Happy 6th Birthday, Anna!

So Anna wanted a slumber party for her 6th birthday.  It was a great idea... in theory.  In reality, I had a 4 month old (which I must have forgotten) and a two year old who had no interest in settling down when it was time to!  I finally had to be "mean mommy" at ten o'clock and stand in the door way glaring.  Luckily, it worked!

Luckily. she ended up with the most amazingly amazing cake ever thanks to her wonderful Mimi!

Her guests:

Molly, Ben. Sophie, Mya, Amanda.  

Just more Anna cuteness!

A quick update on the cute things Anna is doing. Many of you get to see these often. Some of you only catch glimpses. But I know we ALL enjoy the wonderful wonder that is Anna!

When she sees ANY bug: "Oh bee!" Stated like this: "ohbeeohbeeohbeeohbee!"

Much like Forrest Gump, Anna is always running. She likes to advertise it, too! "Wunnnin, Wunnnin, Wunnnin". She's also currently quite proud of her jumping and marching skills. Although her jumping energy is mostly used up on the exaggerated squat she enters before jumping so she's a little low on the ups.

Anna likes to point things out. She's definitely gotten the idea of object permanence but doesn't quite get the concept of directions. If Daddy is at work and I ask, "Where's daddy?", she'll point in any direction. Also, every time she gets hurt and I ask her "What happened?", she'll point to what "hurt" her (the edge of the table, the concrete sidewalk, etc.) Another part of this idea that is quite cute is when you pretend you can't see her, she'll delightedly yell, "Heaw it is...Anna!" (Here it is! Anna!) to show you where she is. Oh so cute.

She's miss independent now. Two weeks ago I experienced my first order: No!...Anna! It was clear I was to step out of the way and let the little boss take over. (Go on, Anna, the world is yours!)

She's obsessed with when it is her turn. I hear "Anna's Nurn!" so. many. times. per. day. When she and a kiddo her own age get together, Anna's in that "I don't want it until YOU want it, then I want it" stage. However, when she's in a generous mood, she'll focus on OTHER people's turn "Kitties nurn!" "Baby's Nurn!"

She has to "dipt" ev-er-y-thing she eats now. It doesn't matter what the dip is or what she's dipping, but pretty much everything that enters her mouth is accompanied by some type of creative dip (if we have energy) or ranch (when we don't).

A few (a-hem) times per week Anna HAS to watch videos of kitties on the computer. She is convinced that is the only purpose of the old laptop we keep upstairs. The WHOLE PURPOSE of me borrowing that laptop from a friend was so I could check email and look things up without having to drag myself and Anna downstairs. But sure enough, just as children change ALL your expectations, nearly every time I flip the laptop open I hear "Kitties! Kitties! and footsteps running across the room towards me. Oh well. I'll check the email later. Blog later. Or maybe not.

She is making great connections all of the sudden. She held up a light blue marker the other day and said, "Wah wah!" Also her memory is amazing. We were going to the funeral of my roommate's mother-in-law in Kansas City and I was explaining to her that we were going to see our friends Kipp and Kylie who were in Chicago and she said, "Woo WOO!" because she remembered we went there on the train! And today, we got a picture of our other roommate Janelle and her family and I reminded her of Chicago and she said both "Woo woo!" and "Bubbooos" because she remembered that Janelle's husband Carl blew bubbles with her outside on our awesome patio. This is TWO months ago, people!

She's attempting to count but it's definitely a new skill! ("Wons, freeze") (one, three)

Oh boy I love her so. Not ashamed to say she's my best friend. Hooray!

Crazy Fun Family Time

My little Anna is getting older and older.

Tonight after a yummy dinner of homemade pizza (made by moi..., ahem.), Anna, Curt and I played forEVER with her new Pea Pod. For those not "in the know" a Pea Pod is a snazzy little tent that will TOTALLY replace pack n' plays someday. My hip college roommate Kylie had one and we splurged for one for the upcoming family camping trip. (Gulp.)

We decided there was no way Anna-the-Floppy-Fish would sleep on an air mattress with us and we assumed the pack n' play was illogical in a smallish tent. Anyhoo... Here's a picture of it:


I broke out the Pea Pod because I wanted Anna to get used to it and also because it's so dang cool and when it arrived in the mail today I squealed like a you-know-what! I hid it in my room all afternoon till it was dough-rollin time for the pizza. Sure enough, it caught that gal's attention right off the bat. She climbed in and out and had great fun.

BUT TONIGHT,

With a belly full of pizza, Anna went bonkers in the Pea Pod. The same girl that can't do the same activity for more than five minutes and who [sure as heck no way I don't see the point] never wants to play alone, climbed in and out of that thing for a while. THEN, Curt and I joined in and all fun broke loose. Curt and I were on the back (non door) side of the tent. Anna would dive into it and launch herself at us and smash her face into the mesh and try to tickle us. Then, we alternated closing the window flap and leaving it open so the little monkey never knew what she'd get when she dove in. Then, we alternated being on the back or on the sides. It was great fun and giggles had by all.

The neatest thing was, Anna created the game. When she'd climb out, she'd yell "AN-NA!" to indicate we were to yell her name. Then, she'd dive in for some parent location-guessin, face-smashin, tickle-tryin fun. When she'd had enough, she'd climb (fall) back out of the pod and yell "AN-NA!" again so we'd call for her and start the fun again.

As the game wore on (I'm talking 20-25 minutes at this point), she changed it up by staying in the pod, holding still, looking sideways at us and slyly saying, "Uh-oh" before trying to get us through the mesh.

People, we wore out WAY before she did. She was so much fun. We FINALLY folded the Pea Pod up, which is fun all by itself, only to have Curt let go and have it SPRING open into it's tent-y shape. Oh boy she LOVED that! We did that for a while.

What a night! What a big girl making up her own fun! Ahhhhhhh Anna Banana!

Brainy Anna

Anna's Words:
Mom: Mommmom, Maimey, Mahmeeeiii
Doggy: Doegee
Daddy: Daddy
Julius: Jewjish
Cheese: Chessssssshhhh
Ice: Eyesssssshhhhhh
Juice: Jewssshhhh
No: No way to describe how she says it and it's cuteness.
Ball: BAWWW!
Down: Dawwwnn? (Said with a question inflection - so cute!)
Up: aup, aup, aup, aup
Dip: Dewp
Zip: Zwwip
Baby: Baybeee!
Shoes: Shewwwwwzz
Papa: Papapapa
Banana: Elalalalal
Cinderella: Ellaellaellaella
That: Dat
This: Dis
Go: GOOOooooo
Hi: Hi? (Again, as a question, and so cute!)
Bye: Beay?
Done: Down
Die: Who knows. She just says die sometimes. I don't take it personally.
Water: Wawawawawa (Moving her hand in front of her mouth like an American Indian doing a war cry.)

I'm sure there's many many more that I am missing (sorry Anna). But isn't she cute?

True Love

True Love = Nursing your baby RIGHT AFTER applying Oragel (nursing moms will totally get this!)

GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I was upstairs in the kitchen and I hear Curt yell "Oh GROSS!" from downstairs. I figured it involves Anna and some bodily function. So in my eagerness to help I.... stayed upstairs and stayed quiet! :-) But my curiosity got the better of me and I asked what happened. Turns out it involved spit up and a certain open orafice of Curt's that was smiling up at her. He he he. Too gross for words. Babies are fun! Curt took it like a champ though and just said, "It was bound to happen eventually!" What a sport!

Anna Bananna and The Terrifying Tale

OK, So we'll see if I actually follow through with this blogging stuff. A friend from my (ex)work got me hooked on her blog so I thought I'd try it out.
Right now, I'm typing on a laptop while my hubby, daughter, and probably my cats are all snoozing. What is wrong with me? Why am I not alseep? Because I'm not quite convinced that the Anna Alarm will not sound soon and ruin this.
Curt calls her "the terrorist" because you never know when she'll stike and she lulls you into complacency before ripping apart the peace. Ahhh but she's wonderful. What kind of crazy parent hormone make you say someones a terrorist and wonderful in the same inch? Yikes.
Right now Anna is one day short of being ten weeks old. I'll fill you in on the ten weeks some other time. Right now, sleep calls. The terrorist/cutey/poop-machine/snugly/amazing person might sound the Anna Alarm at any time and I need to pretend that I'm about to sleep through the night to convince myself to conk out. Ta ta!