where's my little girl???

(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!

Sick

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.
  

Prayer

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!

Happy Valentines day...sick girl

('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!