Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! We aren’t doing much to celebrate the holiday this year, with a newborn and a two year old, a low-key weekend seemed to be just the thing. We’ve gotten some errands done, spent time at the neighborhood park, and Jeff and Max did some yard work together. Anna is two weeks old today and we are loving every minute with her. She’s still sleeping most of the time, but we’ve had several days where she’s been awake for the better part of an hour or two in the morning, which is wonderful. It’s so much fun to see her beautiful blue eyes and have a conversation with her, even if it is a little one-sided. She’s usually sleeping well at night too, though a couple nights ago we had a night where she didn’t want to sleep for long until about 1am…too late for a tired Mama! Right now I’m still setting an alarm to wake her up every 3 hours at night for feeding, but hopefully we’ll get the go-ahead to just let her wake up on her own when we have another pediatrician visit on Friday…it will depend on how much weight she’s gained since we were there Monday.

Max is doing well and seems to be adjusting to the new person in the house. While he did say “No baby Anna” yesterday, he also asked to hold her, had his Chester bear give her hugs and kisses, and told her about what he was playing. He often asks if she can eat what we’re eating, or if she can say something, so we do lots of explaining about how she can do those things when she’s bigger like him.

The amazing Justine of J. Shelton Photography did Anna’s newborn pictures last Monday. Anna was a champ, slept the whole time other than a couple snack breaks, and let Justine pose her in all manner of cute ways. The sneak peek photos Justine posted are just beautiful. See for yourself right here!

Jeff did daily tummy time with Max when he was a baby, and has continued the tradition with Anna. He explained to Max about teaching Anna to pick her head up, look around, and put it down again. Max likes to demonstrate proper tummy time form for her. Here they are practicing:

My friend Leanne makes the most beautiful baby and kid hats (see them in her Tiny Toppers store here). Anna already has a collection, and I look forward to adding more to it as she grows! Here she is modeling one that Leanne gave her for a welcome-home gift:

Some random baby cuteness:

My friend Breeana got us this outfit, it was finally warm enough this weekend to wear it:

One of big brother, giving Chester a kiss:

4th of July pictures (thanks Karla for the cute baby outfit!):

We gave Anna her first bath last week. She wasn’t so sure at first, but decided it was okay after a couple minutes.

And Max holding his little sister:

Temporarily distracted by the “circles” on the bottom of his socks: