So BIG

Our little Anne Louise has come so far. She was barely bigger than Daddy's hand when she was born. She has taught me so much... patience, faith, gratitude, love... The other day I cooked a meal for someone who has twins in the NICU. It felt so good to give back.

Look at how she has grown. We have been through a lot this past year, but I am so grateful for all of it.

She is smiling all the time. She will let me put her on her stomach for more than .5 seconds. She is becoming much more vocal. We just love this girl.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. We have been so blessed with wonderful family and friends.

For Krantin and Banjo... What a Weekend

So... we have these friends that we are forever in an epic battle/competition with. Once in Sunday school Andrew and Grant decided they would compete with each other to see who could be the better couple us or them. It has never stopped. They have a sweet little guy who has HLHS and so we decided to have a little girl with Dandy Walker just to keep up. They move in with their grandparents we move in with our parents. He stayed in the NICU so did Anne. He goes to the emergency room all the time and gets open heart surgeries... well we couldn't be outdone. So Andrew and Anne and I got together in a family council to discuss how to out do the Stoddards. Anne felt she would sacrifice eating correctly and that would do the trick. What a girl always looking out for our family. Such a sacrifice. So once she was down to only eating 10 oz a day and throwing up frequently we thought it was time to go see the pediatrician who promptly sent us to Primary Children's ER. Finally success. Anne was there all day taking all sorts of tests. She knew she couldn't tell the Dr what was wrong or she would never out do Lucas. Finally after much time and testing the Dr finally discovered it was Acid Reflux with some Esophogitus. What a clever girl. I never would have that of that. So now we are feeding her 2 oz every two hours and holding her upright for 45 min after each feed to be sure she doesn't hurl any more. Here are some neat pictures of our trip.

For Kristen who loves horses.

Keep it up champ you got um fooled

Getting exhausted from not eating and having an IV what a trooper

Please no pictures

Annie-Lou-Who

Okay so there is a story to go along with this video. I was taking pictures of sweet lil Anne and enjoying her good mood. I'm sure you heard the little toots Anne let out coupled with her cute gummy smiles. I took pictures and it was great. Then the camera died... then I noticed...... POOP! She had pooped all out the side of her diaper the whole time she was innocently grinning at me! What a lil stinker! At least she is cute. I shoulda known... she was grunting the whole time.

FHE Family Fun Time

So tonight for FHE instead of watching House like usual (don't worry it was only because that darn Kerry Underwood had a show that canceled House... I know we are terrible people) we decided to come up with your celebrity family name. For those of you who don't know what a celebrity name is it is when a celebrity couple combines their name to make a new name so the media can refer to them quickly and make us jealous and all want one for ourselves...

These are the results:
LordWins
Linwords
ShAnneDrew
ShilAnneDrew
AnneLowRew
Anlohne
ShiDrewNe

So the first two names are more like Lord Voldemort where you just rearrange the letters. Anyway. Let the voting begin. Pick your favorite. You could even suggest one of your own. Just take Andrew Shiloh and Anne and combine it in a neat way! See, FHE fun for all!

Thanksgiving And Then Some.

Grandma and Grandpa Treglown got to hold Anne. It was pretty cute. Grandpa is convinced he is terrible with babies and they will all cry the moment he touches them. Anne was perfectly well behaved. He was surprised. Thus the face below.

Mom decided we should do pictures with all of us before Thanksgiving dinner. So here is all of us mostly clean and dressed and happy. Happy Holidays.

We had a pretty good spread. I ate way to much. I made some of my Mom's famous cream cheese jello and it turned out pretty good. I love the Holidays with family.

Andrew and I look like we are in a fight in this picture... we aren't. Seriously though. He looks like he is trying to drive a point and I look like I don't agree but I will just go with it. Aren't we the cutest.

As Promised!

So we have been home almost 3 weeks and I have taken barely any pictures. Sorry. We are just busy busy busy. Anne is starting to track things with her eyes which is about right if she was born when she was due. We found a dimple in her smile which just melts hearts. She is just cute. She sleeps a ton! I am working on letting her be more active during the short windows of awake time. Tummy time not so much she doesn't like it unless she is on your tummy not the ground. Andrew is home for Thanksgiving week which is wonderful. I actually did my hair two days in a row and put on makeup!!! Anne finally got approved for Medicaid. Andrew and I don't qualify because we have $900 to much in our bank account.... not for long. Anyway... pictures as promised.

Auntie Stacey with Baby Anne

Baby with a Bow

How we feel after a long night of feeding Anne

Home Where My Musics Playin Home Where My Love Lifes Waitin...

You heard right! We are finally home and mostly settled in. Still working on a schedule because we definitely need one with Andrew riding the bus for 1 1/2 hours both ways, pumping, feeding, showering, eating (it is 10:17 and I haven't had anything but gummy bears), sleeping. Luckily I have a wonderful mother-in-law who bathed Anne today and watches her while I shower. We got home Sunday Afternoon and Mom had decorated the house with a big welcome home sign and a bunch of ribbons. Anne is the cutest little thing and it is so great to finally spend time with her in my own space. However, parenthood is going to take some getting used to. Like Andrew said late late last night.... "It's a good thing she is cute." She still struggles with bottle feeding and preparing her bottle still takes a rocket scientist but we manage. Giving her vitamins is another story... not a fan. She does however like her Prevacid it tastes fruity which I'm sure must be a real treat compared to what she normally gets. She really knows how to tell you what she likes and doesn't like. Its kinda funny actually... she will fuss and cry when you are bugging her but the instant the bugging (like changing any manor of apparel) stops... crying stops and she is fine. Like a light switch seriously. We are slowly letting close family meet her and hold her. Just two at a time and only after they wash their hands. Sorry for being so paranoid everybody but you would too if your baby spent its first two months of life in the NICU. One thing I have learned... she is so grunty and noisy! Its not a problem for her to wake us up in the middle of the night... no need for tears just grunt grunt grunt. Its funny except I'm tired when she does it. Well thanks for your prayers and thoughts. Sorry if this is to long and boring. Pictures to follow.