Im a big girl!

The pat couple months have been crazy! We have had Nana come visit to take care of mommy, gone to a wedding, had Poppop come visit to help us move houses, had Daddy come home to visit from Iraq, had Grandma and Pawpaw Shoe and Uncle Edwin and Maddie come visit to see Daddy and visit for Thanksgiving, went to Tennessee to see Sesame Street live, and saw Santa!

You were such a big girl when you went to the dentist. You loved the star sunglasses they gave you to wear. The funniest part was when you said "aaaaaahhhh" with your mouth closed.


You had a blast when Grandma, Pawpaw, Uncle Edwin an Maddie visited. One my favorite memories is watching you and Grandma cook in the kitchen. You were so into what Grandma was doing. You loved sitting on the counter and "helping". You loved it so much that the next morning when you walked
Into the kitchen you asked where Grandma was. You had a blast having your early Christmas with all of them!
You know it breaks my heart but I know you are going to be a "daddy's girl". The whole time Daddy was home, I think you choose mommy over Daddy maybe twice. Although it mad me sad... It mad my heart so happy to see that you loved Daddy and wanted to be close to him. You wanted to be so close to him and were so scared to let him out of your sight that you wouldn't go to sleep the first night Daddy was home. You had to be in our bed and all you wanted to do was talk to Daddy. I especially love how you had to show (pull out) every toy you had and bring it to Daddy. The saddest part for Mommy was the day Daddy left and when we came home. First when I picked you from daycare you asked for Daddy but that wasn't sooo bad. Mommy's heart broke when we came home and you walked into the house looking in all the rooms downstairs looking and saying "Daddy". When you didn't find him you walked back to the garage door and asked "where'd he go"? All I could do was hug you and tell you he went to fight bad guys. It's been over a week and I still catch you talking to Daddy.


The weekend after Daddy left we went to see Sesame Street Live in Nashville. Grandma and Pawpaw Shoe picked us up at the airport, we grabbed a bite at Shoney's and off we went. I won't forget the smile on your face when the characters first came out. You had a look of pure happiness. You surprised us all by how into the show you were. I don't think you took your eyes off the show maybe twice the whole first half. Even thru the second half you were absorbed into the show. Taking your eyes off only to dance, eat popcorn or rub your eyes (it was after three and you hadn't had but a thirty min nap). Seeing you at the show made it all worth it. Your smile, your happiness...made me soooooooo happy.


We also had our first big snow this year...mommy was bad and hadn't bought you a new snow suit soooooooo I had to stuff you into the one fromlast year. You were adorable. I stood you up and were hilarious telling me that you were stuck. The next day we took the sled down the little hill in our back yard. You giggled the whole way down. I can't waito go again.



You have grown so much over the past couple of months. You are talking so much now and even starting to put together little sentences. You love to dance...anywhere....anytime...and to any music. The other day while at the hospital we walked past someone playing the piano..even as I held you, you danced in my arms.
Yesterday we turned your carseat around...you finally hit the big two zero! Finally twenty pounds. You are growing so fast. You amaze me more and more every day. Everyday I look forward to what you will do or say but I will be honest it is bittersweet. You are growing so fast. My precious little baby girl is become a big girl.

New Tricks

Our little Anna! Your are such a beautiful little girl both inside and out. You continue to amaze me.
Your newest trick...helping Mommy was dishes. You love to turn the dishwasher on. No matter if there are clean or dirty dishes...soap or no soap. To be honest you love turning things on and off. Be it the tv, the humidifier, the roomba robot, the air purifier...just about anything you can manipulate you will. Sometimes Mommy gets fustrated but then I smile. I cant stand mad with you. Your little mind is just learnign and exploring and taking great delight in showing that you know how to work things.
Your other trick...climbing. NO FEAR! You will climb on your little chair to get on the couch. You climb on the chest to reach the candy jar! When Mommy moves the chest you then climb on it, to climb on the window sill! I dont know where we are going to put the chest...You climb on Chance (our dog) and try to ride him like he is a horse. Much to your dismay he doesnt move but allows you to pounce on him.
I love how you LOVE books. No longer do we need to put you to bed using your videos. Now at bedtime, I read you a book and then give you the book when I put you in your crib. 9 times out of ten you sit in your crib and "read" your book.
We got you a fish this past weekend. Your little heart loved him the moment you saw him and you love to say hi to him in the morning and "night" to him at night.
This week out of the blue you took to the Green Bay Packer turtle that daddy made for you before he went to Iraq. Out of nowhere you brought it up to me and said "Daddy"? When I pressed its foot and Daddy "talked" to you, you squeled with delight. Now you love to press its foot and give it big hugs when Daddy talks to you. It makes my heart so happy to see that you know Daddys voice. I know it makes Daddy so happy when you say "hi Daddy" to him over skype and when you blow him kisses.
While Mommy has been slacking on working with you on your sign language, you still use the sign for eat, juice, milk and please. You have even started to use the sign for apple. I promise I will try to work harder with you. You also "sign" sometimes
when we sing abc's...you dont get the signs right but I think your getting the concept. I know if I could work with you more you would get it. If I could learn more to teach you, I know you would learn.

2 months...so much has changed

Wow...I cant believe it has been two months since my lst blog. Things were crazy. Poor litte Anna caught two viruses back to back...writing on here became an after thought of oh...I need to write about this or I should write about that. But the days are shorter than I would like...so I am trying to catch up


Our beautiful baby girl, Wow how you have grown. You are talking up a storm now. I swear every once in awhile I get a little sentence out of you..For example last weekend we were at gymnastics and all the kids were running or hopping on the trampoline. As you were running, I of course was cheering you on. I kept saying "Go Anna, Go faster, Go, Go, GO...admist your giggles of delight you waddled over to me and in an out of breath moment said "i tying mommy". My heart couldnt have been prouder. It felt as if it would explode with pride. My mind could help to want to giggle at how cute you were and then couldnt wrap its self around the fact that you had just said what you said. All I could do was scoop you up, squeeze you and say "yes, baby, you are trying, your trying real hard and Mommy is so proud of you." I pray that I never forget that moment. Amongst the many that I hope to never forget that has to be at the top.
You have recently fallen in love with Elmo and abadoned your stuffed "lion". There are times when you will still hug Mr. Lion with all your might but currently he has been replaced with the new light in your life, the wonderful, loving, little red muppet, Elmo. You have so many Elmo items, DVD's, slippers, a bike helmet, socks (thanks to Audrea your daycare provider), an Elmo halloween bucket, an Elmo doll....I dont mind it. I think its adorable. Plus its better than Barney or the Wiggles. Sesame Street is educational so....I give in and Elmo has infiltrated our household. You have also become a fan of Dora the Explorer and Go! Diego! Go!
What an adventureous fearless little lady you are. You are not contempt to watch the other kids (the kids two to three times your age) at the park. You want to do what they do and try your hardest. If they climb up the slide...you are right there trying to climb the slide. Why your fearlessness scares me because I see me in you and I know that will mean emergency room visits, I admire you for it. I promise I wont become too protective, I will let you spread your little wings and as much as possible try the things you wanna try. I dont want you to think that there isnt anything you cant do.
You have taken to walking Chance lately. Although, I think that its more of a ploy to go walking and then run to the dirt piles. Its still cute to see you hold his leash.

You are growing so fast. Such a smart beautiful little girl. Each morning you amaze me and everyday you make me prouder of you than the day before. I still struggle to understand how that is possible but you do it. I wont lie although you make my heart swell with pride, it also makes my heart sad to see you growing so fast as I often get scared that I am missing more than I would like and it saddens me that Daddy cant see in person how much of a bright little lady you have become. Although you are my baby and always will be, often i see you as a little lady. My sweet little lady baby....I will try to write more. I will try to capture more of the moments I hope not to forget and pass them onto you. .

Angel of Mine

My sweet little Anna! I love you so much! My day is made when you smile at me, when you giggle! No matter how mind tired I am, how drained I am...seeing your smile makes my day. I have found that you are my source of calmness. Whenever I get upset with the workings of people, I use you to calm me down. I have found that if I take the time to remove myself from the moment and think of spending time with you, of the smile I will see when I pick you up from daycare and of the hug you will give...thats when I am able to be calm again. Even on days where everything doesnt go right with "Mommy and Anna time". Like you pooing thru three sets of clothes within 4 hour period while we are out running errands. When you arent feeling good in the middle of the night and want to be held or want to run around and play with your toys...I am amazed that I dont get upset, no matter how tired I am or how unright things are going. I told myself when a long time ago that when I had my babies I wouldnt bring the issues of my work home, I wouldnt allow myself no matter how fustrated I was at work to bring that home to my children. I thought it would be harder to do this...I have found that it isnt so hard. All I want to do when I am with you is enjoy my time with you. To soak you up to remember you as you were, how you are that day. There are times I sit and just get stuck in a daze staring at you. You amaze me everyday. Your friendliness to others. Your love of dancing (dont know where you got that...maybe from Daddy...he did breakdance back in the day!) Your inkling to learn and so much more about you. I pray that your personality that you show now remains with you. For you are a strong willed, determined, kind, loving, smart person. Thank you for being you. I know you wont read this for a long time and I am sure some of this I will repeat later. But you never know what the future holds and I want you to know what is in my head and in my heart.

You are growing so fast. You now know what an octupus and seal are (in addition to the other animals you already knew). You will even "bark" like a seal!
Tonight when looking at a picture of a green truck, I asked you what color was the truck...you said "geen"! Not sure if you really know what green is because two cards later I asked you what color the sun was...you said "geen!". I think I might of got too excited...so you said "geen" again to get the reaction. Either way, I think its pretty neat that you know "geen" is a color...if it you arent sure what it really loooks like.

This past weekend I bought you the book "Goodnight Gorilla"! You were looking at it by yourself in the living room. Pointed at something on one of the pages and said "ion", then you growled. To my amazement...you were pointing at a lion! Now whenever you see that book....you say "ion"! And when you see the lion you will often growl.

A new game for you this weekend was peek-a-boo. You have enjoyed this before but never really initiated it. Now whenever you get your hands on a blanket you will throw it over your head and charge at me. Then when I say "where is Anna" you will pull it off giggling with delight!

Oh...your love of dancing...yea...not limited to the confinds of our home. You have no fear nor no shame in dancing in the middle of an outdoor shopping center. Were there others dancing...no....but you heard the music and had to let the dance out!

I love you my sweet baby. Goodnight...sweet dreams! I will see your bright and lovely smile in the morning! Honestly, I cant wait!

4th of July Weekend

Anna had an exciting weekend for the 4th of July. On Thursday we picked Nana up from the airport. Anna showed off her walking skills right away by holding Nana's hand and walking to the car. The only hiccups were at the elevator. She didnt want to cross the opening and she wouldnt get close to glass. Anna didnt throw a fit or anything. She just kind of froze. Friday we went to Crackerbarrel and ate lunch. From there we went toy shopping, where Anna proudly voiced a new word..."WOW!" She just kept saying it as she looked at the toys! It was so cute. After the toystore we went to Target and got Daddy some treats. Then....we went washing machine shopping. Anna and Nana spent the time walking through home depot and lowes lighting sections...Anna liked the lights. Saturday we all slept in.....YEA! Then we mostly hung around the house until the evening. We went and had steaks with Cathie, ALex and Cathies Mom. Then it was off to the fireworks. The website said the fireworks would start at dusk. We got there around 8....and heard the annoucement that the fireworks would start at 930! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy past Anna's bedtime. She did pretty good entertaining herself for awhile. She danced to the music (see the video below),
she made friends with the grandpa next to us, chased the ducks and walked around everywhere. Then the fireworks started. Anna LOVED them! She just stared at them with her mouth open, smiling and pointing at times. Towards the end she started getting fussy but...who could blame her it was already an hour and half past her bedtime. Im glad we took her. She really did enjoy it. I think her favorite was when she saw the fireworks reflections in the water. She was mesmerized. Anna did sooooo good with Nana. I am always worried that she will get stranger scared when she hasnt seen family in awhile. I really shouldnt worry...she can seriously make friends with anyone...as long as they wave and smile when she says "hi" to them :+)

Bats, Balls and Baby Dolls

Ok...so I was sitting there playing with you a few days ago and I thought..."maybe I am already starting to push you in the direction I want you to go". Why do I say this? Because I looked at the two new toys I had bought you. 1) a tee with bat and balls 2) a soccer ball. Did I mean to do this. No. You do seem to like to watch baseball on t.v. I love how you will go up to the t.v. and point at it when baseball is on and say "bee ball". The other reason I got the tee set was I noticed you would take the baseball out of the glove on the t.v and then put it back in later. The soccer ball...well it was cute. So...even though you seem to enjoy your new toys. I knew I had to get you some more "girly" items. The next evening I ran to the store and bought you a baby doll. You LOVED it too! You kept hugging it and saying "baybay". Then I thought...well I need to get her some more things for the baby. Today, we went to Babies R Us and got a baby doll stroller. Again, you loved it. You pushed it around and got mad when it got stuck. We even took it outside. You got real mad when you pushed it into the grass and it got stuck. You wouldnt let me help you get it out. When we came inside you took the baby out...and then kept trying to get the baby back in the stroller. You suceeded and proceeded to push around your upside down baby in her stroller.

Today you had a little cold. Nothing bad but a runny nose and I could tell you were tired. Thank you for being a little trooper and going with Mommy and getting some chicken pot pie soup (Mommy didnt feel so good either).
Daddy got to see you walk (well actually you were running) for the first time the other day. Thanks to videomessaging. Even with Daddy in Iraq he can see you. I love how you blow him kisses and say bye bye.
Anna and Mommy at gymnastics

1 year check up

We finally made it to Anna's first year check up.
She is 28.25 inches long (in about the 19th percentile).
She wieghes 17lbs and 12 oz (in about the 5th percentile).
We filled out the development milestone chart...according to that she is actualling performing at a 15-18 month old level. WAY TO GO ANNA!
We are going to get some blood tests done to rule out something things concerning her hand and feet turning purple at random. The doctor doesnt think it has anything to do with her heart as it sounded great, however, if the blood test come back negative she is going to refer us "for piece of mind".
Things have been crazy at work. Mommy has had some early mornings and late evenings but Anna has been a trooper. She still gives Mommy an hour or two when I get home.
Anna is fully walking now. She is wobbly and tends to fall but I would say 95% of the time when she wants to get around she walks! It seems like this came about so suddenly. But I am so proud of her.
Today we went to baby gymnastics. She had a blast...running around. Not much gymnastics going on but she did tumble a few times and attempted walking on the balance beams (holding Mommy's hands of course). I was actually really proud of her on this one skinny beam. She had the whole concept down that she couldnt walk like normal. That she had to put one foot literally in front of the other. She seemed to really enjoy it...I cant wait for next Saturday.

Walking, talking and eating

Our beautiful little girl spending some time by the lake after church. I took her there to see the ducks and geese...but they werent there. However, she had a blast playing on the bench.
Anna is picking up the skill of walking very quickly. This week she learned how to stand up with out using something else to pick herself up! She loves to walk in the living room, back and forth between toys and to Mommy. Although when she gets excited and wants to get somewhere fast, the first thing she does is drop to her hand and knees and crawl! Its adorable. I love it. I wish Daddy could see it. I need to find the charger for our small camera so I can video her....ok so since I started this post...she is walking even better! Around the living room that is her main mode of transportation.
She is learning new words constantly. She tries so hard to copy what I say. She tries to say diaper and sock. She is also learning the context in which to use thank you. Today at the post office she said "tang to" to the clerk. It was adorable.
Anna is also working on eating with a spoon and fork. She has the concept of the fork down. She will even poke at food with the fork or pick up the food and push it onto the fork!
And the cutest thing...Anna now blows Daddy kisses when he says "I love you Anna" on the phone. It melts your heart. Im just glad she over exaggerates the kiss sound and Daddy can hear it.

Be Safe Daddy!!!!

Anna and I just want Daddy to know we already miss him more than we could imagine. Even though we havent geographically together for 6 months...we still miss him more. It tough not knowing when the next time you will get a phone call or email.
It makes me even sadder because Anna had started "talking" to Daddy on the phone. She would point at the phone and say "Dada" or "hey"...sometimes she would even babble a little for him. The best...when he would say "I love you Anna" she would blow him and kiss and make the kiss sound.
It hit me today thinking about how when he gets back she will be twice as old she is now. I cant even imagine how different she will be. She is already picking up more words today she said "basket"! One time she said it clear as day, the other times it vaguely sounded like it but I could tell she was saying it.
Daddy...when you read this...WE LOVE YOU! We cant wait to hear your voice. We promise that everynight (unless there are extenuating circumstances), we will sit down in front of the computer and let you read Anna one of the books we videotaped. BE SAFE! You will be in all of our prayers and in our thoughts as we go about our days.