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!

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.