Sunday, July 29, 2007

Sisterly love
Anna loves her baby sister. She likes to pull my shirt up to expose my belly, give it kisses, and "gentle" pats. Sometimes I wonder if Baby B will have bruises on her or if she will flinch when she sees her big sister coming once she's here!







If you leave a toddler alone in a room with a bag of closed Doritos...

She found them, opened them up, and proceeded to help herself...



And then...

Lesson learned.


John's newest lady


So I can't validate the gas mileage, but I have to say it's a very comfortable ride! The DVD player will be nice once Anna pays attention to movies, and the heated seats will be super nice in the winter!





New Room Pictures






These aren't the greatest, but at least you get to see the pretty walls! I will take more when we have some more decorations. I'm still searching for that perfect ladybug comforter/valance combo!



So far, Anna has slept very well in her new room- this afternoon she took a 2 1/2 hour nap in there and even slept through a huge thunderstorm!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

The new room
This past week and weekend John put a lot of hard work into painting Anna's new room. It was our goal to get Anna moved in the month of July. The room still has some decorating issues (like window treatments, wall decor) but I'm so glad that Anna is sleeping in there right now, it doesn't matter! I think it's helped that we've been talking to her about her new room and had her play in it while we (John) fixed it up. John painted the trim, the walls, the door, the closet doors, put new fan blades up, hung new blinds, and moved furniture in and out. Right now we just have the crib, changing table, and two dressers in there. It looks so empty in the middle! I guess it's good to keep it simple, though. Once Anna starts climbing out of the crib it gives her less stuff to get into!
It is a very strange feeling to walk by the empty nursery now that Anna is asleep in her new room- it's a big reality check that there will be another little person in that room soon and it's kinda exciting but frightening at the same time! Thank goodness Baby B is a girl because I can use most of Anna's stuff for her. I did buy her own little loveys the other day, and I plan on getting her a special blanket as well, so that she can have SOME of her own things!
I learned Monday night/Tuesday morning how much my pregnant body can handle as far as errands, and it's not much. I spent most of the day casually shopping for Anna's new room, and then paid for it by having to go get monitored in Labor and Delivery (where I should've been working). I didn't think about how Baby B is going through a growth spurt at the moment and how tired my body is because of it. Tuesday morning around 3am I woke up with the feeling that Baby B was trying to kick her way out, and it started making me anxious about having a preterm baby. So then I couldn't sleep, got up, drank some water, and then proceeded to start contracting. I didn't want to be one of those patients that had problems because of dehydration, so by the time 8am rolled around, I had 2.5 liters of water in my system. I called my OB then, because I was contracting every 5 minutes and had been for an hour. I spent about 4 hours in the hospital, had some tests done, and the contractions slowed down enough for me to go home. Thank goodness for Lola, who picked up Anna from daycare and kept her until John picked her up. I was able to get a decent nap in, and still get to spend some time with her that afternoon.
I feel ambivalent about having Anna in daycare full-time now. She used to go 3 days a week, and when I started working 4 days a week, it got stressful trying to figure out her care for that 1 day. Now she can go every day, which on one hand is great because I can drop her off and get some errands done, but on the other hand, I miss her like crazy and feel like I'm letting someone else raise my baby. Plus it never fails that she comes home with a new bump, bruise, scratch, or filthy clothes. I feel like her new classroom just lets the kids run wild without much attention. Maybe I will get used to that, since she IS a toddler, and that's what toddlers do, but still, I just hate picking her up and inspecting her body for the latest wound. :(

Sunday, July 15, 2007








































Our Vacation to Bald Head Island
We were so happy to spend time with Braxton, Aunt Lorie, Uncle Bryan, Mimi, and Pops for a few days during our week at the beach. We went to either the beach or the pool everyday! Anna is now tanner than her mommy, which is strange considering she had SPF 50 on and I had SPF 15...Oh well, I'm happy that she has more of John's pigment, anyway!
We had such a relaxing time. It's so quiet there, driving around in golf carts and not having to bother with work really does slow your life down! Anna liked the pool more than the ocean, as she was afraid of the waves (even the little ones), but she did enjoy digging around in the sand and playing with buckets of water on the beach. Sadly, we have no pictures of her on the beach (we do have video, though!). I guess that means we'll have to go back to get some pictures!
Anna and Braxton and their after-dinner entertainment


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

Morning story time with Aunt Lorie






Thanks to this book, Eight Silly Monkeys, Anna has learned the word "NO", as in, "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!". She picked it up on our way down to the beach and said, "NO!, No!". It was really cute. So far she uses the word appropriately, like when you ask her if she wants something. She also learned a bunch of other words, like pool, water (wawa), shell, bow, and mermaid (mermay). She repeats a lot of words if you ask her to, and has learned a lot of words through picture books that we have.

In the backyard looking for alligators


Enjoying Mimi's chocolate chip cookies



Looking cool in Winnie the Pooh shades. She actually wore these for a good amount of time. I was impressed that she a) wore them and b) didn't break either pair.


Splashing in the pool

Playing hard= sleeping hard


We had such a nice time, we can't wait to go back! I wish I could create more vacation hours at work so that we could spend a month there, but all I have are considered precious maternity leave for Baby B. Thanks Mimi and Pops for letting us use your house!

Sunday, July 01, 2007




The latest game




Anna loves to get into her sippy cup basket and pull out all the lids, cups, and straws, without being much help putting them back! She's found one straw that she can blow on and it whistles. It's pretty cute.

Notice how Madeira looks like a partner in crime here.




Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting


Anna enjoys her morning yogurt! We are still testing to see if she has a milk/dairy allergy, so we tried Soy Yogurt today and it was a success!! She originally didn't like the piece of strawberry in her yogurt (a first for her) but I guess she got over that as you can see!