funny

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!

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.
  

Smart Cookie

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

1. 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
2. She is saying a ton of things. Pretty much everything. I can't even keep up.
3. 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.
4. She is a huge help with her brother and cousin, she gets me spit up rags, binkis, bottles and more upon request.
5. She actually will get Ford his binki (mimi) any time he begins to cry.
6. She sits at the table with us (on top of a towel because of her mess) and eats with a big girl fork.
7. 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.
   
8. 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!

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!

Uh-Oh!

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!