A trip to the mall...

A very different kind of mall...

We took a break from cleaning up the townhouse on Saturday to take a trip to the National Mall where Abby slept through her first tour of our nation's capital.

I finally got to see the World War II memorial, which I've wanted to see ever since Grandpa got a notice in the mail years ago notifying him that construction would begin soon. He would have loved to have seen it completed, and I know he would have enjoyed looking up his name in the registry at the monument. We took a picture next to the Texas column at the memorial for him.

I'm sure we'll be making plenty of trips back to tour the rest of the monuments since we're only a half an hour away. For now...enjoy our pictures of Abby's first capital experience.

There was a little girl who had a little curl...

So I thought it would be cute to twirl Abby's few hairs into a little curl after bathtime. And it was, in fact, very cute. I had no idea how long this little curl would last, however. Two days later, the curl remains. She doesn't seem to mind too much.

What a month...

It's hard to believe that just a month ago Justin and I were sitting in our home in Kennesaw with our lives on hold, wondering when Abby would arrive. A new baby, hundreds of boxes and almost 600 miles later, here we are in Virginia, trying desperately to get settled. The move went smoothly, and we're slowly but surely making our way through all these boxes and starting to make this little townhouse into a home.

Our weekend in Gainesville before we headed up here was a nice reprieve for the three of us. Abby got to spend some time with her grandparents and meet a lot of friends who had been anxiously awaiting her arrival, including her great aunt Judy. I enjoyed being able to relax a little and let other people continue to make me dinner. With all the meals our friends brought us in Kennesaw and the ones I had frozen that we've been eating since we got to Virginia, it's been about a month since I've really cooked a meal for us. It's getting a little chilly here in the evenings...I think I see some prize-winning chili in our future.

One of the highlights of our final days in Georgia was a visit from my friend Megan and her daughter Neely. Megan and I sang on the bus together in elementary school, navigated the halls together in middle school and caused trouble together on the newspaper staff in high school. Now here we are with little girls of our own, praying that they'll enjoy the same kind of time-tested friendships one day.

Mom and I made the long trip up to Virginia with Abby a day after Justin and his dad drove up. Abby did great on the drive, although all the stopping to tend to food and poop and fussiness did add about four hours to the drive. We managed to get into a nice routine on each stop that allowed mom to walk around and stretch her legs while I fed Abby, then I got to do the same while mom burped her. (We took advantage of one of our stops to detour off the main drag for some North Carolina BBQ. It wasn't quite Williamson Brothers, but it was still a nice treat.)

Abby and I celebrated her one-month birthday with a trip to Clemyjontri Park for a play date with the wife and daughter of one of Justin's new coworkers. (Play date, for a one-month-old, involves sleeping while mommy enjoys some much-needed adult conversation.) And now, by special request, here's the first in what will be a very long series that I'd like to call Pictures of Abby being cute. Enjoy!

Abby, sound asleep, missing out on the coolness of the very colorful park.

Time really does fly when you're having fun...

We're wrapping up our second week as a family of three and truly can't believe how wonderful this all is! (We also can't believe we have a two week old already...this is still pretty surreal.)

Abby's getting a lot more active and has finally seemed to learn the difference in her days and nights. She sleeps pretty soundly through the night every night, and only barely wakes up when I have to feed her.

Feeding, by the way, is something she's become quite proficient at. In fact, our little girl has a tendency of feeding so thoroughly that she actually wears herself out and often has to pause to catch her breath. (Note the drool in the picture...very ladylike indeed!)

We're having a blast watching her as she becomes more and more expressive, and find ourselves overusing the phrase "Look at the cute face she's making!" quite often.

Abby's had lots of visitors this week as we try to get in a few moments with our friends before heading off to Virginia in a few days. It's hard to believe moving day is almost here! Justin's grandmother said it best: life certainly is an adventure! (I'm sure I'll know just what kind of adventure it is after that ten-hour car ride with a three week old.)

Abby got to meet her paternal great-grandparents for the first time this week and, as usual, slept through the entire visit. I can only imagine how exciting it must be to hold the fourth generation of your family in your arms!

On Sunday the family joined us at church for Abby's baptism--the youngest baptism our pastor thinks he's ever done! Our little girl looked gorgeous in the gown Justin's mom made for her. What an exciting day, and what an awesome reminder of the tremendous responsibility we've been given as stewards of this covenant child. At one point in the service, Pastor Mike turned to the congregation and asked for all those who would support little Abby (and her parents) in prayer as she grows up to raise their right hand. Seeing our whole church family show their support gave me the same sense of awe that I felt when the doors swung open on our wedding day and everyone in attendance stood up as I walked down the aisle--it was an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort knowing that we're not alone in this...that this little girl is going to grow up surrounded by the body of Christ, and covered in prayer through every milestone. What a blessing for our family!

As week two drew to a close, we found the adrenaline wearing off and the lack of sleep, frequent feedings, cabin fever and general weariness setting in. So we wound up our week the way any new parents should: with a nap.


Stay tuned for more pictures of Abby being cute...coming soon. :)

What a week...

Everyone warned us that time would fly with Abby, and they were so right! We can hardly believe that our little baby is a week old already! And what a week it's been...

The labor and delivery went very smoothly, and the whole process was such a blessing and a joy. After checking into the hospital late last Saturday night we called the grandparents-to-be and settled into our hospital room for what they told us would probably be a long night. We tried our best to catch a few minutes of sleep in between nurses coming to check me and the baby, and were pleasantly surprised when they told me I could start pushing at a little after 5 a.m. (We had been told it would probably be mid-afternoon before Abby was born.) Just a few pushes later, and Abby finally made her grand debut at 5:48!

Soon after the delivery was over and Abby had been cleaned up and handed back to us, the nurses left us alone with her for a little while, giving us the opportunity to bond with her and pray over her during her first minutes of life. What a special moment for our family! We knew we had some anxious family members waiting just down the hall, though, so Justin went out to the waiting room and gave them the news they'd been waiting to hear: it was finally time to meet little Abby!

We had so many visitors while we were in the hospital, and we are especially thankful for the friends who brought us dinner to spare us having to eat the awful hospital food! On Tuesday we finally got to bring our baby girl home and were so relieved to be out of the hospital. Abby did great on the car ride home and transitioned well into her new environment. Her dad and I, meanwhile, are still figuring out this whole parenting thing. It helps that Abby sleeps most of the day. She has a few hours of fussy time at night, but aside from that, it seems we have been blessed with a pretty content little baby. We'll see how that changes as time goes by.

Our church family has been a tremendous help in providing meals for us as we transition into our new role as mom and dad, and having Justin working from home is a big plus as well. Not many new dads get to play with their babies on their lunch break!

Friday Abby went to the doctor for the first time, where she pooped four times in under twenty minutes. Apparently this is a good indication that she's eating enough, because she weighed in at one ounce over her birth weight, which means she had put on seven ounces since coming home from the hospital. Our little girl eats like a champ!

The cabin fever finally set in on Friday and I just had to get out of the house, so we took Abby on her first outing where she not only got to experience her first trip to the grocery store, but also felt her first wind and saw her first rain. It seems her big night wore her right out, because she got the best night sleep she'd had so far that night. Saturday Justin's parents came to visit their granddaughter and took Abby to her first BBQ joint. We think she liked it.

We could hardly believe it when Sunday rolled around and we woke up with a one-week-old! Time does fly, and much too quickly! Abby started off her one-week birthday by sleeping soundly through her first church service and going to lunch with Christina's parents. Now we're off to see what week two has in store for our new family. It's been quite an adventure so far, and I'm loving my new job as a full-time mom. Justin described it well: mine is a job with no pay, no vacation days, and no weekends off...but it has the best benefits in the world. The trials of adjusting to life with a newborn pale in comparison to the joy and richness she's brought to our family. We are overwhelmed with thanksgiving as we think of all that God has given us in bringing this tiny miracle into our lives! We can't wait to see what the future holds...