Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us. Rayna opened her first Christmas presents this year (she actually did help tear the paper --and then proceeded to put it in her mouth). Riley had to make sure the presents were all okay.

You can see the surprise on her face, "Are these all for me?!"

After she checked out all the new toys (and by "checked out" I mean shook and tasted) she was pretty worn out.

(Almost) On the Move

Rayna has started to like her bouncy seat. I think she's starting to understand that she's the one making it bounce. She doesn't have much control yet and is still a little spastic. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but she has started rolling over. She's pretty good at it and sometimes she even pulls her legs up under her and sticks her butt up in the air.

Apology

I just wanted to clarify and apologize for something I posted earlier. In the post of Rayna's 3 month pictures, I had said I thought I might get pictures done professionally next time, but it was cheaper having my friend do it. It's been pointed out to me that this might have come off as sounding a little haughty and that I didn't think Carina did a good job. That was not how I meant it at all and for the record, I think Carina did a great job and I was really happy with the pictures. I was thinking about getting some professional pictures done because I know some family members would like to have the traditional sitting-in-a-cute-dress pictures. Anyway, I hope that comment wasn't taken the wrong way, but if it was, I apologize and I hope I didn't hurt any feelings.

Beggining to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Here's Rayna and Riley getting in the Christmas spirit. I think Riley was embarrased to wear the hat. I actually had a hard time getting a picture of just Rayna because Riley wouldn't get away from her. She has recently started to notice Riley much to his dismay I think. He runs off when she tries to touch him. I guess he liked it better when he just layed there.
I had to put the bottom pictue on there because I thought it was so funny. Now that her hair is starting to grow I can't get it to lay down so it's always sticking up. I think she looks like Kramer with that expression and the crazy hair.

Also, a couple days ago, John filled out his dream sheet for where he would like to be stationed next. Number one was Colorado Springs and number two was Ohio. I'm not sure how long it will be until we find out but I'll keep everyone posted.

We did finally get some snow (on top of ice unfortunately) and it's been cold enough for it to stick around. Today when I went out it was 17 degrees.

3 Month Pictures

Here are some of the pictures my friend Carina took for me. I think I might do professional ones next time, but I don't know--these are so much cheaper. The baby in the bottom picture is her daughter Abigail. She is only 5 days older than Rayna. That was fun being pregnant at the same time with her.

I thought I might start a little section at the end of each post about the weather here. I know most people are interested in that. Right now we do not have like 3 feet of snow, in fact we don't have any. We got about a foot before Thanksgiving but then it all melted. Today I think it got up to about 25 and it was really sunny.
Sunrise was 9:45 and sunset was 3:50.

3 Months Already

Rayna turned 3 months today. She is so much fun now. She's "talking" all the time and laughs at us. She thinks John is especially funny. As you can see she is lifting herself off of her stomach and today she rolled over!! It was very exciting except it reminds me that it won't be very long until she's crawling and into everything.

I've been trying to post some videos I took of her, but so far it hasn't worked. I'll keep trying though. My friend and I are going to take some portraits of our babies on Thursday (her baby girl is 5 days older than Rayna) so I'll try and post some of those 3 months pictures later this week.

Making Up For Lack of Hair

I don't know if everyone will think these pictures are as funny as I do. We've been given quite a few hats but I think the brown furry one is my favorite. To me there's just something amusing about a baby in a hat. The one at the bottom is actually a little jacket that goes with a poodle outfit, but I think it looks like a (cute) powdered wig. Rayna is such a good sport about letting me dress her up.

Whose Baby?

Riley really likes Rayna. When she's in her swing or any other place he can keep an eye on her, he's right there. At first I thought it was more jealousy, but now I think he's protective (that and he really wants to lick her face. Smells like milk.... mmm). In fact, I haven't even had to use the baby monitor yet. If she starts to cry or fuss, he'll whine and bark. Sometimes he'll even come in the other room and stare at me until I go get her. And when I get up to feed her at night, he gets up too. He'll just watch us and then go back to bed. I guess he wants to make sure I'm taking good care of his baby.

Happy Halloween

For Halloween we didn't go trick-or-treating and our church didn't have a family night this year. We did dress Rayna up anyway. And in case you can't read it in the pictures, she was a sack of potatoes.

Also, she had her 2 month appointment on Tuesday. She was 11 lb 6 oz. I don't remember how long he said she was, but she is in the 80th percentile for length. She also got her first shots. I knew it was coming, but it was still hard to watch. I told John he has to take her next time.

2 Months Old

Our sweet baby is 2 months old today. She is such a blessing. Sometimes I find myslef staring at her while she's sleeping and can't believe she's mine. God certainly is good.

As a side note in other blessing news-- for those of you who don't know yet, my brother Bret and his wife Amber are pregnant again. She is due in May. I'm hoping for a girl so Rayna can have a girl cousin to play with.

Meeting my Maw

Rayna's Maw (John's step-mom Pam) came up to visit this week. As you can see from the middle picture, Rayna thinks she's pretty funny. She is such a happy baby. She especially likes to be naked. Her favorite thing is getting her diaper changed, for some reason it makes her happy.
She also really likes her Bumbo (the blue chair at the bottom). I can sit her on the counter while I cook and we sit her at the table while we eat.

OU Fans

We watched OU beat Texas on Saturday. John, of course, was very happy to see his Sooners win. As you can see, Rayna wasn't quite as impressed.

4 Weeks Today

Rayna is 4 weeks old today. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. She is actually smiling at us now (but she still has plenty of gas smiles too). Of course she can't hold her head up yet, but she tries so hard.

Two weeks old

Rayna is two weeks old today. Somehow it's seems like she's been around longer than that--maybe it's the lack of sleep clouding my judgement. Anyway, she is doing very well. At her 2 week appointment on Friday, she weighed 7 lb 14 oz. So she's gained a pound past her birth weight.

She and I had our first day alone on Saturday after Nana and Padrone left. We survived. As you can see from the bottom picture, Riley is getting used to the new situation. He is still obviously jealous though and wants to be right in the middle of things.

She's Here!

Well, Rayna Kae

finally decided it was time to come out. She was born August 26th at 3:03 am. She was 6 lb 14 oz and 21 inches-- so she is long and skinny. We were really blessed with a good labor and delivery. John's mom got in at 4 in the afternoon and by about 7 I was having regular contractions. We went in to the hospital at about 12:30 and she was born at 3. I was only in active labor for a little over 2 hours.

Unfortunately we had to stay in the hospital for 4 days (which is why I'm only now posting this). There turned out to be nothing wrong, but her respiratory rate was high and they had to run all kinds of tests. But God blessed us with a healthy baby and I was able to get 4 days of rest in the hospital.

Riley vs the Bear

John shot this bear last year, but he just recently got it back from the taxidermist. When he brought it home Riley really didn't know what to think about it. He spend alot of time checking it out. He would alternate between wagging his tail at it and growling at it. He even tried to chew the ears a couple times. Then after he had thuroughly checked it out, he spent the rest of the night laying there and staring at it.

36 weeks

Alright, so here I am at 36 weeks. I'm really not that big (or so everyone tells me). Actually, at my last appointment (32 weeks), my belly was measuring 4 weeks behind, so they did a sonogram and the baby was actually measuring a few days ahead. So apparently it's just the way I'm carrying her. I had another appointment today and I was still measuring behind, but only 3 weeks this time. So I've only got 4 weeks to go (that's assuming she comes on time) and no we don't have a name yet so don't ask.

We had a blessing this past week. John was supposed to go TDY for 10 days to Vanauatu (sp?) which is by Fiji. He ended up not having to go because they didn't finish with his passport in time. It wouldn't have been bad since it was only supposed to be 10 days, but they told the woman who was going in his place that it was going to be extended to 20-30 days. So most likely he would have missed the birth. But he's happy he has more time to fish.

Trip to Denali and Beyers Lake

2 weeks ago John and I took one last trip before the baby comes. We were going to go to Denali National Park but decided to go the Beyer's Lake (which is in Denali State park) instead. It's just as pretty and less tourist-y. Plus you can get just as close to Denali (Mt McKinnley for you outsiders) without going into the park.
This first picture is part of the train tracks that go from Anchorage up to Fairbanks. The next one is of the River that runs through Denali National Park. When people go white water rafting in Denali, that's the river they go on.
The next one is a suspension bridge at Beyers lake. The next 2 are of us walking around Beyers Lake. One day we rented a canoe and went around the whole lake. Riley got to swim beside the canoe for a little bit. The last two are of us in front of Denali. You can see it just to the right of my head. It's kind of covered by clouds, but there are very few days of the year when it isn't.