Lena's Baby Dedication

I'm a little behind on the blogging, her dedication was 3 weeks ago, but here's some info on it anyway so you can all be up to date!

One of the most important things Ricky and I wanted to do while he was here for his baby leave was to have Lena dedicated. Our church, South Tampa Fellowship, was so gracious in accommodating our special circumstances and did a special baby dedication ceremony for us on the Wednesday before Ricky left. It was a beautiful ceremony where Ricky and I were able to publicly make the commitment to raise Lena for the glory of God. The pastors prayed over us and the congregation prayed for us for strength in the coming year. It was a beautiful event and I am so grateful we were able to do that as a family. We love our church!

This is Lena sleeping through the service, but she's so cute in her little dedication dress that was way too big on her. But she's still adorable!

This is Ricky, me and Pastor Craig. Also right before Lena's dedication my lip swelled with a cold sore, so just ignore that part, look at Lena instead! And isn't it cute that Ricky and Pastor Craig match!

Ode to Mini

After Lena was born, Ricky and I took her on her first outing in our car, which is a 2005 Mini Cooper. Ricky and I were convinced that Lena would be fine in the car and everything would work out swell. Well, we played a little game of tetris and got both Lena in the car seat and the stroller in the seat next to her. As we were driving I just cried and Ricky agreed, this is not a safe situation. So, as hard as it was to do it, we traded in Mini. However, putting Lena in a car that wasn't safe was even harder. We did the grown up thing. We said good bye to our fun youthful car and said hello to a mom-mobile. We got a 2008 Honda CRV. Definitely a mom-mobile, but I feel 100 times better toting my sweet Lena around in this vehicle and that makes it totally worth it.

As a tribute to Mini, let's reminiscence for a minute and go over all the places Mini has been...

Germany (where we bought it), the United States (where we had to pay heaps of cash in taxes to import it into Florida), France (a few times), Czech Republic, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy (for our infamous Tuscany road trip!), Netherlands, and although it's part of Germany, definitely worth mentioning, Mini has been to Oktoberfest...twice! Mini has been to more countries than most people go in their lifetime.

Here's to you Mini, thanks for the memories!

Ricky and I made a beautiful baby!

Jess has been working on more pictures of Lena and I couldn't help but share them, they are so beautiful. Ricky and I have the cutest little red headed girl ever.

I love this picture of Ricky's boots and Lena's pink satin ballet flats. It is so precious. Jess, you did an amazing job capturing Ricky, Lena and I and I will treasure these photos forever. Thank you.

Lena is 2 weeks old today

Today is Lena's 2 week old birthday. It's been difficult since Ricky has left, but so far we are hanging in there, just taking it one day at a time. It's amazing how much you rely on that second pair of hands. But, I have family and friends who are helping me until I get myself put back together, and that has been a life saver. I still have 4 more weeks of recovery from the c-section, but I think my recovery so far has been going really well; I can even drive now!

Lena went in for her 2 week weigh in and she weighed 6lbs. 11oz., so she is still 1.5 oz below her birth weight, so I will take her in again next week to make sure she surpasses her birth weight.

On her 2 week birthday, she got her first real bath. Here are some pictures of her crying through it.

We have great friends

After Lena was born, our close friends Grant, Jessica and their baby Kieira, came to visit us from Georgia to help Ricky and I with the chaos that is being new parents. They cooked, cleaned, and entertained us! It was such a RELIEF to have them here with us for a few days, we really needed the help and support. Jessica is my soul friend (I stole that phrase from Shauna) and I adore her. We bonded over the last deployment where both of our husbands were deployed and then we got to enjoy being pregnant together too. What fun that was!

In addition to being GREAT friends, Jess is also a great photographer and she did a photo shoot of our little family so we could have some family photos before Ricky left for Iraq again. The photos have turned out beautiful and I can't thank her enough. For more information on Jess' photog business, go to http://www.flynnscapturephotography.blogspot.com/. There you can also see some additional photos of our family and you can also hire her to do your own family photo shoot!

Here is an action shot Ricky took of Grant and Jess being busy in our kitchen:

Time to say good bye...

On Sunday Ricky left to go back to Iraq for the remaining 12 months of his tour. He and I knew it would be our hardest good bye yet since now there are 3 of us. Even still, I think we both under estimated exactly how hard it was going to be. But, now we can start the countdown until we are reunited for good. Please pray for our family as we struggle during the next 12 months. Being a long distance family is not easy, but Ricky and I have an amazing love for each other and we have an amazing God that will get us through.

Here is a picture of Lena and Ricky at the airport before he boarded his plane.

Lena is here!

On July 3rd at 7:33pm Lena Guynn Phillips was born! She was 6lbs. 13 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. She has RED hair and is the cutest thing we have ever seen. Lena was delivered by a c-section because after 2 days of the doctors trying to induce me and failing, we decided to do a c-section and get Lena out. We were in the hospital for 5 days and we are so happy to be home! Sorry it took us so long to make the big announcement, having a newborn takes up some serious time! Ricky and I are enjoying every part of being parents, even the middle of the night feedings haven't gotten old yet. We couldn't be happier!

Here are some pictures of our beautiful baby girl and stay tuned, there are tons more to come!