Our little girl

New Blog

2009-08-02T19:14:00.001-07:00

Hey y'all, we have a new blog for both kids!

www.spikesandponytails.blogspot.com

Don't forget to become a "Follower" of the kids so you get updates! Love y'all!

time with daddy on the 4th!

2009-07-19T17:39:00.001-07:00

My best friend from high school, Jackie, came to visit us for the first time since sophomore year in college. We lost contact, and I got married and had two kids since then, so needless to say we had a lot of catching up to do. Annabell took really well to Jackie for the short time we were there. I was so happy for Annabell to meet her!

We go to B.O.B. as a family every other Friday. We really enjoy it, Annabell follows daddy around the entire time. She has gotten really good about not being afraid of the water or waves...she will walk out in the ocean until she can't walk anymore, on her own! Don't worry, we are right by her side of course....doing the stingray shuffle in front of her.

The fourth of July was hilarious. Annabell did NOT like the fireworks, until just at the end. The noise scared her so much! I think the fact that we light them with "hot" fire and the RUN doesn't help her calm down. I caught a little video of one of her freak outs after a fire work went off. She gets more worked up but then starts to enjoy it after she calms down...she really liked seeing the big fireworks as we drove home. I think next year we will try to go to Red White and Boom in down town cape coral. This year I think it was just too much for Ford, and since we were with family all day the timing would have been difficult.

Big pop was trying to show Annabell that the firework was only a little parachute in hope that she would calm down.
One thing she really enjoyed the same as last year was the snap pop things. She loves trowing those, and stepping on them, etc.

Annabell loves trying to teach Briana "Mana" and Ford how to do things, here is a picture of her showing them how to push a toy.

Oh and we had a breakthrough in discipline, we can now ask Annabell if she understands why she had to go into time out and she will say yes and then explain what she did, i.e. "Push Ford", etc. This makes it much easier to teach her, and she is correcting any negative behavior quickly.
Well that's if for now, love y'all!

Happy 2nd Birthday Annabell!!!!

2009-06-29T20:42:00.001-07:00

Annabell has had a great birthday and she is officially 2!!! It is really weird because all of a sudden her brain has just "clicked" and she is doing so much. Vocabulary is off the charts. One of my favorites today was when she said "mommy" so that I would let her out of her room after her nap, and I said "just a minute" because we were rushing to get the cameras for her to see her new gift from Big Pop and Maamaa. She yelled "Mommy, open the door!", it cracked us up. She also now says "Yessss" and really pronounces the s sound, which also makes me laugh. She is growing so tall, she has the longest skinny little legs. She is tall enough for bigger sizes, but is too skinny to wear them. Every kid that plays with her assumes she is older because of her size, but she is still our iddy bitty little girl to me and Daddy!
Oh, she has learned the color "Pink", she knows that she is "two" and according to her, mommy is "four". She prays for everyone in the family...even those she doesn't see very often. She can draw a pretty recognizable circle and knows she is doing so, and points out the star shape when she sees it. She pretend writes like "mommy".

We had Annabell's birthday party on June 13th because her PaPa was in town, and since he lives in TN we thought it would be nice for him to get to be there, which it was.
She had way too many gifts this year. Don't get me wrong, we were VERY thankful for everything, but Brad doesn't want her to expect things, so we will probably try to keep it more low key next year...who knows though. My mom and dad always made birthdays so special for us that I really want to continue the tradition. So today, I kept saying, "this is your birthday!!!" ect...she ate it up.
Well I have put in pictures from her birthday party and her mini party today.
For her actual birthday today I took her to the park and to Chic-Fil-A with her brother and cousin. She had a blast. We were at Chic-Fil-A for 2 1/2 hours. It was fun. Tonight we had small group at our house so she got to play with all the kids at the park for another 2 hours...she is worn out! Something that you might notice on the video is that on both days of her partys, when we sang "Happy Birthday To You" she became shy and tried to hide. It's funny how kids just have that happen to them, a kind of awareness. Really boggeling. It's neat to think back to her first birthday and then to now. She has changed so much, she now uses a fork, talks to us completely, and looks like a little girl instead of a baby, it just amazes me. Oh and you can also hear her say yes ma'am. A lot of times it is unsolicited. I really enjoy hearing her manners! She also says "Bless you" when someone sneezes.
At the party she had two helpers, Rebecka and Mikayla, but they became a little excited and started to open gifts as well which was fine, except we didn't see who gave her what, so thank you to everyone, even if we don't know exactly who gave which gift.

I think I'll let the pictures speak for the rest of the birthday extavaganza...love y'all!

actual birthday day below...

TN family visit.

2009-06-25T18:25:00.001-07:00

(one of Annabell's b-day gifts (dress), I love it on her!)

My family came down from Tn to visit for a little while. Annabell was SO excited to see KK! They played really well together when Annabell wasn't hitting or pulling on KK. We are trying hard to teach her not to hit/pull/poke/slap/scratch other people! But it is a work in process. Half the time she is doing it to play around, and the other half she is getting mad because they are in her territory OR playing with her things. So we are now telling her that EVERYTHING belongs to Jesus so we share the things he is letting us use. She is learning, and getting better, but to me it feels like a slow process.

We went to the new Chick Fil-A fast food joint in Cape Coral while they were here. They have a GREAT indoor play area for kids! It's clean, air conditioned well, and most of all sound proof from the windows around it! I love it! KK and Annabell played so much! They were dressed in their matching outfits compliment of aunt Kari for their pictures together!
Papa loved spending time with his grand daughters! The girls would sometimes get jealous if the other was sitting by papa or in his lap, so you can see that they both decided to cuddle up next to him! Too cute.

Annabell learned how to be silly in a picture from KK! This was her best effort at the time.

We went on a boat ride with everyone while they were down here. It was a lot of fun. Annabell was a LOT more fearless this time on the boat. She would walk around while Brad was driving which was making me a nervous wreck! She would listen okay though, it was more her getting too close to the edge of the boat and leaning over to look out that was making me freak. I could NEVER take her on a cruise until she is in Middle School or High School...way too nerve racking.

Annabell has finally come to a GREAT hair age. She likes watching me do other peoples hair, like KK and Briana, and then allows me to do hers. She let me put "Princess Balls" in her hair for the pictures! I use to do KK's hair like that all the time so it was nice to put Annabell's hair in them!
Annabell got an awesome pool from Big Pop and MaaMaa for her 2nd birthday (which is June 29th). So she isn't quite 2 yet...I'm holding on! They grow up WAY TOO FAST! As you can see Annabell LOVES it. She goes down head first, belly down, Belly up, backwards, forwards and sideways! It was a great gift!

This last video shows Annabell being a little aggressive. This is the "play" aggression that is the most common type I have to deal with. She is just trying to rough house, and it's fine with KK, but with kids her size, sometimes a little bigger, and smaller, it's typically not fun for them and they get upset thinking she is "fighting" as Kelly's cute daughter Emma would say.
Well that is it for the pictures of the visit...love y'all!

Magical Treat!

2009-06-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well we finally took Annabell to Disney for the first time. She really enjoyed it. We spent 3 days there and went to Magic Kingdom, Epicot, and Animal Kingdom. I think one of her favorites was Animal Kingdom because all of the Animals she got to see. Her favorite ride was Nemo at Epicot, which was awesome and we even rode it twice.

It was so cute to hear her yell out all the names of the characters on the ride. She also rode her first ROLLER COASTER! I'm telling y'all she is fearless! She barely made the height requirement but was all about it! She held on SUPER tight the entire time and screamed...and then when it stopped she asked for MORE! MORE!. She makes us laugh so much!
Annabell met many characters from her favorite movies/books and even more that she didn't know. She really liked meeting the princesses. She yelled "ELLA" when she saw Cinderella.

But of all the things she did, having her face painted was the BEST memory. Her cousin KK was getting her face painted at Animal Kingdom and Annabell stood up in her stroller and said Face and pointed to hers...so I asked her if she would like to get her face painted and she exclaimed "YES". She then jumped up into the seat just after KK was done and sat there focusing and trying not to move very purposefully. The artist was very impressed with how well behaved and still she was for her age. She was staring straight ahead trying not to move. He told her to close her eyes once and she only made them "sleepy" looking...too funny.

This is a picture of the kids playing the drums in "Africa", she also really enjoyed this.

As you can see, Aunt Kari, bought KK and Annabell matching shirts and bows. They looked so cute! Every speaking character asked them if they were sisters. You can really see the Armstrong in Annabell when KK's around.

Papa got Annabell a great birthday present,
Here are some pictures from the ride "it's a small world after all"

Papa got Annabell a great birthday present, thanks for the trip to Disney! It was so nice going with KK, aunt Kari, Papa and Sharon.
So all in all it was a great experience. She did really well and didn't have too many melt downs. Annabell also Loved her "first time visitor" pin that they gave her! She wore it proudly until she learned how to take it off, then mean mom took it away.
So we went to Disney for 3 days in a row and then would return to the hotel and try to get to bed before 930, the kids anyways, which is late for mine, but they did great considering we were all in one room and they are not use to having anyone sleep in their rooms. By the last night they adjust well, or the adults did....love y'all!

where's my little girl???

2009-06-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

(Annabell and Briana) (Annabell and Adrienne Snow)

Annabell's continues to amaze me in how much she knows. Tonight she was reading through her baby colors book and was telling me different things. I specifically asked her "what is the baby wearing" and she told me "a towel" which was correct. I was surprised because I had never practiced those kind of question sentences with her. I also asked her what her name is and she said "aaaabelll"! She was so excited, probably because we did a celebration dance after she understood the question correctly and said her name. Ford sneezed today and she turned to him and said "bless you!". She also said "YO!" after she heard me say that while answering a phone.
Honey mustard pretzels are Annabell's favorite snack right now. You should of seen the yellow stain around her mouth from all of the pretzels she ate! Also Brad and I could barely contain our laughter when eating dinner as a family last night. Annabell decided to server herself rice. She stood up and leaned her entire body on the table to reach the rice bowl, grabbed the spoon and very slowly put some rice on her plate and then put the bowl and spoon back. We had to keep our laughter composed so we could correct her about doing it with out help. It was funny though. Speaking of independence she likes to say "walk" when she does not want to hold my hand, which I am fine with as long as we are not in the street. When we are I tell her "we are in the street so you have to hold mommy's hand" and she does so very well.
Last week (well starting about a month ago but it hit it's top last week) Annabell became very ill. She had a fever of 103.5 or higher for 3 days straight, so I took her to the Dr. She was given antibiotics (Amoxicilin) but they seemed to only worsen things. So on Friday we took her back. She was given a stronger antibiotic shot, chest x-ray, and then antibiotics for a prescription as well. She is healed thanks be to God. Thank you all for your prayers! She is finally getting her appetite back and eating everything in the house again.

About 2 weeks ago we decided to plant some herbs (because I would love to start cooking with fresh herbs) while daddy and bubbi took a nap. So Annabell and I got the dirt out. She shovel dirt into each planter, mixed the seeds and the water and poured them into the dirt. She then placed them in the window. We planted basil, chives, and parsley. They are starting to sprout and she is seeming interested in them. We also planted some wild flowers which are starting to finally sprout...the seeds are over 2 years old though so we'll see what they do.

I don't know if you noticed or not, but Annabell is wearing "big girl panties" in several pictures. She did GREAT in them. She wore her first pair for about 3 hours with no accidents. And the next day she wore them 2 times with only one accident. We even went out to a friends before she had any accidents for the day. She didn't like having an accident in her panties. Unfortunately she became sick shortly after and potty training went out the door because she was so ill. But she did ask to go to the potty a few times today so I think she is starting to become interested again. I must say I wish we had a kids toilet that fit over ours so I didn't have to clean up her potty every time she goes, it's not fun. In the pictures above Annabell is climbing into Ford's crib. She does this on occasion and has only done it once with him in it without me around. She likes to make him laugh and he LOVES it.

Finally Annabell and daddy mowed our lawn together, she was so observant of "helping" her daddy with her hands on the controls. She was very intensely focusing on the lawn and was excited to help. I brought her and her daddy some water and there is a picture of her relaxing in the driveway with her water after her hard day of work. I adore her!

A few more notes:
Annabell is adamant about washing her hands.
She likes to climb on our backs for rides.
she asks to bring Roxy to the park
she loves asking for her friends Owen (2 1/2 year old boy) and Courtney and Bekkah (babysitters).
She calls me Abby on occasion (which doesn't bother me since she doesn't understand it to be disrespectful, it's my name, and doesn't do it too often.
She continues to love necklaces and jewelry of ALL kinds.
she will now "race" me at the park.
We also play red light green light and she enjoys the game.

Well that's all for now, love y'all!

funny

2009-05-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Picture of us from Mother's Day (I loved how she hugged me!)

Annabell continues to make us laugh. Last night I was up late finishing a short novel, and all of a sudden I heard "Hi!" and then louder and more enthusiastic "HI!!!". She was sleep talking! That is the first time I have ever heard it, and I couldn't help but laugh. I talk in my sleep all the time...Brad says I have conversations! So it was funny to hear her happily saying Hi to someone in her dream.
She is a dancing machine. We turn on a karaoke CD during the day and dance our booties off. She loves it and her brother likes to laugh at us.
Best snack yet!! Kelly Eastman suggested using go-gurts (yogurts in a plastic Popsicle like bag) and freezing them as nice cool treats. It's all yogurt and the kids think they are Popsicles. Well I tried it and Annabell LOVED THEM! She ate it so fast that I thought she must of dropped it somewhere but sure enough she had just eaten it that fast!
Well G-ma now has a name, it's "Mamaa" pronounced like Grandma on the vowel emphasis. She loves her Mamaa so much! She likes to call her and talk to her on speaker phone. Speaking of that, today she got to talk to her Papa on speaker phone(who she later insisted on calling again). She was so excited to talk to him! The best part was when she said "Daddy's at work"! She has said sentences before, but they are usually broken with the exception of "I want ___" etc. It was so awesome to hear her speak like that. She also (about 3-4 days ago) started saying "thank you" with out prompting! I was so excited and praised her so much for her good manners that she ran around saying it over and over! Now we are working on "your welcome". I was explaining why something was wrong the other day and she said "yes ma'am" unsolicited, which made me ecstatic! She also said "Yeah?" when I called for her from the other room today, which I laughed at and was excited she understood that she could respond so far away, but also didn't like "yeah" and wanted to encourage "yes ma'am" but the laughter won that battle.
We bought Annabell big girl panties today. She was very excited to get them at Walmart tonight! She started taking a strong interest back to her potty training today, so I think I might encourage it with some panties! (not sure if that's the "right" method so if you have input feel free to share!). She keeps taking her diaper off. All day I was putting it back on her, so I was thinking maybe she will enjoy wearing actual panties. We'll see ;)

Annabell is really enjoying more social activities. She has always loved them, but now she likes to follow the instructions and pay attention (most of the time). Here is a photo of her at the library

The other day we were at bible study at Lucinda's house, who has a pool. The kids swim afterwards and Annabell wanted to join. But since I didn't pack for the occasion she wore her diaper. Well that didn't last long. She then wanted to take it off and swim in the nude! She was so funny running around with no worries...ah to be like EVE. Here is a video of her learning that kicking under water can get you somewhere. I was excited that she learned this concept and grabbed the camera to catch some. She doesn't usually use "floaties" of any sort, but this learned to be a valuable tool in teaching her the concept of kicking to move in water. Love y'all!

Mothers Day 09

2009-05-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos of how my crazy daughter loves to run around...she always slows down a bit when the camera goes on, but this captures my Mother's day. I AM SO BLESSED! I awoke to a wonderful hand made card! I love those! I also had a hand stamped card from her Sunday school class. What a wonderful day it was. I also was treated to supper by Big Pop and Brad. YUMMY!

We love y'all

quickly...

2009-05-08T19:57:00.001-07:00

Here are a few notes and pictures and I'll update more later:

Annabell loves to hold Ford's hand in the car now. They even fall asleep together while holding hands! Too cute.
She talks all the time and likes to say "sure" and "right"
She seems to be scared of very few things...she even goes down the giant slide at the park.
She likes to take care of "Mana" (Briana) when I watch her Mon-Thurs. Today she woke up from her nap and was asking where she was!
Annabell's hair can now go up into a pony tail and not fall out everywhere. She wakes up every morning with it in her eyes though!
Annabell spends about 10 + minutes on the swings every time we go! She LOVES to swing

Here is a picture of B too...I just thought she looked too beautiful not to post it

Love y'all!

Sick

2009-04-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Annabell woke up last night with a high fever...102.2 (but i don't think it was quite accurate, I think it was higher). She was crying and shaking. So we got her some ice water and medicine, prayed for her and then back to bed. This morning is was 100.8 and now 99.9. Please say a prayer for her.
Just a few notes:

Annabell now yells out Dori's name and Darla's name when she sees them on Nemo.
She also uses her spoon and fork quite well these days.

She prays on her own which we LOVE to hear. She begins her prayers with lots of thanks for daddy, mommy, "Bord" (Ford), Mana (Briana), bahbah (big pop) and Papa. That's the names she remembers easily. We cover everyone else together.
She counts to 6 pretty well.
She went skating for the first time on Sunday. She LOVED it, but enjoyed even more just running around in her shoes on the rink.
She loves having bows put in her hair.

She now sings Happy Birthday to you...
She does the hand motions to itsy bitsy spider
she knows she has to go get her shoes to go outside now.
She feeds Roxy (our lab) daily, her chore...which she LOVES.
She likes to hold Ford, who is almost her size, on her lap.
She speaks in complete sentences, which I can translate most of the time...ha.
She also has gone through a testing phase for a while now, but responds best when I am calm and firm in tone.
Potty training has been kind of stagnant. I will read the how to potty train in one day book soon and see if she has met the milestones yet.

Smart Cookie

2009-04-21T19:09:00.000-07:00

Annabell is so smart. She is learning everything so fast. I just wanted to mention a few things.

She has been going to the potty all by herself! (about 2 weeks now)Tonight she actually got out of the tub all by herself and sat on her potty and went...I'll leave the details out. ha
She is saying a ton of things. Pretty much everything. I can't even keep up.
She now kisses with her mouth shut (most of the time) and the kiss noise. She loves to go up and kiss her brother. Or kiss my eye or ear...etc. It's adorable.
She is a huge help with her brother and cousin, she gets me spit up rags, binkis, bottles and more upon request.
She actually will get Ford his binki (mimi) any time he begins to cry.
She sits at the table with us (on top of a towel because of her mess) and eats with a big girl fork.
She also has taken her diaper off today for the first time. She woke up this morning and when I opened the door she handed me her diaper. She then did the same thing after her nap and said "Poopoo" and sure enough she had went #2 in her diaper! I think she is getting close to using pull ups.
She sings the song "B-i-b-l-e" and exclaims "BIBLE!" at the end of it.

Well that's it for now. We are headed to the pool tomorrow. She has slowly started to warm up to the pool again....I hope she does better soon. She fell in at my friends community pool in the Jacuzzi and was under for about 10 seconds. She held her breath and scared me to death! She did not however get to the side like I thought she would....so I am back at trying to get her to do so. It was incredibly scary, and in Florida there is way TOO much water for my kids not to know how to swim very early. The earlier they know the better I will feel. Love y'all!

Easter Weekend

2009-04-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

We have had a a busy weekend! Good Friday Annabell came with me to a local Gym and played while I took a spin class. She seemed o.k. with it. It wasn't the best environment for building kids up. They had a TON of toys, but they also had a lot of video games and there was no structure, so the kids just played by themselves or with others. Annabell was playing by herself when I came in (I could watch her on a T.V. from the gym though, which was nice). She was neatly placing each letter on a sticky board. She was excited for me to come pick her up though. Which she normally isn't as eager to go when in Sunday school (where there is more structure and organized fun).

Then on Saturday morning Annabell, Ford, Daddy, and I all went to the park across the street for an Easter egg hunt and picnic lunch, complements of a local church called "The Connection". It was a great time. The only problem was the eggs had ants on them because they pre-filled them with candy. So Brad was sweet enough to take all the ants off of Annabell and Lilia's baskets. Annabell had a lot of fun opening up the eggs and putting them in her basket. She preferred to put her basket down, run all over the place looking for eggs and then bring them back to her basket. She would put them in and then immediately take them out to check out the candy.

After the hunt Annabell played at home with Lilia and then took a nap. When she woke up we went outside and played with Dad in the baby pool. It was a hot day so it made for a nice break. Annabell had a BLAST playing in the pool with Brad. I would post some but since her diaper was heavy her butt was showing most of the day! ha.

After supper we died eggs as a family. Annabell really enjoyed dying the eggs but I think her favorite part was watching Daddy juggle the eggs! She proceeded to try and juggle herself shortly after. Not the same outcome. ha.

Easter morning was a whirlwind. I woke at 6:19 for Ford, and then after feeding him and getting myself ready Annabell woke-up. She was excited to see her Easter basket and toys but dove right into her brother's stuff. Here is some video of her waking up.

She actually let me curl her hair this morning, but since I don't own hairspray, it fell by the time we arrived at church. She looked so beautiful in her dress!
Her cousin actually had the same one, and no we didn't plan it, just happened that way. They were adorable!
The church had an egg hunt as well today. She was really getting a hang of finding all the eggs and looking in unassuming areas for kids, like bushes etc...
She had even more fun at Grandma's and Big Pops house today. She played so hard today with the fish and birds and kids. She went right to bed this evening.
Annabell is really saying some neat things lately. She sings "B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me, BIBLE!" and you can actually hear her say most of those words!
She is saying complete sentences pretty well now. She is GREAT with her brother. When he is in a chair or a swing she will give him his "Me-me" which is his binki, if he cries. They play really well together, and he loves laughing at her. She also is doing great with potty training. She still tells us when she needs to go, most of the time. OH I almost forgot. When I was at the gym they actually paged me, and upon arriving they told me that she need to go potty. She was standing at the gate, grabbing at her pants saying "potty" when I walked in (they don't handle diapers or potty training there). She also told me she had to go potty at the beach on thursday. I was so proud because they both were unfamiliar circumstances for her where she was preoccupied with playing and still let me know and even let a teacher know! My big girl!

Here are some pictures of Annabell's beautiful dress and curled hair.

We even took a family photo this morning at church.
Sorry about not rotating the photo's. I'm just too tired to edit them now. ;). Well we love all of y'all and thank GOD that we can praise him for conquering death! HAPPY EASTER! Love y'all!

Prayer

2009-04-09T20:26:00.001-07:00

We have had a busy week. Annabell has been fighting a weird bug or something. Monday she threw up 5 times from the hours of 5-8pm. She then proceeded to go right to sleep and was acting happy as can be when not getting sick. The next day she was fine. And then yesterday she threw up 3 times again and then today she has been sick with the potty (hope you can understand that). The weird thing is she is acting fine and eating okay. She has no fever and was only sluggish tonight and really wanting to cuddle with G-ma. She had a blast today and on Monday too. We got to play with Keanna, a little girl I was babysitting for our friends. She was helpful. Although Annabell instigated about a thousand fights with her. She would get jealous if Keanna touched Ford and wouldn't let her touch "her" bubbie. She also would fight over every toy, knock down her blocks that she just built, and slap her! I had to correct Annabell all day. Then on the other hand she would hug her, kiss her, hold hands and play with her and follow her around. So up and down! But it gives me a chance to teach Annabell so I am thankful for that. Both girls are "type A" personalities so it was inevitable for them to clash. She seems to play best with laid back kids, because they seem to let her take the rains and she is more obliged to give up control as well.
Well her talking with complete sentences has become awesome. She said, "Mommy, Help me" several times now. It was so exciting to hear! She also said the best thing ever....HER FIRST PRAYER ON HER OWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYA. I can not tell you what joy that brought me! She bowed her head before lunch on her own and then began to pray with gibberish so I thought she was just copying the noises made during prayer but then she said "and Daddy and Mommy and Mana" (Mana is a name for several people, it actually might of been Keanna) She was thanking God for us! We do that every night at bed time, but not lunch, we pray for the day and food typically around lunch. I was so overwhelmed with Joy.
Her potty training is going great. She wasn't feeling well today and I think it helped her recognize the urge to "go" because for the first time while playing she asked to go potty (while at the beach today). She also said "poopoo" while driving home and I asked her to hold it ("Wait") until I got home and she did and then used the bathroom after reminding me she still had to go when we got home!

Well I have enclosed some pictures from church. The flowers are blooming and it couldn't be more beautiful here this time of year! It's not too hot but just perfect! Here is some video of the beach today, just her running around.

I also took her and Keanna to Lakes Park on Monday. She liked it but still seems to take her a life time to warm up to the water.

Well that's all for now! Happy Easter.

p.s. Nanny (momma) we love you and miss you!

Go Daddy!

2009-04-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight our church's softball team had a double header. So we packed up the kids (since we both play) and went to the field. Annabell and Ford were at the field for 3 hours and did really well. Annabell's only issue was she wanted to play with all the kids and sometimes they would run off and she would go with them so I would have to bring her back. But but besides that she did great. She LOVES cheering for us. It is so wonderful to hear her say "Go Mommy!" when I'm at bat. She loves to look for daddy and cheer really loud for him too! She will say "Go daddy Go!" and when someone misses a ball she will yell "BALL!" like she is telling them where it is!

Last Friday we went out of town on the middle school retreat. The kids had a blast. Annabell ate up ALL the attention the girls lavished on her. On Friday and Saturday Annabell used the bathroom every time she had to go #2 and not once went into her diaper. We had to make sure and ask her if she needed to go. If she does when we ask then she will tell us, but if she doesn't she will say "No". She had an accident on Sunday, but it was really our fault because we were so busy and didn't get a chance to ask her until it was too late. She tells us sometimes too, but she does best we she tells us and we ask her all day. A combined effort. I bought her some big girl pull ups, but they didn't work too well because she couldn't get them pulled down. BUT she was tickled pink that she got to wear big girl "panties". SO that day she went in her pull up and Briana was sleeping Ford's room where the diapers are so I thought it would be fine to just use her bloomers until I could get to a diaper...I then proceeded to forget she only had bloomers on and she went #1 all of daddy's chair. I felt bad for her and him! But she is doing great with her training....she is still a little young, but on a great path for potty training.
I got to watch Briana a couple of days this week and it was so much fun. Annabell enjoyed playing with Briana. She really like the fact that B takes a bottle. She kept trying to feed her and then take it away from her again so she could feed her again. I had to step in on the feeding though. Annabell also started to crawl around because B is crawling. It was funny, because Annabell would take off crawling and turn around and motion for B to follow her and she would just laugh and follow Annabell. It was cute!

We took the
kids to their first real Baseball game. It was so much fun. Brad and I had Briana, Ford and Annabell and did really well with 3. Annabell really enjoyed cheering for the teams! She would throw her fist in the air and yell "GO!" and then clap for the team that hit the ball. Home team or away didn't matter to her! We watched the game from the 3rd row back for a few innings and then the kids were getting too hot and fussy, so we moved up to the "cheap seats" and got them out of the sun. But there really are no bad seats in that stadium.

Well Annabell has really discovered make-up. She always likes me to put some one her when I wear it, but I rarely wear make-up so she hasn't had many opportunities, but I gave her some old make-up I have kept for our youth girls and man did she go to town. I let her play in it while I did some volunteer work on the computer and she had a blast. The pictures say enough.

This is her new make up after I washed off the old make up!

This is a picture of Annabell in Ford's bouncer. Lately with her being around B and Ford so much she has wanted to try all of his toys and crawl around like a baby. She gets bored quickly though and moves on.

Here is a video of Annabell and us playing in the yard. It was a gorgeous evening so we went out for a bit before dinner. If you notice she is wearing boots (her choice). She was running to us (Ford and I) and tripped and fell, knocking her head against his head. They both had huge eggs on their foreheads and sent me into a panic attack thinking it was worse than it ended up being. Praise God he healed them both quickly and they had no problems besides huge bruises on their foreheads!

Finally here is a picture of Annabell pushing Ford at the park. She is such a good big sister.

Past 7 days in review

2009-03-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

We have had an eventful week. Annabell went on her first boat ride, she loved it! It took her about 10 minutes to warm up to the idea of the boat but once she did she couldn't get enough. She was so comfortable with walking around that I had to keep a close eye on her. She would hold her hands up in the air like "super woman" when we were driving.
Annabell has discovered the McDonald's playground and loves it. I think it's her favorite place to eat now.
We
went to lunch with Brad on Wednesday and took her there. I love how much fun she has climbing up and down the tubes. I don't love so much all the dirt she acquires on her hands, knees and clothes from playing there. Probably not the most sanitary play equipment.
Annabell is really shooting up, she seems to get taller and taller but no meat on her bones. She is so skinny.

Annabell now goes to the potty a minimum of at least once a day, but more likely 2 times. She lets us know most of the time when she needs to go. I snapped this picture of her, she was so funny, she asked me for a magazine so she could read while on the toilet, she cracks me up!
We also went to the pool on Saturday. She enjoyed it but was scarred of the water! I couldn't believe it because she has never been scarred at the pool. She didn't like going under or anything. She did however warm up to it near the end...but then it was time to go.
Last but not least Annabell is officially much more "girly" than her mother. She brought me ALL of her bows and one by one asked me to put each one in her hair, then she proceeded to say she "want"ed my necklace. She always is caring around a purse and trying on high heels! She loves hair styles and jewelry.

Her vocabulary continues to boom. I can't keep up with it at all. She is now starting to say complete sentences. Like "I want that" "I love you too" etc. Well that's all for now, love y'all!

Play Date

2009-03-12T17:18:00.001-07:00

We went to my friends house yesterday and Annabell was able to play with her son Josiah aka Jo-Jo. They played pretty well together. The funniest part was Annabell was all over him. She wanted to hug, hold hands, and cuddle. She wouldn't leave him alone. He pretty much ignored most of it and was a good sport. Here are some pictures. She also got to play with him some today... she was calling out "Jo-Jo" every time he walked away from her... too cute! Here is also a picture of Annabell playing at her art table. She started saying cheese because she saw the camera so I snapped one. Also here is some video of her picking up her mess that she just made...She started to cry when I walked into the kitchen as if she already knew she was in trouble. I thought it was funny because when she was cleaning up she decided it would be easier to eat most of it then try and put it in the cereal box. I tried to capture that on video, but only got a few bits. Love y'all!

Uh-Oh!

2009-03-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note...last night at dinner we were all eating and Annabell said "uh-oh" and grabbed at her diaper. We didn't think much about it and I mentioned to Brad that she was probably going to the bathroom. And then it dawned on me, she's probably trying to tell us she needs to go to the bathroom. So I asked her if she needed to go potty and she happily shook her head yes! So off we ran and she sat down and went #2 and then #1. She stood up and looked so amazed and was even more excited to see Daddy and I cheering for her. she began to clap for herself and was so happy.
Then this morning she asked to go to the potty shortly after breakfast. She told everyone on Skype (Aunt Kari, KK, and Papa) that she went to the potty. Then she went again per her request this evening! She is so happy and proud of herself! I am also pretty happy, since this is self motivated, so I guess we are now in potty training stages. I guess our 1st goal is to see how long we can keep her diaper dry...we'll see. Love y'all!

shower

2009-03-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Annabell is a character. I usually will take a shower and she will hang out in the bathroom with me while I shower...how ever this time she had other plans...I started the shower and went to get something and when I came back this is what i saw...i rushed to get the camera, and I couldn't help but laugh... enjoy!

Love y'all!

So much energy

2009-03-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

Lately Annabell has been a BALL OF ENERGY. I kept trying to catch her on film this afternoon, when she would literally run in place and then run in circles around the house. She is hilarious, she makes us laugh so much and LOVES making people laugh, if she gets a reaction out of someone stand back, because what ever she did to get you to laugh she will do 10x more and 10x bigger. Her vocabulary continues to grow. She hasn't been able to say her "F" sounding words very well, for example she says "Bord & Bork" which is Ford and Fork. I have picked up on it though and we are trying to work on it. She is also in the testing me on everything stage. She is a good girl, but if I draw the line she likes to put her pinky toe across it to see my reaction. I have been try to be consistent on making sure she doesn't get away with it though, which is tough since she likes to do it on the smallest things. She means well though and seems to just be genuinely curious what will happen rather than disobedient. And sometimes it simply is her just not listening too well. She gets so caught up in playing that she doesn't hear me sometimes, which is hard because I typically have Ford in my arms and need her to listen to my voice and obey me rather than having to get up and get her attention. All in all though she is doing great. She is understanding more and more....she now knows when bed time is coming and gets upset, only for a second or two though.

She is such a character to Ford. She jumps, sings, dances, bounces, and anything else to make her brother laugh. His eyes are always watching her. He seems amazed at all she can do! She a very good helper with Ford. Here is some video of her wine-down time before bed...she was funny tonight, running from place to place. You can see Ford just starring at Annabell while she bounces...it's a long video but she says hi to some of her cousins and some of her friends that look at the blog on occasion...She didn't say hi to everyone though....we'll have to get that on the next video...love y'all!

Verbal EXPLOSION

2009-03-02T06:18:00.001-08:00

(she wears my shoes daily) (Silly Girl)

Annabell must of had the "Ah-Ha" moment in her head when it comes to understanding how speak. about a week ago she started to say everything. I can't even keep up with the amount of words she is saying daily. She is noticing and saying the most random words too, ie... eye ball, juice, thank you, and more. She has started to carry around 2 of her dolls and a blanket every where. When I went to open her door this morning she was standing by with all three in her hands. She calls the 2 dolls with baby faces', "baby" and the cloth doll that she always slept with "dolly". She does everything with them and loves to sway back and forth while holding them.
Well her daddy came home from Haiti on Thursday and she hasn't left his side at all. Every time he is home she wants him, non-stop. Which has made it difficult at times for Brad. She just wants to cuddle and he has a sprained shoulder and cold. But he is a great dad and insists on holding her. Another word Annabell has learned is "no". This has come into handy and been frustrating at times. She is learning not to tell us "no" if we tell her to do something and doing quite well with it. The most exciting word for me this week has been when I asked her to go pick out a book for me to read to her and she said "bible" and then went and picked up her bible! I was so excited because we hadn't worked a ton on it. It makes me realize I have to think about everything I say and how I say things these days because she understands more than you would think.
Annabell had so much fun at the Edison Day Parade. She was so patient since I had to tend to Ford. She started to cry because I couldn't quite hold them both close enough with the sirens going off, but my friends Grandmother held her and she enjoyed that time. She reminded me of my Nanny, so it was cute to see Annabell take so well to her.

Annabell has no fear; but for the first time I have noticed her being aware of her surroundings. We went to the park today and I went down the Big slide with her (it's probably about 13-15 feet in the air. She then climbed up the jungle gym and went toward the big slide, but carefully looked down at how high she was and then when she walked by 2 big openings that she could easily fall from if not paying attention she got on all four and crawled by to be extra cautious. Then slid down the slide on her own! This makes me more comfortable with her playing on her own.
Today Annabell also used finger paints for the first time. She preferred using the brush though. When she was done she said "nine" which is something she has been doing for a day or two...sounds German to me..ha...and then waited patiently for me to clean her off. Her patients have also been improving now that she is understanding more.
Lastly we have been having a lot of fun with hair styles lately. She allows me to do her hair and I love doing different styles..I took a few pictures of her hair from the other day. Love y'all!

Missing Daddy

2009-02-20T06:55:00.001-08:00

A picture of Annabell eating a lollipop that the bank teller gave her when we went through the drive through. We go there so often for our business that they know her and always wave to her and she always says 'Hi' to them. Very cute

Well we have had a busy few days. Annabell's Great Grandmother (my mom's mom) came into town on Monday. Brad left on Monday evening and we have been busy ever since. Annabell got to go to the beach on Tuesday with GG and Ford and I. She was hilarious. She was able to play on her own which was nice. She was collecting shells and then chasing the waves and letting them chase her up and down the shore line. She started to lay on the sand and pretend she was sleeping which made all the people around us laugh.

Yesterday we went to Meema's house to visit. Annabell loves that she can run in circles around their house. She was pushing all the toys that would role around the house.
(Cheese face)

She had a good time pulling every toy in that house out.
Annabell is in a MUST feed herself kick. Even if it's something she can't really get on the spoon she will try and try and try. She is doing pretty well lately though. Well Annabell has FINALLY verbally said Please! aka 'PEEAASSSEEEE'. It is so nice to hear her start to use her manners, she has used them via sign language, but hearing it is nice.
Annabell has been asking for her daddy a lot. She really misses him. I tell her he is in Haiti and then she changes the subject. She said a special prayer for him on her own in the middle of the day. She folded her hands and prayed with her Grandma, but it was by her own prompting. I love that she already loves to pray! I hope she always seeks to be close to the Lord in that way!
Annabell has been talking a ton. She likes to say my " "...or a few word sentences now and then. She also now understands when I say "say it" verses just signing things. Last but not least here is a picture of Joel, our neighbors son. He looked like he was throwing up the "peace" sign so I wanted to post it for Heather...too cute! Love y'all!

P.S. Sick update: Annabell is almost through it, she is just having a hard time getting her nose to stop running, thankfully she can blow her nose on her own really well! She likes to actually blow her nose in her hand, on toys, on my stuff and in tissue. Ha. Love y'all!

Happy Valentines day...sick girl

2009-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

('Cheese')

Happy Valentines day.
Annabell receive a lot of gifts from Grandma. She loved them all of course, especially her heart pillow, glasses and Elmo book. Elmo is her fave!

Well for y'all that haven't heard, Annabell has been quite sick since LAST Saturday. She came down with a pretty high fever and then on Sunday she also got croup. The fever finally went away on Monday
(same day we took her to the Dr.)

but came back on Wednesday and stuck around until Friday. We borrowed our neighbors humidifier and it has really seemed to help her cough. It also helped her be able to sleep through the night. She actually has slept until 8 am 2 days in a row which has been REALLY NICE! She was hacking all night long but that also has started to stop since Friday night. Hopefully she is done with the worst of it and on her way to being better.

Well she is talking up a storm. She has said "my food" and "my shoes". She loves to say DOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNN now too. She draws it out so long, like she's trying to get us to really understand her. ha.
She actually got in bed herself tonight for the first time. I was reading to her and Ford in her room as she was getting ready for bed time and I said it was time for bed. Well she climbed down from my lap and hopped into bed. I kissed her goodnight, prayed and she told me night night. I couldn't believe it. Such a big girl act! She is growing up so fast!
Well for V-day we decided to take the kids to the beach. It was a gorgeous day out! There were a ton of people at the beach and Annabell really enjoyed playing at the play ground that is right near the water! We walked the new pier and then headed back home after a quick trip to Walmart. It was nice to be able to get out as a family.
The funniest thing today was probably Annabell's reaction to Brad and I kissing. We were at a red light and we snuck in a few kisses. Annabell was staring at us and seemed to be analyzing our every move with a huge grin on her face. It is so funny how she loves to see us happy together. We were dancing in the kitchen a few days ago and she had the same look on her face. She loves to see us love each other! I hope she finds a man just like her daddy one day! Oh, almost forgot, Annabell loves to say 'cheese' in front on the camera now. She will find my camera laying around and point it at herself and say cheese! Also when I have the camera she first says cheese and then runs over to her brother to pose with him...hence the picture of her smothering Ford.

Well that is all for now.

P.S. She had her first (Flintstone like) vitamin and loves them.

P.P.S. If you notice that my house is a MESS in all the pictures it's because Annabell has been sick and so she has had to play at home most of the time, which is out of the normal for us, we are usually always on the go but I didn't want to get other kids sick, so home bound we were...and she was so board....so she pulled out all of her toys!

saving babies

2009-02-10T19:17:00.001-08:00

Well today Annabell, her brother and I all experienced our first Pro Life demonstration at Down Town Fort Myers. The President was in town promoting the stimulus package and Kelly and I took the kids, some signs and went to peacefully protest the F.O.C.A. and the repeal of the "Mexico City Policy". All in all it was a very intense yet safe protest. Annabell did wonderfully and enjoyed seeing all the different people. We did have a few people make crude remarks, but there were a lot of people that supported us as well. There were actually quite a few people that did NOT know about the President being for abortions. On a lighter note the kids were funny. They kept wanting to hold the signs, but then would throw them down and began to play with one another. Just an fyi for everyone: It was a very safe environment for the kids or we wouldn't of taken them.

In other news:
Annabell has been sick but is nearly clear of it by now. On Saturday she came down with a high fever and then on Sunday woke up with croup/fever (spelling?). The fever broke yesterday after a sweaty nap, but the raspy throat and coughing has seemed to pick up. We went to the Dr and he said as long as her fever was down she could go and play. So we went down town to see the President with some friends. It was a very hot day 80 degrees, but she did wonderfully. she helped entertain the twins while Kelly and I held signs.

Annabell's words have just exploded the past few days. She asks for 'bite'(s) of things now. She says she wants 'books' and plenty more...she was SO excited this evening to see her daddy come home. Brad was on an overnight staff retreat and was welcomed with an over excited toddler when he got home! She ran to the front door to greet him with smiles and hugs and then would NOT leave his side from that point on. She didn't even want me to read to her at bed time, but only 'Daaady' as she would say. I love how excited she gets to see him! When he got home I was sitting on his lap for a split second and she saw it and got jealous and slowly climbed on his lap and literally wedged herself between us! It was hilarious! She also called me 'Abby' tonight for the first time after hearing Brad call for me! Well that is all for now. Please continue to pray for her healing! Love y'all!

P.S. Our sister Michelle and brother Matt are expecting a boy in June!! We are so excited to meet him!

#2 in the potty

2009-02-06T09:49:00.001-08:00

Last night Annabell went #2 in the potty. I was very excited for her. We were getting her ready for bed time which was late because we went to youth group last night and listened to her daddy speak! Then we came home and I was in a rush to get very sleepy kids in bed. I was changing her when she started with her poopy face, so I asked if she needed to go to the potty. She shook her head yes and then we went to the potty. I was so proud of her and she was pretty happy with herself as well!
Here are some random photos of our week. She wanted to wear my hat that I wear when we go to the park sometimes. She also wants to get into photos a lot lately, she started to cry when I was trying to take one with her though, I think the picture so so funny because it was a pretty fake cry but she look so serious! Also here is some video of Annabell watching the Maddie Show. She was so funny because she kept answering her aunts questions on the video! She also loves watching B crawl! She asks for more each time the video stops! Love y'all!

P.S. Tonight is the highschool girls sleepover at my house! Pray that Ford sleeps well, Annabell has fun at Grandma's house and the the girls have an awesome and blessed time!

Head Injuries in the Gym!

2009-02-04T05:55:00.001-08:00

On Fridays we go to the local gymnasium for toddler time. It is from 10:30-11:30 and worth every penny ($3). Annabell RUNS every ounce of energy out with about 50-75 other toddlers. The only problem is that it is a real gym and intended for gymnast therefor not toddler proofed. 2 different times Annabell literally walked right off the runway style trampoline. She fell on her head and received yet another head bruise. Which would account for 2 of the 7 she has had this week alone! She has so many bruises on her forehead that it looks like I don't take care of her!
She is just a very energetic and BRAVE young lady! Here is some video of her running around and playing with the kids! She has become very good at hanging on to the bars. At the park she dangles from the monkey bars and then swings herself back on the the tire aka step.

Just a few updates:
-when singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star she sings 'how I wonder' ..... and then kind of fades out.
-she still refuses to say Grandma's name, but is glad to say Daddy, Mommy, Bop Pi, Papa, and Bubi.
-we were reading a book called Just like Me and she would say 'ME' every time it came time to say that word in the story.
-she hasn't been eating as well lately, I think she is starting to prefer to eat the yummy meal that we are eating, spicy and all. Last night she had white chicken chili (spicy) and loved it
-she has been so physically loving lately. She gives her daddy and me huge hugs and kisses...I'm soaking it up of course.
-her bed time has been difficult lately. She cries when we put her down for a nap or bed. She never has done this before so it has been hard, but she is just starting to realize that she doesn't want to go to bed and can voice her opinion. We have practiced tough love and aloud her to cry and she goes to sleep fine.
-she is beginning to be able to go to youth events with Brad which her daddy and her both think is so cool! She went to the I-61 conference and watch a band and high-school students all hang out down town...she had a blast.

Just a side note...this video is long and hard to watch with all the moving, I just wanted y'all to see Annabell swing on the bars...after that feel free to turn it off...

Funny girl

2009-01-29T19:14:00.001-08:00

Annabell is such a funny girl. She is constantly moving and going...a ball of energy. She LOVES to put blankets on her head and try to see how long she can walk until falling over. She recently wore her yokata from Ryoko again. I tried to do her hair like they do traditionally in Japan with the outfit...didn't last long with an 18 month old! Oh wait...she's 19 months today! OH MY GOODNESS! I can't believe it. She was taller than all the kids she played with today that were her age or older! Anyways, I was trying to get a photo of Annabell smiling. For some reason she thinks smiling is pushing her face forward and showing her teeth. I think she got that from me asking to see her teeth when we are brushing them. Here are some pictures of her in action. Also here is a picture of Annabell with Ford. Now when I'm taking photo's of Ford she tries to jump in them. Very cute...you can also tell on the video (which has a lot of Ford but you can hear her jabbering the whole time and try to get him to smile with high pitch 'talking'.) that she wants to get some attention or try and help care for Ford. She has been very affectionate with him lately and it's adorable, except when she picks him up by his head! Happened today! Love y'all!

P.S. She has a HUGE bruise and bump on her forehead from tripping over a curb and falling head first on to the corner of the side walk! Talk about scary...it was dented in at first but was only a skin indention. UGH...having children has made me so NERVOUS ;) !

quick updated

2009-01-29T08:06:00.001-08:00

Annabell continues to amaze me with how much she knows and how fast she is learning new words. Yesterdays she said Library! It is her first 3 syllable word. I was asking her if she wanted to go and she said 'yes, library' she continued to say it through out the day. Also today while we were at the park she said or commanded rather 'higher' while in the swing! She also was singing the hookie pookie song at the library during class yesterday and the girl next to me noticed Annabell say 'bout' as in 'that's what it's all about'. She would say it at the end of each verse. She also says 'down' when it comes time for it during ring around the rosie. She also has started to stretch to the sky when I say put your arms up or reach your hands up...for example when she is in the swing we will do 'super woman' and she'll reach her hands out. Or in class they have a shake your silly's out song that has a stretching part which she is learning to do. The funniest act of today (so far) was when I was doing sit ups this morning, she laid down beside me and tried to do them with me! ha She gave up quickly though and decided to sit on my belly while I do them instead. Talk about tighting your abs! Well that's it...love y'all!

Growing up so fast

2009-01-27T11:03:00.001-08:00

Annabell has recently started to truly become a little girl vs. the baby she has always been in my eyes. I snapped this picture of her because she looks to grown to me in it. It is really weird. It seems like vocabulary just really clicked in her head and now she says new words daily, which I can't even keep up with. She said "Night Night" today when I put her down for her nap.

We were at the bank this morning after bible study and she was waiting with me at the teller. She began to spin in circles and say 'wooowooowooowooowoo'. To me, her knowing that she is making herself dizzy, seems like something a little girl does more than a baby. Thankfully I still get my baby fix from her brother and my niece Briana. I absolutely love this age with Annabell though, but I have absolutely loved every stage....I just really enjoy being home with her and Ford. I am blessed. Well we love y'all!

PEE PEE in the POTTY!

2009-01-23T06:43:00.000-08:00

To my surprise Annabell went pee in the potty last night! I was ecstatic! She was in the tub and I was getting Ford undressed in her room (I can still see her from the changing table) so he could get in the tub with her (have to make the best of time with two kids). As I was changing him she stood up and began to cry. I was thinking she was just upset that I wasn't in the room. Then she started to point at her TeeTee (that's what I call it). So I asked her if she needed to go potty and she shook her head yes, which she says all the time but has never followed through on. So I sat her on her little potty soaking wet and then she stood up after a second or two, so I told her to sit back down but then saw that she had gone potty! I was so excited for her that I scooped her up and gave her big hugs and kisses while she was still soaking wet. Back in the tub she went and I felt much better putting Ford in the tub with her knowing that she hadn't peed in it! ha! Well that's her first peeing story! Love y'all!

P.S. She said Jesus' name! YAY!

Such a good big sister!

2009-01-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

Annabell is so helpful with Ford sometimes. She is really a sweet girl, but doesn't realize her own strength half the time. She will hug on him all day, so I have to watch her to make sure she doesn't cover his mouth and nose! She also likes to do whatever we do with him. She likes to hold him like I do when feeding him. She likes to wash him in the tub, and she likes to dress him. The dressing of Ford is pretty funny. She will get his sock half way on and then pull it off and through it as if she is too frustrated with trying to do it. She then will bring something else to try to put on him. She also likes to put the phone up to his ear like we do hers. It amazes me what kids notice and learn! Well she had time out today! She has been pulling Ford's blanket off of him when we are in the car. Today is especially cold so I firmly told her not to do it again and she went ahead. The most interesting part is that she told on herself. She showed me the blanket! I think she was looking for attention through a reaction, so I told her she was getting 'time-out' when we got home. She did not like that at all. It took me putting her back into the spot maybe 15 times before she kind of stayed near the timeout spot. Hopefully the point got through to her though.

She played with Lilia this week, and she loved it. They are almost 5 months apart and played well together, except when it came to sharing. Neither of them wanted to share Annabell's baby and baby stroller. It was a good experience though, it aloud me and Rachel to teach the girls how to share. I have been trying to put Annabell in as many social situations as possible so she can learn her interacting skills more, ie..being polite, sharing, not being aggressive, etc. She has done well, and is learning to hug softer, but it is taking a lot of supervision. She is at a very fun stage that takes a lot of constant supervision and instruction; but she grows so fast that I'm hoping to just do a good job in the small window that I have. She is growing leaps in bounds in her talking and skills, her is what I can think of right now:

She spins in circles while singing ring around the rosie
She jumps to me on three (been doing this for about 2-3 months) and yells "three".
She knows how to run vs walking on request (jumping too)
she tries to sing the veggie tales theme song (oh I forgot to mention that about a week ago I started to allow her to watch one veggie tales show a day), still no regular tv though.
she can untie a shoe with laces.
she hangs from bars at the park and can do a good somersault.
She knows how to turn on the jets in the bath tub.
She can use the steps and water fountain at the library. (the video is from yesterday when she still wasn't understanding the cause and effect of pushing the lever to allow water flow, she did it well today at the library...yeah, two days in a row of library because the dance class was unexpectedly closed for mommy and me dance time today!)

There is so much more that I can't remember...well we love y'all! Enjoy the videos!

18 month check up

2009-01-15T20:40:00.001-08:00

Annabell had her 18 month check up yesterday. She is doing wonderfully. Here are her stats:
-34.25 inches tall = 95%
-43cm head = 90%
-25.1 lbs = 50%

So she is tall and skinny and doing great. She does have a little cold, with a cough, so say a prayer for her please.

Ever since the binki has been out of the picture Annabell's speaking has rapidly picked up. She amazes me every day. She also learned how to say"shhhh...baby". She puts her finger over her lip and says shhhh anytime Ford is sleeping. It's cute.
We went to the library today and Annabell was by far the most obediant and compliant child in the room. I thought the librarian was going to go crazy. Parents letting there kids run crazy with out saying a word during reading time. She actually did tell one little girl to "SIT DOWN!". It actually shocked the mom I think. Annabell would get distracted by the kids yelling or running, so I would ask her to watch the teacher read the book and she would point to the librarian and become engulfed in the story. I have no idea how she learned the word teacher. It amazes me how she associates things so quickly! Annabell is very well behaved. The only time she isn't is when I don't pay attention to her for longer periods of time. She starts to scratch or pull on me or even dive onto me if I ignore her. Or she will get into my stuff and pull it out everywhere. So one thought in my mind is I need to giver her more attention. But I don't think that is the case since I spend all day with her and focus on her a ton, and when you have more than one kid you just can't give your undivided attention all day long. So this has prompted me to check out "Strong Willed Child" by James Dobson, from the library. I know she is a strong kid with a strong independent spirit, but that hasn't become too much of a challenge so far. She responds very well to discipline. But I thought it better to be prepared either way, the book has been great. Anyways. She is a wonder. I was talking to my sister on the phone and in one thought I said "she brings me so much joy!!! (she was hugging me) followed by "I will whoop your bottom". (don't worry she didn't get whooped....she had just pulled my hair and literally pulled me to the ground...but I gave her a warning and she stopped) Haha. Well here are some pictures ...Annabell wanted to get into Ford's stroller today at the library...so I aloud her while we strolled to the car. The other picture is of her at the library, and then of her and Emma at church on sunday playing the in garden. Love y'all!

Bop Pi

2009-01-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

Well Annabell said Big Pops name for the first time on her own. I was asking her if she wanted to stay the night there on Sunday since I'm hosting a middle school girls sleepover and she said yes. Then I had said something where I mentioned Grandma and Big Pop and she said Bop Pi. So I asked her to say "Big Pop" and she said "Bop Pi". We then called Big pop and she talked to him on the phone and said it. I think besides, mom and dad, it is the first time she has titled someone on her own will. She has said "Papa" in repetition to me before, but she has never just named someone, besides other kids, on her own. I was excited to hear her say it. She also said "Abby" last night, it is the name of one of our babysitters who was watching her during bible study, but she said it in response to being asked to say it, not saying her name on her own with the knowledge of who the name belongs to. Well I just wanted to document that. Love y'all!

New words

2009-01-10T18:34:00.001-08:00

"Doll"
"Ball" - She said this before but now she is saying it more often
"Say It" - From us asking her to 'say it' all the time
"Joel" -Neighbors new son
....that's all I can remember right now...but I'm sure I'll have some more soon. Oh and I forgot to mention, ever since she was weened from the binki she now puts her fingers to her lips when upset, like she's trying to soothe herself. but she doesn't suck. Oh and she has her "I" and "canine" teeth all coming in at once (I think those are the right names...if not it's the top and the bottom ones...ha)

Favorite show

2009-01-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

I always am thinking of all the things I want to put on Annabell's blog and then I completely forget when it comes time to do so. Well today was a good day. Annabell is learning so fast it is hard to keep up. She likes when I sing "yes, Jesus loves me" to her and she signs Jesus' name. She also has shown me that she knows a lot of words, I'm not even sure that i ever taught them to her either. Like this evening she was doing something while sitting next to me and I asked to see her finger, and sure enough she lifted one little digit up. I don't believe I have taught her what a finger is yet. Also she loves to make food for us and play eat. Tonight she was walking around with her milk cup and would go to her play kitchen and fill it with pretend juice as she was drinking. She also is so good with Ford. When we are in her room reading a book and Ford is napping, if she hears him cry, she stops everything, runs to him, and tries to give him his binki.

Just remembered what I wanted to put on the blog. Annabell's favorite show and first show is "Madelyn". Haha. She loves to watch Maddie's blog videos and the longer the better. I think she thinks it is TV. She wants to watch and she will answer questions about the 'show' while watching. Tonight was the painting and dogs show...ha...she told me with a lot of certainty that Maddie was NOT talking to the dogs though, haha. I have some video of her watching...she had been watching for about 30 minutes (we looked at old videos too and replayed the new ones several times...she kept asking for more), so she started to get a little distracted with the key board...

Annabell loves running now. She will take off at the park. I love how she runs too, she tucks her little arms up high and twists her entire upper body to get more speed. It's so cute. Oh and it was windy today, so sorry about the noise. love y'all!

Big Girl Room

2009-01-05T06:17:00.000-08:00

Here is a few pictures of Annabell and her new room. Well it's not really new but redecorated...kind of. We still have stuff to do, that's why it is a mess, but you can see her new bookshelf and bed. She is loving her new bed now, and doing well! Also here is a little video of her playing toss with me, she loves playing toss and was laughing at it so I caught it on film. Love ya! Oh, I almost forgot, Annabell's newest feet is dangling from the monkey bars at the park, she loves it, she grabbed on to a bar just above the slide and started dangling, she's so smart! Love y'all!

New Year with new adventures

2009-01-02T17:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome in 09! whoo hoo. Annabell has had a great one! She gave up her binki on December 30th, and on December 31st she moved into her toddler bed! No more crib or binki! And she is doing GREAT! Since yesterday she has gone to bed and with no crying. And she went to bed with out her binki wonderfully as well. So now she is constantly told what a "big girl" she is, which makes her very happy. The only thing she has left is to be potty trained and that seems right around the corner. Today she went to the diaper changing table and tried to pull her diaper down after she pooped. I think with in the next 12 months she'll be there. I don't want to force her too early though. She has been VERY talkative lately, even more than normal. She has said "sorry" and many other words lately. Even a few phrases, like "all done". She also has figured out where the snacks are, and asks for them quite frequently.

Annabell's "I" teeth are coming in. Which means she has been biting more. She bit Ford at the airport for the first time ever, and me recently too, but now tends to hesitate before she really chomps down to see if you are going to react or not.
She has been a huge help for her daddy and I lately. She brings Ford his binki and blanky anytime that we are caring for him and need it. Well here is some video of Annabell playing in the water in the middle of winter! Our northern family will love to see this! Love y'all!

Christmas 08' in TN

2008-12-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

(Annabell wearing her carry-on Braves bag)

We went to Tennessee for Christmas this year and had a great time. Annabell did really well on the plain until we were delayed 4 hours. Which changed us from arriving at 630pm in TN to 1130pm! ugh. She was so tired, she eventually fell asleep on Brad's lap. She did really well considering the circumstances. When we got there her aunt Kari made a palate on the floor for her to sleep on (since the pack-n-play was at her friends house), and she slept GREAT! I was so impressed because she never has slept anywhere besides her crib or pack-n-play. She didn't even get up off the floor until she saw me peek at her.
The next day we took the kids to see Santa. Annabell got a beautiful dress from her Papa and Sharon. She was happy to wear it since she loves dressing up.
Her and Mikayla played a ton together. Annabell ran around trying
to tackle KK and KK would tackle her back! That is why she is such a tough little girl! She also loved wearing KK's key ring around her neck like a necklace. I had no idea that she loved jewelry so much.
Well once we got to the mall Annabell ran around looking at the fish at the Bass Pro Shop. They had a great display of trains and toys for kids. Finally she got a chance to see Santa and wanted nothing to do with him. I couldn't even peel her out of my arms! So I was in all the photos.

After that we ate dinner at the mall's food court and the girls held hands on the way as you can see. Once there they rode the merry-go-round with their aunt Sarah
and then again with Papa and Sharon.

And then Christmas morning came. Annabell LOVED opening gifts. But she would open one and then want to only play with it as you can see with her crayons. She had a lot of fun though and was ready for her nap afterwards! Papa spoiled Annabell and so did her aunts. She even got a special gift of going to Chuck-E-Cheese from Sarah.

We had a great trip. Annabell got to also meet her aunts Patty and Jackie, uncle Danny, cousins Hailey, Josh and Laura for the first time. She had fun playing with all the kids. There was a house FULL of people. The scariest part of the night was when everyone was there and dusk was just setting in and the doors were open because it was in the 60's that night. We had just seen the kids running around and Brad and I thought other people were keeping an eye on them while I fed Ford and Brad was talking with the guys. Then Brad came running in saying he couldn't find Annabell. That was very scary considering my dad lives off a semi-busy road. All of a sudden him and Will ran around the house and found her behind the detached garage. SHe climbed down the VERY steep steps by herself. Then made my heart drop! So scary but I praise God she was okay, just playing by herself for a few minutes. Anyways, we left of Saturday and the flight home was a long one. 1:55pm-930pm! The kids did great. Annabell even had her own seat on the last flight.

Sunday when we got home we after church and hearing Brad preach for the first time we went home and had Christmas with Big Pop and G-ma. As usual they went crazy on gifts! Here is a video of Annabell seeing her big gift from them after waking from her nap!

Christmas church service

2008-12-21T10:59:00.001-08:00

Annabell has been doing so much lately. Today at our Christmas church service she began to sing all the songs with us! It was so cute to see her join in. I love the heart of children, so innocent and pure. She brings so much joy to us! Annabell has also started to JUMP a lot. She learned how to 2 weeks ago at the library. I just forgot to blog it. She loves jumping while dancing now. She has also learned to turn her head away from me when I have the camera. Not to happy about this one. But she's just trying to assert her independence...so she can have that one for now. She did get a few cute pictures this week though while looking at the camera. She has said a few more words: jump, ready, more, papa and I'm sure I'm forgetting some more. Yesterday we baked cookies at G-ma's for our annual cookie bake day. It was a lot more difficult this year since Adrienne and I both had babies to tend to while trying to bake. Big Pop did great...one kid playing toys, one in his lap and rocking the Ford in his car seat with his foot! ha. We got a lot done considering. I think I gained 20 lbs from all the tasting though. After that we took Annabell and Ford to see the Christmas lights at a local BIG display in Briar Cliff. Brad use to go see this display when he was a kid so it was neat to take Annabell there to see it (Ford stayed in the car and slept; G-ma was watching him, don't worry). Here are some photos. Love y'all!

p.s. Annabell LOVES putting the underwear that I just folded from the laundry on her head, it's so funny. She'll run around screaming with in on her head, here is a few photos.

Every Step and BEST SIGN YET.

2008-12-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

Annabell is always observant of everything going on, especially of me and Brad. She loves to do what ever we do. When ever I put on make up, she wants to also, if I'm cleaning she also wants to. For my birthday on monday I was dressed nice to go out to dinner and a movie with Brad. It was a great time, I put on heals for the first time since Ford was born. That gave Annabell an opportunity to see me walking in them. She loved the noise they made on the wood floor. As soon as they came off she put them on. Walking around in them in her diaper was adorable.

Well I am excited to say that Annabell has learned to sign 'Jesus'. This makes me so happy because I feel like she is starting to recognize his name. We sing songs read books and pray with and about Jesus. So she hears about him a lot, but as many other Christian moms know, you really hope and pray they truly understand how wonderful and loving HE is. So for her to sign his name (pointing at the nails in each hand) is a big step.

She has officially moved to only ONE nap! ugh, and it's only 2 hours usually. I miss the days of 2 long naps! But it gives us more play time together, especially when Ford starts taking two long naps, which I hope eventually happens once he's on a routine.

Here are some pictures of Annabell on the train at the mall. I forgot to put these when I wrote about Santa Clause. She loved being on the train! The little kids with her took 'care' of her while she was on the ride. It's funny how kids 2-3 years older see her as a little baby and want to tend to her every whim...which she LOVES by the way. She always wants them to hold her hand! Too cute. Well we love y'all!

So much to catch up on...

2008-12-04T10:56:00.001-08:00

Well I have so much to catch you all up on it ridiculous! I need about 6 arms and was only born with two, so since I have no time, the blog is starting to suffer! ha. The sad thing is I am starting to think in terms of blogging...'oh, that will be great to tell...or this picture needs to go on the blog', etc. It's sad really. ha. Anyways, we put up our Christmas tree last Sunday with Annabell. It actually took us 2 whole days to finish between taking care of the kids and trying to get us altogether while the kids were awake, but finally it came together. Annabell had a blast helping! The part she liked the most was playing in the tree box. Yes we still have a fake one, we'll probably use a real one starting next year when she can help daddy pick one out. She loved seeing all the decorations too. She has only broke one so far! ha. She got a time out for that one. Speaking of which, time outs are starting to be very effective for Annabell's learning. She's had only 3 so far, and quite spread out too, but they seem to grab her attention well enough for her to think twice before doing whatever she did again. As for the decorating she also liked putting up the little plastic decals on the windows. These have proven a great joy for her this year...she will walk over and take them off to put them back on. Very cute!

Annabell is taking more and more interest in Ford. She lays next to him during his belly time. I was trying to get a picture of how well he holds his head up (which I couldn't get that time) and she came and laid with him and watched him try with a huge grin and encouraging squeals.
The two pictures above in the pretty dress are of Annabell at church last Sunday, it was especially windy and she loved every minute of it. She was running around with a class that was playing outside. I love her eyes. The dress is compliments of G-ma, of course :)...she spoils all her grand kids!

Well Annabell has really taken an interest in starting to communicate more...or I'm just starting to notice more. This morning she said, I love you and 1,2,3! We say 1,2,3 when she is going to jump to us and so on, but this morning she beat me to the punch and yelled 3! and then leaped toward me. So I said, 1,2,3 and she copied me. I love hearing her voice! Also, I said "say I love you" and she said I love you! I was so surprised. Here is some video of her putting money into her piggy bank. we cleaned out our cars and had a ton of change, this kept Annabell busy for a while because one of her favorite things to do is to sort...anything! This gave me an opportunity to explain what each coin is. I don't think she cared though, ha. (in the video you can hear Ford 'talking' a little)

Annabell LOVES shoes. She has been trying to put my shoes on for months now and always brings me shoes to put on her, her brother, Mima, and whom ever else is willing and ready. I caught her putting on one of my shoes and tried to get it on video but only caught a little of it. Also in the picture she is wearing my shoes, though you can barely see it.
We went to the library again today. I checked out 3 books that actually talk about Christ at Christmas, they seem rare to find these days. I hope she will know what Christmas is all about. We have a few things that we are going to start her doing early on to keep her focused of the meaning of the season. Hopefully they will all work. Well tomorrow starts off our Christmas party spree. We have one every weekend until Christmas, and we are hosting two for different reasons. Also with the new year getting closer we are closer to introducing Annabell to a toddler bed and taking away the binki. The binki will be the hardest...they put her right to sleep at night, so I am waiting until the new year to do these two things seeing I will have to probably wake up a lot to comfort her. And since I'm already up so much I'm hoping Ford will be sleeping through the night by then...we'll see. Annabell has also started to tell us when she is going #2. This is a good sign that potty training isn't too far off. I was told about a book, teaching to potty train in one day. I don't know if that is the right title but it's something like that...i need to get it, maybe I'll look for it at the library next week.
Sorry for all the video...it's for those who love to see Annabell in her everyday action. Love y'all!

Thanksgiving 08

2008-11-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We went to G-ma's and Big Pops for Turkey day to celebrate all of our blessings! We got started this morning around 5:45 am when Brad's alarm went off for our 5k walk, the Turkey Trot. We got the kids up, piled into the car and made it there about 10 minutes before the gun shot. We had the double stroller and were walking with our friends, Todd and Stefanie Babb and their son. It was a lot of fun and motivated both families to start to train for the Edison Parade 5k, but this time we want to run. Like I said it was fun except for some hiccups with the kids. To start, just as the race started Annabell turned and looked at us with blood all over her nose. Apparently she rubbed her nose and pulled off a scab from her newest face injury (falling at church while trying to run with the big kids). So people were coming up to us with great concern saying, your daughter is bleeding! But we couldn't do much...I tried using some wipes, but one of the ingredients was salt and just made her bleed more and cry. So we had to allow the blood to dry and form a new scab while walking. It was also cold, which was nice for the walk, but Annabell's face got a little wind chaffed. So she didn't look to good by the end, but she loved the race. She liked seeing all the people walk around her. And since she loves 'people watching' she stayed occupied. Half way through the race Brad took off with Annabell since I had to hold Ford for a bit to calm him down (which made me walk slower). He took our double stroller with just Annabell in it and was weaving through tons of people! After the race we got in the car and had coupons on our window from McDonald's. So we headed there for breakfast on the way to G-ma's house. Brad got a mcGriddle, but didn't get much of one of them because Annabell wanted a little taste, which ended up eating nearly the entire thing! This was just the beginning of her eating! She literally ate all day! She took one nap today but there was too much going on for her second nap, so she was a fussy baby at dinner time. Oh I forgot to mention the Macy Day parade. Most of you know I don't allow Annabell to watch TV, but I broke the rule today because I wanted her to see the parade, and what a treat it was. We watched the beginning when the Rockets were dancing and Annabell began to dance with them, so cute! She was mesmerized. Well, anyways, her G-ma asked her to stay the night tonight so she is having a sleep over there! She loves playing there.
A couple things I forgot to blog this week:
We went to the library for story time, which is great because they also do dancing and some creative activities. This week they learned Vegetables to put into the pot for soup. She loved putting the felt cutouts onto the board. She is probably the youngest kid in the class but does great!

(listening at story time)

Also we went to the park yesterday and Annabell went on the tallest part of the jungle gym and began to put her legs on the first part of the bars and slipped through, she was stuck. So I had to climb up with Ford in my hands and get her out, I was able to snap a picture first!
Annabell has also acquired the name Monkey from me. She is always climbing, dangling, and jumping around! But if I didn't know she will probably be 5-9 to 6 feet tall when she is older I would say she is going to be the next Olympic gymnast! ha ha, ok I might be jumping ahead, but she is one flexible and innovative little girl. The other day she did a back bend while goofing around with me, and the yesterday she did a somersault completely on her own, we have never shown her one or encouraged her with one ever. She simply put her head on the floor while standing up and rolled, it was hilarious. She thought so too so she kept on rolling! Very cute. I tried to capture it but the memory chip wasn't' in the camera I had yesterday so I tried to catch it today, but it wasn't really the same, yesterday it was perfect and today she was goofing around a bit, I still put it video for your enjoyment! Oh and I attached a picture of Annabell and I so you can see her nose and mouth. She fell at church this past Sunday, and bloodied her nose and then ate some pineapple on Tuesday at bible study and her mouth began to break out! She had a tough week! Love y'all!
P.S. I'm grateful for my children and family! How blessed I am!

Target

2008-11-19T16:38:00.001-08:00

My neighbor and I ventured out with the kids today to do some shopping. It was an obstacle. First we left late around 930 because I was trying to get two car seats into her van and then kept forgetting things. We finally got on the road and around 10 we arrived at Gulf Coast center...just around that time Annabell started to get sleepy! So we went into Target and got the kids a snack pretzel so they would calm down a bit. We did some shopping but Annabell wanted to roam Target which I let her do until she started to walk off. But by then it was time to check out and that is when she saw the CUTEST little toddler boy ever...he walked up to her and held her hand. ADORABLE, so I grabbed my camera but it was too late, he let go and now she was after him, typical boy, ha.
Then we went into Babies R Us where Ford pooped everywhere, fought his feeding, threw up, cried and finally wen to sleep while Annabell cried because i wouldn't let her out of the cart and her friend was allowed. So we called the trip over and stopped by McDonalds on the way home to get them a bite to eat just before Annabell crashed in the back seat.
She has started to take great interest in Ford's toy and swings lately. Here is a picture of her in his seat, she loves to sit in it. She also likes to swing his swing, which is a little scary.
Annabell has started to say HI a lot, and it so clear when she says it. I love hearing her voice. She also pointed out the letter X and Balloons when I was reading her a book last night. I love how smart she is! She is also now sitting in the chair at our bar sometimes instead of her highchair...she really likes it so I should probably get her a booster seat soon.
She has also started to REALLY play rough with our neighbor. She runs and tackles her every time she sees her, which is fine on the grass but she is also doing it on the cement and hard floors. Not so good. Here is a picture of her tackling Bekah, while Bekah is being a good sport. Love y'all!

BOOOOOOH!

2008-11-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

Annabell has started (for the past few weeks) to try and scare us...it is hilarious. She will hunch down and tiptoe toward us (she walks on her toes quite a bit). Then she will yell and run at us, trying to "get us". It is too cute. She also will hide behind a chair or the couch and Jump out and yell a kind of "booooh" sound and then start to laugh when we act startled. She is so funny. She loves to make people laugh. She also has said the word sky and tree. We were at the park and she pointed up and said sky and then began to clap for her self. She also pointed at the tree in our yard and said tree.
Another neat thing is when I go potty she sits on her little potty that we have set up in her bathroom. And when she's pooping I will ask her if she needs to go to the potty and she will say yes and go sit down on it...her diaper is still pulled up of course but she understands where it is, which is what I wanted.
She is such a good big sister...this morning she took Ford's gloves off of his hands (it was quite cold here this morning). And when I said, 'oh Annabell you took bubi's gloves off?' She proceeded to go and try and put them back on. She also becomes ecstatics when Ford coos and smiles at her. She loves it and will run to him when he makes any noise at all.
Annabell loves to help around the house. She likes to try and push the real vacuum when she gets a chance...she figured out where it is as you can see in the picture and was quite proud of herself.

Ice Cream

2008-11-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

Annabell had her first Ice Cream yesterday. It wasn't planned, but it was a great surprise for her. We went to a local banks grand opening because they had the police there doing finger printing of kids. Which, by the way, she can't do until she is 5 because of size, but they did give me 2 DNA kits to keep on the kids. Anyways, they had it in a new shopping complex and the other local stores had booths there and were giving out free stuff. She got a soccer ball which she LOVES (YES!!!), and a coupon for a free ice cream. We walked the entire complex, checking out the new Belks and other stores, and then we went to the ice cream club store as soon as they opened (11am). I have some video of her eating her first ice cream cone...she did great and figured it all out on her own. She ate every last bite of her strawberry ice cream. She did however have some side effects...her nap didn't last 20 minutes before she was ready to play some more...major sugar high! Before we went into the ice cream club, while we were waiting for them to open, we played some soccer. As you can see she has excellent form on her throw in skills!
ha. Love y'all!

A good day

2008-11-07T08:23:00.000-08:00

Annabell had a great day yesterday. She was feeling much better from the moment she woke up. We got up and went to the park, she played hard and then crashed for a few hours before waking up and eating her lunch. She is doing better about being gentle with Ford the past two days. She also isn't touching him as much when I tell her not too...ie sleeping etc... She has been wanting to hug him and kiss him though lately which I adore. She also has started to like and swing him in his swing. Very cute. The first thing she does when she wakes is goes and checks on Ford. She is a great big sister. Very protective.

Yesterday she received a gift from Babs and Parker (her great aunt and uncle). It was an adorable hat. She wore it and then showed it off to her daddy when he came home between jobs yesterday. She had more fun with the wrapping paper of course. She brought a huge piece of paper from opening her gift over to me and I put it on my head and she thought it was hysterical! She began to laugh and then I handed it to her and said "put it on you head" and she did and walked around trying to knock it off her head by shaking her head back and forth. It was too cute. I have also noticed that the more involved I am with Annabell the better she does with her brother. She is much better with him when I play with her and take her places. I think it helps her not to be jealous. Well her are some pictures of Annabell...she was too cute this morning with her pony tail so I wanted to snap a photo before it fell out, which it did while we were on our walk!

Love y'all!

Family Night and Fever

2008-11-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we decided to take the kids to Mike Greenwells. It was more for Annabell obviously than Ford. We thought she might like to get out of the house a bit since it has been harder for me to do so. Before I was too tired and sore to go out with both kids, but now it seems too difficult. So instead of believing that I have been making myself just do it. It actually has been getting easier. We went on a walk this morning and made it just short of a mile before Ford cried. So I let Annabell play at the park while I held him, and when he would fall back too sleep Annabell and I would play together, and when I was tending to him she played with the little girls around her age at the park. But while at the park she smelled like she had a dirty diaper so we headed home after about 30 minutes of playing. I noticed she felt hot but thought it was because we were playing during a breezy cooler day...you know how you feel warmer when it's cool outside. Anyways, I put her down for her nap per her request, and an hour later when she woke I checked her temperature and it was 103.6 and she was burning up. I wasn't sure what to do and hesitated to give her Tylenol. I fed her some lunch (she only ate a tiny bit) and then she wanted to lay down again. So she did and when she woke her temperature was 101.9. I then gave her some children's motrin and now she is sleeping again. She wants to lay in her crib and rest so I'm letting her...please say a prayer for her healing! Anyways, she had a lot of fun at Greenwells. She didn't really like to actually play any games, she more liked walking around and looking and climbing on the games. She did enjoy ski ball though. She walked up there and then through the ball in the other lanes. ha. Then we went to dinner. She ate soooo much! I shared a meal with her and Brad gave her some of his and she was still going! She can really eat like her momma! She has her bottom right molar coming in, so it could be reason for the fever but i don't think so since she didn't get a fever with any others. Well we love y'all! P.S. She said snack as "spack" and "bubba" for Ford. She is so smart :)

Halloween 08'

2008-11-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well we had an extremely busy day filled with fun activities for the kids. We woke up and began to TRY and clean the house. With two kids, one nursing, it is much harder to get things done, but the more organized I am and scheduled, the better. Around 11 am we went to Publix to look for a pumpkin for Annabell. No luck though, they had other gourds but no traditional pumpkins. We took our neighbors with us since we both had to get food for the get-together we had that evening. So Annabell and Bekah road in the "car" cart and Ford was in a separate cart. We went by the bakery and got the free cookie for the girls (Annabell's first of many that day). Then we went home. Annabell went down for her nap and when she woke she was ready to play. I have noticed I don't have to yell at her as much and get as frustrated with her about getting into stuff when I have the house clean and picked up. She LOVES to explore stuff, and especially when she's bored she seems to get into more, but if it's picked up then we don't have any clashing of wills ;). Her G-ma came over to see her in her costume...so we put it on, but at this point she had started to want a second nap, so about 30 minutes later we took it off and let her nap. When she awoke, we got her dressed and then off to publix we went.

we walked in and Annabell went straight for it. The lady filled her pumpkin with crayons, a coloring book, balloons, pencil and more.. then we went to the pharmacy, deli, balloon guy, and produce/meat section. They all were giving out candy. Annabell was confused at first but started to understand the concept and would gladly hand over her pumpkin to have them fill it with goodies. Then we went back to the house to get ready for the get together. We all decided to bring a spooky appetizer or/and desert.They had safe tricker treating from 4-7pm. It was really cute. They had a table set up as soon as I made a Gnash Cheese Cake from Martha Stewart Magazine...I was really proud of it, so I took a picture for y'all! ha.

So we all at and the kids played for a while. They would all run to the front door when kids would
come trick or treating. Very cute! Then we went to take the kids to a few houses...considering they are all 2 or under we thought a few would be fine...I think we went to 4 total. They were all so cute. Annabell was so independent. She walked holding her daddies hand the entire time and didn't want to be carried. She also began to go to the front door on her own and hold out her bucket to receive candy. They would give her candy and she would continue to hold out her bucket and look at them for more...it was funny, every person gave her more and finally we would tell her that's enough and off to the next house she went. We got a late start on the tricker or treating because we were all trying to get the kids fed and food completed, so the kids were ready for bed shortly after. All in all it was great. Annabell, also held up her finger for 1 when I asked her how old she is the first time i showed her how to do it! She continues to say our neighbors name, Bekah...I love hearing her voice! And it looks like her cold is finally starting to dissipate. Well we love y'all! P.S. The only house she hesitated to go to the front door was at the house with the giant fake spider web, she wasn't really scared, she was more in confusion as to why they had a giant "thing" in front of their door.

Pumpkins

2008-10-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

Well the weather has been as low as the 40's - 50's at night so the day time 60's-70's has been gorgeous. We even lit a fire last night! It was Annabell's first time recognizing a lit fire and she was mesmerized by the flames. Yesterday after work, Brad and I took the kids to a pumpkin "patch". I wanted Annabell to be able to run around and look at all the pumpkins and cute games. She LOVED the little pumpkins and would proceed to move each one to her little picnic table. We ended up picking up 4 small ones for her friends that are coming over on Friday so they can paint with them. Playing outside in this weather is very enjoyable for Annabell, because she can last longer outside when it's not too hot. I also love dressing her up in all of her "cold" clothes. She has some great hand me downs from our neighbor's daughter that I'm trying to get her to wear before the weather gets hot again! Well here are some pictures. Oh and today we ate lunch with Brad and noticed that Annabell will now hold her hands together to Pray with us. And say "Aaahhh" for Amen at the end. Very precious. The picture of her eating is for y'all to laugh, she eats just like me, with a GOOD appetite!
ha. Love y'all!

Oh and here is some video of Annabell opening her Halloween card from Big Pop and G-ma. Oh and here is a picture of her nose...she fell at church on the asphalt. It looks worse than it is...she has been falling a lot now that she can run.

And here is a video of the guys playing with Annabell and Bekah outside the other day.

Chuck E Cheese

2008-10-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

Annabell is so cute. Okay I'm bias but I just can't help it, she's adorable. She now does this arm grabbing thing with Brad and I. If she is sitting next to us at dinner she will rap her arm around ours and smile! She has also been extra cuddly lately. It could be partially because she's not feeling well, or because we cuddle with Ford, or just one of those stages, either way we are both eating it up. I love when she'll lay on our laps! She seems to really enjoy her hair being run through when cuddling. Well yesterday we were going to go to Hunsader Farm in Sarasota. They have a pumpkin patch, animals, hay rides and much more. But I couldn't make it in time with my ride so I decided to go on my own with the two kids. About 3/4 of the way to the interstate, with Ford screaming to eat and Annabell crying because it took us an hour to just get that far I decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea. So we called G-ma and asked if she would like to go to Chuck E Cheese with us. So we picked her up and off we went. Annabell had so much fun. She liked running around I think even more than the rides and games though. One of the funniest things was the fact that she would get on a ride, but once it started to go with the exception of the merry-go-round, she didn't like it at all and would hop off. She the dance station they had where kids would dance and be on TV. I think that was her favorite, with no surprise, dancing is probably one of her fav. past times, including playing in the dirt! Well I was a dummy and left the memory card out of my camera, so all these great photo's I took there didn't stick. BUT I did take some when we got home because her hair was cute, and a picture of Brad reading her bedtime story,

with her hair crazy. Oh and her first taste of chocolate, she loved it and went a little crazy, but that's okay!

Love y'all!

Good Day

2008-10-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

Today was such a nice and good day. Annabell did much better today with her listening skills, I think partly because I was feeling much better and was able to spend more time with her. My neighbor Heather came over and watched Ford for about 30 minutes so I could take Annabell to the park (it was too cool and breezy for Ford). We played hard and she had so much fun and even left the park willingly.
We also have had 2 days of painting her pumpkin. She enjoys it, but likes playing in the colors more than actually painting. She even put them in her mouth! UGH, I'm having to teach her not to do that . Oh and two molars have come in, on top. She has had a cold for two days now, her little eyes were so red today and her nose ran all day.

I can't believe how fast she has grown up. I look at Ford who is bigger than she was at his age, and I can't remember her being that small! I miss my little girl already. Time really does pass us by in the blink of an eye. It's so important that we teach them what they need to know and show them how live in Christ. Because before you know it she will be making her own decisions and living her own life. She's even trying to now. She no longer likes me to follow her up the jungle gym stairs. If I walk behind her she turns around and motions or whines me away! :( She wants to do it all by herself! So now when she actually cuddles with me I cherish every second! Love y'all!

Day by day

2008-10-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Well each day Annabell is adjusting better to being a new big sister. She loves to point out to me anytime she hears Ford cry. She is sweet with him like that. She doesn't notice him too much, but she is curious when he's eating as to what he's doing. Her naps have switched in the last two days from 2 naps to one really long one. I wonder if this is permanent or temporary. Her signing has really increased, she now will also say thank you and is learning to sign others easily. But she still hesitates to actually say many of the words although she has said some here and there. She completely understands them though which is great, especially when asking her to do things like put stuff in her room or putting the crayons back in her box. We are having to work on her not putting the crayons in her mouth which she does mostly for the reaction she gets from us.

Annabell was able to go to the park with her G-ma and Briana today, which she absolutely loved. Lately she has seemed to want more snacks during the day and I think it's because she normally gets to go out and play a lot more, but since I can't take her out she prefers to snack, which isn't a habit I want her to develop so I'm excited to get back outside and play with her...but who knows, it could be because she is growing. She looks more and more like a little girl and less like a baby.
She also played outside with her daddy some while he worked on his trailer. She loves working outside with Brad. Also Brad had Ford and Annabell for about an hour by himself this evening while I went to a friends to pick up a pump. When I came home Ford was cozy and asleep and Annabell was bathed and ready for bed sipping on her milk. I was very impressed with his daddy skills, because two kids is a whole different ball game.

People from our church have started to bring us meals for dinner so we will not have to cook while recovering from labor, which is really nice. We are enjoying them and it is helping me heal faster since I'm not having to run around and make supper. Which is awesome. I'm hoping by next week to be 100% back.

Helper

2008-10-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

Check out my little brother's Blog www.oursonford.blogspot.com

Well today was our first day with out any help from my family. They left this morning, so I guess I did have help, but after her first nap it was just the three of us! She did well for the most part, she did completely miss her cousin Mikayla. They played so well together. They would run to each other and hold one another so tight, and they would also wrestle which was hilarious with Brad and I commentating as if it was a UFC match. The house was so quite today and she was use to playing so hard that I felt compelled to try and take her to the park, so around 3:00pm we ventured across the street with Ford in my arms. HUGE MISTAKE! I was in no shape for that yet and could tell from the moment we arrived. I had Ford in my arms and was trying to lift Annabell into a swing just wasn't going to happen. Thankfully a member of my church was there and she came over and put Annabell in the swing while she kicked and screamed at her! I then swung her for about 5 minutes and then couldn't take the pain anymore and had to tell Annabell we had to go home. She threw herself on the ground and began to have a fit. Kim picked her up and walked her home for me. I was so grateful she was there! We won't venture out like that for at least another week. I keep feeling I am good and then try something and BAM I know I'm not. Here is a sneak peak at Annabell's costume for Halloween, compliments of Aunt Kari! It was adorable. We were going to take the kids to a pumpkin "patch" but Kari came down with the bug that has run it's coarse through our entire family here with the exception of me and my dad and Ford so please say a prayer that Ford doesn't get it. That is why she had her costume on.
Oh and the reason I named this "helper" is because Annabell did well when I would have her help. I asked her to get me a diaper after Ford peed on the new one and off she went to help, she searched in his diaper bag until she found one and brought it to me, she was so proud of herself. I also noticed that she likes to pull Ford and when she does that it's because she wants to hold him. So I asked her if she wants to hold him and she shook her head yes, so I told her to come sit down and she got up on the couch and held him, with a lot of love! It was very cute! Well we love y'all!

P.S. Annabell has said some more words which I personally missed! She said "yeah" and "cool".
She also enjoys coloring with her crayons, even though I think she prefers sorting and collecting the crayons even more than the coloring. She also is all about hugging now, as you can see with her hugging her neighbor Rebekah.
Here is a video of her laughing at her daddy playing with her feet! Love y'all!

Big Sister

2008-10-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. We have had a very busy week! Well Annabell is officially a big sister. She is doing really well with it too! She has been so patient with me recovering from her brother's birth. Well Thursday I was feeling "icky" and took a nap when Annabell took her afternoon nap. Then that evening Brad stayed home from work to help out with Annabell since I wasn't feeling very good. That evening around 1:30am I woke up Brad thinking it could be the "real thing" but didn't want to jump to any conclusions. After speaking to the nurse she advised us to go into the hospital just to be safe...my contractions were about 4-6 minutes apart. So we called our neighbors, Heather and Pete to come stay at our house until Grandma Z arrived to take care of Annabell. By the time we got to the hospital I was having them about every three minutes and was 6 cm when checking in. So they moved me into a room and about 5-10 minutes after arriving to the room the doctor checked me and I was 8cm. So she broke my water and then just waited in the room with us because she said it wouldn't be long. She was right. About 10 minutes later she asked if I wanted to start pushing soon. I said "ok", even though I had no urge to push. About 4 contractions later, Bradford James Zachritz II was born at 4:08am. He was fast to arrive so I'm sure he will have tons of energy just like his daddy. Trying to stick to Annabell...she had been sick Wednesday and Thursday with a fever. So we didn't allow her to hold Ford, and so it was kind of tough on her with me in a hospital bed and not being able to touch the new baby. But finally she got some pictures with him and was totally disinterested at the time...but she becomes more and more interested in him...and has given him a lot of hugs and interest. Yesterday she finally was so upset that I hadn't spent time with her (her being sick the dr told me to avoid a lot of physical touch, so my family and Brad has been doing the things I normally do with her). She walked around and cried and cried and nothing would make her happy...Brad picked her up and said she said "I wa moooommmy." Hearing this broke my heart, but God is so good. Ford finally slept great through the night, so I woke refreshed and was able to great her in the morning and get her out of bed for the first time in a while. I also got to "dance" with her this morning to some music which she loved. I met her at Lakes Park this afternoon after Ford's Dr. appointment and played with her in the water some, and then also gave her a bath and read her bedtime story to her just before I tucked her in. I felt better and so did she! She did get very jealous of Ford getting into her old car seat and stroller today, but she will get passed that kind of stuff soon. Well here are some pictures of her with him and her playing with her cousin Mikayla in the pool. My family came to help for the week and have been HUGE blessings! Oh and here is a picture of Ford with his PawPaw.

Sharing

2008-10-08T12:29:00.001-07:00

Annabell has been learning to share lately. She has done wonderfully with her food, she gladly feeds Brad or I at our request. Today she was able to play with Rebekah for a while at our house. She was asking for the toys and not getting what she wanted and started to whine a bit, but besides that she does great. Here is some video of them playing together. She was even sharing her toys at the doctors visit today with the doctor. The doctor was talking to Brad and I and she kept walking up to her and Brad and handing them different toys. It was very cute. Well here are a ton of different pictures. Oh and she is also learning to put her glass down gently versus throwing it down when she is done with it. She picked this up quickly with me telling her to go pick it up and put it down when she does throw them.

Baby update: At our appointment today the doctor said I am 5 cm dilated! I know I couldn't believe it and neither could the doctor. So I'm thinking it will only be a matter of time, God willing. I really don't want to have to be induced so say a prayer please! Annabell is also becoming more and more affectionate with babies and other children. She loves to kiss Briana, and she follows around Rebekah and holds her hand and hugs on her every time she's around. It's very cute. I'm excited for her to know her baby brother! She will be a great big sis!
P.S. Some of the pictures are blurry but they were making me laugh because she was laughing so hard trying to get the camera. Oh and as you can see Roxy is officially an outdoors dog. She's doing pretty well with it and actually we spend more time with her being out there than we do her being in the house...and it's so much cleaner! My floors actually stay clean now! Love y'all!

Date Night

2008-10-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Last night Annabell stayed the night with her Grandma and Big Pop so that Brad and I could go on a date before baby boy arrives. We she went with them around 2:30pm so that gave us time to play as a family. We woke up and had breakfast together (Annabell loves when we are all together) and then went on a walk and then to the playground. She had so much fun running around. It was overcast so it aloud for extra energy with out being drained by the sun. She climbed a wall, which she had not done before, you can see her scaling it in her picture. She watched some other kids do it and then off she went. She also still loves the slides but the issue now is she drags her elbows so she has burns that scab up when she wakes up the next morning!
Also now when we say "let's put on your shoes" she comes over to us and sits in our laps and puts her feet out. Here is a picture of Brad putting on her shoes.

She also has been trying hard to say words. I hear her trying to say a word immediatly after I say one, but it tends to be muddled a bit. But she understands as clear as day! You can ask her and tell her things and she will be sure to answer you with yes or no or to do what you asked her to do! Well I hope y'all have a good week...here is a video of Brad swinging her at the park, she was waiving at me, but stopped once I started to record. Also her is a picture of me 9 months pregnant with our son.
Love y'all!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

2008-10-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well today is Brad's birthday! He got to celebrate by working two jobs! He's such a good daddy to Annabell. We decided to go visit him at his second job (youth group) and spend the evening with him. It was great for him to be able to hang out with Annabell for a bit before we had to leave to get her to bed. Annabell and I went on a walk this morning which she got to play at the playground for a bit. She loves to wave at the birds, i got a picture of her waiving from her stroller.

There was a little boy there being very disrespectful and disobedient to his mother (about 4 years old) at the park. She was observing him very closely. It makes me wonder when she sees behavior like that will she mimic it or just be boggled by it? I'm not sure. Well after her morning nap we headed to the library to return some books and get some new ones. She LOVES the library. The first thing she does is pick out new books and then they have a butterfly garden with benches and a fountain in the back. So we headed out there and spent a little time playing. She enjoys being outside so much, so it was nice to be there since it's enclosed and I don't have to worry about her running into the street or anything else.

I also took some pictures of her in her stroller to show how incredibly long she is becoming. At her 15 month check up yesterday she was in the 95% for height! She so tall. I'm pretty sure she will be taller than her mommy! She also got 4 shots yesterday which she did amazingly well! He said she looks great and is growing perfectly!

Her new thing is riding Roxy our dog, she loves to sit, step and pull on her. She has only done it with Roxy so far though, no other dogs. Well Love y'all!

Playing outside

2008-09-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

Today we were inside most of the day because all of the rain, it rained most of the day from around 11pm until around 3:30pm. So when it finally let up Annabell was ready to get out of the house. We walked around outside and the first thing she did was walk over to her bucket, which was outside during the rain, and lifted it up in excitement over her head. It was full of water, and poured all over her. You can see that her dress is wet in the video and pictures I took. I also tried to get her animal sounds on camera but it was difficult to do since we were outside and she was distracted by playing.

Tomorrow is her 15 month check up. I scheduled it months ago at her last appointment and with out knowing I scheduled my pregnancy check up tomorrow as well, 15 minutes apart. So thankfully Brad is going to take her (she's getting shots :( ... ) and I'll wait for them at my appointment. I've had a lot of braxton hicks but nothing yet...so we'll see.

When Brad came home today from work we were walking at the park so he walked over and met us. Annabell becomes so happy when she sees him. Roxy started running toward Brad and Annabell was also doing her best to run to him. You can see on her face how happy she is when she sees him. Well here are plenty of videos and pictures. Love y'all!

Chopsticks!

2008-09-28T19:49:00.001-07:00

Hello all. Well today Annabell had her ups and downs. She woke up and was happy for about 2 minutes until I tried to give her milk. She didn't want anything to do with it and that began her unhappiness for the morning. She was very fussy and cried very very hard when I took her into the nursery. When I picked her up from the nursery she felt a little hot. So when we got home she was ready for her nap. But before then while we were pulling up to the drive way she noticed her daddy's Truck. He's out of town for the middle school retreat, so she missed him dearly at church. Anyways, she pointed to his truck and said "dada!" She thought he was home and was excited to see him. I was excited she recognized her daddy's truck. We wait outside sometimes when I know he's close to home and will wave as he pulls up. Well once we were inside I asked her if she wanted to go "night night" and she shook her head yes. So we got dolly, blanky and binki and off she went for 2 hours and 45 minutes. I was impressed with her nap and when she woke up she was much more happy and felt cooler. I decided to check her teeth and sure enough one of her molers (her top right) was cutting through...the rest of her gums look quite swollen too, so I think that is why she has been fussy and warm lately. The rest of the day she had fun playing inside since it rained a lot today. We also took a trip to the grocery story which turned out to be fun for her since they decorated the store for Halloween. We pointed out the spiders and Gools as we walked around.

It's official, Annabell does NOT like eggplant. Ha, I roasted some eggplant, peppers and onions. Three things Brad would NOT like for dinner, since he's gone I decided to try some with Annabell, not the onions though. Well she really like the bell pepper and rice I made and she continued to try the eggplant all supper long but would always spit it from her mouth after a second. She also really enjoyed trying chopsticks tonight. I was eating my dinner with them and she was very interested. So I decided to let her try. I thought she understood the concept fairly well although had no idea how to use them together. It was cute to watch her try...here is some video. Love y'all!

Breezy

2008-09-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

Annabell getting out of the car...Annabell and B..... B on the swing

B and our neighbor Bekah

The weather has been gorgeous for two days now. I'm sure it will be short lived so we have been taking advantage of it. We have been going to the park and playing outside a lot. Annabell is a very good climber, that's why we call her our little monkey! She can surprise me sometimes on what she can climb up on. I took some footage of her running around the park and climbing up the big kids jungle gym. It's pretty tall so I usually go with her but today I didn't and she did fine. There are several openings for kids to climb down that make me nervous though.

We have been working on talking and sounds lately. She understands so many words and will tell me yes or no if she is interested in doing something she asked for or if I ask her if she wants. But she hasn't said too many words yet. My neighbor hears them more often than I do though. I think I get so use to her babbling that sometimes I don't pay attention and out comes a word. We have worked on cow, dog, monkey and cat sounds this week. She has been trying to imitate me which is adorable. Her little eyes study my mouth and her lips mimic me while I make the sound. She has been calling Brad and I both "mama" lately. So Brad has been correcting her and saying "dada" when he is around, and sure enough, in Home Depot when Brad was at work she said Dada and pointed to a man. She is starting to associate men with dada and women with mama. But she is very clear when she wants only me because she will say Mommy.

Well we haven't gone on our morning walks since Tuesday because at my check up they said I was 3 cm and Brad is leaving town this weekend for a retreat so I decided to pull myself back a bit so that I don't go into labor while he is gone. We are both nervous about that, but I'll probably be that person that is 3 cm for 3 weeks. ha! After that appointment we put our to-do-list in high gear and finally packed our bags for the hospital, put the baby's car seat in the car, and moved Annabell's over. She plays with his car seat a lot, she thinks it's pretty interesting that she is on the side now. She likes to try and push the buttons on the car door, so now I drive with the window locks on. We packed a bag for Annabell too for when we go into labor. It has her "big sis" shirt ready to go!

Well I better get to my to-do-list chores before Annabell wakes from her nap! Love y'all!

Church

2008-09-21T09:09:00.001-07:00

Annabell talking on her phone...

Josh with his daughter Briana with her cute smile!

Annabell at church talking to her friend Gracelyn.

Well we woke today around 9:05am. I can't believe I slept that long. Annabell went to bed late once again because we had a church function, so that could of helped her sleep more. Once up we started our Monday routine. I sat her down and got her milk and we both sat for a minute while waking up. I then text my neighbor and asked if she wanted to go walk. She called me immediately and asked why I text her, because it was Sunday and they were at church! I don't know why I was thinking it was Monday. I was just about to call Brad and ask him how his work day was going! ha. So needless to say, off to the races we went. I rushed getting ready for church (we were about 15 minutes late). I threw Annabell into an adorable dress and then out the door we went. I took her to the nursery where she cried because she hadn't even had breakfast but they were kind enough to feed her. And then into the service I went. Then I found out that I was going on stage last minute because a video we recorded in the week about prayer wasn't working. So disheveled looking we went on stage and talked. Ha. All I could say to the congregation was if I knew I was going up on stage I would of done my hair! ha. Anyways, Annabell inquisitiveness and rapid learning is really blown me away lately. I was watching a small groups kid's on Thursday and as our neighbor came to our house to drop off his daughter and Annabell yelled out "Bekah" as she walked in, which is our neighbor's daughter's name. The dad couldn't believe she said it! It was too cute. She also now signs for "please". She loves to shake her head and mouth the word yes when we ask her if she wants something. She also has started to become independent and clingy at the same time. She has always been independent, she will roam around the church from place to place, or follow the big kids around and start playing with them. But now if she is tired at all and I take her to the nursery or she is with daddy and sees me she will yell out " Mooooooooommmmmmmmmmyyyyyyy!" and start to cry. Which is warming to me but also hard because I want to comfort her but I know it isn't something I want her to develop too much, because I want her to do well with babysitters and Sunday school etc...which she does as soon as I'm gone or if she is NOT tired.

She also has been eating with utensils very well lately. She even is good about carrying around a cup of food or drink, although she waddles when she walks so a lot of the water spills.

I just remembered, she also does a "Miss Piggy" face which is hilarious. I will try to get it on video tonight. Love y'all!

Here is a very bumpy video of me trying to hide from Annabell so she will walk to me and stop playing in the hall way at church.

Bubbles and Gymnastics

2008-09-19T10:11:00.001-07:00

Today I took Annabell to a gymnasium that has a 0-5 years open play from 10:30am-11:30am. She absolutely loved it. She ran across the trampolines with the bigger kids and would fall down and let the older kids bounce her while she laughed. She would throw herself onto the soft mats and went down the slide which was pretty fast, in the pre-k area. It was such a good work out for her that I would like to take her more often. She did begin to get sleepy around 11am since it was about an hour after her normal nap time.

She has been really enjoying bath time lately, well she always has but she has been really enjoying playing with the water. She now blows bubbles in the water and "swims" on her belly. I took some video of her blowing bubbles but she wouldn't swim while I was recording, she was too into putting her letters and numbers into her water bucket. That is a favorite pastime as well.

She has a red puffy left eye today, it looks like she could have a sty. I'm not sure though since I've never had one. Say a prayer that it goes away on it's own so I don't have to take her to the doctor, or if you have any suggestions let me know. I'll try to post a picture of it later. Love y'all! I'm having difficulty posting the video so I'll try later.

Long Days

2008-09-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well I don't believe Annabell has gone to bed before 8pm for about 4 days in a row. This is very late for her especially since her naps have been short lived do to so much running around. This has made for a very tired baby girl. Her little eyes get rings of red around them when she's tired, and sometimes dark circles like her daddy's when he is tired. She doesn't sleep very well in the car so she seems to wait until we get to where ever we are staying and then she is so tired that she asks to go to bed. It was 9pm before she got to go to sleep tonight. So when we got home we skipped bath time and put her into some pajamas (complements of Rebekkah, neighbor) and down she went. She is learning so much lately! I can hardly keep up with all she is learning. She learned the sign language for book, although it would be hard for a stranger to notice it. Mommy can tell it a mile away though. She also said Ba-By tonight at Briana. Big pop was my witness though, he even called it out first that she said it. She is becoming so gentle with babies, she is much calmer around her cousin Briana. We were at G-ma's and Big Pops tonight for G-ma's birthday dinner (let's just say too tired moms with no idea how to cook sea food were cooking and apparently I think a family of 7 needs the amount that you have on thanksgiving...too much, ha ha... Adie I know you know what I'm talking about! ha ha). Anyways, she was around Briana a lot today and the only time we had to caution her was when she wasn't paying attention to B while playing. For example she was trying to pick up a little chair and move it, but she would try and move it over B's head....a bit scary. But besides that she is doing much better which makes me excited about how well she will do with her brother. Well here are some pictures of her ready for bed...love y'all!

So funny

2008-09-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

Annabell truly has her fathers personality traits! She is so funny. Always running around trying to make people laugh. Or if she hears someone laughing she will start to laugh (fake) and try to keep them laughing. It is such a good quality, I hope she holds on to it. Today was a weird day schedule wise. She woke up about an hour earlier than normal, and then I had to keep her from napping so she could go to our bible study next door. She was tired before it even started so needless to say she wasn't a happy little girl during the study. She did become a little more at ease after most the kids left and it was just her and Bekkah playing. We danced for a while to some really cute kids music and then went home. She was then overly tired so she woke up during nap a few times but I kept her in her crib until I was rested from mine. I know, I felt horrible because she took a 3 hour nap! ugh...but it was the only nap she had that day, and I had to rest, I too was tired from waking early.

Our Alumnus (proper word??), Milligan, sent us a shirt when we announced Annabell's birth. It was adorable but too big until recently. She wore it today, and I was actually really proud that she had it on! She was too cute running around with her pony tail and T-shirt. Speaking of which our 5 year reunion is coming up! OH MY! I am SO upset that we won't be able to go, but it is for a great reason, the birth of our son! I think I'm most upset because there is going to be an alumni soccer game vs. the current team! We might kick their butts, they'll out run us but we learned dirty tricks from Garvilla! hahaha...all my old team mates that read this should get a kick out of that memory! Ha! Well here is a video of Annabell using her spoon this morning, she actually was using it much better before I started taping, that's what motivated me to get the camera, she was even scooping the yogurt, but she became fascinated with her fingers shortly after the taping began. Love y'all! Oh p.s. She said "done" today, which was exciting to hear.

Hugs...Yes...and Shower...

2008-09-06T18:36:00.001-07:00

(Sleepy baby with her binki and "dolly" which are used for napping and bedtime, she loves rubbing the silk tag on the "dolly's" butt)

Annabell has really been expressing her own personality lately through her expressions, laughter, and actions. She walks around the house always happy and I am truly amazed that she can ALWAYS find something to get into. It's worse when I have the house clean and all of her toys put up, because then she starts looking for new and interesting things, which she usually finds, and are typically off limits. Her listening and obeying has really developed, I was going to say improved but she is just learning how to do it, so I guess I have nothing to compare it to. Today I had a baby shower given by G-ma and Deena. It was wonderful! There was a beautiful blue diaper cake there with lots of little goodies likes spoons, powder, etc. Annabell thought it was so neat to pull the goodies off. So I would say, Annabell don't touch and then put it back. She would proceed to listen and put the spoon back...everyone was so impressed and then she would go to the next item. So she is listening, but she thinks that once she has obeyed she can proceed to touch it again since she already obeyed. It's pretty funny, but I'm trying hard not to let her see me laugh. That is a huge task for me, because she is just like her daddy, she LOVES to be silly and make people laugh. So she will put a sock in her mouth and run around like a doggy and stick her jaw out to show me she picked up the sock like a doggy. It is so incredibly cute and funny, but I don't want her putting those things in her mouth so I will try hard to tell her not to do it while keeping my composure. She looked adorable today. She received some wonderful hand-me-downs from our neighbor's little girl Rebekkah. I put her in a "frilly" dress for the first time since she was a baby and absolutely adored it. She would sway and rub her hands over the frill. She seemed to feel extra special in her dress. When we arrived to the shower she climbed up on a chair and sat for about 20 minutes all on her own. Everyone wanted to know how I got a 1 year old to behave like that, but their guess was as good as mine! ha. She didn't get much of a nap so when we got home she took a two hour nap and then we went to the park. I should have known better then to let her play in the dress. She couldn't climb a thing because the dress was so long. So I ended up tucking it in the back of her diaper. Her favorite past time at the park lately has been the slide. She had NEVER gone down the slide willingly until last week. I really believe it was because the video she watched of her cousin sliding down the slide. She watched that with me in aw, and then the next day we went to the park, and while climbing on the jungle gym she came across the slide and sat down in front of it and looked at me (this was a big slide too, taller than i am), I ran down the stares and stood at the bottom, and she pushed herself down! It was adorable! She was laughing and so happy. She then tried to climb up the slide and do it again. We played on it for several minutes until I got tired of putting her back at the top. So now it's one of her fav. past times when we go.
She had a playdate with her friend Mason the other day. They were so funny together. Annabell now LOVES to give hugs and kisses. The hugs are her putting her head down on the person and saying "awwww" and then the kisses are all open mouth and sloppy. She even stuck her tongue out and licked brad the other day, it was funny. Well when Mason came over he ran over and hugged her and it knocked her down, so she began to cry, but got over it quickly. So later she got excited and ran over and began to hug Mason and knocked him over and he began to cry. She also had a great pony tail in that day that almost lasted 20 minutes, I was so excited that her hair is almost long enough to stay. It actually is long enough but since she throws her head on the couch to pull her self up it falls quickly. Here are some pictures of my hard work..ha..

And last but not least she is officially nodding her head yes. She did it the other day when I asked her if she wanted something but I was convinced it was probably a fluke accident. But today she clearly told me yes when she wanted to do a few things. I love that she understands so much now! She is also becoming really good at pointing out people in pictures and things in books...elmo and birds are favorites of hers! Well I think that is all for now even though I'm sure I have forgotten plenty! Love y'all!

pretend

2008-09-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to quickly note that Annabell started today to pretend for the first time (atleast the first time i have noticed). She was walking around with a lid that looks like a bowl and a pen and stirring her pretend food. She then would put it to her mouth as if she was eating it and then she came to me and started to feed it to me too! TOO CUTE!

Library

2008-09-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Library for the 2nd time ever. They have an all ages story time at 9:30 am every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It was great. Annabell loves going to the library! They even have a little door that the kids can go through when the lady opens up the class room. I love that she is in a structured setting. They read 2 stories, sing songs, and today they even played musical instruments. Annabell sat well for a while and then wanted her milk, which mom totally forgot, so I had to distract her a little. We returned our first set of books which went over well with Annabell, and picked up 3 more. Although she preferred the sesame street books she already has. So hopefully these new books will peak her interest a little more. By the time we got home she was ready to crash. I couldn't find my camera to take pictures of the Library event. She goes with her two friends, Abigail and Bekkah. They are both older by about a year and a half so she tries to copy what they are doing. One of the librarians seemed happy to see us go! ah. But I find it hard to believe that she expects 2 2 year olds and a one year old to whisper after story time and playing with musical instruments. We also have been at the park a lot as normal. I took some video of her playing, and her getting ready to go on our daily walk (i'll have to post it later, it's being difficult!). Lately I haven't been able to walk (this week) as much do to some pain. I am hoping that it will go away soon, or my doctor tells me some magical answer that I haven't thought of, but I have the feeling I'll have this pain for the rest of the pregnancy. Oh well, it has been an absolutely great pregnancy so far. I shouldn't complain that i finally feel something. Speaking of the pregnancy, Annabell is starting to hear the word "brother" and "bubbi" a lot. We are trying to get her use to his room and his clothes, etc. She seems to be doing great. I'm sure the big hurdle will come when I can't play a lot for the first two weeks. Hopefully she will have a lot of play dates then so other kids can help her run out her energy. Love y'all!

Hot Days!

2008-08-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

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!