Playground

When my parents heard Anna was crawling they made a last minute trip down to see the action.  I think they claimed it was one last trip south before school started but I don't know.... :)

While they were here, we decided to take Anna to a local park to see if she likes real swings as much as she enjoyed her swing at the house.  BTW, we had to retire her swing because she kept attempting to climb out of it. 

I was disappointed to find out that the swings aren't meant for adults.  When I gave it a whirl, I shook the whole swing set.  Come on people, I'm not that heavy.  I also was reminded that slides are not meant for people with long legs.  Even with my findings, we had a good time (all 15 minutes) and we will be visiting the park again for sure.  We also took Anna swimming for one of the last times outside this year.  As always, she had a good time splashing and kicking around. 

 

Busytown

As you’ve noticed, the blog posts are getting farther apart.   This can be attributed to a few things.  Mainly, my baby is crawling. Especially, to wherever I am.  She’s also saying “MomMomMomMom.”  Combine these two things together and I don’t get much done except to sit, smile, and play with her.  I’ve also be cleaning a lot.  A crawling baby can point out many “dirty” spots in your house that in a prior life you deemed clean.  Their little fingers can find the smallest places.  Their tongues taste just about every inch of the house.  Cleaning is a three ring circus with a crawling baby though.  Not only does she love the dirty spots, she loves everything I have to clean with.   She turns into a turbo crawler for the vacuum cleaner and the broom.  Just so she can stick those little tiny precious fingers into the bristles.  Eww.  I’ve also been rearranging.  Not only can a crawling baby point out dirty spots, but they can point out dangerous spots. (I know you are saying, “no duh” right now but it’s true.)  We’ve moved things, put things on higher shelves, and even put things away until this stage is over.   I find myself redirecting a lot.  Sometimes it’s a game and I pull a giggling baby out of the same corner five times before we go play in a different room in hopes she’ll forget about that fascinating power strip in the corner.  The fascinating power strip she can turn on and off by the way.

As I reread this post, I hope you can hear the love and see the smile on my face.  This is what raising a child is all about.  It is so amazing to watch her every day.  She learns so much.  I know that’s what babies do but WOW.   I wouldn’t change the cleaning, rearranging, redirecting for anything.  It’s all part of this awesome job I have.  Being Anna’s Mama in Busytown.

A few caught in the act photos....

Meet & Greet

My parents, Anna, and I drove to GA (Anna's 11th state) yesterday to meet my new baby cousin, Pieter. It was an easy four and a half hour drive down to their farm.  The day was full of baby watching, visiting, and eating some delicious food.

Pieter is a sweet little guy.  I mean Sweet with a capital S.  He's a quiet little one, content to snooze in the arms of his Mama or Ouma or Daddy (or really whomever's holding him).  And when he's awake, he's still quiet with bright eyes taking in the world with that seriousness that only newborns have.

Pieter Warner (3 weeks old)

Anna meeting her new first cousin once removed. Cousin for short! :)

Proud Papa

Disaster barely averted!

Aunt Robin's only nephew!

Anna's Foster Ouma Koekie.

Sweet Baby Yawn.

Humor

Somedays being a mom means above all else having a sense of humor.  And last night I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.

Anna realized she could crawl at the end of last week and she is making sure to cover every inch of the house as quickly as she can.  Sometimes I look at Allen and say, "She's crawling! Did you see that?" Amazing.  She really is growing up. Right before our eyes.

So last night, I found a new recipe, and I was determined to try it out.  It went kinda like this…

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Peel a carrot.

Pull Anna out from under the couch.

Chop a carrot.

Stop Anna from playing with the fireplace.

Chop onion.

Wash hands very quickly.

Remove speaker cord from Anna’s vice like grip.

Check recipe again, laugh at myself, and wonder why I decided to try something new today.

Smile at my sweet little girl, give her a kiss, and try to soak in the moment before heading back to the kitchen for the next step.

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Here’s some recent pictures to give you a picture of our days.

Because upside down is more fun.



She's our e*trade baby.

  

What Mama?  I'm not doing anything!

Again, upside down is sooo much better.

 

Where's Anna?





There she is!

CRAZY hair!

Mama's water bottle is so much better than Anna's.

Already playing Wii.

Sweet Summer Love

Finally Beach Trip Pictures

So as I mentioned before, I ran out of space to share pictures so I had to get creative.
I hope that this works for you, and you are able to see pictures from our recent trip.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Things not to be forgotten about the beach trip of 2011:

Anna's first taste (literally) of salt water and sand!
10 adults and 2 babies on the beach
Anna's popup tent
Mexican Night complete with margaritas (spilled and unspilled)
100+ degree heat
All American Night and matching shirts
Nicolas
Riding the waves with Anna
Pop almost fainting at the restaurant (!!)
Anna's favorite toys of the week - an empty cereal box and a plastic container holding a few gumballs
Using a trash can to take a family portrait
Eating dinner in the living room because it was cooler

What did I forget??