SHE'S ONE?!?!?!?!?!?!

How did this happen? Where did the time go? How is my newborn 8lbs 4oz daughter now a toddler? I just cannot grasp where this year went. I know, day by day, but my problem is with how very fast those days went by. It has definietly been a year of growth - for Anna and for myself. I've learned A LOT from her and I hope she has learned some things from me. I feel complete now that she is here. I don't think I have ever laughed more or smiled so much as I do when I am around her. I guess I just didn't know what a HUGE impact such a small girl could have on my life.

Here are just a few pictures from her Birthday at the Zoo and her first trip to the pumpkin patch. We've had a very busy and great October:

This was Anna's first trip to the zoo and I just couldn't believe how well she did. We were there for almost 2 and half hours. Anna didn't get fussy at all until we were heading out of the gift shop. By then she was tired and ready for lunch and her nap.

My sweet little one year old. She is now teaching me what a heart attack feels like. She's learned how to walk!

SUPER SMELL

So I've come to realize that I can smell EVERYTHING! This does not mean I suddenly realized that I have a nose. Nope - it means ever since the day we brought Anna home I've had a super sense of smell. I can smell when the kitchen trash needs taken out from the back of our house. I can smell the fruit tree outside the front our house and the fact that the fruit is now rotten. I can smell when Anna needs changed from across the room. I would say this is a blessing except for when Anna needs her diaper changed! That one is the worst. I walk in the door from work and guess what hits me in the face? I thought maybe I was just the best mom ever and had a special connection with Anna that made me really look at her face and know what she needs. No - just a super nose. That is the worst superhero power I've ever heard of! Maybe some other mom out there has a super sense of hearing and we could combine our powers to be the best super mom in the world. Or maybe I'll just buy nose-plugs!

First Day of Summer

Today we had such a blast at the lake! We live about ten minutes from Afton Lake and while I have been there a few times, Matt hasn't. Anna is just about eight months old and at her last doctor's appointment I specifically asked if I could take her to the swimming pool and the lake and I got the go ahead. I've just been waiting for the perfect day to take her swimming. I got off work and had to stop and get Matt some swim trunks and then we headed straight out. She did GREAT! I knew that she liked her nightly baths but I just wasn't sure about cold water. But we went in slow and Anna really seemed to like it. The water was nice and there weren't that many people there. I also got some really super pictures.

"OK dad, I'll help you hold your nose!"

We were getting ready to leave and daddy was helping
Anna dry off. So cute!!

What a Good Smile!

I got Anna's six month pictures done today and she was sooooo good. I was very afraid she would be overly tired or have a teething episode or be too hungry or one of a million other things would happen that would keep her from smiling. But our photographer was super and really seemed to put Anna at ease. And I asked Grandma to come with us so that Anna would have another friendly face to look at. If she wasn't looking at me then she was at Grandma and we got some really beautiful pictures. And of course I could not make up my mind between two dresses so they let me do a wardrobe change on Anna and took pictures in both dresses. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Dress Number 1

Dress Number 2

This little angel could not take a bad picture. She was so happy and even put up with her head-band! These are going up on the wall of Anna:)

One Happy Girl

My Anna is just about six months old and is really starting to show what a wonderful personality she has. She has some favorites toys that she just loves to yell at which is so funny! She really gives it to them. Then she will turn around and snuggle so sweetly with us that I'm just sure I have an angel for a daughter.

She's learning to move on her own now and I love to watch her figure things out. She turns over whenever she wants and is trying so hard to crawl. Pretty soon she will be all over the house exploring her new world.

The other side of her is the demon that comes from teething. Anna has her two bottom teeth and while her smile is taking on a new life I could do without the constant screaming. The last couple days have brought a relief now that the teeth are through but we still have a whole mouth to go! I know it's not her fault and it really could be much worse but oh how tired I am.

Winding Down

As my wonderful husband puts our daughter to bed after a particularly hard day, I have to stop to count my many blessings. My family is everything to me and I can feel the love we have for each other like a big comfy blanket. No, I don't get to be a stay at home mom like I want but I do have a wonderful sister-in-law that I trust completely watching my child. And that leads to the fact that I have a job I can enjoy when I'm not thinking about/missing Anna (which takes up a good portion of my day, but there are rare minutes when I'm working with a customer I happen to like that I remember why I applied for this job in the first place).
This morning was Anna's four month appointment and she had to get her second round of shots. Why do I mention this in a post about my blessings? For this reason, even though she was sore and out of sorts, she still laughed! It is the most amazing sound in the world and there is no substitute for it. I'm so thankful that she smiles and laughs at her silly momma because it makes my world go 'round. My healthy, beautiful girl is 14 pounds and 24 inches long. I have never known such a blessing as her and it hit me so hard this afternoon while we were playing that I started to cry. She is an angel and my treasure and I thank the good Lord every minute for her.

New Moms

My wonderful friend sent this to me from a site she found. I'm totally stealing it to share with everyone!

We are sitting at lunch one day when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of 'starting a family.'
'Do you think I should have a baby?' "It will change your life,' I say,keeping my tone neutral. 'I know,' she says, 'no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations.'
But that is not what I meant at all.
I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes.
I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable.
I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without asking, 'What if that had been MY child?' That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.
I look at her manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.
That an urgent call of 'Mom!' will cause her to drop a soufflé or her best crystal without a moments hesitation.
I feel that I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood.
She might arrange for child-care, but one day she will be going into an important business meeting and she will think of her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her baby is alright.
I want my daughter to know that every day decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at McDonald's will become a major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that rest-room.
However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother.
Looking at my daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself.
That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child.
That she would give herself up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years, not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish theirs.
I want her to know that a cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honor. My daughter's relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks.
I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who carefully bathes the baby or who never hesitates to feed, change or play with his child. I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic.
I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk driving.
I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or cat for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real it actually hurts.
My daughter's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. 'You'll never regret it,' I finally say. Then I reached across the table, squeezed my daughter's hand and offered a silent prayer for her, and for me, and for all the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings.

Lazy Afternoon

Anna has really discovered her play mat and has taken to it with obvious delight. It has tons of toys that hang down to just the right level for her to bat at. It also has a mirror that Anna can check her hair in ( Well....not quite!) and a music box that she just loves. She kicks her feet almost in time to the music. So far she still hates tummy time on the mat but I think that will come along in time. For a kid that doesn't sleep anyway but on her stomach she sure doesn't like to play that way. She has been playing for a full 30 minutes this afternoon and Matt said she did 30 minutes this morning as well. That's a lot of play-time for a 3 month old!
Yesterday she played so hard she fell alseep right on the mat in the middle of a swing at one of the toys!
This is the one where Anna fell alseep right in the middle of playing!

She was squealing with laughter in this one!!

I was hiding the camera behind one of her toys so that when she would smile real big I could grab it without her giving me the 'I'm terrified of that gray thing in your hand' look!

Year in Review

So this is my year in a few short sentences per month.

January - I could not stop crying because it seemed like everyone, and I mean everyone, I ran into was pregnant. We had been trying to get pregnant since May '08 and I was so disappointed.

February - We finally found out the greatest news. I was pregnant and we could expect the baby in October.

March - We told our parents the good news and got to share with our friends and extended family how incredibly happy we were.

April - Matt and I both turned 25 and I tried my best to have a quarter-life crisis but just couldn't come up with anything good. We also moved out of the house in Augusta and moved in with Matt's parents so that he would be close to his new job.

May - I was just barely starting to show and had to start answering the same questions over and over every day. "When are you due?" "Do you know what you're having/are you going to find out?" (I heard these same questions for the rest of the summer!)

June - Our 5th wedding anniversary! It was a blast and we got to find out that we were having a baby girl. Most exciting day of the summer.

July - We moved, AGAIN, to our house in Cheney and tried to get things pretty well set up for the baby. I know, way early, but it was so much fun.

August and September - The longest months of my life!!!! The air-conditioning kept going out at work and I was already so hot alllllllll the time that this was honestly the most uncomfortable I have ever been in my life.

October - My daughter arrived and proved that the best things are worth waiting for. She came into the world just perfect and is my super little angel.

November - The first holiday with my new baby. She slept right through it, but it was fun to know we had the new addition to the family.

December - Anna's first Christmas and it was FANTASTIC!! Of course she didn't know what was going on but again, it was so much fun with her here and picking out cute little presents for her. Both of our families went crazy over her and just showed us over and over how much they all love her. Well, that's my wrap up and what a wonderful year it has been. I have to go back to work on the 25th this month and the thought of it makes me sick. I know I won't be gone all that long from her but any amount of time that is not with my baby is just heartbreaking. I'm absolutely certain I will hate every minute away from her.