18 Months of Bliss

Anna is celebrating her 18-month milestone by fighting off a head cold. Only last week, she was battling an ear infection. Her little stuffy nose and runny eyes are breaking my heart. But I have used this season of illness to indoctrinate her on the wonders of Vicks vapor rub (or is it vapo?). My plan is working; she carries around the jar most of the day. She also is shocking us by sometimes bringing the nasal aspirator (or snot sucker I as call it) for us to use on her. 

Aside for her sickness struggles, Anna Zane is doing well--still growing in maturity and expression faster than I can keep up. She's starting to mimic words. Today I heard variations of ball, cock-a-doodle-doo, "tank ew," uh-oh, whoa, and exaggerated "L" sounds for "love you." 

We've also introduced the big girl potty. (I find myself talking about bathroom matter on what feels like a continual basis.) She's "acclimating" to sitting on the potty but hasn't actually made the connection yet. I have a sneaky suspicion this will take a while. 

Anna is now a fan of Cuties clementines, Annie's trail mix (picks out the pretzels first), sweet potato tater tots, and string cheese is always a favorite. At present, she is cutting her 12th, 13th, and 14th tooth. Bless.

The pics below were taken by a former babysitter. Miss Sammy left us for grad school in Oklahoma--sniff, sniff--but we are delighted for this new chapter in life and feel blessed for having such a dear in Anna's life. She did such a great job capturing some of Anna's classic faces.

Stop Staring! The Hope Cottage Blog

What a treat!

Hope Cottage--Anna's adoption agency or her "special place" as we call it--asked me to guest write on life in a transracial family. There's so much to say because we learn more and more every day, but I simply shared an experience that happened recently.

You can read all about it here: http://hopecottage.org/blog/?p=1048.

I'd encourage you too, to read through other Hope Cottage blog posts and even its website. Knowing more about adoption can only be a good thing! :-)

NashVegas 2012

Anna boarded her second airplane just a couple weeks ago to fly to see Aunt Tina. And what a FUN time she had--and her mama and daddy too. Even more exciting was the art project Aunt Tina had prepared for Anna. It took a couple days to complete because it was that fun and fancy.

Here's Anna's first time finger-painting.

We didn't get to see Uncle Brad much because he was a busy beaver working, but Anna was a fan whenever he was around.

Day two of finger-painting was more enthusiastic. She was getting the hang of it. :-) 

Another highlight of the trip was visiting with dear, dear friends from college. Oh, how I wish we could  "lunch" once a month. 

Auntie Beth, who I haven't seen in 1.5 years! Too long!

My other kiddos and my favorite sister. Miss them. Sigh, wished we lived closer. (Oh, and Kloie too. Anna chased and chased and chased this poor dog.) 

Sisters!

Cousins! 

Cousins again! 

Anna and her Aunt Tina--fast friends 

17 on the 17th

Today Anna is 17-months-old and sporting 10 teeth (the 10th just made its debut this week). Yes, yes, as you'd expect this cliche first-time parent still, I can hardly believe my baby is getting so big--less baby and more big girl every day. Lord help me when I'm typing she's 17 on the 17th!

What's she doing new?

We've decided the best word to describe her at this stage is "demonstrative." And I don't necessarily mean that in a negative sense. :-) She's able to express herself--whether happy, frustrated, mad--better every day. Anna absolutely understands everything you say.

Pretend play is now a daily happening--and I LOVE that! With me, she's really into making her babies have an "uh-oh," i.e. a baby stroller crash, being slung from her arms, etc. And then she rushes over, says "uh-oh" (a phrase we're working on mastering), and then hugs and cuddles with the best comfort you've ever seen. Two minutes later? The whole thing is reenacted. Of course, sometimes the injuries are so severe, a trip to mom for cuddles and kisses are needed. She'll stand there until I'm done with her most concerned face. Too funny.

Anna loves riding any elevator . . . like I cannot explain how much.

She's also a good helper. Any time I use the hand-held vacuum, she MUST get a turn. And the swiffer mop is a favorite. Her sweet, little heart is desperately wanting the strength to be able to use the big vacuum, but that's too heavy at this point. 

Anna still loves music. She still loves food. She still loves "Jesus," her stuffed lamb that plays "Jesus Loves Me."

Below are pictures I took last month, when she was a mere 16 months old. It is a perfect demonstration of how difficult it is to get a good pic of her because she wants the camera so. 

A little snotty. :-) Poor thing does struggle with allergies.

This pose and face is something I see often. Love her.

Fussing caught on camera. To all those nursery workers, see she does fuss.

The Grandparents' Visit

Bryan's parents, hereafter Mimi and Daddy-Pa, visited nearly a month ago. I, of course, am just now posting some pics. Anna had a rip, roaring time with them as you'd imagined. She's even saying "Mimi" now, which you know her grandmother just "hates." Haha.

Just two days after they left, we were at a grocery store. Because we were just going in to get a couple things, Anna was walking along and not in the cart. When she saw a helium balloon, she ran to it. This was the first time she's ever gotten excited about something at a store. I told her to say "please." She said, "Mimi."

Folks, this is what I'm dealing with. Hahahaha.

What Tile, Where, and How Much?

That is what I want to know.

Yep, the remodel, folks, is here. It's epic in our world. I feel like it should be henceforth referred to as "The Remodel." It deserves capitalization and quotation marks. That's how overwhelmed I am--haha.

You can expect, for the next few months, periodic posts about construction, design, and decor this and that. And this is my first.

Friends, I need your help. We're tiling the bathrooms. And I've learned it's cheaper to buy tile in bulk--the bigger the better. So, from a design standpoint, do you want every bathroom in your house to have the same tile, and thus the same overall color scheme? Or can you have grey tile in the master and tan/beige tile in the guest bathrooms? I just don't know what to do. What are the rules for this?

The Baby Monitor

You know, if I were to launch a magazine for parents of infants, I'd name it The Baby Monitor. Great idea, right? Hmmm . . . except it'd have a short life with readers. While people are always having babies, those babies turn into toddlers, tots, and teens fast. So maybe this should be more a book idea rather than a magazine . . . . I'll keep thinking. :-)

But this post isn't about lofty editorial grandeurs; it's about the whole new wide world of life with a baby monitor.

Since Anna now snoozes in a room on the other side of our abode, a monitor is now a necessity. We actually received one as a gift--even registered for it, if I remember correctly when Anna entered our lives. Yet, when Anna's room was next door to ours, with a shared door no less, a monitor wasn't needed. I heard her loud and clear. Thus, the monitor was traded in for diapers I'm sure.

Thanks to all my Facebook pals who chimed in the baby monitor selection process. We settled on the Motorola Remote Wireless Video. LOVE. IT. We haven't had a problem with static/interference at all.

The best part of the monitor?

Learning about all the antics are daughter is performing in her crib after we turn out the lights and close the door. Mmhmm. And all this time, we thought the silence meant she was resting. Sure, there have been two or three times so far, either during a nap or bedtime, that she has gone right to sleep; but we discovered that is not her usual. Oh no, she's balling up her blanket and moving it all around her bed. She's hiding her paci in her blanket and then finding it and then hiding it and then finding it, all the while with this adorable, mischievous smile on her face. She's standing up, pointing across the room, pretending and whispering. She's waving at the ceiling fan. She's sticking her feet and hands out the crib slats in great fun. She's dancing. She putting her paci to her ear to make an important phone call. And this and more she does until after a few minutes--sometimes 1 hour--she lays down and goes to sleep. That little, darling rascal.