Celebrating Fall

The change of a season should be celebrated, especially one that brings sweet little pumpkin hats, cool weather and adventures to the pumpkin patch.  Last year, Miss Anni was still a little thing, and while quite adorable propped amongst the pumpkins and corn box, probably didn't get too much out of the adventure.  This year, it was all excitement. 

Her favorite activity of sorting got put to use at the corn box.  Meaning all corn had to be set outside the box.

There was much pumpkin loving and snuggling.  I never thought of pumpkins as snuggly, but I've been wrong before.

And poor Levi kept trying to pull Anni along (she was going her very own pace) and got rejected a few times.  She is strong-willed, that one :).

Then, well, then we hopped in a car.  And over that night and the next morning, we drove to our alma mater with no better reasons than that my brother was there and so was Irishfest and both were deemed worthy of a 10 hour drive.

And yes, I seem to like that shirt... and hat... it's a good fall combo, and anything that I feel pretty in is going to be worn as much as physically possible.

Yep, lots of family resemblance.  It was great fun to introduce my brother to Irish fest, Daniel and I went both years we were dating in college.  We spent a lot of time holding hands and spending too much money on Irish stew, Guinness and other yummy things and once he bought me clauddaugh earrings... yep, I love this place.

Anni developed a fascination with the leaves right outside the apartment we were staying in.  Side note?  This dorm is the dorm I was living in when I started dating Daniel, and the dorm we both lived in the summer we stayed on campus.  The whole weekend was nostalgic in a strange, slightly painful way, because even though I don't want to go back to the over-stressed, slightly silly college girl I was, I had a lot of fun and did a lot of really good work when I was there and I can't go back.

I'm lucky, though.  I made amazing friends when I was in college, and I still get to have times with them when we're all laughing hard enough to fall off of our chairs.

That may or may not have happened once.

or so...

Happy Fall!

All about Anni

I know I've been away.  Miss Anni and I just spent a week with my family in Kansas... trying to do a little rest and relaxation, as well as be there for my beautiful sister's first craft fair while my hubby took a business trip.  We had a wonderful time, but I admit to still feeling a little overwhelmed with life.

How do you deal with the overwhelming demands of motherhood, being a wife, business and life in general?  I think I need some new coping mechanisms... and we're going to start with a little update on my sweet little one.  Yesterday marked 17 months since her birth, so I just want to revel in her little personality for a few minutes.

Nugget has definitely gotten the hang of walking.  She tends to do it at full speed with her arms in the air, yelling "Go, go, go!" or "Yaaaaaay!"  She's also picked up the "Go Big!"  of "Go Big Red!"  after spending a week with hardcore Cornhusker fans.  She is still a little unsteady, especially when she demands to walk on our jaunts outside, but I can't really blame her, I still trip over my own feet.

Our gal has hit the sorting phase.  It's pretty awesome.  These buttons keep her happily entertained and were especially helpful when I had to run out to a meeting and my mom watched her.  I love watching her little self busily at work sorting and thinking through what she's going to dump, pour and sometimes throw next.  She likes to sort other things as well (drawers full of paper, books and kitchen supplies), but this is probably the easiest to keep contained and takes up very little space.

This girl has a very distinct personality, and I love discovering all of its little facets.  She has very distinct body language for "shy" (a little chin dip and tiny smile while she keeps her eyes on the new person) as well as "nervous" (holding her wrists and plucking at her clothes a little).  She also has a wide array of smiles, some of which I haven't quite figured out yet (can a 17 month old have a sarcastic smile?).  As wonderful as it is to watch her grow, I also have to admit to being scared stiff that I will mess it up.  She is such a beautiful little soul and I'm a new mommy, just trying to figure all of this out.  My dad reminded me this weekend that he still didn't have it all figured out.

  
Anni got to spend a lot of time with her cousin, Charlie, and she loved it!  He was amazingly patient with her and she just wanted to follow him around and make sure she could pat his head whenever she wanted.  I love getting to see her love others.

We find her in some interesting positions as her flexibility lets her stretch beyond that of a normal toddler.  Even the normal toddler squat stretches into a little froggie pose.   Oh, and speaking of body parts (great segue right?), she knows a whole lot of hers.  She can point to her belly button, mouth, nose, eyes, ears, hair, feet and hands (well, she just wiggles the feet and hands, but she knows what they are).  Isn't it amazing watching little ones learn?

Oh, and we can't forget the temper tantrums.  She has a good scream on her and likes to instantly alert us to things that are not going her way.  We're working on it :).  

 
Sweet Anni, I love watching you grow!

Drifting

You may have noticed that I've been woefully absent for the last couple of weeks.  I promise I have a good reason.

You see, I've had a lot of work to do, and to be honest, I am still struggling to learn that delicate balance of working at home and being the best mom I can be to this little nugget.  Some days, I truly fail.  Either work is neglected, or my sweet little one has a cranky day because mommy hasn't been very present that day.  One day, the internet broke.  It was good for me.  I spent the morning cleaning and playing, the door to the bedroom and the internet shut tight (really, that door kind of sticks) and reminded myself what was important.  Obviously, work is important to me as well, but when I did sit down to work that day, I got so much more done without the internet in the background calling me to distraction.  Hence, the lack of any update. 

So, the point is, I'm still working on that balance thing.  But I've got a lot of motivation to get it right, and maybe someday I will.

Here are a few of those sweet moments...

 

Anni is finally doing a little better hanging out with people other than Daniel and I.  Amy is definitely a favorite, and as you can see, she's pretty excited for Baby Lucy to come out and play (any day now!)

We also had some old (does it count as old when you're still in your 20's?) friends move to Colorado with their son, and while we are thrilled, Anni is absolutely over-the-moon excited.  She spent most of the time there giving hugs and cuddles.  Their little man was a little confused, but I think Anni just gets excited over kids her size she can play with :).  

Yep, they're awesome.

Oh, and I'm still super impressed with how fast Jill got their apartment looking adorable and cozy.  I'm still working on that.

We've had a lot of this recently.  While she's still a champion sleeper at night (except for this morning, where she was restless from 5:30 - 6:30 when we finally just gave in and got up... er... Daniel got up, I slept until 7, have I mentioned how awesome my husband is?), naps are a near no-go recently.  I can't figure out why, because she's obviously tired.  She sleeps nearly every time we're in the car longer than 15 minutes.  

I cut my hair off (I know it looks like a different color... it's not, just different lighting).  Easy is necessary for me :).

She walks absolutely everywhere!  It's adorable and I'm so proud of her.  She is, too, she gets the biggest grin on her face every time she walks through the apartment.

She blows kisses, which melts my heart to no end... especially since I'm not sure where she learned it.  

We celebrated the actual day of our anniversary the way we always have, with a picnic :).  (Every other year it's inside, although we don't plan it that way.)

 Passing on our faith to Miss Anni is important to us, but it is equally important to me that she knows why we believe what we believe and that we as parents truly represent the love and mercy we believe God is.  All that will come with time, but for now she likes to point at this icon, say "Jesus" and do a little kiss pucker.   

And, as you can tell, I'm running out of steam.  Anni is napping, for once, and I'm going to go crawl into bed in hopes that it lasts longer than 15 minutes.

the end.

Nugget's Room

This is the one room in our little apartment that has a complete feeling.  I like to go sit in it during the day and daydream, with the yellow curtain open and sunlight streaming in to touch all of the sweet little things we've used to make Anni's room special.  Putting her room together was very important to me.  Her due date was going to be after we had moved to a new apartment (the one that we lived in before this one), where she would have a room I could get all ready for her.  However, when she came early, we were living in a garden level one bedroom apartment, and when she came home, we were still in that apartment.  At the time, it wasn't a big deal - we had other things to worry about, and I wanted her in our room for a little while, so we certainly didn't need the extra room at that point.  Sometimes it's okay to want something; though, right?  And a sweet little room for my sweet little baby was one of those things.  Since she came home, it has felt like life has moved so fast that I can barely keep pace.  This was important to me; though, so for over a year I've been slowly gathering bits and pieces and ideas for her room.  And, as complete as it may ever be: our nugget's room!

A note before you look - I know a coat of paint can transform any room.  Unfortunately, we live in an apartment.  And while we actually are allowed to paint, we'd have to paint it back before we moved out, which may be less than a year from now, so the trouble wasn't worth it.  Therefore, we found the sweet little decals.  They probably won't be a part of her room in the next home, but for now, they make up for the drab walls a little bit :).

Noticed the crazy mix of woods we have?  See... the crib is a hand-me-down from my wonderful sister, the bedside table is from Daniel's childhood room, the bookshelf is my college bookshelf and the rocking chair is the one new thing in the room.  I originally wanted dark wood in the room, but I think we'll transition to a lighter wood as we move some of the baby items out.  (On a funny note, the next room theme I have in mind definitely calls for dark wood... why can't I just pick one?!)

Did you notice the riotous flowers on the right-hand wall?  My nieces were in charge of that lovely meadow :).  It makes me smile and miss them every time I look at it.

There it is :).  Now for a few favorite things (okay, pretty much everything is a favorite thing, but I narrowed it down).

On the left: the yellow rocking chair Anni's grampa made for her.  I can't even tell you how special it is to me that this is in her room and that she will have it long after she's grown out of it.  I also love the square pictures above it.  I really wanted some at Anni's level... because this room is about her, right?  They are easily replaceable (I used velcro to put them up) if Anni gets a little too interested and not too expensive to that.  I got the idea for these on one of my favorite blogs.

On the right: the canopy!  Oh, how I love it!  I always wanted a canopy, and I love that this one was affordable and not too fussy.  I got it from ikea, and they even have an even cheaper one that I think it also darling.  And, just because it is one  of my favorite Anni blankets, the sweet quilted blanket lying over her crib was a gift when she was born.

Anni's cousins keep us company :).  We like to say good night to them, because we wish we could in person!

I loved the idea of letters on the wall... but wasn't too thrilled about the cost or look of the wooden ones.  Luckily, my sister is uber talented, and whipped these up for me.  Perfect!  In case you want some of your own quilted letters... she sells them in her etsy shop.

I just love this collection of books.  Some are Anni's, some are being borrowed from cousins, some were mine when I was little... I have always loved reading, so I want to give Nugget the chance to fall in love with it, as well!

Ah... Organic Bloom frames, you just make me happy :).  While I feel like I need something more on this wall, I've been just a-waiting for this frame to share the room with you... because it was the mark that the room was "done enough" to share.  This darling picture was taken by the lovely Jenny Hanlon.  It is definitely a favorite.  And, by the way, the frame is a 16x20 Lucy in buttercup.  In case you care about these things ;-).
 

This has always been a favorite piece.  Anni was so tiny when she was born and used to make a very birdlike face.  An artist local to the college I went to (in fact, the daughter of my choral instructor!) makes and sells beautiful cut paper art.  You can find her here, and I strongly suggest that you do.

So, there it is.  Definitely a labor of love, and one that I don't think will ever be finished.  I like changing things, adding things and moving things.  It's not perfect, but it's her very own.  I like to think she likes it (except for the crib, she has emphatically informed us that naptime should disappear).  I like it.  It's home.

Two years and a happy life

Photo by Brian Robinson

Today, my husband and I are celebrating 2 years since the day we made our vows.  We have been blessed beyond belief and have also been through some difficult times.  My husband deserves an entire post on how unbelievably strong he has been for our whole family, and someday he will get it.  But, today, I'm going to spend the time I would spend on that post with him, because he deserves that more.