Fun in the Sun

I think it's finally spring in Alabama!


Being pushed around in the stroller is exhausting!

On Sunday our friends Greg and Diana (and daughter Ava) came down from North Carolina to spend a couple of days with us. They have some other friends (well, they're our friends too, but they're better friends with Greg and Di) here who just had a baby boy two weeks ago and they decided to come and visit us all and then head to Florida over Greg's Easter break.


It's the baby brigade! Jerri and Isaiah, me and Lane, and Diana and Ava

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, so we invited Jayson and Jerri to come over and we'd all go for a walk at a nearby lake. We walked around a bit, getting some exercise and just chatting, and fed the ducks while Ava tried to catch them (and Greg and Di restrained her). Diana and I went to Target where I got new pajama pants (my late, late birthday present from Shannon) and sunglasses (my 2-years old, $1 sunglasses from H&M finally broke in half the other day), and then we picked up barbecue from Full Moon Bar-B-Que and brought it home to go with homemade squash and green beans. We played cards while the kiddos slept and just enjoyed hanging out with each other.


I see your pacifier and raise you one!

Diana and I know each other from our time in Poland. We lived in different cities but I met her the day she got off the airplane and she spent a couple of nights at my apartment. We spent some holidays, birthdays, and vacations together in her two years and my three years there. We were roommates my first year and her second year in graduate school. And Shannon and Greg were roommates for the semester before we all got married. They hosted us for our last meal in North Carolina before we left. Diana was a bridesmaid in my wedding, and we cut short a vacation in Hawaii in order to attend theirs. In short, we're all really good friends. It was so good to spend time with them and for them to make the 12ish-hour drive with their almost-one-year old in order to see us. Good friends are worth more than their weight in salt. :-)


Diana, Greg, and Ava (who'll be one on Easter!)

Dedication

Today was baby dedication day at our church, so of course Lane was dedicated. Shannon drove into the wee hours of the morning coming back from North Carolina, because he was in a wedding on Saturday afternoon. My friend and former roommate Stacy came down from Chattanooga yesterday to spend the day with us and to meet Lane. She stayed through church this morning to see Lane dedicated...it was so nice to share that special event with a good friend!


Stacy and Lane

For the dedication, Lane wore a dress that's somewhat of a family heirloom. It was handmade by one of Cindy's (Shannon's stepmom) mother's cousins (I think that makes the lady Shannon's third cousin, but I'm not sure on that...). It was worn by a few family members (I'm not exactly sure of their relation to us...our families are complicated like that) for their christenings 25-30ish years ago, and was worn a couple of years ago by our niece (Lane's cousin) for her dedication. So Lane makes the fourth baby to wear the dress. It's kind of neat to think that any other girls we have may get to be dedicated in the same dress (depending on the timing of our trips stateside and our babies' size at those times).


Shannon, me, and Lane. She slept through the entire thing!


Shannon, me, Sharon (Shannon's mom), Milton (Shannon's stepdad), and Lane.


Lyn (Shannon's dad), Shannon, me, Cindy, and Lane

While Shannon was in North Carolina, Lane and I went and spent two nights with Sharon and Milton. Sharon wanted to go and get some professional pictures taken of Lane, so we took the dedication dress along with another dress. The photos of her in the dedication dress turned out fantastic!


Smiley girl!


And serious girl.

Now we just need to get the dress to the dry cleaners asap, because Little Miss Lane spit up all over the dress. Every time we put it on her. Ick.

2 Months Old

Dear Lane,

Happy Birthday! Today you are two months old! You have learned how to do so much this month! First of all, and most importantly, you are now consistently sleeping between six and seven hours every night. This is a recent development, but we're sure it will stick! You are better about daytime naps now, but you're still not sure about a nap at 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon, only wanting to catnap then for 30 minutes or so. You absolutely love the bathtub and the sound of running water. If you're fussy and crying, all it takes to calm you down is the sound of the bath water running. You like to kick your legs and splash in the tub, and you don't cry as much from being cold when we get you out as you used to. This month you started to coo at us, and you are the most talkative when you're on the changing table! You also laughed once this month, but we're still waiting to hear it again! You have found your tongue and like sticking it out and moving it around in your mouth. You've also found your hands and like to try to cram your entire fist into your mouth! You have an activity gym that you love to play with, looking at the hanging animals and trying to bat at them. You love to look at yourself in the mirror.

This month you visited two new states, Mississippi and Tennessee. You stayed with your Mimi and Papa during the day for four days while we were in meetings, and you stayed with Papa Buck and Nona Lou once and with Aunt Shannon once so we could go on a couple of dates. You were good for them all, of course! You're still wearing your newborn clothes, but you have a couple of 3-month outfits that kind of fit you, although they're still baggy. At your six week doctor's appointment you were 23 inches long and you weighed 9 pounds, 13 ounces. That's in the 95th percentile for height and the 50-75th percentile for weight! You got some shots this month and while you weren't exactly happy about it, you did really well. Your hematoma is completely gone, and your baby acne is about 95% gone. You can hold your head up when you're upright, although it's still a bit wobbly, and you can also support some of your own weight when we "stand" you up. You're still not a big fan of tummy time, but it's not as bad as it was last month, and you can even lift your head 90° and look at yourself in a mirror placed in front of you when you're on your tummy. You are growing so much! You are such a good baby and we love you so much!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy


You can stand up so well!


We spent 2 nights with Nona Lou while Daddy and Papa Buck were in Nashville at the SEC Basketball Tournament.


You can lift your head up really well!


Just like your first month of life, you're still smiley and happy!

You've Got Mail

Today when Shannon's mom and stepdad came over for dinner they brought us our mail. It included:

-A congratulations card and check for Lane.
-A notice from Blue Cross Blue Shield saying "your care provider may bill you X amount of dollars."
-A notice from Alaska Airlines saying that our annual fee of $75 would be added to our upcoming credit card statement. This account was closed two months ago.
-A bank statement from Wachovia. This account was closed one month ago.
-Bills for our health insurance for the month of April. We canceled our health insurance about three weeks ago since we'll have new health insurance through our new jobs.
-Tampon samples for Shannon. I mean, he is a 14-year old girl, right?

Anyone else notice a pattern here? Wasted postage! (Well, except for the card and the check...we appreciate that!) How much less could be charged for things like health insurance and annual fees if companies would not mail out unnecessary crap? I'm just saying...

The Bible In A Year

This year, I decided to do something I haven't done in awhile: read my entire Bible through. I've done it before, maybe 4 or 5 times, but it's been a few years since my last read-through. So, I decided it was high time to get myself back in the habit. I find that I've tried to do it and about 2 weeks in I decide I have too much going on and give it up. This year I am resolved to do it. Life is always going to be crazy, right? And this year is no exception. We'll have moved 3 times in 5 months, live in at least 4 different places, have had a baby, and will learn a new language and our way around a new city. I'm 2 weeks behind in my reading (but I was 3 weeks behind about a week ago), and am slowly catching up and am determined not to get any further behind until (and hopefully not even then) we move again. The easy reading plan I've always followed?



3 chapters a day and 5 on Sunday. Sometimes I read 2 chapters a day and a Psalm. Other times I just read 3 chapters straight. I think I like to do the 2 chapters and a Psalm when I'm in the boring more-difficult-to-read parts. So that's it. A reading plan that's actually doable. If you've never read your Bible all the way through, I'd like to challenge you to start. Start on April 1st and try to finish by March 31st 2011. Give it a try.

This Just In...

Yesterday we took Lane for her six-week shots. She didn't fuss too much about the shots, but she was interrupted while eating in order to get them so she was mad. We gave her some Tylenol so she took a long nap when we got home and then we gave her a bath (the nurse said it would help her legs feel better). Then she just snuggled on my chest for about an hour until she fell asleep. Last night was a bit rough as she never slept the four or 4.5 hours straight that she's been sleeping, but instead she woke up every three hours on the nose, probably because the Tylenol was wearing off. So I was prepared for her to still be grouchy today. But...this is what she's been like instead when we talk sweet to her:





I love being a mom!

The Last Week

Our lives have been a little insane as of late. Two Saturdays ago we headed to Memphis for a few days of meetings. Since then Shannon has been to an Auburn baseball game, we've been to our first baby shower, we met with our financial adviser, and Lane got her first round of shots today. We've been to the mall a million times to exchange baby clothes for the next size up (or down), trying to get things to be the correct size for the season. I've been to the mall a few times attempting to find new pants for myself since my pre-pregnancy pants don't yet fit. We've gotten all of our boxes from Shannon's mom's house and are in the process of repacking them (they were mostly the last bit of random stuff from when we moved last August). I've been researching the cost of extra bags on transatlantic flights (how many you can take, how much they can weigh, how much they cost, and so on), and of course they're different for each airline! We've been writing thank-you notes, doing laundry (thank you, Lane, for spitting up or pooping on something of mine and something of yours every single day), hanging out with family, and just in general trying to get our lives organized before we move to Richmond in a month. Some photos from our last two weeks or so:


Shannon, Lane, me, Sharon, and Milton at our baby shower given by Sharon and Milton's small group.


Lane got a stroller and a new carseat!


The never-ending list of things to do.


This is what Lane thinks of the college fund we set up for her.


Dinner still needs to be made! Chicken-vegetable stew is always good, especially when you're fighting a cold like Shannon and I are.


Shannon's getting the "get Lane to sleep" thing down!

So that's our last two weeks in a nutshell! Maybe now that we're back in town and staying in one place for a month I'll be better at updating!