Wren's First Thanksgiving

...and not a SINGLE family picture! Ooops, complete FAIL on that one!

In fact, we have not a single family picture whatsoever. I'm not a huge fan of being in pictures, but for family reading this--we MUST do some pictures together at Christmas! I'm so sad that we don't have any!!

And we also don't have pictures of anyone else. Or the delicious food that Josh made.

Again, FAIL!

But the good news is that we had a really nice Thanksgiving. As you can imagine, we were tired. Josh had to work at midnight on Thanksgiving, and he cooked all day, so he was exhausted. I was just tired in general. But we're so happy that we were able to enjoy our first holiday in the new house with our family and our little girl!

I did manage two pictures. The first is of the little peanut in her oh-so-adorable hat that Grammy made her! I love it so much!!Also, I don't think I've mentioned them before, but you can really see Wren's storkbites in this picture. She has redish/pinkish patches on both eyelids and a small kiss-mark between her eyebrows. She also has a storkbite on the back of her neck. We're not sure why she got them but the doctor said they'll more than likely go away before she turns 3...if not sooner.

But the doctor calls them Angel Kisses, and we like that much better. It made both of us smile when she said that, because we like to think that Mya gave her baby sister some kisses before sending her our way. Thanksgiving was definitely bittersweet for us this year, remembering that last year we announced our pregnancy with Mya. It's sad to think of that, but we truly have everything in the world to be thankful for this year.

Seriously, is this baby not the sweetest thing ever?! Love that hat!

And here is the one and only picture with someone else that I got. You can see how exhausted Josh is, but he always makes a little snuggle time for his birdie.

We WILL do better with pictures at Christmas!!

3 weeks!

Week three brought a lot of things...another doctor's appointment, Thanksgiving, her first trip to Target (!), lots of time with family. But the most exciting thing that Week 3 brought was SMILES!!

Wren gave me 2 deliberate smiles on Friday, one on Saturday and then she gave Josh one on Sunday!! Now I've been getting them somewhat regularly. I've been getting glimpses of her funny little smile after she eats from the very beginning, but it's so fun to see her actually respond to your silly songs or funny faces. Melts your heart!!

a few firsts

So I was just looking through some pictures and thought I'd post some of them. I'm seeing a "firsts" theme coming through...I guess that will happen for a while!

Here are some pictures of Wren's first bath...she has mixed emotions on bathtime. She hates the part where we wash her legs and belly, etc. But she loooves the part where we rub her head and pamper her. Atta girl!

This was her first bath and she still had her umbilical cord. We're about ready to start her baths in her big girl spa tub!

Take a look at those curls! It's really funny, actually. Her hair really does curl right up in the back. And she has a lot of hair in the back! Kind of like a little old man...not much on the top, but lots on the sides and back!Funny story...

Remember, this was her FIRST bath! And that means this was OUR first time GIVING a bath! So...we had some things to learn! Well, we forgot her pj's upstairs, and her diaper in the other room, so I held her in her cozy cute monster towel while Daddy ran and got what we forgot. Well....let's just say that she found this to be the perfect time to, umm...unload! So we had to re-clean the baby's butt! And the towel got a nice initiation into baby bathing!

But isn't she so cute?! (Have I mentioned how much I love pictures of crying babies?! So adorable!)...Her first photo shoot...
I have a beautiful friend, Annie, who I lived with in college, and she does photography. She drove all the way from Greenwood to take Wren's newborn pictures and it was so much fun! This was just 2 days after coming home from the hospital. We love how everything turned out!...Her first walk, all bundled up and cozy......Her first dress...
Note: We discovered that gray isn't necessarily her best color! But she wanted to wear something nice and pretty for my co-workers who were coming to visit. Unfortunately, the dress was huge and the tights literally fell off of her, so we had to get a different outfit. But not before snapping a quick pic of her first dress!...Her first tummy time!...
She actually really seems to like tummy time! We've tried to do it pretty regularly because we want her to build her neck muscles. She's been holding her head up since the first week, but she's getting so much better! ...And this isn't a first of anything, but I couldn't handle how different she looks! This was from her first week home and she's in her tiny little birdie outfit. Her face and legs have filled out so much since then!! Her eyes look so funny, like Mr. Magoo! She's still such a sweet girl! I'm sure we've got plenty more firsts to come! We're working on our Christmas decorations this week so hopefully some good pictures of that to come!

Weeks 1 & 2

I decided to take on a little project and try to take a picture of Wren each week on a different piece of fabric. We'll see how it goes...we're definitely learning! But I think it will be neat to look back and see how much she grows over the course of her first year.

Here are her first two pictures:

1 Week Old:

2 Weeks Old:

We had her 2 week appointment this morning and our little overachiever has certainly gained weight! They like for them to be back to their birth weight by the 2 week appointment and she far surpassed that! She was born at 7 lbs., 7 ounces and today she was 8 lbs., 3 ounces! She has also grown from 19 1/2 inches to 20 1/2 inches! A whole inch in 2 weeks!!

So proud of her!!

Yes, Wren is HERE!

Wren Michelle
11/7/10

3:16am

7 lbs., 7 oz.
19 1/2 inches long
Perfect in every way!

She arrived 2 weeks ago! Yes, I'm a little behind but I hope everyone can forgive me!!

Our little bird is here and we're settling in nicely as a family of 5. (Can't forget our first babies!) Josh goes back to work tomorrow morning and is pretty sad, but we've been so thankful for the opportunity that he had to be at home with us for 2 weeks, especially at this time of year.

Wren is really a good baby. She only whimpers when she's hungry and (knock on wood) very rarely cries. She sometimes gets mad when we're changing her diaper or giving her a bath, though she loves to have her feet rubbed and her hair washed. She's sleeping 3 to 4 hours at a time and our nightly routine is pretty manageable. I'm still adjusting to non-interrupted sleep, but overall things are working out pretty well.

Lots of new updates to come, when I find the time!!

We really are so in love with this perfect little human. She is everything we had hoped for and much more. We can't get enough of oohing and aahhhing over her and of course every little sound and facial expression is cause for cheer and excitement. Looking forward to showing her off on here again very soon!!

Wren-Watch

One day left! Our due date is officially less than 24 hours away and though there's no sign of Wren's arrival anytime soon, we sure are ready! She's apparently nice and cozy and hasn't listened to the eviction notice that's been served.

Just in case, though, we're all set...

Our hospital bags are packed... ...her carseat is installed and has been inspected...
...several freezer meals have been prepared (by us AND others, THANK YOU!), though we still have a few more that we could do...

...her baby gear is all set up, with batteries, ready for use...

...her laundry basket is empty...

...and her closet is filled with adorable outfits all ready to be worn......her accessories are all ready...after all, a girl can never have too many shoes, hats and hairbows!...

...her bibs, towels, blankets, sheets and swaddlers are all clean, folded and organized...

...her crib is ready to welcome her...

...her chair is ready for hours of bonding time, complete with personalized boppy and blanket made by Auntie Elizabeth...

...her diapers are washed, color coded and all ready to be filled with a cute little bum (and other things!)...

...and her jammies are all clean and ready for cozy nights cuddling at home.

So as you can see, we're all set. There are a few projects that I'm still working on for her room, but I want to wait until the right things come along. I don't want to just put stuff up to do it, so it will take some time.

Baby Watch is in full swing. Do you hear that, little girl?! We're ready and waiting, you can join us any old time!!

We have a doctor's appointment in the morning and we should know more after that, but we're very hopeful that we'll be welcoming our little miracle by the end of this weekend! Stay tuned...

Happy Halloween, 2010!

Halloween was pretty fun this year! Living in our new neighborhood, there were TONS of kids out and about. It was such a fun community feeling and I loved seeing all the kids dressed up and thinking about what we'll be dressing Wren up as next year.

On Saturday night, Griff had a sleepover with a friend, so Lincoln and I decided we'd have a little date night. Josh had to work, so Linc came over for a little bit. His request was that we carve a pumpkin and bake brownies. So first we carved a pumpkin...I think it turned out pretty cute! Then we baked brownies and played dominos while they were baking. It was fun to spend some time with him before the baby!

Then on Sunday, the boys came over to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Here's Officer Lincoln:

And such a cute little Harry Pottah (he was so annoyed that we kept talking like they do in the movie...but he was so cute!)

Finally, since I've been a little camera shy (at least on this blog and facebook) about showing my humongous baby belly, I thought I'd post my Halloween pictures. Might be the last belly pics anyone sees! I did my best to get into the Halloween spirit with my orange and black!

Now, prepare yourself...I'm going to turn to the side! Am I huge, or AM.I.HUGE?!?! Really weird to compare that picture to the one below, taken at 20 weeks!

Wren-Watch 2010 continues...no news...yet!