6 weeks

I realize I'm a little late in posting these pictures... Joanna will be 8 weeks on Thursday... but I thought I would post a little update with some new photos of my cute little girl!

Trying to catch a smile

There's a great big grin!

Not a smile, but still a cute little face... :-)

"Look how little I still look!"

As for an update... as you can see from the photos Joanna is smiling now! It's so fun to watch her little face light up. She's awake a little more during the day which is fun, and she's consistently sleeping through the night (6-8 hours, just depending). At last estimate (stepping on the scale with her, then stepping on the scale alone and subtracting the difference) she weighed a little over 8 pounds at 6 weeks and still in Newborn clothes. I'm not sure how long she is, but she's definitely long and skinny still. :-) Stay tuned for more updates since I'm taking her to the doctor on Monday for her 2 month checkup).

Adventures in Motherhood

I've been told at every point in a mothers life she does something unintentional and scary- like leave her toddler in the nursery at church, forget to pick up a kid from school, lock a kid in the car. My initiation into motherhood began with the later.



On Monday morning I got J ready to go to the pediatrician. Even though we had PLENTY of time, I was still rushing around because I HATE to be late (and in my book, early is on time, on time is late). I walked out the the car (parked on the street not in our driveway because I had parked C in the night before), unlocked it with the remote, tossed my keys and the diaper bag up front, put J in and closed the doors. I went to get in the drivers seat and realized "OH CRAP!", I locked the baby in the car. Since neither of my nextdoor neighbors were home I broke the window with a rock from my flower beds. The baby is fine (she was locked in for maybe a minute, minute and a half at most), I'm still a little shaken, and my arm has several small cuts and scrapes. It was scary, but I don't think it's likely I'll make that mistake again! Ah, motherhood really is a trial by fire sometimes, isn't it?

Helping move Grandma Letha in to her new house

Christian's Grandma Burrell just moved into a beautiful new home in Orem. Since a lot of the family was over yesterday to help her unpack I packed up the baby and hauled her over to meet family and to help unpack a few boxes ( I really wasn't much help and got really tired and got a sore back after only a few boxes- then I had to just put my feet up and talk... so I took pictures!). Not only was it fun to show off my sweet pea, I came home with a few treasures: a glass platter, a vase, an old Calendar with Greg Olsen artwork, and a few cute candle holders. Here are a few pictures from the day. I figured I would document it for Grandma Letha since she was unpacking (and she's usually the picture lady).

Matthew got a chance to hold his second cousin. He had held one other baby before, a one year old, but never one this new and tiny. He was so sweet and gentle with her! I bet he'll make an amazing father some day (in MANY MANY YEARS... he's only 10). :-)

Matthew and Robert, Aunt Denise's boys, being silly!

Joanna, Sarah, and Aunt Denise

Uncle Brad unpacking boxes in the sewing room.

Joanna and Mommy with Aunt Amy (Christian's cousin Amy... but worthy of being called an Aunt since she and I are close). Gotta love my tired, sleep deprived look, and my new mom hair do.

Posing (well, sort of), with Aunt Julia (another cousin of Christian's)

Denise unpacking the master bathroom

So glad we didn't loose her amidst all the boxes!

Julia and Grandma unpacking the kitchen

We're so excited to have Great Grandma Letha living in Utah now, and only about 10 minutes away from us! We're looking forward to having her get to know Joanna and are so glad J will get to know her Great Grandmother!

One week later.

I can't believe that Joanna is already a week old (actually, as I'm writing this post she's 9 days!)!!! It blows me away. Having her come into our lives has been the most amazing thing that has ever happened to Christian and me. We love being parents, and our marriage is stronger than ever! Even last night, when we were up with her until 4 am (as of 10:20 Daddy is still sleeping. awww... he's tuckered), it was wonderful to be up with a baby because it means we FINALLY have a child of our own. Christian has been an amazing husband, especially since the birth of our daughter. He holds her, he rocks her, he kisses and hugs us both tons, he made dinner the other night (Granny was here and seasoned the steaks and potatoes and cut up watermelon, Daddy cooked everything and made a salad and corn), he's vacumed, and I've shoved him out the door to go climb and golf every few days. I feel so blessed to have such a caring and attentive husband. We will really miss Daddy when he goes back to work on Monday! :-( ::SIGH:: That's the drawback of getting out just after memorial day, the kids start back WAY sooner out here and teachers have to be there a week earlier.

We've also been extrememly blssed to have Granny Dixie staying with us. She came Wednesday night, and made it just in time to help us to the car to go to the hospital (she was planning to come Wed anyway since I was scheduled to be induced on Thursday). She has loved and cuddled Joanna, shopped, fixed meals, scrubbed my tub, my toilet, my sink, vacumed, mopped my floors, folded my laundry, done my dishes, run errands, spoiled us rotten, and spent hours and hour talking with me about everything from baby care to my husbands tourette's syndrome, to funny stories, to just letting me vent and ramble about everything on my mind. She left yesterday morning to go help Christian's Grandma at her new house (we're so excited that Grandma Letha has moved to Utah!), so she'll be in town for another week if we need her. I think I'm going to go through Granny withdrawls having her gone. Can I really do this on my own? Granny says yes... I hope she's right.

Here are more pictures (my child will probably go blind from the flash bulb going off in her face constantly)... I can't get enough of her, can you?

Being fed by Daddy for the first time. Thank you breast pump! (Notice that Tieg needed cuddles too)

Four generations of Burrell Women: Great Grandma, Joanna, Mommy, and Granny Dixie

She seemed to really love her Grandma Letha

Isn't this beautiful of Granny and Joanie? I LOVE IT! (Grandma Letha was taking a picture, so I took this profile shot)

Our Family

Taking pictures with her pretty mommy. She wasn't thrilled about the photo shoot, but mommy insisted.

8 Days after having a baby!

Playing dress up. This outfit won't fit for awhile (even though it's a 0-3 mo), but I had to get a picture for Grammie Luckhardt. I've called J peanut since I found out I was pregnant and this little onesie (LOVE GARANIMALS BRAND FROM WALMART!) says "Pint Sized Peanut". Mom found it and gave it to me for my baby shower.

Granny and her girls

Jessica and Joshua came over to play!
Sarah and Joshua, Jessica and Joanna, and Tieg- never far from her baby

Daddy dressing her after her first bath at home (he has a hard time with socks and her kicky legs).

First bath at home. Even though her umbilical stump fell off at 5 days old, we decided not to attempt the baby tub the very first time we bathed her. We tried yesterday though, and it was a success!

Mommy loves to bathe the baby.

It's definetly been a crazy, busy week, but it's also been the most beautiful and blissfull week of my life. We've had a lot of help! Meals brought by friends, lots of visitors and gifts and lots of well wishes! Thank you everyone for all you do! We love you and can't wait for you to watch J grow up with us!

Our Brand New Baby Girl

After 40 weeks of pregnancy and two long days and sleepless nights of labor our baby girl has finally arrived!

Joanna Elise
Born 1:07 PM Thursday August 6, 2009
6 lbs 6 ounces, 19.5 inches

Getting weighed. She's such a tiny little peanut.

Spending some quality time with her daddy.
She already has him wrapped around her tiny little finger.

Getting some snuggles from mommy.

Now we're a family of three. Don't we look happy?

Granny Dixie meeting her very first Granddaughter.

Getting all checked out before her bath.

Look how alert she is less than an hour after birth.

Such a happy, pretty baby.

So curious.

The arrival of our little girl has been a long awaited event and we feel so blessed to finally have her join our family. She's such a pretty little baby, and already so full of personality. She's very curious, very cuddly, and melts her mommy's heart every time she refuses to calm down until mommy holds and snuggles her. She was very alert for the first several hours after birth, but now that she is catching on to nursing she is sleeping for big stretches and trying to recover from birth. I'm trying to recover from her birth also so she's spending a lot of time in the nursery with the other babies. Some time soon I'll type out my experience with her birth for those of you who like all the gory details, but right now I need to rest and it's quite the story. It was a very long labor with my contractions starting in earnest at about 5pm on Tuesday August 4th (I did get a little break thanks to some pain meds on Wednesday morning, but more details later) and not ending until she was delivered at 1:07 PM on Thursday August 6th. In spite of a perfectly complication free pregnancy we had a pretty tough labor with a few touch and go moments and a few big scares, but she's here now, happy and very healthy.

I have wanted to be a mother since I was a very, very tiny little girl and Joanna is an answer to my prayers and dreams. Joanna means "God is gracious" and it perfectly describes the way we've felt about her from the time the pregnancy test came back positive. She's a little miracle and proof positive to me that our Heavenly Father loves us. I feel incredibly blessed to be entrusted with raising such a precious daughter of our Father in Heaven. I can't wait to watch her grow and learn and become the little person she is destined to be. She's such a blessing in our lives and we already love her more than I thought it was ever possible to love someone you just met.