jeffandannisa.com

Annika has reached the illustrious six-week milestone. She is now a hefty 10lb 4oz baby and enjoys daily walks in the evening. She is also enjoying her swing more and is easily entertained by fun colors and things that move. She attended church for the first time today and made it through without a peep - most of the time she was awake. I don’t think she is a big fan of applause though. We are gearing up for our flight out to Oregon this coming weekend and hope the flight is relatively uneventful. For pictures from this week, click here.

It seems like the time is really flying. Annika is really starting to grow - we are getting excited about travelling back to Oregon and visiting friends and family. We have included a few more pictures that we have taken as well as a short video. Those can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnails below:

Annika reached the two week mark and is growing fast. She has started to get into a regular routine which is a good thing for all of us. We will be back in Oregon the first week in July and are trying to prepare for how we will deal with a four hour flight from Minnesota.

Not much else to report back on, stay tuned for more pictures. As always, if you click the pictures on this page you can see a larger version.

We all came home from the hospital right before lunch. It seems like these days all just blur into one - I have added a few more pictures to the baby picture album (click either here or the picture for rest of the picture album). We are all tired, but doing well - many thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers.

It has been a nice sunny day here and we are all trying to get a little rest when we are able.

Annisa, Jeff and Annika

Annika Noelle Jones was born on May 19, 2007 at 6:30pm weighing in at 8.42lbs, 19.5 inches. She is a wonderful healthy girl and full of energy. Annisa is doing well and enjoying some rest here at the hospital.

Click the picture to the left to see a larger size image as well as a few other baby pictures.

We have also uploaded a short video clip for your enjoyment: (High Quality 39Mb version (DIVX format), Lower Quality 4.9MB version (WMV9 format)).

Well today is Mother’s Day and to celebrate, Annisa and I decided to go for a kayak in Lake Bavaria (about 3 miles from our house). It has been over half a year since we had been out on the lakes, but we sure did have fun - my arms are a little sore though. It was about 85degrees when we left and right now it is 92degrees according to weather.com - we did bring along plenty of water to stay hydrated.

Here are two short video clips (double-click the pictures to watch) we shot when we were out on the lake (you will need the DIVX 6.6 codec installed to watch them - you can download the codec for free from here: http://www.divx.com/divx/windows/ ).

I installed the baby seat in the Tahoe on Friday (installed the car seat base in the car last month), so we should be ready to go. According to the doctors, Annisa could have the baby anytime now - I was kinda hoping it would be this weekend, but no such luck so far. We decided to take a few more pictures of her in the baby’s room (click on the picture for a larger image):

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter service at the church we attend in Chanhassen (Westwood Community - http://www.westwoodcc.org). He is risen indeed! We have had wonderful blue skies the last 3 days, but the temperature outside has remained near freezing. Apparently this Easter Sunday has been the coldest on record since 1950 - it was 34°F degrees!

This last week kicked off the spring quarter for my studies at Minnesota School of Business - I might have mentioned it below, but I will be finally graduating this summer. I am taking a couple interesting classes this quarter and am finding my Macromedia Flash class both interesting and challenging. You can see one of my first animations for this class at yet another of my websites: http://www.exnihilodesign.com - its nothing too elaborate yet, but I am learning…

Annisa is currently in her 33rd week and looking forward to the baby’s arrival - we did some more shopping for Baby stuff on Friday and I think we are pretty much as ready as we’ll ever be. She spent Monday and Tuesday in Chicago for some meetings, but is happy to be back home again. Last week we went on a mini road trip down to Iowa (as we hadn’t been there yet and thought it might be a good time to get one last roadtrip out of our systems).

We wish all of you a happy Easter and can both testify to a risen Saviour - Jesus our Lord. I have included a picture we took today in the baby’s room (click the picture or here for a larger image).

Whew - this week was finals week and I managed to get through it somehow! Annisa got in trouble with the doctor for losing 2lbs, but baby is still doing fine and we are looking forward to her arrival more and more as the day approaches. Still lots of little things left to do, but we are slowly and surely getting them done.

Saturday we swept out the garage - Annisa made me get out the power washer - I guess the lesson learned is if I buy the tools I have to use them at some point Annisa finished the crib bumper she had been working on and the baby’s room is now that much closer to being ready.

Today we went for a nice walk around the neighborhood - the weather has been much more agreeable (high 60s) and it makes it much easier to get out and about. This afternoon we caught a basketball game down at the Target Center - The Timberwolves just barely beat the Trailblazers (by 1) with a last second jumper from Kevin Garnett. I’m certain we won’t be getting season tickets again next year - 42 games is a bit much and I’m sure the baby will keep us plenty busy. I took a picture from our seats to remember this season by - the Wolves have been consistent in their inconsistency…

We thank you for your many thoughts and prayers and look forward to a trip back to Oregon hopefully this summer, but we will have to see how that works out after the baby is born. I added a bunch more pictures from our photo albums this week which you can check out over at http://pictures.jeffandannisa.com

Annisa and I have been enjoying yet another action-packed week. The winter quarter for school is starting to wind down and next week is finals week for me. I am also excited as I only have two more quarters until I graduate. I have spent a good portion of this weekend working on my final class project for a Website Design Class (http://mm130.jeffandannisa.com).

Last weekend we spent all day Saturday (8:30am-5pm) in a child preparation class at the hospital - it was a bit tedious at times, but somehow we managed to get through it all I also installed a babycam in the baby’s room which will be a nice way for us to check up on the baby and for letting the grandparents peek in on her from time to time. We also spent a bit of time this weekend working some more on the baby’s room - we put up some butterflies on the wall and picked up our glider (which finally came in at Babys’R'Us). We appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this exciting time and look forward to the baby’s birth (due date is May 22nd).

This week I had the chance to reconnect with a few old friends (Daryl Wilson and Matt Briggs) - I found our IM chats very encouraging and can tesify that we serve an awesome God who always provides. We always enjoy any correspondence and welcome any comments/emails, etc. If you use IM - feel free to add us to your MSN Messenger or Yahoo Instant Messenger (since they are both connected now).

I will close with a verse that I found challenging for my own life this week: Matthew 6:20-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (NIV).

I’ve found that like many things, it can be quite easy to lose sight of the priorities we should have in our daily lives and get caught up in the material things and distractions. But thankfully our God is a merciful and gracious God who is able to work in our lives and give us the strength to finish the race.

To end everything on a happy expectant parent note, Annisa thought it only fair that if her picture was taken, then mine must be as well, so here we are at 31 weeks of pregnancy click the pictures for the fullsize image or click here for the March 2007 gallery: