special visitor

my cousin brenne came to visit us last week while her parents and little sister, brylee, partied it up in chicago (for brylee's b-day). she was quite surprised to see that we had more than 2 decent options to choose from for eating out (besides mcdonalds and 7-eleven), as she told us she thought she was coming to visit us in the "city" (meaning she thought she needed to wear a bullet-proof vest and pack some heat). alas we showed her gainesville's true character and took her to an admission-free natural history museum (and only admission-free quality) and a botanical garden's whose gardens weren't quite in bloom. oh well. we had a good time and annie has been wondering where her new friend (aka binky and toy helper) went. thanks for the visit brenne!

annie loved brenne. she smiled so much for her and even rolled over for her for the first time! (blogpost about that later)

picnic at the gardens

where do you take a girl who has travelled the world, been on real safaris, seen wild orangutans, etc.? to the gators of course. this is one thing she said she has not seen in the wild! score for gainesville.

welcome to my world

so here's what's up with me and my long-lived 3 month life:

• thanks to the recent additions of my mid-forearm and mid-bicep rolls, my arms look like little sausage links
• my head circumference is in the 80th %ille...big head, big brains
• i'm starting to somewhat tolerate tummy time. i now only protest by moderately crying or falling asleep
• i've got a mullet that puts billy ray and the locals here to shame
• i'm talking tons...most vocalizations are velar contoids and back vocoids (or so my mom says)
• all of my smiles seem to disappear when i spot a camera
• you might as well face it, I'm addicted to my binky (and love)
• i burp like a champ
• i like to be swaddled when i sleep...yet i also like getting my little arm out as well...but then i freak out and don't know what to do. i'm a little confused with myself at the moment.
• you'd really make my day if you were: 1) a light 2) a fan 3) my mom 4) my dad
• my hair has a hint of red when i'm in the sunlight
• most people say i look like my dad but have my mom's nose
• i've already had my first sick day which was probably harder on my mom than me
• i've got the sweetest cheeks (they even jiggle from vibrations when i'm in the car)
• not much else to compare, but i think my mom and dad rock

annie's blessing

annie was blessed on march 7.

we were very fortunate to have several of our family members

at this special event.

my grandma bernhisel made annie's beautiful dress

soooo done.....

ballard bash

kevin's parents came to town to see little miss annie and experience some good southern fun. while grandma ballard would've been quite content holding and looking at annie the entire time, we did get out and show them the highlights of gainesville...gator watching, tour of "the swamp", and some good bbq. thanks for coming...we miss you guys already!

trip out to lachua trails.

like blind lemmings we followed the crowds through grassy pathways lined with gator-filled lakes to one side and the gators' nesting spots to the other. why anyone would choose to walk there (let alone pay 6 bucks to do so) with the prospect of death looming on both sides, beats me. but we did and it was actually really neat.

we were never really in any danger, though...we never strayed too far from a man cruzin' in a jazzy, of whom we could outrun at any given moment.

a much safer swamp to visit

the tunnel where the gators run out on gameday

touching the grass

(sensing a theme? as you can tell, everything in gainesville is gator-centered...

even the crazy fans)

cousin time with claire (kevin's niece)

gator baby

in an effort to get orange and blue running through Annie's blood, we dressed her in her finest and took her out to the gator baseball game (unfortunately she just missed football season, so this was just a warm up until september). she loved it...she spent the entire time zonked out in the baby carrier or eating in the dirty bathroom stall (i'm learning quickly what shirts are feeding-friendly and which ones are not. the one i wore was not).

kevin made me take off the tutu before we left. according to him "tutus don't belong at sporting events". (admittedly, I agree, but she was just so cute). Besides, it would have been a pain trying to stuff the tutu down the baby bjorn.

eat your heart out!

oh happy day!

this little sweet pea slept for 4 1/2 hours straight last night! look, i felt so good i even put on earrings to go to the doctors (that's about the only part of me that was put together, but it's a start)!

cousin time!

brooke and andee stopped by on their move up to atlanta.

i already foresee name mix ups between these two

lance, jenny leigh and david stopped by on their move down to tampa
david and his bodyguard, annie

aunt jenny leigh with little miss

me and lil' sis with our sweet babes

just another cute picture to throw in

i warned you...

hang on folks...there's lots of pictures of me!

i hear ya girl. the reason we live in florida is so we don't have to wear

silly jackets like this. i'll be having a talk with mother nature.

family walk

grandma b to the rescue! our pantry and fridge have never been so full, our

laundry basket never so empty, and the lovin' from grandma and papa never so appreciated!

ps...when are you coming back?

thanks for visiting, papa!

sweet dreams sweet cheeks!

and then there were 3...

little miss annie ballard was born january 5, 2010 at 3:35 pm,

weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz.

she has taken hold of our heart strings with that tight little pincer grasp of hers and i have a feeling we won't be getting them back. that's ok...they are hers for the taking.

i think most of my pregnancy weight when straight to those lovable, kissable cheeks

trying to get some much needed z's

going home (finally)...i couldn't choke down anymore "mystery meat" specials. i personally feel all consumed meat should have a name.

aww...look at me. i've already gone proud mama-ish on you and am throwing pictures of my newborn baby at you as if you want to see them all. next thing you know i'll be sending email updates (if i tweeted, i suppose i'd tweet...whatever that means) of weight gain by the ounces, baby's first smile (not attributed to gas), poop consistency changes and other milestones that could rock only a parent's world. this is only the beginning, folks.

and many more to come...