What Anna is up to these days...

One of the delights of having a child that I just never fully comprehended until we had Anna is watching them learn and grow and change. She is such a delightful baby and I am still a little in awe that she is mine. I now fully understand how parents can talk about their children nonstop and laugh over the smallest, silliest things that those kids do. Everything your child does (even the naughty things) are fascinating to you. I also have fallen into the classic mom's habit of discussing your child's poo but that is another post. (:

In any case... here are a couple of things Anna has been doing lately. I can brag here in my blog without being too awfully annoying to everyone!

1. Hand! Anna has lately taken to demanding "hand!" which means give me your hand and let me take you to whatever toy or puzzle or drink that she wants at that exact moment. It's the cutest thing! And she really loves to have one person on each side of her so she has two hands to hold and two people to order around. Make no mistake- that is what she is doing. If you tell her you are busy she will just stand there and say "hand! hand!" over and over til you give in. Not that I ever give in to her. (: But the sweetest part of this new demand is when she asks for your hand when she is in her carseat and she simply wants to hold your hand on the ride home.

2. Words. Anna is such a little talker. The number of words this child uses is crazy! After a recent parents as teachers visit, I sat down and wrote down every word I could remember hearing Anna use (not just repeat). I stopped at 100. Since then I have heard so many more. Sometimes she will say something that I have no idea where she even picked up!

3. Hugs and Kisses. Anna is such a loving baby. She hugs on everyone, even her dolls. And her books. Most of the time when I read to her we have to stop every couple pages so she can press her face to the page. (that's how she hugs). When she is forced to be still (like during diaper changes) she will grab whatever stuffed animal she can get her hands on and just kiss (audibly) it over and over. It is so funny. She esp. wants to hug and kiss on whatever little kid is around. Most of her little playmates are boys so I guess I will have to watch that tendency!

4. Dance. Oh my goodness the dancing! She loves loves loves to dance! She dances to commercials, to music on her movies, in the car, wherever and whenever she hears a good beat. She moves her little arms around mostly but also spins and is starting to pick up her feet. She really wants to jump but can't quite figure it out. She loves to be picked up and spun around or have me hold her and jump.

ok this is getting really long and I could go on and on... so I will stop for now and maybe write some more later about this delightful, perfect little girl that God has given me. But just for the record, I could write til my hands fell off and still not be able to tell you how wonderful she is and how much she is to me and her daddy.

Anna's 18 Month Pictures

My little baby is 18 mos old! She is getting to be such a big girl. Here are the pictures we got taken this week. I might be a big sucker and go buy some additional poses. It was very difficult to decide which ones to buy with a store full of people and everyone waiting on me to make a decision! As usual I am not second guessing the ones I bought and wishing I had bought other ones!

Postscript

Adam said it was mean to call him a dumbsmack.....even though he totally was. But seriously, even if he does stupid things like swing a golf club in the house, I do love my husband!

GRRRRR....

I forgot to report what my dumbsmack husband did the other night. I come home all innocent and carefree from a shopping trip with my sister and hang out a little while with her and my mom. They leave and I am picking up the living room and out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of something on the arm of my chair. Being the good housewife I go over to investigate.

(in my head)
"What is that on the chair.....that's weird...wait a minute...what the hell..... is my chair RIPPED? What the HELL happened to my chair? How the HELLFIRE did my chair get a huge enormous rip right in the very front of the arm?"

As I turn around to try and figure out what happened I see my husband with his sheepish "hehe..oops" look on his face and I also see the golf club sticking out of the back of chair.

(in my head again)
"What did he do.....what did he do? You have GOT to be kidding me! I am going to kill him dead right now. I am going to take the golf club and hit HIM with it in the HEAD!"

(to my husband)
"What did you do!?!!!! Did you HIT my chair with your golf club? Adam! Seriously! I cannot freaking believe you ripped my chair with your dumb golf club! What the hell were you thinking swinging that thing in here? Don't swing that in here again!"

And he had the NERVE to tell me I was "overreacting". He's lucky we had an identical chair in the bedroom so now its just my bedroom chair that looks like we bought it at a flea market.

This is why we can't have nice things.

These are a few of my favorite things... about Christmas!

Having a Christmas tree all lit up, warming the room by its very presence.

Houses that have way too many lights in the yard.

The air of secrecy.

The planning.

Mom's peanut brittle. And telling her every year that I want to make it this year so I learn how and then every year letting her do it so I don't mess it up. It's very complicated! And then insisting on helping her "pull" it and burning my fingers on the sticky mess.

Sneaking one more bite of candy.

Wrapping Presents.

Cutting out snowflakes with Dad and knowing that this year we are continuing that tradition with a whole new generation.

Remembering the anticipation of Christmas' past.

The music. The old-fashioned hymns. Hearing a church choir and congregation lifting the voices in praise.

The togetherness of family and friends.

Making that extra dessert that no one needs.

The smells.

The love.

Irony

Is it wrong to complain about the fact that I haven't received my "no complaints" bracelet yet? (:

Moments

Sometimes I think there is nothing sweeter in life than snuggling up on the couch with my daughter tucked up in my lap, her head right underneath my chin, to read book after book.

I am.....

I am stealing this post from my sister-in-law Julie - she did this for one of her classes and I thought it was a neat idea so here goes....oh you can't use descriptions that would be considered an opinion like funny or smart, etc. Only facts.


I AM:

I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, a sister, a sister-in-law, a granddaughter, a cousin, a niece, a stay-at-home mom, a worrier, a friend, a believer, a scrapbooker, 30 years old, a new runner, a walker, a cat and dog owner, not a drinker, a home owner, an American, a woman, a tv watcher, on a diet, a worrier, a reader, a blogger, green eyed, 5 foot 9 inches, a shopper, a traveler, brown haired, a voter, a worrier, a licensed driver, addicted to tea, not a smoker, a Missourian, a contact lenses wearer, a church goer, and......out of ideas.

Advice

"Just take it one gigantic, earth-shattering crisis at a time. "

Just Talking....

I am pretty sure no one is still reading this blog but it is kind've nice to still have. I like having somewhere to record myself. I don't like the physical act of writing. Perhaps its because I hate my handwriting. Oh yes, and there is no backspace key with a pen. In any case, I do love "keeping a journal" - just not on paper. Online works much better for me. Of course, I can't tell this diary EVERY thought that goes through my head just in case people are still reading it. But the thoughts that I wouldn't want to post are also the thoughts that are probably better left unrecorded in any fashion. Paranoid? perhaps. Too much damage can be done by words. I have learned that over the years. And even when everyone agrees to forgive and forget I believe the words spoken can still linger on in people's souls years later. So for anyone still reading- you are getting a glimpse into my heart and mind and soul but maybe not too deep of one. (:

I do wonder how well some of my friends actually know me. It is interesting how over the years you can start to know someone better than they even think you do. Several years ago, Adam and I saw a movie and after the first preview I leaned over to Adam and pointed to a woman on the screen and said "you hate her, don't you?" Now he has never told me this and I have no idea how I knew but I just knew that he couldn't stand something about her. I freaked him out! He couldn't believe I knew that. I think I hide large chunks of myself away from people but you wonder how much they pick up just from being around you so much. Sometimes I do feel like certain people do not "see" the real me. And maybe wouldn't like me as much if they did. I hope that I do a good job of "seeing" and loving my friends the way they are.