Three Months

I can't get enough of this sweet girl! The little dimple drives me crazy;-)

We miss you, Daddy! Come home safely from Colorado Springs!!!

Redemption

Jimmy and I have a love/hate relationship with Layla ...

because she can go from doing something annoyingly terrible,

like eating half of my mom's delicious pumpkin pie,
to doing something completely endearing and adorable,

like curling up and snoozing on Jimmy's pillow while he's out of town this week.
Let's just say she really knows how to redeem herself ;-)

Anna's 3 month birthday

Here's a quick comparison of how our girl has grown:

Two weeks old

Last week

We will use this one for blackmailing. Oh, was she mad.

Springsteen

A friend surprised me with tickets to the Bruce Springsteen concert last week. He played for 3 hours and 2 minutes straight. No intermission, no long instrumental breaks.

More Pictures

Pictures From The Last Few Days

Anna has taken an interest in her hands lately.

Interested...

Bored...

New Videos: Tummy Time, Ab Time, and Layla's "Watch What I Can Do!" Time

Here's Anna showing off her tummy time moves ... our pediatrician tells us it's okay if Anna doesn't like it much (as in, don't think we're mean parents because we let Anna cry a little). She's doing such a good job!

Here's Anna showing off her ab strength.

This is one of Layla's famous Chicken Fits.

Cincinnati Visit, Part Two + Lots of New Pictures

I'm kind of nervous to post on the blog again after my back-to-work blogging hiatus - I don't know if I can live up to Jimmy's humorous precedent. What I lose in humor I hope to make up in cuteness ... Anna's cuteness, that is! Here's what we've been up to the past few weeks:

Jed and Melissa's wedding was absolutely beautiful. If you haven't checked out some of their wedding pictures on Facebook, do so now! Their photographer was awesome and was able to capture some fun shots around Miami's campus. Anna's Leitsch grandparents and Aunt Jess were kind enough to watch Anna during the rehearsal dinner and reception. Jess took some precious pictures of Anna ... these are my two favorites:

I also got to hang out with my old college friend Kara and her now four-month-old daughter, Ryleigh. It was fun to catch up and "talk baby" with Kara. Ryleigh is a sweet girl, and I look forward to more visits when Anna's old enough to do something more interesting than lie on the ground ;-) I hope they'll grow to be good friends!

This picture is just too cute not to post. It was taken while my dad was making Anna smile.

I went back to work the Monday after the wedding and am happy to report that the transition back to work has been easier than expected. Note: I did not say that the transition was easy ... just not as tear-filled or guilt-ridden as I had anticipated. Anna has had an incredibly easy time adapting to her day care routine; she's taken to the bottle easily (my biggest worry) and is always either sleeping or playing happily when I come to pick her up in the afternoons. Her teacher, Miss Amy, loves her to pieces, and Jimmy and I feel blessed knowing that Anna has such a sweet, skilled caregiver. We have our morning and evening routines to prepare for each day, and I'm trying to figure out how to get grading done at school so I'm not bringing things home. Overall, life is good.

We deemed the next weekend a strictly family weekend. We didn't do anything or go anywhere unless we wanted to. It was an awesome two days of hanging out with Anna. We went to the local dog park to give Layla some much-needed TLC and energy-expending. It was a tad chilly, so we bundled Anna up in her adorable bear suit from John and Dana Pritchett, Melissa's in-laws. The resemblance between Anna and Max from Where the Wild Things Are is striking, isn't it?!?!

Anna finally started enjoying her mirror (or maybe it was the silly things Jimmy was doing and saying with the mirror).

Anna's smile, voice, and personality are starting to emerge, and Jimmy was able to capture these cute smiling pictures:

We ended the weekend with a nice bath in the big tub - Anna likes the extra room to kick around! Do I see swim team in her future?!?!

This next picture needs some explanation. I was changing Anna out of her sleeper and wanted to try a new pair of pants on her to see if they would fit. I also tried on a little pink and brown hat to see if it bothered Anna or not. Jimmy took it upon himself to snap this picture, and we agree that our sweet little suburban baby looks like quite the thug. She's even got both fists clenched ... so don't mess with her!

I took this picture the morning of Anna's ten-week "birthday." I love this cute outfit from Meghan - thanks!

Anna usually plays for about an hour every morning after she eats. It's fun to get to spend some happy time with her before going to work each day. A generous friend from my mom's work gave her this fantastic toy that is perfect for Anna's age. When she kicks the blue bar at the bottom, the wheels at the top spin and music plays - Anna loves it! She kicks and kicks to her heart's content.

This was another cute outfit this week ... one of the first winter outfits from cousins Case and Lena that actually fits!

This morning, after feeding Anna in the nursery at church, I decided to see how (or if) she liked being in an exersaucer. My parents are giving her one for Christmas so we can have her out in the family room without worrying about Layla trampling her. Good news - she loved it! She still has another inch or two to grow before it's really an appropriate toy, but she smiled the whole time she was in it and was reaching for all the toys!

Have you ever seen cuter little legs?!?!

It's been a beautiful weekend here in Tennessee, and I've taken Anna and Layla on three long walks. I decided to put Anna in the stroller without her carrier seat so she could look around. She watched Layla for a big chunk of our walks (before she fell asleep, that is). She looks like such a big girl!

Love and miss you all!

Life Lesson: A Sibling Is Like a Corolla

A few weeks ago, I sold my beloved truck. It was a day I knew was coming for the last nine months. I knew that I was going to need a backseat. I later learned that no matter if you have strap locks that are guaranteed not to break, you are not allowed to put a carseat in the bed of a truck. As I was changing the oil and detailing the inside for the last time, I admit, I was a little sad.

I couldn’t help to think about all of the good times we’ve had together. That truck moved every single thing from our apartment into our house (Jenny’s Mazda helped, too). It has moved refrigerators, washers and dryers, sand, swing sets. One time the local police needed help breaking into a bank where a gunman was still inside. SWAT had not arrived yet, so I volunteered and plowed the truck through the brick wall and saved twelve people. Another time, Jenny and I passed a broken down tractor-trailer. The driver was standing by looking very sad. We asked if there was something we could do, but he said that the truck could not be fixed. He had been depending on the delivery money to keep his house and to feed his family. Jenny and I hooked the trailer to the back of the S10 and took a road trip to Bozeman, Montana. We sent the money to the driver, and didn’t even charge him for gas, because that’s the kind of folks we are.

We had already made arrangements to buy a 2003 Toyota Corolla S series from Jenny’s cousins. While I was sprucing up the truck, I was thinking, “The Corolla is a great car, and it’s going to try real hard, but it won’t be able to live up to what the truck could do and the potential the truck still has.” I can’t help to think that this must be the same thing my parents were thinking the night before I moved to Nashville five years ago. “Jess is a great daughter, and she tries real hard, but Jimmy will always be our favorite.”

The last paragraph was supposed to be humorous. In all seriousness, the Corolla is cool. I now have a gas gauge that works, air conditioning, power locks and windows, and a great sound system. We’ve had some warm afternoons in Nashville lately, and I love putting down all the windows, opening up the sunroof, and listening to good music. But most importantly, it has a backseat that allows me to take my daughter to daycare every morning. She basically falls asleep as soon as she’s in, but it’s still our time together. She enjoys listening to sports talk radio.

To answer the question on everyone’s mind, the first CD I listened to was Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon. It is very good, and has three songs that will certainly live on in the Spoon lore, but I don’t like it as much as 2005’s Gimme Fiction.

And there’s one other thing the Corolla can do…

Yay! Daddy's Home!!

This is the scene I came home to after a long day of work followed by a softball game.