Underground Gardens

When my parents were here, we went to these cool underground gardens in Fresno on Memorial Day weekend. This guy dug all these tunnels and rooms underground (in his spare time) to stay cool in the summer (can you imagine living in Fresno with 100-115 degree heat in the summer and having no AC?) and pretty much live in. He was a citrus fruit grower before he came to the US, so he wanted to experiment with growing citrus trees "underground"... meaning in underground courtyards that had sky lights or were open on top to let the sunlight in. He did it though; pretty impressive to grow citrus trees 15 feet into the ground.

Other pics from when my parents were here...

Milestones...

First time in her Bumbo seat. It says it's for infants who can hold their heads up (which she does really well for a little while...), butt apparently it's also for tiny little peanuts who can use the backrest as a head rest!

One week old

One month old!

Practicing that head holding

She started with a few smiles at 3 weeks... but now at 5 weeks, she has lots of them!

Annabelle and Mommy and Daddy love the Moby wrap to put her to sleep or just to hang out in while getting things done around the house!

Sometimes she decides she wants to be a big girl and face out to see everything, but then mommy has to help when her little neck gets tired of holding her head up :)

Visitors

Life has been a whirl wind around here! Matt's family was here for the week last week, and we had a great time with them. Annabelle got endless Grandma and Grandpa cuddles, that's for sure! We took a few excursions; one to visit more family in Visalia, one to a winery a little over an hour away, and one to Yosemite for a day. Annabelle did great in the car each time. But that

Cuddles with Grandma Kathy

Uncle Josh got a few cuddles in here and there... when he could get her away from G & G

4 Generations

Annabelle's first trip to Yosemite

Cuddles with Grandpa Mel

Click here to see more pics...

Introducing... Annabelle May Jonkman!

This post is long overdue... but here it is anyways :).

On Monday, May 16 (my due date!), the usual contractions that I had been having throughout the day each day started to get a little more uncomfortable. They were coming more regularly, so I started timing them around 3 pm and they were about 10 minutes apart at that point. By 5:30 or 6, I was having to get up and walk and breath through them as they were getting a lot stronger. We ended up going into the hospital around 7 when the contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. I was still only 3 cm, but 90% effaced and at zero station. So, pretty much, the baby had already been really low (we had known that for a while from our last few doctors visits), but I just needed to dilate more. She came really fast for a first baby because she was here by midnight (12:01, to be exact). We had a few bumps along the way with her head having trouble getting around my pelvic bones and her heart rate dropping during contractions, but all in all, she came out healthy and perfect. She even started crying all on her own the instant she was out!

Stats: Born 12:01, May 17, 2011... 7 pounds 6 ounces, 20.5 inches, dark brown hair (I am SO happy that she has hair!).

We instantly noticed her beautiful big lips and chubby cheekies :). We later noticed how much she looks like her daddy! She is the most beautiful little girl ever and we absolutely adore her!

Lookin a lot like Daddy here!

At our hospital, they normally like first time moms to stay 48 hours after giving birth... however we managed to get them to OK us to go by late morning on Wednesday (instead of Thursday morning).

Leaving the hospital

Oh, and my mom got here on Saturday the 14th, just in time to do some shopping and visit with me before the baby and then she got to be here for Annabelle's birth. And am I ever glad that she was there! She was the best help we could ask for... from helping me with breathing during contractions, to cooking, cleaning, and even doing sewing projects for me! Not to mention helping with Annabelle and giving me extra sleep; what a blessing! My dad came on the Thursday before Memorial Day and was a big help with Grandpa time as well.

Annabelle is doing well... we are still working on getting her birth weight up, but she is otherwise very healthy and more and more alert everyday. She is sleeping more and more at night also! She has gone from 1-3 hours at a time for many days, to 2 nights of 3+ hours, 2 nights of 4+ hours, 2 nights of 5+ hours, and now one night of 7 hours, wow! I hope this keeps up!