2 months old

It's so hard to believe our little lady (or porkchop as we lovingly call her) is already 2 months old! She has her doctor's appointment tomorrow so we'll find out how much she weighs and how much she's grown, length wise. She'll also have her first round of shots and I'm really dreading it. I understand they're necessary but I remember how it was with Liv and I'm not excited to deal with a cranky baby all day tomorrow....not to mention, it's hard watching your baby being poked with needles!

Annie is doing great and is a wonderful baby. She's sleeping well and the past 2 nights, she's slept through the night! (Before the past 2 nights, she was usually waking up around 3am to nurse so I can't complain too much.) When I lay her down at night, she's still waking up and crying but the crying spells aren't too long and once she lets us know that she's mad at us, she'll cry it out and fall asleep. Her naps during the day are solid, which is nice for me so I can get a few things done around the house. I have 2 more full weeks of maternity leave and then I'll be back working on Thursday, March 5. Thankfully, my boss is okay with me working from home the first two days but then I'll be back in the office on Monday, March 9; Annaliese will start "school" on that Monday, too. I am very much looking forward to getting back to work but am NOT looking forward to Annie being exposed to every germ under the sun. Oh well, not much we can do about it..... I will still be nursing so she and I will see each other at least twice during the day, which is really nice.

A weekend visit from Papa and Grandma Potter

This past weekend we had so much fun with Papa and Grandma Potter! My parents arrived early Friday evening. We stayed in and made homemade pizza and had some ice cream for dessert. Olivia and Annaliese were so excited to see them (and so were Duane and I)!

On Saturday morning, Duane, my dad and Olivia headed to downtown Minneapolis and went to the RV/Camping show. My mom, Annie and I went to MOA for some retail therapy! The girls had a great time at the mall and Annie was the best little shopper - she slept the whole time and only woke up when she was hungry....I have to take advantage of this now, right?!

ready to shop!

such a good shopper!

Shortly after our shopping afternoon came to an end, our friends Jaron, Crystal and their new son, Cy, came over to our house so my parents could meet the little guy. We all headed to Las Tortillas for dinner and then came back to our house for dessert. Since it was Valentine's Day, my parents gave Olivia a gift....it was the gift to end all gifts - an Elsa dress! She was in heaven and just kept walking around and watching her train - it was so cute! The adults stayed up and talked and all the kids slept - it was a great night!

Annie and Cy at Las Tortillas

Papa and Annie

On Sunday, we stayed in and relaxed - it was so nice! As soon as Liv finished her breakfast, the Elsa dress was on and stayed on all day. In the afternoon, while the girls napped, Duane and I ran out to look at some kitchen appliances - fun, huh?!  We had a really great dinner and before we knew it, the weekend was over. My parents headed home today to lots of snow and we're missing them already!

making cupcakes

Papa and Annie napping

Grandma and Olivia coloring

We are living the dream!

It's so hard to believe we're in the middle of February! Here are some random pictures we've taken since my last blog update.

tummy time!

tummy time in the midst of Liv's princesses

Olivia loves to "play" with Annie on this mat

Annie after a relaxing bath with Olivia

dinner with the newly expanded Stone family at Winzerstube in Hudson

Annaliese's Newborn Pictures

Once again my friend Noelle (of Fishtale Photography) has taken some amazing pictures! Here is the link and password for Annaliese's newborn pictures and some family pictures.

Link: http://www.fishtalephotography.com/RedCart4

Password: annie

Random pictures of Annaliese

Is this the classic but sad situation for the 2nd child - very few pictures?! I'm afraid we haven't been very good about taking pictures of Annaliese. If we do, they're quick ones with our phones and the quality is never very good. Here are some from our phones....excuse the quality.

Annie is doing great and she's starting to develop somewhat of a routine. She is still crying shortly after being put down for the night but we're letting her cry it out and each night her crying lasts less and less - thank God because it was almost too much for me; I was crying right along with her! :( Once she's fully asleep, she'll stay sleeping for about 5-6 hours, sometimes more. She'll nurse and then fall right back asleep and wake up about 3-4 hours later. Her naps in the morning are the best and longest and by afternoon, they're more cat naps. She has started smiling a lot more and making some cooing noises - who doesn't love that?!

Olivia is doing fine but she's sick with a nasty cold, which turned into a double ear infection. So, we're trying to keep Liv from breathing on Annie but that isn't easy. Liv always wants to see her when she's awake and is constantly touching her. Don't get me wrong - I love that she loves Annie so much but when she's sick, she's doesn't understand that she needs to stay away from  her sister.

Annie and her friend, Ruby....Ruby is 2 months older

her 1st official, big smile

so not a flattering picture but as her mother, I have to share it!

she's happy in her bouncer (for about 10 minutes tops)

helping with breakfast (we pried her fat little fingers open and had her "hold" the whisk)

just living the dream

excited to leave the house and meet a friend of mine for lunch!

Annaliese is 1 month old!

Wow - where has the time gone?! Annaliese is 1 month old already! Our little Annie is a great baby and just goes with the flow. Our days are pretty quiet but I don't mind it too much, especially since the temperatures are supposed to climb out of the arctic temps this week and then we can leave the house more. Duane takes Olivia to school in the morning while I try to quickly eat breakfast and pump before Annie wakes up. She'll nurse around 7:30am and will stay awake for a bit and then she's wiped out again....she'll nap and wake up for another round of nursing. I can usually lay her back down for another nap and then I eat lunch and read. There are some afternoons where she'll stay awake for a couple hours but some days it's just too much for her and she sleeps her day away.

Evenings are touch and go - there are a couple hours where we "fight" each other by trying to keep her awake so she'll be wiped when we want to go to bed. I'm not sure if that's the best approach as the last week she's been waking up every hour after we lay her down at 10pm; I'll usually just give in and nurse her around midnight so Duane and I can get some sleep. I might need to rethink the bedtime routine....

When Annie is awake, she likes to lay on a blanket and just look around and kick her legs in the air. She absolutely loves having a bath! She is completely quiet and very alert; she just sits there and stares at Duane while he washes her. (He handles bath time and said it's his favorite time with Annie because she loves it so much.)

Last weekend, my friend Noelle came over to take Annie's newborn pictures and some family pictures. Annie wasn't as sleepy as we would have liked but it still went well and there should be plenty of great photos! Duane remembered that the vacuum cleaner puts Annie to sleep so he turned that on and sure enough, she was out in no time!

it's hard to see, but Duane is vacuuming!

Here are some more pictures I took of Annie yesterday - she's packing on the pounds - her cheeks are awesome! I'm not sure how much she weighs because our doctor said we should avoid bringing her into the office (because of all the sicknesses going around this season) until she's 2 months old. He saw her at 2 weeks and at that time, she had already grown an inch and gained a pound! She's almost too long now for her newborn sleepers!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2014

We had a quiet but lovely Christmas Eve in Apple Valley. This is the first time we have spent the holidays in Minnesota and as another first, we didn't have any snow on the ground! After Duane dropped off my mom at the airport, we watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with Olivia. She and Duane played a little bit and then it was time for her to nap. While she napped, we prepped the house to have Jaron & Crystal over for dinner. We had a really great dinner and then we exchanged gifts and had fruit salad and Christmas cookies. Olivia was ready to go to bed and didn't look at any books before falling asleep - she wanted to make sure Santa knew she was asleep so he'd come to our house! The adults watched "Christmas Vacation" and then we all called it a night.

not sure where the baseball cap came from but she sure was snuggled close to Jaron!

Annie napping on Crystal's lap

Ornament and slippers from Jaron & Crystal

I wish I could say that Olivia had a classic reaction to Santa coming but once again, Duane and I were a little disappointed by her reaction. She liked her gifts but sadly, after she opened her presents, she said, "where are the rest of my gifts?" (Ugh, I hated to hear that!) She received lots of Frozen items, a Rapunzel doll and a jewelry box. Annie received a stuffed animal, blanket and teether toy. (see what I mean - short end of the stick!)

Elsa shoes - her favorite gift! She clacks around the house in these all day!

We watched Frozen and then Olivia took a nap. Duane and I watched our favorite holiday movie, "Love Actually." The rest of our day was very, very lazy but it was a nice, quiet Christmas!

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!