What a Night!

By Carmen

Last night I had more energy than I have had in months.  I was quite productive too.  I managed to wash and fold 3 loads of laundry, make a deer roast, clean the kitchen, make 3 different desserts and make some bean bags and arts and craft projects for Annley.

This put me going to bed around 1AM.

I was planning on getting a good night’s rest after such a busy night.

Sometime around 2Am I woke up to the feeling of something cold and wet dripping on my shoulder.  This is a very startling experience to have at 2Am.  Then I heard Annley very cheerfully say “good morning mommy”.

This sent my mind reeling. 

How did my under 2year old make it out of her crib and into my bed?

Did she climb out and make her way to our room and somehow into our bed?  If so, how did she manage to get a bottle of milk?

Was I so tired that I just didn’t remember getting her, the milk and then putting her in bed?

I finally woke Tyler up and asked her how Annley made it to our bed.  He said he heard her calling for me and when he went into her room she popped up said “good morning”.

When I found out what time it was, I scooped her up and took her back to bed.  At 3:30 she was up again with no intention of going back to bed so I brought her upstairs and turned on movie hoping I’d be able to sleep.

Unfortunately, she wanted to play.  She finally settled down around 4:30 to watch her movie and by 5 :30 she had fallen asleep on me. She tossed and turned but stayed asleep until7:45.

Apparently, staying up late last night was a bad idea. 

Maybe she just preparing me for the sleepless nights that are to come with having another baby.

Delicious

By Carmen

Last Sunday Tyler surprised Annley and I by announcing he was making cookies.  I didn’t even know he could make cookies :)

He asked if Annley would like to help.  She was very excited to help pour all the ingredients into the bowl.  She even got to help with the eggs. Daddy must have been feeling very brave.

The Chocolate chip M&M cookies were delicious. We ate them all before I got pictures of the finished product.

Making Small Talk

By Carmen

Annley has recently started making conversation.  Sometimes with people.  Sometimes with her toys.

Here are a few examples;

Holding her Ariel toy
Annley: "Where is Prince Eric?"
Me: "We don’t have Eric but Ariel can play with the farmer."
Annley: (gives me a look of confusion) "NO!" (and walks away)
Apparently Ariel is too good for the farmer.

Conversation with herself playing with her ABC magnets
Picks up the letter 'G'
"What is this?  Is it a W?  No  Is it a O?  No  Is it a G? Yes  YAY!!!  You did it!"

Her Latest Phrases
Come here fella
Wear this one
How bout this one?
I don’t know
Please help me
Tag, you're it
I’m going to get you
Sit on your bottom
Come back
Stay there (usually directed at Cooper, Nana’s dog)
Read it to me, please
Going to Nana’s house!
Go see Jeepers, BJ and Cooper
Meeska, mooska, Mickey Mouse! (the password for Mickey's Clubhouse)

Holidays

By Carmen

My laptop died sometime at the beginning of November. I can’t believe how out of touch  have felt the last two months.

I’m going to do a quick recap from the holidays.

This year hosted Thanksgiving at my house.  I loved it.  I learned how to make cornbread dressing and how to cook a turkey while the men learned how to fry a turkey.

The month of December was pretty busy this year I because in addition to the usual hustle and bustle of the season we celebrated Christmas twice this year.

We had Christmas in the middle of the month with my parents and brothers as well as Tyler’s parents.

 

Then we flew out to Washington state to have Christmas with Tyler’s siblings. Thanks to Melissa for letting us crash with you for a few days.  We enjoyed everyday you were there.

To see more pictures of both Christmases click here.

No Longer the Always Perfect Little Angel

By Carmen

Up until recently Tyler and I thought we had the perfect child.  We would often hear other parents complain about their toddler’s  almost daily tantrums.  We knew Annley would start having little tantrums but figured they would be few and far between and wouldn’t last long.

Boy were we wrong.  We are to the  Little Miss Bossy and daily tantrum stage now. There are days where she is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.   Those are the days where it takes every ounce of patience in my body to not lose it. Th0se are the days where I know the minute I say the words “no” or “not right now” Annley will start screaming and flailing about for 15-20 mins sometimes even a good 40 mins.

The first time this happened I thought something was horribly wrong with her.  She wanted to be held but she didn’t want to be held.  She wanted to rock and she didn’t want to rock.  Nothing would console her.  It wasn’t until an hour after the outburst I thought back to what triggered it.  She had asked to watch “Little Mermaid” and I said “no”.  When I realized that’s what it had been over I was half mad at myself and thought it was a little funny that it didn’t click in my mind what the problem was.

Now, she goes to time out for some alone time and whenever she decides to calm down I talk to her about her outburst and then we cuddle for a few minutes.

The fact that she talks so well is a blessing because she can tell us what she wants. It’s also annoying because she can tell what she doesn’t want and what she isn’t going to do.

Finally Free

By Carmen

We have been trying to get Annley to go to nursery now for 2 months with no success.  Our Sundays usually consisted of lots of tears and drama.

This Sunday started out very much the same but Tyler and I agreed not to come to the rescue this week.

I left her screaming “MOMMY” “MOMMY” which was sad but she survived. The Sister in nursery said assured me that she would come get me if Annley couldn’t “handle it”.

All during Relief Society I kept waiting for someone to bring Annley to me but no one came.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I went to check on her during Sunday School and found her sitting at the table with the other children coloring.

She made it through all of nursery by herself for the first time ever.  I couldn’t believe how happy I was.  Hopefully we won’t have anymore problems taking her to nursery.

It was the most pleasant Sunday Tyler and I have had in over a year.  We made it through with only one minor embarrassing incident.  During the closing prayer Annley was watching Allie, a friend from nursery and she yelled out as clear as a bell “Allie, sit down”.

Catching up

By Carmen

So I’ve really been slacking on posting lately.  Life has been pretty hectic the last couple of weeks so here is a quick look at what we’ve been up to. There are a lot of pictures from different things we’ve been up to the last 2 weeks.

First was our trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  Annley loved it.  I’m not sure what she enjoyed most;

The horse

The Goats

 

Or the Pumpkins

or the pumpkins

 

A few days later we went Nana, Elyse, Annley and I went for a drive from through the upstate (SC) up to Saluda, NC.  I love taking this drive during the fall.  The mountains are beautiful this time of year.

First we stopped to eat at Aunt Sue’s, a restaurant not far from table rock.

Then we trespassed on private property to get some pictures of Table Rock.

  

What would be a scenic drive without a waterfall?

Our next stop was to a bridge that was built in 1820 and was the only route between where ever the bridge is and Asheville.  We walked down part of the trail.  It was Annley’s favorite part of the trip.  It is pretty hard to get pictures of Annley smiling so I had to post these too (I figured it was relevant since she was on the trail).

 

The next couple of pictures are from my favorite view of the drive.

 

HALLOWEEN

This year Annley was Alice from “Alice in Wonderland”.  One of Annley’s cousins was Alice last year so we were able to borrow a costume.  She loved the dress.  She also loved all the Halloween decorations and candy.

 

  

 

Now we are in the process of painting and fixing up the house.  Tyler sent me to Georgia to stay with my parents for a few days while Tyler and Lori primed the walls in the house for us.  While we were there Annley was able to spend more one on one time with her grandpa than usual.