Dinner Time at the Spirns

Daniel and I were able to have dinner together at home yesterday for the first time in a month. Lena seems to enjoy exercising her lungs between 7 and 10 pm., which means dinner looks like this: first I eat a bit while Daniel soothes the baby, then we switch. It takes us about two or three rounds of this to get through dinner. But last night we decided to try and eat earlier and lucky for us, we were able to enjoy a quiet dinner at home, candles and wine too! Thanks Uncle B., Auntie A., and cousin a. for lending us the swing for Lena! It rocked her straight to sleep and we were able to have some quiet time for ourselves.

Best Friends Forever

It's hard to believe that Lena is already one month old, but it definitely hit us for real today when we went to visit her friends the Krueger twins, Oliver and Stella, and we realized just how much she's grown and how much bigger she is than those two little newborn peanuts!

Oliver and Stella are one week old today, and the difference between these two and baby Lena was decidedly palpable. Not only was she physically gigantic compared to these little ones, she was also much louder! While Oliver and Stella were making little bird noises and soft snorts, Lena decided to show off her big lungs to her friends. A whole month makes a big difference when they're this little, that is for sure!

It is really nice to know that Lenabel will have so many great friends to grow up with. There are Oliver and Stella, Jasper, Lyra, Max Zephyr, Mathilda, Paolo, Logan, and of course cousins Talia, Levi, and Ayla. We're really looking forward to more and more play dates with her friends.

We introduce you to Lenabel!

Welcome to Lena's world! Lena Isabel "Lenabel" joined us on June 29th, 2010 at 4:58 a.m., weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and measuring 21 inches long! After five long days of labor for mom, Lena finally made her big debut.

It has been exactly four weeks since Lena was born, and though we've been meaning to write for a while now it's been hard to find a good time, what between feedings, pumping, changing diapers, soothing, rocking, swaddling, shushing, doctors visits, and let's not forget leaving a little time for sleep. The past month seems like forever ago and also like yesterday. Time seems to stand still and at the same time fly by when you're busy surviving the day to day activities of taking care of a little newborn.

Daniel and I were fully expecting the month after Lena's birth to be exhausting beyond belief, and while yes, this month has definitely been some of the hardest work we've ever put in, Lenabel has been amazing through it all, and we're actually quite surprised to admit that we're staying pretty sane and upbeat, thanks to a lot of help from our wonderful family and friends, and a beautiful baby girl that seems to be blessed with a quiet strength.