The Elf Gets Dunked

The Little Elf

This past Sunday Miss Annelise was baptized. Technically she was sprinkled, not dunked, but I thought dunked made for a better title. Our good buds, John and Brea videoed the event, so as soon as Dave shows me how to upload video clips I will post it. In the mean time you can just get some wonderful pictures.

Annelise wore the dress that Hadleigh wore at her baptism, which was the same dress that I wore when I was dedicated 31 years ago. If you want to know more about our views on baptism, and get more of a sense of how it goes, you can click here to see notes from Hadleigh's baptism. The link takes you to what David Stoddard said when Hadleigh was baptized, the vows are the same.

One more fun thing is that our family loves the song by Stuart Townend called "In Christ Alone". I have mentioned this multiple times on the blog. It is one of the songs we sing to Hadleigh when she goes to sleep, so when Hadleigh was baptized I requested we sing this song (since Dave helped lead worship, it was an easy request). At church yesterday we sang not only "In Christ Alone" which I also now sing to Annelise, but we also sang two songs that we sang during our wedding, "Thy Mercy My God" and "At the Name of Jesus". It was very special to be taken back to Hadleigh's baptism and also to our wedding day.

We had been taking bets on what Annelise would do during her baptism. I just KNEW she would cry the question was when. Would it be when we walked onto the stage, when I handed Annelise over to John, or when she sprinkled with water. As it turns out she was a perfect angel and did not cry at all.

It was a wonderful blessing to have my parents and Dave's parents here, as well as Dave's sister Angie, her boyfriend, Ron, and Dave's nephews, Jon and Jacob. After the baptism we all went out to lunch at Monterrey's...it was fab.

Miss Hadleigh Claire Is 25 Months

So, Hadleigh Claire is now 2 years and 1 month. She is so interactive, alive, inquisitive and hilarious! She has started to talk non-stop. Sometimes you can understand what she is saying and sometimes it is just jibberish. She likes to talk about all the things she sees, books she is reading, and anything and everything else. She loves to sing "Winkle, Winkle, little star" and "the wheels on the bus go ron and ron".

Our evening routine has added a few more songs to it. We now sing "Peace Like a River" and she knows all the words and motions and knows when you have mixed them up...it is not love like a fountain! It is love like an ocean! She also now consistently bows her head and folds her hands to pray. At the end she always sasy "Jesus!" It is sweet.

We have a lot of the normal 2-year-old stuff going on. An occassional tantrum, a bout of defiance, testing the limits...seems normal. We continue to seek how to best discipline her and train her. It is hard, and sometimes drives me nut-so. Sometimes I think, goodness, if there is drama between HC and I know at 2-years what will it be like at 14. OOOh! But she is so super sweet and we seek to really give much love and grace in the middle of everything.

Reading is the number 1 priority in the day. Whenever Annelise is sleeping we try to sit down together and read several books. She could really do that all day long. It is amazing. All of her board books are out in her new playroom where she can sit and read to herself, and the big girl books are in the family room where I can read them to her. We recently bought a kiddo Bible called "The Big Picture Story Bible" and it is fabulous at pulling all the "stories" together to show that the Bible is one big story. It had been recommended to us, but I was thinking it would better once she was a little older. However, she LOVES it and will sit and listen to several chapters at a time.

She likes to run, which is a more waddle, quick walk than a run. When I ask her to come to me, she will say "Run?" and I will say "Fast" and then it looks like she is starting a race and she will come straight to me. Being outside is a favorite part of the day, and she loves exploring our new backyard and all the little bugs and animals that live back there. She also likes watching the planes and helicopters that fly overhead and listens for the train and fire trucks to go near the house.

She is not a frilly, girly-girl. She is so tough it always surprises Dave and I. Last summer she got stung by a bee and never shed a tear, after that we knew she was a tough cookie. This past week she was out on a walk with Dad and Mom and she took a big tumble. Both knees were scraped up and her hands were scuffed, she never cried. Saturday she sliced her finger and never cried. She is tough.

This last picture is Hadleigh with her cousin, Jon. He came down for Annelise's baptism on Sunday, more on that later. Hadleigh adores her cousins, Jon, Josh and Jacob and follows them around whenever we are together.

The Elf is 5 Months

With each passing moment Annelise is getting older. I know I continue to say this about both of my girls, but they are getting so big. I feel like time passed very slowly with Hadleigh, but Annelise's first 5 months have flown by...well...in some respects. I actually have a lot of thoughts about my first 5 months of being a mama of 2 girls, but I will save those for a different post. This one is all about Annelise.

Here is the elf with Papa Froggy (my dad). Dad and Mom have been here for the last 4 weeks visiting us, and helping us with the kiddos. Annelise loves her Nana and Papa.

She is still crazy and unpredictable, but she can sure be sweet. She loves to belly laugh, and it is so fun to listen to. Annelise is very dextrous and grabs onto everything and anything. She is getting used her playmat and exersaucer and enjoys grabbing all the little animals and toys (after she got over being frightened of them). She adores Miss HC and could watch her for hours.

Her sleeping habits are bizarre. I can generally get her to take at least two naps a day, but don't ask me to tell you when those naps will be. AND even though she has her own room she still likes to take her naps on my bed. Whatev! She is sleeping 12 hours at night, but it is interrupted sleep. Sometimes she eats every 4 hours through the night, sometimes she will go 5, and this past week she did one night of 11 hours. Of course the 11th hour ended up being at 4am...and since I am used to getting up with her every 4 hours I was up at 2 and by 4 I was just CRYING and praying that she would wake up...just remember people I am nursing, and skipping 2 feedings in a row is cruel. I keep telling her to work up to it, but the night after she did 11 hours she was back to every 4 hours...so now I am working on month 5 without a full night of sleep. Ugh. My sleep "bible" says night feedings are reasonable until 9 months...so...if that is true I could have 4 more months. But I would really like a night of sleep before that time.

She is showing signs of being able to soothe herself. This seems to be a fairly new development. Usually when she begins to cry it is downhill and quickly downhill. But the last couple times she has gone down with some crying she has been able to calm herself down...GREAT news.

I'll tell you, my Annelise is super sweet, but she is a very difficul baby. People keep telling me I give her a bad rap, but I tell you what, once you have spent 24 hours with her you will see what I am talking about. She can go from laughing to hysterics in 1.2 seconds. When we go for walks she doesn't like the sun in her eyes or the wind in her face...or anything over head to block the wind or sun. I have never gone out with her where she has not cried. We scream through Publix, Kroger, the Farmer's Market, the mall...all of them, Target, Walmart, etc. She might start off happy, but can turn crazy quickly...and it is really hard to push a cart with a 2 year old and carry a little baby...and folks the sling doesn't work.

After a couple of days here Dad and Mom watched the girls while Dave and I went out. It took her 2 hours to get Annelise to sleep (she has gotten better at), but she said if she lived nearby she would invest in a pair of ear plugs because the girl can scream and sometimes refuses to calm down.

After one trip to the doctor he commented that he was surprised I had not called him about her. I said...well, can you do anything about it? He couldn't, which is what I figured...why call when you know the answer? Time will smooth it all out.

My fav line while out is "ooh, is she hungry?" If I had a penny for everytime someone asked me that I would be SO filthy rich! Like if there was anything I could do to make her stop don't you think I would do it? And then there is the ever helpful, "have you tried cutting out ____". Fill in the blank. I know folks are just trying to be helpful, but honestly...she was born angry. My last fav comment is when people find out she is crazy (and they know Dave and I), they get this grin on their face and ask me if she is like me... For the record, she is like Dave. Dave's mom swears Dave was just like Annelise...so I guess she will mellow out. My mom swears I was a wonderful, very easy baby...slept through the night at 6 weeks, always took good naps...hmmm. I just wonder that people think I am an angry person.

OK, enough venting about that. The thing about Annelise is, she is crazy, but she is sweet. She has just enough sweet moments to make me adore her, and make me thankful that I am her Mama. It is really hard to be her Mama and I have to work at trying to understand her, and trying to serve her in the best way possible. But I love my little, crazy, angry elf. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to love her and for making her part of my little fam.

Painting

I know I have SO much to catch up on, but for now this will have to do. Painting pictures. Last week was literally insane and I have no idea how we ever would have survived without my parents. We closed on Monday and then it was a whirlwind. Ripping out a cabinet, buying a new fridge and washer/dryer...painting...painting...painting. And oh yea, moving!



Wednesday night is our usualy Community Group meeting and since it was the first Wed. of the month we usually have a good dinner and spend time praying as a group. Last week everyone came over for pizza and helped paint the new place.

Hadleigh's Room

Courtney painting HC's room

Jeremy painting HC's room

HC's room finished
Ben painting Annelise's room
The red wall in Annelise's room after 3 coats
Annelise's room finished (the red took 7 coats)

Lisa painting the girl's bathroom

Christy painting the girl's bathroom

Bathroom finished

Because It Makes Me Smile...

and takes me back to the not-good, but good-old days of jr. high.

Jon was my fav.

House...House...House

Packers come tomorrow...here are some before pics of the house. Once we are painted and inside I will take after pictures. Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Family Room

Rec Room

Annelise's Bedroom

Hadleigh's Bedroom

Master

Girl's Bathroo

Closing

Today at 1 we close on our new house. This week is going to be insane, but thankfully my parents are here to help. We are going to try to paint a couple rooms before we move in. Will likely post pics later, but Hadleigh's room will be blue and Annelise's will be red, and their bathroom will be purple...yes, purple. It will look great people!

Movers come on Thursday to pack up and we will be into our new place in time for dinner on Friday.

The Elf Has Teeth

I cannot believe my eyes, but it is true. At 4 1/2 months, Annelise has her two bottom teeth. The other evening A was sitting on my lap sucking on her hand, and I heard a noise that sounded like a nail on a tooth. I pulled her lip down and would you believe that I saw two pearly whites? Dave freaked out and is now calling her his orally advanced baby. I actually cut my first tooth at 4 1/2 months, so she gets it honestly. HC was right on the mark and actually got her first tooth on her 6 month birthday.

This morning she rolled from stomach to back, so she has passed a couple milestones. I actually haven't done a lot of tummy time with Annelise for many reasons. One being that she mostly likes to be held when she is awake, and if I do put her down she tends to be less of a HC hazard if she is in her swing or bouncy seat...the floor just poses some threats. So before Hadleigh got up this morning I put her on her mat on her tummy and before too long she had rolled over. Exciting stuff!

Last Birthday Post

Dave's birthday was Friday, and although we still haven't celebrated it I did give him part one of his present. Our Baumholder buddies, Grant and Jess, have now moved to Georgia and started their own photo business. I asked Jess to come up and take some pics of me and the girls for Dave's birthday. You can check out the photos here. Thanks Jess, he loved them!

On a different birthday note, I forgot to post a pic of the cake that Dave made for HC's birthday party...it is a Monet.

HC also got her gift from Uncle Christ and Aunt Rubie...a coveted airplane. She doesn't like the fact that I won't let her take it to bed with her.

New Neighbors

Yesterday we participated in an Easter egg hunt in our new neighborhood. Sandy told us about it and I thought it would be a great time to meet some new neighbors before we move into our new home. We had great fun!

It took a few minutes for HC to figure out the whole egg hunt. When she found an egg she wanted to immediately open it, instead of putting it into her basket and looking for the next egg. One she did get it, she was an old pro. Dianne held a placid Annelise while Dave and I took part in the fun hunt.

We were able to meet several families, besides the two fams that we already know. We met both of our across the street neighbors, who are sweet ladies and fell in love with the girls. One of them exclaimed, "Oh, we have been waiting for a long time for you to come!" We also were able to meet two gals who live two houses down and babysit. Yes! Now I will be fighting with Sandy over them.

It was so wonderful to meet these folks and to see what we will be participating in for the next several years (decades). I really pray that the Lord will give me some wonderful relationships and community in this neighborhood.

Medicine

Recently Hadleigh has had some poopy issues which have led to some pretty horrible diaper rashes. She is now obsessed with "medicine" and "powder". She wants it on her little booty every time I change her diaper which is somewhat understandable. The other day I saw her walking around with the bottle of desitin...I should have known what was going to happen. "Medicine!"

The Elf is 4 Months

Annelise is now well into her fourth month of life. I think with everyday she calms down a bit, but it is just not quite as fast as I would like. Folks are either like, good grief, what have you done to that baby? Or, are you sure she is fussy, she is SO placid. It makes me laugh a bit, but anyone who has spent anytime with her, knows her delicate temperament.

The fourth month has brought a lot more smiles and giggles. She gets super excited when she sees me coming toward her, it is a major ego boost. She loves to run and is very dexterous, grabbing her toys, hair, necklaces, etc.

She loves Hadleigh and watches her constantly, and gets big kicks when Hadleigh comes over to ask her to play. Very sweet.

Her napping is still bit unpredictable. I know she will take some naps, but cannot completely know when the nap will be. That is a little frustrating, but I am trying to roll with it. She STILL is not sleeping through the night which is a bit frustrating. Last week she did sleep 7 hours two nights in a row, but of course I woke up wide awake at 3 each night. I know she can do it, so we will see what this new month brings.

When we were up in TN visiting Dave's parents we looked at Dave's baby pictures. Annelise is the spitting image of her Dada. Pretty wild!

New Stats

Both girls had check-ups yesterday. It was Hadleigh's two year check-up and Annelise's four month check-up. All went well, except for Annelise's five shots...ouch! Although Hadleigh got one shot, she did not even cry...such a tough chica!

Hadleigh weighed in just under 28 pounds and was 32.5 inches tall. That puts her at 60% for weight and 25% for height.

Annelise weighed in at 12lbs. 12oz. and 24.5 inches tall. That puts her at 60% for height and 30% for weight.

OK, these are my rough estimates based on a growth chart I found, because my pediatrician will not tell me percentages...I guess he is trying to minimize the worry.

The House

So, I thought I would write a couple words on my new house. It is in a cute little neighborhood that I actually used to go walking in when I was single. There are two families from our church who live in the 'hood and we hear that there are several families with kiddos under four years old. That is perfect for us!

It has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, as someone mentioned yesterday I am going to go broke buying shower curtains. This will give Annelise her own room until she calms down and decides to start sleeping through the night. At this rate I think it might take until she is 5. There are three bedrooms on the top floor and one on the main floor. Other than bedrooms it has a living room, a dining room, a kitchen with a breakfast area, a family room, a "media" room (this is for Dave's coveted projector screen TV), laundry room, etc. The yard is cute and flat and fenced, and it is all all preped and ready for a screened in porch. All the bathrooms are mostly white (not pink or green or orange) which is super nice. The kitchen has new appliances, though the cabinets leave a little to be desired, but all in good time. So, basically the house is the perfect combo of done and needing to be done. We don't have to gut and rebuild, but Dave will have several projects that he will enjoy doing...bathrooms and kitchen. I am so glad I married MacGyver.

I am excited about the large living spaces because it will give us more room to host things, which we love doing. It just feels super tight in our current digs. We might be able to fit all 16 folks from our CG into one room comfortably.

Of course the downside to all this is we have zero furniture, so the rooms will look bare for a while. But I refuse to let my house be overtaken by toys...I actually don't have enough toys to take over a house...thank goodness! On that note, I am a little toy-averse, but that is a whole other story.

I have booked our movers, so as the lady told me yesterday I don't have to do anything to get ready for this...I LOVE that. As my good Baumholder friend, Lisa told me, one time they packed a bag of trash and unloaded it at their new place. Not that I want them to pack trash, but the point of paying someone else to pack is that I don't have to do one single thing. Of course we will prepare, but that is because I want to, not because I have to.

That is the story, we continue to pray that the Lord would be glorified in our new place, that we will use it to honor him, and that it will be a safe, peaceful place to all who enter.

We move in on the 4th, 4 weeks from today.

House Inspections

I have heard varying reports about home inspectors, but yesterday I was convinced that our home inspector was awesome! Our realtor, Daryl Sims, is an old MTW buddy of mine. He was a missionary in Romania for two years and then came back to the office and worked in my department. A few years ago he left and became a realtor and when I heard that I knew we would want to use him. He is also very meticulous, so when he recommended our inspector I knew he would be good, I just did not know he would be THIS good. If you are ever in the market I can make the connection. Even Dave was impressed, and it is hard to impress him about these things because he knows so much about houses.

Yesterday at playgroup someone asked me what made this house stand out among the rest, and my answer was a little funny. This is the first house we visited that did not have mold. Dave has an amazing sniffer. He literally walks into a house and says, "hmmm, mildew!" It was so annoying when we were looking at houses. I finally just told him to stop talking about mold because every house in Georgia is going to have mold with its generally wet, humid weather. But don't you know, our inspector who is mold certified remarked how surprised he was that he did not find mold. Score for Dave.

So, after our lengthy discussion with the inspector he told us how impressed he was with our choice and the house. He said the potential and the possibilities were great. I took that as a compliment since I figure this dude sees a lot of houses, and a lot of crappy houses. So, if he thinks it is good I am happy. Turns out he is also an architect, so Dave said this morning that he wants to hire him to draw up a couple of our home projects, namely the kitchen and the master bath. We hope to see him again.

That is all good news on the house front as there is nothing to stop the show. There are still two tests that will come back next week, lead paint and radon, but we are hoping for the best. We know the house has lead paint...because it was built before 1978 and everything built before 1978 has lead paint, but we are hoping it won't be extensive. Also the cross ventilation under the house is amazing (according to dude), so he was hopeful that the radon reading would be OK, though apparently you never can tell.

It's just got to make you feel good when the inspector tells you it is a great house. Yea! We are super happy.

Offer Accepted

Well, after several disppointments, we found a house on Friday, made an offer and are now in contract to close on March 31.

Miss Hadleigh Claire Turns Two

This past Friday, Miss Hadleigh Claire turned two. Can it really be that I have a two year old? We had several celebrations, the first was with Dave's family last weekend. She got a new pink and purple bike, and Aunt Angie gave her a pink rabbit ("yabbit" from Build-A-Bear). Tuesday playgroup met here and I made little cupcakes. Wednesday I took cupcakes to her school. Saturday we had a bunch of friends over for a partay! I was all excited because I found a great deal on a jumpy moon walk and thought it would be great fun to be outside with a cookout. Although it was 70 on Friday, it was 25 and snowing on Saturday, so we had to cancel the moonwalk. Ah well, Dave still grilled and we still had friends over, so all in all it was a success.

So, now I will update on Hadleigh. She loves to jump. I'll say, "one, two, three, jump" and she will do this sort of skip step with a HUGE grin on her face. She still isn't terribly coordinated (hmm...crazylegs jr?), but she likes to "run fast" which basically means she moves faster than a crawl. She has become proficient on steps. I also began to notice this month that when she walks she leads with her belly which makes her waddle. It is pretty cute.

Her vocab is widening everyday. She will count to ten when she feels like it. SHe now consistently answers "two" when I ask her how old she is. Sometimes she would say "be"...I don't know? I love listening to her read her books as she goes through each of them naming each thing she sees..."oooh, monkey (then makes the monkey noise), star, hand, frog, frog? frog". If she cannot find something she puts her two hands together with her palms up and with a questioning voice says, "giraffe?" as in where could it be? She also likes to play peek-a-boo with us. She will ask us where something is, while all the time it is behind her back. She knows her shapes and she knows her colors (though she likes to call everything yellow or pink).

Naptime used to be a favorite time, but now when I put her down she cries, "play, play, plaaaaay" which makes me giggle a little.

She loves her little friends and it is sweet to hear her talk about them and give them hugs and get excited when she sees them. She loves Jacob and Brennan the best.

Dancing is still a fav past time in this household. Her fav CD is by our church buds, Jeremy and Laura with her fav song being "Star of Bethlehem." We just got the ABC album by They Might Be Giants, so I think that might quickly become a favorite too. When she wants to dance she says, "Shake? Shake?" That is mostly because I tell her to shake her booty, that is in honor of Susan Nichols from my days are Reach Out.

I cannot remember when this happened, but she puked for the first time recently. It was super pitiful, as she was in her crib all three times. OUt of the blue we began to hear shrieks "yucky, yucky!"

She still loves Annelise and wants to see her and play with her. On Saturday I had Annelise is her swing and when I walked into the room, Hadleigh had stopped it from swinging and was leaning over the seat into Annelise's face talking to her and laughing.

Reading is still the fav past time. Some of her new favs incluce Marvin K Mooney and the new Elmo counting book she got for her birthday.

She adores Sesame Street and knows most of the characters. It is super cute because she treats the characters like animals...as in when she says monkey, she always makes a monkey sound to go with it. When she sees Count, she says, "Count, ahh ahh ahhhh" and Elmo is, "Elmo, la la lala". She also lives Ernie, Berk and Grover, which she cannot pronounce so she just squeals when Grover comes on the screen.

Alright, the little miss is up, and she is asking to "Shake!"

Too Much

I know...I have much to catch up on! We have had four monumentous events in our household that I need to cover.

1. Last weekend Miss Annelise Louise got to meet Miss Asher Elizabeth. I actually need Elaine to send me pictures of this one, and actually I do not even think we got a pic of the two babes together. Drat! Picture or not, after almost 14 years I was finally able to meet little Asher. My best college bud, Elaine, has been wanting a daughter named Asher since I met her on our first day of freshman orientation (we were next door neighbors...Second Glide!). December 16, Asher arrived in this world, so when we heard she was traveling down to Gatlinburg for spring break with her fam, we just had to go up and meet her.

We were able to hang out with Dave's fam on Friday and even had a little birthday party for Hadleigh Claire who is now TWO! It was great fun, and Dave's nephew, Jacob even cut out of school early on Friday to take part in the festivities (I am sure he wasn't too disappointed about missing school). She was very concerned that Boppa (which is what she calls Dave's dad) was within eye shot at all times, and had a great time playing with everyone. She loves her bike with the fancy horn and streamers!

Saturday we drove out to Gatlinburg and hung out with Brian and Elaine and their kiddos Todd and Asher. Dave and Brian quickly headed to the golf course while Elaine and I spent all afternoon talking and holding babies.

2. Annelise Louise turned 4 months on Sunday. I need to devote a whole post to that event, but I will mention it at least.

3. Hadleigh Claire turned 2. Wowee, I cannot believe it! I will write more about that later as well.

4. Today we made an offer on a house. Holy Crap! It is true. Who knows what will happen, but at least we have been able to come to some sort of agreement. I suppose we will either get this house, or not get this house. Those would be the two obvious outcomes. I suppose we will have more to tell early next week.

Those are the happenings around the McNay house. I hope to have more time to blog and time to post pics in a few days.

In My New House

So, literally we have looked at so many houses I feel like shooting myself in the head. I want to just say "my mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it..." and be done with it. That is not entirely true, but it is almost true.

Regardless of the fact that we have not found a house, I have been realizing a lot of things about my new house (where ever it may be).

1. My new house is always clean. Everything has its own place, there is never any clutter, the floors are gorgeous, etc.

2. My new house is quiet. Everyone takes naps when they should, and sleeps through the night without any issues. No one ever cries for no apparent reason...no one ever wakes others up by being too loud.

3. My new house is perfect for having people over. It will comfortably fit the 30 people who are now regularly attending our community group. It fits Dave's coveted wall screen projector. And when the Stoddards come to visit again with their 5 kids everyone will have their own bedroom.

4. In my new house I will always enjoy cooking and we will never have to order out again. There will always be food in the pantry and fridge.

5. In my new house we always excercise and eat right. We will LOVE going out and taking walks regularly.

Anyway, you can see my freakish thoughts...somehow this new house is going to fix all of my problems...and while it might fix some of the issues (giving Annelise her own room so that she can cry all she wants in it) it won't make me want to clean or excercise...ah well. It was a nice thought.

On Sleep and Moving

A man named Greg just left my home. He was here to give me a quote. A quote on how much it would cost for his company to pack up all of my earthly belongings, put them on a truck and move them to our new home. Now, we haven't purchased a home yet...we haven't even put an offer on a house. But we are close. And I figure once we get this ball rolling it is going to be rolling fast.

Last year I made a deal with Dave. He wanted another baby and so I agreed as long as we could be moved into a permanent residence by the time the second child arrived. The Lord had other plans for us, so when I realized there was no way of buying a home before Annelise arrived I made a second deal. If I have to move with two children under two, I want to hire movers...not just to move the boxes, but to pack us up and move us out. This is my luxury item.

I graduated from college 10 years ago and in those 10 years I have moved far too many times. I moved from KY back to CA. From CA I moved to Acworth, GA...then to a sweet basement apt on Linda. After 11 months on Linda I moved to the Compound, where I lived for 2 years...my longest stay anywhere. I then lived with Bif and Kris for 3 months and then moved to Project Midvale Road for a year and a half. Back to Bif and Kris' for 3 months before my wedding...to PPN for 5 months (my only apartment experience) and then to Henschtal, Germany. We lived there just over a year before moving to Mettweiler where we stayed a year and a half...and back to Atlanta. So, let's see, that is 2 cross country moves, 2 cross Atlantic moves, and 6 moves across town. You see, I deserve this luxury.

So, we have the movers confirmed and now we just have to confirm the house...I know a little backwards, but like I mentioned I think we are close and I needed to make sure we had a solid quote and money set aside for this cost.

Onto my next subject of sleep...we are making progress! My little elf is improving, slowly, everyday. We are now on a decent schedule. The exact times varies every day, but I know generally what I can expect. Annelise goes to sleep at 6pm. The last two nights she is getting up at 9pm to eat and then again at 2am and then at 7am. So that is a 3 hour stretch and then 2 5 hour stretches. Much improved from 3 hour stretches throughout the night. I am hoping this will continue, and improve even more. She has done 5 hour stretches before and then reverted back to 3 hours, but I am hopeful this time it will stick. She is going back down for a morning nap around 8.30 for about an hour. And then will sleep for 3 hours from about 11-2. Yes! Another quickie nap from 3.30-4.30 and we are golden.

She is sleeping better, she is going into her bed (well, technically she sleeps in my bed when she naps) without protest and is falling asleep on her own. MAJOR improvements. I am SO happy. I am hoping that when we move into our new home Annelise will be sleeping well enough to have them in the same room. I know that Sar is working on Jill's schedule too. She even checked out the sleep Bible from the library to brush up on strategy. Yea! It is so nice to be on a schedule and to have both girls sleeping at the same time.

Silly Girls and Fun News

This morning I was in the other room when I heard Annelise begin to fuss. As I approached the living room I heard Hadleigh talking to Annelise. "It's OK, qui, qui, OK". Then she got reallly close to her face and started grunting. It was funny because Dave discovered that when we grunt at Annelise, she will smile. Super sweet. A few minutes later Hadleigh took out her fav book, "Little Quack" and started reading to Annelise. I hope these girls grow up to be wonderful friends. It is something I pray for every night.

Here is a fun little picture of Hadleigh being super silly. She loves to make faces for the camera and give really silly grins. She also noticed that I Was taking pictures of Annelise and wanted to get in on the action.

And here is my little Annelise. She looks a little shocked here. She hates the flash on the camera, but my house is too dark to not use it.

On other exciting news, I just got a call that we have been approved for a loan! This wasn't incredibly shocking news to us...we assumed we would be approved, I just did not think it would be this quick. We actually thought about getting approved last fall, but realized we would get a better rate if we waited. Since Dave is self-employed we needed our tax documents to prove his income. We received our taxes in the mail over the weekend, and sent them to our loan guy yesterday. Now we just have to find a house...though we have been narrowing it down... I am currently getting quotes from movers, we could be moving into a house in another month. Insanity!

Sovereign Grace O'er Sin Abounding

1. Sovereign grace o’er sin abounding!

Ransomed souls, the tidings swell;

’Tis a deep that knows no sounding;

Who its breadth or length can tell?

On its glories, Let my soul for ever dwell.

2. What from Christ that soul can sever,

Bound by everlasting bands?

Once in Him, in Him for ever;

Thus the eternal covenant stands.

None shall take Thee From the Strength of Israel’s hands.

3. Heirs of God, joint-heirs with Jesus,

Long ere time its race begun;

To His name eternal praises;

O what wonders love has done!

One with Jesus, By eternal union one.

4. On such love, my soul, still ponder,

Love so great, so rich, so free;

Say, while lost in holy wonder,

Why, O Lord, such love to me?

Hallelujah! Grace shall reign

Hallelujah! Grace shall reign

Hallelujah! Grace shall reign eternally.

I sang the words yesterday and then stopped and went back to read them. Wow. I was going to say I liked a particular verse, but could not decide on which one. Where He frees me from my sin? Where he holds me forever in his hand? Where he makes me a joint heir with Christ? Where he tells me of his love? I can't decide. It is all beautiful. Thank you John Kent for writing such a beautiful hymn!

The rest of service followed the theme of this hymn. I was excited when it came time for communion because we have started a new way of celebrating. When we did it at the Ash Wednesday service I got a little excited, and then was glad to see it wasn't just an Ash Wednesday thing. We went forward by rows to a "station" where we received the bread and wine. Tinnin explained that this also symbolizes that we come to Christ with empty hands, and we leave filled with his grace (ok, it was something probably a little more profound, but it was something along these lines). He encouraged us to really hear the words as we took the bread and wine. This always seems a little akward to me...do I look at the person giving me the bread while they say "This is Christ's body given for you." I decided I would look them in the eye as they said the words, and I found it profound. I actually started to cry. I know crazy, emotional, mommy. I do not know, but something about hearing and seeing them say the words to me was moving. So I will repeat the last words of the song...

On such love, my soul, still ponder,
Love so great, so rich, so free;
Say, while lost in holy wonder,
Why, O Lord, such love to me?
Hallelujah! Grace shall reign
Hallelujah! Grace shall reign
Hallelujah! Grace shall reign eternally.

Fostering Hope

Here is a fun little radio snipet of my dad. He officially "retired" (he actually retired from his day job 6 years ago and then worked as a volunteer pastor at his church for 5 years) from his job at the church 6 months ago, and has now filled his plate with "fun" things. In the last several years he was involved in forming an organization called ACTION (Area Christians Taking Initiative on Needs). Since retiring he has been working with ACTION and recently began to head up a program called Fostering Hope that works specifically with teenage foster children and foster children who have been emancipated.

Well, I am not able to upload the link...but in any case, he was interviewed on a radio show out in LA...8 minutes in the spot light. You can see more about the organization and about Fostering Hope on ACTION's website. Cool stuff!

Normal

It is official. Yesterday was my first normal day since the arrival of Annelise. It was glorious! Annelise took three naps in her bed. Hadleigh took her normal afternoon nap. We took a little outing to the library for a modified playgroup. I made dinner and washed the dishes before I put Annelise down at 5.45 (she sleeps in out computer room which doesn't have doors and is next to the kitchen).

While we were out a stranger even commented on how smiley Annelise was. She said "What a happy baby! Is she always this happy?" To which I responded..."No, she is actually ridiculously fussy." When the woman commented I realized that is the first time a stranger has said something nice about Annelise. They are usually telling me she is hungry, or asking me why she is screaming. Sar and I have discussed this often...why is it that when a stranger hears a baby crying they immediately assume she is hungry. I think people just feel a need to say something when a baby is screaming bloody murder. I always feel the need to correct those crazies..."No, she isn't hungry, she is just ridiculously fussy!" I am guessing that there must be crying amnesia. Once your baby leaves the crying phase you forget that babies cry for no apparent reason quite often. I promise not to let the amnesia get me.

All that to say, it was a wonderful day and I hope it is a trend to more peace in the McNay household.

Weird Things

Well, Brea asked me to write about my weirdness...I feel like my whole being is weird and odd right now...so I will put some of them down on paper. The thing about this exercise is that weird is a relative term. I had a friend in the army who thought being a missionary was weird and a hard thing to make your children endure. She found it odd when I told her some missionaries would think being in the army is weird and a hard thing to make your children endure. I generally think what I do is reasonable and what everyone else does is weird. I think that goes back to the sermon yesterday...in any case. Here are some things that I have been told are weird.

1. I like theology. I think some people think that is weird. I love reading the Heidelberg Catecism for fun! I am no great theologian, but I like knowing and understanding things. I love understanding truths about imputation and justification and federal headship and original sin. I loved reading Luther's Bondage of the Will. I do like reading things on both sides of the fence...as I read Picrilli's "Grace, Faith, Free Will" and Johnston's "Why I am Not An Arminian"...as well as Driscoll's "Radical Reformission" and McLaren's "Generous Orthodoxy".

2. I have an obsession with clean floors. You wouldn't be able to tell this currently as I cannot remember the last time I mopped the floor (and I feel sick when I think about that). But one day when I am able to run the vaccum while my children nap I will gladly go back to mopping twice a week.

3. I have a love-hate relationship with puking. It actually likes me, while I continue to hate it. But I have a LOT of puke stories. I have "christened" many countries and states and houses and hospitals. One time I was even admitted to the hospital because I couldn't stop, and they couldn't stop it. They were convinced I had hepatitis and refused to believe me when I insisted it was brought on by really painful menstrual cramps (is that too much info?). I wish I could go 8 years without puking (isn't that how long Jerry Seinfeld went?)...but alas...it is my lot in life.

4. Christy mentioned a fear of ghosts...I will have to say that I have a fear of (what I will call) the boogie man. I have an overactive imagination, and I am just sure that one of theses days he will come out from under my bed or my closet or my bathroom and get me with a knife. Dave hates this irrational fear because it makes me turn on lights in the middle of the night when he is trying to sleep.

5. I had both of my girls w/o an epidural. Though I think Annelise has scarred me for life, I was able to make it through. Some would definitely call that weird.

OK, so now I am going to ask Sar Courtney, Jess R and Lisa to post their weird things...I am so interested.

Even Wonder Woman Needs a Friend

Growing up, I loved Wonder Woman. I think when I was little I would get up super early in the morning to watch her on TV. I specifically remember watching her on TV when we lived in our green house in West Orange, New Jersey. I bet you didn't even know I lived in New Jersey. I can still sing the theme song by heart. For Christmas Dave bought me season 2 of Wonder Woman on DVD. It has been fun to watch it again. Linda Carter was amazing.

So I have had lots of ponderings on my desire to be Wonder Woman ever since Annelise was born. She has completely shattered any glimmer of hope I have ever had about being super. That has been a bit painful, but I will save those thoughts for another blog post.

At this very minute I am pondering how my life look a bit different if I had a friend. Oh, I know that sounds SO horrifically pathetic. SO before you feel too sorry for me I will try to explain my thought.

I think that part of the difficulty we have had making a decision about where to live is based partly on the fact that we don't have a real community, and I think that is a direct result of some decisions we have made, as well as our insane transition from Germany to Georgia.

1. Hadleigh and Annelise go to bed at 6pm. This makes doing things at night with other couples/families difficult/impossible (unless they come to our house).
2. We decided to become involved in a fellowship at church that is primarily singles and couples without children. We love it because, not only are they the coolest people at Intown, but they are also willing to come to our home for things (Bible study, etc).
3. I got prego with Annelise soon after we moved here and was so sick I had a hard time engaging and meeting new folks.
4. We now have two kiddos, one of which is fairly angry and it is hard to think outside of my immediate need of the moment.

Throw all those things together and we have a disconnected (as in some here and some there) group of friends. I have my playgroup friends who we see on PMO day as well as on playgroup day. I have the women I am in Bible study with one morning a week. I have the women in my community group. I have the women in the fellowship and then other folks that aren't part of any of the groups mentioned above. Would this be called a decentralized group of friends?

All of these things put together make it difficult to decide about where to live. Do we live near playgroup/Intown friends? But I really only see them a couple times a week...so would I spend more time with them if I lived near them...maybe...but not necessarily. Do we move into town and live more near our single friends...but then they all work during the day, so I wouldn't necessarily get to see them more often then I already do.

Ah...the dilemma. And now as I have come to this realization, I am not exactly sure what to do. I am not sure who I fit with, and where I belong, and it all seems bit confusing. I do feel somewhat glad to have come to some more realizations about my hesitations of moving. Maybe now that I am seeing some of the issues we will be able to come to a better decision...or maybe we will be just as confused.

Miss Hadleigh Claire is 23 Months

I know that technically she won't be 23 months until tomorrow, but since I have time right this minute I thought I better post now. Who knows what tomorrow will hold for me?

My first born is 23 months and I can hardly believe that in one more month she will be 2 years old. I am beginning to plan her party and am looking forward to celebrating.

Hadleigh's language has advanced a lot this month. She is putting words together, like "baby sleep", "Dada work" and "You're fun". She is also calling her friends by their names...Jacob, Bre (Brennan), Kate and Zack. These are just the ones she has attempted on her own. As I have mentioned before she is a perfectionist, so won't say a word unless she thinks she can really say it.

We are also teaching her responses to questions. For example I will ask "How old are you?" and I hold up 2 fingers. Her response is "Three". I will then correct her and say "No, two" and she looks at me (as if she knows exactly what she is saying and says "Three!" We are working on it. Hopefully in another month she will realize that isn't as old as she thinks she is!

I am also starting to teach her the catechism. I ask her "Who made you?" and she will respond "God" and get a big smile on her face.

Our nighttime ritual is by far my favorite part of the day. Since Annelise has been born Dave has gotten in on the action (as I cannot always be the one to sing to Hadleigh at night). Dave has taught Hadleigh some new songs, so here is the order of the evening. After her bath we read to her, give everyone kisses and go into her room. We turn on her flashing bug lights and sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider". When Dave started singing this with her I informed him that I only sing "spiritual" songs with Hadleigh as night, but she loves the song and the motions, so...we sing it every night now. After the spider song we sing "Clap your hands all ye people..." you know the one and Hadleigh claps violently. Next up is "Jesus Loves Me" which Hadleigh knows all the motions to, it is super sweet. Her favorite part is showing her muscles at the "he is strong" part. After that Hadleigh asks for "King" and then she lays her head and against my chest and we sing "Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King". Dave and I used to sing this song to her every night when she was an itty bitty baby. I love that she asks for this song by name and that she seems to understand that the song is comforting and restful. After the song we say a little prayer, always asking that Hadleigh and Annelise would never know a day without the Lord. She loves to say Amen and then we sing the Amen song. Hugs, kisses, and nose kisses follow. And she also always checks to see if I am wearing earrings...just a funny thing. And then off to bed with "giraffe" and "bears" and "dabears" and "key" (her blanket). I am glad that Dave has gotten in on the action of the nighttime routine and I think he has added a lot of fun things to it.

We have hit some fun discipline issues this month. Mostly involving her coming to me...as in she doesn't. We have polled friends and I now have a stack of three books compliments of Kris that I need to read.

She loves her little friends. If we are going somewhere I generally say "Guess who we are going to see today?" Her first guess is ALWAYS "Dada" and then after that she guesses Jacob and then Brennan. Last week as we were walking into her school, we walked in with another little boy who is in her class. She got so excited and started jibbering away at him.

Hadleigh had her first puke this month. She actually had her first 3 pukes. We now think it was due to some bad milk. Poor thing would wake up crying and saying "yucky".

Soon and very soon we are going to see the king

Soon and very soon we are going to see the king

Alleluia, Alleluia, we are going to see the king

No more crying there, we are going to see the king

No more crying there, we are going to see the king

Alleluia, Alleluia, we are going to see the king

No more dying there, we are going to see the king

No more dying there, we are going to see the king

Alleluia, Alleluia, we are going to see the king

The Elf is 3 Months

Over the weekend Annelise turned 3 months old. She has become very responsive over the last month and has been smiling and cooing throughout the day. She has a great open mouth smile that almost looks like a laugh.

She loves her baths, and now gets one every night. As soon as she gets in she is all smiles and laughs. She kicks and splashes, but HATES water in her eyes or on her face. In fact she hates anything that touches her face...the wind...a shirt...she just squirms and protests until it doesn't touch.

These days nights are getting better. She goes down at 6pm without protest, and will sleep until 6-7am. She generally gets up every four hours to eat, but sometimes will stretch 6 hours, but after she eats she will usually go back down to bed without too much trouble. We are currently working on organizing her day time sleep. According to our sleep "bible" her morning nap should develop sometime this month. Yesterday after some protest she took an hour nap (in her own bed) in the morning. Today, after much protest she took a 3 hour morning nap. I was happy and sad all at the same time. Happy that she is starting to sleep better (and not in my arms), but sad as I realized this means I am going to be limited with my time out. We will see what the nap schedule holds in the future.

I have felt like her sleep has been the most difficult part about Annelise. She has a hard time sleeping and likes to be held, and even when she is held she will not always go to sleep. I did pick up the sleep "bible" today and as I was looking at average sleep time for her age I have realized she isn't entirely off. She is about average getting around 14 hours of sleep per day. Compared with Hadleigh I feel like Annelise should be getting more sleep, but I need to be content with the 14 hours Annelise is getting.

I forgot to mention that at Annelise's 2 month appt she weighed 10.1 pounds and was 22.5 inches long. She is long and slender just like Hadleigh. Her dark hair is slowing falling out and it does look like red hair is coming in its place. Her eyes look grayish-blue, but I am not counting on that staying. Hadleigh's eyes changed a lot until she 6 months old.