When Val was here earlier this month, he took some cloth napkins and introduced Anna to the the exciting world of dress-up games. She wears these napkins all around the house at some point every single day now.
As luck would have it, Cousin Vicki also sent Anna a sparkly dress up set at around the same time, which she wears on her head or around her waist. The butterfly wings that came with it can only be worn on the front, as she can't see them well enough when she's got them on her back. Needless to say, everything in the playroom is now sprinkled with silver sparkles from her wearing these play clothes all around.
Anna's Teddy Bear seems to be walking a thin line between complete safety and utter peril. Every morning as we're getting up, we listen to her playing in her crib and talking to the bear. Here's a sample from this morning."Oh, no, Teddy, are you okay? It's okay, I've got you. Poor Teddy."Silence and rustling noises, and then..."Teddy! BE CAREFUL!"When I came into the room, Anna was in the process of "rescuing" her bear, which she had just shoved deeply between the bumper of her crib and half out the rails. As I turned on her light and said good morning, she yanked Teddy through the rails and gave him a big hug, saying, "Oh, that's okay, Teddy, you fine!". Poor Teddy.
Hi there! My how time flies when you're growing a whole person. It seems like so much has been going on since the holidays, so let's get caught up, shall we? ChristmasWe had a really great holiday this year, despite blizzards and airport drama. While John managed to fly in just before the first big storm, Valentine's flight was completely canceled. In fact, the soonest they said they could re-book him would have had him arriving several hours after he was supposed to have already departed after Christmas was over! Poor Val ended up spending the holiday weekend alone in Chicago and he was very much missed. We still had a lovely time, though. Since Mom and Kent left for Italy on Christmas Day, we had the whole family over to our house on Christmas Eve for a great dinner and presents. Kurt cooked a fabulous roast on the grill, in the snow, and Anna spent the evening focusing all her skills on charming her Uncle John. It seems as though from the first moment everyone started arriving that day, she just hit the "super-cute-charming-sweet" phase of toddlerhood, becuase she's been pretty much an angel ever since. Auntie Monica and Uncle Chad arrived Christmas Day with little (not so little) Ryan. I just cannot believe how much he has grown! He looks like a perfect combination of Mo and Chad. This visit was pretty much all about getting the two cousins together, and they made the most of it. Anna had such a fun time playing with Ryan, and when he wasn't following her around the house, she was off looking for him. I have, of course, lots and lots of pictures of the two, which I'll try to get posted before this weekend is up. And, as always, it was so wonderful having Monica and Chad here to visit. We hope to see them again at the latest in April, though hopefully Monica will also be able to come visit after the baby is born, too. John and Kurt spent the day after Christmas skiing up in Breckenridge and fulfilling some significant male bonding. Unfortunately, John had to leave back to Iowa the next day, but hopefully he'll be able to come visit again for a few days after the baby comes. Anna is still talking about her Uncle John, she had such a blast discovering all this extra family!New Year'sAfter many phone calls through to the airlines, we did finally get Val booked to fly out on New Year's Eve- which turned out to be right after the second big blizzard. Still, he made it in, and I made it up to Denver to pick him up, so the weather didn't win in the end. He spent nearly a week here with us, and I spent the whole time trying to convince him to come and be my nanny. He was so great with Anna! The two of them sat and played for literally HOURS, making up games and being incredibly silly. I have some great pictures of him dressing her up in cloth napkins to look like some little Egyptian princess. Mom and Kent were back by the 2nd, after some delays and re-routing of their flights, and we spent the first week of the year as a quieter version of Christmas week; visiting, eating and relaxing as a family. In general, the holidays were a whirlwind of visits and family, and very very nice. I also got to spend plenty of time with my dear friend Renee and her family while she was here. I can't believe how much little Lucy and Stella have grown! Again, Anna had a great time playing with the girls, and "Stella" is now one of her favorite words. She carries around their Christmas card and tells me all about, "Stellllllllllaaaaaaaaaa!". *grin* Since the beginning of the year, things have calmed down considerably around here. Kurt and I moved Anna over to her new room very easily and she loves it. It was so much easier than we had anticipated, in fact, and allowed us to finish up the nursery sooner than we had planned. So now the house is all ready for the baby to get here... if only we could get to that part sooner, too! As of today, I'm officially full-term and very hopeful to give birth before the end of the month, though there are, of course, no sure bets. Whoo! That was a lot! I promise to get some pictures up this weekend at the latest and I'll keep y'all filled in about Baby Countdown 2007. Happy New Year!
