is eight. He woke up on his birthday and I asked him how he was feeling and he said, "Great. Eight is great!" What a kid. I love them both so much that sometimes I feel as if my heart will burst. Is this how God feels about us, I wonder? Does He look at us the way I look at my children? I know logically that His love for us is even greater than our love for our children, and yet this concept is hard for me to actually understand. We are so blessed to be His adopted sons and daughters and to be loved so very much. *sigh*

Today is a good day. I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my Lord. I miss my sister and her kids....but I know they are doing what God wills for them by serving Him in Africa. I miss my little brother, but he is coming to visit in March for two weeks! I love my parents and love that they live close by. My daughter is currently sleeping on my chest after two and a half hours of evening fussing (a regular ritual now), and there is no better feeling than her relaxed little body curled up, holding my shirt and breathing against my neck. I am feeling sleepy and happy and grateful. These are the moments I focus on when Anna wakes up at 3 and stays awake until 6. :) I shall end this rambling blog now and go get some sleep in case that happens tonight!

Growing and Changing

Anna Jane is growing soo fast! Pictured above, she is shown sleeping on my shoulder on the couch (our regular afternoon routine), at three weeks. The next two pictures of her are at four weeks. The other pictures (below) are taken between four and a half weeks and five weeks.

We took Anna to the pediatric cardiologist because her pediatrician heard a heart murmur. She looked so tiny and pitiful hooked up to the EKG machine. She passed all of her tests, but did have a "finding" according to the doctor. Between the two upper chambers of her heart is a small hole that didn't fuse when it was supposed to. The doctor said it will likely fuse on its own, but we need to have it checked again in six months. This is pretty common and doesn't cause any problems, but it was still stressful to see Anna's tiny heart on the echocardiogram.

Before her tests, the nurse asked me to undress her and get her ready to be weighed. I picked her up and said to my mother-in-law, "I guess nine pounds, three ounces". We took her in and I put her on the scale....and she weighed nine pounds, four ounces! I beamed, proud that I am supplying her with some quality food!!

Andrew sat down next to me today and I asked him if he wanted to hold his sister and he said, "Sure, I'll hold my sis!" I almost had to pick my jaw up off the floor because he Never says that. So...for only the fourth time since she was born, Andrew held Anna today. He had been holding her for about thirty seconds when she gave a good squirt and filled her pants. Andrew laughed pretty hard and handed her back.

Anna has started smiling once in a great while and when she does, my heart just melts. I still look at her every now and then and get tears in my eyes because I am so thankful for her presence in our home. She is amazing. I am not getting much sleep, I have to admit...but other than that, life is pretty good around here. God has truly blessed us!!!

Thumb or Pacifier??

Anna has decided that she would love to be permanently attached to her mother. She did have a big growth spurt over the last few days and nursed every hour and a half (yes, I'm exhausted), but now she just wants to latch on and not drink between nursing sessions. She actually looks annoyed when the milk starts to let down sometimes. Heh. Rather than have a fifteen pound baby at one month, we have decided to introduce other sucking options. At this point, she is still so little that neither option is readily available to her without our assistance....so we have a decision to make!

The thumb sucking is sooo adorable and I can hardly keep from kissing her over and over again when she gets her thumb (with help)....but the thumb unfortunately will still be around when she is five if she so chooses to use it. On the other hand, I wouldn't have to search around for the lost pacifier five times a night once she learns to get her thumb on her own. Andrew used a pacifier and had such a hard time giving it up that I hesitate to encourage one with Anna. Any suggestions or advice, anyone?? Please don't tell me just to keep nursing her every half hour....I'm already dehydrated. :)

Surprise!!

I went down to Andrew's school to eat lunch with him on Friday (which didn't work out since he was already eating with his friends and didn't want to leave them to eat with boring old Mom), and left Anna with Tim for twenty minutes. I pulled back into the driveway and saw an unfamiliar car parked up next to the house. I got out and curiously poked my head in through the door....and saw my niece, Mikena, standing in my living room with her parents!! Tim's brother, Scott, and his wife, Kim, decided to surprise us with a weekend visit from Iowa!

We were expecting Tim's sister to come in Friday evening, but had no idea his brother was coming as well. I got teary-eyed, which is par for the course these days, and thanked them over and over for making the trip. We were really wanting to see them, but didn't know when it was going to work out. Tim's sister, Tammy, and her seven month-old son Noah arrived later in the evening and we had a fun weekend enjoying the kids and visiting. Aside from some major airline frustrations and canceled/delayed flights, everything went really well and we were able to just hang out at the house or the mall and enjoy each other. What a wonderful surprise!!

Anna went to the doctor this last Thursday and weighed in at 6 lbs., 15 oz., and measured at 20 1/2 inches. She is definitely growing! She is still a bit jaundiced, so we are trying to give her lots of sunlight. She also has a slight heart murmur which our pediatrician wanted to get double-checked by a pediatric cardiologist sometime in the next couple of weeks. Apparently, there are some great doctors in Spokane who come down to the Tri-Cities every week or two and see patients here. We are waiting for a call from them to schedule an appointment. All in all, though, Anna is doing great and is such a snuggly sweetheart. She is sleeping a bit more at night, which I am especially thankful for!

My Cuties

Andrew is looking so old to me! He will be eight in just a month, which is so hard for me to believe. He has taken a new interest in golf since Tim got a Tiger Woods golf game for Gamecube for Christmas. He has decided that he might like to try the sport this Spring. We tried to tell him that it wasn't exactly the most economical sport in the world, but he is determined to try every sport in the book, it seems. :) He is currently having a blast with his basketball season and looking forward to some baseball this Spring, possibly some more tennis lessons, and well.....maybe golf. Not only does he like to play all of these sports...he likes to read about them as well. Currently, he is in his room reading a biography of Shaquille O'Neal. He just finished a biography about Tiger Woods last night. What a kid. :)

Anna is chubbing up and being as adorable as ever. She still thinks that the daytime is for sleeping and the nighttime is for hanging out with Mom....but we are going to fix that soon!! I am letting her set her own schedule for the next couple of weeks since she is still small, but as soon as she puts enough weight on, I plan to reverse her days/nights so I can SLEEP!! Tim is letting me nap a couple of times a day when it works out and so I do eventually get a little shut-eye. Somehow, when she wakes me up at 1:00 a.m., 2:30, 3:15, 4:45, and 6:30, I still look at her and think, "How adorable is my daughter??" I know the sleep deprivation will set in soon and I will wake up crying myself, thinking, "Why, why, why won't she sleep in her bassinet???" Fortunately, Tim is off from work for another week, so I won't feel guilty handing her over to him for a bit.

I still feel like all of the events over the past week and a half are surreal. Am I living someone else's life? Do I really have two children at home? Is this adorable tiny baby really mine? Praise God for His incredible blessings in my life, including all of the special people around us who have so lovingly prayed for our little one to arrive safely. Thank you so much to all of you who have held us up in prayer over and over again. We love you!

Blessings

For those of you who want some birth details:
On Tuesday morning, I arrived at the hospital at 7:00 a.m. for my amniocentesis. I got hooked up to the monitors and IV and waited for Dr. Rawlins to arrive. I was so blessed to have the best nurse who is known for her abilities to start an IV painlessly. Dr. Rawlins had called and requested that she do my prep and had filled her in on why we were doing the amnio, etc. What a sweet doctor he is. Dr. Rawlins arrived at about 8:00 and came in to perform the amnio, which I will admit was somewhat painful. It was very short, however, and my wonderful friend Nicole held my hand and calmed me while I grimaced and held my breath. Dr. Rawlins held up three little vials of amniotic fluid and said with a grin, "Looks like she's done to me." He said that when the fluid is nice and "cloudy" like that, it is almost always a sign that the p/g test will come back positive. He said we would know in an hour or so.

At 9:00, my wonderful nurse poked her head into the exam room and asked when the last time I had anything to eat was. Being hopeful, I had not eaten anything since midnight. She grinned and told me that there was a chance the doctor could do the C-section that day sometime. At 9:30, she came back into the exam room and said, "It's official. She is ready! We have one opening today and it's at 10:00." My eyes got wide and I said, "You mean in thirty minutes??" Tim was in Hermiston at work and so I called him and asked him what he wanted me to do and he agreed that if I wanted to go ahead, it was okay with him. My mom was there with me and so was Nicole and he said he understood...and so they prepped me and she was born at 10:31. The C-section was honestly so wonderful and painless and exciting.

Anna came out crying nice and strong and my tears followed shortly after. Hearing her strong cry was the best sound ever and I praised God for that instant reassurance of her health. The nurses brought her over to my face so I could kiss her and see her and it was the most wonderful moment. They took her back to the labor and delivery suite with my mom and Nicole and I got to join her only fifteen minutes later. The rest of that day was a bit crazy...I had some kind of reaction either to the antibiotics or to stress or to the spinal and ended up throwing up many, many times. I wasn't that bothered by it, though, and was sooo happy that my little girl had finally arrived and was wonderfully healthy and beautiful. Tim and Andrew arrived at the hospital about 2:30 and I had waited for them so that Tim and I could name her together.

I held her and told my mom, dad, and Andrew that we had chosen a name for our little girl based on its meaning. Anna means gracious (sometimes listed as gracious gift of God) and our God has certainly been gracious to us in giving us this tiny, perfect gift.

Today, one week later, as I look at her little sleeping body next to mine, I am amazed. I am in awe of God's blessings in our lives and fascinated by every tiny movement that she makes. I cry in joy so often, relieved that she is here and that she came home with us. She is growing so much and eating so well and we just LOVE her. She is an extremely snuggly baby and loves to put the top of her head up underneath my chin and snuggle in for warmth. She is also very fond of head rubs and cranes her neck for more anytime someone rubs her tiny little head. She especially enjoys her daily head washing and makes adorable little mewling noises until it's over. She is just so much fun...and again...we LOVE her.

Andrew is adjusting to being a big brother. He is so tender towards her, and yet is having a hard time remembering his brother Nathan and how different things could have been with him. We expected this would be difficult in many ways for him, but know he will adjust in time. He fortunately just started his basketball season and so is reasonably busy with his own things. Tim is off from work for two whole weeks (yay!) and so Andrew gets some extra Dad time, too. I had to miss his first basketball game and I was so bummed, but Andrew came home and told me every little detail, including the fact that he made the first basket!! He is a great kid and will be such an awesome big brother, I know. I look forward to watching him grow closer to his sis.

Here are a few more pics, some from the hospital, some more recent.

She's Here!!

Anna Jane Lanning arrived Tuesday, January 2 at 10:31 a.m., weighing 6 lbs., 1 oz, and measuring 19 inches long. Here are a few pictures (which is what I know you all want to see anyways!) and I will post more details later when I have some more energy!

We are at home and she is just wonderful.