First Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE DOWNINGS! We celebrated Elizabeth's first Christmas in Wisconsin with the whole Wawiorka clan - all 23 of us were together and there was good news in abundance! AnnCatherine's cousin Adrien proposed to his girlfriend, Toni, on Dec 20th and cousin Carmaine announced her engagement to Troy during the sign of peace at mass on Christmas Eve! What blessings - a new baby and two new engagements in the same year. The family comes from literally coast-to-coast (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Minnesota, Indiana, California and Wisconsin) which makes these few days a year so precious. As always, we have an overabundance of good food (which has made losing baby weight a bit of an impossibility!) and plenty of laughs. Elizabeth also had the chance to meet Santa Claus for the first time - and they got along very well! I have a feeling he will make many return visits...

Elizabeth's Baptism Day!

December 7th was a truly special day for our family - Elizabeth was baptized! We had a private baptism at our parish, Christ the King, and a luncheon at our home after church to celebrate. Godmother Lisa and Godfather Matt made the day extra special - we are so blessed that they have taken on this special role for our little girl! Elizabeth was truly an angel throughout - but her eyes did get quite wide when Father Tony poured the water on her forehead. Elizabeth also became the 7th person to wear the Wawiorka family baptismal gown handtatted by AnnCatherine's Great Aunt Bessie. It was wonderful to have her there with us in spirit and in handiwork. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this such a special day!

Hangin' with the Van Lones

We were so excited to see many of the Van Lone clan at a little get together at Grandpa Dave and Grandma Ruth's house. We all ate chili and had time to visit and introduce Elizabeth to her cousins and Great Aunt. Her cousin Hanna even had a chance to hold her... By the time the Van Lone reunion comes around this summer, Elizabeth might even be crawling!

New Pics of Elizabeth Posted

We have updated our online photos of Elizabeth. You can check them out by clicking on the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jdowning782/ElizabethMaryDowning?authkey=VDS6wu9cqxA#

Since Google's Picasa online doesn't seem to permit subfolders, I moved the older photos to an archive folder, so the link above should always contain current photos.

Hope the Christmas season is going well for you and yours.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit...

HAPPY ST. NICHOLAS DAY!! We are slowly getting our Christmas decorations out - which takes a bit longer with an infant in the house. However, Elizabeth was able to help with putting the ornaments on the tree last night. While this whole Christmas thing doesn't quite register with her yet, she does enjoy staring at the lights from the tree... We hope all of you are getting in the holiday spirit and enjoying the season like we are!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!! We tried to find turkey-flavored formula, but had to settle for the everyday stuff... :) Our little Turkey celebrated her First Thanksgiving at her Grandma and Grandpa Downing's house in Pendleton and the food was yummy as always! This is a wonderful thing about being born in the fall - lots of 'First Holidays' come right away. Thank you to God-Nana Judy for the spiffy bib! Doesn't she get cuter every day?

As far as 'Firsts' go, Elizabeth's baptism is set for Sunday, December 7th at 1pm. We'd love to have any of you join us for this once-in-a-lifetime special event, so please feel free to call or e-mail for the details if you'd like to come.

Meeting my Extended Family

As each day goes by, Elizabeth has the chance to meet more friends and family and we're so grateful that so many people are interested in getting to know her. Last weekend, her Great Aunt Lisa and Great Uncle Mike came down from Wisconsin to visit and we had a great time! And on Monday, she got to meet her Great-Grammy in Pendleton. That 40 min drive was our farthest journey from home since Elizabeth was born! Its amazing how your world shrinks with a little one...

Elizabeth's First Feast Day!

Today, Nov 17th, is Elizabeth's Feast Day - the feast day for St. Elizabeth of Hungary, her patron saint. While she hasn't quite grasped the significance of the day yet, we're confident she'll grow to appreciate the tradition... (Mom is a huge fan of feast days as was Elizabeth's Great-Grandpa Joe!) She spent her first feast day by blessing her parents and grandparents with an extra 30 minute nap - though we're still praying for the intercession of the patron saint of sleeping babies to bless her excessively since she still isn't much for sleeping. :)

Other recent firsts: Elizabeth had her first real bath in the tub last night now that her belly button is healed. And major news flash - at 3.5 weeks old, we've graduated from premie diapers to newborn. That's our big girl!

Things we've learned about Elizabeth

Well, we are learning about each other every day... and every day gets a little bit easier. Here are a few things we've learned about Elizabeth thus far:

1. They may say you're supposed to sleep on your back, but she'd so much rather be on her side!
2. She sucks on a pacifier so hard, her lips actually turn blue
3. She has the amazing sense to only dirty a freshly changed diaper. Who could possibly go in an old or wet one? :)
4. She really doesn't need much sleep - despite the fact that her parents really do
5. She loves tummy time!
6. Her stomach is like a four-hour alarm clock...
7. We can't wait until her smiles are real - cause they are so darn cute already...

Please keep in touch! We enjoy hearing updates from the outside world (which has now become everything outside our home!!) :)

First Halloween and Other Updates

Well, Elizabeth enjoyed her first Halloween...ok, maybe she didn't realize it was Halloween but she did get dressed up for it anyway. This was also the first night after leaving the hospital where mom, daddy and Lady Elizabeth spent a night together without any other company in the house. Grandma/Grandpa Van Lone have been staying with us to assist with the late nights and mom/daddy are extremely grateful for the help!!

Elizabeth is definitely the center of attention...whether it was during her first photo shoot with AC's tennis friend Liz Kaye or the first visit from Christie and John Wright or meeting her god-father, Matt Bitar and his wife and son, Danielle and Mikey...and of course during her first visit with god-nanna Judy Wihebrink.

See new photos via the following link (scroll to the bottom of the page to see the latest photos):

http://picasaweb.google.com/jdowning782/ElizabethMaryDowning?authkey=VDS6wu9cqxA#

We did go the doc again today and Libby has returned to her birth weight of 6.8 lbs, so she definitely enjoying her meals...no matter if they're at 3:00 pm or 3:00 am. Everything seems to be progressing just as it should, which is great news!!

Thank you for the continued calls/emails/prayers. We're truly blessed with great friends/family.

4 days old...

Our little girl is 4 days old! While we know she's constantly growing, we are still in awe of how tiny and beautiful she is. Jarod took this picture of her laying on our queen bed today to give some perspective on size.

We had our first doctor appointment today and she had already gained an ounce from her hospital discharge weight. That's our little eater! Now we just need her to figure out that you sleep at nighttime and stay awake during the day!

Thanks for all the calls, e-mails and cards. We can't wait for her to meet you all...

Elizabeth Arrives at Home

Mom, dad and Elizabeth left the hospital and made it home today. Roamy was just a bit excited to see her people and to meet her new housemate.

Let's see...updates for today. Hmmm....little bit of crying, little bit of pooping and not a lot of sleeping. Now for Elizabeth's day. :)

More updates to come....mom/dad are exhausted and are working on a routine for attempting to sleep and feeding times.

Thanks for all of the blessings and nice messages regarding our little angel.

More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/jdowning782/ElizabethMaryDowning?authkey=VDS6wu9cqxA#

Elizabeth Mary Is Here

Elizabeth Mary Downing joined AnnCatherine & Jarod on Thursday, 23-Oct-2008 at 5:19pm, one day before her due date. She weighed in at 6.8 lbs and measured 20.25 inches. Mom and baby are both doing well... Grandma and Grandpa Van Lone, Grandma and Grandpa Downing and Uncles Eric and Paul (and Kylie and Katie, too!) were all here to welcome the newest member of the family.

The Downings are supposed to remain at the hospital until Saturday evening and will then take Elizabeth home. Roamy has already become acquainted with Elizabeth's smells via one of her blankets and is very excited to meet her (or so we hope!). We look forward to introducing her to more friends and family soon.

Thanks to all for your well-wishes and prayers! Please continue to check back for updates - we'll post as time allows!