Four Months!

AnnaLeigh turned 4 months old on Friday! She remains the cutest baby on the planet, as evidenced by this photo.


Seriously, she is the cutest baby ever.

Stats from her check-up:
Height - 25 inches - 75th percentile. (Tall!!! Hooray!)
Weight - 13 pounds, 15 ounces - 50th percentile
Excellence awards - she is a "very good sitter" and also rolled over on the exam table.

She had her shots, too, but Toby and I handled them better this time and Annie only screamed for about a minute. She did come down with a fever a few hours later, which I always thought was an old-wives tale but turns out to be an actual side effect, requiring a trip to Walgreens in the middle of a thunderstorm. (Thanks, Toby.)

She's been enjoying driving her car lately, a lovely hand-me-down from neighbors.

Yes, my worry-wart friends - it is a walker, and yes - we removed the wheels.

Tomorrow starts week 3 back to work. Things are going much better than I imagined, thanks mostly to Toby's excellent care.

You are so Nashville if...

I love the annual "You are so Nashville if..." contest that the Nashville Scene puts on every year.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/so-nashville-if-this-years-winner-the-contenders-a-yasni-wave-of-relief-the-weirdies/Content?oid=1656374

The link will take you to the winners and contenders. One day I'm going to actually sit down and think of something funny enough to submit. For now, however, I love this year's #2 winner - "[You are so Nashville if] FEMA bailed out your Tea Party a**."

Most of the time you have to be a hard-core Nashvillian to understand the entries, but we can all appreciate this one. (Okay, maybe not our British audience, but everybody else.)

I know I've said it before...

...but I'm pretty sure that if you took all the babies in the world and looked at them purely objectively, mine would be the cutest.

And not only is she cute, but she's very smart, too. She started sitting by herself today. True, she tripods on her hands, and if she leans any direction she falls, but I'm still pretty sure she's extra-smart. :)

Tara's 35th Birthday Party

The weather was extremely hot, Annie was super grouchy, and we had to leave after an hour. But Tara's friend Jimmy (www.jlegnonphotography.com) took this cute photo of Toby and Annie, so the outing must have been a success!

Happy 4th of July!

To our American family and friends - Happy Independence-from-the-scourge-of-the-British Day!

To our British family and friends - Happy we-didn't-want-you-anyway-Day!

To our Harris friends, happy anniversary! I think it is 11 (or maybe 12) for Elisa and Kyle Harris, and 4 (or maybe 5) for Jessica and Avery Harris Telligman.

To my sweet husband, happy 3rd anniversary of the day you made me the happiest woman on earth by asking me to marry you. I couldn't have imagined that day where we'd be today!

Reflections on maternity leave - accomplishments and hilarity

Today is my last day of maternity leave, and it has been a day of mixed emotions. I'm really glad to be going back to work, exercising my brain and engaging in grown-up conversation. I'm also pretty sure that it is easier to be a lawyer than a stay-at-home mom. But it is going to be so hard to be away from her at first. Enough about that, no need to get all weepy when I have four more days until I actually go to the office. (Mom, remind me to put some Kleenex in the car for the drive to work on Tuesday.)

Anyway, I was thinking back on what I thought maternity leave would be like, and the list of things I thought I would do/accomplish while on maternity leave. So here's the list (at least, what I can remember) and the results.

1. Survive. Accomplished? Yes! With flying colors, marriage strong as ever, self-esteem high, and a healthy baby.

2. Lose the baby weight. Accomplished? Somewhat - I have 10 pounds to go, but I think it will be easier to lose them when I am not spending all day next to the refrigerator and a five minute walk to Starbucks, two cupcake shops and three different ice cream establishments.

3. Finish the pregnancy journal. Accomplished? Yes!

4. Organize the basement. Accomplished? Hahahahahah! I was clearly insane and in serious nesting mode when I decide to tackle this project while on leave.

5. Take down the storm windows and clean the windows and storm windows. Accomplished? Only if you consider the three screws I removed on Monday to be any sort of accomplishment.

6. Sleep. Accomplished? Sort of. Annie didn't really want to sleep much for the first six weeks, and she's still getting up at 3:30 or 4 every morning to eat, but I am trying to appreciate getting 5 1/2 to 6 straight hours of sleep every night, and trying not to dwell on the fact that she should be going at least 8-10 straight hours by now.

7. Appreciate how wonderful it is to have a healthy, happy baby. Accomplished? Mostly. The first few weeks are so hard that I spent some of the time wanting my old, pre-pregnant life back, but after I started getting some rest I was able to more fully appreciate how lucky I am. I have a wonderful husband and gorgeous baby - what else could I ask for (other than 6, above)? The good news is that I'll appreciate it all even more when I'm back at work.

Here is what Annie thinks of this list -

Off to take one last walk to the frozen yogurt shop!

Splish Splash

We took Annie to the pool at her Grandma and Grandpa's new neighborhood last weekend for her first dip. It has been so hot and bright that we only stayed a short time, but we had fun splashing her around and she looked so cute in her suit. The pool is amazing and has a very cool two-story slide, though we stayed in the separate baby area. Maybe she can try the slide next summer. :)

Here are Toby and mini-Toby enjoying a dip. Annie was not so sure about the water, since it was much colder than her baths. She did like looking at the sunlight reflecting off the water, though.


Annie and Grandma taking a break in the shade. Annie's hat actually looks cute in this picture, unlike the others. Grandma has been having a lot of fun with Annie this last week, except maybe for the times when Annie is busy screaming (and even then she didn't really mind).



The baby area of the pool has a little spray area, too. The big pool has a very large spray area that we might try out next time.

Looking forward to seeing our little baby turn into a fish over the next few years! She'll be swimming by next summer if Toby has anything to do with it. Beth has been taking Millie to swim lessons already, and we're hoping to get a photo of cute Millie in a bathing suit to post here soon!