Elizabeth's first week

Elizabeth has been doing GREAT!  She's a great sleeper - only waking up 2x a night or so - and is overall just a happy girl!  We've been enjoying a lot of family time with Steve home over the summer.  Here are some pics!

Anna has adjusted just fine to having a baby sister - every once in a while she points at her and says "BA-BEEE!" Then she goes along with her day.:)

Quick - which one is Anna's doll, which one is a human?

Anna has been entertained by all of my family coming over, which has been a huge help!  She spends a lot of time with Grammy, here reading her Bible.

Anna tries to share her peas with Elizabeth...

Anna also shared her block with the sleeping Elizabeth - when I woke up in the morning, this is what I saw...

So cute in too-big newborn sleepers!

Modesty, young one!  (Anna always got her arm out the neck-hole of this one too...)

While Steve was "playing with Anna" he ended up building a lego masterpiece!

Hangin' with Daddy...

Daniel Thompson (Thompson baby #6) was born the day after Elizabeth!  They "enjoyed" meeting each other for the first time:).

Life Before Elizabeth...

We did have some fun in the days leading up to Elizabeth's arrival, and while she sleeps, it's a good time to blog!

Both Daddy and Anna have been spending more time at the piano, Steve with Debussy and Anna with her own compositions.

Anna has also taken up a liking for my biography on Fanny Crosby, who some weeks memorized up to 5 chapters of the Bible!

Anna has specific desires about which piece of swingset equipment she wants to use at any given time.  If you don't submit to her desires, consequences WILL ensue!  However, the slide is usually a winner!

"Labor Day" included finishing all our house projects for the summer and reorganizing Anna's room - who would have known a day like that could be so productive?!

Oh, and I had to include this: what's better than Dairy Queen brought to your bedside after a long day of child-bearing?:)  Thanks Heather and Brian!

Welcome Elizabeth!

Elizabeth Susan showed up at 12:17am on July 21 (even though Steve thought it would be nice for her to be born on the 40th anniversary of the moonwalk, and on 7/20 in honor of WGN's radio station AM 720:). )  She's doing great, and so is the rest of the fam!

Grammy, Grandpa, Aunt Bo, and Anna visiting us at the hospital.

Mom of 2!

A self-portrait before going home

Aunt Bo even got the girls matching outfits...this is about as good as it got after trying to take about 50 shots of them together...Anna isn't much of a "sit and let's take a picture" girl the last couple days.  They are cute though!

More to come...

Shaggy no more

I finally gave in and decided Anna needed a haircut this morning when she looked like this:

So off we went to Cookie Cutters, the kids' haircut place I promised myself I would NEVER go, and Anna sat in the little pink car, watched the Baby Einstein video, and got her hair cut.  Now she looks very much like a little girl, and not so much like a baby. (sigh) Steve thinks it's funny that I was just a little sad when she got bangs.  

She came home with a red balloon (the joy of her existence all the way home), which she eyes warily.

She continues to be a happy girl!

Future Flag Girl Anna

Summer is the best!

Anna and I wore our hair similarly for a wedding this past weekend...let's just say we were at the same church as the wedding - we didn't quite get to see it.  Anna was too busy enjoying yelling "Dad-deeeee!" at one of the ushers.

And then Monday Anna enjoyed playing in the garage with Daddy, her flag, and her bike trailer - it was very entertaining for a LOOOOOOONG time!  Are you seeing another marching band flag girl in the making?

This morning I attempted to put Anna's hair in pigtails, but between my hair-doing inability and her unwillingness to sit very long, they turned out a little cockeyed...

But she always enjoys showing off her tummy and belly button:).

This is a fun age!

Birthday Fun

Birthdays do the darndest things.

This year it has impressed both Steve and I with the following question: do I really want what God wants for this life?  Am I getting distracted and being the third kind of soil - concerned with the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and desires for other things?  I must pursue God relentlessly so that He may create in me a unilateral desire for Him and His Kingdom alone.  

And so I plan to do that.  And along the way, the little joys of earthly life are fun as well!

The birthday started with a 6am walk and time at the park with Anna.  Anna likes to swing:).

We had a great day together as a family with Anna - she even learned to "color" with crayons.  We were going to have her go "swimming" but the water ended up too cold in her new backyard tiny turtle pool.  So she walked barefoot around the backyard in her suit diaperless while showing us her amazing ability to "woof" like a dog.

After that, Steve and I went out to dinner and afterwards ended up at Oberwiess, where I informed Steve I didn't want ice cream, and he said "We'll just get some to go."  And then we walk in and there are roughly 25 friends yelling "SURPRISE!!!" and singing to me - it WAS quite a surprise for sure!  Steve had planned the whole thing and dodged my other ideas about ditching dinner and just getting smoothie or going to a movie...he is clever:).  What a hub!

THEN we got home and our friend Chris emailed a birthday video from Portugal with some Portuguese people (Portugueseians?) where he is gathering prayers and video footage of various European countries for www.prayercast.com.  I must say no one in Portugal has ever wished me happy birthday before:).  Notice the guy on the left doesn't learn the song in English till the last line, while enjoying popcorn:). 

So, as we like to say in my family, "It was happy birthday after all."  

Thanks everyone!

Daddy-Daughter Weekend

Yesterday I got home from a sister hotel sleepover (during which we experienced Sonic Drive In and lots of ice-eating) and this image was on my desktop:

How sweet!

Yay for summer!

Summer is our favorite time!  To have time to just hang as a family, we are enjoying ourselves greatly.  So much so that it's been tough to prioritize updating the blog!

How does the Ed Sueta Beginner Clarinet book and other various violin music get in the bathtub?  I walked in one day, and there it was!!!

We spend good time with Uncle Dave, Aunt Sarah, and Cousin Lily earlier in June.  Lily and Anna got matching dresses from Grandma!

The next week we went to Swedish Days in Geneva and Anna got to "go fishing" at the library tent, getting leopard sunglasses as a prize!

Then we went to a garage sale and got Anna's new "bike" for $1!  She can only go backward, though, not forward.  She does, however, enjoy sitting on it a great deal.  We can be outside for an hour with her getting on and off of it!  

This past Monday we had a recording session for the upcoming OneWay album coming out - 12 violins, and they sounded awesome!  Can't wait to keep moving forward on this album, called "Light of the World."  It was neat to have former teacher collegues and some of Steve's students all participate as well as some new friends as well!  


So that's what we've been up to!