Deck the Halls

Naomi and I drove to Lynchburg this week to get our Christmas things out of storage. We spent the afternoon visiting with Paul's grandmother, and then loaded up the car with boxes from her basement to bring back home. Added bonus--we finally got our winter coats too! We had a really nice time decorating the tree with Naomi before bedtime the next evening--so cute.

All unbreakable ornaments on our tree this year, save one or two at the top, and Naomi has really enjoyed rearranging the ones within her reach on the bottom. She takes them off, admires and examines them, and put them back on again.

Our Christmas tree is rather Charlie Brown-esque, as we purchased it a few years ago for our small duplex, but it dresses up acceptably well. Naomi's section of the tree is a bit, shall we say, "busy"

but all in all still evokes a festive spirit in the house. The rest of our decorating is relatively simple--some stockings and garland on the mantel with a nativity and a few Christmas bears and elves (garnered from my childhood) perched above. A bright, felt Advent tree, with my great great aunt's antique buttons in rows on the bottom to pin on the tree as ornaments each day leading up to Christmas. A wreath on the door with bright red ribbons on the porch beams, and a goal yet unaccomplished to cut some greenery from the area around our house to hang. Perhaps this weekend!

Fall 2008!

Busy Busy Busy Fall. Typical for us.

Summer 2008!

We took several trips this year and also had fun camping.

Springtime 2008!

We had a lovely spring. I'll post more about it soon.

Good Morning!

I've wanted to post a bit of video on here for ages, and finally took some this morning. Naomi is all smiles when she wakes up--enjoy!

Snow Day!

Here in Roanoke, we had the first significant accumulation of snow in 2 years. Four inches, which "down here" is enough to close all schools, cancel many other events, and send Paul home from work after just a few hours. We had fun outdoors with Naomi, and enjoyed the extra time at home together. Hooray for snow days!

Growing growing growing!

I can't believe how quickly time goes by with Naomi in our lives. You'd think I'd be able to do so many different things while at home during the day, but somehow it just doesn't happen that way! Naomi is growing and thriving and is, of course, as cute as ever! Her current favorite passtimes are: sucking on her feet, bathtime, grabbing everything to shove into her mouth, kisses on her cheeks and tummy, and giggling, squealing, & babbling away. She actually rolled from her back to her stomach on the 5th, but hasn't done it again since. Maybe this is because she does NOT like "tummy time" and wasn't particularly pleased to find herself in that position! Here are just a few pictures from the last month or so.

One of my favorite naptime pics!

This is actually from mid-November when she was first really holding rattles, etc. Now she is quite good at grasping toys or anything else she can reach, switching from hand to hand, and of course "tasting" each and every thing!

Cute smile in one of my old shirts that my mom saved and washed up for us!

This is Naomi, Mona, Ian, and Hannah at brunch in early December. We have had a good time keeping in touch with some of our natural childbirth classmates and the newest additions!

Out shopping in Charlottesville for one of Naomi's Christmas present. She loved being carried in our pretty woven wrap.
Bathtime fun!

Christmas Eve with cousins Rayna and Kyle. I need to get some more Christmas pictures from my family though, because it seems that we took some video, but they got the good still shots...

Is it too late for Halloween pics?

Ok, so I created this blog to keep folks updated and keep in touch, but I obviously haven't been doing such a great job of posting. I can't believe how full my days are. I really do mean to update the blog, write emails, etc. etc. but somehow things that require two hands such as typing take a backseat to other tasks and people, especially a certain someone! Anyway, here are some great pictures that we took of Naomi at Halloween, and I will post another entry soon with some other more recent pics. Enjoy!

Two years old!

We enjoyed celebrating our niece Emily's 2nd birthday in Lynchburg earlier this month.

Two months old!

It's hard to believe that Naomi is a little over two months old already. Time has flown by, and we were long overdue for an update here on the blog.

Welcome to our website!

I've spent a good bit of time in the last few days putting these posts and pictures together to look back over the past five weeks. Each new entry appears at the top of the page so that it's the first thing you see when you visit, which is nice in the future if you want to check for an update. This time though, if you want to start at her birth, you'll have to go to the bottom of the page and scroll up to follow in chronological order. With so many friends and family scattered around the country (and the world!) I hope these brief entries and pictures are enjoyable and help us stay connected! Enjoy!

time flies...

We were so lucky that Paul could stay home for a full month after Naomi was born. In the last week or two, we enjoyed getting out of the house a bit for visits, walks, and a few errands. One afternoon we spent about an hour on this greenway that runs outward from Salem...



As you can see from this picture, Naomi is certainly thriving! Her one month pediatric visit was on Monday, and she weighed 8lbs 13oz--that's over two pounds up from her discharge weight of 6lbs 12oz!

Of course, as you can see in this picture taken two days earlier, Naomi still isn't so big overall...

Just a few more pictures to enjoy--naptime bliss...

And a cute pose and smile in her Juniata College Peace onsie...

mommy and me

Naomi's first time in her sling--quite snuggly and comfy. She sometimes protests (as in screams and cries!) for a few seconds when I pop her in, but then she has fallen asleep every single time within minutes. She's happy and feels safe, I'm happy and have my hands free!

First nap together in the hospital

"Talking" with each other at my parents' house in PA

Out for a walk in Salem

Quite content after a nice meal

daddy and me

Proud papa not long after Naomi arrived!

Paul on his sorry little fold out chair "bed" in the hospital room with Naomi on our first night

Another naptime picture! Paul is wonderful at calming Naomi, and she also loves to snuggle with him and sleep on his chest.

Naomi's first stroller ride for our greenway walk

roadtrip(s)!

After two weeks of settling in at home, we were ready (and many people were very anxious!) to get out and introduce Naomi to friends and family. We took a short (1 hour) trip to Lynchburg to visit Paul's grandmother, mother and father...

And then traveled up to PA to visit my family. Naomi did beautifully, and this picture captures what she did for most of the trip. We stopped to nurse twice up and back, and she thankfully slept the remainder of the time!


Lots of people were very excited to meet Naomi, including my sister Rachel (isn't this a lovely picture?). After two kids of her own, Rachel was great at calming Naomi down when fussy and helping with baths, etc.

Rachel's kids--Kyle and Rayna

My mom and Rayna with Naomi. Rayna was quite enamored with Naomi, and is still asking about the baby even though we're gone. She was full of kisses for Naomi, and wanting to play pat-a-cake with her over and over again!

Kyle did a great job with Naomi too, and was a big help in bringing her things, singing songs, and holding her!

My mom's family over to visit--about 25 people! It was so good to visit with everyone, introduce Naomi, and spend time with family and friends. My mom and Aunt Kay with the next generation of kids--Naomi, Kyle, Rayna, Trinity (my cousin Katrina's daughter who was born the same week as Kyle), and Levi (my cousin Adam's son born 3 months earlier than Naomi). Holidays are becoming more and more fun!