Fall Break 2015

We had such a nice fall break this year! I have resigned myself to being ok with just not being able to keep up with posts like I used to (just trying to keep up with Annie's monthly posts is enough for me!), but I really want to document some major events when I can. I figure just getting some pics up is something!These are out of order, but oh well!

Friends Blakeley and Winnie babysat Annie while Henry and I got to go to Disney on Ice on Friday!

He was beyond thrilled!!

On Thursday after our beach trip we went to the farm to pick up Maggie and got in some farm time.

Before the farm, we ran by our friends' house who has baby chicks. Henry was loving it at you can see. Annie loved it too and kept making cheep cheep noises, but I just couldn't capture it!

Is that pic a framer, or what?!

We met my folks at at condo in Orange Beach from Friday through Wednesday and had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful.

We got a pic of Annie in front of "Annie Girl" at Zeke's Landing, and I was happy it was there again! The pic isn't very good in the dark, but oh well. Now I am hoping this can become a tradition of a photo op each time we go!

Practicing her standing skills on the sand!

This was on the way!

She kept putting the shell in her hair and saying bow.

Annie loved the water but HATED the sand!!

And Henry was a fan of both!:)

We attempted some family beach shots. This always proves to be a challenge:)

We were sad to come home on Wednesday...sniff, sniff! It was a great trip!

Annie-17 months!

Sweet little miss continues to grow, learn, change....here are a few highlights about her this month!

-LOTS of new vocab this month! I know I haven't done a thorough job of writing them all down, but a few are: Maggie, blankie (bay-ee), apple, yes!, button, airplane, down, knock knock, grandpa, strawberries (her version!), out, open, cute! (I figured this one out while I was shopping. I was holding her and every time I pulled something out away from the rack to look closer, she would say something. Finally I figured out she was saying  "cute!"...I must say this a lot for her to pick it up!), pumpkin (her version), BITE!!! (demanding and loud!), belly, sorry (she likes to "hit", which is really just a little pat, so we have her say sorry to Bubba or us if she does this. It's so funny, though, because half the time she volunteers "thank you" instead. She gets the 2 confused:), cheese (she says it when we get the camera out-over and over!), go go!, sock, rock (like a rocking chair), walk.

-The other morning she was playing out in the living room, and I walked in and sat by her. She looked at me, said "nana", put her hand to her mouth to sign "eat" and them pointed to the kitchen. It felt like a lot of clear communication! I knew exactly what she wanted! 

-She used to shake her head "yes" for every question we'd ask her. That's changed. Now everything is "no"...not in a defiant way-I think it's just her word of choice right now! She always shakes her head at the same time and is pretty serious about it. It makes us laugh!

-She loves to hold hands to pray, and gets the biggest kick out of us saying "amen" and letting go of hands. Oftentimes she will want to hold hands immediately again, say amen, and let go. She also babbles along to Henry's song or prayer he's saying.

-She is so loving, and will give lots of hugs and kisses to all 3 of us, plus any family or friends when we prompt her to. When we put her to bed at night, we stand and sing a song or two with her blankie (which she has really started to love recently btw) around her and her paci in. She always snuggles in right away with her head down on us the whole time. Several different times mid-song, Steven has said she will raise up, pull her paci out of her mouth, and give him a kiss, them put it back in and lay her head back down all on her own! Melts our hearts! So sweet!

-She doesn't see much TV, but when she happens to see one of Henry's shows on for a minute, she loves it and raises up on her knees and just points and talks and talks. She gets quite animated! She still loves to play with a wipe. She will pretend to clean things. I can distract her easily by giving her a wipe. Both kids are this way! So funny. She gets the biggest kick out of Elmo. She's never seen the show, but he is on her toothpaste and she just stares and talks to him and tries to say "Elmo". Henry has a pair of PJ's with Elmo on them, and she squealed and laughed when she saw them. Funny when reactions are not taught like that. She has started to ride with Henry around in his motorized Jeep and it is so cute. She looks like such a big kid, and she will laugh and wave. She loves the wind blowing in her hair, the radio buttons, and the buckle. She doesn't try to get out and fusses when they stop!

-She's learned she likes ketchup (ugg!), and so now she fusses to use it when Henry has it out (which is quite often-it's how we get him to eat a lot of different things!). This is WAY too early for my liking. If only she weren't so persistent!

-She still gets so excited about Facetime, and just this month she has really started showing off. She will want to go get her blankie and show it, she points to bubba, mama, etc and says each one. She's trying to think of everything she can to entertain the person on the other end! She says and points to all of her body parts, including saying "belly" and pulling up her shirt to show it off. She did this the other day at a restaurant, too. She is very social and says hi to everyone. She was getting some attn. from the people beside her after she said hi, so then she proceeded to say "belly?" and raise her shirt up for complete strangers to see. It got her lots of attn, of course!

-She had her first haircut this month! It was really just a trim in the back, and I did it myself, but it makes it not look quite as straggly and is the first of many to come!! I really noticed, but I don't think others really did:)

-She took her first steps this month! Steven was actually the only one to see her take 2 steps at home on 10/3, but I saw her take some at church and a few at home since then, and nursery workers at school have said she has taken a couple there, too. She still does not seem super motivated in this area, but a month ago I wouldn't have said she'd have taken a step at all by this point, so I know she's making slow progress. I'm hoping by her 18 mo update, she will be voluntarily taking more steps than not. Part of the problem is that it has to be her idea. If we try to get her to walk, she usually doesn't like it and just sits down and fusses. This month she has let us hold just ONE of her hands and she will walk quite a ways. She is also standing more and more on her own, and will stand up, loose her balance, then get back up on her own over and over. I know she's capable of walking, it's just getting her to do it at this point! She's taking her sweet time I guess!

We sure do love you, little mess. You are a sweet blessing to us Miss Anne. We can't wait to see what is in store for you next month! 

This is what I have to put up with while I'm trying to take pictures! :)

And this!!

Annie-16 months!

Miss Anne is 16 months old (as of 9/26)-time is flying by! She's getting to be a busy girl and her babyhood is quickly becoming a thing of the past, but we are loving every minute of it! She's a sweetie. Here are a few things about her this month.

-She's talking a lot. She's saying words that I didn't even know she'd been taught. I was wearing a t-shirt that had an emblem of a tree on the front (shout out to my CHS alma mater!), and she looked, pointed and said "tee" for tree. Then the next day we were walking into school and she was looking up and pointing to the trees lining the walk and said "tee" again. Didn't know she'd picked up on that one! She says oosh for shoe, ouwww when she gets hurt (or thinks she has), choo choo for train, bow, pretty, cheese, and please. She has been attempting lots of 2-3 syllable words this month and some are-grandpa, cracker, pineapple (pie-ahh). She will attempt most of what you ask her to repeat. She also has been putting 2-3 words together and some are: hi mama, hi dada, up please (bup peas), volunteered to try and "say thank you cracker" after I gave her a cracker in her car seat. After the grocery store one day a worker was taking our cart for us, and she waved and said, "bye! thank you!" I thought this was so smart and friendly!:)

-She's doing great at school and all the adults tell me how friendly she is when they see her. She gets strolled around the halls, and evidently she waves and says "hi!" to everyone she sees. She continues to love babies, and especially her buddy Owen at school. If we are there first and he comes in, she high tails it over to her saying, "baby! baby!" the whole time and pulls up on his stroller to see him. It's cute she has a baby friend-he's just 6 months younger than her and weighs more than he does, but she definitely thinks of him as a baby! She has been using the little slide at school, and I've gotten to see her climb up the ladder all by herself and slide down, then plop on the carpet. She looks so big doing this! And she loves it-all smiles and claps! They sing and read a lot at school, and she's evidently a big fan of "itsy bitsy spider". She's so cute trying to do the motions. She "sings" along and also sings with us at night when we put her to sleep in her own way.

-She's a good eater and has really been using her fork a lot this month. Sometimes when she's lost interest in her food I can give her a fork and she will get busy! She can spear her food and feed herself like a pro. And she's so proud about it!:) She's a strong righty just like Henry was a strong lefty at this stage.

-She only uses her paci for sleep. We keep it in her crib. Last month as soon as I picked her up, I'd take it out and toss it in the middle of her bed with her blankie. This month, she has voluntarily taken that responsibility on herself, and it is so cute to watch her take it out, then toss it in. And it is also cute when she teases me and will take it out, and hold onto it when I tell her to throw it, then stick it back into her mouth and giggle. She gives it up pretty easily after that, but she does good naturedly let me know she'd really kinda rather keep it. :) Oh, and she calls her paci her "pass" right now.

-She is a very loving little thing, and is always giving us hugs and showing love. She loves to "waller" on people on the floor (us, her teachers, her friends, Maggie, etc). She lays her head down and says, "awe". She also loves to fall backwards and will do this over and over once she gets going, so we have to watch her because sometimes she doesn't watch were she's going to land! Sometimes she gets really wild and will flop all over the place and play "rowdy"-usually when Steven is on the floor and Henry is getting rowdy, too.

-She's getting more and more mobile! Mid-month she started pushing the walker/baby carriage around reluctantly. Steven got her interested by putting an actual (toy) baby in there. Now it's the end of the month and she pushes it all over the house and re-adjusts it when she runs into stuff and gets stuck. She and Henry will "race" around the living room and through the kitchen. She's adorable and I can get flash forwards of the 2 of them playing like big kids together. She also stands up on her own-randomly without really thinking about it I don't think. She will now stand for a long time and even clap and dance without any support. I think we are close to having a walker. She will now more willingly let us hold her hands and walk around.

-This has been a month of football, so Steven has taught her to say, "Go, Vols!" while moving her hands around and around while saying "go", then throwing them up in the air for "Vols"...not sure if I'm explaining it clearly, but it's certainly cute to watch, and she's awfully proud and all smiles when she cheers.

Well, there's so much more, but I must stop. Annie, you are our sweetie-pie,and we sure do love you! Thank for being such an easy, sweet baby girl.