Anna Kimball Doescher

was preparing to make her arrival just a week ago today! Much to my relief, she made her entrance into this world without any drama, awakening me with a few minor contractions at 2am, letting me fall back asleep for a bit, then summoning me to the hospital at the respectable time of 9:30am. Three hours later I was pushing, and only for 10 minutes at that, and then there she was!

We told the doctor we wanted Matt to share the news with me and announcing whether we had a son or daughter. So I couldn't see Anna Kimball when he gave her anatomy a concentrated stare, just to make sure he had things correct, and happily proclaimed that it was "Anna Kimball."

That's not what I was expecting to hear (and no, this is not where we give away our boy name ... must keep saving it!), but it really didn't take long for the news to set in and for it to seem just right that Emery would have a sister (a sister! she is so lucky!) and that Matt would now be vastly outnumbered by the women of the house. Thankfully, he's such a good sport about it all and just so happy to be with "his girls."

I finish with a few pics from this week, but first want to say that we really aren't sure if we'll be calling her Anna or Anna Kimball. I thought I had convinced Matt that it would be Anna Kimball, but right there in the delivery room after she arrived, Matt calmly insisted that he would just be calling her Anna. That Anna Kimball is a lot of syllables.

Well, I love the way Anna Kimball sounds, but he does have a point. I'm even having trouble saying it all the time. So, we'll just have to see what sticks. If all else fails, maybe she'll just be AK!

We're having fun ...

But I think I'm ready for Baby D #2 to make his/her arrival now ... Whether Emery is or not, now that's another question ...

Not ready to have this baby!

My due date is January 17, less than two weeks away and I am definitely not ready to have this baby. I mean yes, I do have diapers on hand, sleepers washed and folded, new bathtub purchased, etc. but I have literally been on vacation since Henny and Papa arrived and begun helping out with so many of the tasks involved in caring for a toddler and keeping a household organized and fed ... and why would I want that to end ahead of schedule?!?

I wish I had some fabulous pictures that document how wonderful this vacation has been, but I've been too busy not doing my normal routine to get any good ones taken, nor have I spent nearly as much time with Emery as I usually do, hence a lack of photo opps. Am I starting to sound like I'd rather not be mothering a toddler and a soon-to-be newborn? If so, that's not the case ... I'm just realistically acknowledging that it simply won't be possible to rest and run the errands I want to run, when I want to run them,  have extended periods of alone time, etc. etc. etc. in just a matter of days.

So for right now I'm going to thoroughly enjoy every second of this brief respite ... pray like mad Baby D #2 has no intentions of showing up early. Did you hear that ____ _____? (blanks are for the still top-secret names!)