Anna at 19 Months

Anna is a little girl bursting with energy. She loves to run around the living room and play. She is now more of a little girl than a baby. It is very neat to witness the transformation of her going from baby to a little girl. She now treats her baby doll a little better. She used to throw it out of its stroller, but now she gives it water to drink from a cup and handles it much more gently.

Her language development is a little slower than I expected it to be. She has said quit a bit of words but she doesn't re-visit them much. The one she uses most frequently is eye. She points to her or someone else's eye and says eye, eye. She says momma and dada but not very frequently. She has tried to say I love you before by saying I you when we have said it to her. She says various other things but they usually don't return. She knows what we are saying to her, she will point to almost anything when we ask where is is. She knows all of her body parts, including her hair and tongue.

She is still so in love with the kitty. Every time she sees him her face lights up and she gets very excited. She is a little rough with him though. She likes to kick him and we try to get her to stop but she doesn't always listen. She also loves turning the TV off, over and over again. I tried to put tape on the off button but she just took the tape off. She is learning to break through barriers now with a lot more ease than I have been used to.

She went for her 18 month appointment a few months ago and her weight is still in the 2ND percentile. I don't like this, it worries me a lot, but I feel better because mom keeps reminding me I was identical to her as a baby. I hate more than anything when people tell me I need to feed her. If they only knew how much I work on that everyday. She usually eats decent amounts. I try to keep feeding her throughout the day. I add carnation to her whole milk. I do everything I can. Sometimes she eats great and sometimes not so well. I can't physically throw her on the ground and shove food down her throat. Her doctor is having me bring her in between appointments for weight checks. I am worried but I also know she is very healthy. She always has a ton of energy and she is reaching her development milestones at a great rate.

Putting her in her crib at night has been very challenging lately. We used to go through the whole routine of reading and singing to her in the rocker, then Andy coming in and rocking her for a few minutes, then we put her in her crib and she went to sleep. She is no longer going to sleep when we put her in her crib, she stays up crying for hours. We are going to start putting her to sleep an hour earlier so she has longer to go to sleep before Andy has to be asleep.

Having Anna in our life is such a joy I would never have been able to imagine before we had her. Some people talk about all you have to give up in order to have kids but I feel as though it isn't such a sacrifice because she gives us so much more in return. She has brought to our lives a smile that gives off so much light it melts every worry in the moment she is doing it. We give up certain freedoms we used to have such as being able to go to the movies or grab a drink at the bar, but that is now replaced with pride for wonderful little girl whose life we get to shape everyday. We also get to relive our childhood through her. We are so proud of the wonderful little girl we are raising.

Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving this year Grandma and Grandpa Fields came to visit us. We were very excited to hear that they were coming b/c we originally didn't think they would. It is so nice having as much family around as possible for the holidays.

I spent most of the day cooking. We had the turkey(of course), mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, macaroni and cheese casserole, and rolls. I brined the turkey this year, which is new to me. It turned out pretty good. Anna ate a little turkey, mashed potatoes, and macaroni, but what she loved the most was the cranberry sauce. We had apple pie for desert, which Anna loved.

I put the tree and Christmas decorations up the day before Thanksgiving, it was easier that way. Anna is obsessed with trying to get the ornaments off the tree. I put the tree on an end table to make it harder to get to, but she still finds her ways. She climbs up on the couches trying to get them. Grandma and Grandpa Fields left Saturday morning after we went out to breakfast at Bado's with them.

Halloween 2009

Anna at Trax Farms.

Anna painting a pumpkin with WASHABLE finger paints. This ended up turning into disaster as I chased her around with paint all over her hands.

Watch out Grandma!!!

I know I am very late on this blog entry. For Halloween 2009 we dressed Anna up as a lady bug, and we gave her a plastic meat cleaver. She didn't go Trick-or-Treating yet b/c she was still a little too young for that. We ended up taking her to a local mall because we thought maybe she could go to some of the stores to Trick-or-Treat, but they really didn't end up having anything. We ended up just getting dinner at Houlihan's in the mall.

Her Grandma Fields made it her to see her dress up as a lady bug, we were all happy for that. It was actually Grandma Fields that got her the cute lady bug costume. I was thinking about making a costume and dressing her up as a Dr. Seuss Who, but mom called and said she saw the cutest Lady Bug costume so I said ok. It worked out really well.

New Orleans and Pensacola

We just got home a few days ago from a week long trip to Pensacola, Fl and New Orleans,LA. We went to New Orleans for a couple days for Andy's anesthesiology conference, and Pensacola to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Van Brocklin since they live there half the year.

New Orleans was fun but we were ready to head back to Pensacola after a couple days. Andy and I loved the New Orleans food, with the exception of the Red Beans and Rice I ordered at Mulate's that had a bug in it. At K-Paul's I ordered Jambalaya and Breaded chicken and it was wonderful. We went to the River walk while we were there, I got the chance to try the french doughnut Beneits, which are wonderful. On our second day in New Orleans we took Anna to the New Orleans aquarium which she really enjoyed. There was this glass circle in the floor that you can see the sharks through and she laid face down on it like all the other kids and watched the sharks swim around, it was very cute. We walked on Bourbon Street a couple times while we were there, I felt out of place being there with a 17 month old so I wasn't so fond of that. On Sunday G-ma and G-pa Van Brocklin watched Anna while Andy and I went to Harrah's to gamble. Andy played Black Jack and we lost $40 pretty quick so we quit. We walked around Bourbon Street again but ended up at a bar close to the Bienville House which is where we stayed. We had a couple beers and some cheese fried there. It was nice. When we got back Anna was in bed, they told us she cried a bit when we left (she has been having separation anxiety lately). We had the hotel for another night but we headed to Pensacola instead since we done everything we wanted to in New Orleans. We would have loved to go on a ghost tour, cemetery tour, Swamp tour, or any tour really but they were all to expensive for us.

We got to Pensacola on Monday and just kinda relaxed that day, G-ma and G-pa VB made us some delicious steaks. Tuesday we went and saw G-pa and Tracy at the new Building they have for their business. Then Aunt Tracy showed us her nice apartment. Then we went for lunch. After lunch we headed to Pensacola Beach and it was so nice and beautiful. Anna had a lot of fun playing in the water and chasing sea gulls. After the beach we went to look at the beautiful house G-ma and G-pa VB ended up buying on the bay, then we went for pizza. Wednesday we spent the whole day on the beach, it was very fun but a little too windy which made Anna a little more skeptical of the water. That evening G-ma and G-pa VB grilled us burgers on the beach as we watched the sunset. Thursday we went to the aviation museum which was neat to see all the different types of aircraft, Anna had a lot of fun in the play area. And our last day which was Friday was a little more hectic. We went to a bar called Florabama, located on the Alabama-Florida border. It was an ocean front in door and out door bar, very redneck but fun and interesting. I think it is definently not a place for kids like Anna, we stayed outside most of the time since it was too smokey for our Anna.

We had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed the beautiful, warm, sunny Florida weather. The air travel was kinda hectic with Anna. We had to carry her and a lot of bags at the same time. On the plane she did not want to sit still. She was happy when she could watch her portable DVD player. We were very happy when she fell asleep on the plane. All and all she was pretty good aside from a few episodes.

We are looking forward to seeing G-ma and G-pa Fields this weekend. They are coming to see Anna as a lady bug for Halloween. We are thinking about taking her Trick-or-Treating at the mall.

Anna at 16.5 Months

I haven't had the chance to update in awhile. Anna is running everywhere now, she has gotten really hard to keep up with. She loves to color, throw blocks all over the living room, play in her sand box and much more. She is kissing a lot too lately. She will come up to you and say umm-maa, but she usually ends up kissing your knee. She blows kisses a lot as well. Eskimo kisses is her new thing but you better watch out because she twists her head quit violently any time you say Eskimo kisses, it is so cute but brutal.

We just got back from visiting Grandma and Grandpa Fields. We had fun, Anna especially loved the dogs but what's new. She got to play in the mall play area with other kids which always excites our little social butterfly. On our way home from Virginia we got pulled over so another $200.00 ticket for us...not fun . It was in West Virginia, we can't drive through West Virginia with out getting one. Andy thought he was going the speed but it changed with out him knowing.

A month ago Anna had an incident. She was playing with her dad, running around the house and then ended up running into and end table. She cut her gums really bad, she was bleeding a lot and her gum swelled up over her tooth. We couldn't tell if she knocked her tooth loose as well. I called the triage nurse at her pediatricians office and they of course said to take her to the E.R. as they always do. I told Andy and he got on the phone and said are they going to call a dentist in to fix it or something and she said the E.R. doc will fix the tooth and Andy said they wouldn't. So we didn't take her to the E.R. and the next morning the swelling was down and we could tell the tooth was not loose. I hate seeing my girl in pain, it is the worst feeling in the world. I am just so glad it healed up well and we made the right decision to not take her into the E.R.

We are excited to be going to New Orleans in a few weeks. Andy has an Anesthesiology Conference and we are going to New Orleans for a few days and meeting Grandma and Grandpa Van Brocklin, then we are going back to Pensacola with them for the rest of the week. It will be fun to see New Orleans, Pensacola, and the Van Brocklin family.

The 14 Month Anna

It has been so long since I have updated Anna's web journal. We have all been so busy lately. Shortly after Anna's one year birthday we moved into a house up the road from our old apartment. It is great because we now have a yard for our sweet Anna to run around in.

Anna's first birthday was a lot of fun. Her grandparent's from both sides came to visit her. We got her a big Costco cake, which she loved after she knew what it was for. The evening of her first birthday we took her swimming for the first time in the hotel pool, she loved it. We have a little fish on our hands, she could have stayed in the water all night. It always gives me such joy to see her happy and doing things she loves.

She has developed a lot since my last update. She started walking well at 13 months, at about a year she was practicing, but she perfected it around 13 months. She can now say Mama and Dada, although she doesn't say it much. For the last month or so taking her into a store has been a nightmare. She will sit in the buggy for about 5 minutes, then she decides she wants out and screams so loud. I have to take her out and carry her while pushing the cart around, it is not easy. I would just leave her in there and let her cry it out so she realizes the screaming will not get her what she wants, but it is way too embarrassing as everyone stares.

In the last couple months I have taken Anna to The Children's Museum and she loves it. It is so cute watching her interact with the other kiddos. I have to pull her away from all the exhibits so she can get to all of them. I am thinking of getting her a membership for her second birthday.

Anna's weight is still too low. When I took her for her 1 year well visit she weighed almost 17 pounds which puts her in the 3rd percentile. She has also became a very picky eater which makes things really challenging. I have been adding carnation instant breakfast to her whole milk to give her essential vitamins and extra calories. I am crossing my fingers she will gain more weight by her next appointment in mid August.

We had to take Anna to the emergency room about a month ago because Andy was on call and I was home alone with her on a Sunday. She was running a fever of 103 and crying non stop. Tylenol and Ibuprofen would not break her fever so I called her pediatrician and she told me to take her into the ER. I took her to the hospital Andy was on call at and he got to stay with us b/c things were slower at the hospital. They ruled out everything except a bladder infection and wanted her to stay there till she urinated to test her urine. We went in at 8pm and didn't leave until 12:30 a.m. They said she mostly likely has a bladder infection and gave her penicillin. It was a draining night to say the least.

Anna is now into cartoons. It is so cute watching her get excited when she sees animals on the t.v. The girl is such an animal lover.

Anna at Ten Months

Anna is almost eleven months, I can't believe she will be a year old in almost a month. She will be a toddler, it seems like I have had an infant no time, soon she will be a toddler. I am sure she will be walking in no time. She has been pulling up on everything for about a month now. She is very hard to keep up with, constantly on the go. She is now experiementing with standing with out support; however, it isn't working for her yet. I am sure she will be walking in no time and boy will I have my hands full.

She loves popsicles with a passion. Everytime we have one her eyes light up and she comes to us sticking her tongue out. It is getting much harder getting her to eat her other baby food. she doesn't seem as interested in that, she smacks it out of my hands when she is done and it goes everywhere.

When we are in public she loves seeing other kids. Every time another kid goes by she gets a huge smile that crinkles her face and she shouts out little noises of excitement. She is a very social baby, I hope she stays that way. When she is in her stroller she is so cute she loves to sit straight up and check everything that is going on, she doesn't want to miss a thing.

She is still a tiny one. Her pants size is much smaller than her shirt, I have had a hard time getting her to gain weight like the pediatrician recommends. She looks and acts very healthy so I am not too concerned.

Andy's 29th Birthday

Anna loving her first taste of cake.

Anna and her Dad dancing, so sweet.

Anna squinting as her daddy blows out the candles.

Today Andy turned 29, time is going way too fast. Andy didn't want to do much for his birthday, I finally convinced him to at least go out for dinner. We went to the Fox and Hound Pub, then came home and had some cake. We gave Anna some and she loved it.

Anna has learned to knock down barriers we have set up for her, she is getting too smart. I have been feeding her foods that are a little thicker than she is used to and it hasn't been a problem so far. She still wont sit up on her own, she knows how to, she has done it before, she would rather crawl and move around. She is now taking baths in the big bath tub, which she like, she did a lot of splashing around and played with her toys. She has not been sleeping good through the night the last couple weeks, she wakes up at least 2 times a night and eats during one of them. She also likes to wake up for the day pretty early in the morning. She has been trying to play with Newton, she sees her daddy playing with Newton with her bib, today she has been taking the bib and waving it in front of his face laughing, it is so cute.

The Clapper

Our cute little Anna now knows how to clap. It is so cute hearing her little hands hit making a tiny little sound, she loves to do it. She woke up at 3 a.m. one morning clapping. She isn't sitting up yet, I have been trying to teach her and she doesn't want to learn she likes to move too much, she doesn't see the point of sitting still, there is so many other things for her to do.

Secret Life of Bees

This book is a must read I loved it. I can't wait to see the movie now, I just hope the book does not put it to shame. It is very sad a touching, thanks mom for recommending it and getting it for me, I hope you like it Meg.

Christmas with the Van Brocklin Family

My poor sick Anna with her cold, I hate seeing her sick

Anna and her grandma Van Brocklin and Daddy (this pic came out blury for some reason

Anna and her grandpa Van Brocklin

Anna and her great grandma O'Brien

We just got back from Wisconsin on Monday, we celebrated Christmas with the Van Brocklin family and had alot of fun. Anna enjoyed opening and playing with all her toys, she also liked interacting with Andy's Aunt and Uncles dog Rosco, as well as the other children on Christmas. There was quit a bit of snow the first few days but it got better as the days went by, except for lingering fog that made driving home one night from a fish fry really challenging for his parents since the visibilty was only around a foot. Anna was such a champ at travel, we were afraid she would get fussy but she didn't.

We got into Wisconsin at about 11 p.m., our flight was delayed two hours because they had to shut the Milwaukee airport down for a couple hours due to the weather. On Tuesday we spent Christmas Eve with Anna's great Grandma Van Brocklin, she cooked us a wonderful dinner and we exchanged gifts. On Christmas Andy's parents had the whole family over and we ate, exchanged gifts and went downstairs to the bar for some drinks. Friday we went to Kopps (Andy's favorite restaurant b/c of their custards), then we went to a fish fry that night. Saturday Andy's parent's babysitted Anna while we went and saw the movie Yes Man, it was a cute movie and we were glad to get out and see a movie which we do not get to do much, when we got back we found out our poor Anna had a cold :(. Sunday we watched football and then ordered pizza that night. It is so funny because Anna slept in her pack and play so good there but does not sleep as well at home, it takes a lot longer for her to fall asleep at home than it does for her to fall asleep there, it took her 5 minutes there, I was amazed. Anna's cold is finally starting to clear up, I hope mine will clear up soon.

I wanted to post a pic with Anna and her Aunt Tracy and great grandma Van Brocklin but those pics are on a seperate video card that I am a having a hard time uploading.

Anna Bullying Kelsey