New.

We moved.  And it was the best moving experience I have ever had.  Why, you ask?  Well, it may be that my mother and sister did most of the work, because they are amazing and understood a variety of things that kept me miserable and trying to catch up on my work. 

And?  It may be that the new apartment has washer and dryer, is bigger, has a bathroom larger than the toilet, has walk-in closets, did I mention the washer and dryer?!, has a fireplace, cuts down Daniel's commute by at least half an hour, and really, we have a washer and dryer IN our apartment.  Sure, there are a few small things we don't absolutely love, but overall, it's perfect right now (oh!  And we have wonderful friends who live one complex over, I'm thrilled about that!).

Miss Anni revealed several new skills over that time... which always happens when my mama is around.  She followed my mom as she vacuumed and had to touch the light on the vacuum as often as possible.  She also started to stand all on her own for brief periods of time when we let her hands go and is rocking the cruising.  She has taken to hugging and kissing... total heart melter!  She crawls around making kissing noises until you pick her up and kiss her back, though her favorite thing to kiss is definitely her dolls.  

Having my mom here is always wonderful... but my daughter getting past her severe stranger anxiety and playing happily for minutes on end with her?  So wonderful in so many ways.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful woman in my life to look up to!
 

 

And speaking of wonderful women, having my sister and her family here was a blast.  One of the few things I dislike about living in Colorado are being away from my family and having Miss Anni not get the chance to play with her cousins all the time.  While she and Q had a love-hate relationship, she would play with the two older girls quite happily as if she was thrilled they would include her.

And, while rain made moving a little difficult, I am so grateful for it.  I just wish I could pass it on to all of the places who are suffering so badly for want of it right now.

So, this may be a little disjointed, because I worked on this entry all day while I had a few moments... and I'm too tired to proofread, so it's going to be what it's going to be.

and to all a good night.

The Fourth of July and the blogs that shall never be blogged

 Before the fourth of July came and went, was the Cedar Bluff vacation with my family.  Unfortunately, that came and went nearly a month ago... and I don't really see having the energy to put together a post about it.  So... I'm going to direct your attention to my lovely, darling sister's blog.  She did blog about it, and I supplied a good portion of the pictures :).  Here you can find day one, and here you can find days two and three.

Fourth of July weekend was busy, but we had a blast (until I got food poisoning, it was kind of downhill from there).

Miss Anni got her first haircut from the woman who not only gave Daniel his first haircut, but also the haircut he had for our wedding.  I haven't been able to dig out his haircut picture yet, but I will, oh, I will :).  It was a very little one, she had grown a very tangled little mullet in the back, so Paula just trimmed it up a teensy bit so it would grow in a little better with the top.

We don't have any stairs but outside stairs in our apartment, but our doctor wanted Anni to work on stair climbing.  She has mastered my in-law's stairs... which is both a tiny bit nerve-wracking and exciting!  She likes to stand at the top and cackle at everyone below... and then bump down the stairs with me :).

I made my first ever batch of homemade lemonade.  Anni helped.  Supposedly it was good... I got a text from a friend a few days later telling me he was thinking about my lemonade :).

... and we celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday.  Not only was it a blast to hang out with him again, but I got to request old stories of him and and my hubby when they were little :).  They were such adorable little blonde boys!

Then came the fourth.  It was brutally hot... which should have signaled us to avoid the fair we were headed to... but we got Miss Anni all dressed up (she went through three hats that day, each one cuter than the last).

See those pink cheeks below?  This was only 10 minutes into getting out of our cars at the stampede.  It was so, so hot!

We soldiered on... patted animals big (really, really big) and small.  Anni's favorite was the Alpaca, although this was the one animal in the petting zoo that went out of its way to avoid her.

And then, after spending a good half an hour in the art museum to cool off, we headed back out  to watch the lumberjack show.  If possible, it felt hotter.  We sat in the shade of the bleachers, occasionally straining to catch a glimpse of the action.  And, this may be one of the few times I ever say this, but thank goodness for McDonald's.  They came around with free mini fruit smoothies and gave each of us two since they were melting.  They were tasty and Anni loved them.  Plus, they cooled us down just long enough to decide to stay for five more minutes before we left. 

In those last few minutes, we bought Anni a cowboy hat and took her on the carousel... which was seriously the fastest carousel I have ever been on.  I spent the entire time trying to keep her from sliding off the horse and the hat from sliding off her head.  I should have spent the extra money to get myself a ticket so we could sit on the bench seat.  Next time... except probably not another next time there...
 

Oh!  And I didn't mention it, but we were there with the most lovely couple!  Mark is a long-time friend of Daniel's and was a groomsman in our wedding (and taught me how to properly make pie crust) and Erika is his beautiful, charming girlfriend!

The End.

I'll be back...

 

I am currently recovering from an overscheduled (but insanely fun) June as I prepare for a wedding next this weekend.  Oh, and there's a bout of carnival induced food poisoining.  But I'll be back.  In the meantime, you should go to my sister's blog and enter to win one of her cute hats :). 

1 year... and a few months?

 

Anni actually near her 1st birthday

I know, I know... I never made the official 1 year "stats" post.  Her appointment wasn't until a couple of weeks after her birthday, and then I was waiting for a weight check as she had very little difference in her weight at 9 months and 1 year (mostly due, we think, to the long string of illnesses she had).  Those are my excuses, but really I've just had a lot on my plate and mommyhood and my business had to come first.

Miss Anni pulls herself up (on everything, pant legs, corners, etc) and cruises.  She is a smart cookie and definitely has an opinion.  We always claimed she was stubborn, but boyhowdy is she.   So, nope, no walking yet, but she'll get there eventually.

 She talks, babbles, like crazy.  The only words that are recognizable are varying forms of "mommy, daddy and papa", but she likes to repeat syllables... especially "haha".  She and her grandma play the laughing game over the phone.  If you sing her name to her, she'll eventually repeat the syllables in her sweet little girl voice "ahh(n)eee".  She knows three signs, all generally relating to food.  (More, please and all done... although all done has often been used to ask if I'm done vacuuming.  She is signing her version of "more" in the picture to the left.)

She has transitioned to "big girl baths" and cries if she hears the water running and she's not in it.

She dances and I love it.  It's one of my favorite baby things... to see her groovin' to the music :).

She would watch other little ones all day if she could.


Summer is her season. We went to a little water park on our big family trip and she was in heaven.  She practically threw herself out of my arms to get to the water.

She plays peek-a-boo even better than ever now.  She likes to hide behind the bed (preferably on daddy's side... he has the most interesting cords).  Oh, and she loves the bathroom.  It may be because baths take place there, or that she likes to brush her teeth while we do... but I have to shut the door tight if she's playing near there or I'll find her trying to open the toilet.

Official weigh-in was awesome!  20 lbs 15 oz!  That girl gained nearly 2 lbs!!  So exciting.  Now we can officially switch all the way to cow's milk whenever we please and we don't have to worry about stuffing her quite as much and slathering everything with butter.  Speaking of which, I think her eating habits are hilarious.  She likes nearly anything, but all fruit must be shared or you will hear about it.  Today she partook in parts of at least three nectarines.  Love it.  Oh, and favorite new snack we've discovered with this whole deal?  Pirate's booty.  Totally not my thing since I would rather leave cheese than take it, but she and Daniel are fans. 


Her physical therapy evaluation is tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well, in whatever way it can :).

She's growing up.  We're starting to see hints of the little girl edging out the baby.  Her throaty chuckle that comes more and more often is definitely not a baby laugh anymore, but it's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.  All we want is for our babies to be happy, right?

FOCUS Training... and our family

I have been a travelin' fool the last few weeks... so I need to backtrack just a little to fill you in.  The last you heard from us, we were at FOCUS Staff training.  We had a fun little schedule that worked quite well for us. 

We got up in the morning and ate breakfast with the other missionaries.  Anni loved when we sat with other families so she could watch all of the kids.  She loves other little kids and very frequently lets our her most adorable, "Hiiiii!"  when she sees them.  

Then, while everyone headed to adoration, we would go set up for the head shots I took all afternoon, take a little walk as a family and make sure to get Miss Antonia a nice long morning nap (um, and oftentimes Mommy, too.  I was consistently exhausted.)  Daddy tended to run errands or actually run during those naps.  There is only so much you can fly with... so a few runs to the store were in order for some basics for the week.    

 

Then, it was on to headshots.  As you can see, Anni was quite helpful in getting everything set up.  But really, my dear, darling Daniel was the rockstar that helped me figure out tethered shooting and toted all the equipment around.  He rocks.

Daniel also did a little video shooting, and although the setup is slightly different this is where we shot all the headshots.  (We didn't use a green screen, obviously, but rather the FOCUS blue in the picture of Anni).  It's normally a music room, so the poor choir had to work around all of our stuff for the week. 

And in the afternoon while everyone was in class and we were done?  Anni would be halfway into her nap and I would veg with some netflix and a pillow... unless it was the day I had more photos to take... then I would do that.  Then, Mass with all the amazing missionaries. 

I loved it in there.  It was not only a beautiful chapel, but filled with so many people intent on the same mission.  Plus, there were always plenty of other mommies and daddies trying to keep their little ones in line, so we felt right at home when Anni pitched a fit because she couldn't rip apart a book. 

Then, we had the evening generally for dinner, walking and hanging out.  One night a lovely missionary that we went to college with sat in the room while Anni slept so that we could have some couples only time at the marriage retreat we attended (which was packed full of good, practical info - we loved it!). 

One night we explored the Student Union and found an art exhibit tucked away in back room.  My little art major's heart went pitter patter and Anni's little knees went pitter patter across the shiny floor.  (See her pointing at herself?  Cracks me up.)

 

We found time for our first pigtails ever, for Benedictine connections and to see dear friends and their sweet little boys, oh and of course of Anni and Daniel to come on a photoshoot for those same friends... and wander around a waterfall as they attempt to stay out of the back of my shots :).

Phew.  And to think, I left on a trip only a few days after that.  And we're leaving on another one this weekend.  I maybe, possibly, booked myself a little too solid this month.

Just maybe.