Soul Meets Body

By Carmen

This morning I had a baby shower to go to.  I was on the way there when I received a very random text from Tyler.  It read "What r u doing May 6th?" 

I racked my brain trying to figure out what was going on that date....nothing that I could think of.  Maybe I had accidentally sent him a calendar invite for a non-existent event on May 6th.

My reply:  What?  Why?

Tyler:  I have a surprise for you

Inside my head:  A surprise really???  How exciting? It must be awesome especially since Tyler planned it out that far in advance.  I mean WOW!!!

Lori: What are you reading over there?

Me: Tyler has a surprise for me on May 6th

Lori had a very surprised look on her face and asked me what day that was.  I checked, "its a Wednesday".

By this point I was racking my brain trying to figure out what on earth my surprise was.

We got home and Tyler asked me if I wanted to know what my surprise was. Anyone who knows me knows the answer was yes.

I guessed that it was for a concert and it was. 

Then he sang this line to me

"I do believe its true that there are runs left in both of these shoes"

Which is "Death Cab for Cutie"

I am soo excited.  I love that band. 

Tyler you get like 1000 brownie points.

Annley's Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day

By Carmen

Tuesday started out like any other day for Annley.  She woke up at 6am.  She played with her Daddy for an hour so I could get a little more sleep.  Then we all came downstairs for breakfast. The morning continued to be wonderful until I sat down to practice the piano. Annley stood at the end of the piano happily hitting the keys until she decided she just had to get on the piano bench.  In the midst of pulling herself up on the bench she slipped and whacked her forehead on the corner of on of the legs. A purple bruise promptly appeared right smack dab on the middle of her forehead.

A little later in the day I asked Annley to help me fold clothes which is something she likes to be a part of.  Usually this involves Annley unfolding everything I have just folded.  This particular day Copper was "resting" (hovering) close by.  Annley decided to crawl over and say hello; something that is not out of the ordinary.  He saw her coming and seemed to be very calm, she went to pet him (very gently) and he spun around, bit her and snarled at her.  I was shocked, furious, terrified and mad.  I jumped up and ran over to them scolding Cooper and trying to comfort my hysterical child at the same time.  Her little arm puffed up instantly around the area where she was bitten.

Seeing his teeth wrapped around her little arm is permanently burned into my mind.   I was shaking for like an hour after it was over and tried not to think about it until Annley took her next nap.  What if he wouldn't have let go? What if she hadn't been wearing long sleeves?   What if he does this again? These are the questions that have been running through my mind since it happened.

Obviously Annley is no longer allowed to be near Cooper or play with him anymore. Tyler has decided he is not to even be in the same room with her.

Sleep Training

By Carmen

Four months ago Tyler and I decided to teach Annley start sleeping through the night we had to put it off until after the holidays since we had just moved,  she was constantly teething and we would be traveling to much to have much consistency.

I didn't mind waiting because I was dreading putting Annley through sleep training because of all the horror stories I had been hearing.  Once the holidays were over and I decided I could no longer handle being sleep deprived. We picked the weekend we wanted to do it, we let Tyler's parents know what was going on and asked that they ignore any crying or screaming they heard, and discussed our game plan to get us through this potentially trying ordeal.

Saturday night we put Annley to bed like we normally do. Tyler was to have the first shift.  He stayed up until she woke up which was 2:20am.  He went in and comforted her for a minute or two, told her good night and left.  She cried for 10-15 mins and Tyler repeated the process.  Sometime during all this Tyler said she was crying and then started half crying and half saying "ta-da" to get him to come back in (she usually says ta-da when she is excited or when she wants excited attention).  She went back to sleep and woke up at 4:30 to eat and slept until 8:30am.  She has never slept that late in her life.  I was so happy and well rested.

Sunday night I only had to go in once to comfort her for about 2 mins and she went back to sleep on her own with out much complaining.  Last night she slept all night!!

I don't think I realized how sleep deprived I had actually been until I started sleeping more than 2-3 hours at a time.  I finally have my energy back.  I haven't felt this good in 18months:)

Christmas Fun

By Carmen

I love the Christmas season.  I love the smell of Christmas trees and fresh baked goodies.

I love decorating the Christmas trees and going to look at Christmas lights.

I love listening and singing Christmas carols and of course watching Christmas movies.

This year I was excited to start some of our own Christmas traditions.

The week of Christmas we got full swing into the Christmas fun.  I made sugar cookies and Tyler and I frosted them.

We took Annley to go look at Christmas lights at Tiny Town.

     

We visited Santa twice, once in Georgia with my mom and again here we bumped into him at Tiny Town and we got a picture with him.

Christmas morning was lots of fun too.  Annley loved her presents and we loved watching her look at everything and play with everything.  She loved the Christmas wrapping paper aftermath.

 

 

All in all it was a nice relaxing Christmas.

Say Cheese

By Carmen

 

I have spent months trying to get Annley to look at the camera whenever I would take a picture.  This week she has learned that the combination of me having the camera in hand and the phrase "say cheese" are and indication that she should look at the camera and be a total ham.

This is great except for when I am trying to take candid shots or record something she is doing.

I can be across the room and turn the camera on to get a picture and she'll somehow hear the little beep that means the camera is on.  Then she'll stop whatever she is doing, turn around, sit down and smile.

Here Comes Santa Claus

By Carmen

Last week Tyler, my mom and I took Annley to see Santa.   Santa just happened to be in my home town, for one night only, while we were in town.

We figured then was as good of a time as any.  I was pretty sure Annley would do okay. She's never been afraid of strangers of course we've never handed her to an old guy with a full white beard and dressed from head to toe in red.

When we got to the gym (yes that is where Santa Claus decided to stop for his one night debut in Gray) we pointed out Santa and clapped at him.  She seemed fine at this point and was chirping and squealing her highest squeals in his general direction.

Then came the moment of truth....my mom carried Annley and started to hand her to Santa and before the exchange was ever completed Annley spun around and started kicking her feet and crying. Having family with her helped make these pictures possible.

Annley was given a candy cane as a reward for her brave attempt to sit with Santa so I let her have some of it.  It is now her new favorite candy (its the only candy she's ever had). Our last stop was to an antique store where Annley charmed the old ladies who owned the shop and where she found a chair to rest in for a few seconds.

We have enjoyed getting ready for Christmas and we hope all of you have too.  Merry Christmas from Tyler, Carmen and Annley.

Getting Tucked In

By Carmen

 

I love my husband.  He happens to be the Most Amazing Person Ever - just ask him. 

He has a wonderful sense of humor, is quite intelligent, has tons of patience with me and loves me more than anything on Earth.

I know this because on nights he stays up late he tucks me in. The first time this happened was within the first few months we were married and he was just goofing off.  I told him he could consider it practice for when we had kids. Not only is he now the best tucker-inner ever it is now a pretty consistent thing.

Last night was the most fun being silly together we'd had in a while.  He told me he was staying up late and I said "Good.  I wanted to go to bed early any ways." He followed me up the stairs to the bedroom and tucked me in and told me he loved me.  Then I remembered I left my water bottle down stairs and asked him to go get it for me.  He laughed and asked me how old I was and if there was anything else I wanted.  So playing back I said "yes, I want to hear either a bed time story or you can sing me a bed time song."  He looked at me like I was crazy, with a request like that who wouldn't.  He went down stairs and got my bottle of water then I remembered I hadn't had my bedtime hug so he untucked me, hugged me, gave me a kiss, tucked me back in and then looked around the room for a book.

He found one of Annley's books "I Love My Daddy Because" its a book about how daddies take care of their kids. Tyler changed the words from "Daddies" to "Husbands" and "Children" to "Wives".  Here is how the summary of the book ,on the back cover, read when we changed the words.

Cuddle up and take your wife into the world of animals with this adorable concept book about husbands and wives.  The clever text borrows simple phrases from a wife's experience to show that animal husbands take care of their wives too.  Illustrated in soft, beautiful colors, this is the perfect book for sharing on a loving lap.  

We were laughing so hard.

After that I went to bed and he went upstairs to work.