Update

Very Very Very Long Update - Maybe a two or three part-reader.


ummmm... excuse me but when did my baby get so Big? and where'd she learn that look?








Not sure when I last updated.

I'll toss out some stuff and some pictures and hope we've gotten everything in there that's relevant.

Let's See...

1. Anna is walking - She is more like running now and is Climbing!!! and is such an adorable little chubby chubbykins! Seriously - I don't know how we could have a happier more sweet little person in our lives.


Anna dancing.













- this was delightful. Climbing on the stool the day After she was sent to the ER for a possible concussion. I felt like a great mom, but I did feel the need to grab the camera when she climbed up the second time :)







Anna's first birthday.









2. We don't have any video of Anna walking except on Sam's phone b/c our video camera is sooooo very done. It was working off and on the last few months and it finally gave up on Anna's birthday - we did, however, get some video on her birthday. I think we'll be getting a new one this week.

Anna's first birthday party.









3. Grandpa and Nonna have been for a couple of visits. Makes it nice for us (probably not them) but as I detest! doing that drive and it's even worse now with Anna older and able to share her opinions with us. Grandma Terrie has come to visit us a few times and we got to see her for her birthday. Also, Sam's cousin Darcie got married and was an absolutely Beautiful Bride! Seriously - We think she was probably the most beautiful bride either of us have ever seen. Stunning. She usually is in jeans and a ponytail so maybe we're a bit biased but she was truly lovely.


see, she really doesn't like the car :(









Ella and Grandma










Darcie and Andy













Ella and Grandpa - (trust me Nonna, you don't want me to publish the pictures I have of you)









4. Ella has had one nighttime accident in the past two weeks. It is so very cool and you can see her self-confidence blooming and growing every day. She actually, actually weaned herself off her 'cocoa' because we wouldn't let her wear her undies to bed if she had cocoa. That's how motivated she's been for the last month or two. Extremely!!! The first few weeks were pretty bad and I was ready to tell her I was ready to stop trying b/c she wasn't ready yet and then she just stayed dry more and more and more. Now, she's pretty good. Still cries somewhat when we wake her up. Sam asked her if she liked me to wake her up, "NO!." Do you like Dad to wake you up? "NO!" Well, who do you want to wake you up? "MYSELF!!!"










5. We've stopped French and Spanish for now. It was just taking a toll on us. We were driving about an hour round trip - which was nothing for Ella at this age, we did it all the time - she spent A LOT more time in the car than Anna. Anna just can't handle the drive. Plus when school started back up after summer sessions it was back to 8:45 class times - ugh! So not good for our girls. Ella is asleep until at least 8, typically later and we have to leave for school by 8:15 to be on time. Which means that she has to get up, potty, dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, everything in less than 15 minutes and be out the door...I'm sure you can see how this will turn out. The other big problem with this is that Anna typically sleeps until around 7 am and is ready for a nap at 9 am. Since school doesn't end until 10:15 and then we still have a 30 minute drive home, this also doesn't turn out well. Plus, her (Catherine's) school is dirty and they watched about five minutes of french or spanish cartoons everyday - these last two things have bothered me since Day 1. They're just contributing factors.


- not really sure what she's doing - but this picture cracks us up!








6. Sam is finally finally finally finally back to somewhat of a normal routine and work schedule - FINALLY! Can I tell you how excited I am!!! 90 hour work weeks suck! I surely hope they are worth it.

7. On that note Sam skipped his football game for today and stayed home with us. He said it didn't feel right to spend all that time away from home and finally have a day where he's not working and spend it away from us. Awwwe. How sweet. To be truthful, I was relieved, but I do feel badly because he needs play time too. He told me that last time he went to Seattle it wasn't worth it. The game was fun but all the travel time involved for the game was longer than the game itself and that wasn't fun.














8. Ella and Anna are such good friends. They truly just love each other so much. If Anna wakes up Ella she won't cry. Sometimes Sam and I chicken out and opt for this route to make our day start off easier :) They love each other and they are playing 'with' each other. With is a loosely interpreted word as Anna really doesn't play with other people and Ella is more of a 'dictator' when she's playing. But they cuddle and love on each other several times during the day. Especially on pre-school days. When Ella gets home from pre-school it's a little love fest. You can totally tell they've missed each other and they just play and sit next to each other and cuddle for about 15 minutes. I LOVE watching them together - it is one of the best parts of being their mom!!!!












9. Anna's starting to talk up a storm - although I think mostly it is understood only by us :) Although our neighbor said she understood, "cracker" and "dog," so we know it's not ALL just us. She says, "Ah Lu" - "I love you." "Llll-Ah" - "Ella." Dog, cracker, ball, book, bye bye, night night, milk, bottle, water and a few others. She signs a few words too - I personally think the cutest is, "I love you," with "juice" being a very close second.

10. During the time of all the working we had a couple of issues. #1 was about 5 or 6 weeks in, for some reason my back decided to give up for a few days. So, fortunately we had some delightful people to help us. Suzanne took the girls, she even took Ella to ballet which was OH SO helpful! The next day Kelli totally helped too. Trust US - there is NO same-day nanny service here! The following week, or maybe the same week(?) I had a terrible stomach bug for about 24-48 hours, that totally bit. So then we farmed them out to the neighbors and to our other friend Kelli, whose husband works with Sam.

Anna's so happy she's feeding herself peanut butter and blueberries - Yum(?)










11. Moving on to week number 3 of yucky stuff happening to the family. It was a Monday morning. I'm showered and dressed. Ella's showered and dressed. Anna's showered and dressed. We are all ready to head out for Ella's first physical therapy appointment. I finished doing Anna's hair - literally, the Very.Last.Thing before we put on shoes and head out the door.

We're on the living room floor, she stands up to toddle away and BAM!!!! smacks her poor precious little baby head on the coffee table as she's falling over b/c she's not so steady on her feet just yet. I'm freaking out as she literally!! has a line indented into her forehead from the coffee table. I call Sam, crying b/c I don't know what to do, will she be okay, should I take her in? What? He came home instantly. I put the girls in the car and Ella knew something was up, she put her shoes on climbed so quickly into the car and buckled herself in without any complaining or dawdling. So, I'm pulling away and at the second entrance to our neighborhood see Sam coming - literally - that fast. He pulls around and takes Anna to head to the Dr. office and I'll head to PT.

On the way to the dr. office he calls them and they are asking him questions about her. He realizes that she's not talking to him, she's not babbling AND she won't even quack!!! (Her favorite thing is ducks!) They said, "take her to the ER right now!. Of course, as soon as they get to the ER Anna better and when they see the dr. she is totally and completely fine. Babbling and talking and quacking up a storm. PHEW!

That was on a Monday and the hospital told Sam to keep track of her sleep and everything and if she throws up more than two times to bring her back in. So...Wednedsday morning she throws up in the car on the way to the grocery store - and it was Everywhere!!! But is totally fine for the rest of the day. Thursday morning we are getting ready to head out for pre-school and she throws up again - All Over! I called the peds' office because it has been four days, blah blah blah. She said, "take her in right now. It doesn't matter how many days it has been!" Call Sam again - keeping in mind in the middle of all these emergencies and sickness and stuff he's still working like 90+ hour weeks and sleeping maybe 4-5 hours nightly. Sam rushes home, takes Ella to school. I take Anna back to the ER.

The ER doesn't think she's a big deal b/c she's walking around and saying, "hi" to everyone. We go through triage and finally finally go to see a dr. He says that she looks fine BUT, we could do a CT scan to see since she's been throwing up. It'll take a few seconds and she'll be fine. What a Liar!

Remember way back to two or three years ago and Ella had her scheduled crying time every week. It was like that, only worse, and I was by myself. By the end I was totally crying too. It was horrible and to make matters worse Anna basically only sleeps in her bed so I couldn't get her to calm down after all this and try to take a little snooze while we waited for the results. Anyway, back to CT scan. Pin the baby down. Strap the baby's head and chin down. Lay an x-ray blanket over her little body (totally heavy - no wonder she was crying!) Then we have to hold the rest of her body down and she's like 23 pounds and so so so so so so so very mad! Plus, she's crying so much she's starting to choke herself then she looks at me with those big blue eyes filled with tears, "Mamamamamamamama." Then I lost it and totally started crying too. Yeah, that was a bad day. Fortunately - she was fine, CT was fine and she evidently was throwing up for some other reason.

12. Met one of our bridesmaids at Ella's physical therapy. Her son comes in at the same time Ella does every week. I will say, that is one nice thing about living here. A few weeks ago, or more than a few weeks ago now, we ran into one of our groom's men and his newly pregnant wife at Costco. We run into people we know pretty regularly.


- if you look closely at the picture you should see what she's carrying in the back of her bike.









13. Ella is still loving ballet and maybe, just maybe, someday she'll be somewhat skilled at it - that day is not today! :) After her very first day of physical therapy, her ballet instructor stopped me after class and told me that today she was doing much better. Phew! It's not like she could be a whole lot worse and she absolutely loves going to ballet! Plus she met a new friend named Ella at ballet. In her same class, with 9 girls, there are two Ellas. Ella Marie and Ella Rose as the teacher calls them. Ella calls the other Ella, wait for it...Rosy Ella. I don't know for some reason that always makes me laugh. I just love the visual of Rosy Ella :) Maybe I laugh because it sounds like Roseola? I don't know - still funny to me.

14. Ella's reading and writing are coming along. She's enjoying reading her little simple books - as long as she's confident she can sound it out. If we ask her to try anything longer than four or five letters she'll refuse. That's okay - it will come. It's just like anything else with the girl - has to be perfect before she'll do it. The very exciting thing is that lately she's started writing too. So very cool! She will only write letters she knows she can form well, back to the perfectionism thing, but she will do it. I feel so happy that she'll actually try it!

15. About the PT - I don't know how many people we told or what not but she's, obviously, finally started PT after we pushed and pushed for months! Medical care in this community - UGH!!! That could be a whole other post. Anyway, she scored about 26% for her gross motor (why do you think we wanted her assessed?!??!)and 80% for her fine motor. Although her 80% is because she refused to do two of the activities and she refuses to hold scissors properly. Seriously - one activity asked her to make a train with three blocks in a line ---, then to put a block on top of the end to make it look like an engine. Except that Ella is Sam's daughter and could not get herself to do this task. The blocks were uneven. If there are two stacked, then the other two need stacked as well. She made two rows of two instead of making a train and failed that little assessment. It was actually quite cool to see the assessment going on - I've referred lots of little kiddoes for assessment and evaluation but to see them going on was really interesting. She loves PT and comes home and is so very tired. They work her little body so hard. It is so good for her and we get a lot of activities to work with her at home on so that is also very nice.

I do notice now, which I was blissfully unaware of before, is how behind she is in her gross motor. It is kind of sad, but we pretty much already knew everything wasn't right, but I don't think either of us realized just how much she was missing.

16. Pre-school is Very Fun! It is interesting to see how Ella interacts with other children and adults and how she definitively has favorite friends. Those are the ones she calls her 'best friends' or who she says she loves. So very cute. All the little girls are three, but one is turning four this next week. They are just adorable together and I've loved meeting the moms. It is also nice to have a bit of time alone with Anna to just be she and I, we don't get a whole lot of that. Plus, I like the teaching component once a month for school. I like the lessons and the planning and actually - ACK! - the preparation. :) I never really liked the preparation before but it is MUCH different prepping for 28 kids. Last week we went on a nature walk down by the river at the end of our neighborhood and saw wild turkeys and a rabbit. No deer or moose thankfully!











17. Fall is Absolutely Gorgeous Here! Seriously - Much prettier than in Seattle. It is beautiful! Love it! Love it! Cannot for the life of me get a picture that shows how truly wonderful it is.












18. Karen and Kelli have both talked me into, prodded me into joining a mom's group. It has a lot of moms and me, not being quite the joiner, or really enjoy meeting people,has been a stretch but a good growth experience. Plus, it is another reason to leave the house and get dressed every day.


19. What else - I started this as kind of just streaming post, but then I got through 18 and now I feel as if I should have 20 items on my list. I know - Ella has developed this wonderful sense of humor! She laughs all the time and she's cracking jokes and she laughs when Anna does something funny - sometimes before we do - it is great. For a while she was trying things out, figuring out what was funny or what wasn't and she'd say something and then ask, "Mom, was that funny?" Now she just says, "I make you laugh everyday," and "Mom, you make me laugh everyday." Guess I'll just have to keep her.


20. Anna is loving putting things in things - she loves lids and cups and plates and spoons. Every day is a new experience of finding Sippy cups - Wow! Paper Plates and plastic spoons - Wow! Water bottles - Wow! You would think that it would get old, but you would be wrong. It is just as exciting today as it was 20 days ago. She is pretty good with shape sorters and stacking cups.



I'm not sure exactly what they are doing with their cups - but please notice Guay family that both of them have two drinks for lunch :)















Anna is just So.Very.Different from Ella. Not bad - just different. She puts things into her mouth - constantly!!! She loves to color and dance and sing. She will literally, find a little piece of paper out of Ella's art supplies, grab a marker and walk around the house, "col-a, col-a" while she's coloring on this paper. It looks like she's taking notes.

Plus she tries everything out. She's not afraid. She climbs and runs and tries to jump :) really it is just a big bend of the ol' knees but she knows she's jumping just like Ella! She has four adorable teeth almost completely in with another one on the way. She is great about trying new things and she babbles babbles babbles constantly. We've watched the videos of Ella (poor Anna doens't have much video b/c of our messed up recorder) and she just didn't babble. Truly. She would pretty much only say words. Anna will tell you a story for ten minutes and the only thing you understand is the pointing and the, "Elll-ah." Oh, plus if she bumps her head she'll fake cry and re-enact it patting her head several times until she thinks you've understood her and you give her the appropriate amount of love and cuddles.

She's chock full of cuteness :) For example, today at nap time. Sam heated up a bottle (yes, she's still on a bottle - but we're down to two or three a day - she is in love with that thing and would keep it with her all day if she could) and as soon as the microwave beeped she came running into the kitchen and pointed at the microwave. Sam took it out of the microwave and she ran as fast as she could to the stairs and started crawling up them. As much as her sister doesn't like to eat and sleep - Anna does like to eat and sleep!



Okay, that's twenty things plus some extras - hope it wasn't too terribly confusing.


OH OH OH OH - I totally almost forgot! Anna has curly hair! Not like Hayley curly - but she Definitely has curls! Can't keep it straight unless we don't wash it and as she enjoys feeding herself and thinks yogurt and peanut butter are good for her hair it gets washed semi-regularly :)


- yes, we know he totally needs a shave and a haircut but he can sleep, eat, or get a haircut. Btw-as of this posting he has shaved AND gotten a haircut :)