3 weeks already!

Hard to believe Anna is three weeks old already! Enjoying a visit from Nana (the kids' have an adopted Nana and Papa here in town)...and then I had to take a few more pics! :)

One-on-one

This afternoon/evening, Andrew went with Kindra to see her kids in their horse camps' "rodeo." While Andrew had a fantastic time seeing the horse events and getting to pet the horses later, it was also great for Jacob. While Anna was napping, I was able to spend time reading books with him, and after dinner, he got to be Daddy's big helper out in the yard all by himself, which doesn't happen too often! It also included the privilege of climbing in the back seat of the car!

Too sweet!

Anna today at the Tot Time play-date.

Swimming Lessons!

Andrew had his first swimming lesson last night! This round of swimming lessons will only have four sessions, but he's so excited...and to us, it seems like a very "grown-up" thing for him to be doing!
The first lesson was a little chaotic, with 13 preschoolers, but they'll be divided into two classes after this. Andrew cooperates much better about putting his face underwater with someone else besides mom! I wish the pictures had turned out better...most of the time he was just grinning from ear to ear! They each had three rounds with the teacher, once floating on their stomach with their face in the water, once on their back, and then jumping in. Andrew can't wait for his next lesson!

Summer Solstice Outreach

Our town's annual fundraiser is a big festival the weekend of Summer Solstice. To reach out to the community, our church volunteered to run the kids' game booths. It was a big success! We were able to hand out tracts and invitations to VBS, and several good conversations happened, sharing the gospel with unbelievers.
Since we were also running a rummage sale at the church on Saturday (to raise money for Operation Christmas Child boxes...our goal is to ship 100 of them this year), we were short on manpower for the booths all day, too. So our parent church sent a few volunteers over, which was a huge help and blessing! (And my family came down for the day, and were a huge help with our kids to enable us to do all we needed to do)!

We had a Sand Art booth, Duck Pond, Lollipop Pull, and Bean Bag Toss...and with the Christian prizes we gave out, there are tons of reminders floating around for these kids that Jesus loves them!






It was also a great opportunity to teach the kids in our church about serving. Here, Andrew is chilling out at his post behind the bean bag toss board...waiting to retrieve more bean bags!

Storm!

Thursday afternoon, just as I was dreading turning on the oven to bake our lasagna because it was 80 degrees out, the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up! (God's timing for the little things in our life is such a gift)! Anyway, within 45 minutes, we had thunder, lightning, and hail...all three extremely rare here in Alaska. I'm sure there's a scientific reason why we don't get storms like that up here, but I don't know what it is. Thankfully, the boys loved it and didn't seem afraid at all. After the hail stopped falling, they went out to check out the hail left on the ground...and then we enjoyed our lasagna with a cool breeze blowing through the kitchen. :)

Summer Sun and Smiles!

Last week we had about 5 days of sunshine and 80 degree weather!
We loved it and soaked up every minute we could! Here, the boys are with their friend Caitlyn, relaxing in the shade of the church's front porch!

2 weeks old

I know I'm a week behind...
The good news is that at her two-week weight check, she was 8 ', 2, " over her birth weight of 7' 14". The Dr. wanted her weight checked because she was afraid that Anna might not be nursing enough b/c she's such a good sleeper already. (Now she generally goes about 4 hours at night, but she started out with and will still occasionally sleep 6-7 hours).
Hard to believe that at two weeks she's just getting to Andrew's birth weight of 8' 3," and it will be a while till she gets to
Jacob's of 8' 14"!

Watchful Eye...

Andrew loves to "keep an eye on Anna" for me. Wherever she gets put down, if she makes the slightest peep, he says either "I'll keep an eye on her, mom," or "I'll watch her for you." And he stays right there, tells me if she spits up, and carries on little conversations with her. Jacob, of course, then tells me that he'll watch Anna, too! Both boys have a remarkable ability to get her calmed down if she's fussy!

Little man

Jacob insisted on wearing his towel like this after his bath...

Heartbreaking Confusion

Lately, Andrew has been interested in talking about "when I get bigger," figuring out how last names work when someone gets married, how his grandparents, aunts, & uncles are really related, etc.

So it didn't surprise me when he asked yesterday if Anna would be a mommy when she got bigger. I told him that yes, if that's what God wanted, she probably would get married and have her own children. But then he thought there would be two mommies at our house...me and Anna. I clarified by saying that no, Anna would get married and move somewhere else with her husband and children.

The next thing I know, Andrew is absolutely sobbing...tears coursing down his cheeks, unable to speak clearly through his sobs.
"But I don't want Anna to move away. I want to still see her!"

I quickly tried to console him not to worry, it won't be until all three of them are bigger, and that he would move away, too, so it wouldn't be like he was just missing Anna. Big mistake...he cried harder, sobbing into my shoulder.
"But I don't want to move away, either! I want us to all still be here!"

He calmed down when I said that no one had to leave...they could all just stay here when they got bigger! He was okay with that...and when he's sixteen, I'll be sure to show him this post! :) But I still can't tell this story without crying myself, remembering his anguish that he would "lose" the baby sister he had just gotten after waiting so long!

Jacob's Observations

Jacob has had some pretty funny observations of Anna.

We had been home just a few days, and Anna was wearing just a t-shirt while I was nursing her. Jacob came around the corner from the kitchen, and when he saw her, his face just lit right up. "Legs! Baby Anna has legs!" Guess he didn't realize that under the blanket all this time there was a whole, though tiny, person. :)

The skin on Anna's hands is still dry and peeling. Jacob was looking at her the other day, and informed me that "Anna's 'ands are dirty." My explanation that it was just dry skin that would come of eventually just left him believing that her hands would come off. Oh well, I tried!

Dad Time!

Since it was just Father's Day and all, just wanted to post some pics of my kids with two of the greatest dads I know...my husband and my dad!

Here, adding Anna to the bedtime story routine!



Returning dishes to neighbors who brought meals for us last week. (My friend Kindra coordinated over a week of meals for us...what a huge blessing)!







My dad with the kideroos on Father's Day!

Anna's 1st Bath

The boys were so excited to watch Anna take her first bath! We figured the easiest way to let them watch was to just put them in the tub, too...they loved it.
For the most part, Anna did not!

Happy Father's Day, Grandpa Milligan!

Well, running behind on getting cards in the mail, as is usual these days! Wanted to wish Dad Milligan a very happy Father's Day!


Here are the boys with the cards they made for Grandpa Milligan...Andrew's has two rocket ships, and Jacob colored his hand tracing. They'll be in the mail with some pics of Anna, hopefully sometime this week.

Yo-yo

When my mom was playing with Jacob the other day, she picked him up by his ankles and lifted him up and down a few times. He said "Look, I'm a yo-yo!" How do they think of these things? :)

Life with brothers

The two stuffed animals with Anna are toys that Andrew set aside from his collection for Anna months ago! He just thought that she would really like them, and has been talking forever about giving them to Baby Anna. Sure enough, one of the first things he did when we walked in the door last Wednesday was to go get them to give to her!
They still absolutely adore her, asking at least once a day to hold her, and if we forget to have them say goodnight to her, we have to bring her in to their room for goodnight kisses! And of course they think she'll be as interested in Thomas the train as they are (in last pic).