Now let me think about it...

sure it was staged, but no less cute. -ben

Grammy and Grampy come to visit....

Here's a couple of pictures of Ani with her grandparents who are getting a short break from constantly waiting on Nicole. As you might have noticed, our pictures of Ani always show her sleeping. That's because she sleeps A LOT! The challenge with her is to keep her awake enough to eat. We know we will soon regret that we spent so much effort in waking her up out of a peaceful sleep to eat, but oh well.

FAQs

Thanks to everyone for the sweet responses. We're doing well so far. Here another photo of Ani and some answers to frequently asked questions:

Where did you get "Annice"? Annice (pronounced "a niece") was the name of Nicole's great grandmother which is as far back in Ani's maternal line as we can go so far.

How was the labor? Well, no picnic, but I'll count myself lucky. I managed to avoid the epidural but did partake of some wonderful narcotics (fentanyl) that gave me a nice break between 6-8 centimeters. Good stuff, especially after 9 months of not drinking!

Do you want visitors? Sure! We're not planning on going anywhere besides an occasional walk and trip the grocery store for a while, so feel free to come on by, if you're inclined. As fair warning, though, you should be prepared to see a messy apartment and probably Nicole's breasts ;). We're getting a handle on the breast feeding but haven't advanced to the skill level of "discreet" quite yet.

More photos? The hospital took some cute photos. You can see them here:

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage.asp?UrlID=1V5K4S9Z5L
Password: Bellows

Ani Bellows makes her debut!

Here's Ani! After much anticipation and about 20 hours of labor, Ani has arrived. Here are her stats -

Official Name: Annice Josephine Bellows
Born: September 12, 2006, 7:54 AM
Size: 7 pounds, 1 ounce, 21 inches

We just arrived home from the hospital today (thursday) and all parties are doing well. Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes!

Due Date

Well, we've hit the due date of September 9 but no baby yet. You can see that she's getting pretty big, though. Stay tuned for more info....