Easter

I stayed up late Saturday night before Easter finishing my girls Easter dresses, headband, bonnet etc and planning our Easter morning breakfast and dinner with friends. Unfortunately, Laura woke up sick. She didn't even touch my easter breakfast biscuits that were shaped like a bunny and instead of dressing her up in her cute Easter dress, Laura spent the morning in her pajamas like this: You know Laura is sick when she falls asleep during the daytime. We had to skip out on a yummy ham and potato Easter dinner with friends. Instead we ate deviled eggs and veggies with hummus. And our bunny cake. I pretty much ate this whole bunny cake myself. I used the carrot cake recipe from Our Best Bites and holy cow, it was delicious. Seriously, so good. I did get some pics of them in the Easter dress this past week. Annie refused to smile for any of my pics, which is unlike her! So all I've got are these serious faces. Laura was much more predictable in her pictures. This pretty much captures her personality perfectly. Annie is growing up way too fast. She just got her first tooth this week and for the first time today, she got up on her hands and knees like she was going to crawl. She is such a happy, content baby! I just have to look at her and she starts smiling and laughing. I love her chubby little cheeks.

Peter's Christmas Present

For Peter's Christmas present I had my friend take some pics of the girls to frame for Peter's office. She did a great job. Annie is so much easier these days when it comes to taking pictures. Laura was all over the place and we had to bribe her to get her to hold still. Annie on the other hand was, as usual, smiley and easy going about the whole ordeal.

Deanna's Blessing

We blessed Deanna on Sunday. Grandpa Munk flew to Atlanta to be here for the blessing. Among other things, Peter blessed her to follow her Grandma, Deanne Fielding, example of faithfulness and dilligence. Annie cried through the whole blessing. She was so loud that when Peter got done blessing her, the congregation started laughing.

Halloween

I love Halloween. There is nothing better than little kids in costumes. And since I love sewing clothes for my girls, there is nothing better than designing some fun, crazy costume. This year, Laura was too old to pick her costume for her and she insisted on choosing for herself. For a while, I couldn't convice her to be anything that was worth sewing. Finally I convinced her to be something that would make both of us happy: Cruella DeVille. I loved that I would get to dress her up in something girly and she loved that she was "the bad guy who steals all the puppies and puts them in cages."

We dressed Annie up as a dalmation puppy.

Some family pics:

Is it just me, or does Annie look just like her daddy? Seriously, she is like a mini Peter.

Three weeks old tomorrow

I can't believe how fast three weeks has flown by. It makes me sad because I don't want Annie to grow up so fast. I love this sleepy newborn stage where I can snuggle up to her and we can take a nap on the couch while Laura watches cartoons for an hour. She sleeps pretty well at night too. We have a hard time getting her to sleep some nights, but once she is asleep she will sleep for 4-5 hours before waking up and needing to be fed. Laura loves having a baby sister and is constantly showering her with kisses and hugs.

Last weekend we also had a fun visit with Peter's sister Cyndie and her family. It was so fun to have some family come visit. Laura had a great time with her older cousins and loves her new train set they brought her. Hooray for having family closer by!

Deanna Munk

Deanna (Annie) Munk was born Monday, August 20 at 3:11. After waiting and waiting for the last 9 months, I finally convinced our doctor to let us be induced at 40 weeks and 3 days. I have never gone into labor on my own and am doubtful that my body can actually do that. I don't mind being induced, in fact I like that I can pack my bags, clean my house and vacuum my floor and leave for the hospital with out feeling any pain. Here I am with my "humongous" belly right before we left.(Laura loved to tell me I was humongous.)

They started me with cervadil at about 10 pm. At 9am the next morning I was dialated to a 2 and they broke my water. The contractions started to get closer and stronger and I got an epidural. By 3 pm, we were ready to push the baby out and after 3 very quick pushes, she was here! It always surprises us how fast it goes at the end. She was 6 lbs 14 oz, 18 1/2 inches long. I think she is beautiful and when she opens her eyes she looks just like her daddy.

Ready and Waiting

We told Laura several months ago that the baby comes in August. She has been asking constantly since then "Is it August yet?" Now that it is August, she is a little confused and impatient. I am feeling the same way! The due date is not until this Thursday, but it seems that everyone keeps telling me that the baby will probably come early and for some reason I believed them. I don't know why I would believe the random lady at the grocery store or gym who tells me that it looks like I am ready, but I guess you believe what you want to hear. Anyways, they are all wrong. This baby is apparently waiting for her due date. I used to go to bed every night with a clean house and all my laundry done, just in case the baby came. Now I am saving my laundry up for a normal size load instead of mini daily loads since I obviously am not having this baby anytime soon. With my past 2 pregnancies I was induced. I am not even sure my body knows how to go into labor by myself. I am hoping to convince my doctor at my appt tomorrow to schedule an induction for Thursday, my due date. I have been spending the time getting everything ready for the baby. I finished her crib bedding.

I made this bird mobile to hang above her crib. Peter isn't so sure he wants sticks hanging above our little baby's head, but I think it turned out really cute.

I am not a quilter, but I had so much fun making this little baby quilt. Laura loves it and sleeps with it every night. She is going to be mad when the baby comes and she has to share it. (Sorry about the big belly in the picture. It was hard to hold the camera far enough out that it didn't catch any belly.)

I found this awesome wood doll house at a yard sale for FREE! It was covered in marker and crayon marks and needed some love. I painted it up and modge podged some cool paper to the inside walls and I love it. Now I need to get some cute furniture and dolls to put in it. I think I did it more for me than Laura since Laura could care less about dolls. But, I'm sure my next little girl is going to be my girly girl.

Laura got a new bed spread and some pillows as well. That bed spread just about killed my fingers because I had to sew each of those silly knots by hand. The bed also got a coat of some bright red paint and I painted and reupholstered my thrifted rocking chair to match.

I have also been sewing some clothes for the baby and I couldn't resist sewing a few matching outfits for my two girls.

On another topic, we recently returned from a visit to WA where I got to see all my siblings and Laura got to spend time with all her Fielding cousins. In spite of the fact that I was 34-36 weeks pregnant, we had so much fun. I love spending time with my family. We also got to go visit Angelica's grave. It has been over a year since we said goodbye to her and it was a very sweet and emotional experience to be back in that cemetary that now holds so many memories. Laura was excited to put a flower on her little sister's grave.

We buried her in the same plot as my sister who passed away in a car accident when I was 4. It makes me very happy to have them together here as I hope they are in heaven right now.