Washed Ashore

Pictures, pictures, pictures when grandma is here! I bet if she hadn't have been there I wouldn't have been brave enough for this next shoot. I had a vision in my mind of the exact picture I wanted of our little family so I was really excited to be able to have her here to make it happen. Then I had another brilliant idea for my super neat antique store find. Got to have beach pictures when you live this close.:)

Not to worry... Kyle was standing by to grab/rescue her in case ANYTHING tried to get anywhere near her!:) I was thinking this shot would be impossible, but when we got to the waters edge, the wind calmed and the sunlight got soft, and Anabelle was completely content in there!!:) She fell asleep and snuggled right in oblivious to where she was!
This was the one I wanted so bad and I love it. It is on our family room wall in a frame that Kyle made for us.

And this was the entire view:) She looks so mini!! Of course if we had planned to have our whole body in it we would have posed her more nicely. We were just trying to make sure our legs were the only thing showing so we had to hold her arms up. Poor baby. She looks so teeny!

Nice To Meet Ya

Grandma Broadbent finally got introduced to her first grandbaby! I secretly knew all along that grandma was going to have a really hard time waiting once Anabelle arrived, but Kyle's parents decided to let my parents have a visit first and then come. Everyone was of course extremely sad when grandpa couldn't make it because he was home sick, but we were happy that grandma could meet her at last.

Of course one of the first things we did when grandma came was hit some stores for shopping! Anabelle was giving us a little fashion show even though she still had some growing to do:)

And of course, another thing we did while grandma was here.... take pictures!! I loved my Anabelle photo shoot but I was happy to get some family pictures with her. I know Stephanie was happy to finally have some willing subjects!:)

Thanks grandma for helping us! It would have been pretty tricky trying to figure out how to do these on our own!!

Curly Locks!

More bath-time curls! I loved those curls so much!

I love this picture of her hair for two reasons. A) because you can see it so well and how soft and fluffy it was. B) because her and Kyle look like hair twins:) I always said she had his same hair line:)

Sleepy Heads!

I was always wondering how in the world I could do it with the second baby if my first wasn't willing to sleep all the time!! Thankfully with your first you can try to squeeze in naps when they do. Plus, we love extra cuddle time!!

Sleeping in her bed right next to mom! This cradle was the most perfect street find ever! We actually found it on the curb walking down the street while babysitting. The owners were tossing this gem out! All we did was replace one piece and give it a new paint job. It worked perfectly and Anabelle really loved it.

The fun begins...

I know it is no secret that I love to take pictures. Add a newborn to the mix and I am loving it even more! But my very own?! It was the best!!! I just kept snapping away and couldn't help it because of course to me everything that she did and every way that moved was just the cutest thing ever! I was so anxious to get some pictures done because I knew she could only be this small for such a short time and I was so happy with what I got. She is just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen:) Here are just a few.

I love this one because even though Kyle was just trying to move her hands for the picture you can see how tiny she looks compared to his hand! You can't always tell because she is so filled out for a newborn:)

There are so many poses of this picture where she just looks so cute it's so hard to choose just one!

My mom helped with the photo shoot and she very patiently acted as my assistant! Sometimes when I feel I am in a time crunch I like to move fast and so she was doing her best to keep up with my being bossy. Moms are the best!!!:)

This last one was taken a couple of days later I think and of course she refused to close her eyes and sleep. Instead she decided to go potty on dad but I will spare you the proof.

*****

These ones were jus a couple I loved and had to add. You know it was hot if we weren't bundling our precious new addition! She looked SO cute!

Snuggles for dad her first morning at home.

I love to see the temple...

Our second family outing was to walk around the grounds of the Los Angles Temple. I was still recovering slowly and wasn't up for much but I knew I wanted to get out of the house for a sunshine break! The most relaxing and peaceful place that came to my mind was the temple so we went for Anabelle's first visit. It was a nice break but a little windy so I was of course protective of my precious babe. I am also not sure how many babies have been nursed in the gardens at the temple, but you can go ahead and add her to that list.:)

So Happy Together

Being home with my snuggly little baby was pretty much the happiest I had ever been in my life! Yes I was very tired, but I think more than anything, I wanted to go take naps with her just because I wanted to be with her for every minute of every day. And if I wasn't sleepy I was happy to just lay and admire my beautiful girl! People try to warn you and prepare you for the changes that happen when you have a baby, but in my opinion, there is no way to know just how much you could love this new tiny person with every ounce of your being. I had heard of the "baby blues" before and that your hormones can mess with your emotions, but I had no idea just how much this could really control me. There were NO baby blues for me! Instead, I was elated and experiencing levels of happiness and joy that I had never known before. Ever heard of a natural high? That was me. I felt like someone had slipped me some drugs because I couldn't even find a way to contain all this happiness and love. Tears came and went over and over any time I sat and thought of how blessed I was to have my little miracle home with me!

My mom took this picture of us on our first full day at home. I way laying next to her to get some rest when another little miracle happened right before my eyes. She had started on her back, but without any fussing or opening her eyes, she gradually rolled herself toward me onto her side until we were touching. I couldn't believe it! I called my mom to make sure there was some proof to this story. She accomplished this little by little but in the end she had rolled onto her side placed her arm on top of mine and then eventually linked her arm over mine. I had never heard of any 4 day old babies rolling over before! Apparently she missed our physical connection and wiggled her way over to me. My heart was gushing with love and contentment!! Whether or not it was something she really did mean to do or not, it made me feel so good as her mommy and I will never forget it. (Looking at pictures like these I still can't believe that her entire body once fit inside my belly!!)

Daddy daughter time! I had to give others a chance to snuggle her every once in while...:) Kyle holding her the day we got home! She really loved her Daddy-daughter time too. She would just sit and stare at Kyle and he would talk to her about anything she wanted to hear! Well, when he wasn't telling me what a cute baby we had of course. She was wearing a cute little jammy suit on the way home with a hat and all, but since it was SO hot out and our little apartment has no A.C., we took off all of her clothes just after we got home and let her cool down. She spent the next few days in onesies and tank tops making it that much easier for us to admire her adorable little baby squish!

First bath at home with mom and dad! I was so excited to give it a try and to see what her reaction would be. I also couldn't wait to wash all the oils out of her "baby duck feathers" soft wavy hair and see what it would look like all shiny and clean! She did great and we were so excited to see all the tight little curls that formed the minute it was washed. Such a curly head!! I loved it and thought it was adorable!

Kyle did a great job of keeping the "men" entertained while us girls were home-bound with baby Anabelle. Holding the baby is great and all, but I guess they need a little more entertainment in a day:) They rode the bikes down to the beach and swam in the waves! It was so fun having them here with me and we were so glad that Jared was able to fly in too to be with us for a few days!

Grandma Gibson was such a good helper!! I wished that she had gotten to the hospital a bit sooner to comfort me, but when she did make it, things just seemed to get a little bit easier. I think her most important job was comforting me when I got emotional over anything and everything to do with Anabelle:) On top of that she did everything this brand new mom didn't want to and more! Grandma and Grandpa had the shelves and freezer fully stocked for us before they had to leave for home. Gotta love that!!! It was really neat to be able to share this whole experience with the ones who had known my whole life how much this blessing really meant to me! I also thought it was so cute how adamant my mom was that Anabelle was REALLY smiling back at us! Not that I didn't agree with her. I am still positive that she was too!

Proud grandparents of their first grand-daughter!!:) We needed a break from the house and thought Anabelle was ready for her first outing so we went up to have lunch and see Kyle's school and it's amazing view! My dad actually thanked us for house break afterward:) It was beautiful and relaxing and the sunshine felt great. I was just a little proud as I had my baby out for all to admire for the first time. I just knew everyone would be as smitten with her obvious beauty as I was!