Yummmmm, Cucumber!

Snowy Day

Mike and Anna got to do some juggling practice!

It was actually warm enough to play out in the snow today and boy did we! These are our first snowmen on Rutland Drive (snow-women actually, since they are Anna and me). Hopefully we'll get to built a Dad, and a new baby tomorrow! Anna gave me quite a scare today jumping out of my arms and falling headfirst in the YMCA locker room! After an unusual 10 minutes or so of screaming, thank goodness our little toughy was back to herself with the help of a lollipop! "Anna" snowman was built before the accident, and "Mommy" was built afterward. She sure is a brave little girl! Oh, one more thing. Anna ran to the potty tonight wanting to go poo-poo in the potty, and almost made it! I think she is going to make our dream of her being potty trained when Nutmeg is born come true!

Hope you have very happy birthdays, Jenny (30th!) and Aunt Sharon!

Monday Play Group

These are Anna's friends: Maddie, Alana, and Aubrey. They all have so much fun together on Mondays and then again on Tuesdays at Gym and Swim at the YMCA.

Mommy's Boots

More dressing

We brought home a craft from the library, a bear to dress, and after we did it, Anna wanted to dress her Violetta doll with the bear's clothing! It was so cute! Anna was looking at my arm and saw a freckle, and said "ouchie?, no not ouchie, birth mark". So cute! Also Anna follows Mike around as he does this funny squat-walk and she does the same, and when he stops, she wants to do it some more.

Nutmeg's Ultrasound

I think it's a boy! Sorry it's been so long. Time has been flying by! Anna is growing fast, in fact after her nap this afternoon, she said that she grew in her sleep! She sings the ABC song and loves caring for her baby doll, Violetta, named after her cousin. She dresses her, changes her diaper, washes her, and feeds her milk, eggs, mango, and avocado. She's very smiley and ticklish, and really excited to be a big sister -- she was soooo excited to see new baby in the "ultrasound" today!



Here is a video of the ultrasound of Nutmeg! Pretty cool!

Last Day of Story Time

Anna was the only volunteer to help dress the bear on the board by the teacher, and she met a new friend afterward named Vivianna. She really loves her "parkalies!" ~ glitter sparkles on the lovely Valentines from her cousins. When the glitter gets on her hands, she holds them out to show everyone and her jaw drops in awe of the beautiful wonder that is covering her hands. Today Anna got a stamp of a zipper in keeping with the clothing theme of the day.

Driver's Test!

No, not the written one, well yes that, but also the one in the car! Boy was I nervous, but I happily passed with flying colors! The only points deducted were for "pausing to check progress" - that's a first for me!...passing so easily (took a few tries at 16), and pausing to check progress! Mike was SO PATIENT with me through all the trouble of getting through the day! He is amazing!!! Thank you Mike!

Something funny Anna says now: "Anna goin' boca" We think from her behavior when she says it, that she means "going crazy", so silly.

My 30th Birthday!

Maddie came over to play and she and Anna gave Maddie's puppies piggy-back rides. Also, Anna put her baby on the potty and was reading her the potty book! Anna and I went to lunch with Aunt Sara and had yummy eggplant Parmesan, raviolis, and spaghetti! For my birthday night, Mike and I watched Far and Away - I forgot that that movie has a funny side!

Lambert

Yesterday Maddalena and Francesca came to visit, and when Anna finally learned their names she couldn't stop talking about them all weekend. They gave her this darling "sheepie" called Lambert - he's so cozy! Anna has been having all her animals go potty and changing their diapers. At bedtime she said "Anna bedtime" and "ssssssh, Anna sleepin' " and sometimes she says "close the door".

Mommy's 30th Birfdee Party!

I think everyone had a pretty good time! Thank you everybody, and especially Mike and our moms, for a great celebration! Special thanks also to Michael and Ashley for coming all the way from Philadelphia to be with us! So sweet! We love every visit!

The cake was so yummy. As tradition goes with my family (not big cake-lovers), cake for YOUR OWN birthday tastes different. We often decline cake at birthday parties, but for our own, we always enjoy a piece. Well, I sure took that to the extreme! Blame it on Nutmeg, or a proud thirty years, or just darn yummy cake, or Lent (Mike gave up sweets), but for whatever reason...I had a piece a day for the next week until it was ALL GONE! I still can't even believe it, but maybe I could be on a Costco bakery commercial!

My cousin Erin and Billy

Happy "Balen" Day!

Anna got pretty new "Balen" (Valentine) jammies from Gramma. She remembered whom each of her valentine cards were from and kept sorting through them like they were baseball cards. Cards sent to Anna (or to Mike or me) get a lot of use in this house! They are prised items with many details to explore. We were happy to pick Daddy up from the airport for a lovey-day celebration! We hope everyone's day was filled with love as was ours!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow-Fun with Uncle Billy

Mike was off to Milwaukee, and so Anna and I were off to Westlake. Anna got to spend some bonding time with Uncle Billy when I went to a book club meeting one night, and a volunteer meeting the next. Uncle Billy is a fun one in the snow! He was putting snow on Anna's lap, and she kept wanting more and more on her! We tried to build an Ohio-snowman, but it just would not work, just too cold I think. We also made some lovely snow-angels!

Off to visit the Fiscus Family

When we said we were going to PA, Anna wanted to see Uncle Michael and Aunta Ashley, but when we got to the Fiscus' home, she had a ball with Emma, Anna, Ella, and Ty-Boy, as well as Willy and Tucker (their cat and dog)! She made her first snowman ever and we went sledding too! It was nice to have warm enough weather to be able to play outside. We had a wonderful visit, just too short :(

The Fiscuses plus Anna.

Pig tails :)

Today Anna made a joke. She said "Anna 5, noooooo, Anna 1!" She is doing this funny "hmmmm" (like you'd scratch your head in thought) and squatting down looking all around for whatever is missing. She had fun trying to "follow boys" in the barn to go down the slide at the Children's Museum too.

Nutmeg's Heartbeat!

Today Doctor Bose was so sweet to let Anna help her find the baby's heartbeat. She squirted the gel onto my tummy and actually held (along with the doctor) the heartbeat microphone! It was adorable! And Anna was so proud :)

Tool Time

Anna got her own set of tools to help Daddy finish putting up the "new hinges". The tools sometimes serve as something a little more girlie, such as the drill bits that are apparently "lipstick".

Groundhog Day

Anna is becoming more and more imaginative. It's so cute to see her acting out little scenes with her animals, babies, food, and especially a bunch of rocks that are your newest toys. She helps me cook (macaroni and cheese) and bake (muffins). She is always saying "Naaaaaame?" for everything, meaning "what is this? or who is this?". She knows her street, city, state, and country (though for country she usually says "123 say"). I guess USA sounds like 123 and the "say" is the ending of "USA". She is talking so much, and goes around saying "aaaaah!" for her cute teddy bear or dolly.

See, she looks like Daddy too!

This is the money tree that we returned to Costco because it was too fragile. A few little branches broke off. It looked really real, as in alive, and the reason for that was because it was alive! Of course a live tree is going to be fragile, but after all the work of getting it back to the store, I returned it even though I liked it as a "real tree". Oh well, maybe we'll buy one another time. Cute picture anyway!