Back in Kansas

Now that we've been back in Kansas almost a month already I suppose I should get caught up! Getting back was a little insane to say the least. Thomas flew in the night before moving day (A huge thank you to Thomas for all of his help) and we got up early to get things loaded in the trailer that Kevin bought. We'd sold a lot of our furniture and the plan was to fit everything else in the trailer and SUV. Well...not everything fit. We had to end up getting rid of a few pieces of furniture I would have liked to have kept (a bookshelf, console table, and TV stand....nothing of extreme value but I liked them) and we had to donate/pitch various other things from laundry baskets to cleaning supplies. The original plan was for me to be cleaning while the guys were loading but that wasn't able to happen. Before I knew it I was headed to the airport with Anna and it was all out of my hands. (This flight was by far the worst in terms of traveling with Anna and I'm hoping I never have to travel alone with a baby on an airplane again!)

The guys finished up but somewhere in the craziness of the day Lupin got out of the house. The guys looked for him but were never able to find him. They had to start the drive that night and couldn't wait around for him to show up so he got left behind. I'm pretending that he became a nice cat and someone took him in rather than other not so pleasant alternatives. Poor Lupin :(

The guys drove through the night and arrived late the next morning extremely exhausted. After looking at the car we were all amazed and thankful that they made it back in one piece. I'll be happy once we sell the trailer and I never have to look at it again.


The next day we were all exhausted but we got Anna all dressed up for Easter anyway. She was such a cutie that day!

I was against any family pictures due to the handle bar mustache Kevin decided to sport that day but Patti caught us. 

It took a bit to get things unpacked and organized. We're storing stuff we aren't using in Thomas and Serena's basement so there has been a lot of back and forth trying to find various things we've decided we don't need or do need. We're pretty settled in the lower half of Kevin and Patti's house now (we're very thankful for them letting us stay with them) and Anna seems to have adjusted pretty well.

There have been a few nice days so we've been trying to take advantage of being next to Lake Shawnee. Hopefully more nice days will be coming soon...I have so many cute dresses to put Anna in and I'm just waiting on the sunshine!

It's been nice having this time as a family and I'm very thankful for it. Now that we're settled the job hunt is on but we're going to continue to enjoy our time.

We took Anna to Baby Bookworms at the library last week and I'm planning on taking Anna every week (unless she's napping like she was this past week). I'm also looking into this Parents and Teachers program that I've heard hosts play dates so I can meet some other Mommy's in the area. A lot of my friends from Topeka have scattered so the search is on!

I'm holding off on a true Anna update until after I take her 5 month pictures this weekend. I can't believe she's 5 months already! I will say that she is very grabby but is a lot of fun.

That steak looks good Grandpa Kevin!

 Anna does love this little piano toy and we managed to get these sunglasses on her. It lasted about 2 seconds before they made her mad but I managed to get a good picture in!

 

Butterflies

One last Michigan post before I move on to things happening here in Kansas. We had told our friends Will and Kristin that we were planning on taking Anna to the 'Butterflies in Bloom' exhibit at Dow Gardens before we left town. They have a really nice DSLR camera and let us borrow it. We played with it at home for a bit and took about a bazillion pictures of Anna with it.

I love that Anna is starting to get a little bit of a mohawk. When you are a girl this is pretty much the only time in your life when you can successfully pull the look off. (In my opinion at least)

Anna kept staring at the camera and we had trouble getting her to smile much but we still think she's pretty cute :)

We invited Kristin along to the Butterfly Garden and she ended up taking a lot of pictures for us and even did some editing of a bunch of them! This is one that I really really love. 

She was looking around a bunch but I'm not sure if she really noticed any of the butterflies or not. There were so many pretty flowers and other people to look at.

 

Getting Anna to look at the camera proved to be next to impossible.

One of her favorite pastimes...blowing spit bubbles.

Another favorite.

This photo is also another favorite! We don't end up getting a ton of pictures of the three of us since one of us is usually taking the picture so we were so grateful to get some of these taken! Once again...thank you Kristin!

 

Midland Farewells

Before leaving Midland we tried to cram in as many goodbyes as we could. I also tried to take more pictures than I normally do. I realized that I had barely any photos of friends and haven't really posted much about the great people we met during our time in Michigan.

We had lunch with our friends Elise and Craig. I worked with Elise when I was doing the temporary position at Dow and both of them work for Dow right now. Elise was one of the ladies who hosted the surprise baby shower and they cooked us several meals during my time on bed rest and then again right after Anna was born.

I met Kathryn at the baby shower (we knew her husband before that) and I've really enjoyed getting to know her and her darling little girl, Alice. Kathryn organized a Midland Mom's group on facebook and told me about Baby Time at the library. She played a key role in getting the library play dates together and was a great resource to me for all kinds of baby questions. She let me borrow several baby items to see if I liked them which saved us a bunch of money! We had one last play date over at our place the week before we left. I'm going to miss her so much!

Our friends Will and Kristin threw a little going away party for us the weekend before we left Midland. It was last minute so not everyone could make it but we were so happy to get to spend some time with the people who were there. Will and Kristin even let us stay the night with Anna so that we wouldn't have to leave our own party before 9pm. They have been amazing friends to us throughout our time there and we are really going to miss them! (and their dog Copper too).

Kristin, Lindsey, Kathyrn, me, and Elise

Kevin, Matt, Will, and Craig

 Group Shot!

Some of Kevin's co-workers organized a going away lunch and I managed to get in a group photo.

Our friend Sarah, who was out of town for the going away party, was able to stop by for lunch one day to say goodbye to me and Anna. She brought some champagne and Michigan chocolate covered cherries so that we'd have a "Sweet Send Off". She'll definitely be missed!

Steve, Aimee, and their son Jason (also out of town during our party) stopped by on moving day to say goodbye. Their house was very very close to where we were living and if we'd still been there it would have been nice to go on walks in the nicer weather.  

The day before moving day we decided to take Anna to Dow Gardens so we could check out the Butterflies. Kristin had her nice camera there and took some pictures for us. I'm going to post those separately but I thought I'd throw this picture in. I know I mentioned before...but we are really really really going to miss Kristin and her husband Will. I know our paths will cross again though!

Goodbye Michigan!

Early in March

Before I move on to April I thought I'd better get caught up on March first! It was an insane month but we still managed to have some fun.

Kevin and Patti came out for a day to get one of our cars and drive it back to Kansas for us. Even though it was a quick trip there was still time for some cuddles!

I was in Kansas for a week while Kevin was out of town for work. I had an airline credit I needed to use and rather than stay home alone with Anna I decided to head home. Flying alone with the baby was an adventure to say the least. We overslept and missed our flight and had to fly standby. Then Anna had a blowout just before take off. It was awesome.

Even though I didn't have all of Anna's regular toys we did have a ceiling fan which provided hours of entertainment!

Grandpa Chuck and Hailie checking out the fan with Anna

 Hailie had a blast with Anna all week! It was during this trip that I told them we were moving back to Kansas and they were pretty excited.

I had lunch with Grandad and Grandmom one afternoon and then got to see them again at Hailie and Seth's church musical.

Another highlight of the trip was getting to spend some time with Kara and Heather and their little girls Abby and Avery! It is a little strange for me to look at this picture of all of us holding our girls. Where has the time gone? It wasn't that long ago we were at camp acting goofy and crazy!

Abby, Kara, Cara, Anna, Avery, and Heather

 Theresa and Patti drove me and Anna to the airport to head back to Michigan for the last time. We had a great time in the car and we are all happy that there will be no more of those goodbyes!

 

4 months

I'm a little behind on posts right now but before I blog about anything else I need to give a 4 month update for little Miss Anna! I was only 1 week late in getting these photos taken but I think they turned out great so it was worth the wait!

We had Anna's 4 month check up just a couple days before moving. Anna weighed 13 pounds 12 ounces (42%), was 23 1/2 inches long (15%), and her head circumference was 17 inches (99%).

She is doing well and meeting all her milestones so far. She laughed for the first time about 2 weeks ago and then wouldn't do it again (despite our best efforts of acting ridiculous to entertain her) but the last couple of days she's started laughing more often. She's rolled over a couple more times from tummy to back and she's really trying to do it from back to tummy. 

While Anna has been grabbing things on accident for awhile now...in the last week or so you can tell she's intentionally trying to hold of things. She has one rattle in particular that she loves grabbing. She'll also grab her pant legs and loves it when she's in dresses because she can reach it up to her mouth. Pretty typical in that everything goes straight to the mouth to get slobbered all over.  The doctor thinks she may possibly be left handed. I don't care either way but Kevin is sort of hoping she'll turn out to be a southpaw so she'll have an advantage in sports :)

Anna has been so much fun the last month. She's more alert and responds to things more. I love watching her look at things and I wonder what she's thinking. She's become more expressive with her face and has even furrowed her brow a few times which is super cute. Anna is also making lots more noises and is incredibly adorable. 

Right now Anna has a bit of a runny nose so we've had to clear her nose out much more. She HATES it with a passion. In fact, she in general does not like things touching her nose which I guess she gets from me. 

We love our little bug so much we can't stand it!

Ch-ch-changes!

 I wanted to share a few more of the pictures that we had professionally taken and also talk about some big changes headed our way.

 I'm so thrilled with how these pictures turned out. I didn't have a lot of prep time beforehand but somehow Ashley managed to take a few things I brought and combine it with props she had and turn it into some fabulous pictures! I had a lot of fun watching Anna during the photo shoot and I look forward to the next one.

     

I think I've mentioned how slobbery Anna has been lately and how much she enjoys slurping at her hands. She has also been even more alert and looking around at everything. I love watching her take in the sights. Her smiles always make us smile and I think yesterday she may have laughed for the first time. It's hard to be sure because we were at the library and there were other noises but I'm hoping we'll get more soon!

She's been a lot more squirmy lately too and much more interactive. She's getting around in her crib much more and is enjoying doing the assisted stand. You can have "conversations" with her too which is really fun. Anna's been quite the kicker for awhile now but in the last day or two she's been turning onto her side a lot. I'm thinking that she is getting revved up to start rolling soon! On play dates Anna seems really interested in the other babies. She'll watch them and try to move around a bunch...I think she'd like to play with them if she could! She is such a joy to us and we feel so lucky to have this little bug in our lives.

I guess I'll stop going on about Anna and get to the big news I mentioned earlier. We are moving back to Kansas...at the end of the month! Yes...as in the end of next week! We've known for a little bit that this would be happening but haven't really been able to share it with many people up until now. I won't be sharing details as to why on the blog (we can share more verbally) but basically Kevin will be taking personal leave from the company and we will be back in Topeka although Kansas City is where we will most likely end up. We are going to miss the AMAZING people we've met here. There are many wonderful people we were just getting to know and I'm bummed we're leaving so soon. We are, however, thrilled that we will get to be near our families again. It will be wonderful to have Anna know her Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, etc better. Please keep us in your thoughts over Easter weekend as I fly with Anna and Kevin and Thomas drive our stuff to Kansas.

Although I have pictures from my Kansas trip I'm not sure how much blogging I'll get to between now and next weekend. We've been packing, selling, donating stuff over the last few weeks but I think this last week is going to be INSANE. Stay tuned!

3 months

This past weekend we worked on our 3 month photo shoot at home. It was hard to narrow it down but we managed to only put 9 on here.

Anna is doing a little better at tummy time lately. She has to be in the right mood for it though. I've been taking her to the library for play dates with friends and she does well with it I think because of the different scenery. 

Last week I met a friend for coffee and Anna discovered her love of ceiling fans. It entertained her for at least 20 minutes. Yesterday I was at a Midland Mom's event and she found another one. It's pretty cute watching her stare at it. I wonder what she's thinking about while looking at them.

She wasn't cooperating too much for this photo shoot in the smile department but she's been smiling a ton over the last month. It's cute when she wakes up from a nap and you walk in and say hi and she'll give us the biggest smile. Or when Daddy comes home from work. 

Anna has been more grabby lately but at nothing intentionally. As soon as she does get a hold of something it tends to go straight to the mouth. She discovered her hands a couple weeks ago and now loves sucking on them. Spit will be covering them as she happily slurps away at them. She also has been super 'spitty' in general. She is constantly blowing spit bubbles and I feel like I'm wiping her face all day long. 

Anna has been focusing on faces for awhile but the last couple weeks it is very noticeable. She'll make eye contact and keep it for such a long time and that is when you can usually act goofy and get lots of smiles.

She's also been very talkative the last week or so. I love hearing her chat to us and to funny things like the circle pattern in her pack n play. Her favorite thing is the butterfly mobile we made that is above her changing table. We'll hit it to make the butterflies move and she'll be still and stare at it. Then once it stops moving her arms and legs go crazy in response. It is so much fun to watch!

She hasn't really shown much interest in rolling over yet although it happened by accident a couple times. I think it was the weight of her head and the way she was positioned on a memory foam mattress for tummy time that lead to the roll.

We are truly enjoying watching her take things in and we love knowing she's learning all the time. Her favorite songs right now are "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and "The Hokey Pokey" We can typically get lots of smiles with those.

Through a friend I found a very reasonably priced photographer and had Anna's 3 month pictures taken last week. She put one up on her facebook page as a sneak peak and here it is. I can hardly wait for the rest!

It did make me realize I never put up Anna's newborn pictures (even though she was 2 weeks old when we took them) so I thought I'd post one now just for comparison.

 We love our little bug so very much and it's crazy that she is already 3 months old. We love her bright eyes and all of her expressions. Looking forward to what the next month brings!