The Elf is 14 Months

Annelise is 14 months and she is officially a walker! I can't believe that a baby of mine is walking before 18 months! This is SO fun. Annelise has been cruising since, oh, 8 months? Last week while we were with my grandmother she began to take two steps between Dave and I. Uncle Alan kept saying she was going to start walking any minute. This week, while Dave's parents were visiting, Annelise began taking up to 10 steps at a time. She even will be sitting in my lap, stand up and walk across the room on her own. Wow. Hadleigh had fun running between Grandma and me, while Annelise walked between us. Fun news!

Annelise added two more states to her sparse travels (poor thing) with our trip up to New Jersey and New York. This brings her state count up to 7, and poor thing has never been out of the country. We do hope to remedy that this year.

Annelise LOVES Hadleigh. She squeals with joy when she sees her which is SO fun to watch. It is amazing to see them play together quietly. Annelise has begun to pretend with the help and encouragement of Hadleigh. She will take a "drink" out of an empty cup and pretend to put food in her mouth. The other day HC and Annelise were sitting at their new kitchen and HC was handing Annelise some pots and Annelise was putting "food" into the pots. It was amazing.

While Annelise love HC, she also is an antagonizer...hmm...Dave? She likes to hit HC, and has to be reminded to "touch nice" which she will do when prompted. She does other things to irritate Hadleigh, and it is pretty funny to watch (one of those moments when you chuckle to yourself because chuckling out loud would be inappropriate). As my grandma said last week, Annelise has a loud voice. It is true, but it can also be a swet voice.

She is still my cuddle bug. Oh, I love a good Annelise cuddle. She is also a great kisser and gives some major smooch on the cheek.

The Elf is eating better these days, which is a much needed relief for me. She still likes to throw food everywhere (thus the plastic under her chair), but she is at least eating SOME of the food on her tray.

She loves to sing along with Hadleigh and she loves to say "Daddy!" She loves her blanket and her special bunny. She has a mullet. That is all I have to say about my elf.

New York, New York, It's a Wonderful Town!

On Christmas Day we jumped on a plane and headed to NYC. OK, we headed to New Jersey, actually, but we had a fabulous view of Manhatten from our hotel room. The purpose of our visit was to see my Grandmother, the girls Great-Grandmother Gladys Claire, whom Hadleigh Claire is named after.

I must admit our last big trip/vacation to Asheville was a bit of a nightmare, so I was not sure how this MAJOR trip was going to go. But it was more important for us to see Grandma, so we made the plans. Apparently I come by my planning/organizational abilities honestly because from the time we mentioned the trip to Grandma, we had weekly conferences to plan out every detail.

We left on Christmas Day and arrived in time for a wonderful lunch at Grandma's with all my favorite food. My grandmother lives in an awesome apartment that has an incredible view of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, and upper Manhatten. After the girls napped we jumped into Grandma's car and drove to the hotel which was a great find, thanks to my Aunt Kathy. We also had a magnificent view of the city and our rooms even had a kitchen! There were tons of shops and restaurants within walking distance and even a little park, so it was a great place to stay.(the view from our hotel room)

On Friday we met up with Grandma for lunch and then went to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Alan's for a real Hanukah dinner...yummy! Brisket, latkes, oooh yum! It was so fun to visit my family and to have the girls spend some time with them. Annelise LOVED Aunt Kathy, and Hadleigh is still talking about Great-Grandma Gladys Claire.

(Annelise and Aunt Kathy)

Saturday we drove into the city and visited the American Museum of Natural History. This is my fav museum. I remember going there as a child, and it was still as amazing. The museum is 4 city blocks long! Hadleigh LOVED every minute that we spent there, and asked me today about going to the museum again. Grandma, of course, is sure this a sign that she will be a great scholar.

(Dave and the girls in front of a dinosaur in the AMNH)

Sunday was a very special treat, Grandma, AUnt Kathy and I went into the city for brunch at Tavern on the Green. I haven't been there in years. In fact the last time I was there was winter time and we walked from Great-Grandma Pigeon's apartment on Central Park West to TOG. I remember holding Grandma Gladys' hand and Dad holding Grandma Pigeon's hand. I think I was 10. We ate in the Crystal Room, which is the best room, and had a marvelous time. It was so much fun and I just love my aunt and grandma. They are so hilarious and full of life, and very encouraging...of course I am the only niece/grand daughter, so everything I have ever done has always been perfect.

It really was a fabulous trip and I look forward to going back.

Glide-Crawford Christmas 1996 Revisited

This picture is some of the RA's during a hair-dying party: Elaine (Basement), Jenny (3rd Crawford), Patty (2nd Glide), Cara (3rd Front), Ami (1st Glide), Anne (2nd Front)

Help us all, but when we moved into our new house my mom sent me everything that I left at home. This consisted of trophies from Bobby Sox (I was quite the athlete), coke cans from Israel and Albania and other randmo souvenirs from travels, as well as mounds and MOUNDS of paper. All my journals, all the notes I took in college from PSYC 100...HELP to notes about my crush in high school...SO embarassing.

Over the past couple of months I have been sifting through the mounds, recycling them, of course, and choosing what to save. It has been interesting to reminice...one thing that has been an odd thing to read about is boys...what I thought of them, and what they thought of me...I sure had a lot of letter from them...weird.

Anyway, I stumbled upon this little poem that was written by the 1996-97 Resident Assistants of Glide-Crawford. I was an RA for my junior and senior year of college. Every year the RAs plan a Christmas party for the residence hall. In 1996 we apparently read this little poem...so in honor of Koby, Marcy, Elaine, Patty, Ashleigh, Anne, Cara, Kate, Fran, and Jenny, and all the resident of Glide-Crawford:

'Twas the night before finals

When all through G-C

Not a woman was sleeping

Except for Koby

All the lights were hung

In 2nd Crawford with care

In hopes that the fire marshall

Would not come there

The books on 3rd Crawford

Were strewn on the beds

While visions of A's

Danced in their heads

Ear plugs for Ashleigh

Pink pj's on Kate

These RA's are sure

Looking great

When up from the basement

There arose such a splatter

Not girl in Glide-Crawford

Could relieve her bladder

Then up on 2nd Front

What should you hear

The drilling- you know

Those cable guys are near

And where on the building

Will you find lots of blue

Take a trip to 3rd Front

And visit Cara too

Up on 2nd Glide

Patty's Angels were crammin'

But down on 1st

The Divas (that was my hall) were jammin'

When finals are done

We'll all be so glad

Merry Christmas to all

From the Glide-Crawford Staff

Almost Done...and Crazy Sick

As I type Dave is putting up new drywall in our living room. He is such a crazy dude! We had actually planned that he would spend all day Saturday, this Saturday tearing down the old drywall. Obviously from the pictures you can see that he got antsy. He tore down the drywall last Friday, and was able to get it all off the wall in about 3 hours. It was a lot easier than he thought because the drywall was glued to the wall, as opposed to nailed...hmm... He had all the new insulation put up last Sunday, and is now finishing the drywall. We are actually going to hire someone else to mud, and hope to have that finished and everything painted by January 1. Yay! I also have several other painting projects I want to work on in the coming 2 weeks, we will see how far we get.

Other than the crazy projects, we have had some other crazy happenings this week. We have been sick. First our computer caught a virus last Saturday, what a pain! I spent all day on Monday on the phone with Microsoft working to get rid of the thing. Thank goodness for people who know a lot more than I do about computers and viruses.

Second, on Tuesday night at 6.30 after we had put the girls to bed, Hadleigh started to vomit. Booo! Neither of my girls are real sickies, so I haven't ever really had to deal with this aspect of being a Mama until this week. Hadleigh has only puked 2 other times. Once earlier this year, which was odd because she never had a fever, she just randomly puked 3 different times all during naps or in the middle of the night. The other time was actually just a couple weeks ago over Thanksgiving. That time Dave was sleeping in the same room with her (I was in the other room with Annelise), so he dealt with the issue, and taught her to "cough" in the bowl.

So, anyway, since this was a work day and it did not seem to be a one time puke, we decided that I would sleep in her room with her. Dave pulled the mattress out of her crib and she slept on that mattress on the floor and I slept on her mattress, which was also on the floor. Dave actually slept with her from 8-10 so I could watch the finale of the Biggest Loser. So, she puked about every 15 minutes ALL night long! Horrible, it was SO pitiful.

Dave came in at 5.30 and took her so that I could get 45 minutes sleep before he left for work. Ugh! Before he left he put HC back down for a "nap" and I got Annelise up and was playing with her. At about 7.15 I hear HC crying and was terrified that she had puked again...but no. Dave had forgotten to put a diaper back on HC (she is potty trained, but not when she sleeps)...so she had pooped, and you know it was a sick poop. I was SO mad as I cleaned up the huge mess everywhere. HC came back downstairs and laid down on the couch watching her new favorite "Marshall Penny" you may call the movie Mary Poppins (which is a good movie to watch while sick because when I gave her medicine, we sang the song..."just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down").

I won't go into all the other drama that happened that morning, but at 8 I got on the phone with someone and they were NOT helpful with information, so I was a bit distracted when at 8.30 HC asked to go back up and take another nap. I put her back down and continued talking to sacks of crap Barnes and Noble. About 20 minutes later (when I had ended my conv) I heard her crying again, so I went back up, and guess what. I, myself, had forgotten to put a diaper on HC, and YES, she had pooped again. Good LORD, help me! This is the point in the morning when I burst into tears. Sobbing as I cleaned up the mess I wondered how anyone ever let me become a mother. I also began thinking I cannot make it through this day, I need to call someone to help me...but I couldn't come up with anyone...so it was me against the world. I managed to pull myself together, get all my crazy Christmas packages mailed...and OH yeah, make a Hanukah dinner for my Community Group that night...it wasn't a complete dinner, since I burned to a crisp the chopped chicken liver, and did not have time to make latkes, but it all worked out...thanks to the Howes who came over early and vaccumed my family room, sliced bread, etc.

Last night Hadleigh's fever got worse, and she woke up about every hour or more until about 2am. She was having horrible dreams and wanted me to sing to her. I am exhausted, but today was a much better day. I just sat on the couch with her (and did not clean one thing or cook one thing) and we watched Marshall Penny over and over. Her fever finally broke early this afternoon, so I think we are on the road to recovery. Annelise seems to have a slight fever, but no puking...I am hoping to dodge that bullet.

Playgroup and Macy's Pink Pig

Yesterday our playgroup met at Lenox for our annual ride on the Pink Pig. The Pink Pig, which is basically a train ride, has been an Atlanta Christmas tradition since the 1950's. Most of my playgroup friends who are from Atlanta rode the Pig when they were children. Last year Hadleigh had to ride the Pig with her little friends and their mommies because they would not let me and Annelise on the the ride without her carset (you can tell from the above picture that they have gone all out to ensure the safety restraints are top notch). This year was my first ever ride on the Pig and it was everything I could have asked for and more!

Hadleigh rode by herself, and did a wonderful job. Our group even got free tickets because the register was broken and we had to wait a while...bring it on! Here we have HC playing with her buddies on one of those mall video things. She loves all the boys in our group (there is only one other girl and she wasn't able to come). Our grou pis actually about to double in size because many of the gals are prego with #2, but even with the doubling it looks like we are only going to gain one more girl. Ah well, as you can see from the pics Hadleigh can hold her own and run with the best of them. The picture below has Brennan, Jacob, Andrew, Connor, HC and Evan.

Here is HC with Connor, one of her fav buddies. They ran around and played in the plants as we waited for all the other moms to get there. They were SO cute together!

I love my playgroup and am so thankful to be around the other gals in the group. It is especially fun to see HC grow to love these other kiddos.

Miss Hadleigh Claire is 33 Months

Here she is, my big girl. She is looking so much like a little girl and not so much like a baby/toddler. Amazing. I suppose this happens as you near 3 years old! Here are a couple things I bet you never knew about the little miss...she likes shoes and jackets. As you can see from the pictures she is in her jackets. She has several different jackets or sweaters and she enjoys wearing them, even during her nap...and she likes them zipped up all the way, and even will walk around the house with her hood on. She also now insists on wearing her shoes as soon as she gets up in the morning and after her nap. Slippers will not do, they must be her pink shoes or her brown shoes.
She has been such a joy this month. We have had few discipline issues, and things have just settled into a bit of a routine, with everyone understanding expectations and consequences. I am sure that will change in an hour, but it is nice for the moment.

Here is a new one, she loves to run! I wondered if the little miss would ever go faster than a stride, but she is beginning to pick up on the whole running thing and seems to enjoy it. Sunday evening she ran home from our neighborhood Christmas party. Dave and I just laughed the whole time because it was SO cute.
I can tell HC what we are doing tomorrow and she gets really excited about it. This is a fairly new ability in the last couple of months, and I love being able to tell her about things to look forward to, like we are going to see Grandma and Grandpa, or we are going to see Great Grandma Gladys Claire, or we are going to playgroup or school.

She is still very attached to her friends, and LOVES to play with them. If it has been a while since she has seen them she will ask to play with friends. I think Annelise is beginning to meet some of HC's social needs. They are starting to play really well together and it is fun to watch. I keep telling HC that God gave her Annelise, and they need to stick together and take care of one another. It is fun to hear HC talk about sticking together. This morning when I took Annelise up for her nap, HC begged me to let Annelise play instead of nap. This is a common occurrence which always makes me smile.
I think that is about all I have to report for the big girl. Oh, one more thing...HC is going potty all by herself. I do not even go in the bathroom with her. Heaven!

Update on the Projects

So here, we are, half-way through the living room project. The picture above is the old paint with the varnished wood trim. This is what our entire house looked like before we moved in. I think I have mentioned this before, but we were trying to avoid painting the trim, but the green just looked horrible against the wood...so no choice! Below is the trim painted and the wall painted. Doesn't it look fab?
In the last picture you can see the wall to the left and the wall straight on are finished. The wall to the right is going to be ripped out and we will reinsulate and put up new drywall over Christmas. I think it will be easier to paint the trim with it in my hand, but we will see.

Riddle Me This

Last week, my buddy, Sar, told me about a shirt at Old Navy that I HAD to buy for Annelise. Isn't it great? So yesterday I went online and found it for $7.50. I decided I would just run into the store and pick it up so that I could avoid shipping. So, this morning I ran over to Old Navy, walked in and after some major searching (I think the ON near me is a bit ghetto) found the shirt, but not in the right size. Above the shirt it was listed as 2 for $12...ok, that works. I picked up the wrong size anyway, because I just wanted the shirt, and walked up to checkout. The cashier asked me if I wanted to get 2 for $12 and I said no, she then proceeded to ring up the shirt and my total was $11.24. What?

I said, "Uh-no, I thought this shirt was $7.50."

She said, "No, it is $10.50" and showed me the price tag.

I said, "It is listed as $7.50 online."

She said, "They have different prices online."

I said, "So, I can get 1 shirt for $11.24, and I can get 2 for $12?"

She started at me...and I said, "No thanks" and left.

LAME. So, the good news, I suppose, is now the price online is $6.00, and I can buy the right size...probably worth it all...but weird Old Navy...weird!

8 Things

I was tagged by Margaret, my college buddy several weeks ago...so, here are my answers FINALLY.

8 TV shows I love to watch
I don't watch much TV, but here goes
1. Survivor
2. Biggest Loser
3. Extreme Home Makeover
4. Top Chef
5. What Not to Wear
6. Anne of Green Gables (it was a mini-series people)
7. Law and Order
8. Without a Trace

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Asam House
2. The Haven
3. Rose Mexicano (yummy guac)
4. Athens (Greek Restaurant in Thallichtenberg, Germany)
5. Burg Lichtenberg Restaurant
6. Grace 1720
7. Dish (but I think it went out of business)
8. I can't think of the name, but that little Italian Restaurant in the Highlands across from Murphy's.

8 Things that Happened Today (I'll do yesterday since it is 6 and nothing much has happened)
1. Baked one of my pumpkins
2. Made cookie dough
3. Voted, and btw won!
4. Looked for a shower curtain
5. Played with the girls
6. Ate some leftovers
7. Tried to call BFF, Erica
8. Thought about painting, but did not touch it.

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Having the living room project finished.
2. Hanging out with peeps from my neighborhood
3. CO with my fam next summer
4. Visiting my grandmother in NYC
5. Christmas
6. Going away with Dave...sometime
7. Fridays, because Dave is home
8. January holds some promise for fun visits with old friends

8 Things On My Wish List
1. Going away with Dave
2. Traveling back to Europe with the girls...or without
3. My own business
4. A screened in porch
5. Shopping spree at Ann Taylor
6. A maid
7. A personal paper filer
8. Furniture/ a couch to sit on while watching TV

8 People I Have Tagged, please feel no obligation.
1. Sar
2. Lisa
3. Allison
4. Julie
5. Karina
6. Jan
7. Christy
8. Missy

The Elf is 13 Months

Here is my sweet Annelise leaning into Hadleigh to give her a hug. She is such a sweet, sweet, cuddler and I love it! She loves to give hugs and kisses and lots of cuddles. This morning I walked downstairs to find Annelise giving Dave a 4 minute cuddle, he was in heaven. This is my sweet 13 month old. She just seems to love everyone, with big squeals whenever Hadleigh or Dada walk into the room, or I suppose even if I walk into the room. It is fun to see her begin to prefer Dave which seems a long time coming. Last night she woke up in the middle of the night (her night, it was only 9.30pm), and I went up to check on her and change her diaper. In the middle of the situation Dave came home and was surprised to find her up (she NEVER wakes up). Annelise immediately wanted Dave, and so he was able to cuddle her and put her to sleep.

She is a funny girl and loves to laugh. She likes peek-a-boo and just also tickles. It is fun to get her going. She is cruising around, still, and shows no real interest in walking without help from a walker or a hand. I keep thinking she is close, but I might just be setting myself up since HC didn't walk until 17 months. We will see! With crawling she is into EVERYTHING...this is a new experience for me, because HC was fairly compliant, and never interested in climbing/getting into things. We have had to put a permanent gate up blocking the stairs because distraction does not work! And this child climbs on everything...ugh! And she touches everything...ugh! She turns off the computer regularly. You would think that I w ould learn, but she is super quick and goes in for the kill when you are least expecting it!

Have I mentioned Annelise is a picky eater? It is frustrating. I think part of the frustration is I cannot reason with her yet, as in, eat 2 more bites and you can get a treat (raisen, applesauce, yogurt), she just refuses things and begins to throw things...wow...that is maddening. I have had to learn to walk away from that...wow.

She still only has her 8 teeth, so she is a bit behind dentally...funny since she got her first teeth at 4 months! She loves to babble and regularly uses Mama and Dada. Her other words seem to be undiscernable.

Sleeping has never been her gift, so we still struggle with her naps, though she sleeps through the night like a champ, and generally is still getting up at 5.30a, which is only painful on the weekend.

She is beginning to play really well by herself which is SO freeing, and Annelise and Hadleigh have been playing well together, which is such a blessing. I do not really remember this age with Hadleigh because when Hadleigh was this age I was prego and puking and just not really into anything that was going on at the time, so it is fun to really have a chance to enjoy this age.

Here she is with the walker/stroller that Grandma and Grandpa gave her for her birthday. She only gets to play with it when Hadleigh is not around, but she does enjoy the limited time she has with the toy.

I guess that is all I have to report for Annelise this month.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! Thursday morning we jumped on the road (which was empty...thanks to everyone who left on Wednesday!) and headed up to Knoxvegas. The girls enjoyed watching "The Muppet Movie" and "Charlotte's Web" while we traveled. I love having a DVD player in the van! We made great time and arrived in plenty of time for the big meal.

My fav McNay Thanksgiving treat is homemade egg noodles...they are heaven in my mouth! Hadleigh enjoyed her first Thanksgiving meal. This was the first year that she did not nap through it.

Aunt Angie and the cousins all came over later in the day. Annelise crawled around attaching herself to everyone, while Hadleigh stuck close to Dave and I...she is shy, or at least puts on a good shy-show.

Friday we went to The Fantasy of Trees, which is a fundraiser for Children's Hopsital. There were hundreds of decorated trees, a carousel, little crafts for the kids, a sing-along (with some very bad singers...yikes), and Santa. We had a wonderful time with the girls. We did a couple of crafts, rode the carousel, looked at tons of trees.

Dave got in some fishing with buddies on Friday afternoon and Saturday, while the girls got in some good Grandma and Grandpa time. Dave and I even got out a couple of the nights alone. We saw the movie Australia, which was super fun. I am trying to think about the last movie I saw in the theatre...it's been since July.

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday.

Construction

One simple paint job has turned into a month long project! Two weeks ago we picked a paint color for our living room and instead of waiting for our time off at Christmas, Dave wanted to get right on it. The problem is that as he began to paint we realized the crazy wood trim has got to go...DRAMA...and then as we continued to deliberate he realized one wall was peeling, so we had to peel the paint off one wall...note picture above...after lots of back and forth, Dave bought a spray paint gun, plasticed off the whole room and went to town...one problem...the gun didn't work well. So he took it back and began to do it by hand (did I mention the top trim is dental molding?). OK. In the mean time he decided to take down the dry wall on two of the walls because he could feel a breeze coming through the outlets. Fortunately he has decided to wait to tear down the dry wall...well he is going to wait a couple weeks. In the mean time he is finishing up priming the trim and the wall of the other two walls in our living room. So, for the time being we are living in a construction zone. It could be worse, at this point we don't use the living room, but Dave is hoping for that to change once we finish this construction.

Cooking...

We have been busy! One of these days I will post about all our happenings over the last 6 weeks, but until then I thought I would post about my cooking spree.

Last week Annelise and I made a trek to the Farmer's Market to pick up some yummy fruit and veggies. We bought so much stuff that it took me a couple days to get it all in the fridge, I had to cook a bunch of it first! Here is a list (I am sure you are SO interested):

onions

potatos

tomatoes

avocados

serrano peppers

poblano peppers

red bell peppers

garlic

sweet potatoes

green beans

spinach

carrots

broccoli

cilantro

basil

green onions

leeks

celery
butternut squash
zucchini
rosemary
shitake mushrooms

I spent $70. After we shopped I started too cook, yea! Zucchini rosemary soup, red pepper soup, pumpkin soup, spinach mascarpone soup. I made some beans (in the crock pot which worked great-cooked on high for 3 hours and they were ready) and then made some chicken chili, turkey chili, turkey meatballs (which didn't turn out that well).

I love cooking and Hadleigh has been a great little helper. She loves to smell everything!

Here is the new kick...over the weekend I met a dietician who told me all about high fructose corn syrup, just what a mama wants to hear about! Upon hearing about it I did what any relatively psycho mama would, run home and check the lables on every piece of food in the house! I knew that the yogurt I had been feeding HC had the syrup in it, but wasn't sure about the other things in my cabinet. Fortunately I did not have a lot with the syrup in it, only a couple granola bars which have been sitting in the cabinet for several months (since I have been making my own granola bars...yummy), and maple syrup (shocker) and then the yogurt. The dietician gave me a couple ideas about how to incorporate yogurt without the syrup...unless someone knows a kind that doesn't have it...she suggested buying plain yogurt and adding jelly (that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup). I did that yesterday and the girls LOVED it. I used to make my own yogurt, but it is so easy to just buy the little containers...ah well...this is almost as easy and a bit more healthy.

I have also been a little lazy about cooking, and have been using a little more red meat than I usually like to eat. It is hard because there are just some things that are better with beef (meatballs), etc. So if anyone has a yummy recipe for meatballs without beef feel free to pass them along.

OK, Annelise is up and needs some attention...happy thanksgiving!

Star Wars

Erica sent this to me and it was just too good not to post! If you are a Star Wars fan, you will enjoy this.

Chairs

Before:

After:

Dave bought these lovely chairs and the matching table from a pub in Memphis (I think that is the story). At some point after he bought them 8 years ago he recovered them and you can see what they have looked like for the last 8 years. I decided it was time for a change, so I picked out this fabric and recovered them on Sunday. It was a fun project, one of many that are on my list in the upcoming months.

We are currently picking out paint colors for the living room, hallway/entry, and our two downstairs bathroom. Dave won't let me touch the man-room...he just wants me out and says he is going to make it his secret project (like Ty on Extreme Home Make-over). I reminded him that if he locked me out of that room for a week I would not be able to do the laundry (since the laundry room is off the man-room). He insists that he will take care of the laundry that week. We will see, though I think that room is not as close to being done as some of the others.

We are anticipating a tax return this year, so we are hoping to get another couch (so that we can watch TV on a couch, as opposed to sitting on the floor), and a couple other small pieces of furniture. I am also looking into making a couple shades for our windows, etc. It should be fun times beginning in December.

Miss Hadleigh Claire is 32 Months

I am starting to wonder what I am going to do once Hadleigh turns 3. Maybe the posts will begin to read "Miss Hadleigh Claire is 3.1...3.2..." It just doesn't seem right to say a 3 year old is 37 months. It actually doesn't really seem right to call a 2 year old 32 months. Ah well, that is for another time. So Hadleigh...

One thing I have noticed in the last month is her ability to run. The little miss did not walk until 17 months, which was totally fine. However I always felt like she has been a bit behind in her coordination (hey, who said we all have to be Flo-Jo). Her running used to be a fast waddle/walk until this last month when I have really seen her run. It still looks a little funny, but it is definitely a run. I love it! She might just be athletic afterall!

Even though she has been slow to run, she has a fabulous arm. She throws very well, straight and far and always impresses everyone. They will usually start off close to her asking her to throw the ball, and after the first throw they always back up and comment on her arm.

Hadleigh definitely has music in her future. She has almost perfect pitch which is absolutely amazing to listen to! She loves to sing, and sings all day long. Yesterday she was playing her xylophone (which she calls her violin), and she managed to pick out the notes to "Twinkle, Twinkle" and played it perfectly, AMAZING! Her favorite song this month is "Rainbow Connection". We sing it almost every night before bed, along with "Our God is so Great" which she learned in Sunday School.

After we sing at night we always talk about God and his greatness. One thing I have really enjoyed this month is her increased awareness of God. I feel like I am able to talk to her about God and she understands. It has been fun to come up with little ways to teach her scripture, or to teach her about his character. She knows the answers to the first three catechism questions..."Who made you? What else did God make? and Why did God make you and all things?" We also talk about obedience and how it is "right" to obey your parents. Another thing we have been talking about is his majesty, "Do you not KNOW? Have you not HEARD? THe lord is the everlasting God, creator of the heavens and earth." We talk about all he has made. It is fun and intense to be in this kind of discipleship relationship. Can I teach her about God, while allowing her to say fart, crap and hell? We will see.

There are a couple other things that I have been talking to HC about, kindness and truth. We are always talking about telling the truth, and reminding her what the truth is...the truth is you have to go potty (as she jumps arounds)...the truth is the bunny belongs to Annelise...the truth is youu got out of bed (as she is covered from head to toe in lotion). I am also always asking her to be kind to Annelise. Sometimes this comes very naturally to HC. She will jump into the car after preschool and immediately go over to Annelise, say hi and stroke her face. So KIND! But sometimes she has to be reminded that it is kind to share, it is kind to not hit, etc. Oh, HC knows what kind means, and we continue to pray that she will learn to love to be kind to Annelise (and that Annelise will be kind to her in return).

One more thing I have noticed about HC this month is that is incredibly social. She LOVES her friends, which is nothing new to me, but what I have realized is that she really likes to play with kids. If we go to a playground she will try to get other kids to play with her. She doesn't just want to play around other children, she wants to play with them. This month I have had the opportunity to see her play a lot with her good bud Brennan. Hadleigh loves Brennan, I mean LOVES, and it is so fun to see them squeal each others names and run after one another. It is the sweetest thing in the world.

I just love my little girl, she is the sweetest in the world.

The Elf Is One!

This post is about 8 days overdue, but I decided to wait until we had some fun pics from Annelise's first birthday party, which was this past Saturday. We had a fun time celebrating with our community group, and Hadleigh's friends Brennan and Jacob. Poor Annelise needs some friends of her own, as most of my friends decided to wait an extra year before embarking on two children...smart idea!
As usual Dave came through with a BEAUTIFUL cake, Pumpkin Spice with caramel icing...yummy! I think this might become a tradition. Annelise wore the dress Hadleigh wore on her first birthday, which surprisingly was the dress I wore on my first birthday...or maybe I wore it sometime around my first birthday. In any case, the dress is 30+ years old.
Enough about the birthday festivities, let's get to talking about Annelise! What a sweet girl she is! She is a little cuddle bug, and I LOVE it. She will be sitting on my lap and I can ask for cuddles and she will lean into me and make a little sighing noise. So sweet! When I ask for kisses she opens her mouth wide and leans in for a big smack...I try to aim her at my cheek!

She is still a bit particular. She isn't as tough as big sis, Hadleigh, and gets a little flustered when she gets bonked around. She still struggles a bit with her naps, and with eating, but we are doing our best. She seems to be a picky eater, but I am refusing to give in too much...she will learn to eat what we put in front of her.
She is a major cruiser, and will walk around the house with a little walker. I am SO excited about the prospect of having a baby that walks before 17 months! She is starting to climb which is interesting, and since we live in a split level I am going to have figure out how to handle that one. Yikes!
She is an oral baby, and everything goes into her mouth. For real? It is so gross, but not much I can do. As my friend Sar says about her Jill, I guess she is developing her immune system.

She is very persistent, and will sit at the outlet trying to take the covers off for at least 10 minutes at a time. It is so different to have a baby who is interested in those things. I know Annelise is going to be into EVERYTHING. If she is crawling and something is in her path she will pick it up and throw it behind her as she continues to crawl. This always makes us laugh, and she leaves a wake as she passes through.

She has become very social, always offering smiles and giggles which makes all our buds so happy. On her birthday she was passed from one person to another, and just enjoyed being played with and tickled.
She LOVES her big sis, Hadleigh and always squeals when HC is around. She also loves her Dada. The other day she spotted him through the window as he was walking into the house, and squealed and clapped so excitedly that I knew Dave must be home.

She loves to clap and wave hello and goodbye. She loves to babble, and loves to play with her new ball machine that Papa and Nana sent.
She loves bath time. Dave know has the girls help each other wash, so HC scrubs Annelise and Annelise scrubs Hadleigh. It is super sweet.

I love my little, particular, cuddly, social, persistent little girl, who is now 20 pounds and 28 inches (gotta love the formula to fatten them up).

My Day

My friend Jess, posted a blog last week about her day. It is always interesting to see what days look like for different people, so I thought I would post about my day Thursday...here you go.

5.45a Annelise was up. Dave fed her while I took a shower. Dave and I eat breakfast and chit-chat while Annelise "runs" around.

6.25 Dave leaves for work. I check email, strip my bed, blow dry my hair, throw the wash in the washer, make oatmeal and get Annelise's breakfast ready.

7.15 feed Annelise breakfast. Change her diaper, put her down for a nap.

7.30 get Hadleigh up for the day. Go potty, downstairs for breakfast. Make Hadleigh's breakfast.

8.00 Work on my Bible study- Romans 6, while Hadleigh plays and reads.

8.30 Pack Hadleigh's lunch, and snacks for Annelise. Stock diaper bags with changes of clothes, extra diapers/wipes. Get Hadleigh dressed.

9.00 Get Annelise up from nap, change diaper, dressed...out the door.

9.15 Get the girls in the car, remember a few things I forgot in the house, and get in the car again. Off to preschool!

9.45 Drop Annelise off at nursery and run up to Bible study.

11.30 Pick up Annelise, out to the car. We stopped by a bank (because we are looking for a new one), and asked about all their different accounts. Back in the car, and off to Wal-mart. Run in, buy diapers (using my cell phone to calculate which buy is a better deal...). Back in the car to pick up Hadleigh.

1.00 this is where it gets interesting. Pick up HC. As we get back on the road, HC begins to scream in pain, and as I look back I realize she probably has to go potty. I ask her if she has to poop. She exclaims, YES (while arching back and squeezing bootie cheeks together). We are at a light, so as son as possible I quickly pull into a parking lot, jump out of car and around to her side, but realize that since I smell something I am prob too late. I grab her potty, pull her out of the car seat, put her on the potty, and begin the clean up. Pull out the extra wipes, thank goodness for spare trash bags! I wipe everything down, put on new panties, and we are off again. As soon as we get back on the road we repeat the same process with Hadleigh. At this point we are almost home, and there really isn't anywhere to stop so I rush home. Pull Hadleigh out of the car and run her into the house and onto the potty. She begins to scream because she doesn't like to poop on the potty. I hold her down and she manages to poop while I promise her some ice cream if she goes in the potty. All is well, victory! We do the poop in the potty dance, and I tell her to jump into her booster while I grab Annelise (who is still sitting in her carseat screaming). I run Annelise up to her room and put her in bed...only to hear Hadleigh downstairs yelling again. Hadleigh has now pooped in her booster seat (to give her credit, she would have run to the potty, but she had strapped herself in so was stuck). I took her to the potty again and cleaned everything up. NOW it is time for ice cream. We also called Dave so Hadleigh could tell him that she pooped in the potty.

1.45 Everything is cleaned up and Hadleigh is finally in bed. I make myself lunch...FINALLY, and sit down (think I have earned it). Fold laundry...check email...fold laundry...check email...file papers, pay bills.

3.30 Annelise wakes up. Change diaper, feed bottle, play.

4.00 Hadleigh wakes up, immediately gets a consquence because she has gotten out of bed and is covered from head to toe in lotion. Clean her up, and try not to gag from the overwhelming smell of lavender.

4.30 THANK GOD, Dave is home!

5.00 Dinner for the girls. Baths, Annelise goes to bed.

6.00 Dave leaves again to go to hockey game, I put Hadleigh down, we sing, talk about how great God is, and I give her kisses and hugs.

6.30 I think REALLY hard about ordering chinese, but decide to save my money and make tomato soup...comfort food.

7.30 Do massive amounts of dishes left over from day, and community group the night before.

8.00 Survivor...thank goodness my pick-Sugar- is still in the game AND has the immunity idol.

9.00 check email, make bed, clean kitchen, find recipe for Annelise's birthday cake, make list for grocery store run for Annelise's birthday party and for another party I am having on Monday for a friend.

10.00 Dave gets home, and off to do a Sudoku puzzle and go to bed. (I do usually go to bed earlier, but...)

Happy Halloween

We had a fun time celebrating Halloween with the girls last week. We like giraffes! Hadleigh was a giraffe her first Halloween, and since Annelise is on the small side (no we are not worried about her size), she was able to fit into the size 6 month giraffe outfit this year. Last year I bought Hadleigh a new giraffe costume in a size 24 months. Amazingly, she was able to fit into the same costume this year! Wonderful! So, three years in a row, HC has been a giraffe. Maybe next year we will branch out, but it was super cute to have 2 giraffes this year. And maybe, just maybe we can stay far away from princesses...not trying to offend anyone here, we just aren't really the princess type (at least so far we aren't).

Last Wednesday we had our Playgroup Halloween Party here. It is always a little chaotic, but we all made it out alive, which is a positive. Hadleigh and Annelise like to be surrounded by boys, as you can see.

Here is HC with two of her fav buddies...I mean who wouldn't like hanging out with Superman and a real, live Cowboy?

Hadleigh had her first trick or treat experience on Friday. Dave took her up a couple houses on each side...she is really excited about the whole idea of candy.

Here are a couple pics from Halloweens gone by...above Hadleigh on Halloween 2006...below Hadleigh on Halloween 2007.

We Voted

Wow, my arm looks HUGE! Today I did my civil duty. I voted! It was SO much fun. I actually haven't voted in person in 4 years (because I used absentee ballots while in Germany and until we got a permanent residence here in Atl).

In GA there has been this push for folks to vote early...I am not really sure why. Someone said they were expecting 90% of GAs to vote...unlikely. Anyway, it seemed to make sense for folks who might be out of town or things like that...but never seemed to make sense for me to do it. Especially since I knew some folks who waited for several hours! It had never taken me longer than 30 minutes to vote in the past, even when I was going with the crowds before work, so I decided to stick to voting day.

I loaded the girls up in the stroller and marched down to our precinct. They had to open both dorrs to get me and my wide load in. Hadleigh was SO excited, and continued to talk about how she was going to vote...and she anxiously watched the screen as I voted...she agreed with all my choices. The dude at the end let HC have a sticker, so later today we are going to make a Bruesters Ice Cream run...$.50 off a cone when you wear your sticker!