Hot Days!

Hot DAYS! Man it has been so hot here the past week or so, and the mosquitoes have been horrible! Brad set up our mosquito trap again though and they have tapered off a bit since then. Well Annabell's 4th bottom tooth finally came in, she has been drooling a ton, I think that has caused her stomach to hurt lately. I'm not sure though. I also am learning and relearning patience and consistency. I have had a hard time lately wavering on how to discipline Annabell seeing she is stuck between a baby and toddler in my eyes. But I have came to the conclusion that she is learning about consistency from Brad and I. So when I want her to stop something I now get down to her level and look in her face and say "don't touch" or "no" etc...She fights it a bit and thinks I'm playing half the time but the more I do it the easier it is becoming. She is such a good girl though, I just want to nip the small rebellions in the butt now so they don't become huge ones later. For example she is starting to walk on top of our couch, which scares me because she can fall and hurt herself. So I will tell her to sit on her butt, but if she doesn't I'll sit her down or take her off of the couch and not allow her to continue in the behavior. It seems to work so far. (2 days ha).

We have been trying to keep up our walking (Heather and I and the girls) every morning to keep in shape. The heat is so tough though! We walk about 2 miles and then take the girls to the park. They play and become so hot they are ready to go home after about 15-20 minutes tops. Annabell has also started to talk a bit more clearly. She now asks "what's that" and is becoming very intrigued at the idea of making sounds like animals. She watches our mouths as we say them as if trying to figure out how to copy the noise. She also has begun to use a few of her sign languages for multiple things. For example, she uses the sign for milk also for wanting something...like pointing and asking for it while doing the milk sign. She also uses water for the same as binki, which she is asking for a lot more lately. So i have begun to hide them because I really only want her using it for nap and bed time. She is still in her crib per our pediatricians instructions. He said to leave her in until she starts to attempt to climb out. She will take naps in the toddle bed though. I can't decide if we should put her in the day bed before he comes or after...any ideas? Well here are some pictures of her playing in her sunday dress that i LOVE because it brings out the blue in her eyes. She also loves playing with daddy's toys. She is playing with his GPS for his truck in one of the pictures. Oh and here is the baby boy in my belly. I think he dropped recently, but I'm not too sure. I am carrying him different then I did with Annabell. I feel like my stomach is so pointy! Well I love y'all!

Big Nanny and Big Papa

We got a great surprise this week, we found out that my Nanny and Papa were in Orlando and were hoping to be able to visit one night before going back to Arkansas. They were here for the National VFW convention. They arrived at our house around 6pm Friday night. Annabell was excited to see them, she was a bit cranky from her lack of nap but did wonderfully. She was loving her big papa a ton! She loved to lay her head on his chest while he would show her a local magazine on mowers and trailers....she likes those from her daddy! Anyways, she also loved seeing her big nanny! Whenever she would walk outside Annabell would follow and wave through the glass. She even leaned in and gave Nanny and Papa kisses! Hugs were a little harder to get her to sit still for. It was sad to see them go and knowing they have to drive through tropical storm fay isn't a good thought, but I am so glad they came to see us! Here are some pictures from their visit! Welll she has to be going through a growth spurt, because I have NEVER seen a child as hungry as she has been lately! She can eat the refrigerator bare! It's amazing! She also is drooling a ton so I think some teeth are cutting somewhere in her mouth. Her vocabulary is ever increasing, she will now say "that" when pointing at things, and many more 'one time' words that she has said after repeating me. She is on the verge of being a chatter box just like her momma! Well she just woke from her nap, love y'all!

Tropical Storm Fay - first kiss

Well we have started to prepare for Ts name is Addison. She sat on the park bench across from the moms, and he climbed up after her, he then leaned over to her and tried to still a kiss but before he could surprise her with one she grabbed him and laid one on him! It was PRECIOUS! The mom kept commenting on how pretty Annabell is and that they should date. Pretty funny. Anyways, when I told Brad all he said was "where can I find him". Ha. She also played with Rebeka our neighbor for a while. The weather was so nice today because of the storm on the way. There was an overcast with a nice breeze, it felt like it was in the high 70's - low 80's at times. I think that is why we stayed at the parkropical Storm Fay. This morning after waking up and eating, Annabell and I went to the park for about an 2 hours and 15 minutes! We walked a few laps and then she played really hard at the playground. She met a little boy at the park today, he was 18 months old and hi so long with out realizing it. Then she took at 2 and 1/2 hour nap and woke up just in time to see her daddy come home. He came home early to help get the house ready for the storm. She liked helping him unload his truck.

She has been learning to express herself more but at the same time she has started to become frustrated when she can't express what she wants. For example she can clearly tell you when she doesn't want something by shaking her head no, but when she is tired she has a hard time expressing it. She will start to scream and cry and sometimes I have no idea why until I go through the list of things she could be needing. She is becoming very good with her signs for her "food", "water" and "milk", she is also good at pointing at what she wants, for example the first thing she does in the morning is point to her books so we can read them, and then asks for milk. I also think she has said the word "up" when wanting help up on something or out of something. She talks gibberish allllllll day long. I am really having to pay attention because she will through a word in every once and a while. Also here are some pictures from our couples shower that two of my girlfriends threw us. Brad was the honored guest which was great. He opened all the presents and played the games etc... All the guys seemed to enjoy it a lot more than they thought they would. It was a ton of fun. It was a sports theme for our little MVP that is arriving soon. Well we love y'all!

Back from St. Louis

Annabell has really been a busy baby lately. Thursday I left for my companies National Convention in St. Louis, it was amazing (the picture is the life size statute of liberty that YTB made for a small town in Indiana which will help promote tourism there, we were in the Rams stadium). While I was gone Brad got a lot of daddy daughter time with Annabell. Thursday evening, after I left her took her to youth group with him where she got to stay up to nearly 9:30pm and party with the high school kids. She had a blast! she also ate 2 1/2 pieces of pizza! YEP, that's right. I couldn't believe it when he told me, she proceed to also eat all her veggies and fruit as well! He said she slept incredibly sound until 9am the next morning! Then on Friday the spent the entire day together. They went to the park, made the bath into a swimming pool since it was raining, and went to her daddies work with him. When I would call to check on her she was always laughing and playing which was nice to hear. It was hard being away, but I am so happy that her and Brad had great one-on-one time. Brad and I are both working hard before the baby comes so that we can have more family time once he arrives. Lately books have been her passion. She wasn't as into them in the past as she is now, she will sit and watch me read to her and flip the pages. When she first wakes up she brings me a book, and if I am not in her chair she will take a book into her chair and read it herself. She also said 'bird' and 'baby' per her big pop, they got to watch her Saturday while Brad worked. It was so nice to come home and see her. When I walked into her room (she was just laying down for a nap and then I heard her wake up) she began to scream for joy and jump up and down! That was such a joyful homecoming! It was wonderful to see how full of joy she was compared to last time Brad and I both left on our cruise and she just cried when she saw us. I think it helped being home with her daddy versus us both being gone. Plus she has grown fond of her G-ma who she pointed out in a picture. That is her second favorite past time...to look at pictures and label who everyone is. She also got her first black eye the first day I was back. She slipped and fell at the park and ran into the riding toys that are made of metal. Here are some pictures...love y'all!

Imitation

Annabell has been learning so much lately that I don't even know where to really start. She is constantly mimicking us! She has been doing this for a while but I don't think I have ever mentioned it...anything that is remotely the size of a cell or house phone she pretends to talk on like a phone. I am on the phone a lot between business and friends and she loves to pretend she's on the phone. I have started to put it on speaker phone more often so she doesn't see me do it while driving etc...I don't want her to pick up that habit! I know, driving is quite a ways away but I need to start now ;). Some of the better imitations she has learned is being soft with babies...she has started to carry around her baby doll for the first time, and love on it. I absolutely love seeing her do this. She will take the doll from the sofa and then put her into her rocking chair and then come allow me to hold her like a baby while she holds her doll like one! It's a lot of fun.

She loves to follow her daddy around and watch anything he is doing, we had bought a lot of kid snacks, like Capri suns, for when Mikayla was her, and she loves to drink her own with her daddy! It's so cute because she will ask him for one and drink it until it's all gone and then give it to Brad. She also is starting to love dancing a lot to music, but the best part is she is trying to sing...I hope she got her papa's vocal cords! She loves to sing! She will imitate the singers rhythm while singing. Let's see, she asked for water today...she has understood the sign for a while but she did ask this time...but she prefers to just point at it if she can see it and then make a "HUH" sound, like she is trying to say "that" of something. When she can't see something she likes or wants at the time she will just cry in my lap or touch her face...Lately it has been when she is hungry....which has been often. She has a little cold and is congested, so it makes it difficult for her to chew, so she becomes weary of eating and then stops. She then becomes hungry faster and I'm not realizing it until she's fussing in my lap. She also has been really tired the past 2 days...she is in bed tonight at 6:30pm. I think this is a result of the cold as well. Oh, I almost forgot, I was clipping and painting my toe nails (while I can barely still touch my toes..ha!) today and she sat in my lap and let me clip all her toes and paint them (first time with nail polish!). I took a picture...the color is like pearl so it's not very noticable, but it was cute to see her so "girly" today... she is normally my little tom boy who wants to play in the dirt and with the wood at the park while climbing everything....but today was all about dolls and polish! Well she did do a lot of climbing too, and dirt...but it's the closest to "girly" she has ever came! haha. Love y'all!

Cute outfits

Well Annabell has had so many cute outfits on lately I can't help but post some pictures of her. We haven't had a ton going on. We went to the pool today and hurried home so she could see her daddy after work. She really is learning so much lately. She now knows how to "stack" her blocks instead of just throwing them or breaking them down. She also understands me pretty well. We were walking to the park the other day and she was walking all by herself, she looked like she was getting tired and I asked her if she wanted mommy's hand, and she tucked her hands away and shook her head "no". She wanted to do it all by herself. She also is really really watching everything we do now. I was sitting on her floor putting up her books (which she can also do now) and I looked up and she was laying back in her rocking chair watching me, like I usually watch her...it was adorable. I didn't even think she could get into the chair by herself yet. I think I have heard her say a couple of words too, I believe she said "food" today when I asked her if she wanted some food. I also think she has said "yes", and few others that don't come to my head right now. She is for certain saying "dog" but it's pronounced "gag" to her still. Also she did the cutest thing. I had an invoice for our lawn company that Brad needed, so while I was in the other room I told her to take it to daddy and she proceeded to walk it right out to Brad. She had her hand stretched out to his direction from the moment I gave it to her. She then clapped for herself when she gave it to Brad. It was precious! She also has learned to point (open handed and upside down) when she wants something, you can see her pointing to her milk cup in the picture. Well she has a little stuffy/runny nose right now so please pray for her healing. Love y'all! P.S. The mark on her chest in the pool pictures is a mosquito bite! Brad has bought a mosquito killing machine that should eliminate the problem around our house though...we have a TON this year, everywhere!