Annie At Play

will be leaving town tomorrow but promise Christmas pictures soon ... hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!

Happy Holidays!!

due to Christmas holidays will take a short break from blogging ... wish everyone a safe and wonderful holiday and will see you back here soon!!

My Grown-Up Christmas List

and here is happy, laughing Annie, amused as usual by her canine sisters, Mary and Hope ... she sits on the bed and all they have to do is walk into the room and she laughs and laughs until she falls right over ... definitely a daymaker!!
annie is now 17 pounds and on the verge of crawling ... she has always disliked having her diaper/clothes changed but as it is now, she rolls over so fast and scoots away that her naked self is halfway across the room during my "we don't live in a nudist colony" speech while I try to dress her. Who knew a small baby could be so physically challenging to dress??
back in the adult world (sometimes forget I still live there, too) continue to prepare for Christmas but feel like world's worst mom as have no stocking for sweet Annie yet ... seems grown-up thing would be to make one but am not seamstress by any stretch!! (ha ha, Danielle and Teri) would not know where to start ... would self begin by darning or cross-stitching or latch-hooking or perhaps by duct taping?? no clue so will solve problem another creative way ... solution to follow in later blog ...

Let It Flurry, Let It Flurry, Let It Flurry

ahhh has been awhile since actually wrote anything wildly interesting here so will do so today ... top picture of annie you can see her little white tooth shining proudly and the bottom picture is after errands and a tiny little haircut followed by severe hathead after wearing her winter hat as is VERY cold here ...
all is fairly well ... has been not so great week as far as sinuses are concerned but sinus/allergy issues seem to abound among family and friends as of late ... must blame cold weather ... was snowing here yesterday ... ok, was "flurrying" ... do not mean to imply that self had to head out with a snow shovel just to remove enough snow so that precious husband could find house after work ... still, when wake up to single-digit temps. self considers that to be seriously cold and very much envy certain relatives' heated commode seat ... own commode seat is quite the great awakener in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning ...

Annie and Tux

Annie with her early Christmas present penguin friend, Tux ...

Annie

Ah, the Anticipation

Thanksgiving trip pictures will be here soon, I promise ...

The Madness of the Season

am recovering from shopping outing yesterday ... was doing some all by myself shopping for triple baby shower next weekend, food for family, clothes for ever-growing child, and Christmas gifts for niece, etc. so found self (among other places) in Toys R Us looking at age-appropriate toys for Emma ... suffice to say, self has not in any form or fashion recovered from the experience. was an absolute MADHOUSE!! parents had multiple toys, multiple children, multiple carts and multiple ways to take you down if you got in their way ... self wanted to find a quiet corner (HA!) and cry ... was actually afraid at one point, and not of the parents but of the children ... began morning in an upbeat, polite "oh, excuse me, they really need traffic lights in the aisles" kind of mood but ended in "what is wrong with you? get out of my @#$&*%$#@^% way! I will chase you into the parking lot and run you down with my cart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" frame of mind ... not proud but is the truth ... and so the holiday season is upon us ... and so is a picture of Annie after church last night ...

Happy Birthday, Mary!!

big day in the life of our family ... it's sweet Mary Barclay's 8th birthday ... it was 8 years ago (roughly) she was born and then Anthony gave this precious little puppy to me on my birthday ... as most of you know, we're an animal loving family, and it would seem Annie is growing up to be the same way ... she loves the girls (as we call Mary and Hope,) and they usually hang out pretty close to her ... she laughs at them and they're very patient with her ... the picture of Annie and Mary was taken just this morning with Mary patiently waiting while Annie tried to eat her own socks ... what a pair ... Happy Birthday, sweet Mary!

Carpe Diem

Although my child is not herself these days ( I blame the almost tooth entirely,) we're making the best of it ... she spends time with her big furry sister (who thankfully doesn't mind when Annie yanks out a handful of fur,) we practice dancing, we sing, we watch Baby Einstein DVD's ad nauseum, and then she falls asleep during dinner ... life is good ...

These Are the Days

Is That Your Final Answer?

has been interesting day as some days are ... had to do errands, a task which began rather happily as we entered Target with Annie smiling at me and anyone we passed ... she was in great mood, birds were chirping, planets were aligned ... then suddenly (perhaps caused by impending appearance of first tooth?) all hell broke loose ... screaming began followed by fit followed by Annie turning purple she was screaming so loud. Trying to avoid the stares of passerby (self has gotten really good at this) continued on my merry way, gathering up baby food, diapers and the like ... fit continued so began to throw toys at not-so-tiny Annie in manner of clown distracting bull ... tiny chewie cell phone? sure! sea creature that speaks colors in three languages? super idea! brand new Baby Einstein DVD's ? why not! never thought would be parent who bribed tiny baby but good grief, if there's one thing I've learned (besides how to wipe poop without getting it on your hand ... don't ask,) it's never say never ... and I mean NEVER!!

Impending Teeth and Moochie

exciting news ... Annie in to see her pediatrician today for her flu shot, and pediatrician confirmed she's cutting her first tooth on the bottom right side of her mouth in the front... I could see the little pearly beauty myself!! Now who knows when it'll actually come in but is still an almost milestone ... shall post updates here ... (don't exactly know what those updates will be, but rest assured they'll be here)
though belated feel I must write farewell to Mooch Covington, an amazingly beautiful and gentle dog who will be greatly missed ... Jen and Chris, I'll miss curling up with Moochie to watch a movie ... he was truly one of God's creatures ...

Babies Are Truly Us

has been lovely weekend ... have braved elements to do some out and about things ... made trip to Babies R Us to buy Annie a stationary jumper (she exhausts herself on it as evidenced by the sleeping picture) ... also saw LOTS of couples registering and thought of my cousins doing the same thing! tiny still-teething-Annie-but-feel-sure-a-tooth-is-coming-through-at-any-second figured out how to chomp on the bill of her daddy's hat as well as anything else she can get her hands on ...

To Quote My Aunt Mar, Blessings Abound

For your viewing enjoyment, here's a combination of pictures ... some from the Vandy/Florida game we went to last weekend with a good friend of ours and some from today of Annie playing happily in her own house. ( and yes, those are flying pigs on her shirt in the last picture) Although it was nice to have a little time just to ourselves, it is absolutely joyful to have her back. Somewhere in the last 7 1/2 months, she's become my friend (perhaps because she can't yet disagree with me!) and no, that's not overstating it. I missed her companionship and our little daytime shopping expeditions, and I so look forward to all the years we have ahead of us ... IVF is but a fading memory ...

Annie's Vacation Pictures

Annie will be home tomorrow, but in the meantime here are some pictures we've gotten through e-mail of her on her vacation ...

Update

Annie has left the building ...

Annie's Vacation

Annie is leaving today to spend weekend and part of next week with grandparents in Columbus and will return to us on Wednesday via other grandparents so has been busy week getting her ready to go and preparing self for her departure ... will miss her a bit ... shall post old pictures here today to gaze at ...

Humpty Dumpty Annie