Annie

Annie and I are sipping tea in this early morning {still} dark. She keeps chirping away, describing everything that she's doing or thinking. She has officially reached the age she has a daily word count quota to fulfill and she's a constant stream of words. I'm so glad I have girls :)
Her newest and apparent favorite phrase is, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed," from the book about the five little monkeys which sounds like, "No mo monkeys jump n bed." She must have repeated that phrase about 50 times today and every time Chloe and I would look at each other and smile. Then Chloe would say, "Isn't that cute, mom?"

It sure is.



In the last six weeks, she has gotten six more teeth. The shape of her face is less round and squishy and with the approach of the back molars is changing to a more narrow shape. Some days I can't get over how much she looks like her daddy.

It's true, my baby is no longer a baby. She's a toddler.



It's bittersweet watching your babies grow up. And it goes so fast.

Annie's 1 Year Old!!!

As I write this, little Annie is refusing to take her second nap. Again. This goes to show what an independent toddler she is becoming. Oh, little lady, what are in for? And now she just hid her face in a sweatshirt that is hanging on the back of the chair (which of course she is using as a standing aide) and peeked out and said, "Boo!"

The first birthday party was a success!

Hooray!!! We love parties!

What a gorgeous little princess!

Here's a pic of my spread! I had a lot of fun decorating and making cake pops!

She's doing new things every day. Saying new words, practicing new skills, and growing bigger. I took her to her well-child check-up at the doctor yesterday and she weighs 20 pounds (31st percentile) and is 28 inches tall (12%). She has about about 20 words that she can say (I should really write them down) and her cognitive skills are equivalent to an 18 month-old. What she lacks in size, she makes up for in intelligence!

Here are a few more things that Annie has been up to this month:

• She likes to go up to Chloe, tackle her to the ground and bite her (on the shoulder, arm, lip, etc.)
• She enjoys playing tea party
• She points at herself if we ask, "Where's Annie?" or if we say, "Me!"
• Has a slight obsession with buttons. Buttons on shirts, on the phone, on the computer. Her new "job" is to press the ENTER button after I type in the code to open the garage. She seriously gets a kick out of this. And she loves to point at buttons and says, "bunn! bunn!"
• She LOVES to bounce! She'll crawl into my lap, stand up, hold on and say, "Boun!" (which means bounce) and start bouncing up and down.
• Her current favorite foods are goldfish crackers (which she doesn't get too often) and strawberries. I recently bought 3 pounds of strawberries which we are quickly making our way through.
• She has started drinking whole milk! She loves cups, and straws even more so I give her a sippy cup at meal times and she does great. She still nurses about 4 times a day but is enjoying practicing with her cup.
• She does this funny little bear walk/crawl especially when we're outside. She must not like the feel of the ground on her knees so she walks on her hands and feet. It's pretty funny.
• Speaking of bears, her favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? She loves to pick up the book and say, "Brown Bear" and then pages through the book. She "baaas" at the sheep, and gets very excited and repeatedly shouts, "Duck! Duck!" at the yellow duck.
• She's great at sharing! (pretty sure it's because her sister takes everything away from her)
• The cutest thing ever: she washes her own hair in the tub! I tell her, "Annie, it's time to wash your hair," and she'll start rubbing her head/hair with her hands.
• Her favorite game is what we've called "Push/Pull." She'll climb on me (or daddy) or pull herself to a stand and then make the "pshhh" sound as she pushes us over. Then she grabs onto our shirts and pulls us up again. She laughs and does it over and over again.

Annie is an absolute delight. She's full of smiles (and has six teeth she'll show off to anyone), loves to play, dance, and gets excited when she sees the park. She loves her mama (and will cry if I try to drop her off at the Y Kid's Stuff), gets really excited when Daddy comes home every evening, and loves to snuggle with her big sister. We're so blessed to have Annie as our daughter and we're so excited to watch her grow and develop. This has been one amazing year. To think she has gone from this:


to this:


to this:



it's a humble miracle. Thank you, God, for such a gift.

1 Month from One!

Annie is almost a whole year old! When we met someone new at the park this week, she asked me how old my girls were. I paused and then said, "This one (referring to Annie) will be one next month." Could it really be?
Here are the new fun things Annie has learned in her 10th month of life:

• Says "Moo" when she sees a picture of a cow (or a horse).
• Took her first ride on a swing the end of March
• Cruises/walks along everything to the extent that she even climbs the walls. She also loves walking around while holding onto my fingers (not so good for my back, but Annie gets a thrill from it).
• Unbelievably quick at climbing stairs. She knows the stairs are dangerous and she always looks back when she starts climbing with a little mischievous grin on her face.
• Her third and fourth teeth popped out! she now has two on the bottom and two on top!
• She loves dancing to the music. Whenever she presses the buttons on her musical toys, she starts swaying back and forth.
• When we ask her if she wants a snack, she clicks her mouth and starts smacking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. She's always ready for a snack!
• If she hears the word, "No," she'll start shaking her head. (we have this one on video because it's really cute).
• Recently she started throwing food on the floor from her tray that she doesn't want to eat. Yesterday it was green beans that I had to sweep up after meal time.
• And the most exciting milestone of all......... She slept through the night!!!!! A whopping 10 hours straight of glorious shut-eye! 6am rolled around and Will was so worried that he went to check on her and woke her up. Oops.
  

And for your delight, some pictures from this month!

Baby in the Bath! Check out those teeth!

Storytime with Daddy: Reading Paddington, the adventurous little Bear.

Playing in the early morning with the sunshine streaming in.

Playing with big sister!

Swinging at the park!

Playing with her new truck on the court at the park.