busy bees

last week was our first week home from vacation, and we managed to keep ourselves quite busy!  we cashed in on our very first family pool membership, and we are loving it!  a nearby pool offers an “august only” membership, and we are so excited to be a part of it!  we went for some dinner and chick-fla-flay at the pool!  (or “oo-eye (french fry) cow” as anna calls it!)

    

three little fishies (or two sharks and a duck!?)  all in a row!

one fish, two fish!

last week held a great week of vbs with a water-play day afterwards.  it was a HUGE hit!

charlie and hudson                                                                               and william!

    

william, the lover of all tiny things, found a new tiny thing to play with this past week . . .

I told this boy that I have my eye on him!

    

and, that afternoon, we did our best to hold it together while we waited for Daddy to come home from work!

this weekend we stayed home to do some work around the house, and we played a rousing game of hide-and-seek!

Daddy is a really good hider

Little Miss has become quite obsessed with two things:  Nutsy, the mascot of our local baseball team (she asks about and prays for him daily) and ‘Weet ‘Wog (Sweet Frog) . . . She begged her Daddy to take her to ‘weet ‘wog on Saturday, and we had a great ole time!  These two love frozen yogurt!  The whole time we were there, Anna pointed to every frog and squealed “ ‘Weet ‘WOG, DADDY!  ‘WEET ‘WOG!”   She loves the frogs, and I think she likes the frozen yogurt a little bit, too!  The cashier, bless his heart, gave Anna a SF bumber sticker, which we leaned on a shelf in her bedroom—she points to it and talks about it multiple times daily.  So funny!

and, negotiating . . . toppings, flavors, a little of this for a little of that . . .

don’t we all want to finish our ice cream this way?!

we finished out our weekend with another special request . . . a movie night with our boys.  we only watched about 20 minutes, but it was so much fun and a treat for us all!  These boys love being together and being with their dad—it is really so dear to me!

and, these are from today—hot off the press!  I had to post them because I fee like Sister is changing so much and so quickly!  I adore this little dress of hers—our friend Daley made it (it’s a pillowcase dress) and passed it down after her Harper wore it.  I monogrammed it last night!  OH, I just love it!

And, here she is after an evening swim at the pool . . . all ready for bed!  I love this little lady!  We have been calling her the Mayor, because she waves and says hello to EVERY SINGLE PERSON she sees.  At the pool, she kept asking the life guard to watch her jump into the water!  Little Miss is not afraid of some attention . . . or a small fan club!  She is a hoot!  She loved being in the pool but she turned to me at one point and said “Ni Night, Mommy.  Bed.  Nap.  Yubi (Lovie) and Bathy (Paci)” . . . and we knew, it was time for bed!

Grab your Yubie, Bathie, and Bwankie and snuggle in!  Nighty night from Anna Bug!

Technorati Tags: Anna,William,Hudson,Summer

our {first} big break

so, while we were at the beach, sister was being the big ole 1.5-year-old-girl acting like a 3.5-year-old-boy that she is, and she was climbing the “yadder” up to the boys’ bunk bed in our room.  hatch and I saw her at the same time, and she looked back at me, letting go with her right hand . . . and she fell.  it was so sad and quite scary.  we knew right away that something had happened with her right arm by the way she was holding it close to her body {and screaming!}.  after talking to the pediatrician and to the urgent care place at the beach, we decided to wait and watch her.  with each passing day, her mobility increased and her level of pain decreased, and it seemed that she was slowly improving.  I soon realized she was really over-compensating so that she would not have to use her right arm to climb or to brace for a fall {she still toddles around, you know} . . . and I felt a knot on her collar bone and was sure it was broken.  we called the on-call doctor and he set up an appointment for us with the pediatric orthopedist on Monday.  Anna was so sweet and very brave.  The doctor did the exam for little miss, pushing on her and feeling her bones, and Anna didn’t cry.  They fit her for her “butterfly wings,” and tightened it up on her, and she didn’t cry.  And, they did an x-ray—where no one even touched her—and when they asked her to stand still, she boo hoo’d and screamed “NO NO NOOO!”  It was pretty funny—the one time when no one was pushing on her, and she had a big ole dramatic moment!  The doctor is really pleased with her bone growth and healing so far, and we are so thankful to God for that.  Sister is enjoying her “wings” and said this morning “butter-fly wings ON, mama . . . wings, on!”  When we left the doctor’s office yesterday, the doctor said “bye bye, sugar!” and Anna replied “BYE SUGAR!”  ah ha!  She has such a sweet disposition and is such a trooper.  We have to get creative with getting her in and out of bed, the car seat, high chair, etc., and with picking her up . . . but other than that, we just have to keep her from climbing on things.  Anna said to me today “Doctor say:  no climb, Anna.  NO Climb.”  The butterfly is learning her limits.  As we were fitting her for her “wings,” I could just hear my Nana’s voice in my head:  “Aww, God love her!”  So, here we are at one year old with a broken collarbone—our first broken bone . . . and, let’s hope it’s our last!

Sissy got ahold of my camera . . . here’s a little self-portrait of her with her brace on her shoulders . . .

and, fear not, we’re keeping things light around here.  Pringles, anyone!? 

Technorati Tags: Anna,William

sister

so, my plan was to do another post tonight, but I am very tired and want to go to bed.  so, I will leave you with these little gems that I found on my computer from march.  I adore this little lady and her red shoes!  (the dress was mine!  thank you, “ya-yee,” or Sugie!?)

Sister is 10 Months Old!

I took these pictures a few weeks ago, around the 10 month mark for Little Miss Anna Banana.  It is so wild to me that she is 10 months old already!  How did we get here?  It feels like time is flying by!  Well, at least, it seems that the months fly by.  Most Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays do not fly by . . . and most days 3pm-7pm does not fly by.  But the months, yes, they fly by.  The week that I took these pictures, the boys were sick, so we were staying close to home and sister was playing with my lens cap in the big blue chair while the brothers were splashing in the pool next to her.  She is so fun to watch!

Anna has mastered sitting, rolling, and even scooting her little self back onto her rear into a sitting position.  When she first began to sit, she would do it in her crib and then cry because she couldn’t figure out how to lay back down again!  In this set of pictures, Little Miss has a boo boo on her lip because she fell trying to crawl.  Being a big baby is hard work, you know!

Today, Sister began to crawl.  I held out some snacks and she followed my hand across the room until she could grab them!  So far, food has been the only thing that has motivated her to move! 

Anna lights up when she sees her brothers, her Daddy, and her cousin Charlie.  It is so sweet!  Hudson has a special voice he uses when he talks to her, and everytime she gets up from a nap, he says in his deep-Anna-only voice with his head cocked to the side:  “Hi Booo-teee!” (hi beauty) or “Hi fweet Ting!”  (hi sweet thing) or “Hi fweet peas!”  It is absolutely precious.  Hudson will sing to Anna if she is sad, and most of the time, when I walk into the den to see who is doing what, Hudson is playing on the quilt next to Anna.  Oh, my heart!

 

This past week, we went to the Children’s Museum with friends, and Hudson was behind me wanting to play in the sand box.  He climbed up on the bench, and while taking his shoes off, he looked over at the mom who was sitting beside him with a baby in her sling and said:  “What your baby called?”  She told him (I couldn’t hear what she said), and he said “Why?” (of course!)  Then, he turned to her, and he said:  “My baby is Anna.”  It was just so dear!  Oh, how I love these boys of mine! 

Sissy loves to eat and will munch on just about anything we put in front of her.  She takes 3 bottles a day, and snuggles her lovie and plays with my hair while I feed her.  It is such a sweet time.  I don’t want her to stop taking her bottles when she turns one—I just love that time with her!   Sister LOVES her lovie—she giggles when we give it to her, and she also giggles when we cover her with her blankie.  It is so sweet!

Annabug’s hair is coming in thicker, and I’m eager to see what color it will be in the end.  I still say she will be blonde like William, but who knows!  Only time will tell!

Anna has a tad of a dramatic side as well.  She may throw her cup across the room when done eating, or scream as loud as she possibly can if you try to change her diaper.  It seems to me that she has no problem “asking” for attention, and I feel certain that her squeals are the loudest things I have ever heard.  Watch out brothers, Little Sister is going to rule the roost (at least in volume, if nothing else!)

 

Anna Kathryn is starting to chit-chat more now, too.  She will repeat sounds that we make, and at least twice a week she begs for us to put her to bed (bless her heart!)  “Ni Ni, NI NI NI NIIIII(ght)”  She has said “all done” in her own little language a few times, too.  She makes a little panting noise when she sees Dog-Dog!  And she loves to shake her head no and dance to the boys’ “tractor song” in the car—it is adorable!

Hey, beauty!

Anna chomps on everything in her path these days!  She has her top two middle teeth, her bottom two middle teeth, and I think she is working on two more bottom teeth.  This teething thing is a wild time.  She tends to cut teeth at night, and when she wakes up screaming at 2am, there are often little toothies to be seen in the morning!

Anna loves to laugh and giggle, and she is quite ticklish!  She is such a fun little love to be around.  She smiles and grins and talks and waves—it is just so much fun!  I think I say it every month, but this baby is such a JOY.  If I could have three more of her, I think I would (but don’t tell my husband I said that!)

Sister, we love you, love you, love you!

 

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In other news, I was reminded today of the verse in the Bible that says that God won’t give you more than you can bear (1 Cor 10:13) . . . within 24 hours of my power being turned back on (my parents and sister are still in the dark!) William spiked a fever and started throwing up.  I am so grateful that we are not having to care for a sick boy in the dark!  One step at a time.  One. Step. At. A. Time.