3 months already!

Eden is now 3 months old! She is such a happy baby, smiling all the time and chattering away in competition with Mom and Dad. Not sleeping through the night yet, but I'm sure I'll miss that when it's over....well, maybe not! Enjoy the photos~

Eden's first 'tooth' at two months of age actually turned out to be a gingival cyst. The pediatric dentist that we took her to said she sees thousands of patients every year and only sees this about once every two years. We always knew Eden was special!

I went in to the nursery last Sunday morning to get Eden ready for church, and found her happily sucking her thumb and talking to her mobile, duck feet in the air.

She's weighing in at 9lbs, 8 oz and is 22" long!

Photo Shoot 101

The Strawn Family’s first photo shoot with a dog and a baby was on October 30, a sunny but breezy day in Nebraska at the Sprague's farm south of Wilcox. Jane is our personal photographer and her husband, Dale, the entertainer to keep Eden and Samson happy, occupied, and smiling.

Now, I don’t know about anybody else out there, but oh man, what a trip!

“Ok, on the count of three take her pacifier out and look at the camera. One, two, THREE!” (repeat)

“Alright, this time, keep her face under the blanket so she doesn’t swallow air. On three, throw the blanket as far as you can while looking at the camera and smiling. Keep still.” (repeat)


“Eden, look at Daddy, look at Daddy. Smile! No, no, smile. See. Like me, look over here. You’re not paying attention, Eden. Hey, YOU. Look over here. Smile! Ok, look at Mommy. She has a big smile, can you smile?” (insert more baby talk here and repeat sequence).
















“[whistle] Samson, SIT. No, no, over here, by Sarah and the baby. Yes, she's crying, but come here anyway. Come here. COME. Ok, SIT. Good. DOWN. Down, all the way, all the way. There ya go. Good boy. Look over there (pointing). Look at Dale. [more whistling and much hat waving] Samson, come back. Sit. Down. Good boy. No, no kisses. Stop that. I mean it. Look at Dale. Good boy." (give treat, snap photo, repeat)….


"Are we done yet?"

"Oh, this looks like fun. Let's take a picture with the goat for Grandma Great. She likes goats. Here goat. Come Here. Lay down. No, don't bite. (Eden screams) Hurry, snap the photo. Oh, that's gonna turn out great!"













After a few hours of this endless fun and Dale & Jane’s unending patience, not to mention an ornery goat, this is a sampling of what we came away with. Eden is now 10 weeks old and a strapping 8# 4 oz. Samson, on the other hand, is a year and a half and boisterous 86 pounds. Al and I will not disclose our weight or age. Happy guessing.

Reformation fun

A quick update to show my attempt at a creative pumpkin carving to light the way for Trick or Treaters. As you may know, David Letterman is Sarah's and my nightly ritual, (or was until our bundle of joy changed that consistency.)

Here was my attempt at his likeness using a template I found online.








I set him out in the nice dry Nebraska breeze this morning and found him shriveled by mid day. A little soak in the tub did him some good and he is almost as good as new.

The longest and shortest month of our life!

Well, what a month! It is best summed up in the title, but I will elaborate a little bit. This has been the LONGEST and SHORTEST month of our entire life!

We started Eden’s life with a house full of people, and 3 weeks later, the house seemed empty and void of noise. Samson loved having the extra people around, getting lots of extra love and attention, but when they were gone, he was left with a foreign object being carried around his kitchen, and her sitting in a bouncer on HIS floor space. He is slowly adjusting...








Eden was baptized at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wilcox by her daddy on September 4th, and both sets of grandparents were able to be here. Her Godparents are Jerry and Sarah Diener, who are a wonderful addition to our family. Sarah is a friend of Al's from his home church.















Eden is one month old now, weighing in at 6# 3 oz & is 20 1/4" long. She currently has 4 articles of clothing that fit, three green and one pink. I know, I know, soon I’ll be boxing up the baby clothes and packing a lunch for kintergarden. But right now, that seems eons away, thank goodness.

A typical day with Eden starts at 0730 with her wanting breakfast. She stays up for half hour after eating and then sleeps till roughly 11:00 a.m. Then she’s up all day, eating every couple hours until evening, when she wants to eat all the time. She goes down about 10:30 p.m. and sleeps till 3:30 a.m., then the whole day starts over again! On occasion (this week specifically), she gets her nights and days mixed up and everybody seems tired all the time. Again, 'this too shall pass'.... (a mantra from my mother, for those of you who don't know her).

Last Friday was Al’s first day off with no family visiting, so we spent the day sleeping in (yes, she let us) and playing with Legos in the basement while eating popcorn. It was a grand day!



Papa Kenny thinks Eden has 'paddle' feet, so you can look below and either agree or disagree. We all agree that they are adorable and fun to play with.



Any way you look at it, she is a doll and we wouldn't send her back.