Fun with the girls...

Here's a happy shot of Anna. :)

The week Anna was born we had tickets to a local production of the Nutcracker...it was a morning showing for school groups, so they shortened the performance. It was perfect. We got front row seats and Cate was in HEAVEN. Every time new dancers came on the stage she'd say "More ballerinas!" She paid attention the entire show and applauded and everything. It was so stinkin' cute. My mom stayed with Anna so Nate and I were able to go with Cate - it was such a fun morning.

The day Nate's parents left, Cate was playing quietly in her room. She always does this, so I didn't think twice, but Herm thought she might be up to something so he went to check on her. The next thing we know Cate's crying. Sure enough, she had found Pat's makeup bag and was applying her "face" when Grandpa caught her red-handed. Cate isn't normally caught in such situations...guess nobody's perfect! She really does like wearing makeup, which I discovered at Halloween. Anyway, it was pretty dang funny, even though Cate was quite sad.

If Anna had a Native American name it would be "Crazy Hair." When this kid's hair is clean it seriously goes crazy - as you can see. It also looks much lighter when it's clean and all grease-free. This picture kind of makes it look red, but it's just the lighting...she definitely doesn't have any red in her hair. But just wanted to show off the porcupinish quality of her locks...

FUNNY cate videos...and a few pics

While Pat & Herm were in town, Cate & I went with them one afternoon to see the seals in La Jolla. I had to find parking, so the three of them got a head start. When I got down there, Herm was far out on the sea wall that protects the seal beach...i.e. the spot where you get WET if a good wave comes through. I thought to myself, Herm's crazy to be out there. I started to head out on the wall, which was super crowded...as I got closer to the end (where the waves hit) I heard a little girl crying...I thought, that's gotta be cate and she probably just got nailed by a wave. Then I heard a guy saying to his girlfriend, "That little girl got soaked!" Uh-oh. This is how I found them...



On the way back to the car we came across some people feeding pigeons. Herm, who was carrying Cate, got a pretzel so he and Cate could feed the birds...thinking, most likely, this would cheer up wet and inconsolable Cate. Two pigeons jumped up on his arm, at which point Cate freaked out. It was so funny...What a trip to the beach! Fortunately it only took about 10 minutes before Cate could calm down enough to look back on the experience and laugh, or at least not sob.


We had a great time with Nate's parents. So sad to see them leave! Today was the first real day without help around, and it went well...but I didn't even try to get anything done. :)




I have tons of other pictures to post, but I'm going to do that later...I'm tired. :)

More Pictures!

Hey everyone, it's Jane again! I'm actually sitting down at the computer...haven't really felt like it much this week. :) Anyway, Nate and I wanted to post more pictures. Hopefully it's not too many for you! (make sure you keep scrolling down for Cate's birthday pictures, too)

Here we are right before we took off for the hospital...


I had to be in bed overnight for the medicine they gave me to dilate, so Nate was a super husband and spent the night with me. When we got there the chair on the left (it pulls out) was what he was supposed to sleep on. GROSS. Our nurse disappeared for a bit and came back with the one and only brand new sleeping chair in the wing. What a lucky guy!


I love love love love this picture.


Mom and Anna.


The new big sister! We had a baby doll waiting for her in the hospital the first time she came to meet Anna. She was a little interested in Anna when she first got there, but not at all once she discovered the doll. Surprise surprise. :)


Cate has been excited about her baby sister for some time now - she's done really well with her this week, although whenever you ask what her baby sister's name is she says "I don't know." It's funny.


Here's Anna the first night. As you've seen, she has a cute little round face...and as you can see here a super double chin...when you crease it with your finger it stays creased. Nate and I were laughing so hard when we discovered that trick. Gotta love baby fat.


Here's Cate holding Anna in the hospital - she does pretty well!


Just a sweet picture of Anna sunbathing at the hospital (she is on the verge of jaundice, so she gets to start out life as a true southern california girl...laying in the sun three times a day)


Anna has super long fingers and toes...in fact the longest infant toes any of us have ever seen! Her hands are so pretty, but I've yet to get a good shot of them.


You can see here that her big toe is very talented...she can stretch it so far from her other toes!!


Briniging the babies home!


Just a cute little series of Cate with Anna...so sweet.

Cate's 3rd Birthday!

Since Anna was born the day before Cate's birthday, we were still in the hospital. We wanted to make sure Cate had a special day (especially because she LOVES birthdays so much), so Nate took her out for smoothies that morning, she made cupcakes with Grandma (complete with all kinds of fingerprints and holes all over the cupcakes), and we had a little party in the hospital room. She finished the night off going for ice cream with Dad...needless to say Cate had a LOT of sugar that day.

So, of course we had to light and blow out candles, right? And of course when Cate wanted to do it again I said sure (b/c I felt guilty about being in the hospital as it was!). And of course we didn't stop to think we were in a HOSPITAL...5 minutes after the candles were blown out 4 nurses coming running in our room looking for fire. Come to find out the smoke detector in our room is connected directly to the fire department (DUH)...thank GOODNESS it didn't go off. So embarassing. But it was worth it - Cate was happy.


Present time!


What a beautiful setting for a birthday party, eh?


On Thursday night we threw Cate a "real" birthday party at home. We invited her friends Hannah and Amelia over...I'm sure she would have loved to have had more friends, but this was nice and small for us and as far as Cate knew it was a huge party. The girls were totally cute and danced like CRAZY people. My mom is the best at doing cool birthday cakes - Cate wanted a blue car birthday cake, so Grandma obliged. Cate sat there and watched her decorate - it was so cute.


Cate and Grandma.


Here's the cake!


The party animals.


Here's the real Party Anna-mal (ha ha). She slept through the entire party - don't know how she did it with those crazy girls running around, but she did. :)


Cate got all kinds of princessy-girly-dress-uppy stuff for her birthday, including this lovely pair of clip-on earrings. They must be really comfortable, huh?


Here she is all dressed up. Nate asked her if he could take a picture and she totally started striking tons of poses - it was so funny and kinda weird - we have NO IDEA where she picked up those moves. Nate and I could not stop laughing. When my sister Anne was in town we were watching Project Runway, at which point Cate told us she wanted to be a "perfect model"...again, have no idea where THAT came from. Apparently she's been practicing.

Anna Louisa Maynard

Here are some pictures that Jane took today. As you can see she is beautiful!

???? Maynard is here!

We are happy to announce the successful arrival of "baby sistah". She's a beautiful little girl with some beautiful chubby cheeks. She arrived at 11:49am PST today (12/16/07). She weighed in at 8lb 1oz and measured 19 1/2 inches. Mom and baby are doing great! They proved to be a great team. Only 15 minutes of pushing and a successful feeding less than an hour later. Here is a pic and a very short video. All the good pics are on the other camera I left at the hospital. We will try to get those up tomorrow.

Baby time!

We're going to the hospital in THREE HOURS! Woo-hoo! Here's one final shot of the baby pre-birth...still pretty high and dry!


We'll post pictures of the baby (still no name!!!) SOMETIME in the next few days...

Stil no baby, Part II...

Unbelievable! Went to the doctor yesterday and despite 10 days of contractions, I had not dilated any more than I was before Thanksgiving! What the?!?! So, to stop the madness, we will be going in on Saturday night to get things going...they'll give me a drug that will help me to dilate, which in turn can put me into labor (it did with Cate, so I'm SURE it will this time since I'm already having contractions). Anyway, it's looking like Sunday will be the big birthday! I suppose she could surprise us before then, but I kinda doubt it at this point. Anyhow, the girls' birthdays will be just 1 day apart - the 16th and the 17th. Pretty crazy!

Just wanted to give a quick update since we know a little more now. Wish us luck!!!

Sleeping Beauty

Still having contractions, but still no baby. Doctor's appointment tomorrow...we'll post an update then! We're crossing our fingers we won't need the appointment, but certainly not holding our breath.

In the meantime, look how sweet Cate is. We have church in the afternoon, so she usually doesn't get a nap on Sundays...she does pretty well, but is quite exhausted by the end of the day. She totally zonked out on Sunday in her "thinking chair" - it was soooo cute.

Still no baby...

not to get any hopes up out there, but I AM having contractions...all week in fact. hopefully they'll stop teasing me (and making me uncomfortable and unable to sleep) soon!!! anyway, keep checking in as I THINK we'll have a baby announcement soon enough (we better!).

last night we took cate to see santa. she kept saying she was going to sit on his lap, but when push came to shove she kept a 2 foot distance at all times. she did sit on the stool next to him so the picture FINALLY doesn't have mom and dad feeling stupid sitting on santa's knee. I'll scan the picture in later...it's cute. anyway, she did like talking to him and asked for 2 cars (matchbox cars)...when he asked if she wanted anything else she said "a piano for my mommy so she can play christmas songs." this was the cutest thing she could have said for two reasons: first, the other day I said how I wish I had a piano so much and I really feel it at christmas, and ever since her mission has been to get me a piano from santa. second, we just LOVED that when santa asked her what else she wanted for christmas, she thought of me instead of herself. what a sweetheart.

off to enjoy more contractions.