double dose

kevin's parent's were kind enough to fly into florida to attend both kevin's white coat ceremony and his brother jonathan's law school graduation. we all got a double dose of formalities, speeches, cookies and punch, and most importantly, grandma and grandpa ballard. congrats ballard boys!

you wouldn't guess it, but claire is only 2 months older than annie. lightweight annie will be on a strict protein diet to pack on the pounds before their next encounter at christmas.

first time at the beach!

annie LOVED it so we stripped her down to her skivvies and let her enjoy the water. i think she's a florida (or at least a beach) girl after all.

lot's of love little miss

thanks annie mae for letting an all-day-pajama-wearing, seldom-showering, snot-sucker-outter, too-slow-putting-your-clothes-on, ridiculous-bow-wearer-enforcer, not-quite-quick-enough-to-get-you-at-night

mother love you to pieces. lot's of love to you little girl!

wild wild west

we took a trip back to az to visit kevin's family and see elder dave off for his 2-year church mission. grandma and grandpa ballard couldn't get enough of little miss and the uncles adjusted quite well to my strictly enforced "quiet zones" and my incessant commands of "shhs" and "use your inside voice". the boys quickly jumped on board and could be heard saying "shh, annie is sleeping" or they could be seen going upstairs on their own initiative to check on her or do binky monitoring. she loved it all.

bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 11:00 at night in the airport

watching some ping-pong with uncle benji

uncle pan (daniel) putting little miss to sleep

we'll miss you elder dave!

happy 4 month b-day! i put on a "oh-this-is-so-cute-that-we're-pumping-you-full-of-sugar" face. inwardly i was cringing.

trip to the phoenix zoo

thoroughly enjoying the zoo

we took a day-trip up to sedona to get our zen on and to do a little shopping. tragically our zen was nowhere to be found...we searched for the vortex spots where supposedly the circular flow of air coming up from mother earth will heighten your spiritual and metaphysical energy, but unfortunately we walked away un-heightened. either the hikers in front of us took it all or we should have paid the 10.99 for a "vortex-enhancing crystal". it did, however, manage to bring out super-cheesy smiles.

ahhh, the lap of luxury.

the bachelor(s)

we couldn't take a trip to az without seeing our good friends joellen and cody and their adorable kiddos. when we finally let annie date in 25 years or so, we'll send her in these boys' direction.

the bachelors: ethan, gavin, and trevor

for the grandparents

...and all of those dying to see annie hit a milestone. that's right, little miss began rolling over a couple of weeks ago. i don't need to mention it (but i will)...she was only 3 months old!

way too young

just contacting a few peeps while the bum gets cleaned

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)