Thank Heaven For Little Girls

Two of my good girlfriends had babies in the month of October.  Laken, Marin and Elin were all born within a couple weeks of each other and are already becoming fast friends (ok, ok, so they sleep through most of their visits and hardly notice each other right now, but very soon they will be BFFs).  It has been such a blessing to have friends going through the same thing as me.  We get the girls together and share stories, frustrations, and just talk babies.  I'm sure to most people our conversations (anything from poop to boobies ... really, no topic is off limits!) would be strange and boring, but to us ... they are absolutely enthralling.  Thank heaven for little girls ... and thank heaven for big girls to count as friends :)

Here are the girls only a few weeks after they were born.

Laken, 3 weeks * Elin, 1 week * Marin, 2 weeks

And this picture was taken just a couple of days ago

Laken, 8 weeks * Elin, 6 weeks * Marin, 7 weeks

Laken is already learning to share her toys :)

Messages to Daddy

Laken and I like to send text messages to Daddy throughout the day. He loves to get pictures and videos of what we're doing. Here's one of her doing some "talking" ... it's from my phone so the quality's not great and I couldn't get it turned upright, but I just love it so I had to share :)

"Is she your first baby?" ...

That was the first question out of the doctor's mouth when I rushed Laken in for an appointment at the first sign of a cold.  My poor little baby has been so congested and fussy the past couple of days I just had to make sure everything was alright.  According to the doctor, it's nothing that a little rest, a humidifier, and a nose aspirator can't fix ... but it sure has been rough on this new mommy and precious little baby.  Here's a picture of her after her doctor's appointment ... such a sad little face :(

A Girl and Her Daddy...

I love them so much!

Laken's First Thanksgiving

We celebrated Laken's first Thanksgiving with our families last Thursday.  We had such a big day ... starting out at my parents for a big dinner on Thursday afternoon.

 Laken was the star of the show - I love this picture of her with me and my sister

Auntie Lori finally got to meet Laken over Thanksgiving weekend.  Laken thinks she's pretty cool!

 Cousin Katie is nine month pregnant and doing so great - Baby Michael Thomas should be making his debut any day now ... so excited to have a new playmate for Laken!

 There's a photo of me in this exact chair when I was a baby, so we - of course(!) - had to put Laken down and photograph her in it.  Plus, it made a great spot for her to sit while Mommy enjoyed some turkey and mashed potatoes :)

 The standard cousin picture + 1

 All the ladies of my side of the family

After dinner at my parent's, we hopped in the car and headed down to Kelso to see Stephen's family.  I was a little nervous to make the two hour car ride after Laken had already had such a big day, but she did great! She slept the whole way and didn't make a peep.  Of course, once we got there and she woke up, she was very upset to discover that she had gone over four hours without eating.  Once she was fed and changed, though, she was our happy punkin again and ready to be passed around and oogled and loved.  

 My handsome husband

 We stayed two nights at Deb and Jeff's and had a great time.

This is a picture of my family on the first morning there - how lucky am I to wake up to this every morning!

 Uncle Jeff couldn't get enough "Laken time" - So so so cute! Laken loves her Uncle Jeff!

 She thinks cousin Matt is pretty great too - look at her staring up at him!

 I love this face!

 Pretty girl with Cousin Stephanie

 Falling asleep in Auntie Sandy's arms

 Lots of relaxation, laughter, and fun with these guys made for a great weekend

Babies, Babies, Babies...

My good friend Kristin came into town from Arizona again this year for Thanksgiving and we met up at Krisitina's house to have lunch and to get all the kiddos together.  Our get-togethers are definitely a little different than they used to be ... we're making bottles, breastfeeding, chasing little ones, and taking a million pictures.  Kristin's little boy, Hudson, was in Kristin's tummy this time last year and Laken and Kristina's boy, Jantzen, were only in our dreams.  Amazing what a difference a year makes!

All Snowed In

 It snowed all day yesterday and today Stephen closed up the office and stayed home with us.  We slept in, made waffles, went sledding with the neighbors ... and Laken watched it all from the sidelines :).  

We love snow days!

Playing with Toys

Laken has gotten so much more alert over the past few weeks.  It's been so exciting to watch her grow and change.  One of the biggest things we've noticed is her new awareness of the objects around her.  Because her eyesight is still adjusting, she especially loves to look at black and white things (which she can see the most clearly).  We have black and white pictures on the wall behind our bed and every night she stares and stares at them ... sometimes it's a battle to get her to stop staring at them long enough to eat! 

In the first few weeks when I would put her in this bouncy seat, it served as more of a "holding cell" than an interactive experience.  I could get her to sit quietly in it if she was sleepy, but it certainly wouldn't keep her occupied if she was wide awake! Now, though, she loves it and will sit happily in it while mommy works around the kitchen.  She loves to bat at the animals, smile at them, and will even utter an occasional "coo".  It's so much fun to watch her.

 She also loves her tummy-time playmat.  The older she's getting, the longer and longer she will lay there and keep herself occupied.

 She bats at the bees and watches the lights and kicks her legs and wiggles like crazy - the mat is entertainment for baby ... and baby is entertainment for mommy ... for hours and hours

Grandma Gigi's Birthday

We went over to the Hansens this weekend to celebrate Grandma Gigi's birthday.  Kathleen had a delicious salmon dinner for us and we had a great time with everyone.  Of course, Laken was the main attraction!

All dressed up and ready to go..

Loving on Auntie Kaitlin

Laken had a present to open from Grandma Gigi's good friend, Lori Dee ... it was her first gift from Tiffany's!

Getting some love from Auntie Sandy...

... and some more from Great-Grandma Annabelle

We've been getting lots of smiles lately but haven't caught many on camera ... she was all smiles at dinner and we caught this cute one from her - love that face!

Staring at Grandma Annabelle

The Johnsens

Laken and the birthday girl :)

Daddy Makes Such a Comfy Bed...