No, it was not a gathering of Ronald and the Fry Guys. It was the McMillan family reunion this past weekend in Mountain View, AR. My dad is one of five siblings, and each year the five of them and their families gather somewhere for the weekend.

Most of us stayed at Sylamore Lodges just north of Mountain View. David, Anna, and I shared a house with my parents and my brother and his family—that’s six adults and 2 babies in one house—but it was plenty big, and it served as the gathering spot for the rest of the family. On Friday night we all had dinner at Angler’s White River Resort. David and I both had catfish and shrimp. Then everyone sat outside at the lodge and visited for a while. On Saturday everyone picked their own activities. David and I mostly hung out at the house, but we went into town for a little while in the afternoon, poked around a few shops, and picked up a Tommy’s Pizza to take home with us. Saturday night everyone had dinner at our place—fried chicken, barbeque, and plenty of sides. Sunday morning we again gathered at our house for breakfast before everyone headed home. Some pics: (more…)

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At our family reunion this past weekend (more on that in another post), Anna got to see her cousin Addison. Here are a couple of cute pictures:

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As I mentioned before, Anna has to be swaddled to sleep. The problem is she can eventually wriggle her arms out, and then we have to go in there and re-wrap her for her to fall back asleep soundly. I’ve been pressing David for several weeks to get a swaddling blanket. I finally insisted enough, and he sweetly stopped by Babies ‘R’ Us after work yesterday and picked one up.

It basically goes something like this:

• Insert bottom half of baby into sack.
• Wrap flaps around top half of baby and secure in place with velcro.

The reviews were promising—story after story of people whose babies would wriggle out of even the tightest swaddle and wake themselves several times during the night, just like Anna, but after they started using this blanket, they started sleeping through the night! Aha! This is the answer!

Last night was David’s night to check on her. At 3:30 he had gotten up twice with her. She had come out of the blanket. I mean completely out—legs and all.

How the heck?!?

I just hope this skill comes in handy someday. Maybe she’ll make us a lot of money in the circus.

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It’s the 23rd again—Anna is 2 months old today! I took her to get weighed, and she’s 10 pounds 4 ounces and doing quite well. She smiles a lot, she loves it when we talk to her, she likes her play mat and bouncy seat, she holds her head up well, she likes to lie on her back on our bed and kick her legs and stare at the ceiling fan, and she takes really good naps! And while it’s a little sad that she’s growing up so fast, she just gets more and more fun the older she gets.

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My mom and I took Anna down to Little Rock today to meet my cousin’s baby, Eden Hollis. So Anna and Eden are… third cousins? First cousins twice removed? Anyone know? Anyway, Eden is only three weeks old and she came five weeks early, so she is still very tiny! (And very sleepy, apparently!)

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Well, my first Mothers Day would have been special enough just enjoying the blessing of Anna, but there were a few additional “perks” that made it extra-special. (more…)

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Anna is still swaddled when she sleeps. I don’t know if she likes it or not, but she needs it. If she’s not, her arms flail about wildly and she wakes herself (and us) up.

It’s funny when she starts to wake up and is a little agitated at finding herself bound up like that. She looks like a little mermaid out of water, flopping around in her crib. (Don’t worry, we free her. After we laugh.)

And then there’s the big stretch when she wakes up. Boy, she gives it all she’s got. I can’t seem to get a picture that does it justice, though.

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Anna’s a big girl now—6 weeks old today—so off to the church nursery she went! I was told she slept the whole time.

We have wonderful nursery workers. I’ve known them for years, and they will take just as good care of Anna as I would, if not better! She’s in good hands with them. Thank you Dawn, Julie, Tanya, Ella, and Regina (not pictured).

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Many of my bloggin’ friends take these professional-quality photos of their kids. It seems like everyone except me knows how to take a good picture! What’s the secret? Anyway, I decided I need a LOT more practice, so I got the camera out and started shooting. I even did the artsy black-and-white thing. Now that I think about it, there’s something about black-and-white photos that makes it look like you know what you’re doing. Maybe that’s the secret. And I’ve noticed it’s ok to cut off heads sometimes. Especially if it’s black-and-white—it looks like you did it on purpose because you’re an artist and you don’t have to follow the rules.

Anyway, here’s my feeble attempt at photo art. Constructive criticism welcome.

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“You have a baby! In a bar!”

Indeed we did. Well, officially it’s an Irish pub, but basically, yeah, a bar. We took Anna to her first Irish pub session tonight at Cregeen’s in North Little Rock. For the first part of it, she slept as soundly as she’s ever slept. Maybe I need to record a noisy pub session and play it in her room at night.

At one point while she was taking her bottle, she was sucking to the beat of the music. That’s my girl!

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