Happy Birthday Anna!

3 years old...wow! At times it seems they grow up so fast and other times you wish they'd hurry up and get past a certain stage. It's so bittersweet!! Miss Anna is such a blessing, we praise the Lord for giving us a healthy, smart, beautiful girl! We went shopping yesterday and Anna got to pick out a new dress for her birthday. She loves to wear dresses. This dress had a matching headband so we got it too. We've never tried headbands before but it stayed in ok. Anna loves to have her fingernails and toenails painted so mommy got her all set for her big day. She picked Ruby Red. Whenever we asked Anna what she wanted for her birthday she said a cake so she got one that actually matched her birthday dress (not planned). She loved licking the frosting! Definitely her daddy's girl!! :0) We took Anna to Toys-R-Us to pick out her gifts from us and she enjoyed playing with all kinds of things. Of course she wanted one of everything but this is what she ended up with. She also got a T-ball set that's outside. The van goes with her dollhouse and plays music and the horn honks. The computer has tons of features and is for ages 3-6 so it should last her awhile. Doesn't seem like we got much for the money we spent but toys are so expensive! We wrapped up the night with a game of Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. Great family fun! Cracks us up how Anna sings "Happy Birthday" to herself. Many have called her on the phone today to sing to her (thank you!) and she's sang with all of them. Too funny!

June Birthdays

Last weekend we visited Daddy's family and celebrated June birthdays. There are many June birthdays in both Daddy and Mommy's families. Anna loved playing with her cousins and everyone was anxious to see Audrey. The birthday girls...Hallee, Anna, and Fairin Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Burch - amidst the picture chaos we missed getting a 4 generation picture with Grandma Smith in it, Oops! 4 generations with Great Grandma Mary Louise Cousins...5 girls - Oh My!! :0) Bayli, Anna, Fairin, Hallee, Audrey

Mmmm Good!

We decided to start Audrey on cereal even though it's a bit early. She's been showing signs of being ready so we thought we'd give it a try to see how she does. As you can see from the picture, she loves it and eats it right up or some of it. :0) Dr. Miller recommended we wait until 4 months old to start her on cereal but her only reason was due to most babies not having good head control until then. Audrey has been holding her head up quite well since we she was just a few weeks old so that wasn't a concern of our's. We're taking it slow but I think we made the right decision. Doctors have great advice but there's nothing like God-given parenting instincts that can't be ignorned.

Vacation Bible School

Anna completed her first VBS last week and LOVED it. Michael and I helped with registration so we left home around 4:30 and didn't get back home until 9:30 each night. We were whipped by the end of the week and are now playing catch up at home, trying to get things done that we overlooked last week (like all my blogging fun!). We had a fun theme: Power Lab - Discovering Jesus' Power. Chick-Fil-A donated certificates and coupons for each child and we are looking forward to using them! Anna thought the robot was fun to play on as she was able to move it's arms. Miss Whitney was Anna's teacher. Anna calls her "My Whitney". She's wonderful with kids and we love to have her babysit whenever she's not busy.

Home Sweet Home

The past few weeks Michael has worked hard putting in more landscaping. I helped by telling him where to plant each thing. :0) Anna thought she was a great help by digging in the dirt and filling the empty plant containers with rocks. I'm bummed that I didn't get pictures taken when the azeala and lilac bushes were blooming. It doesn't look like much from the road but it does add to the curb appeal which of course is always important when you move and sell houses as often as we do. :0)

Swim Party

We had a fun time at our friends' swim party. They have a beautiful pool with a diving board and water slide. Anna did great swimming with her arm floaties and ring on. She wasn't afraid of the water at all. We tried to get her and Matthew to go down the water slide but it was a bit too scary for them. Thanks for having us Nate and Teresa! Hang and Mallory

Father's Day

Our girls are so blessed to have such a hands-on Daddy. He'll do whatever needs done no matter what it is and handles the whining, fussing, and drama better than Mommy at times. Thank you Michael for all you do! We celebrated Father's Day with Mommy's family on Saturday. The kids had a fun time swimming in the pool and the weather was great! Audrey enjoyed hanging out in her swing. The best invention: a portable swing! I bought it for $16 at our resale shop and it's been great to have. Anna, Kenley, Eli, and Andrew Anna and Kenley enjoying their own pool Grace and Audrey enjoying the shade

Dr. Anna

We went to the grocery yesterday morning and, like all of our grocery trips, Audrey had a "blowout" while there. If she ever gets constipated I'll just load her up and take her to the grocery so that she can relieve herself as that seems to be her favorite place to have a major poopy mess. Anyway, once we got home I stripped her down and cleaned her up, then ran upstairs to get some clothes. When I came back down, this is what I saw: Dr. Anna checking out her baby sister. Audrey was tolerating it well, even smiling while Anna listened to her belly and her leg and her foot. She said that everything looked good. :0) I never know what I'm going to find when I leave Anna alone!

3 Months old today

Can't believe Miss Audrey is 3 months old! I know, every month we say that. It seems like so long ago that she was born yet it also seems that she's still so new. We had a check up today with Dr. Miller and she was pleased with Audrey's growth although Mommy and Daddy wish she was a bit bigger. At this point babies are supposed to gain 1/2 an ounce to 1 ounce per day and Audrey's just barely gained 1/2 an ounce per day since her 2 month check-up. She weighed 10 lbs. 2 ounces and was 23 1/4 inches long. She's still in the 5th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for length. We don't think she looks scrawny, she's just a peanut. She's still sleeping good at night and is very alert during her awake times. We're thankful she's healthy and still gaining. Maybe once we start cereal at 4 months she'll start packing on the pounds. :0)

Wow!

I found these PJ's on the clearance rack at Old Navy recently and didn't realize just how bright they were until I put them on Audrey tonight. They're cute but wow! Hope she can sleep while wearing these wild pajamas. I don't think she's too sure about them either from the look on her face in the picture. :0)

NO MORE DIAPERS

We are delighted to announce that Anna is no longer in diapers and is wearing big girl panties. We were beginning to wonder if this would ever happen! Last week mommy decided that Anna was big enough to start going like a big girl after she started hiding in the closet to do her "business". She was obviously aware of what she was doing so after a few chats and swats, Anna decided that she wanted to be a big girl. Yea for Anna!! Below she's sporting her new panties of which she's so proud of. :0)

Stormy Weather

Last Friday night we found ourselves seeking shelter in the closet under the stairs for about 30 minutes (thankfully that's where we keep the toys!). The tornado sirens went off and the weather forecasters were telling everyone in our viewing area to seek shelter as they were seeing rotation in the clouds although nothing had touched down yet. The winds were blowing at 60-70 mph, hurricane force, and the rain was coming down so hard we couldn't see the neighbors' houses across the street. So, while mommy and the girls were obeying the weather forecaster, daddy was taking pictures and video. We got 3 and 1/2 inches of rain in about an hour.

Locust Trees

These are the trees right behind our house and while they have pretty white flowers on them, they are awful for those with allergies like mommy and Anna. We've had lots of congestion and coughing for a week now. We're actually wondering if we don't have a cold as well because daddy is starting to have the same symptoms. Not fun for any of us!

Memorial Day weekend

This past weekend we were able to do some fun things as a family although we were also reminded that things don't always go as planned when you have two little ones. We took Anna fishing on Sunday afternoon and planned to have a picnic there as well. There were lots of people around the pond so Anna was quite distracted and Audrey got fussy so we decided to come home and have our picnic in our own back yard. We also went to the State Park that's just a few minutes away thinking we'd walk a trail and enjoy being outside. As you can see, Audrey was asleep in the carrier within 2 minutes but Anna started complaining before we got too far so we then decided to just let her burn energy on the playground. She loved the twirly slide once she got up the courage to try it out. It was nice having daddy home an extra day and we had a good weekend spent together as a family even though things didn't go as planned. You can't have little ones and not be flexible! :0)

Daddy's Arms

Audrey has a fussy time every evening in between the last two feedings. It's getting much better than it was but she's always been comfy during that time in Daddy's arms. It also gives mommy a break which is wonderful!!

Just a swingin'

Anna would stay outside on the swing/glider all day if we let her. She can get it going all by herself and then hollers for us to come see. :0) Audrey does great in the swing although it usually puts her to sleep. This is quite helpful some nights when she's wide awake after the last feeding.

Share the Love

I'll be sure to show them these pictures in 3-4 years when they're trying to hurt each other. :0) Anna loves to be right beside Audrey wherever she is and still cries when we put Audrey down for a nap. It won't be long until Audrey starts getting into Anna's stuff and Anna will be wanting us to put her down for a nap. :0)