the sweetest thing

Charlotte enjoys a little U2...

Thanksgiving weekend

In Pennsylvania...

Cousins Connor and Leah enjoying the newest addition to the family. Leah is of course flashing her best Hollywood smile at the camera.

We visited lots of friends and family over the weekend; Charlotte got to meet her Grandpa Kaufman for the first time. Charlotte was five weeks old on Turkey Day! At her last appointment, she weighed 9 lbs, 5 oz, and was 22 inches long. She is growing so fast!

Saturday night, we had our first date sans bébé. Aunt Pam babysat the Charlotte while we went to see the new Bond flick in Lehighton.

our growing girl

Well, Charlotte was supposed to have her 1 month check-up today- but mom goofed on the appointment time so we had to reschedule for Wednesday. We'll let you know next week how it goes but in the meantime I thought we'd share some of Charlotte's current tastes. It's fun to see her personality developing more each day... and, okay, so yeah, maybe we spoil her... a little. ;)

Likes:
Snuggling
Having her diaper off
Bath time
Being tickled under her chin
Tummy time
Swinging
Reading the Economist on the couch with daddy

Dislikes:
Lying down alone
Gas pain
Being tickled on her feet
Getting in her carseat
Being told she has to wait for anything

It's hard to catch her smiles on film- I just missed this one!

as promised...

Here are a few pictures from last weekend.

Life as art

Julie's mom

Selves-portrait

At rest

time flies

Wow it's been almost a week since we posted! Charlotte is obviously keeping us quite busy with all of the usual baby activities... mainly eating, sleeping, burping, and pooping. To make things more interesting (you know us, always looking for a challenge) I managed to break my big toe last Wednesday going down the basement stairs. Luckily for us, Mom Anderson flew in on Thursday and has been a HUGE help to Rob and I the past several days. We will definitely miss her when she flies home.

Additionally, we had LOTS of visitors this weekend. Mom Kaufman, Aunt Dot, Haydts, and Palmers were here on Saturday to visit and Sunday for Charlotte's baby blessing at church. It was a lot of fun to see so much of our family- but exhausting as well. ;) Rob gave Charlotte a beautiful blessing and we were glad to have a few of our friends there for that as well (thank you!- you know who you are!)

We'll post pictures from this weekend as soon as we get them loaded onto the computer. (But no worries- we won't post any of my nasty foot.)

trick or treat

Happy Halloween from our little snuggle bug!

a little story and a little news for Friday

Just wanted to share this little experience because it made us laugh...

The day after Charlotte was born, she received some balloons from Aunt Melissa & co. An OLDer woman brought them up from the gift shop. She was commenting on what a cute baby we had and then as I was looking at her standing there with a bunch of pink balloons with "It's a girl!" written on them she asked me "Is it a boy?"

Ummm... wow.

Also, Charlotte is now 1 week old! woo-hoo! She went to the doctor yesterday and she is doing fabulously. Hates the carseat though. Kris, Lindsay, and baby Josh came by last night and brought us yummy pizza... it was fun to get to visit and commiserate about our very different birth experiences. Unfortunately Charlotte was being coy and refused to wake up and play with her little friend... oh well, maybe next time. ;)

Your daily dose

Cuz I know that's why you're here....

Everyone's a winner

...but these ladies get serious bragging rights for some excellent predictions on their "birth certificates" at the baby shower in August.

Lucy, Miranda, Tara and Mom Kaufman correctly predicted 'Elizabeth' as the middle name. (We didn't even settle on the name until a few hours before the lady from Records came around...)
Ryann, Leah, Sarah, Maria, Monica, Nancy and Lily all came within one-half inch of the correct length, 19.5 inches.
With her guess of October 20th at 7:12 in the morning, Sabrina was the closest to the actual time of birth.
Amazingly, Nancy was only off by one-half ounce on the birth weight. The birth certificate will say 7/12, but it was actually 7/11.5 (yes, I have a picture to prove it!)...

Welcome home, baby

What a wonderful time of the year to be born!

Charlotte makes her way into the world

Charlotte Elizabeth was born yesterday, Thursday October 19th, at 7:26 in the evening! Both mom and baby are doing great, and Charlotte likes to sleep! When she's not screaming her head off about being bothered, that is... ;^) She weighed seven pounds, twelve ounces, and was about nineteen and a half inches long.

tomorrow she comes

Well, despite a stern talking-to, our little girl refuses to budge from the warmth and comfort of the womb (considering the stubborn streaks that Rob and I are both prone to, we're not really surprised.) So anyway, tomorrow she's being evicted. :)

We will be at Carroll Hospital Center at 7 am to start Pitocin and I guess we'll just see how things go from there. I admit that I am a little nervous but overall we are both just excited that we will finally get to see and hold our baby and give her a name- although that part has yet to be decided on. ;)

So, wish us luck! We will be sure to post the news and pictures here as soon as we get home from the hospital, so make sure to check back over the next few days.

Once and future traveler

I've been thinking about Iceland a lot...

Skogafoss

Here's a nice article about a trip around northern Iceland.

http://www.grapevine.is/?show=paper&part=fullstory&id=1479

--Rob

Our town

We have found some of the most beautiful country scenery right around the corner from our house.






More of northern Carroll County to come...

I ain't no xala-back girl...

So, in an effort to divert ourselves from the seemingly interminable wait for Baby Anderson to make her appearance, we went to the library on Thursday night to get a movie or three. (It didn't hurt that I was taking Friday off to accompany Julie to her appointment!) After a looong time, Julie didn't find anything she wanted, so I grabbed two, a "thriller"



and a "comedy of manners" from Senegal.




Some of you probably remember that I've spent some time there, right? Sooo, I thought I'd finally check out a flick by the most famous Senegalese director, Ousmane Sembene. 'Xala', pronounced "Hala", is about a middle-aged gentleman getting married to his third wife, but somebody curses him with the xala, or sexual impotence. Sounded hilarious. Long story short, 'Xala' is not only NOT very funny, it's awesomely boring. We didn't even finish watching it. I dunno-- maybe my Africanité isn't what it used to be... ;^)

Oh, 'The Interpreter' was really good-- kept us on the edge of our seats. We thought it funny that we managed to get two flicks about dysfunctional African nations...

D-day

Well today is the day the baby was due to arrive... and she's apparently in no hurry. Rob stayed home today and we went to the doctor and found out that I have failed to dilate even a little bit more. Obviously, this wasn't what we wanted to hear. I've been having contractions off and on for weeks and yesterday I was nesting like a nutty woman (our windows are sparkling inside and out, the doors have all been washed with bleach, and the bathrooms are clean!)

Anyway, we had discussed ahead of time how we would open a conversation with the doctor about scheduling an induction if this were the case, but there was no need. As soon as she had finished the exam she said, "So... options." (I really do prefer this practice to the one I went to before we moved.) She recommended 1. that we go to the hospital for a non-stress test and 2. that we schedule an induction for Thursday, 10/19 at 7 am. Both sounded like solid plans to us. The non-stress test was fine (I even got a foot rub from my darling husband while we were there!) And while we are still hopeful that I will go into labor before Thursday, it is nice to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel if I do not.

We can't wait to meet our little girl and welcome her to our family! :)

39 weeks +

Well, they say no news is good news... I might disagree at this point. Anyway, someday we will have the baby, but for now there is nothing to report. In the meantime, we are distracting ourselves by selecting a pumpkin at our local farm market, Baugher's, and by having some friends over for dinner tonight.

Here is Rob showing off our Halloween-y choice.

And just to appease those of you who would like to see me REALLY pregnant...

a few nursery photos

Now... all we really need is a baby. :)

38 weeks and counting

The doctor's visit today went well and there is really very little to report. I have finally started to dilate though... 1 whole centimeter... woo-hoo!!! Hey, it's progress. Also, the baby currently weighs about 6 lbs. 7 oz. and she is continuing to do great. We won't go into what Rob & I currently weigh, but we are doing great as well.

In related news, we put the crib together last night and maybe I'll post a nursery photo or two later this weekend. :)

In unrelated news, we are looking forward to our 1 year anniversary next weekend and the extra day off work that comes with it (I know, technically it's for Columbus Day- but who cares about celebrating Columbus?!)

gray and fuzzy with a chance of afternoon sun followed by genealogy

Yesterday we had an ultrasound to check and see how big our little girl is getting... of course, the ultrasound technicians tell you next to nothing- "this gray, fuzzy bit is a foot... this one is an arm... see her heart beating?" It was fun to get to see her though and Rob and I agree that, although the tech didn't say anything as she measured, the baby's head looks pretty large to us. We'll have to wait and see what the doctor says on Friday. :)

Then being faced with a beautiful day outside, we decided to make the most of it. We had a nice lunch and visit with our friend Lindsay and she and her husband Kris's brand new baby boy, Joshua, and then took off for Sugarloaf Mountain. (The photo further down this page is from a trip there last Fall.) Rob hiked to the top and back while I camped out on a blanket and enjoyed an apple and the scenery-- I suppose I could've hiked, but then we would've been there for HOURS instead of the brief time it took Rob to do it alone- I'm quite slow these days.

Then in the evening we headed to Frederick, MD for a meeting at the Stake Center. We've both been called as Family History Consultants for our ward here in Westminster and the meeting was a bit of an orientation about what our jobs would be and the hours, etc of the FamilyHistory Center. There were quite a few people there, and not surprisingly we were the youngest people in the room by at least 20 years. My favorite comment of the night was, "YOU're going to be a consultant?!? In your condition!?!?" Honestly, it's not rocket science and it's not manual labor. We both have experience with doing family history research and we are very much looking forward to working with people who are looking for assistance. Babies are portable, right? :)