Shoes and Kisses

As Anna brings me my shoes now and proceeds to place them on my feet, I am amazed at this little person that blooms in front of me every day! She does and understands so much more than we give her credit for. She is such a sweet baby. She's very into giving kisses. She even tries to give Jack kisses. She's figured out the full pucker, kissing sound, and to lay it right on the lips! She bent down to Jack's (our cat) level yesterday and tried as hard as she could to kiss him right on his lips. Terrifying experience for a cat, I know. She'll walk up to me now and kiss me anywhere she can reach....an arm, leg, knee, shoulder, back, face, etc. She is just such a lover! She loves to smile and wave at people in the store, reach out for anyone to hold her so she can say hello. She gives full wraped arms around the neck hugs now and she can certainly melt her daddy's heart. I am in awe today of our sweet baby girl and what a blessing she is to us daily!

A Blogger Slacker....and a Random Post

So, the last few months have been insane, what can I say? I haven't had much time to blog recently thanks to a very busy 13 month old who is into EVERYTHING! So, a quick update on what's new since the last post. I believe I left off at we were house hunting.....well.....we found the cutest house in the whole entire world and are absolutely blessed beyond measure to call it ours. It is the cutest little white house with an amazing red front door in just the right shade. It has all the original hardwood floors and old Chico charm, and is just a minute away from work. It couldn't have been a better find. We were able to save quite a bit for a larger down payment than we were even shooting for with the graciousness of my in-laws letting us crowd their house for 4 months while we shopped and saved. We moved in February 25th this year and have done some changes so far. Painted, moved the washer and dryer down into the basement, and sprused up the yard a bit. I'm not big on the yard taking care of and if my thumb was a color it would be brown, certainly not green. But, I am trying. After a long discussion with the nice lady at Osh, I learned that my azelea's, camelias and hydrangeas need a certain type of food. Who knew? So, I fed them with this special food and after much hymming and hawing, my azelea is still not blooming. I had my dad, an agricultural genious look at it and he assured me it will bloom and to just be patient.

Patient is just one thing I am not. If there is one thing that I can continually work on it's patience. So, I am praying for patience daily in life with being tired, stressed, over worked, a cranky toddler at times, and for non-blooming plants that should be blooming. As I have been busy doing all this, I have been meaning to catch up on this blog but am just now finding the time.

On to the toddler, Anna is quite the lady these days. She is running everywhere, finding things in nooks and crannies, loving whole milk, crackers, rice cakes, and broccoli. She is also in a stage where she is very picky about meal times. She eats a huge breakfast of usually 2 eggs, a whole piece of whole wheat toast, and usually a type of fruit (1/2 a banana, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, a mandarin). Then for lunch, she is just a grazer and I am lucky if she eats! Dinner is becoming the same story. I guess she'll just eat when she's hungry but as a first time mommy....do I just let her eat when she's hungry? She is just too into playing to sit down long enough to eat. Although, she is a solid 21 lbs and is certainly not wasting away. Today, for lunch I made her whole wheat Annie's macaroni and cheese and she wanted nothing to do with it! She spit it out. I mean what kid doesn't like mac and cheese? So, she wouldn't touch the mac and cheese but ate about a 1/2 a cup of broccoli. At least she loves her veggies.

Anna is loving small wooden puzzles and is very intrigued by how things work and go together. Mia K. (Peter's mom) says she's just like Peter was when he was little. She loves going up and down stairs, and has figured out how to back down stairs and steps. She's pretty smart our little one. She's also starting to get some words. Currently she consistenly says Mama, Dada, Jack, Duck, "nigh nigh" (for night night when she's tired) shoes, hat, Papa, bye bye and "ju" for juice. Not to mention her amazing ability to fit in with the farm animals by mooing when she sees a cow. She also says Meow and Woof when asked what a doggy and kitty say. She is so fun right now! Exhausting but fun. It's amazing seeing her put things together and beginning to understand. I can also ask her to find her shoes and she'll get them and bring them to me turn around and sit down in my lap and put her feet out. It's just too precious! She is also turning into quite the lover. She blows kisses, gives real hugs down and loves to cuddle when she's tired. She is quite the fish in water. We've started swimming lessons, hense the picture above with her sporting her new suit and is loving each week! It's been fun to go do something together as mommy and daugther finally.

It's been fun to watch her and Peter and their relationship grow. He is so into her these days. He loves taking her outside into the yard to play and explore, he loves taking her to feed the ducks and to the park. He is loving this stage more and more as I long to hold my little newborn that was so cuddly and just a ball of warmth. The time flies so quickly but with each stage there is something just magical to watch and see. Not to mention learn in the meantime. More updates to come!