From a few weeks ago...

Well, our picture-posting problems are not yet resolved. Aaron had no problem posting pictures on our blog, but we continue to. Seems it must be a problem with our computer or picture files. I was, however, able to get one to post. The picture below was taken a few weeks ago when Steve's parents were in town. Annie was just three weeks old then; now she's a whopping six and a half weeks!

For those of you who don't know about the orange thing I'm carrying her in, it's called a Moby Wrap. Basically, it's six yards of fabric that you tie around yourself a certain way, then insert baby, and viola! - hands free carrying in a warm and comfy environment for the baby. Annie seems to like it when she's almost asleep or asleep. When awake she prefers to be facing out (which she'll be able to do in the moby wrap in a few months), or dangling face-down over one of our arms, or in a pocket sling that she can see out of.

Aunt Darla

Also a test :)

Uncle Steve

Just testing :)

Three cheers for a good internet connection!

Whew! Finally, at long last, after literally weeks of the internet being down in our house (we share a connection with six other apartments, and the internet house contact person was away), we are up and running again. It seems like so much has happened with us and Annie over the past several weeks! What, you ask? Cooing, smiling, growing... growing... growing! And a ton of pictures that we'll probably never get around to posting! We'll have to just pick up where we left off (and probably try again to post the pictures of Grandma and Pop-pop Baliko's visit - so keep checking that post).

Sorry for no pictures at the moment. Uncle Aaron will have to help us figure out what's wrong... Hopefully just another day or two.

Technical Difficulties

Howdy All: We've got some great pictures to post but we've encountered two problems...the internet connection at our house is going haywire for the moment and when we do have a god connection I'm having trouble getting the pictures to post inside the blog posts...we will get this figured out. Sorry for the delay and thanks for understanding.

Great Visit with Grandparents

Holding Annie for the first time at the airport. That's two happy grandparents!


Wow! There is an amazing bonus that comes with having a child and it has to do with seeing a deluge of love from your parents as they become grandparents. Annie got round one of grandparents this week (and she can't wait for round two with Grandma and Grandpa Seifert coming early this fall!). My folks, Charlie and Sandy, were welcomed to Portland during a brutal heat wave (several days 102+). But they would have battled through a tropical rainforest of scorpions and anacondas to get to see their first grandbaby (fortunately there were no wild animals that were harmed in the visiting of Annie).

Grandma Baliko loving every minute of time with Annie.

And Pop-Pop Baliko was as proud as he could be to spend time with his precious granddaughter.
My folks are from MD and they love the ocean so the time we spent at the coast was a great time for all of us (it didn't hurt that it was 40 degrees cooler than Portland!)We found a perfect shop sign that Grandma knew spelled out her intentions for Annie. (she seems to waving in agreement with Grandma...hmmmm, I'm concerned!)

  Darla and I loved the get away with Annie too. It was fun to already be taking her out and showing her the amazing wonderful world. The Oregon coast is a fantastic array of sandy stretches and rocky peculiarities. The perfect place to let our mind wander into all kinds of restful and peaceful places. What a joy to see life go on, to see three generations in one room and to know that all of the struggles and messiness of life are worth pushing back against to make room for such wonderful times as these.
And a few parting shots that are too cute to not post!




Thanks so much for coming Dad and Mom, it was great to introduce Annie to you. We all (all three of us) love you! (sorry this has taken SOOOOOO long to post...I cannot explain to you the amount of frustration that was generated by tring to get even these few pictures onto this post...but here it is and just in time for the next grandparent visitation.)

Whale watching

 

My (Darla's) favorite picture in the whole world

 

Annie Goes to the Pacific...

Steve's parents visited us this past week, and to escape the 105+ heat, we escaped to the coast for a night. Annie dipped her toes in the Pacific Ocean, and walked (or was carried, rather) on the beach. I think I had been starting to develop a moderate case of cabin fever, so, with temperatures in the upper 60s to low 70s, I don't think I've ever been so happy to be at the beach! We have many more pictures from the beach and from the grandparents' visit that we'll be posting as soon as our computer cooperates. (Currently, it will only upload certain, random pictures... argh.)