Happy Memorial Day!

On Sunday, we went to a Memorial Day picnic at church. Hope made a friend in Pastor Tim's daughter, Melissa. Melissa seemed pretty comfortable with a little one.....first comes love, then comes.....and before you know it, Tim will be a grandpa!

Hope took a nap in Melissa'a arms.

Daddy and Hope

Mommy and Hope

Now that Hope has better control of her arms and hands, when she gets restless, she grabs a hold of her hair with her right hand and grabs a hold of her ear with her left.

We had a great weekend.

Who's her Daddy?

Who does Hope look like? I think at this point, the consensus is that she looks like Joe, with just a tad of me mixed in.

Here is Hope today at 11 weeks old.

This is Joe (the baby). when he was a few months old.

Here is a photo of me at about six months old. I'm afraid this could be where Hope's hair is headed.....

Here Comes The Bride

Today, Hope and I went to a bridal shower for Abby, who will be marrying Joe's cousin, Mick, in July. Congratulations Abby!

Hope got to meet more of her extended family at the shower.

Joe's cousin Heather

Ms. Maggie

Great Aunt Sonia

Hope wore an outfit purchased by her Daddy to the shower. Joe is becoming quite the baby fashion guru.

When we got home, Hope played on her activity mat for a little while. She really likes the purple bug. We named the bug Sadie.

Hope's Birth Day Party

On Sunday, May 3rd, my mom and sister hosted a baby shower for Hope and me, which my niece, Leah, referred to as Hope's Birthday Party. In a way, she is right.

A special thanks to Alison who "volunteered" to be the blog photographer.

Renee also helped with photography. Thanks to you too.

We played games.

Jenna helped me open each gift.

Leah helped with a few too.

Kathy and Leah made a diaper cake for us.

And we had an edible chocolate and yellow marble cake too.

We got to spend time with friends and family.

Sandra

Jina (with Hope), Amy and Bailee

Bev

Great Aunt Darlene - with eight grand kids, she's really good at this baby thing.

Hope's second cousins Olivia and Reagan, Great Aunt Darlene, Great Aunt JoAnn and Grandma.

Aunt Miss and Bailee

Aunt Kathy, Allison (yes, there were two), Jina and Amy

Great Aunt JoAnn - Hope eventually napped in her arms.

While everyone else was looking after Hope, I got to color with Leah and Jenna.

I finally got my baby back.

Thank-you Grandma and Aunt Kathy!!!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

After years of spending Mother's Day being grateful for the mother I have, this year I finally got to feel grateful for being a mother myself. I am very fortunate.

Hope started out the day wearing her Sunday best for church:

Then she changed into casual clothes for a family photo. Since it was Mother's Day, Joe tried not to complain too much.

We spent the afternoon taking a three hour nap before waking up for the chicken/fruit and beef /vegetable kabob dinner that Daddy cooked. What a treat! (I'm referring to both the nap and the dinner.)

Happy Two Month Birthday Hope!

It's hard to believe another month has passed already. Hope is now two months old as of yesterday, 05/06/09. We celebrated by going to the Dr. and getting some shots, and then stopping to see Daddy at work. Hope is now 24 inches long and weighs 12 lbs. She grew an inch and gained 1 1/2 lbs over the last month.

Play Date with Natalie and Carrie

On Wednesday evening, Hope and I visited Natalie and Carrie for a play date and pizza dinner.

A girl after my own heart - Natalie was playing with her digital camera:

Don't let the picture fool you - Hope is only pretending to drink out of the bottle for the camera:

Carrie tried to feed her a bottle too - check out Hope's facial expression, I think she is laughing at Carrie:

Natalie talked a lot of gabbily gop language with Hope:

I think Hope liked Natalie's shirt (I did too):

We had fun and hope to have another play date soon.