What do you think

I was playing with my camera and Picnik.com.

Christmas Pictures

Well we took our Christmas picture on Sunday and I hope it was a success, we had a friend come and take the pictures for us and I haven't seen how they turned out. However we do have a few candids from the day. Starting with the picture that will be going out in my Christmas card.

Popeye? I think not. This is Dory's new "cheese" smile.

Some cute babies

I particularly like the hand coming at Nella from above. At one point Portie had a foot rubbing his head from above also! There will be no rest for these babies :o)

And last, this is what a Grace Fellowship baby shower looks like these days!

Lactation Sympathy

Tonight we had friends over from out of town for dinner. Before they came I did the dreaded nursing math in my head and realized (shock) that she would need to eat right about when we would be having dinner. I decided that I have enough milk stored up to start using it for convenience factor and not hoard the liquid gold for when I have to go back to work.
Right after dinner Annie woke up and Joe brought her to me just as I was getting her bottle ready. I told him he could feed her! I think that he was very excited to have the chance to do this and so the four (well five really) of us went to the living room and sat down for a chat as Joe fed Annie her first bottle. Halfway through I told him that he needed to see if she had to burp and when he sat her up he had a big wet spot on his chest from the bottle leaking and it TOTALLY looked like he leaked! It was the funniest thing ever, and in front of company too! Luckily our friend is pregnant and we had been talking about all things baby all night long so this was just the icing on the very sweet cake :o)

Question: How do I know how much she is eating? I thought for some reason that she was eating about 5 oz. So I have been storing 5 oz containers. She only took about 3 oz tonight. I read somewhere that once you defrost and warm milk that you can still use it for 24 hours, do you think this sounds safe?

2 Months Old

I am stealing Melissa F's idea to take pictures every month to show how big she is getting. So here she is! You will see her in this pose with this background once a month from now until Christ returns :o)

The Original Chu-chi Face

I love this guy a ridiculous amount. Probably because he is my first love. He has been around the longest and he made me an Aunt :o) I can hardly remember when he was first born and in the NICU at University for over a week! He was such a little fuzzy squirt. I do remember the first time I held him, I picked him up out of his incubator to hand him to Kris who was going to nurse him (maybe for the first time?) I also remember the first time I really snuggled him when he got home. We loved him in spite of the faces that he would give us that said "you bore my overly intelligent brain"

I was thinking the other day how far he has come in his social skills. Kris used to have to talk him into saying "hello" to us when he came over, or actually giving us (his loved ones) a hug. Now he runs into your arms saying "Oh I Missed You!"

Things I love about my little ChuChi Face.

• His funny speech (I always think he is saying "Cheese" I dont know why)
• His long eyelashes
• His brain, the kid is a genius, he likes to read children's text books before bed!
• The way he says "Hey Check" when he wants you to look at something
• His pants, I dont know why I notice all the time, but look out Kris because the kid has an adorable butt!
• The way his shoulders can drop down to his ankles when he is sad.
• His love for his sisters, he is going to be a great big brother always. Dory is his best friend (although he may claim Jack) and I love that he thinks Nella is "pretty cute"
• Almost every time he sees Joe and I he will point to me and then Joe and say "Hey... look... same" or "Hey...Look...you go together"
• All Time Favorite the way he drops his head in embarrassment when I start to sing

You're my little chu-chi face
My coo-chi, coo-chi, woo-chi little chu-chi face
Every time I look at you I sigh
And you're my little teddy bear
My lovey lovey dovey little teddy bear
You're the apfel strudel of mine eye
Your chu-chi woo-chi noseYour chu-chi woo-chi eyes
They set my heart a flutter
Your ooo-chi coo-chi waysYour ooo-chi coo-chi gaze
Wilts me down like meltings butter
You're my little chu-chi face
And you're my teddy bear
Together we're a chu-chi woo-chi, ooo-chi coo-chi pair!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

My sisters may kill me for prematurely posting pictures of Annie in her new Christmas dress so all you get is from the neck up, but you should wait in full anticipation for next week when we post our family picture. It is predicted to be the cutest thing you have ever seen in your entire life. It all started last Saturday when......

Annie and I met Mom and Dad at the mall for the Giving Spree, we were there a little early and JC Penny was one of the only stores that was open so, naturally, we headed to the baby department! The first cute Christmas outfit I came upon happened to be a sale rack! They had the cutest little black and red plaid jumper with a little white blouse under it, AND they had both Annie Girl and Nellas sizes! So I spun around to the boy rack and of course there was a matching plaid romper for Portie!!! Oh this was only the beginning. We have already been warned not to buy any Christmas dress for Elly because she has 8 from her Grannie Roxiena, and in the spirit of saving our (moms) penny's we thought the odds were good that one of Elly's dresses from last year would fit Dory, so we found for them matching sweaters with the same red color as the babies outfits! I thought no way this brand would exist in Buddy's size also.... but I was wrong, he came out looking smashing in a red sweater vest and plaid shirt (smaller plaid, matches but not too matchy, matchy you know:o) Boy were we proud of ourselves! They would be the most adorable group of babies in the world!

So our shopping trip moved on, Mom needed a new coat, so as she is trying on a (beautiful) new coat... what do I spot but a Mannequin wearing a red and black plaid scarf!!!!!!!!!!! I looked at the tag and sure enough it was the very same brand as the babies clothes! I looked for them in the scarf section however they were all out, so mom (naturally) ripped the one of the mannequin and we went off in search of the service desk where we could order 4 more out of the catalog. I thought about calling my sisters to see if they minded wearing black shirts in the picture... but knowing every good woman loves the slimming effect of black, I thought they wouldn't mind at all!
The men in the family are simply required to wear a coordinating color so as to not make the picture to matchy, matchy, we wouldn't want to look like one of those Burrberry families ;o)

AND we received all of these items on sale, and then we got money off according to how much we spent because we had a giving spree discount!!

Have you ever heard a better shopping story or seen so many exclamation points?!!

Everybody Else Is Doing It

1. What is your husband's name? Joseph Aaron
2. Who eats more? Are you kidding, Have you seen my husband eat!? (its a lot!)
3. Who said, "I love you" first? Hmmmmm I don't remember!
4. Who is taller? Joe by about 5 inches
5. Who is smarter? Joe, he is so smart. I love asking him to explain things to me because he understands things and explains them very simple.
6. Who is more sensitive? Me probably
7. Who does the laundry? Me
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me, Joe has to be by the door in case the boogy men come!
9. Who pays the bills? I do,
10. Who cooks more? I do. Joe is really getting to be a professional griller though.
11. Who is more stubborn? Joe?
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Joe
13. Who has more siblings? Depends on how you look at it... Joe has 2 full sisters, 1 half sister, 5 step sisters and 1 half brother and 2 step brothers = 11 !!! I just have 3 sister and 1 brother :o)
14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Joe
15. What do you like to do together? Talk, watch TV, shop, play games, hang out with family.
16. Who eats more sweets? I do, Joe would rather have more meat than dessert.
17. Guilty Pleasures? Driving, Joe would drive to Florida and back in a day just because. that seems a little irrational to me! Mine is definitely Chocolate
18. How did you meet? Calvary Christian High School
20. Who kissed who first? I asked him to kiss me
21. Who proposed? Joe after we went to the play "A Christmas Carol" at playhouse in the park he drove up to the overlook and proposed on the bridge which was decorated with candles.
22. His best features and qualities? He is a hard worker and so giving. He would do anything for anyone before himself. He is smart, he likes to learn, he is an excellent provider. I appreciate his way of coaching to, he is hard on the kids and tries to teach them responsibility and discipline, he has a very Godly outlook on playing sports.

My New Best Friend

I realized something yesterday when making a hair appointment (goodbye roots!). I called my mother-in-law to see if she could watch Annie for me while I had my hair done. It was then that it hit me, today she is 7 weeks old, for 7 weeks she has not been out of my presence, 49 days straight, literally attached to each other for a third of that time, and I still can't get enough of her!!! :o) When others are holding her I can feel what they feel, like I am holding her too (weird?)
I love the shape of her head, and the way sometimes when I look down at her and she is giving me the exact same look I am giving her (I am sure that will annoy me when she is a teenager) I love when she smiles in her sleep because it is a totally different smile than when she is awake. I love how tiny she is, there is no fat on her except her cheeks! I love that she looks just like Joe when she is waking up... it takes them forever and you really have to convince them that it Really IS time to wake up and then entice them with food :o)
So you know how when you are a kid and you have this best friend and all you want to do is be together 24/7? And you spend the night at each other house and you can't believe that you never get tired of one another, until one day you just do and you need a little break from each other. Well I haven't hit that wanting a break part yet and I have to admit I am a little nervous about leaving Annie for just an hour today. I think other people don't know her like I do, and what if they can't interpret her cries... well for the love of Pete... they can't know her as well as I do I have had 1176 hours to get to know her and all they have is the few minuets I let them hold her :o)

She Smiles

She has started smiling and I (for obvious reasons) think it is the cutest thing in the world. I tried to capture her on video yesterday but the camera died. I will keep trying however here is a picture to give you an idea of her adorableness!! She had just woke up from her morning nap and her face was completely broke out, I feel so bad for her but I don't think there is anything I can do about it, I just have to let her sensitive skin mature. :o(

Are none of you my friends?

Ok, I guess you all must think that I am in a fragile state of mind or something. So I now give you permission to let me know when my roots get this out of control!!! I promise I will not hurt you or myself over this information. Constructive criticism people! On a nicer note it is a pretty cute picture of me and my girl Annie. :o)

Trick or Treat

My little trick or treater dressed up as a trick or treater, see the shirt says it all. I should have put a sign on her that said "read my shirt" :o) I hadn't planned on taking her out, we went to my Grandmas to visit and help her pass out candy. However since it was so nice out Grammy took her out with Kara and Ben, Elly and Porter. Annie and Porter were dressed identical and Mom had fun telling people they were twins (not a lie just a little halloween trick:o)