buckeye awakening is here!

buckeye awakening is finally here! i cannot believe it. technically it starts friday around 400pm but who's counting. so for those who don't remember, back in july i drug five students from the newman center and one other staff member along for a trip to texas with me. we all went to attend aggie awakening #86 (whoop!) for a couple of reasons. one, because it changed my life and i think all college students should know what awakening is. two, who wouldn't want to visit college station, texas? three, i wanted the students to experience aggie awakening so they could determine whether we should begin buckeye awakening. so for all those reasons we went to texas in the middle of july. the trip was ahhhhh-mazing and we all made it back home to ohio with great enthusiasm, lots of excitement and even a few plans. the five students were now the first leadership team for buckeye awakening. with help from our campus minister austin (and an occasional word of encouragement from me) these five took over and have done a phenomenal job preparing for ba#1. they have dealt with challenges, answered some tough questions, worked tirelessly despite their few numbers and buckeye awakening will kick off tomorrow with 30 retreaters and another 24 staff members ready to go (12 of which are coming all the way up from aggieland...makes me proud...)! i know that their work will pay off and my prayer now is that the holy spirit moves through the staffers, speakers and everyone else to make the word become flesh in a special way for these retreaters. and i know that he will.

i'll be sure to give a report next week along with stories, photos and possibly even a video or two...

annabel's first date...

well, maybe that's stretching it a bit. but we did go over to little aidan's house to see him and his mama, colleen (and call me old-fashioned but we stayed to chaperon the whole time...) aiden was born september 26 so he's just about two weeks younger than annabel. he was born five weeks premature though so he came out at about 5.5 pounds. in a month though he's put on almost 2.5 pounds so he's getting to be pretty big now. it was fun to see him and annabel hanging out together. two tiny peas in a pod...

you'll notice in the picture that aidan is swaddled up pretty snugly. this was his first time in a "miracle blanket." annabel loves her miracle blanket and we're pretty convinced that this was a big reason that she started sleeping so well at night. hopefully aidan can learn a thing or two from his meeting with annabel and start sleeping a little better.

left or right?

so today cheryl mentioned that she thinks that annabel seems to move her left arm around more than her right arm. not that she really has much control over her movements...she's still pretty spastic when she flails, rocks and kicks. but watching her it does seem like her left arm is the more active arm. so that got us to wondering whether this was a sign that she would be a southpaw. both of us are right handed, both our parents are right handed, all our sisters are right handed, i genuinely cannot think of anyone that i know that is not right handed. in fact, only about ten percent of the world's population is left handed. cheryl reminded me though that for many years children that showed left handed tendencies were...encouraged...to use their right hand more. some of you may have been encouraged in such a way. anyway, it would be pretty strange to have a left handed daughter. but who knows. it might be pretty cool. i looked it up online and there's some information but nothing that will help us know which she will be yet.

Your baby's preference for her right or left hand may start to appear as early as 6 to 9 months of age. Even so, you won't be able to determine true right- or left-handedness until your child is 2 or 3 years old, when she'll begin to favor the same hand consistently. And some children may be ambidextrous (using both hands equally) until they're 5 or 6, when they finally make a choice.

so what do you think? will annabel be a righty or a lefty?

the other side of annabel...

"Whether breastfed or formula fed, during their first few months, many babies have a regular fussy period, which usually occurs in the late afternoon or evening. Some babies' fussy periods come so regularly that parents can set their clocks by it! The standard infant fussiness usually starts at about 2 to 3 weeks, peaks at 6 weeks and is gone by 3 to 4 months. It lasts on "average" 2 to 4 hours per day. Of course, there is a wide variety of normal."

i guess since we're at 6 weeks now we fit the bill pretty well. annabel is definitely the best baby that we've ever had and this week we got to see even another side of her. the fussy one. to be honest though, we won't miss this side when its gone :) but for real honestly, she has her moments (which sometimes last all day) when she's fussing up a storm that seems like it will last forever. but when she's not hollering she's is getting really really cute. she's smiling more, she's cooing more regularly and she's getting to be more alert and interested in what the goofy guy making faces at her is up to.

and today we left her for the first time with someone other than a grandma. whoa. i had a dinner for work and cheryl agreed to pack annabel up for an evening with some friends and come with me. dinner was fun and we were having a good time until the speaker starting talking about babies and then we realized that we missed our little nugget. so we ducked out a few minutes early and headed off to retrieve our bundle of joy. she did well on her first trip with some strangers but don't expect it to become a very frequent occasion at least for a little while longer...

other than that things are pretty normal around here. saturday was a nice relaxing day with the family and we even made a trip to walmart to pick up some decorations and other necessities. and come saturday we will either have a couple of really scary jack-o-lanterns or just a couple of pumpkins on our porch. either way we'll be ready for those little trick-or-treaters...

new cute photos ...

annabel turned six weeks old yesterday. now since she started out so cute, she may not be six times cuter than the day she was born but it's pretty dang close. we put a few more photos online. its pretty fun to watch her get bigger and more fun every day. and its really fun when we catch one of those super cute smiles...

click here or the photo for more

so many babies...

we're an aunt and uncle now! and very excited! congratulations to cindy and jeff on their new bundle of joy. kaelyn marie miller dove into the world on saturday, october 17 at 505pm. you can read the whole story on their blog, http://ourgrowingfamily-miller.blogspot.com.

first month of photos

here's a slideshow of some of the photos from our sweet pea's first month with us. enjoy.



or click here to view on youtube

done and done...

well, today was the nationwide columbus marathon and guess who ran in it and finished...andrew! whoa! 26.2 miles of running, walking, stumbling, stretching, and ultimately crossing the finish line. this was something i had been training for pretty consistently from about june until september 8. after that i guess you could say that i "started my race day taper..." taking five weeks off before a marathon makes the big day a pretty painful process. not to say that i would have been living the life of luxury and comfort had i continued my training until the proper time and day but the final 10 miles were probably much more strenuous without that last bit of training. c'est la vie. i had a pretty wonderful distraction :)

so i started the race this morning at 7:30am with about 12,000 of my closest running buddies. it was ca-razy. there was a stream of people walking to the starting line and about 10,000 of those runners jammed together itching for the starting gun. once the gun was fired, it took me about 12 minutes to cross the starting line and i was probably middle of the pack. like i said, there were A LOT of people. so we started the race through downtown columbus, then made our way through bexley where all the big houses are, then through old german village, and back through downtown to the finish line at the hockey arena. oh wait, that was just half-way for me...oy vey. the crowds were great and the spectators along the way were very encouraging. i wore my shirt that cheryl made for me last year that says "andrew rules" on the front. it was funny the first time some stranger from the sidelines yelled, "go andrew! you rule!" after the half-marathoners peeled off for their finish line the crowds were much smaller but the support that they dished out was still great. lots of "go andrew!" and "you rule!" and "almost done" (which yelling at mile 20 is really silly and borderline obnoxious...). so i kept going on past downtown, through the ohio state campus (where i got to see cheryl, annabel and colleen), through the neighborhoods of upper arlington and finally back across the river and down to the finish line (where i saw the girls again). that was a good feeling crossing the finish line. that last 10 miles or so was really tough. lots more walking than i really thought i would need to do. but you gotta do what you gotta do. and crossing that line made that very clear.

so that's the story of my very first ever marathon. maybe i'll do another one someday. probably not next year but after that we'll see. compared to today the half-marathon that i did last year was honestly, more fun. i can see doing a half next year or a 5k or something else. but right now i think that some stretching, sleeping and recovering is my priority. oh, and enjoying time with my favorite girls...and that sounds pretty nice.

annabel with her new toy...

here's a video of our baby girl on her new play pad (thanks aunt mary and uncle vic). she was very entertained by the mirror and the musical butterfly. attention span is still pretty short but she enjoyed it all the same. she really is quite a cutie.



or click here to view on youtube

what a goooood day...

so you know when people say, "today was a good day" and you're like, "what made it such a good day", and they say "how much time do you have?" okay, so maybe you don't have conversations like that all the time but just pretend for my sake :) "today was a good day." "and what made it such a good day?"

okay. so we started the day with a solid eight hours of sleep last night. we're not too sure if annabel sleeping so much at night will last forever but we sure are enjoying it while it lasts. after we woke up we left for our little one's one-month pediatrician well-visit. here's a little glimpse into how that went:

1. started with a short 4-minute wait in the waiting room
2. next we stripped her down to her skivvies and stuck her on the scale: in two weeks she packed on a solid 20 ounces; she went from 7 lb 4 oz to 8 lb 8 oz. whoa!
3. next in came the doctor. doctor g: well, how you doing? us: good. doctor g: how's she sleeping? us: good. 6-8 hours at night. doctor g: wow! that's awesome! how's she eating? us: good. nursing during the day and bottle at night. doctor g: again, that's awesome. what else is she doing? us: she knows how to roll from front to back now. doctor g: wow. and again with the awesome! well, she looks great. her weight is right on. she seems very advanced for a one-month old. and you guys look great. you got any questions? us: nope. doctor g: great! see you in a month.
4. and we left!
   

so it was a really good visit. doctor g is happy, we are happy, and annabel is happy. that would be considered a win-win-win...

after the pediatrician appointment we went back home and guess what annabel did...she took a two-hour nap which meant that cheryl got to take a two-hour nap. wow. way to go annabel. that's how you make your mommy happy. meanwhile i went back to work and had a really good visit with my boss and our bishop. but then we had another eye doctor visit. these have gradually been getting better but there's always still a bit of worry. but here's a glimpse at that appointment:

1. cheryl and annabel got there early and i met them as soon as my meeting was finished.
   
2. a new resident and her trainee came in (trainee was wearing a bow tie. he was funny.). the resident got her eye scope and light and checked out annabel's eye. (side note - we left her in the carrier during the exam and it was phenomenally easier. imagine that on our tenth visit we finally figured out a way to make it easier. doy.) after her exam she announced that she thought her eye looked good.
3. then doctor g came in for his turn to shine bright lights and look through his little scope (this was the same doctor who originally suggested the pressure patch so we like him). so he looked and announced that he also thought it looked good. there is still some haziness on her cornea but he doesn't think that the drops we've been using will do anymore to help and the haze is not blocking her pupil. he thinks that we can leave it alone for a while and come back later when he can better evaluate her vision.
4. well, "come back later" meant three months! what? can you believe it? no drops, no ointments and no doctors for three months?!? now that is good news!
   

so that was pretty awesome too. after making our doctor visits a part of our regular daily and/or weekly routine, we are suddenly faced with a whole month with no visits. what are we going to do with ourselves? i think that's a problem we can find a solution for.

so after all these good doctor visits, we topped the night off with a bath for the babe. it was still a loud experience but it was easily the best bathtime we've had so far. and we have a squeaky clean and good smelling baby to prove it. at least for an hour or so...

so there you have it, there it is. that was our day. and now you know what makes a good day for a couple of brand new parents...

she's so sleeeeeepy...

to our faithful followers, sorry its been a few days since our last update. take solace in knowing that no news is good news in this case. i guess that we have become a little bit boring. but in a good way :) not having daily doctor visits, nasty infections and potential surgeries is just fine with us. so what are some of the updates from the past few days. probably the most exciting new trick that annabel has learned since mastering the roll is the "sleepy baby"...that's the one where she sleeps seven hours straight at night! yep, three out of the last four nights she has slept for 6.5 hours or longer at night. its been pretty awesome. the first night she didn't wake up at 3.5 hours we were both up checking on her, and then again at 5 hours, and then again at 6.5 hours. we were definitely both nervous all night long. and we're not totally sure what started it. maybe it was the new nursery stereo playing nature sounds, the power yoga for babies dvd or the brandy that cheryl mixed in with her bottle...but whatever it was it's working just fine so we'll keep doing it :) its also getting a little easier to get around town with the baby. yesterday cheryl brought annabel up to the newman center to meet me and then i went on a date with annabel to a meeting last night. she travels pretty well and is always a hit once she gets there. yesterday i think that she got to be held by at least six people other than her mom and me.

well, i hate to cut this short but its time for bed. tomorrow we have two doctors appointments so we may have some more exciting updates to share. and maybe a new photo or two. good night.

annabel and her mobile

here's a video of our sleepy little baby in her crib.



or click here to view on youtube

can i get a birthday roll?

so today is annabel's one month birthday. and she celebrated it festivus style with her feats of strength (and the seinfeld lovers rejoice...). so check out the video to see if our little monkey has mastered the 180 degree tuck-n-roll (sorry again...it must be the sleep deprivation). anyway, this movie has it all. suspense, drama, a lovable main character (although in this scene she seems a wee bit cranky). enjoy.



or click here to view on youtube

week by week, bigger and bigger....

here is a slideshow of cheryl (and nugget) as she grew throughout her pregnancy. week 11 she looks kind of skinny (blame the morning sickness) but she picks up after that and grows and grows and grows. all while still looking phenomenal...



or click here to view on youtube

the first three years...

photo from our honeymoon in 2006

so october 7 was the three-year anniversary of the day that cheryl and i got married. we had a really nice day together. i stayed home from work and we just hung out most of the day. in kind of an ironically appropriate way we had an eye doctor appointment for the little one. just to sort of drive home the point that its all about her now, i guess. but it did give us a chance to look back at the past three years to see how we got to where we are now. here are a few of the highlights:

• got married (obviously).
• honeymooned in california.
• got another dog. :) and then buried our old dog. :(
  
• became business owners.
  
• bought a house...in bryan, tx...dun dun duuuunnnn... :)
• bought a sleeper sofa (this was a major feat and i have no idea why...)
  
• went to hot springs, arkansas for our one-year anniversary.
• went to colorado for shannon and kevin's wedding.
• went to our very first college bowl game (alamo bowl 2008).
  
• wrote my thesis, finished grad school and then took a 10-day road trip to commencement in minnesota (took 1,100+ photos traveling through texas, new mexico, colorado, wyoming, south dakota, minnesota, wisconsin, illinois, missouri, and oklahoma).
• put together the greatest softball team of all time...go speedy britches!
  
• ran a half-marathon.
• sold our house in bryan. moved to ohio. lived in a tiny apartment with our two dogs. bought a house in columbus.
  
• started a new job.
• shoveled snow off our driveway.
• took various trips to new york, new jersey, connecticut, pennsylvania, michigan, texas, st. louis, and chicago.
  
• got pregnant.
  
• had a baby.

and it happened in the blink of an eye. its been a wonderful three years. cheryl and i both agree that there were some highs and lows but everything happened for a reason. we also calculated that we are now 6 percent of the way to our 50-year anniversary :) we're both very excited to see what the next 47 years (and beyond) have in store for us. our love for each other continues to grow each and every day. i wake up in the morning thankful for my life and thankful for the people in it. our family may be just a tiny bit bigger but its a whole lot stronger.

to three amazing, wonderful, beautiful, blessed years and to many many more to come...

the faces of annabel...

this video is fun because you get to see a few of the faces that our sweet pea makes from time to time. she makes some of the funniest faces and if she keeps it up long enough we might be able to ask her what they mean someday. the tv was on which supplies the background audio for this video. not sure what we were watching but it starts off with some pretty calm music. kind of appropriate...



or click here to view on youtube

messages to annabel...

over the past 3.5 weeks, cheryl and i have been so touched and moved by all the messages that we have received. some people told us to stay strong. some people told us that we were doing a good job. some people told us simply that they were thinking or praying for us. the outpouring of support for us will be something that stays with us for a long time. we now have a request though to go one step further.

during these times we have become truly aware of how much we treasure each moment and want to remember them forever. we want our little annabel to be have the same opportunity. it is for this reason that we are putting together a book of these messages that as she grows and becomes more aware of the world, we will be able to show her that it is full of people that love her and wish her the very best. so here is the request: please consider sending a note directly to annabel that we can add to this book. these notes can be funny, serious, sweet or anything in between. and we want these messages to come from everyone. if you grew up in the same house or barely know me or cheryl, we want to hear from you. this experience has shown us how both big and small the world is and we want annabel to know that people from all over care about her.

so thats the deal. send us a message to annabel and we will include it in the book. this is something that we and she will treasure always and we want you to be a part of it. email your messages to aggierobison@gmail.com, post a comment to this entry, send us something on facebook, text me or whatever. just send something. thanks, gig 'em and god bless.

PS - on another note, we have been told during the past few weeks that there are two special girls who have been following annabel's story very closely. we want to say a special thank you to annabel's cousin katie and our friend from houston, alessandra. we hope that our little baby grows up to be sweet like you...

babies, babies, everywhere...

welcome to aidan maxwell, born september 26, 2009. he showed up a few weeks early but at 5 lb. 9 oz. he may be small but he sure is mighty. aidan's mom, colleen works in the development office with me at the newman center. say some prayers that he starts eating a little better and stops giving his mama such a hard time. :)

new photos of the cutie...

just when we thought that our little annabel couldn't get any cuter, she went ahead and did just that. these photos were taken this weekend so she's about 3.5 weeks old...



















she's gonna be a walker soon...















"practicing midnight yell all night long"...oh she's got that down for sure...



















she's a darling, and baby looks pretty dang good too... :)

our path of thanksgiving...

our journey in the past three weeks has been one that we certainly did not plan for. we did a lot of planning what with our books, classes, videos, doctors visits and the like but this was not what we expected. i would be lying if i said that we don't occasionally lay in bed wishing things had been different. that it had been easier. that we weren't having to go to the doctor every day and cry our eyes out scared to death of what might be. i would be lying to say we haven't wished for a different journey some days. but this is the path that our family has been given. for better or worse this is our life. and i don't know if i am totally ready to sit back and soak it all in yet but i can say with certainty that me, cheryl and our sweet little annabel are blessed. around every corner and on the other side of every bump we find another reason to give thanks. below are just a few of those reasons:

1. the doctors, nurses and staff of dublin methodist hospital and nationwide children's hospital: the care and concern that those nurses showed to our baby and to us every day and every night was unbelievable. starting at 529am on september 9 by saving our perfect little baby girl, continuing with words of encouragement and hope during some of the darkest and scariest moments, and leaving us with a lifetime of perspective on how to care for the smallest and weakest among us. thank you.
2. grandma dale: we sometimes meet people in our lives that amaze and awe us with their hearts of service. i am lucky enough to have a mother-in-law like that. and annabel is lucky that she's her grandma. her love and support throughout our first 17 days of parenthood kept us sane (flying out less than 6 hours after my "we're headed to the hospital" phone call and turning a week-long stay into 17 days makes us feel pretty special). thank you.
3. grandpa dale: you can tell from the video that he loves his granddaughter and she loves him. we thank him for being there for her in the middle of one of his busiest weeks of the year. "grandpa bob dale sir" is a really sweet guy. thank you.
   
4. lulu and pop robison: every phone call, email, text message and letter made us know that they loved us and annabel more than just about anything. i literally think that my mom organized half of the country to pray for us (and even an african city or two). and their helping hands here at the house have gotten us through some pretty exhausting days and nights. its a nice thing to feel loved and there is no doubt that we are. thank you.
5. the 6 million emails, text messages, phone calls, facebook posts and meals that we've received: words cannot express how special all the messages from our family, friends and strangers were. thank you.
6. the st. thomas more newman center (my job): we left texas about a year ago to move to ohio for the newman center. i know now that this was exactly where we are supposed to be. when you've got nine doctors appointments in a week, are not sleeping and don't really have a clue which end is up, its a neat thing to know that the place you work is behind you every step. not many people could say that. and then add in that they'll celebrate Masses for your family and cook a few meals a week and its pretty unbelievable. thank you.
7. grant christopher and his father: this one is a bit different. at one of our many eye doctor appointments we ended up waiting next to a young family with a baby in a stroller. we struck up a conversation and found out that young grant has pfeiffer syndrome. this tiny nine-month-old had already had 13 surgeries and required a full-time nurse to care for his needs. the part that makes us thankful for this meeting was simply the attitude of the father. in his words, "things didn't really go as we planned. he looks different to others but he's beautiful to his mom and me". what a way to get perspective. thank you.
8. each other: our union has been forged in these days and i cannot imagine being more in love with cheryl than i am now. she will always be my first and greatest love. there is no way i could have survived the last three weeks without andrew. he has been a constant source of strength for both me and annabel. his love and support got me through the scariest morning of my life and each day since. i could not be the mother i am to annabel without her amazing daddy. thank you.
   
9. our little annabel: how absolutely perfect in every way she is. from her tiny fingers and toes to the tip of her nose. god took the best from both of us and made our little angel. and made her a fighter. it is our privilege to be her parents. thank you.

these are just a few. there are many more things and many more people that we give thanks for. some we know and some we will never be aware of. god has led our family down this path for a reason. looking back after three looooooooooong weeks, we grow more and more thankful with every passing day. even for the challenges, heartaches and scary scary times. god tells us that our faith will be tested like gold is tested in fire. that testing hurts but we pray that we come out better people, parents and believers. thank you.