Happy Father's Day, Daddy! You are the best daddy my baby sister and I could ask for! We love you!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads in my life! It was so nice to get together this weekend and see everyone. We all met up in Raleigh to have a pool day, and it was so much fun! I don't have any pool pictures, but I know Mom does, so I can't wait to see those! The pool was amazing (how many pools do you know that have a huge winding slide??) and the weather was perfect- not too hot but sunny and warm. Anna was worn out from all the playing. I hope we can get together with the 3 monkeys again soon!

Sean is going to be a rock climber.

Braxton is a sweet little monkey who has the worst luck with viruses...He had on a very cute shirt that read "I tried to be good but then I got bored".

We also had a nice time visiting with Aunt Lori and Uncle Chris. Anna was a little skeptical about the big dogs barking, but thought their tails swishing her hair was funny as well as their licking her face and attempting to share her lovey. We only have a few pictures from the evening, so that means we'll have to see them again soon!

Come back soon Aunt Lara!!

Lara's in India right now and we hope she has a successful trip educating lots of people!!

Anna and Spaghetti

Word to the wise: Don't try Chef Boyardee's Spaghetti with Meatballs unless you're ready for an immediate bath- and forget any clothes!

You know it's a good meal when some of it ends up on the wall...

Anna's first school picture

I guess this is proof that she is happy at school. :)

John is officially a lady's man! Anna's going to have a little sister!!! We just found out (officially) today and are happy to know she is healthy and looks great according to all the measurements. Now the name search begins...

Will she be a thumb sucker like her big sister?

This picture is just of her feet- I love it! Do they look like monkey toes to you?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!

You always make my day when I see you and I love how much fun we have together!! I hope you had a great day eventhough you had to share it with a holiday! Mommy and I love you very much!

Success in the pool! On our 2nd trip to the pool we remembered the camera and the float! Anna loves the pool! We schedule it into her day between lunch and afternoon nap and so far it's worked out well. She had so much fun kicking her legs in the float, putting her face in the water, and blowing bubbles. The baby pool is fun but she likes to climb out and throw the toys, so the bigger pool keeps her more contained! We learned the hard way that pool pavement is slippery for little feet. Now we have some cute Dora the Explorer water shoes that hopefully will help with that issue!

Anna tries out John's old rocking chair

This is Anna's favorite new thing. She loves to climb into the rocking chair with her baby and will even sit still to watch Sesame Street in the mornings. I'm impressed that this chair looks as beautiful as it does considering the torture it must've been through the past 37 years! :)

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Pool Practice

Today we tried out the baby pool to see how Anna liked the water. It was cold at first, but she warmed up after a bit (it was 90+ degrees outside!) and splashed around. I foresee spending many summer days either in this pool or at Hermitage!

Yes, Anna does have a bathing suit, but why dirty it up when just a swim diaper will do? I promise she'll be properly dressed in public!

Not more than 12 hours before this picture was taken, I told my uncle how Anna wasn't climbing yet, and how I was glad she wasn't that active yet. Oh well. The lil stinker must've heard me. :) She followed with the adventure on the dishwasher- of course as soon as she climbed up there I snapped the pictures and quickly removed her from the safety hazard. :)

Me and My Monkey

Mimi knows how much Anna likes monkeys, and how she can say "ooo, ooo, ooo" like a monkey, so now Anna has her own lil monkey who now resides in the car! Everytime we go for a ride, she gets some special time with monkey! She loves to hug and kiss monkey, and he's the perfect size to lug around. I imagine monkey will get a lot of love.

Our little girl is SO smart- she knows how to plug in the laptop computer's power cord!! I guess she's seen mommy do it a lot....yesterday, I was checking email and she came over and Pop! In goes the power cord. How funny is that. I had no idea she has that much dexterity!! She's a 90% walker now, with crawling only when necessary. This makes it tricky because now she can get to a lot more things that we were able to "hide" where she couldn't see them. Those days are over, I guess! I love being able to put her in dresses now, so we'll get great use out of her summer dresses!!

My first haircut

Much to mommy's chagrin, we headed to Pigtails and Crewcuts to trim Anna's bangs yesterday. She was looking so scraggly and wouldn't keep a bow in hair, so this was it. I have to say I really don't like the way her hair looks now, but oh well. I know it will grow back.

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Anna is checking out John hammering down nails on the deck. I promise to post pictures once we get the old ones of the memory card!!

Anna's newest antics...

We're working on the walking thing- she likes to walk holding onto one hand now, and is taking more and more steps unassisted. Her teacher says she will walk when no one is watching, and as soon as she notices someone looking at her, she drops down to start crawling. I'm not all too eager for her to start running, so her progress is just fine for me!

Anna can now tell you (by pointing) where her nose, eye, ear, mouth, teeth, hair, and belly button are. She will give hugs and blow kisses as well (but somehow stops at the kissing her hand part). She's cutting 4 teeth all at once...the two bottom incisors (I think that's what they're called) and two top molars. So now she has even teeth! 6 on top and 6 on bottom! She loves the book, "Pat the Bunny" and can do all the activities in it, like play peek-a-boo, put her finger through the ring, etc. She also likes to sniff the flowers, so now when she sees any flower, she sniffs as if to smell it. Pretty cute. We're working on taking down her morning nap, because at school she seems to not want to take her morning nap and then takes a great afternoon one. Plus when she moves up to the toddler room, they only take 1 afternoon nap. My issue with this 1 nap thing is this- when do I take a shower now?? Her morning naps were my "get ready" time. Does this mean I have to get up before she does and get ready? Ack!! I don't feel comfortable letting her roam the house while I'm in the shower- she has gotten stuck in the dog door a couple of times and I'm just waiting for her to climb into the litter box....plus I'm not sure her room is 100% baby proof. Right now she's taking a cat nap- my plan is to get her up at 1 hour. Which means I need to get ready...Pictures to come once I free up some memory on the camera!!

I finally was able to capture some video of Anna making her signs. Unfortunately the video cut off and doesn't cover her signing "eat", "fish", "shoes", "swing", "more", "please" and "potty". She loves using a fork to eat now, so if she's lost interest in something, all you have to do is put it on the fork and she'll eat it! Her faves lately are mandarin oranges, chicken nuggets, raisins, and peas.




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Anna's not a big walker yet. She'd much rather crawl around and know she won't fall! Yesterday John and I took her golfing, and she enjoyed playing in the golf cart and crawling around on the greens. Once we ran out of snacks, though, it was much harder to keep her entertained!! Overall, with only one 30-second crying episode, she did really well and we'll probably go back again- next time with more snacks and her golf club!

She's walking!

Anna took her first steps at home today!! John and I were busy talking, and the next thing we know, she's walking towards us!! What a big girl! Video to follow....once we catch her walking!

HAPPY EASTER!!

This past weekend was spent at Bald Head with the cousins...now all 1 year olds!! It was interesting getting all the babies together again, comparing notes, and seeing them interact. Kudos to my brother, Kevin, who played single dad this weekend while Meighan was working in Scotland. You are a wonderful dad, Kev, and Sean is so lucky to have you as his daddy.

The babies a year ago

And now

It was hard to get a great picture of all three critters...Braxton had just woken up from a nap...he was much happier with some food...

The kids had fun at the playground. Anna was a little less than thrilled to be out in the cold wind, but the boys didn't care. Sean LOVED the slide, and Braxton too. They all took turns going down the "big" one!

Aunt Lorie was a trooper to take all 3 babies in the tub with her! We couldn't get the doors on the tub off, so somebody had to go in!! Thanks, Lorie, for bathing the triplets!! Next year we'll have at least one more to throw in there!

It didn't quite feel like Easter with the weather being so chilly, but it was a lot of fun spending time with family. We had a long weekend to relax at the beach and even had time to get back home to watch the end of the Masters!! Anna got to wear her golfing outfit.

Anna has really picked up on signing in the past month. So far this month she's learned "baby", "swing", "potty", "eat", and "please". I love the fact that she's capable of manners at 1 year old!! Next is "thank you". I am amazed at how much she can communicate with us and at school. It really does help in figuring out what she wants, and with critter #2 on the way, I hope it will be beneficial in thwarting the tantrums and so called terrible 2's!!

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Anna LOVES her baby doll Lila!!
It cries, coos, laughs, and drinks a bottle. Sometimes Anna will give baby Lila the bottle, sometimes she "drinks" it herself!
Here are some more pictures of Anna loving her doll.

Anna's First Birthday

Good Morning Birthday Girl!!

Posing with some birthday party decorations

Anna was baptised the day before her 1st birthday, and we had beautiful weather as well as wonderful company for her celebration!! Many thanks to Grandma Barrow for finding great shoes and a gorgeous cardigan for Anna, and to Mimi for doing all of the party decoration shopping while Anna and I were home-bound with the stomach bug!

Anna has her mommy's sweet tooth...

Happy Birthday Anna!!

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Can you see all 6 of my teeth?? I'm also getting a molar!

Anna points out to her parents that she can now reach the letters over her crib...

I think Anna's gone through a growth spurt- all of the sudden, she can reach windowsills, table tops, and the piano. I can't wait to find out her height when we go in next week for her 12 month well-check. Today she stood up for a good 20 seconds and had great balance! She also loves to walk holding your hands...she's so confident just strolling along!!

For anyone wondering if crib rail covers work, they do, until the kid figures out how to pop them off.

Our new routine for snack time is to have goldfish and juice in the exersaucer. She can safely eat and drink and the snacks don't get all over the house!

Anna is starting to pretend play! She will hold the cell phone or regular phone (if she gets to it before I do) up to her ear now, and the other morning after she fed me her leftover pancake, she pretended to pick up more and feed me. It was adorable. I can see glimpses of what she will be like as a little girl now. She will say Hot, Hat, Sock, and Dat. She isn't 100% with any of them, but it's so cute when she says them appropriately. She seems to be learning so fast, I feel like every waking moment is a learning opportunity.

Anna "reads" the Sunday paper. This is a favorite pasttime of Sunday mornings, when Mommy cuts coupons, reads the funnies and the Flair section, and Daddy reads the Sports section, as well as the Best Buy and Circuit City ads. Anna loves to pull all the papers off the ottoman and separate as many as she can. Then she'll tear up what she can. A little destructive, but she likes it. :)