Annelise is 2 months old!

Well, Annelise Marie, you are two months old today. This has been a crazy month for our family. Right after you turned one month old, we flew to Indiana to see your Minear and Walsko relatives. They all adore you, of course, and you got lots of beautiful clothes from them. So many clothes, in fact, that we needed to bring home an extra suitcase!

After we got back to Texas, we drove to Ft Worth to pick up your passport. That was an ordeal, but the end result was that you were then officially able to move to Japan! We spent the next couple of weeks shopping and packing and getting ready for the move.

This month you met more of your extended family, as well as some of Mommy's friends. You are so loved, even when you are fussy. Babi and Grandaddy threw us a going-away party where you met lots of new people and you also made your first friend that's your own age. Brenden is the son of two of Mommy's high school friends and is a couple of months older than you. The two of you just stared at each other and then he tried to hold your hand. I told him that wasn't allowed for a few more decades.

We also took family pictures this month, they were a Christmas gift from Babi and Grandaddy. I haven't seen all of them yet, but I know you're adorable. We're in Japan now, we've been here for a few days. We're looking for a house and a car, but for now we're living in the motel on base. Our new friend, LYNX, is really awesome and she took us to a Japanese restaurant and to a Japanese celebration of Shougatsu. We watched them make Mochi and Sushi as well as played with some Japanese toys.

Annelise, you love bath time. Your Rainforest bathtub is your favorite place to be, and you love the time you get to spend with Daddy during your baths. You also love to eat, your eyes light up and your mouth opens wide when you know I'm about to feed you. I can't wait to take you to the doctor and find out how much you weigh! Your love of food is obvious, not only in our chubby cheeks, but in the sounds you make. You, my little sweetheart, are one gassy baby. Today when we went to Daddy's new office to meet everyone there, you tooted a big one. I made sure everyone knew it wasn't me, my biggest fear right now is that you'll pass gas and people will think I have no manners.

You're also a very vocal little girl now. It's like someone flipped a switch last Tuesday and now you smile and talk all the time. We can't help but laugh sometimes, you're just so adorable. I can't wait to see what you learn to do in your third month!

Grandad Update

Things have gotten much worse since my last post. Grandad is in septic shock, there is an infection somewhere in his body that has moved into his blood. They took some cultures to figure out what and where the infection is, but the cultures won't be back until sometime today. In the meantime, his blood pressure is really low so they can't give him much pain medication. Also because of his low BP, his organs are working very slowly and have started to shut down. At one point yesterday evening, they actually lost him and brought him back. They have started him on dialysis but are skeptical of how well it will work because of his blood pressure. Things are very not good.

My aunts and uncles are all in Memphis, as are most of the grandkids; I think Drew and I are the only ones still in Ennis. Drew couldn't get away from work and I couldn't make the car trip with Annelise. Having to stop and feed her every few hours would have lengthened the trip significantly and she's had a couple of fussy periods over the last few days that we've attributed to gas. She just screams and screams and the only thing that helps is to get her to burp or put her in her bouncy seat. Plus, we're just not quite ready to leave on Wednesday. We've got some last minute packing to do and we have to mail some stuff to ourselves (the AF will reimburse us for that). The general concensus is that Annelise and I should not delay our flight and let John go ahead. Getting through 2 Japanese airports with Annelise, her car seat and stroller, and four suitcases is not impossible, but it would require me meeting a lot of very helpful people. We decided to stick together and stay with our original plan, and my parents will be back here in time to take us to the airport.

That's it for now, I have lots of stuff to get done today...

Prayers Needed

Please pray for my Granddad, he's in the hospital in Memphis, TN. He's been living and working out there for the last couple of years and my parents are on their way to see what's going on. One of his friends got ahold of my dad or someone in the family and said that he was taken to the emergency room. They did a CAT scan and couldn't see anything so he was transferred to another hospital where they're going to do exploratory surgery. My parents will get there in the middle of the night, so I'm expecting several phone calls before daylight. My mom and her sisters/brother are really shaken up, we knew he was going to the doctor a lot and having lots of tests done, but know one really knew what was going on.

Please pray for my parents to get there safely and for Granddad to be ok. Gotta go take care of a crying baby.

Moving soon...

Our trip to Indiana was lots of fun, we ended up bringing back an extra suitcase. Annelise got lots of clothes and John and I each got a coat, plus he got some hiking boots and I got two pairs of boots. Our flight back to DFW was delayed because of freezing rain in Texas, but it was all fine by the time we got back.

We've been sorting and packing this week, trying to decide what can go with the movers and what we NEED with us. The airports in Tokyo are going to be a blast with 6 suitcases, carry-ons, Annelise, and her carseat/stroller.

We picked up Annelise's passport today, so now we're just waiting on a couple of other things before we can leave! Our movers will be here on Monday, and then we're just waiting on our itenerary to be e-mailed to us and I'm sure there are other things as well.

Tomorrow my cousin Ben is getting married, Annelise will get to attend her first wedding. I'm looking forward to brisket and dancing and John is looking forward to drinking with Kyle and Trent. Then Annelise gets baptized on Sunday. We attended a class this week and Melisa and Dan are her godparents! Annelise is wearing my christening gown and it doesn't quite fit... I weighed 6 1/2 pounds when I was born and was baptized at 2 weeks. Annelise weighed 8 pounds when she was born and is being baptized at 6 weeks, so I can definitely understand the top button not buttoning. That's ok, though, because you have to unbutton it anyways when they annoint her with the oil.

Next Saturday our friends and family are getting together at my parents' house for a party in our honor. If you're in the area, come on by! Several of my friends here in town haven't seen Annelise yet so I hope they can all make it. Man, we have lots to do and very little time in which to do it. Anyone want to buy a 2008 Ford Escape?? I'm selling mine.

More pictures of Annelise!

This picture is from yesterday, she's changed so much in the last month!!

Christmas Day, Annelise is wearing the airplane sleeper from her Grandma Sandy and the tutu from us.  This is later in the day, she slept the whole time we opened presents.

Annelise's first bath in her big-girl bathtub.  She was happy until we took the picture.

Pictures of Annelise

Dressed up in her polar bear suit to take pictures for our Christmas card.

Annelise and Daddy napping in Vegas.

At the airport before her first flight!

In her crib with the teddy bear John gave her.

Annelise in the hospital.