Here's the latest

I just thought this was too cute. I guess Anna wanted to get out back and play with the dogs.

So, it's been awhile since my last post. Sorry about that, I guess I've been a little bit busy. I don't have any one specific thing to update you guys on, so I guess I'll just share some random thoughts...

First, I think I've mentioned before how the Baby Einstein DVD's are my friend. (They allow me to shower in the mornings by keeping Anna occupied.) Well, I feel like she gets bored with the same old videos every day (or maybe I'm the one that gets bored with it), so I was trying to find something new. And you guys may have already seen these, but I hadn't and I'm quite excited about them. They're called the Praise Baby Collection. I bought the "born to worship" dvd Friday night, and I love it already!!! I watched it twice with Anna today just because I like singing along with it. Basically it's the same thing as a Baby Einstein except that it's familiar church songs instead of Beethoven or Vivaldi or whoever (which of course, there's nothing wrong with the classical music, I just get tired of listening to it over and over again). I can't wait to get all of the other DVD's (there's only 2 or 3 others) and maybe one of the CD's so we can even listen in the car.

Next thing, and this is more about me than Anna, but I'm just really proud of myself and I guess I want to boast a little bit. So I've been going to the gym the last few months and I'm very excited to report that so far I've lost 32 pounds!!! When I started going, I didn't really have much faith in myself that I could really stick with it, but I have surprised myself. I even went 5 days this week!! Yep, everyday, Monday thru Friday. I really shocked myself with that one. But anyways, I still have a long way to go, but with the progress I've made so far, I feel like the journey is possible now. I'll let you guys know when I've lost the next 32 pounds!!

I'm not sure what else I can tell you guys. There really hasn't been anything new going on with us lately. Basically just the new dvd and the weight loss, other than that, everything's pretty much the same. Guess I can't complain about that.

Swingin'

Anna didn't smile much while she was swinging, but I think she liked it. She would smile and giggle when she looked at me, but there were so many other things going on at the park that had her attention most of the time. There were lots of other kids playing, an airplane flying over, some other people playing soccer, a little girl next to us that was swinging her baby doll, and a family walking their dogs. Now that I think about it, I wonder if Anna even realized she was swinging.

Happy Birthday Pappaw!!

One more milestone reached

I knew this day would come. I was just hoping it wouldn't be so soon. Anna's pulling up all the way to her feet, which in itself is not so bad. It's the fact that now that she is on her feet, she'll start walking. That's the part that I'm not ready for. But, wow, she's so proud of herself. And I think she knows that I'm proud of her too because I can't stop taking pictures of her standing up. She was really giving me the big grin tonight.

The Great Shoe Debacle

This is how it all went down...

Here she was, just minding her own business, looking all cute...

then I go and mess it all up...

You can tell by the look on her face, she's not thrilled with these new things on her feet. But I thought, we can work through this...

I was wrong. She got one shoe off and before I could get it back on, she had crawled (very quickly I might add) across the room. She sat up and looked at me like, "what the heck are you trying to do to me?" Needless to say...She got the other one off too.

Maybe we'll try again later.

Someone warn me about things like this, please.

Some of you know how I feel about a messy eater. I have taken precautions with Anna to ensure that she is raised to be a low-mess kind of girl. You can't really tell in this picture, but when she first started eating at 4 months, I would slip her little arms under the belt that held her in the bouncy seat. I know this may sound a little cruel, but really she didn't mind it. She didn't know any different, she just thought it was normal. And it did what I wanted it to do, it kept her little hands out of her mouth because you can see what a mess her mouth is. So anyways, with that said, I wish someone would have told me about these......

Yes, Anna loves them, but look at this ......

Next time I'll know that her clothes need to come off before she starts on a biter biscuit. Holy cow, what a mess. Needless to say, she went straight to the bath after this (it was bath time anyways).

Ok, so moving on...Anna's 9 month birthday came and went a couple of weeks ago. It's the weirdest thing, it feels like it hasn't been that long, but at the same time it feels like she's always been here. She's just growing up too fast. I had finally gotten to where I was accepting that she was crawling, and now the pulling up stuff. I may have to tie her down somewhere so that she can't learn to walk until she's 2!!! I just don't want her to grow up so fast. Before I know it, she'll be having her first dance recital, learning to play the piano, and going to her first slumber party. Maybe I should stop worrying about it and just enjoy today. Wow, what a novel idea! I'll have to give that a shot.

Ok, but for now, this is my self-assigned task. I think I need to be working on Anna wearing some shoes. (But first I'll need to buy her some shoes because I don't think she even has any in her closet. Poor kid.) I can only think of 2 or 3 times in her life when she's ever worn shoes, and they were probably sometime in the first 3 months of her life. I don't really think she necessarily needs shoes right now, but I'm afraid when it comes time for her to start wearing some, she's not going to like it. Then what? She can't go barefoot forever. Though if I did the tying up thing till she was 2, she wouldn't need shoes for awhile.

Well, I suppose that's it for now. I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on any messy dinners and shoe adventures with Anna. Oh, and don't worry, Judy, I'm not really going to tie her up. :)

*Update on the green cup situation: She only felt the need to sleep with the cup that one night, and there have been no fits thrown since then. Maybe she was just having a bad day.

I'm choosing my battles

Anna has started throwing little fits when she feels something isn't going her way. Prior to tonight, she has only done it when I've laid her down in her crib to sleep and she's not been ready for that. I've learned to walk away and let her cry and kick her legs, because she only does it for about 30 seconds, then she's asleep. Well, tonight was something different. Notice in the picture, she's sleeping with a green cup. Yeah, that's a bath toy. It's her favorite bath toy. (I don't really understand that either, but that's another story. I mean, of all the bath toys, she chooses the cup, but whatever.) So tonight, she's taking a bath and I decide it's time for her to get out. Usually this is no big deal and she just goes with the flow. Notice I said usually. Tonight was such a different story. I take the cup from her hand (because of course she's playing with her favorite bath toy) and pick her up to dry her off. She loses it, ya'll. I mean, screams, like someone has just taken away her best friend. So, of course, I immediately set her back down in the water and give her back the cup. All is well. So I'm thinking, ok, she just needs another minute or two with the cup and then we'll be good to go. She plays some more and then I try the "take out" routine again. Same result. She screams. At this point, I realize that she's not ever going to be ready to leave the cup so I grab it and hand it over to her. Ya'll, she hung on to that silly cup thru diapering, putting on her pajamas (though she did have to switch hands with it) and then took it to bed with her. Apparently she's grown a little attached to the green cup with an orange rim. Who knew a cup could be so comforting!?!