First Trip to the Zoo!

We just arrived in SC yesterday, to spend a few days of our Spring Break with Luke's family. We decided that since it was such a beautiful day today, we would all (Luke's parents, Allison, JD, Luke, Anna Kate, and myself) take the short trip to Columbia to take Anna Kate to the zoo! While she probably won't remember much about this first zoo trip, she definitely had a great time! Here are a few pictures of our day...

Anna Kate especially liked the baby giraffes!

Checking out the lions...

Not so sure about being held by a gorilla...

The flamingos were by far Anna Kate's favorite. She just sat there staring at them for quite a while! I think she would have stayed longer, but we had to get to the penguin feeding show!

I loved my day at the zoo, but it sure tired me out!

Anna Kate has the hiccups!

Anna Kate gets the hiccups at least twice a day for a good solid 15 minutes or so. Sometimes they really annoy her, but she's getting pretty good at ignoring them! The other night when we were lounging on the couch together, I decided to video it...enjoy!

Back to school

Well, today was my second day back at work and in many ways it has been harder than I had anticipated, but in others it has gone much better. I never imagined just how tough it would be to leave my baby each morning, or how much I would miss her throughout the day, but she has done great with Daddy staying home with her. He even gets to bring her to visit me at lunch, which really helps make the day go by quickly. We are so blessed that Luke is able to stay home with her while I finish out the last 9 weeks of school. But one thing's for sure...this baby hardly leaves my arms after 2:30pm! And honestly I kind of look forward to some special time with her at 2am...the sleeping through the night thing that she did three times last week was definitely nice, but I don't mind the extra chance to snuggle my girl! Speaking of which...here are a couple of pictures I took just a few minutes ago!



And just because it's funny, here's a picture of Anna Kate sleeping in Daddy's arms last night...I guess she was enjoying not being swaddled!

Spring is here!

It was such a beautiful sunny day here in Wake Forest that we just had to get outside! So we picked Daddy up from work and headed to a nearby park. Anna Kate loved the fresh air and wearing short sleeves for I think the first time in her whole life (not that it's been very long)! She had such a nice time just laying out on a blanket and playing on her playmat outside. It was so nice we might just have to go back later this weekend!

Tummy time is much more bearable out in the sunshine!

Snuggling with Mommy =)

So, we've realized that you have to travel with a lot more STUFF when you have a baby!

The beautiful park!

The camera always adds ten pounds...

Or maybe I am just this chubby...but I'm cute!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thanks to my friend Christy, Anna Kate has a handmade outfit for every major holiday! I'm also excited that I've finally been able to catch Anna Kate's sweet smile on camera. It was so fleeting the first few weeks, but she really has started smiling a lot more. Here she is in her St. Patrick's Day outfit.

Also, I just thought I would leave you with this quote by St. Patrick himself:

“Christ shield me this day: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.”

Like mommy, like baby

When my mom came from Bolivia, she brought a couple of outfits she had saved that I wore when I was a baby. Since I was also a February baby, this outfit fits Anna Kate perfectly. It was great for a chilly family outing to Starbucks tonight!

Pretty in Pink

Well, since my mommy thinks I am too cute for words, she sometimes likes to play dress-up with me. After trying on a couple of other outfits, this is what we decided I should wear today. I was quite a good sport for this photo shoot too!

Ok, so Anna Kate had had about enough by this point!

Anna Kate talking!

Playtime with Daddy...

Wears me out!

Anna Kate rolls over!

Alright, here is the video of Anna Kate rolling over last Thursday. When I saw that she had gotten her right arm underneath her, I grabbed my camera and started filming!

1 month old!

Happy 1st month, Anna Kate!

I am making this blog post at 5:02pm EST on March 8, 2010, which means that Anna Kate is exactly one month old! At exactly this moment one month ago, we heard your first strong cry in that hospital room and our lives were changed forever! Every day we are amazed at the joy that you bring to us. You are a precious gift from God and we love you!

Here are a couple of pictures taken today...you sure have changed a lot in a month!



We went to the doctor today for your 1 month checkup and you are doing great! The doctor said that you look healthy and strong! Here are your stats:

Weight: 10 lbs. 8 oz. (64th percentile)
Height: 23.25 inches (93rd percentile)

One final note about what our little one-month-old can do...Anna Kate rolled over from her tummy to her back on Thursday! Way to go, big girl! I even caught it on video, but the file is too big for me to upload, so we are going to see if daddy can shorten it a little so that I can get it up on the blog. Check back later for the video!

Well, Anna Kate, happy one month birthday! We can't wait to see what your next month will bring!

Family time!

Luke's whole family came up to Wake Forest this weekend to spend time with Anna Kate. Luke's parents had already met Anna Kate, but it was JD and Allison's first time meeting their new niece!

Here is a picture of the Tolbert family at church on Sunday morning.

Thank you all so much for coming to visit. We loved having you here, so come again soon!

How we spend our days...

One of Anna Kate's favorite things to do is to play on her Baby Einstein play mat. She loves trying to bat all the little toys with her hands and hear them rattle, squeak, and play music. She's not a huge fan of tummy time on the mat, but at least it's better than tummy time just on the carpet.



Another thing Anna Kate loves to do is read stories. Here she is reading Augustine's City of God with her daddy. She's not quite sure about all the antiquated 5th-century language though...she might just stick with Goodnight Moon =)

We miss you, Grandma!

We just got home about an hour ago from taking my mom to the airport to head back to Bolivia. We sure loved having her here and so appreciate all that she did to make this an easy transition for us. We are also so grateful that even though she lives far away, she was able to come and spend such quality time with Anna Kate. We had such a great time lounging around the house together, watching the Olympics, going on shopping trips, and just enjoying time with our baby girl. Anna Kate will especially miss having you here in the early mornings because now she will have to ride with me to drop Daddy off at work instead of getting to snuggle with Grandma in bed for 15 minutes!

Thank you so much, Mom, for everything!

First real bath!

Anna Kate was finally able to have her first real bath on Thursday and let me tell you, she sure liked it better than those awful sponge baths she had been getting! She actually loved her little tub and getting to have warm water all around her as opposed to just laying on a towel and being cold! Here are a couple of pictures:

Anna Kate before her bath

Getting clean!

Looking up at mommy (and check out that chubby tummy!)

All dry!