Anna, Baby Blake, and Oregon

Baby Anna arrived at 4:09pm this afternoon. She weighed 8lbs, 13 oz and 20" long. I have pictures that my dad took with his Blackberry, but I'm not allowed to post pictures before Anna's parents. They plan to do that tomorrow morning of pictures taken with their digital camera. I'll see them at the same time everyone else does, but I'll save and post them here on Thursday at some point.

I'm very excited for the arrival of my niece, I'm just a little on the exhausted side so my adjectives are escaping me (I actually had to sit here and think "What is that 'a' word for describing things?"). I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to be at Anna's birth. I feel selfish for wanting clearer pictures of her because I know my family is busy tonight and I'll get to see her tomorrow. I don't like being the family member that is absent from things...I'm fortunate to live only 3 hours away by car instead of 3 hours away by plane, but when things like this happen and I can't be there it's really hard.

Really - enough of my pity party...it's not about me. It was a happy day because my niece was born. She's cute, fat, and apparently nursing well. My sister will probably be released tomorrow at some point.

Today was bittersweet in a way because while my sister was in labor, my friends' 3 month old baby passed away. He was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 at birth and was only given a week to live. The little fighter battled for 3 more months before going home to see Jesus. I ache for his parents and family, but pray and know that the Lord will comfort them. The Master gives and He takes away. Pray for the Dickey family.

On a less emotional note (seriously, today was an emotional day), my sweet husband volunteered to paint my toenails. My feet are so pitifully swollen that it hurts to wear regular shoes. But I can't comfortably reach my toes to paint them so I would have been embarassed to wear flip flops or sandals that show off my miserably chipped-polish toes. So, D painted them. I think he did a pretty good job.

Sorry if you're one of those people who hate feet. I should have warned you.

Here are a couple of pictures from our Oregon weekend last weekend. I really liked this one of D and my nephew (the new big brother!), Caleb.

Oh, and here's the fortune I got at my favorite restaurant, Happy Panda. Hmmmmm....
And here is a picture of my younger sister, Lindsay, and her husband Craig after her baby shower on Saturday. They're standing by his truck that's been loaded up with all of the neat baby items she got. There's also a picture of Caleb helping carry out some of the items. In this picture he's carrying the Baby Bjorn that my sweet grandparents bought for Lindsay & Craig.


That's all for tonight. Thanks for stopping by. I'm sure I'll have a lot more photos after this weekend. My sweet friend, Sarah, took more belly pictures of my sisters and me on Sunday since Carrie was about to pop so as soon as I get those I will post them here.

Happy Thursday!