The "Annie" Post

Baby Annie is finally here!
The timeline of events between these two pictures was as follows:
--July 23rd: Walking to the park, cleaning the house ferociously (for the 4th time in 2 weeks), reviewing the gameplan of going to the hospital, watching The Office and 30 Rock, going to bed depressed and impatient
--July 24th: due date, disappointed to be waking with no contractions, cleaning, walking, being grumpy, driving up the bumpiest dirt road to the top of Mt. Elden, climbing (and squatting) on rocks with the kids in the forest, reviewing the gameplan, watching "New In Town"
--July 25th: waking up with no contractions (ugh), going to the birthday party we thought we wouldn't be going to, staring at each other and sighing, driving to 9,000 feet elevation and hiking, watching "Son of Rambow," reviewing the hospital gameplan
--July 26th: Church (which I didn't want to go to because I had planned out how many maternity outfits I had left to wear and was out of options), a burst of energy and cleaning (could it be tonight???), a walk in the hood, watching "A Flash of Genius"
--July 27th: No contractions, "What are we going to do today?," all of us going to storytime at the library, shopping, and the mall for lunch (can you tell we were desparate? Even Jeremy was up for this agenda!), cooking a dinner that I hadn't planned on having to cook, walking up and down every hill in the neighborhood, watching "Little Miss Sunshine," reviewing the gameplan
--July 28th: Grumpy with Jeremy all morning while sleeping, waking up to realize it was because I was having contractions (hurray!), went to the park with the family, watching Stuart Little with the family while sitting on Sam's bouncy ball in front of the fan, contractions still 10+ min. apart at 2 pm, calling Mariah (friend/birth coach) to say nothing was really happening, cleaned up for Mother-in-law and sis-in-law's arrival, planned another walk with Jeremy--while he was getting ready (2:45) I suddenly felt like bursting into tears and the contractions started coming 2 min. apart, called Mariah to come, left for hospital at 3:55, got into a bed (while the room was restocked around us) by 4:20ish, had her at 5:30!

She weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz., was 21 inches long and has a big head. Well, that doesn't sound very complimentary, but it gets me some sympathy points. I was surprised to see her thick, dark hair...I guess I might have been a little presumptuous to buy 2 dolls with blond hair for her.

Here's our welcoming committee (the boys weren't allowed to come to the hospital because of the "Swine Flu Epidemic!!!" (note the sarcasm). I guess Sam announced that his sister was born in the restaurant he was at with Gamma when they got the call--some friends were there and heard him shouting.


Gamma and Aunt Stacey made shirts with the boys while we were at the hospital and they wore them for 2 days straight.

Their reactions have been different to Annie--here's Sam playing with baby Annie:

Here's Evan playing with baby Annie:

We've had a lot of visitors--some even bringing yummy goodies like banana bread and Coldstone ice cream. Some of them couldn't stop kissing Annie.

We wiped her down with antibacterial soap afterward...just kidding. I'll post some more pictures when she ever decides to open her eyes and join the world!

By the way, her middle name is Lynne (spelled correctly with an "e")...it is my sister and my aunt's middle name. But if she wants to go by Annie Cookie Star later in life, it is okay with me.