6-29-11 - Anna Claire's first trip to the beach!

Today Mom and I drove out to Crescent Beach to let Anna Claire see the "big water" - what fun!  We didn't stay a really long time, but it was a BIG time!  She played in the sand - tried to eat the dirt (did NOT like the taste!) splashed in the water, crawled through a couple of puddles and got FILTHY!  We had a blast chasing her around with cameras!

What a tired baby on the way home - she played so hard!! 

6-24-11 - Walking!!

Well, my baby is taking her first steps towards not being a baby anymore!!  Quite literally!  Today she took five steps in a row - the first time that her steps seemed to not be "accidental" and immediately following by PLOP back on her bottom.  We were outside - she'd swimmed a little and then she spotted Joey....and went after him!  She took a total of eight steps in a row - I think that qualifies as walking, right? :)  And on her ten-month birthday, no less!

06-23-11 - First lollipop

Today was another first - Anna Claire was fussing like crazy, and I had a dum-dum lollipop in my purse from VBS still.  Desperation set in and I gave it to her.  SILENCE.  She was entranced........until we had to take it away because it was getting too little!!

06-22-11 - Family time is EVERYWHERE!

I love the fact that Andy's job is flexible and has lots of freedom for us to spend time with him while he works!  I also love the fact that since I don't work, we CAN join him - that wouldn't be possible if I worked.  We're getting everything ready for our mission team to leave for Haiti this Saturday, so today Anna Claire and I joined Andy for lunch and to go get prizes and craft supplies. 

I don't know who the bigger kid is!!  He will do ANYTHING for a smile! 

6-19-11 - 5 teeth!

Anna Claire woke up this morning, got dressed, went to church and I never noticed anything different....then on the way to Rodeo she grins up at me from the carseat and what do I see?  FIVE teeth!  Her little right eye tooth came in overnight!  Not a bit of crying either!  (Note - 6/20/11:  The next day was HORRIBLE as the eye tooth continued to come in!  Worst teething we've had yet.  Fussy, crying, EIGHT dirty diapers and a subsequent terrible diaper rash.....ugh, poor, sweet baby girl!)

06-14-11 - loves her Daddy!

06-13-11 - Dr. Visit

Today we had Anna Claire's 9 month doctor visit.  She weighed 20 lbs 3 ounces (with diaper on) and she was 28 3/4 inches long!  Growing girl!!  She only got one shot (by our request), but it had a whopping five different vaccines in it! :(  Ugh!  It was the Pentacel shot.  Doctor Adams said she looked good though - said that safety concerns are paramount at this age - getting into things that are dangerous. 

6-12-11 - Discovered the toilet - gross!!

Today Anna Claire finally discovered the toilet!  We've been waiting on that bit of mischief to come around, and today was the day.  She sauntered (sp?) off down the hall and left me in the living room....things got quiet so I went to check it out, and behold - there she was splashing away!  Splash - splash - splash!!  Then she looks up at me like, "Fun, Momma!"

She's so happy when she's outside though....even cooped up in her pack and play!  It rained briefly today before church so we enjoyed our back porch for a few minutes!

06-11-11 - Tries pizza for the first time - YUM!

What can we say - she's her mother's daughter!  I LOVE pizza and so does Anna Claire!  Mom tried to give her a bite and Anna Claire took the pizza and wanted to grab it herself! 

06-11-11 - 4th tooth

It's a hard won battle, but tooth number 4 is in - (top, right side when you look at her).  Whew!

6-9-11 - VBS

Having a great week at VBS this week!  I'm soooo tired though - not that I've done much, it's just been go-go-go, and I'm not used to that anymore! :)  (Wimp, I know!)

Anna Claire is having a B-L-A-S-T!!  She's gotten to finger paint and jump in the bounce house inflatable things, and eat new foods, and play with the small kids and it's been fabulous for her!  Leaves me with no doubts that I need to enroll her in a mother's morning out program two days a week or something.  I hate to leave her, but seeing how much she enjoys the other children helps me know it's the right thing! She's just a social butterfly!  Mrs. Gail says that she has no intimidation - she just crawls right up to the 18-24 month olds and sits in the middle of them like she is big too!  That's my girl!  I'm proud of how precocious she is! 

They even do the bible story with them, even though they are young.  This pleases me!

Today they finger painted for the second time and she got green paint everywhere - she even decided to wipe her face and then she got green paint all over her face.  Silly baby!

This afternoon, after she woke up, she and I played together for a long time - it was exhausting, but wonderful! I don't ever want to be too caught up in the mundane - housecleaning - that I miss these moments.  I know one day she'll be a preteen and will not want anything to do with me - that grieves me even now!!  I just dread it!  She has a couple of games she enjoys playing with me - one is kind of questionable, not sure if I should play with her this way or not, but oh, well - I'll fix it if it turns out to be a bad decision later!  She used to gnaw on me - felt good to her little gums - well, now she has three teeth, so it doesn't feel so good to ME, but she's still working on that top right tooth, so it DOES feel good to her.  Well, it started that she would gnaw on me, well yesterday she gnawed, then she chomped down and pulled away without opening her mouth!  (If she had plenty of teeth, she'd have pulled a hunk from my arm!)  Obviously it shocked me and I yelled, "OW!"  Well, before when I've ever done that, she's teared up - it scared her.  NOT THIS TIME.  She has decided that my reaction was funny and she just cackled out loud!  That baby laugh is just irrestible!  So then she'd put her little mouth on me and I'd yell and we did it over and over again! 

Andy plays with her with his eyes - he will open them really wide and look away, then all of a sudden dart his eyes back at her and say "boo!" and she will cackle at him too!  She doesn't really play this game with me, but I figure it's because his face is so animated!

She's still loving to plunder - she has my greeting cards that I keep beside the fireplace in a basket and she has to strow them every single day.  Papa called it, "reading her mail."  I thought that was cute.  It's a daily thing - every day I clean them up, then next day she pulls them out!  Also, she has some organizing bins in her room - she likes to pull out all her shoes and pacifiers almost every day.  I could move everything and make it harder to reach, but she enjoys it so much that I don't have the heart.  Plus, it takes very little time to clean up.  She's just learning and growing and working on her balance through it.

As always, she is just such a joy and blessing from the Lord.  We are such a happy family!

6-6-11 - Inflatable bounce house

Anna Claire got to bounce in an inflatable bounce house today for the first time!  It was a huge hit!

It's hard to leave her - I feel kind of bad about it - but then when I come to pick her up, her reaction is worth it!  She was playing so well when I got there and I watched her for a minute, then I spoke to her and she looked, comprehension dawned, and she laughed out loud!  Then I spoke to her and she laughed again.  We continued the exchange - and each time I spoke to her she giggled and grinned - FOUR times! :)  My mom is so right - she may only say "ma-ma" when she is whiny/fussy/tired/grouchy, but that laugh and reaction was her way of saying "Ma-Ma, I love you!"  How special! 

06-04-11 - looking out window

She's likes to look out our low windows - especially the kitchen one where she can see the dogs!

Oh, and Mom and Dad are ALREADY excited about our trip to see them at the end of the month while Andy will be in Haiti.....Mom is already setting up "stations" of toys so that Anna Claire will have plenty to play with.  It's really thoughtful and quite touching!

6-4-11 - Indian yell / Sesame Street

Andy has taught Anna Claire something new - he was doing an "indian yell" - you know, where you say "ahhhhh" while covering and uncovering your mouth repeatedly......well, she has learned how to do it - except she doesn't make her hand flat to do it - she does it with a fist and so it looks like she's hitting herself in the mouth!!  Soooo cute though!!

She's still really into blowing raspberries - (blowing her tongue).  We walked all through Ross one day last week doing that back and forth.  People probably thought we were crazy, but it was good mother/daughter bonding time! :)

Tonight we sat down together as a family after Anna Claire's bathtime, while she playing while waiting to get tired enough to want to go to bed, and we watched Sesame Street together for the first time.  I loved it as a child and Andy watched it too.  It's actually very clever for a kids' show.  She of course, paid it no mind, which was as expected, but Andy and I watched it. :)  It was fun though - kind of special.  We have so many good times to look forward to. 

I absolutely love being a mother!  I would love to have several more children!  We look forward to having another baby just as soon as the Lord sees fit.  sesame str ...

06-01-11 - Begging!

Anna Claire is worse than a puppy!!  She has decided that whatever WE are eating MUST be better than what she is eating!!  So now she begs.......it would be annoying if she weren't so darn cute!  Here she is begging from Andrew Peters and "Uncle" Josh Watford.