Although sometimes it feels like we’re pretty far away from you all, it’s helpful for me to remember that Annabelle does indeed have quite a large family.

By my most recent count Annabelle has a mother, father, dog, and cat in her most immediate (and Durham based) family.

Added to that are 6 uncles and 1 aunt (Jordan, Chris, Neil, Dakota, Joe, Johanna, and Matthew) plus

…and that’s just the family members she has already met or is very soon to meet!

Annabelle’s family stretches across the country, from sea to sea, including North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, Illinois, Nebraska, Texas, and California!

And, I’m excited to say, it will be increasing by one more member, as her uncle (my brother Joe Owens) will be marrying his fiance Yomayra in Puerto Rico less than 2 weeks from today!

I grew up in a wonderful, but small family. I’m excited that my daughter will get to grow up with such a wonderful and large one.

To all you family members of mine and hers who read this blog, I want you to know that you’re appreciated.

Bonus News: Check back soon as there are some really great photo shoots we’re going to be uploading as soon as our sketchy internet connection allows!

We’ve really let time get away from us here on the Annablog. We were still posting strong up until the last week in December before the whole family was slated to fly to Omaha for the holidays. At that point we switched into “oh no, we’re about to leave town!” mode.

We were out of town, and busily pulled between family gatherings until nearly the end of December, and just when everyone arrived safe and sound back home in Durham, I came down with a really nasty stomach flu (that I’m just now getting over).

It’s been an amazing 3 weeks in Annabelle’s development and I’m looking forward to getting all the updates posted soon so y’all can see them.  She’s grown up beautifully and is starting really be able to lift her head and hold it up to look around.  This has lead to an exponential increase in her curiosity about the world, and her recenty discovery that her hands are in fact a permanent part of her body.

While we haven’t been posting, we have been keeping good records using our camera and videocamera– so we’ll have some photosets and videos up shortly.

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if our Lilly dog and Annabelle herself have a few posts they’ve been meaning to publish.

It’s 2009, and our collective resolution from the Owens/ Owens-Ream/ Bianchini–clan here in Durham, is to keep this blog well updated.

Thanks for reading, and check back for more soon!