Rich, Heather and Alana’s Blog

Well, today marks 3 weeks since we brought Alana home with us from the hospital. And it’s been a blast ever since! We’re not understanding the big fuss about how difficult it is to raise children. We’re pro’s now and are now thinking of writing a book on raising perfect children. Okay, whom ever heard the sarcasm in those past few sentences receives a star. It’s been really tough with sprinkles of moments of cuteness and peace and quiet. But we’re getting more used to it and Alana is starting to get on a schedule. So, despite what we were thinking in the first week — we are going to survive… hopefully. To celebrate these three weeks, I thought I’d post some pics from our daily adventures of raising a newborn…

We start in the hospital. We had a lot of friends visit us. In fact, one of the nurses was pretty upset about how many people were in our room at the same time (I believe we had 18 in there at once). I did a HORRIBLE job of documenting the wonderful friends that came to visit. So if I didn’t get your pic… I’m going to blame it on the excitement of the situation of seeing you…and sleep deprivation.

Here’s my mom holding Alana:

My dad has some of the largest hands and fingers I know. It was a treat to see Alana grasping his fingers:

Our very first visitors were our really good friends Jeff and Amber! They were so kind to come visit us. Unfortunately, my camera focused on the wall behind us so the picture is blurry (not my fault, of course… heheh)

Heather’s friend Naomi came to see us. She was kind enough to bring diapers… a parents best friend:

Of course, the incredible Holritz family came to see us! As everyone knows, Amber documented our time at the hospital… but the rest of the fam came with her later that day. It was so fun seeing how excited their little girl (Addison) was to finally see the baby that was in Heather’s tummy for 9 months! So cute.

Then there was Heather’s dad holding his first grandchild. I found out that I didn’t take one photo of Heather’s mom holding Alana. I’m horrible but promise to do better when they come up in about a week.

Heather’s sister Amber came all the way from South Dakota to meet her new niece! It was so nice having her help that first week and we can’t wait to see her and her husband again at Christmas!

My uncle brought my grandmother up to Tennessee to see her new great-granddaughter. I didn’t get a photo of him holding Alana since I don’t think he’s ever held a newborn in his life… but you never know… at Christmas when he comes back, he may surprise us! If he does, I’ll be sure to document it. Here’s Me-Maw holding Alana:

Here’s the Alana that everyone knows:

Here’s the Alana that we know:

heheh

But if any baby can have a cute cry… Alana does. She does this cough cry and then either goes past her vocal range or gets so high that only dogs can hear it…she looks like she’s crying but nothing is coming out. She’s probably just her catching her breath to belt out some more. Everything with this girl is drama. If she’s a little hungry, you’d think the world was coming to an end. Like we’re torturing her and she just wants to continue to remind us what a bad job we’re doing as parents.

Then there’s the rare moment when our daughter is not so cute. We love this photo of our little alien child: Check the hand on the forehead… again… oh the drama. heheh

Now cute pics of Alana:

Mom with child:

How Heather’s been blogging and checking e-mail lately:

First two weeks, we had a little frog on our hands. She rarely stretched out. But now she’s slowly starting to feel more comfortable putting those legs out there. Here’s one of her kickin’ back during a feeding:

Sleeping Alana:

Alana getting ready for a ride in the car:

One more photo for now (I promise). Sometimes on occasion, Alana is a very very happy baby. Check out her cute smile!

I’m going to document her waking up from a deep sleep on of these days. She does the most amazing faces as she stretches and yawns! But that can wait until next time!