A fun new/old toy

I'm amazed at how toy manufacturers are bringing back the "classics" like this Fisher Price cash register. They were all sold out at Christmas, one of those high demand toys, but now they're available again. Anna loves playing with money and shopping so this has been a hit. Thank you Aunt Jen for the new toy! It brings back lots of memories for mommy as we had one very similar to this growing up.

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Fun with Cousins

Anna was all about playing Barbies at Grandpa and Grandma's house. She has 1 Barbie at home but not tubs full of them like at G & G's. She loved having Grace and Eli play Barbies with her. Anna also had a great time with Kenley. They have so much fun together being just a year apart.

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Unfortunately we didn't get to see Wes and Drew as Wes had wrestling practice and the Sectional championship and Drew has been sick. We missed them and hope we get to see them soon.

Book Worm

This past week we visited my family while Michael was traveling and Anna had tons of fun soaking up attention from her grandparents. I was especially thrilled that we were able to see my Grandma Murphy. She was sick at Christmas so we didn't get to spend any time with her. Anna has talked about her all week, wanting to know where Grandma Murphy is.

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Grandma Kathy, Kenley, and Anna enjoying a story Anna has always been a book-lover. She'll sit by/with anyone and listen to them read or have them listen to her. As you can see, her love of books started early. :0) Reading with Daddy at 3 months Enjoying a book at 5 months

Make-up

Anna immitates just about everything and has recently begun "doing her make-up". Watching her play and pretend is so much fun. She definitely does not lack an imagination. She can often be found lately putting on her make-up, washing her hair, singing her babies to sleep, and telling her babies to "stay in their bed". She's also given them a few spankings. :0) Nothing like seeing yourself and hearing your own words come out of your toddler's mouth!

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Tired of bed?

This is how we found Anna recently after going to bed. Guess she got tired of her bed and thought the floor was more comfy. Thankfully I was able to pick her up and move her back to her bed without waking her. In about another week we'll be converting her toddler bed into the full size bed so then she'll have plenty of room to move around and hopefully won't be camping out on the floor. :0) We need her crib mattress for the baby's crib so as soon as we get both girls' rooms finished, I'll post some pictures.

Dr. Appointments

Anna and I both had dr. appointments this week so here's an update. She's been dealing with sinus infections ever since she was 5 months old. Colds always turn into an infection for her and this past Wednesday we saw an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist to see if we could get some answers on what to do for her as we're tired of putting her on antibiotics every month. He almost immediately recommended we have her adenoids removed as she has all of the problems related to adenoids except for ear infections (Praise the Lord). Her repeat sinus infections, heavy mouth breathing, and snoring were 3 of the 4 symptoms that convinced him this surgery would be beneficial for her. So, on February 15th at 7:30 a.m. she'll have the surgery done and although it's a minor, routine surgery that's done all the time, it still makes us nervous to think of putting her to sleep. We are praying for peace and the ability to place her safety in the Lord's hands. We would appreciate your prayers as well. Thankfully the recovery is quick...within 2 days at the most she should be back to her normal self and we should start to see a difference in her breathing within a week. This should also help with her asthma if that's really what she's suffering from as well. My doctor appointment went well and I'm measuring right on track. The doctor expects this to be an average 7-8 pound baby. Her heart beat was strong and from what he could tell from feeling my belly, she is head down at this point. Of course that could still change but for now she's in the right position. He took my hands and had me feel where her little round bottom was and where her little round head was and that was so awesome! The only concern is my platelet count that is below normal. It's not much of a concern now but, as the doctor informed me, it will be when I deliver her as platelets help your blood clot so that you don't bleed too much. So, they'll give me an injection of something that will help with clotting and all will be well. :0) Only 8 weeks or less to go...and yes, I'm counting.

Mini Van Mom

Yes, I'm still having trouble coming to terms with it as I swore I'd never drive a mini van but with kids and age comes practicality I guess. :0) Praise the Lord for dropping this nice automobile in our laps. Michael just "happened" to be driving by the dealership 30 minutes after they put this van on the lot and it just "happened" to be what we were looking for and just "happened" to be in our price range as well. God is so good! It's so comfortable, has tons of storage, and is very easy to drive. As you can see, Anna loves the new ride. You'd think it was her personal playground. When we first put her in it, she climbed in the back seat and tried to fasten her seat belt squealing with delight. She's found the buttons to open and close the side doors so that's something we'll have to work on but other than that she's doing great getting in and out all by herself and climbing in and out of her car seat without help. What a relief for mommy! Anna's getting quite heavy along with this big belly. :0)

Going for a stroll

The weather was decent today so we decided to get out of the house and take Anna's new stroller for a spin. She was screaming with excitement in the house when I told her what we were going to do. She did well staying with mommy and it was good exercise for us both. Thankfully we made it out and back home before the rain started.

Making Muffins

On Monday we made muffins for MOPS and Anna was a big helper stirring the mix and putting the liners in the muffin tins. Today she decided she wanted to "make" some more muffins. She really enjoys cooking...we'll see if she still does when she's older and has to help out in the kitchen. :0)

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Dinner for Two

On New Year's Eve we had some friends over for dinner and games which meant Anna's buddy Matthew came to play. They have been best buds ever since we moved here as they were the only two little ones in the nursery at church up until they both turned 2 this past summer and moved up to the next class. They still play with one another exclusively amidst all the other kids in the 2 and 3 year old room. We have so much fun watching them play together. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready, but we caught Anna giving Matthew a shoulder rub while they watched BOZ. They're like a little married couple loving on one another one second and fighting over something the next. Too funny!! Getting ready to pray before dinner...we weren't sure how they'd do eating their dinner at Anna's new table but they both did well sitting still and staying in the kitchen. Here they are having their own "candlelight dinner". :0) I wish the video wasn't so dark as it's hard to see them playing but hopefully you can see enough to know what's going on. We moved Anna's table back into the play area and the kids decided to make their own dinner.

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Fun with Cousins

Anna had so much fun playing with her cousins at our families Christmas gatherings. Bayli got a talking/singing parrot for Christmas and the girls had a great time playing with him. He provided them with some fun dancing music. :0)

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Aunt Heather found these cute little bargains in the dollar section at Target and Anna and Kenley had a ball playing "chef" with one another and Grandma.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! We hope everyone has had a safe and happy holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus. We've spent a lazy day at home in our PJ's playing, eating, and napping. Anna came down the stairs this morning to the Christmas bells ringing (a new tradition we're starting) and then tore into her gifts. It was over sooo quick! She's definitely made lots of progress in her unwrapping skills compared to last year. :0) She's not moved very far from her dollhouse today and even had to put on her sunglasses as the sun was getting her through the windows in the living room but it didn't bother her enough to make her move. Enjoy the pictures and lots of love to you all!

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Belly shots

We're growing! Anna's growing taller and Mommy's growing wider. :0) We're at 28 weeks, just 2 1/2 months to go. We start going to the doctor every 2 weeks now and mommy's getting more and more uncomfortable. It seems much harder carrying this second baby compared to carrying Anna but I've heard that's just how it is...harder with each pregnancy. Or maybe we just forget what it was like before?!

All dressed up

Here we are in our Christmas best! Anna loves to get dressed up and do her hair pretty. She likes mommy to use the curling iron on it (she actually threw a fit yesterday b/c I wouldn't curl her hair!) although, silly girl, she has her own curls. We still add a few just to please her. I'm thankful she's a girly girl and lets me do her hair although it's really not an option. :0)

Christmas Activities

Anna has had tons of fun playing with the Christmas "window stickers" as she calls them. I had pulled some out of my teaching tubs for her and then Grandma brought her some and she has been very well entertained getting them just right. Anna has really enjoyed playing with our nativity set this year. It looks very delicate and pricey but it's actually plastic and it wasn't too pricey because mommy got it after Christmas 6 or so years ago for 1/2 price. She's very gentle with it and is learning what each piece means. The nativity was always my favorite part as well as a child. It was like a fun dollhouse that came out of the boxes for a month every year and I loved arranging all the people and animals just like she does. We've also been doing an advent calendar that Anna faithfully reminds us to do each night. I've not captured any pictures of it but she loves peaking under the next tab. I wish I could find a more toddler friendly one though so if anyone knows of one, we'd love to hear about it.

Anna's Lullaby

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Beethoven Jr.

Anna's been singing entire songs since she turned 2 and I've tried numerous times to catch it on video and finally was successful this morning. She loves to sing, loves to go to choir practice at church with us, and knows our Christmas cantata music just as well if not better than we do. :0)

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Building a Snowman

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When daddy got home from work yesterday, he went out to shovel the snow off the drive from the previous night before we got freezing rain on top of it last night and of course Anna was right on his heels. She was so excited to build a snowman! It's finished! Anna's first snowman or should I say snowgirl? This is what happens when a little girl burns lots of energy playing outside... :0)

Snow Jubilee

We were so excited to wake up to our first snow of the year this past Wednesday. We celebrated by making cookies and then going outside to play. Anna kept calling it the "snow jubilee" as she has a book about snowmen and the story talks about how the snowmen play outside together and have a snow jubilee. Anna couldn't wait to get outside! She dug her snowboots out of the closet first thing in the morning and had to wear them inside until we could go outside. We played outside for an hour although she only liked to play where I had shoveled and cleared the snow off. I think she was afraid of falling in the snow and not being able to get back up. Our faces were bright red and wind burnt by the time we came inside but we had lots of fun!

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Physical Therapy

Anna's been walking on her tiptoes since she was 18 months old and in October we started physical therapy to help her come out of it. She had a check-up yesterday with the PT Miss Vicky whom Anna calls "Miss Bicky" and she's making good progress. A typical 2 year old is supposed to be able to bend his/her foot back 10 degrees and when we started, Anna's right foot would only go back 2 degrees and her left would only go back 4 degrees. In the past 6 weeks she's gained 4 degrees on each side so we're now at 6 degrees on the right side and 8 degrees on the left. Miss Vicky said to continue doing her daily stretches (like in the picture above) and she thinks she'll come out of it just fine. Yea! What a relief that we don't have to put leg braces on her!