Saturday, October 16, 2010

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

Monday, October 4, 2010

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