On the cusp of a new year

The new year is upon us in just a few days, and because I’ve only written a handful of entries this year, I’m going to use this opportunity to summarize 2010 David Letterman style, in “The Woodruff Family Top 10 Highlights of 2010”

10- Owen’s neighborhood “Friends”

Thanks to a super charged squirt gun from Grammy and Grandpa, Owen quickly made friends with some 5 year olds in our neighborhood. He would quiver with excitement at the thought of playing with his “friends”... Luke and I, not so much, mostly because the kids were quite a bit older then Owen and most of them could use a lesson in respect and sharing. However, funny to think that there are some waist-high people out there who know Luke and I as “Owen’s parents”.

9- New Orleans, trip away from Owen

The dental office that I work for made a trip to New Orleans last spring for a conference on implant dentistry. This was a first for me- visiting New Orleans and spending more then one night away from Owen. I enjoyed seeing a little bit of this historic city and Luke and Owen did great together while I was gone.

8- Summer hiking

We spent quite a few sunny saturdays hiking some of the trails around Juneau. Luke packed Owen in the backpack and I packed unborn Annabell. Many of the trails have cabins at the end, and Owen decided that when he gets bigger, he’s going to have a big slumber party at one of the cabins with all of his friends and dinos and toys and books and swimming pool and...

7- Owen - letters

Owen started showing interest in letters this year. It started out with a placemat that had the alphabet printed around the edges. From there, Owen learned how to spell his name and then started learning many of the letters. When Grammy and Grandpa visited last fall, Grandpa brought a movie with Owen that taught him the sounds that each letter makes. I think that next comes reading... 2011?

6- House projects- tile, shed, sunroom

Like everyone, Luke and I have had a list of house projects that we dream of doing. This fall, when my parents were visiting, my dad spearheaded a few of those projects. We now have a nice tile entryway, a porch and sunroom that are level with the rest of the house, and a fully enclosed shed!

5- Sockeye and Coho

Because Luke had a slower charter fishing season this year, we were able to do more personal fishing. We spent several saturdays on the boat, improving our trolling skills and stocking up on salmon.

4- Canadian camping trip

Also, because we had more free-time this summer, we got to take a 6 day camping trip to Canada. Although the weather wasn’t optimal, we had a great time riding the ferry, seeing a little bit of the yukon and dialing in the wall-tent set-up/take-down.

3- Owen potty trained

Thanks to Lela Paden, Owen spent the majority of 2010 wearing big boy pants. Yipee!

2- IBEW

After 13 years of guiding, Luke hung up his waders and has pledged allegiance to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Luke has been feeling the need for a change of occupation for a few years now, but nothing has worked out. However, in December, he started an 8000 hour (4-5 year) apprenticeship a position. So far, he’s been enjoying the work and learning a lot. Union YES! ;)

1- Annabell

...and the surprise #1 highlight of 2010 was the birth of our sweet Annabell Lee. She is a precious girl, 16 pounds at 2 1/2 months old. She’s a good nurser and sleeper, getting up to eat just once a night. She’s talking and smiling and kicking and we are all in love.

Happy New Year to you!!!

smiley

tummy time

wintery walk

slinky in christmas jammies

sometimes a guy needs a little ear protection while eating lunch...

especially when Uncle Christian is nearby with a nail gun

naked baby in a field of flowers

annabell hearts 212

woodruff family five!

chilly

blue eyes, pink cheeks, take 1

blue eyes, pink cheeks take 2

annabell and velvet, the bunny

find that boy some pants!

Two in tow

Sarah’s Thoughts:

I’ve been cheating. So far, two weeks of two kids has been a breeze, but only because we’ve had so much help from my parents. Owen is completely smitten with his Yia Yia (my mom) and hardly gives her enough “alone time” to go to the bathroom by herself. As a result, Luke and I have been able to go on walks and “dates” to the grocery store without two kids in tow. I’m a little bit nervous, but also a little bit excited to see how things go when our household shrinks back down to four + Dolly. Until then, I guess I’ll just ride this wave and enjoy the help!

Luke Update:

Luke has been a busy fellow since the arrival of the in-laws. Fueled by my dad’s energy and know-how, Luke and Dad have been working on all kinds of projects around the house. They installed tile leading out to our back porch. They lifted up the back section of the house so now we are able to lock our sliding glass door. They installed gutters in the back of the house to prevent future siding damage and foundation settling. Most recently, they are working on the shed that is attached to our house, creating walls and even a door. All very exciting, long-anticipated home improvement projects. In between projects, Luke has been sneaking out for a little deer hunting and coho fishing. Its shaping up to be a nice little fall if I do say so myself!

Owen Update:

Annabell’s big brother has an imagination! I don’t know if all the Yia Yia time has encouraged this pretending but most of the time he is not himself- He is either a baby T-rex or a cowboy or maybe even Derek from down the street. If he does happen to be “Owen” then he’s at the airport or the zoo or possibly on a train. His memory is also incredible. Recently, we were watching a movie that had a cricket in it. All of a sudden, he said, “We heard crickets at nighttime at Grammy’s house,” which is true. The last time we were there, however, was last October. I don’t remember the crickets being a big deal at the time, or something that we’ve talked about since. It blows me away that he can remember something so random from when he was barely two years old!

Annabell Update:

Our newest family member is growing! We haven’t officially had her weighed recently, but hung her up on the fish scale in the garage (in her car seat) and deducted that she’s pushing 11 lbs. Thanks to the generous hand-me downs from some of our friends, she now has some girly clothes to wear which makes getting dressed a lot more fun! We went to a birthday party recently and Annabell got to wear her very first dress, complete with tights. Of course, we couldn’t find tights in her current size, so we had to tuck the extra material into her socks, but she looked pretty stinking cute!

very excited to find October dandelions

on Admiralty Island

Grandpa Roger

party dress

Uncle Christian holding a sleeping baby

snuggled up with Grandpa Roger

probably laughing at blonde joke

It's A GIRL!

Welcome sweet Annabell Lee!

After nine long months, we are thrilled with the new addition of a baby girl to our family. Our Annabell was born at 1:41am on Friday, October 1st, just in time to share a birthday with her Uncle Dusty. Where Owen was born a day before his due date, Annabell came three days late. Owen measured 8 pounds, 20 inches long and Annabell was a hefty 9 lbs 11 oz, 22 inches long. Compared to Owen’s newborn pictures, Annabell looks quite a lot like her big brother, but we think her hair and possibly eyes are a little bit darker. In the three short days that we’ve had her, we’ve already discovered that she is a sweet baby. She doesn’t cry much and is perfectly content to be held all day long.

The whole birthing process was just as painful as I remember, but all things considered, went very well. Out of 9 possible doctors, the one that happened to be on-call that evening was my doctor, Dr. Welling. My dear friends, Jessica and Deana came to my aide to rub my back, read me stories of far away places and help me breathe my way through one debilitating contraction after another. And my sweet husband was there through it all, offering a hand for me to squeeze the life out of and strong shoulders to lean on. We arrived the hospital around 10:30pm. Three hours and two big pushes later came the announcement that we’d be waiting for... “It’s a Girl!” I realized in that moment of amazement that I’d been expecting another boy.

Owen is so excited with his baby sister. When he came to visit us at the hospital, I was nursing Annabell and he climbed right up on the couch and whispered excitedly, “Mom! Does she have feet?” He wanted to check out every eyelash and elbow and then he wanted to hold her. He sat perfectly still, smiling ear to ear, while she lay on his lap. When we arrived home from the hospital, Owen wanted Annabell to crawl around his room and play hide and seek. He was a little bit disappointed to learn that it might be awhile before she can crawl around and play, but I have a feeling its going to happen before we know it.

So there you have it! Bring on the polka dots and pig tails!

proud daddy and his girl

Deana and Annabell

Grandpa Roger and a sweet baby girl

checking each other out

just joking around

sleeping baby

looking for mud

mama and a brown bear

woodruff family

sitting up

It's the Final Countdown!

Sarah's Thoughts: I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the band, "Starship," mostly because they sing the "Sarah" song that made me blush as a 5th grader when it first was released, and again as a 9th grader during "West Side Story" play practice. (Although I've always been a bit more partial towards the Haulin' Oats "Sarah Smile" song...) Regardless, 3 weeks to go until baby and I am getting excited! When I was pregnant with Owen, I made a quilt so I thought I should make something for this baby too. I use to do a fair amount of crocheting so I decided to use up some of the yarn that I have laying around to craft a baby blanket. Because I didn't have the right colors on hand for something gender-neutral, I instead decided to make a girl blanket and a boy blanket. Its been a cozy, settling into fall sort of project and I'm nearly finished. Bring on the baby!

high - impromptu dinner out with my brother and cousin last Friday night.

low- rolling over at night. My hips hurt so bad I let out a whimper whenever I move.

Luke Update: Luke's final fishing trip of the season is scheduled tomorrow, Labor day. I hate to say it, but I think he's secretly hoping that the wind and waves kick up so he have a guilt-free cancellation, however so far, the weather is looking a bit nicer for tomorrow... Charter trip bookings were definitely down this fishing season, but the positive side of that is we've had more time to get out on the boat for our own fishing trips and Luke has become quite an accomplished troller, I'm proud to say. Last count was 3 or 4 kings, 17 sockeye and 8 silvers. Now if we can add a moose or some deer to those numbers, we'll be set for the winter! Luke has been out on a few alpine deer hunts this fall, but no luck so far.

Owen Update: Our little boy is growing-up. He can spell his name, get his jammies on by himself, and even go potty without help. He's all about the freedom provided by the added height from his stool and pushes it all over the house. He's even wrestled the stool outside by himself and climbed in the boat. He's also quite excited about the new baby and likes to call it "Cookie". Not sure where that came from... Even with all this new found independence, he is very high maintenance when it comes to bed-time. He has to have his dino pillow in the right spot, his cuddle sleeve face up in the right position. His soft blanket flipped on the right side, his baby dog, baby lion and lately his dino puppets all lined up under the covers. Sometimes he even demands his slippers. Then when all the necessary items are in place, he requires 3 stories, prayers, kisses and 2 songs. Yikes! Maybe that's why we never get babysitters?

Alpine deer hunt vantage point. Look out bambies everywhere!

self portrait

One last beach day before fall...

puppy loving

his...

...and hers

everyone loves pinks!

notice the stool

blue-eyed boat boy

the belly - 37 weeks

Whirlwind

Sarah's Thoughts: It seems like an eternity ago that I was feeling so sick and looking forward to the summer. Now the fireweed blossoms are creeping up the stocks and the blueberries plants in our backyard are practically picked clean. I even saw "Back to School" stuff at the grocery store. It's been a busy and fun summer. We've managed to squeeze in some fishing, hiking, and a 6 day camping trip in the Yukon. I traveled to Anchorage for the wedding of my dearest friend, Sarah. Owen turned 3 and he had a parade and a stegasaurus cake to mark the occasion. This basketball in my belly is feeling as large as it ever did when I was pregnant with Owen. With 2 months to go, makes me a little worried when my weekly pregnancy updates say things like, "Your baby is headed into a growth spurt." I don't have room for a growth spurt! Thankfully, aside from a few minor hic-ups, this pregnancy has been relatively non-eventful.

high - Forecasted weather of 70+ degrees for the next few days

low - Owen's urgent potty request while we were driving to the library this morning, followed soon after by "I need to change my clothes." No library story time for us today!

Luke Update: After a rather dishearteningly slow start to the tourist season, Luke's fishing trips have been picking up. Its not going to be a record-breaking season but, with a few more bookings, will be within a stone's throw of average. Yesterday marked the start of deer season, so that is always a very exciting time for some members of our household. Usually involves lots of calling and emailing between Luke and his hunting buddies, checking work schedules and making plans. Captain Woodruff has also managed to hook us up with some delicious coho salmon, so our freezer is starting to fill. He has a trip planned later in the week to Sweetheart Creek to try his luck with a cast net for sockeye salmon. He's also been working on a new net which is slowly but surely coming along.

Owen Update: In the last week, Owen has been very interested in letters. He has a plastic place mat with the alphabet printed around the boarder and at every meal he says, "Mom, can we talk about some letters?" Um... yeah! He knows the letter "O" since that's the first letter in his name. He finds "O"s on signs at the store, in books and on maps. Now he's picking out other letters too. Its pretty exciting to witness this hunger and excitement for learning, especially because I feel like it was unprompted. Makes me wish I could stay home with him and have a little pre-school lesson every day about different letters and days of the week... Another amazing thing he's doing recently is reciting books, word for word, that I've read to him only a handful of times. That little brain is something else! Today some neighborhood kids came and played, which was the highlight of Owen's week. One of the boys had an April birthday and was 4 years old. He seemed SO much bigger and more articulate then Owen, like a kid that might not be into snuggling with his mom. I can't believe that in just one year, Owen will be that big... Good thing #2 is coming soon!

...and now our summer in pictures...

king salmon slayer

Owen showing off his beach body

family portrait

fishin'

Owen and mama (June)

lunch at the John Muir cabin

board walk through the meadow

Granite Creek

What did you pack for lunch?

swimming with dinos and baby Jordan

summer blossoms

solarium Sarah

loving the wall tent

wading in Lake Kathleen, Yukon

Dolly the guard dog

camping in the rain

posing with daddy in Haines Junction

birthday muffins

party time!

bike riding

smoked coho