It's BEACH WEEK!!

In yearly tradition, Chris and I are rushing around trying to get everything packed for the beach this year. Chris's family has been to St. George Island, FL the past 13 years (and about 10 of those have been to the same house we stay at now!!) and starting in 2005 (I think?) I was lucky enough to join them ;) It is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL down there... so peaceful and quiet. Just amazing.

Anyway - this year is a little different since AC is joining us... there is a LOT more planning involved. Not only does she need clothes and swimsuits, but there are diapers/wipes, food, baby spoons, sun tents, sun hats, sun screen, sand toys, video monitors, strollers, high chair, high chair cover, toys, blankets, pacis.... you get the point. Thank goodness the Burrus' packed their pack n play and baby bath tub... saved room in our car!

Here is a little pic of my planning for AC's suitcase. I don't do this with mine - but I was worried I would forget something and wanted to make sure she actually had matching outfits (Maybe I should start doing this for me... I always pack tops and shorts but never make sure they match until I get there haha)



AC decided to help pack



She even had to approve the bows... what a mess



Leaving tomorrow morning!! Hope we have everything!

ASA United Day

Yes, I know I have a LOT to catch up on.... so I'll start by posting about today's happenings.

Chris got off his trip today at noon (for a much needed 2 week break/vacation) and ASA was having a Open House to show off the new United Airlines paint scheme for the ASA jets. Anna Claire and I met him at the airport to go check it out!!

We got to go inside and check things out - AC looked like a big girl in the seat! We got to sit in the cockpit (AC found a little yellow thing that would click and slide like one of her toys so she played with that) and let Chris show us around.

Here are some pics from today. Oh - and we got free icecream too! ;)

New Foods...

I know it's been a while - I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. Where does time go?

We've added a few new foods to Anna's list. And to be honest - I don't remember when she had them first - or if I've even blogged about it already.... but she's been eating peas, green beans and butternut squash the past week. I feel like she's had butternut squash before - and I think I blogged about the peas already.... I guess I need to do my blog research before posting next time. I know the green beans are new. Oh and she's also had chunks of banana and pear. She's not crazy about either fruits to begin with so she wasn't crazy about eating chunks of them.

She LOVES veggies though so I'll give her some whole peas this week. I just need to find a place to get organic veggies... Publix is in low supply.

Signing off for now - I'll do some back-blogging with photos and video later.

The stages of crawling

I've been really bad about posting the videos of AC learning to crawl... My computer is getting SO SLOW (it's 'ancient' - 5+ years now). She's not quite at the "crawling" stage - but she is pretty darn close.

It started out with rotating (supposed to be a video here if I can ever get it to attach)

Then she figured out how to scoot forward (video)



And here is a video of her in more of a crawl movement... Watch for the hand tap at the end... that's something she's been doing for about a month now and I just love it. It's like she's waiting on something ;)



We are finally lowering the bed tonight. I can't believe we waited this long to do it. She has already sat up from a laying down position on her own (and keeps doing it) and she has pulled up on a number of things! It's getting a little scary - we need to baby proof asap!!

Oh and if you're wondering - the bumper is usually attached - I was taking it off so we could lower the bed.

Anna and the bobby pin

I don't know if you can tell from the video since it's so blurry (phone video)... but Anna found a bobby pin on the floor about a week ago. It keeps floating around the room and she keeps finding it. Honestly I think it's one of her favorite "toys" right now. She will even scoot to it when she's on the floor haha.

I let her have it again and you can see how happy it made her...

Garage Sale Finds

Anna wanted to show off our yard sale finds...
The first is a wooden rocker that was painted black and is naturally weathered. Chris has always wanted one so I just had to get it.... especially for $10! Anna figured out if she moved it would rock and it took all I could to keep her still in these photos!! But she loved it!





The next is the basically brand new Radio Flyer





I found a few other things that will play into pictures later ;)

And then a few outtakes!

She was babbling up a storm in this pic...


I guess she was trying to strike a pose


It wouldn't be a photoshoot without Piper making her appearance


I just dont even know how to caption this one

From down to up!!

Anna has been rolling, scooting and getting up on all 4's like a champ - but about 2 minutes ago she went from rolling around to a sitting position!!!! I looked over and she was pushing herself to sitting so I grabbed my phone to snap a pic in the process!!! I need to charge my video camera battery I guess ;) I'm so proud of her!

Tomatoes

eWell I have a lot of catching up to do once again. We have been pretty busy this past week. I have been organizing my "sewing room" (and by that I mean dining room) trying to get the mess off the table. I found a old tv hutch at a yard sale for $10 that I thought would be perfect for my sewing supplies... when I got it home I found out it was too deep and stuck out too far.

So what do you think I did?? I cut the sucker in half! Yup - right down the middle. And it worked out PERFECTLY. I have a "bookshelf" type section on one side of the china cabinet - and a hutch type thing on the other side.

The hutch side (with the 4 doors) holds all my fabric with my sewing/embroidery machine on top and the bookshelf holds all my ribbon, scraps, notions and my serger. Yep, I said a SERGER!! That's the most recent addition to my sewing collection. I am totally excited - but terrified to use it at the same time. I got it with my birthday money!!

Oh yeah, I had a birthday - gotta blog about that. Chris surprised me with a cake, cards, a balloon and $ to buy new clothes with. And I got $ to put towards something special (which I used for my serger and to pay off my Luger .22!) Philip and Kayla took me out to dinner and Kayla made me cupcakes!! Happy Birthday to me!!

We finally got the dirt in our garden (pics to come) and put our tomato plants in the ground.

I've been TRYING to get the house cleaned and organized... I took an entire day and pulled out stuff for a yard sale... I want to streamline my stuff!

Ok, ok - enough about me.....

On Anna news... she has been scooting EVERYWHERE. It's hard to keep her in place now. She does this little army crawl thing, but will also get up on all 4's and rock - so it shouldn't be long now before she's crawling. I don't know if I'm ready for that yet...

She's also eating tomatoes as we speak. And she likes them!! I better get back to feeding her. I took some videos of her in her bed and scooting. They aren't the best because she was sleepy and SUPPOSED to be sleeping... but I had the camera nearby so I shot them anyway. I'll try to get better videos later.

Ok, I'll leave you with at least ONE pic... Anna in the laundry basket helping me do laundry :) (I took it on my phone so it is pretty blurry)

Anna's 1st Hair Cut.... or trim...

AC's hair was wild and pretty long when she was born... and just got more wild as she grew. She eventually started losing it on the sides and back - but the top just kept growing.... especially her bangs. We have been swooping them to the side and putting a bow in it for the longest time, but there are just a few hairs (well a small finger full) that are just REALLY long and go down to her mouth. She is constantly swatting them out of her face, so I finally broke down an trimmed them up. Not much at all... maybe about a half inch - just enough to get the little wild hairs out of her mouth.

And of course I had to make an event of it! I wanted to make sure we saved the little hairs so I twisted them together, put a piece of tape around them and then cut the tape in the middle (then I had to get other piece of tape back out of her hair haha).

Here is AC with the long bangs


The cut (you can see the tape)




The ends I trimmed off


And the final product.


I guess "technically" its her first haircut, but we will take her to Stephanie for her first REAL hair cut. This was more of a first trim :)

Long time no blog...

Haven't blogged in a while! I've been running around ;)
Just a note to say Anna had "brown rice" today - it was mixed with another fruit she's already had but I just wanted to introduce it to her since all the other veggies in jars have brown rice mixed with them.

Here are a couple of pics over the past few days! I'll be back to blog later!

Pic of AC in Great Granny's chair!



A photo of Caron's new high chair she got as a prop (photo by Caron). It was a yard sale find and PERFECT for "smash cakes" for kids first birthday pics! Wont be long until AC is smashing a cake!!

Garden and Prunes

Yesterday Chris, Anna and I built a garden box in our back yard. Chris has been wanting to build one for a long time - so we finally just went out and did it. It's 10'x10' and we haven't gotten the dirt or seeds yet, but it's a huge start for us ;) We aren't quite sure what we want to put in it, but I know green beans, okra and tomatoes are on the list...

Here is a picture of it. It actually looks better in person and we desperately need to do some landscaping in the island, but you can get an idea...



And then on food news: Anna is eating prunes as we speak. She never really reacts to new foods - but she keeps signing for more so I guess she doesn't hate it ;)
Oh - and AC is officially up to 3 jars of food per day with a LOT of puffs in between meals - she LOVES those things now!!!

A Few Easter Pics

Just have to post a few real quick... More to come

Anna Had Carrots

That's all I got today... Anna had carrots... and she liked them.

I've been taking videos of her scooting and rotating all over the floor - so I'll post those later. She also just started pushing up on all fours... she will only do it randomly and for a few seconds, but she's getting there. She will also get up on her hands and push up on her toes which cracks me up.

Oh and she's also been eating more puffs - she LOVES them now!!! Keeps her entertained for a good 45min. Long enough for me to cook dinner or clean the kitchen.

Ok - so that's a little more than just carrots :)

Anyway - sorry for the long delay in posts - more to come soon!! We've been working on some kitchen renovations so I've been a little distracted.