Conked in mama's arms

Catchin flies with cuteness.

Forgive the angle, please! It's the best I could do with the camera over my head. Ahhhh, the one-armed functioning has begun. Though I've found my first hurdle - uploading pictures is proving quite the difficulty, since I can't quite hold 'control' and click multiple photos.

Can't stand it!

This much cuteness is near criminal.

My little Jet Li-se...

Over the Past Week or so...

Here are some happenings over the last week or so...

Last weekend, we went over to the Buerkles to meet their new arrival, Bennent Crawford Buerkle. Mom, Dad and little man are all doing well. The Wassermans came over as well, and we snapped a few shots (Daddy Wasserman and Daddy Buerkle love their matching Nikons).

The proud moms and dads and their little ones.

Dad and Anna

Dad changes diapers!

Mom and Anna catch some ZZZZ's... timing is everything!

Cousin Grace came over and was fascinated by the breast feeding phenomenon, so she took a peek while Ash fed Anna.

The Bright-Eyed Nugget!

Touchdown!

There is no end to the cuteness. I've uploaded more pix to the picasa site. Click the picture below or click here.

Anna Week 2

more more more!

Just to update, Anna had her first doctor's appointment and was given a clean bill of health. So, mama and baby are doing great. This has truly been the best week of our lives - Park and I could literally stare at her for hours in wonder. Too much cuteness, I tell you!

Our gorgeous little girl has been very well documented over the past week (one week birthday is tomorrow!!!). So that we can share the whole kit and kaboodle, we set up a picasa site:

Anna Ellise

And yes, she will be getting her vaccinations - don't EVEN get me started on the latest malarky; I'll post on that later.

Anna Ellise Fowlkes

Welcome Anna!!

We are so happy to announce the birth of our daughter Anna Ellise Fowlkes. She was born Friday, February 29th (yes, leap year), 2008, weighed 6 lbs, 13.5 oz, has beautiful blue yes and strawberry blonde hair.

She is the most perfect little nugget in the universe, and we are sooooo happy she's finally here.

Mom, Dad and baby are doing well after a good 12 hour labor and delivery, and 2 days in the hospital. We are home now and all are welcome to come visit any time!!

Below are images of the big morning, afternoon, evening, and next three days.

Mama upon arrival to the hospital - she has no idea what's about to happen over the next 11 hours.

First picture - getting cleaned up. She didn't cry for the first 5 minutes... finally got one!

Our little girl - several minutes old - what a knockout!

The first offical weigh-in!

Dad and daughter... love at first sight!

Mom and the little one - two gorgeous ladies!

Closeup!

Mommy loves her soooo much. And tries to get some rest.

Anna and Grandpa Cart Cart.

Anna and her grandmother.

The most beautiful girl in the world!


More images to be posted on Flickr by mom in the coming days. Love to all and thanks to everyone's support and well wishes.

i'm so freakin huge

So, I've been at 3 cm for nearly a month, and I've been having contractions since Thursday. And all I can say is, she just ain't comin. I'm completely convinced that she has just decided that the outside world seems like it's going to be too much, and so she's happy staying put. Of course, it doesn't bother her at all that mama is starting to resemble a child's bouncy ball. Now, I ask you, am I just holding one of those balls while chillin' in shopping cart?

I will, however, say that some hope has returned to my life since the ear piercing, cheesy, dated, Mary Poppins-esque songs from "Enchanted" did not win an Oscar tonight, but rather the award went to the amazingly touching and simply gorgeous sounds of Once. I will also jump up and down a bit for Diablo Cody and Mr. Day-Lewis.

Baby's room is ready

Just thought I'd share our little baby room with everyone! We're anxiously waiting its resident! But, although I keep showing her the cute little room that's waiting for her, so far she's happy hangin' with mama.

Her due date is Tuesday. Not "in a couple weeks" or "at the end of the month", no, we're at Tuesday. It makes me think of a particular card from a nerd game I played in college (Magic: The Gathering.....yes, jokes are expected).

Too many posts and no pix!

While waiting not so patiently for our little bundle of joy, I promise we've been doing other stuff. How about a few fun pix?

We celebrated Pete's birthday and annihilated that cookie!

But the night was certainly not without some super cute papa moments!

We've discovered kitty-in-the-box.

And we've gone to the ballet to be entertained by Thomas in tights. Managed to snap a couple of belly shots in the process :)

3cm - Part II: V-Day

Ok, so we're still at 3cm... we've decided to go back to our due date to expect rather than 'today'. Still healthy, still active, and still waiting.

We went to MF Sushi for dinner last night for Saint Van Halentine's Day, and yes, we ate sushi - they say pregnant women shouldn't eat sushi. We say that pregnant women shouldn't eat sushi every day. I mean really, how can hundreds of thousands of generations of pregnant Japanese women be wrong. We had a great time.

We'll see if we make it through the weekend and keep giving updates. Hoping to post some pics of the finished nursery soon.

Big Day Tomorrow

We are heading to the doc tomorrow for our weekly visit, at which point we will find out if Ash has dilated further than the 3 cm from last week. She can easily still be at 3cm, but she could easily be more, so we are looking to forward to this visit!

We've decided that since we have dinner reservations for Valentine's Day, that it would be the perfect night for our daughter to decided it's time to be born. This is something that would happen to us.

We are doing great, and Ash is working from home, so we are both close to each other and the hospital. The nursery is set up and ready to go... we have strollers and car seats constructed, and are set to pop, so to speak.

So wish us luck and you'll be informed!!

3cm????

Sooooo, for the second part of yesterday's update, I thought I'd let fowlkes (hee) know about our doctor visit yesterday. After reporting some symptoms, my doc decided to go ahead and check my "progress" and it seems that I am already dilated to 3cm and that Baby Fowlkes has her head below my pelvis in "position".

ACK!!!!!!

Okay, yes, I could walk around like this for weeks, and still deliver on time around Feb 26th. But then again...........................................ack!!!!!

So, as a little added precaution these days, I'm working from home (~1/2 mile from Park and ~2 miles from the hospital). So far, it seems our little bundle of joy is taking after her mamma in the patience department.

Update

We've been extremely busy with getting the nursery ready and getting ourselves ready for our little girl (Ashley is still only 90% convinced it's a girl)! Therefore, posts have been lacking lately.

So I thought I'd just give an update that we are still healthy and ready for the nugget to get here. We are on weekly doctor visits now, and things are progressing smoothly. Besides Ash having some aches and swells recently, it's been a fairly smooth pregnancy.

We've completed our pre-natal classes, as well as the very crowded breastfeeding class... and we have our labor and delivery class this weekend (let's hope we make it till then)!

Anyway, more info to come as things get down to the wire!

Pensacola Baby Shower

Over the MLK weekend, we traveled to Pensacola for the second easy installment of Baby Showers 08. It was hosted by Angie and Allen's good friends Bob and Helen Sprowles, who have become friends of ours as well. We had a great time with a fun bunch of friends and relatives. And we received so many great gifts! Below are some images of the gathering.








Thanks to everyone who made it and especially the Sprowles for hosting. All the loot will be used wisely, and um... very soon!

Away for MLK

So for the second installment of Baby Showers 08, we're heading down to Pensacola to celebrate with friends and family on the coast. We are heading out this afternoon and staying through Monday (for the holiday). We're excited to see the Pensacola crew and should have some pictures to post when we return.

I also want to wish my Mom a Happy Birthday, which was Wednesday, but hadn't posted it here yet. So, Happy Birthday Mom!

And I'd just like to share a great scene from the show 30Rock. Funny stuff:

Find more videos on www.findinternettv.com.