First Outing—4 days old!

This past weekend, my brother and his family came in to meet Sarah. Saturday was a beautiful day so we decided to spend some time at the park so the bigger girls could play. Sarah pretty much sat there in her stroller and slept. :)

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The photogenic Kendall, always ready with a grin:

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Big sister Addie (Addie and Anna are finally getting old enough to play together some!):

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Bringing home Sarah

After our two days in the hospital, we were ready to come home. I wanted a going-home outfit for Sarah, something cute but still practical. When I found this little outfit with a dog on it, that pretty much settled it. :)

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Welcome to the world!

Little Sarah Brooke Felio joined our family on Tuesday at 11:44 A.M. She weighed 7 lb. 10 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. She came out healthy and demonstrated her good strong lungs for us right away! This experience was totally different from Anna’s birth in that (among numerous other things) I was much more aware of what was going on, so I was much happier about that. (I found out that what happened last time was the epidural went up the wrong way and made me really out of it, so I barely remember anything.) I was glad to feel like more a part of the experience this time, even though all I really did was lie there. :)

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A kiss for Sarah Brooke:

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Finally, I’ve got both my girls, and couldn’t be happier about it!

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Anna modeling her new t-shirt, the morning before we left for the hospital:

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Final(?) family outing, with just the 3 of us

On Friday, we decided to squeeze in one more zoo trip before the baby comes. I guess I shouldn’t say just the 3 of us, because when I told Anna we were going to the zoo, she said that baby sister would be coming too… well, yes, technically that’s correct!

It was a beautiful day and not very crowded. Anna was such a sweetie, did great the whole time, and seemed to enjoy it. After the zoo, we went out to lunch at Moe’s—one of our favorite places and a place for which we happened to have coupons for free stuff. :)

I’m so glad to have a zoo membership because we don’t feel pressured to see everything every time. We can just stay as long as we want and then leave. I hope they do 1/2 price memberships again for next year!

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A chimp kiss… isn’t it cute?

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We finally used our carousel tickets that came with the membership. Anna loved it! It was her first carousel ride.

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Ahhhhh…..

A little bit of order, finally! Some pics with the countertops in:

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And Anna helping Daddy install the garbage disposal:

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Backyard Photo Shoot

Inspired by my friend Jenny who took some adorable pictures of her daughter today, I thought, “Why in the world don’t I get the camera out more often and get my child outside and just start taking pictures?” Well, for one thing, it’s been insanely hot, and another, we’ve been insanely busy… but today worked out well on both accounts. Here’s my cutie:

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Documenting the milestones—first pigtails :)

This morning I decided Anna’s hair is long enough to try some pigtails. She likes it… she says “I have both hairs!” She looks so grown up. She’s also been chattering away pretty much nonstop this morning. Coincidence? Or maybe the pigtails give her some attitude!

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Meeting Baby Kendall

This post is a couple of weeks late, but thus is life right now. :) On July 4, we finally got to meet our new niece, Kendall! She doesn’t live very far away, but for one reason or another it just hasn’t worked out for us to go see her. But my brother and his family were able to make it to Conway for a couple of days.

Anna was so sweet around the baby! She was very interested in her and always wanted to know where she was. She kissed her and patted her gently. She brought her toys. And she didn’t have any problem at all with David or me holding her. This is a good sign!

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Lookin’ like a cow…

No, that wasn’t a self-commentary on my nearly-6-month-pregnant shape (this time!). Today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A, where if you dress like a cow, you get a free meal! Apparently it’s an annual event, and we just found out about it last year and participated for the first time this year. I think it will be a yearly family tradition.

Anna really got into the spirit of things and ate all SIX—that’s right, SIX—of her chicken nuggets! Gracious!

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The Good Goodbye

In just a little over a year, we’ve had to say goodbye to three dogs. First, we lost our precious Sasha to cancer. Then, we were fostering Russ through his heartworm treatment, and we lost him to distemper.

This past Thursday, we said goodbye to the third, but under a much different set of circumstances. Our foster dog Bailey found a new home up in New Jersey, so we went down to Little Rock to see him off on the P.E.T.S. transport that will deliver him and about a hundred other dogs from the South to their new homes in the Northeast, which they do every week. (They currently have an 8-week show on Animal Planet, airing on Saturday nights.)

It was hard to say goodbye and we will miss him greatly, but fostering all the way through to the send-off is rewarding as well. He arrived today, and his new mom wrote how much they adore him and how much sweeter he is than they ever could have imagined. She thanked us for loving him and taking care of him until he could be theirs. They have been counting down the days until he would arrive! Fostering definitely fills a need in the animal rescue world. We are honored to have been a part of Bailey’s story, and we hope to do it again in the future (after we have our own dog(s), according to David—he says he can’t do this again unless he has a dog to come home to!)

Here are few pics from send-off day:

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