Joshua's Blessing Day

Joshua was blessed in church by his dad on Valentine's Day, which was quite appropriate since he is such a loved & loving little boy. Look how reverent he is too.

My Mom, Dad, & brother Mike flew in for the occasion & to meet their cute grandson & nephew.

Many of Ryan's family members drove down from Bellingham as well, which was so nice!

Joshua was really happy to have so many of his family and friends there to support & love him. Thanks everyone!

The Sleeping Baby

Joshua spends quite a bit of time sleeping these days. Unfortunately, as evidenced in all of these pictures, he prefers to sleep in his parents' arms rather than his crib . . . so his parents aren't getting quite as much sleep as he is right now. We are enjoying snuggling our little cutie in our arms though!

Our Little Family

Joshua is waving HELLO to his many fans out there!

Welcome to our family, Joshua Ryan Barrett!!

(Posted by Ryan)

1st trip to the hospital on Sunday morning: after 3 hours of contractions every 3-5 minutes we went to the hospital only to be told to come back in a few hours. Talk about a long, tough day! This turned into 22 hours of tough labor.

Later Sunday night, after being admitted to the hospital and post-epidural; look at that happy smile!

Little Baby Barrett's first picture -- look how happy he is...! I didn't know that a newborn could really frown like this! His weight: 9 pounds, 0.1 oz; he was 22 inches long. He was born at 5:34am on January 18th. Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Beautiful proud Mama with her baby.

Proud Papa with his son. Joshua seems to be asking, "Who is this?"

1 hour after he was born.

Papa and baby both tuckered out and napping. This has got to be one of the best feelings ever!

Snuggling our little Joshua to sleep; this is his favorite place to hang out.

Beautiful flowers that Great-Grandma and -Grandpa Humphrey sent to welcome their great-grandchild into the world, and to congratulate Debi on a job well done!

Mee-ma and Bee-bop stop in to say, "Hello!"

Trying out his car seat to make the journey safely home from the hospital. He's wearing his "I woof you" outfit from his Rush grandparents, which fits him perfectly. He loves it! As far as the drive home goes, I've never in my life noticed so many pot-holes in the road or people who drive too fast (or tail-gate!) as I saw on our way home from the hospital!

Coming home for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice welcome home note left on our front door by our good friends/neighbors. Thanks to everyone for all the nice calls, messages, emails, and offers to help. We truly appreciate it!

No Baby, Just a Big Belly!

Our baby's due date was on Tuesday, January 12th, but since he has decided to postpone his birthday party for a few more days, here's some big belly pictures of him. Isn't he cute? Just kidding! I don't know how much farther my stomach can stretch, but I guess we'll see.

My Last Day of Work!

Last Friday, Jan. 8th, was my last day of work so Ryan made me a cake to celebrate my early retirement. He put six candles on the cake to represent the six years I've been working since graduating from college. I've learned a lot from all the jobs I've had during that time, but I still feel a bit unqualified for my new job of mothering. Wish me luck!

Bellevue Botanical Gardens

While my mom was visiting last week, Ryan & I took her to see the "light gardens" at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. It was quite stunning to see all the amazing plants and creatures they had created with millions of little lights.



We also took my mom to see the famous "Fremont Troll" that lives under the highway.

Christmas Fun!

We spent a wonderful Christmas Day with Ryan's family up in Bellingham, and we also had some good times in the days leading up to Christmas. 

1. We opened up a present from my grandparents early . . . a long strand of dollars that we got to pull out of a magical tube. What a fun present! 
2. Ryan made a stocking for our baby. I didn't even know he could sew! He found a pattern, bought the fabric, & sewed the stocking all by himself. I'm still so impressed!
3. We had a house party with our neighbors, which included a great meal, homemade Christmas tree cookies, and the Charlie Brown Christmas movie.
4. Our nieces & nephews performed the Nativity on Christmas Eve, which was so cute & fun to watch.

     

     

Our 5th Anniversary!

When I got to work, I discovered this beautiful bromeliad & orchid plant on my desk, which Ryan had secretly dropped off for me early that morning. (I thought he had gone to play racquetball with a friend.) He made my plant even more special by putting pictures on the pot that  highlighted some of the fun times we've had during the last five years of marriage.

Later that evening, we walked to a nice, little Mexican restaurant near our house where we enjoyed a fancy, candlelit dinner. Since the last five years have been so great, we're really looking forward to the rest of eternity together!

Pregnant Debi

Since Ryan was gone for several months & I am not a big fan of working with the camera timer, these are the only 2 pictures I've taken so far of my growing belly. It looks & feels quite a bit bigger now since I am at 37 weeks! I'm not sure I want to take any more pictures. :-)

26 weeks (6 months)


32 weeks (7-8 months)

Our Baby in 3D

Look at our baby's chubby cheeks! Looks like he's on his way to being a big, healthy, chubby baby like his dad!

Ryan's 2nd "Away" Rotation: ALASKA!

Ryan spent 6 weeks in Anchorage Alaska for his OB rotation. Here are some highlights from my trip out to visit him. It was nice to see where he is and to learn a little about what he is doing and to go on a little vacation together.

We spent a lot of time driving through the beautiful Alaskan countryside.

We had a great view of the shore & ocean & mountains from the road. The sun was sinking as we drove south, which made for some beautiful ocean views.

We also drove through a mountain. You can't tell very well from the picture, but it was a really long tunnel. It took us a full 5 minutes to drive through it!

We took a longer than necessary road trip to the Matanuska Glacier . . . meaning we got very lost, but we did enjoy the amazing views along the windy, mountain highway.

The glacier was gigantic, more than 2 miles long! It was striped by sections of rock & dirt, which made the jagged peaks look very interesting. Two of my favorite moments on the "hike:"
1. Ryan wanted to wrap his arm around me while walking down a little incline. I asked why as we started down the path. His response, punctuated by a two-footed slide down the incline, "Because I don't think you're very . . . (insert slip) . . . stable on your feet." It was hilarious! We both laughed so hard and I just about wet my pants, which is easy for a pregnant lady to do.
2. I wanted to take Ryan's picture in a little glacier hollow, but then changed my mind when I thought the ground looked like crackly ice. Ryan reassured me by saying it was fine, "hard as a rock." Then he stepped on it & the ice crackled right under his foot. He tried another spot, which was even worse and got his shoe wet. We both really laughed about that too!

I thought this moose was a statue as did Ryan. He said, "I bet you thought that moose was real, didn't you." And I said, "No way. I wouldn't think such a silly thing." And then just as we drove by, it moved its head! It was real!