The Newell House

A special picture

2009-01-10T18:27:00.001-08:00

My mom takes care of Katrina on a daily basis while Paul and I work. All during the Christmas season, she was taking special time to stop at the manger and tell Katrina about the characters. She would push the star on the top and sing 'Away in a Manger' to her. My mom would keep telling me that the only disturbing part of the daily ritual was that Katrina seemed only interested in the black sheep piece! Well, this is a picture from Christmas morning, and with all the other toys in the room at that point, Katrina still went right to the manger and started playing with all the pieces! So at 9 months, the story of baby Jesus in the manger is already important to her--thank you Mom (Grammy!) :)

The faces continued...

2009-01-10T18:19:00.000-08:00

I just don't know!

Looking so sad

I don't know what this look means...

I am grinding my 4 front teeth

Fun with mama

Baby's First Christmas

2009-01-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Katrina got some great new toys for Christmas. That being said, she really just enjoyed tearing off paper and playing with it. Such simple things...

I don't know that I am going to be able to top this year's Christmas dress--I absolutely loved it on her and thought she was just adorable!!!!!

A story to go with the faces...

2009-01-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

1. Dada....(add a little whine here)

2. Grrrrr; pick me up!!!

3. Ok, now I am really upset at you (and yet am still sooo cute!!!)

Am I in trouble?

Thanksgiving

2009-01-07T08:04:00.001-08:00

Katrina was a very happy girl during dinner...I think it had to do with the big audience that she had sitting at the table!

Just hanging out with Great-Grammy...and then getting some playtime in. Thank you to my mother-in-law for the super cute outfit!

Some fun ones...

2009-01-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

I thought I could get some Christmas pictures up today, but I guess they are not on the computer yet, so here are a few cute ones to hold you over!

2008-11-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

Katrina is crawling!!!! The hardwood floors are giving her a run, but with enough motivation, anything is possible! It is now time to baby-proof the house...

This is a perfect picture to describe Katrina's world...Mason (and the remote control) were the first two things that were worth crawling for. Mason is Katrina's best friend--she crawls over to him, snuggles her face in his side and tries to fall asleep with him. He is wonderful with her and has been known to go lay his chin on her back while she is playing.

2008-11-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

Daddy bought Katrina a new puppy stuffed animal and she loves it!! She lies on her back and he holds it over her and tickles her with it while she giggles and squeals. All the fun stuff happens while Mommy is at work late with parent conferences...sooo not fair...

2008-11-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

It was a little late for perfect Macs, but at least we got there. This is one of my very favorite fall activities--apple-picking!! (To prove how excited I get about this, my mother-in-law can attest to the fact that I bought this outfit specifically for apple-picking back a few months ago!) It was a family affair...Mom, Dad, Jon, Paul, Katrina, myself and Mason. It was a perfect day!

2008-11-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

My brother can be a goober at times, but this time he hit the nail on the head. For my birthday, he put together a card on smilebox that included pictures that he had taken throughout the month of September. It was amazing and I cried and here are some of my favorites!

(I know that this picture probably looks a little inappropriate, but Katrina loves to lick the condensation off of cans, bottles, glasses, you name it really. We were trying to keep her entertained on a ferry ride out to Staten Island, give us a break!) :)

2008-11-09T08:34:00.000-08:00

Here are some August pictures...

We went to the Olsen House as part of a museum trip up in Maine. It was a gorgeous day and Katrina was all smiles!

This is part of a long, relaxing weekend in Cape Cod with friends (the polka dotted outfit was a special Cape must have!) Paul would also like you to note the 3 pound lobster he is about to demolish!!!

Storyland part 2

2008-08-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

Savannah & Katrina

Aunt Nancy and Katrina

Family photo-op with a creepy egg whose eyes moved back and forth...

Storyland with the fam

2008-08-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know that I have the most comfortable set-up here, but Katrina seemed to enjoy it!

These are two of Katrina's cousins--Victoria and Savannah. They just love having a baby around and are little shadows to me whenever we're around.

I think every picture of my growing girl is beautiful, but these are a couple of my favorites--I love her eyes...and she loves her tongue!

Play time

2008-08-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

Katrina is taking more and more notice of our pets and loves to watch them as they walk by her!

This is a picture of mid-roll, but our baby girl can roll both ways now and does it constantly just for practice and fun I guess.

I absolutely love this face...she sucks in her bottom lip and it gives her the biggest chipmunk cheeks ever! My mom bought her an exersaucer to play with at Grammy's house and she loves the bright colors and spinny toys. It is so fun to watch her look at new things and when she gets excited she makes an "o" mouth face and shakes--soooo cute!!

2008-07-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

This photo is purely for competition sake for Michelle and Aliya. We have a cute matching outfit too for the same doll as you do!! Love you bestest buddy~ :)

2008-07-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a proud grandpa who was so upset at first when Katrina would not look at him, but has won her over to the point of passing out from contentment as in this picture!

This is the 2nd time in the pool and Katrina seems to be relaxing--feet crossed and hanging out.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!
And back we are in our favorite position...
Here is proud grammy...doesn't Katrina look like the boy from Lil' Rascals with her ears pushed out like this? haha--still too cute though!

2008-07-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

There is a proud mom and a proud dad picture in this bunch, as well as Katrina's first pool experience (she loved it!!!)

A long awaited post...

2008-07-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures in order from late June to late July (this means that they will be in order from top to bottom of each post from this post up--I should have done this backwards, but I am not that bright!). Sorry to those of you who check this site regularly and have been disappointed so many times. We love you all~

Girl meets Doll

2008-06-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

This was by far one of the cutest moments that Katrina has shared with us so far. My mom has been looking forward to buying Katrina a doll and this is the one that she picked out to keep at her house for when Katie goes to visit. I think that my daughter approves--she got so animated when she saw the doll face; smiling, waving her hands and feet and making all kinds of cooing noises! It was adorable.

Katrina update

2008-06-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

I have been much too lax about updating my blog (as many of you have complained lately), but you see, Paul recently got new computers and I am deathly afraid of doing something that will forever cause them to not work properly. That being said, I am using one now, and all seems to be going OK!! So here are some new pictures of the ever-growing and changing Katrina...

You cannot see the whole picture here, but this is a picture of Paul's worst nightmare! If you were to pan the camera, you would notice that Paul is watching TV while holding his daughter, and it seems that she is watching it too!!!

Katrina is 10 weeks old today and smiling is her new favorite activity. It started out small and only if you caught her at the right moment, but now she is giving us ear-to-ear grins and we absolutely love every one of them!

She does not really know what stuffed animals are yet, but often times when she is in her car seat, you can catch her grasping onto the one we put next to her or falling asleep against it. I think she is going to be her mother's daughter in her love for these cuddly friends!

Katrina is definitely focusing on people and objects a lot more than she could before. She is looking up into a mirror on her playmat here. She loves being on this mat and exercises her leg and arms like crazy every time I put her onto it. You can hear the rattles and noises from it as she waves her arms around in a frenzy of activity.

This last picture is a very proud moment of ours! We brought Katrina to her first fireworks (the Rock 101 100 Days of Summer) over the Memorial Day Weekend. We had the whole gang there--my brother and Carrie and her parents, both of our parents and the rest of Paul's family too. Everyone was holding their breath to see how Katrina would react to the craziness...and she loved it! For the first few minutes she watched the bright lights with full interest, and then she just looked around and forgot they were even going on. She didn't cry once and seemed very OK with the whole situation. We were very proud of her! She is one brave little girl!

A quick pet update

2008-06-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

This is Mason. He is just happy to be a dog and has no care in the world about having a new baby in the house. He is the best!
This is Gus. He is alpha animal in the house and as you can see by his expression here, "Don't Tread On Me" is his motto. A new person in the house does not bother him until you want the space that he is lying in or he wants to be fed and you are paying attention to the baby instead!
And this is Melody. She just wants to be comfortable and independent. This is a spot on the back of a chair that Gus and Melody often fight for. She seemingly can't decide what she thinks of Katrina, as sometimes she goes up and sniffs at her very tenderly, and other times we find her lying all over Katrina's toys and marking her bath tub.

Although I do not have photos here, we also have Tucker, our small dog, who is easy going until he wants to go for a ride or I leave the house for a walk and he gets so mad at me that he poops in the house and lastly we have Jennifer the snapping turtle who Paul is aiming to feed enough to that she becomes big enough to eat our small dog and maybe our child!

I know that you the reader do not care as much about our animals as our daughter, so the next post is all about her!

Some of my favorites

2008-05-14T04:51:00.001-07:00

Katrina is now 7 weeks old, 22 inches long and 10 pounds! We had her 6-week appointment and along with her shots came tears from both of us. She has recovered beautifully though and all is well.

Katrina loves to be on her belly--but not for the recommended tummy time... to sleep! Even better than that is to be on her belly on mommy or daddy's belly to sleep. Here are a couple of adorable examples!

Our cutie is just getting that smiling thing figured out. Although she still smiles when she has gas and when she is dreaming, and after she tasted cherry tylenol for the first time, she is practicing using it for people she loves too (as I am the one taking the picture, that must be me she's smiling at!)

5 minutes of faces

2008-05-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

These are just some of the very cute faces that Katrina makes during the course of a day!

Changing...

2008-04-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Katrina is now 4 weeks old and changing so fast! Her little face has filled out and she is so much more alert. She is able to hold her head up much more than before and has definitely figured out that she can suck on her hand, even though the thumb has not come out yet. We love her so much. I enjoy being home with her, and this week Paul has been on school vacation, so I get the best of all my worlds! I just cannot get over how beautiful our daughter is and how amazingly lucky we are to have her in our arms on a daily basis! This is one of my favorite recent pictures of her--the new and the old hands of my daughter and my grandmother...

Four Generations

2008-04-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

Grammy had not seen Katrina yet, so Paul, myself, Katrina and my mom went for a day trip up to Vermont. We had such a fun day! We went to downtown Brandon and had lunch and then walked through some shops. Grammy bought a doll named Emily for Katrina and I got spoiled by mom and Paul with some new jewelry for me! It was some serious driving for Paul that day, but it was well worth it to see Grammy be excited to meet her great-granddaughter!

First Bath

2008-04-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

So...this process scared me a bit, but luckily Katrina was not that scared and did extremely well with an inexperienced bather for a mommy! (This is actually not the first bath--second maybe, but close enough.)

Isn't she cute? This is right before she decided she didn't like it and started screaming; I have those pictures too, but she isn't as cute there :)

We got permission to come home!!

2008-04-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

Isn't she adorable?!?!
Katrina had her 1st pediatrician's appointment today and it went splendidly. She is already back up to her birth weight.
The doctor said that she looks great and gave us a letter saying she can fly home. As we were leaving the office, we were complaining that we had not heard from the attorney about our being able to leave and poof...the phone rang and we have our ICPC approval!

So...WE ARE ON OUR WAY HOME TONIGHT!!!! We booked a red eye flight and will be in Boston at 8:18am tomorrow! We cannot wait to see everyone and be back in a house instead of a hotel.

This was a very trying and harsh process at times, but it was also miraculous. We cannot believe how many people care about our family and all the love and prayers have clearly worked, because we are coming home with a princess. Love you all!

2008-04-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

Katrina is doing so well! She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow to have her 2nd newborn screening and to get a letter of permission to fly home. Paul and I are still waiting for a phonecall from our attorney to give us permission to go home, and we can't wait! We have decided that Phoenix is not our favorite place on earth!

Paul has been keeping busy by taking all these photos and videos, but...he changed his first diaper this morning while he was on shift and I was sleeping! A little bit about that; Katrina was very nice to us the first night and slept a very long time between feedings and changings, but last night she decided to show us what parenthood is really all about and we probably slept only 4 hours each. She seems to have decided that life is interesting and she does not want to miss a thing, so this morning she was fighting off sleep like crazy. That being said, it is 9:15pm and she is sleeping soundly, so what do you think tonight will look like? I have my doubts...

We love you and miss you all!

We are "home"!

2008-03-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Well, that is not quite true, we are at a hotel, but our little girl is with us! She was discharged from the hospital this afternoon and she is doing wonderfully! Now we just have to wait for a phonecall from our attorney next week to give us the green light to come back to New Hampshire.

Until that time comes, we are looking forward to bonding with Katrina and getting used to being parents (in hopes that when you see us next, we will look a little like we know what we are doing!!!) :)

Our little girl...

2008-03-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was quite a day! It got a little dicey for a bit as we waited for papers to be signed, but by a little after 3 (AZ time), Katrina was officially our little girl. We were not able to take her home with us unfortunately, as she has jaundice and is under phototherapy for 24 hours, but we are hoping that by around 3:30pm today we will be able to wisk her away to be with us!

We want to thank all of you for all your prayers and phonecalls and text messages! We have felt so loved and supported and we cannot wait to get home and see all of you and show off our beautiful daughter! We love you all!!

Pray for tomorrow!!!

2008-03-28T23:18:00.000-07:00

Pray for tomorrow!!!

2008-03-28T23:14:00.001-07:00

Part of the wait is over!

2008-03-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

Even though we are waiting for the final paperwork to be signed on Saturday, we know that you are all waiting to see pictures of our little girl! So here you go...

Katrina

(Katie)

(She was born on 3/26 at 2:24pm (Arizona time) at 7 lbs 11oz and 20 inches long.)