Crazy Eights!

At 7:47 this morning, Anna was 8 months, 8 days, 8 hours and 8 minutes old. I have no idea what "second" she was born at....probably Aunt Dee Dee is the only one who would even care about that!

In order to "celebrate" I'm writing a much needed blog post with 8 different topics in it!

1. Say Cheese!
Yesterday Adele went to the dentist for the first time ever. A long time ago, a terrible mommy told her about getting a shot in your mouth (before getting a filling) and she was terrified. I made the appointment on Wednesday afternoon, and we got in on Thursday, so fortunately, Adele didn't have very long to work up a panic! I found some good YouTube videos of kids at the dentist, and she was actually....almost....excited? to go by the time our appointment rolled around. She was very concerned about what color the chair would be. She chose to sat in my lap in the *tan* chair, so I didn't have a chance to take pictures while we were there, but she was VERY good, and loved every minute of the attention that was showered on her!


2. Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!
Speaking of teeth, I lied. Anna only has her bottom two teeth. The top ones are there, but still under the gums. She has finally let me into her mouth to get a better look. If I were a gambler, I'd bet that the top teeth will be in soon if getting her down for her afternoon nap today is any indication.

3. Relentless
Everyone has heard of the "Terrible Two's" but I think I'm calling Adele's Three-year-old phase the "Relentless Threes" She has been SO demanding lately, and EVERYTHING must go her way. Its a bit tiring at times...especially if you know about the "matching underwear" struggles that were already going on in our house! I must hear, "No, mom!" about fifty times a day lately..and some other (cute) sayings that I'll write about soon! As for now, let me just say that I think she'll make a fine lawyer some day. "Mom, take my picture"

4. Who's That Baby in the Bed?
Anna has been helping me make my bed each day. When I carry her into the bedroom she starts shaking with excitement and basically tries to jump out of my arms into the bed. She giggles and smiles the whole time I pull the sheets and blankets up around her…who knew making the bed could be so fun?

5. Shaving Cream and Jelly Beans
We didn’t have much going on on Wednesday after Adele’s 3 year check up, so I put some shaving cream in the bathtub and let Adele play. She had a blast, and requested more shaving cream during her bath on Thursday night! I kept Anna away from the shaving cream, but may let her explore with some whipped cream sometime! She sure loved watching Adele lather up!

6. Creepy Crawlies
I had Anna sitting in the middle of a pile of toys while I was making lunch, but when I peeked in to check on her, she wasn’t there! She had crept and crawled several feet across the room and was peeking around the loveseat at me! (note: This picture is also a "help wanted" sign for a housekeeper...any takers?)

7. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
I made a new year’s resolution to eat healthier and start working out. Surprisingly, I’m still going strong, despite all of the birthday festivities going on around here. Because of my new diet (or healthy eating habits) I’ve been spending a lot of time talking about healthy food choices with Adele. She now asks about healthy foods and is sure to tell me when she is eating something healthy. We went through the book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and labeled the foods as “healthy” or “treats”…and then, of course, we talked about how some food can be a “healthy treat…” (Sorry, no picture for this one...I was running out of ideas for my crazy eights blog!)

8. A First for Anna!
Anna and Adele enjoyed “sledding” in the backyard with Daddy tonight. It was SO cute to watch, in fact, I had a hard time staying inside (I was supposed to be cleaning the kitchen) because I just had to go out and take some pictures!

What a great big sister!
Doesn't this remind you of someone?
She was SO cute watching Daddy and Adele sled some more!

Happy Birthday, Adele!

Adele had a terrific third birthday full of Hello Kitty goodies, friends and neighbors, relatives, games, (too many) presents, a little bit of sledding, and some chocolate cake!








She asked me to tell her about "when we were at the hospital and I was born" as I tucked her in to bed tonight. I had fun telling her how Daddy rushed us to the hospital in the snow and how we were too excited to sleep while we waited for her to be born. She asked me to tell her more, so I told her about the first time I held her, and then about her first bath. It was pretty cute. So far, I like having a three-year-old!

Before I Forget...

A very insightful quote from Adele this morning:

"I love pink and yellow and pink and blue and....I love ALL my favorite colors!"

Happy Birthday, Anna!

Since I missed 7 months, I wanted to be sure to post today!

I'm pretty sure she now has a top tooth-her third since last Friday! She won't let me get very close to her mouth (understandably!) but I'm pretty sure that if its not through yet, it will be soon! She had another great night last night, so we'll see what's in store for tonight-she had a very short afternoon nap.

At 8 months, Anna:

Wears 9-month or 12-month clothes
Takes two naps each day

Can feed herself little "puffs"
Prefers fruits to vegetables
Drinks water out of a sippy cup (but never much)

Crawls backward
Wants to stand all the time!
Will stand alone for a few seconds at a time (usually only if she is distracted with a toy in her hands or something)
Will take two or three steps "cruising" along on furniture
Can get into a crawling position from sitting on the floor

Loves to play peek-a-boo
Loves to eat books (yes, you read that right...)
Laughs at her sister
"Dances" whenever there is music on

Happy Birthday, Baby Anna, We Love You!

A Few Good Nights!

Anna got her second tooth yesterday. She won't let me in her mouth today to see if she's gotten any more...Adele had 6 teeth at 8 months, so I doubt Anna will be caught up by tomorrow, but who knows!

Aunt Dee Dee and Aunt Jenny were down for the weekend. On Friday night, I thought Anna only woke up once, but Dee Dee informed me that she had screamed for about 20 minutes earlier in the night. I hadn't heard her AT ALL. Who knew that could happen! Saturday night she WAS only up once, Sunday night she was up twice, but spread apart, and last night she was only up once...of course, she did wake up for the day at 5:45, but she was plenty snuggly, and I was well rested, so I didn't mind too much!

Adele was also back to sleeping well again, so it has been a good several days! Getting Anna to sleep hasn't always been an easy task lately, but she IS teething, so I'll blame that!

I know I still have to write an "Adeleisms" post soon...but honestly, I keep forgetting the cute things she says...which isn't *that* big of a deal, because as soon as I forget one, she turns around and says something else that is just as hilarious, but I should be better about writing them down or something (isn't that what this blog is for, anyway?)!

Too Cute Not to Post

Conversations with Ellie

Adele: Mommy, am I three today?

Mommy: Nope, but you would be if you'd been born on your due date like Anna was...


Happy 3rd anniversary of your due date, Adele. We had a blast playing rock band with Daddy, then shopping, sledding and eating out with Aunt Dee Dee and Aunt Jenny today!





Oh yeah, and Go, Pack, Go!

Happy Tooth Day to You!

Because she got a new tooth, of course!

It came in yesterday, about an hour or so after I told Aunt Laura that Anna still had no teeth. My kids are like that, I guess...except when I mention that they don't sleep well at night...that never makes them better sleepers.

Apparently, I'm doing okay with my sleeping, though, because last night Anna cried for about 20 minutes, according to Dee Dee, and I slept right through it. I did wake up with her later on in the night, but her nights have been so rough lately, it's not surprising that I slept through her crying! At least with this new tooth, I know why she's been SO needy during the nights lately!

Can You Guess...

Why this little girl is smiling?

This and That

Of course, now that I've finally gotten around to blogging again, I forgot what I was going to blog about.

Well, here are some updates:

As of today, Anna can craw!!!!!l....granted, she crawls backwards, but she can get across a room in no time! I figure she'll figure out how to go in circles soon enough, and then it won't matter which direction she crawls in! (I can't believe I just typed that. I can't believe my baby can crawl...well, kind of.)

She also got herself into a sitting position from being on her tummy, but hasn't done it since yesterday (too busy crawling backwards, I guess).

She still wakes up about a billion times at night and will only go back to sleep if I nurse her. That's not really good news, or exciting news...and I've tried to let her cry it out, but that turns into "Screaming it out" and that's just wrong.

Adele is pretty funny lately. I'm working on another "Adeleisms" post, but as you can see, I've been doing a ton of blogging lately, so we'll see how that turns out. Right now I can't remember any of her funny little sayings.

She has become quite the little puzzle...solver? She loves doing puzzles. She has many different puzzles, and can even do her 48-piece ones on her own!!!

She is getting very excited about her third birthday...asking every morning, "Am I three today?" (oh-I guess that could go in my Adeleisms post...). She decided that she wanted a Curious George cake, but they didn't have Curious George (or any monkey, for that matter) plates/birthday "supplies" at Target, so she switched to Hello Kitty (which is actually easier, because I can just use white frosting.) I'm excited (and nervous) about decorating her cake.

She is very thankful that we have snow again, and has spent quite a lot of time playing in the snow in the past 48 hours.

Also, I think she is outgrowing her oat allergy. I made oatmeal raisin cookies for our neighbor as a "thank you" for snow blowing our driveway and Adele asked to eat one. I watched her very carefully and she didn't show any signs of a reaction. She has been eating Anna's "puffs" lately, which have oat in them, so who knows, maybe she de-sensitized herself!


Well, I don't think I could have written a more boring blog if I had tired...maybe tomorrow I'll post some pictures or something :)

Anna Can "Yoga" Too!

Our little Anna is trying so hard to not be little anymore :( She desperately wants to crawl, but so far only scoots backwards. She also has figured out how to pull herself to standing and is perfecting the maneuver. Today was all about standing, and even if I tried to put her down in a crawling position, she would straighten up her legs, and it ended up looking like she was practicing her "downward dog." Adele and I got quite a kick out of her today.







She also got her flu shot booster and didn't even flinch at the needle. She did give the nurse a strange look afterwards, but I guess those chunky thighs are good for something!

"D-oh Badders!"

I know this post is a tad too late, but it has a cute story, so forgive me!

We all received new Badgers gear for Christmas (this seems to be the trend whenever they make it to the Rose Bowl...) and for once, Adele was thrilled about it. (Memaw brought her a pink Badgers shirt last spring that Adele loathed for some reason...) She has worn her "Badders" gear several times since Christmas, and always wants Anna to wear hers too.

On Friday night, as we were getting ready to go to our Rockin' Toddler Eve party, Adele (who had dressed herself in her new Wisconsin sweatshirt) started shouting frantically from the top of the stairs, "Mom, MOM! Is Bucky a raccoon?"

Parenting fail.