Lucy: “I can’t believe Anna’s already a month old!”

John: “Why is there a baby in our house, and why are you calling me ‘Daddy?’”

Anna update:

Anna’s vision range has expanded considerably in the past week, which has fantastic benefits like enabling her to be happy looking around for a while (without constant entertainment).  She can also have both John and me in her effective field of vision at once.

Our most exciting news is that Anna has begun to consciously smile.  Which makes us smile. Which doesn’t yet make her smile, but will soon.   John and I were both privy to her first smile on Independence Day.  My parents and Megan, my sister, had entertained Anna much of the day while John and I recovered from burnout.  After they left, we had the time and energy for both of us to play with her.  (Often, when one of us is playing with her the other is wasting time doing things like brushing teeth.)  And she smiled at us!  We think.  We thought.  Now we’re pretty sure.

Today was also her first real bath!  Grandma (my mom) brought a waterproof tablecloth and many towels, prepared for a screaming, flailing child.  We steeled ourselves for a very unhappy child.  Anna loved the bath.  Really loved it.  She actually smiled while taking her first bath.  Parenthood is full of surprises.  She did start to fuss once she got cold, but that was ten minutes from the beginning of the bath.  I did manage to get a few pictures towards the end, but for the most part we were pretty busy trying to figure out how to bathe her.  And after all the rubber duckies we received, we forgot to have one in there for her first bath!  Ah, well.

For all of you on the hair-and-eye-color watch, her eyes are still blue (I really like dressing her in her cousin Josh’s hand-me-downs as they have some blue).  Her hair continues to lighten, just as John’s did when he was a baby.  I’m sure the fact that Anna is a summer baby who gets taken outside (albeit shaded) nearly every day helps.

Lots of pictures for you to see!  We’ve got meeting Aunt Megan, Donna, Ann Marie, Michelle, and Granpop Bill and Darlene.  Then there’s playtime with Daddy, a picture on her one month birthday with Mommy, and playtime with Grandma.  Or you can just go to our 2010 galleries here and browse. The below photos are from three different galleries.