This is Andrew from Hypnobirthing. We all still get together weekly. Andrew and Anna were born on the same day, just hours apart, so we (his mom Angela and I) love to watch them grow together. It's cute now because they're all starting to figure out there are other babies in the room. (FYI: Andrew and Anna not only share birthdays, but their parents share anniversaries!!)

First Christmas Memories

Posing for Christmas cards, hanging the stockings....the house is definitely different this year with a precious baby in the house! We started off with a cute little baby UK stocking and then got the pink "Anna" stocking. We think it completes our mantle. (For now at least, until the Zumbiel family grows!)

Christmas at Southern Lights
There's nothing like Christmas in Kentucky without a good ole' family trip to the Kentucky Horse Park for a drive through Southern Lights. After a walk through the KY crafts and miniature train display, it was off to the petting zoo where Uncle Andrew knocked over kids to feed the donkeys. This year was cute to watch Anna look at the animals, but we're sure next year will be even better. Maybe her new baby cousin will join us!

The Sweetest Sound...

Anna and I went to my friend Shannon's house this week. Her 2 year old son, Christopher, made Anna crack up. It was adorable!! This was only the third time Anna has spontaneously laughed. (See below...the first two times were from Indi.) As Shannon said, it's so fun to watch them develop a little sense of humor!

Anna laughing at Indi

We know the quality isn't the best,but it's the sound that makes it so precious. Anna will laugh when we prompt her, but there have only been two times when she does it on her own - both were while watching Indi. Yeah, we think that's sweet too =)

What Santa's Reindeer look like in Independence

Where's Indi?

If you look closely in the photo below, you'll see Indi's eyes glowing in the office window. She loves to sit in there and watch for us to come home.

Christmas Lights (Griswold Style)

Matt's favorite time of the year.....hanging Christmas lights. This year they are perfect! Great job Matt! In years passed though....

Year one: we had one "rope light" and lined our mulch with it. It looked like a snake. Snow fell that year and covered it for about one month. It shone through in a few spots and looked hilarious.

Year two: Matt decided to attempt to climb the roof, risk his life, and line the whole house. It looked great after MUCH hard work, re-hanging, and near death moments. We lit them for two nights, an ice storm came, blew them down on the side of the house and the weather conditions were too dangerous for the next four weeks to climb up and fix them. The lights were never lit again that year.

Year three: Last year. The lights looked very similar to our display this year. We had to reapply duct tape to the windows and garage about a dozen times but you would've thought they were perfect. ....Until late January when we decided to take them down and realized duct tape is not intended for use on your house. It was stuck to the metal, the wood... Many hours of Goo-Be-Gone, scrubbing and tears later, we managed to remove most of it. If you look closely, you can still find some remnants.

Year four: This year we searched for the perfect hanging "tool" for the lights around the windows and garage. We settled on exterior tape. The verdict's still out on the repercussions of this adhesive. So far so good. No reapplications yet.

Baking Christmas Cookies with My Friend Cali

Anna participated in baking her first Christmas cookies at Aunt Becky's house with her doggy Cali. Since the Zumbiel family is a little slow at getting their Christmas tree up, we don't get to see her in awe of it everyday. She absolutely loved looking at Becky's though! The lights could probably entertain her for hours.

Sweet Moments Caught on Film....

Tummy Time!

Tummy time takes on a new meaning now that Anna creates her own. She rolls to her stomach and gets so mad because she can't figure out how she got there and then she can't get back. These pictures are from a BRIEF playtime in her crib. (For now, she gets too mad. When she learns to roll from her belly to her back, she'll be happier!)

Attention, Attention!

Anna rolls over for the first time on Thanksgiving night! After everyone left and we thought the excitement was over, we layed Anna down to stretch and play on the floor. Little did we know that the fun was just beginning. She has been struggling to get over for quite a few weeks now. This night she got very mad turning from her back to her side and getting her arm stuck. She cried until she finally just popped right onto her belly. The room erupted in cheers (12 people were there to witness) and poor little Anna got a quivering lip and started to cry. It was such a proud moment for her parents!

We would have definitely ranked this as the best moment of the day, BUT Kasey and Matthew stole the show by announcing that Kasey was eating for two this Thanksgiving and for the next nine months! Congratulations guys! We are so excited for you and can't wait for to watch Baby Blaze's blog! (Link to follow)

2007: The year of Babies

Grandma Joyce became a Great-Grandma 3 times this year. We got the babies together for the first time in their Bumbo seats. Oliver 8 months, Anna 4 months, Lucas 3 months.

Too Much Turkey

Even Anna had too much. We caught her falling asleep watching football. She was even too tired to take her hand off of her toy.

Thank you Gweneth for my pretty Thanksgiving Day outfit!

German Sausage or Polish Sausage?

The verdict's still out on who this little babe looks like (not the thighs, but rather the face =) Anna, don't be mad that we put your legs on the blog; They are just so darn squeezable! FYI: a Blazejewski thing that her thighs are called sausages. Matt doesn't enjoy it.

First Friends

Anna met Norah Pilgram last week (Katie's daughter). They enjoyed a lunch date and some time sharing toys. It was so fun to watch them next to each other. Not much interaction yet, but I'm sure they'll be crawling and running around soon enough!

Another new discovery....Anna loves touching faces now. It's so sweet to witness her understanding and learning her new little world. ~A precious moment shared with her Daddy as she reaches to commit his face to memory.

Crazy Saturday Night!

New Discoveries All Around...

Sitting in the Bumbo seat, the toes/feet are attached to the body, big sister Indi is soft, baby shoes DO serve a purpose....these are all recent discoveries at 16 weeks. The Bumbo seat is the greatest. Anna doesn't have the best posture yet, but we're working on it! She would rather be sitting up these days than laying so this is a perfect compromise.



On Friday, Anna discovered her feet. Literally. It was so cute to watch her come to the realization that those wiggly things are attached to her. She first started to move them in amazement and then started reaching for them. We can't wait to watch her figure out she can put them into her mouth!



Indi is now more interested in her little sister since she's figured out Anna can do "fun" things. Anna has also figured out Indi is fun to touch. I'm sure she loves her soft fur.



I always thought it was goofy to see babies wearing shoes. However, I quickly realized that they serve as a logical solution to keeping those baby socks on. ~couldn't resist adding those cute pics!

Yeah Anna!

Another accomplishment for this babe. She finally has good enough head control where she can "ride" facing forward in the baby carrier. This paricular night (striped pants) Anna and mommy enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood with Indi. Anna loved chewing on the front of the carrier and looking all around. It was funny rounding the corner back to our house because she hated the wind whipping around. It makes her gasp (don't worry if we think that's cute, we're not endangering our child). Another bonus of this new discovery: getting household chores done. Anna thinks it's wonderful to pretend she's vacuuming or fixing dinner. She can be content forever now!

Anna's Baptism

"Before I formed you, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart." -Jeremiah 1:5-

We celebrated this wonderful day on Sunday, November 4 with over 50 family and friends back to the house for Bengals and lunch. Fr. Jeff had such a beautiful ceremony for Anna. What a blessing to have a child to present before God and to watch grow up as his own! We feel so honored to be Anna's parents.

Thank you to all who celebrated with us. Please continue to pray for this little baby as she grows into a beautiful Godly little girl.

Anna's First Halloween!

No trick-or-treating for this babe, but she did look so darn cute sitting around the house! Thanks Gweneth for letting us borrow your outfit! (Next year, we're going to have a little Anna Banana!)

Off To The West Coast!

We did it! We braved the raised terror alerts, the fires, and a red eye flight with a newborn to travel to Anaheim for my Arbonne training conference. It was wonderful! Anna was a perfect little baby. She didn't cry on the plane (cross country flight from Atlanta), she was so good during the trainings, and my team was the best helping out.

After this weekend, I feel so empowered as a mommy. I feel like I can do anything. I also feel like I've been blessed with such an amazing gift in Arbonne. This company has changed our life. There is so much integrity and hope from the people involved. I'm so thankful I decided to take Anna (with much encouageent from Matt). Next trip: Atlanta in April!