Some random pictures...

Ella enjoying a nice frosty sippy cup of chocolate milk on a hot day:

I think this is her "if I look really pitiful will you take that camera and leave me alone?" look

Sister snuggle time on the couch:

My favorite girls :-)

Her "motorcycle"

We bought Ella a tricycle for her 2nd birthday with high hopes that she would love it and want to ride it all the time. Not so much! She's just now starting to enjoy riding on it and will let someone push her with the push handle. Keith's been taking her out every few days and she's really enjoying it. Oh and she calls it her "motorcycle"...not sure were she got that from.

Popping a wheely:

Hey Mom!!

Last Saturday

Last Saturday was a busy and fun day for us. We started off the day with a Sunday School pool party graciously hosted by the Roaches. I didn't get too many pictures but here's an action shot of everyone in the pool and a couple of Keith and Ella playing in the water. The water was a little chilly so I chose to observe from the side. ;-)

Anna hung out in her swing on the porch with her buddy Anderson. She didn't make a peep the whole time!

Then later that evening we went to Ace Bowling Alley to meet up with Phil and Sarah, Jerrod and Abby, and Keri to celebrate Phil's birthday. Since we don't bowl very often I forget how much fun it is! We had a great time even though I got a terrible score. Keith didn't do too shabby though.

Ella and Anna at 2 months

I love comparing pictures of Ella and Anna at the same age to see if they're looking more alike as time goes by. Here they both are at 8 weeks. I think they are looking a little bit more alike, but definitely still have their differences. Regardless, I think they're both adorable, but I'm probably a little biased. :-)

And here's another one of Anna smiling...she's starting to interact so much more:

Some things I love about my girls right now...

Ella's eyelashes:

Anna's lips:

Trying to remember the details because they change oh so quickly...

2 Months

My baby is 2 months old already...where is the time going?!? I feel like this summer has totally flown by. Anyways, Anna is definitely losing that "newborn" look and isn't acting as much like a newborn anymore either. She's awake a little bit more during the day (about 1 hour each cycle) and is interacting a lot more. Lots of smiles and cooing...I love that! I don't have her official stats because we don't visit the doctor until next Tuesday, but she weighed 10lbs. 6oz. this morning...she's a shrimp compared to Ella who was 12 lbs at 2 months. I know I updated on Facebook, but thank God, her jaundice is ok. We went back for an appointment last Wednesday and her level was 7.5 which is a little high for 8 weeks. So Dr. Trumbull sent us to the lab at Baptist for a different kind of test to make sure her liver is function properly (that scared me to death of course). The results came back perfect and her jaundice # was only 5.6 there so apparently it's just taking her a long time to get it all out of her system. Just now over the weekend she's finally starting to lose that yellow tinge and her eyes are almost totally white. Hopefully all that is behind us now...thank you for your prayers!

A few fun facts about Anna at this age:

-She still loves to be swaddled for sleeping

-Her eyes are still blue - I can't believe it...I'm just waiting for them to change because I know it's coming soon

-She loves watching her sister and fusses if she moves out of her line of sight

-She's almost sleeping through the night...she goes from 10-5 or 5:30 most nights

-She wears size 1 diapers and size 0-3 month clothes

-She hardly ever cries...only when she's tired or hungry...seriously. I can't believe that either!

Our little friend

The other day Ella and I went outside to water the flowers and found a new little friend on the back patio. I ran inside to grab my camera to snap a few pictures and as soon as Ella saw what I was doing she ran inside to grab her camera. A girl after my own heart. :-)

Frazer night at the Biscuits

We went to a Montgomery Biscuits game on Sunday evening with friends for the Frazer Night at the Biscuits. We weren't sure if we were going to make it because Ella came down with a cold (that Anna now has...darn!) on Friday. However, after loading her up with Tylenol we ended up heading down there because we had been telling her she was going to watch baseball all week and she would have been seriously disappointed. The weather was absolutely perfect (big shock for July in Alabama!) and we all had a great time. It must have totally worn Anna out because that's the night she slept through the night...maybe we should do it more often!

(Thanks for taking the last two pics Courtnie! :-))

Look at what Anna can do!

The other day I was trying to prop Anna up to get a couple of pictures of her with her head raised up. To my suprise, when I placed her on her stomach, she just popped her little head up by herself and held it just long enough for me to snap a picture. Strong little girl!

We have to go back to the ped. office tomorrow for another jaundice check because she's still has a touch of yellow in her eyes. Please pray with us for a low level so we won't have to worry about any type of treatment. I also am pleased to report that Anna slept through the night for the first time on Sunday. It was so nice! She was back to waking at 4:30 again last night so I know she'll be inconsistent for awhile, but I'm so happy to see progress. She's also doing great with her naps...going to sleep on her own in her crib when I put her in there awake. Yippee!

What we've been up too...

I've been taking fun pictures of Ella in the front yard (wearing princess dresses was a bribe to get her out there):

Anna's been testing out her bumbo chair:

And we've all been spending fun time at Nana's house:

Family Picture

Lori came over last Wednesday to snap a quick picture of our little family of four. I had all these great ideas of poses in my head, but a fussy newborn and a hyper and not-interested-in-pictures 2 year made them a little hard to achieve! :-) But we got a family picture that I love and that's all I really need anyways. Thanks Lori, you're the best for putting up with our craziness that day and always!!

On Saturday we went to the zoo with our great buddies the Johnsons (who incidentally have agreed to be Anna's godparents...yippee!). I could just absolutely eat Ella and Grey up when they play together...they are so stinkin' sweet! Lots of pictures to follow...I didn't realize I took so many!

Love this one! What good buddies! :-)

Our very own little monkeys...


Grey developed a blister on his foot so he hitched a ride on his dad's shoulders:

Checking out the lions:

Sweet baby Anderson:

I love this one...

and this one...


Anna was such a sweet girl and stayed cozied up and asleep most of the time despite the heat:

Pictures of the girls

Just a couple of recent pictures I haven't shared yet...

A Walk in the Country

We went out to Keith's parent's house in Friday evening to celebrate his dad's birthday. After eating a yummy dinner, we walked across the street to take a walk on their land. Keith used to live over there before we got married and the guy they sold to keeps horses now so Ella loved looking at them and even got brave enough to get close with Keith. The evening light was beautiful so I couldn't resist taking a bunch of pictures! :-)

Working Mommy

I went out this morning with Lori to assist her in capturing a few images of her kids. Ella was at the church but Anna went out with me. She was just snug as a bug in her little pouch and slept the whole time. Boy, I can't tell you how fortunate I am to have a job that I love, am passionate about, and allows me to be a full-time mommy at the same time. I am so blessed! (Thanks for the pic Lori!!)

Smiley Anna

Anna is starting to smile more and more. She has such a cute open mouth smile that it's hard to capture in just one photograph...so here's a couple!

And another small one...

Happy July 3rd!

We started our weekend celebrations a day early by having a pool get together with the Johnson family on Thursday morning. Ella and their son Grey are the bestest of friends and they play so well together. We just love their family! :-)

I love babies with big bows!:


Marc and Grey:


The babies relaxing on the screened in porch:






Ella and Grey on their first "car date" (please note how Ella is hanging out the side of the car. Grey kept hopping out to push her back in and shut the door, but then as soon as he got back in the car, she would pop out again. It was adorable!):

Fun with sparklers! Don't worry, there was lots of adult supervision:




Baby Anderson - his eyes are naturally that blue...no retouching. Aren't they amazing!?!

Later that afternoon the Heads and Dudleys came over for even more pool time and dinner. Emily and Scott are expecting their first baby in December...we're so excited for Ella and Anna to have a new playmate!!


Mr. Carl and Ms. Gail (my mom's dearest friend). Mr. Carl did the remodel on my parent's kitchen a few months ago and it looks wonderful!:

Our family minus 1 because I'm thinking Anna might still be a little young for the pool. ;-)

Happy 4th of July!!

I hope everyone had a great day celebrating our freedom...we sure did! :-) We spent the day at my parents' pool with two other couples that go to Frazer and also work there; Phil and Sarah Bowdle (Phil is the webmaster and recently re-did Frazer's whole site...check it out: http://www.frazerumc.org/) and Brian and Leslie Word (Brian is the youth minister). Both couples in fact are newlyweds so they probably got a big dose of birth control...haha just kidding. :-) Anyways, we had a great day swimming, eating good food, playing fun games, and then watching good fireworks. Ella really enjoyed the fireworks...I was worried because she is often scared of loud noises, but we think since she could see what was causing the noise it didn't bother her. She was a real trooper and stayed up way past her bedtime...we finally tucked her in at 11:30. She didn't seem that tired the next day, but her mommy and daddy sure were! Anna of course, mostly slept through all of the festivites. :-) Here's some pictures from our day:

Our patriotic girls with bows by Little Bear Bows. We got them matching outfits and bows and they looked so cute until Anna had a blow-out diaper and had to be changed. Darn! At least we got a picture! :-)

The Bowdles:

The Words:

Playing a bean bag toss game that I can't remember the name of...it was fun though!

Fun with sparklers...

I wanted to try and capture something creative with the sparklers (this was supposed to be a heart) but I was lazy and didn't bring my tripod. Still looks kind of cool though I thought...

We also celebrated my mom's 53rd birthday with cake and ice cream (homemade ice cream actually, from the Words...yum!)...

Anna's 1 Month check-up

So I stand corrected on Anna's weight at 1 month - 9lbs even. Our scale must be a little high (yippee! that must mean I weigh less! ;-)). That put her in the 50th percentile for weight and she was 20 3/4 in. which put her in the 40th percentile for height. I can't remember her head circum. but it was the 50th percentile. So anyways, everything looked great and we'll head back in another month. She is still a little jaundiced (she has some yellow in her eyes) but not enough for Dr. Trumbull to request a bili check. So if she's still a touch yellow in two weeks then we have to go back. Please send up a prayer if you get a chance that her levels continue to go down and are completely normal soon. Thank you! :-)

My little working girl

This week I cleaned all the maternity clothes out of our closet to free up some much needed space. Ella loved helping me "fold" and put all the clothes away. She also enjoyed the opportunity to get into my pocketbooks and shoes. :-) I think she looks like she's headed off for a long day at the office in her high heels...

And a couple more pictures in the car on the way to watch daddy play ball. Next week he plays for the championship...come on Frazer Orange!! :-)

1st smile caught on camera

Not a fantastic picture, but it's the first semi-smile I've caught on camera. Not going to discard that one because of bad lighting! :-)

Rice Krispy Treats = YUM!

I had totally forgotten just how delicious homemade rice krispy treats are after eating store bought ones for so long. Delish! Ella was quite a good little helper in the kitchen and we were both sticky messes afterwards. But, we sure did have fun! :-)

Anna participated by watching from the table:

"sticky mommy!!":

Time to clean up!: