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.