Made it to Clear Lake!

Todd's mother Gail and her sister Karen with Lena, fresh off the road

We finally made it to Clear Lake to Todd's parent's house. The next day was Todd's 41st birthday. We had a party at the house with lots of fried seafood. His sister Amy and nephew Ryan came along with his grandparents, Bettye and Van. Lena fell asleep in Amy's arms. Way to go Amy!

Lena and I stretching our legs outside after the car ride.

Lena in her party dress.

Todd and Lena, her fingers perfectly laced

"Oh Dad!"

Amy and sleepy Lena

Amy and Lena

Todd's grandparents, Lena's great-grandparents

Lena on great-grandmother Bettye's lap, while I slept on the couch.

Visiting My Uncle (Lena's Great-Uncle)

Finally, I'm posting more pictures from our trip to Houston (lots more to go!). Here we are on Thursday, June 16, at the beginning of the trip getting ready to head down to Houston. We stopped in north Houston at my uncle Jarold's house. This was his first time to see Lena. We had a great visit. Afterwards, it was time to finish the drive south to Clear Lake, which ended up taking 1 1/2 hours thanks to Houston traffic. We were beat when we finally made it in.

Anne, Lena, and Jarold

Jarold and Lena

Jarold and Lena

Water Baby

Lena and I have been going to Emler's swim class on Wednesdays. Sydney and Misty are in our class. Misty took this picture. Lena likes to splash and kick in the water. We sing songs and play games. Lena is enjoying her baths in the big baby tub at home too.

I'll have more photos from Houston up soon. I'm having some computer network and connectivity issues that hopefully will be resolved soon.

First Father's Day

We went to Houston to celebrate Todd's first father's day and 41st birthday. We have tons of new pictures to share, but I'll start with this video shot by Todd's sister Amy of Lena in Todd's mother's lap. It was such a nice trip, even though the drive back took 8 hours to drive from Houston to Dallas because of wildfires along I45. I'm glad we made it home.

Funny Bunny

Todd took this series of photos on Sunday. I've been referring to her rabbit as Funny Bunny. She likes to look at it. As you can see her eyes are still really blue.

BFF

We had our friends Misty and Brian over for dinner on Monday with their little girl Sydney. She was born five days after Lena. I think they're going to be great friends. Wednesday we started our Bathtime Baby swim class at Elmer's Swim School. Sydney and Misty are in our class. Lena loved the water and kicked really hard. Being in a big warm pool was much better than taking a bath on the patio. I appreciated how light Lena was in the water. Hopefully, I'll figure out a way to get some pictures of swim school.

Sydney and Lena

Sydney, Brian and Misty

Anne and Lena (before I had to change her outfit again)

P.S. For those of you viewing from a distance I should add, Sydney is not a small baby. It's just that Lena is exceptionally large. She's over 15 lbs. at 12 weeks. We're meeting babies much older than her that she outweighs and actually, I think Lena is pretty lean in a pudgy baby kind of way. :)

Lena and Teddy (and bath)

Todd bought Lena a Binkie Bear. It's a very soft little stuffed bear with a pacifier looped through on one hand. It's very cute and cuddly. By the way, in these photos Lena is wearing the little bird shirt that our friend Jana made. In the bottom photo you can see that Lena is getting her first bath in the big baby tub. Since it was already 100 degrees outside I decided to try the bath on the back patio. She wasn't too keen about being on her back and the water wasn't as warm as I usually have it.

Lena Laughing

Lena surprised us on Sunday by spontaneously laughing! Todd was asking me what toys we had for her so I was pulling them each out and demonstrating the toy to him. I shook a floppy bunny and then a rattle and Lena started chuckling with a straight face and big gaguffs of laughter until she was full on laughing! Then she did it again and again. We caught one on video.
(I'm sorry if the video doesn't work on iPhone or iPads. I'm running it through Blogger and it appears fine on computers, but not mobile devices. Sorry.)

Play Time

Lena has been playing by herself really well lately. We have her play gym set up on the floor with a mirror for her tummy time and toys attached to the side of the crib. Although she has a bib on in the first couple of pictures, I'm not using a bib when she's laying down anymore just in case it might get under her while she pulled against it. As you can see she has lots of color and patterns to look at. I also just put up a new mobile with a butterfly and bugs. Her butterfly toy on the side of her crib is one of her favorite toys. She loves to pull the rings.

So Many Good Things!

My mom and Lena

Here are more pictures from the shower on May 22. My mom took a number of these images. I was so happy to have all of my sisters there and to receive so many lovely handmade things from them.

Sarah and Lena

Lena and Anne

Karen and Lena

Amanda and Lena 

Meet "Libby" the doll my mom made for Lena, just like the ones she made for us. 

Sarah made a needlepoint birth announcement for Lena's room with cute pink buttons sewn on the sides.

Karen made a really cute crocheted bib. She also made a beautiful afghan that she gave me at Lena's baby shower in January. (Two weeks before the diaper shower Amanda gave us a darling yellow afghan that she made.)

Mom also made a silhouette with Lena's full name and date of birth in the shape of a girl with pen and ink.

The delicious spread provided by the ladies throwing the shower.

The centerpiece: a diaper cake by Sandy Foute.  Cute!

All Dolled Up

Sunday, May 22, we went to a party for Lena. My mother's Sunday school class threw a baby diaper shower for us! I was so overwhelmed by their generosity, thoughtfulness, and kindness towards our family. I also enjoyed sharing the shower with my mom and sisters and the handmade gifts they gave. I'm breaking the shower down into multiple posts. Here, you can see that Lena is dressed to the nines. She has on a slip, fancy frilly underpants, ruffled sock, satin shoes, and a bow--all courtesy of Todd's Aunt Karen, except for the bow.

Lena and a pile of presents

Lena told a joke.

My mom feeding Lena.

Yummy milk.

Sarah and Lena