Birthday 2

Even though we had a little birthday party with Jason on Wednesday, I couldn't let Anna's actual birthday go un-celebrated on Saturday. So we had a little party for her. This turned out to be a good thing for me. Jason left on Friday and I spent the day moping. Poor Anna was really stir crazy by the end and neither of us needed another day like that. So, this was something to get me out of the house, cleaning, and interacting with others (something I quite enjoy but rarely initiate).

I wanted to keep it simple and low-key (she is only one after all). When I invited people, I even avoided the word 'party' because I didn't want them to think they had to bring a present. So I invited 3 little kids about Anna's age and we had the kids play while the moms talked. There were also two older kids and they played our game cube. Then after a while, we had cake. Anna still didn't get the whole blowing out the candles thing but at least she didn't try to touch the flame this time.

In spite of my low-key talk, I still decorated with balloons and streamers. When I was at Target earlier getting stuff, I just couldn't resist. I thought about putting balloons on the outside door but refrained.

It was fun watching the kids play with each other. At this age, they are starting to interact but aren't very good at it yet. At one point, Anna sat on another little girl's lap (they are the same size, it was hilarious). And they kept pushing, taking toys and stealing food. As the kids started getting peckish, one parent would bring out their snacks and all the kids would gather around the snacks. Jana, as she was passing something out to each of the kids, mentioned it was like feeding pigeons in the park.

Poor Anna isn't used to being around so many kids at once. She was getting pretty overwhelmed but took it well. Before we brought out the cake, she had climbed onto a crate that we keep blankets in and just sat and watched. Then, after the cake, she didn't want to get down. I thought she was still eating at first but realized she was just sitting there with her hand in her mouth. In spite of that, I'm sure she had fun with all the kids.

Happy Birthday Anna!

Note: We were able to borrow a camera but don't have the cable that connects it to the computer. So, we have pictures of all of this but they will have to come later.

Yesterday was Anna's birthday. Unfortunately, Jason is in Abu Dhabi and missed it. So, we had a little party with just the three of us on Wednesday before he left. During the day, Anna and I went to Target (there's a handy bus that goes there) to get her a present. I've decided to loosen up a bit on my anti-toy policy and get her one. I had no idea what to get other than something not too big or expensive and plays music. On nice thing about this age is that she can help you choose the toy and you can know if she likes it right in the store. So we headed off to the baby toy aisle. She had a lot of fun playing with all of them (why buy them when you can just visit the store and play with them every now and then, oh right, so you don't have to go to the store) and we both got a little over whelmed with all of the choices. I finally decided on a truck that plays music and has things to hit on the top with a little mallet by VTech. So far, Anna isn't too big on the mallet.

I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Unfortunately, I forgot to get candles so we used an emergency candle and stood it up next to the cake (I didn't really want a giant hole in the middle). Anna didn't really know what to do with the candle. She thought it looked really cool and tried to reach out and grab the flame a couple of times. In the end, I just blew it out for her. Ironically, when we put the piece on her tray, she blew on it like it was hot. Needless to say, she loved the cake. She already knows the best way to eat it is to eat off the icing first then go with the cake underneath. She was very clean about it all (she is generally a clean eater) and ate it all. There were only a few crumbs left over when she was done.

After the cake, we had her open her present. Once we got it out of the box, she went to town. Unfortunately it was late so she didn't get much play time that night. It's funny, she likes it but mostly she just wants it to play the music without having to do anything so she can dance. Toys don't seem to work that way. They keep wanting her to push a button or something and the songs are so short, she barely get started on the dancing before it ends. Sadness all around.

Peek-A-Boo

It seems just after I post about what Anna is up to, she does something new that I have to mention (partly to tell people and partly because this is as close to a journal as I'm going to get). So this morning, while I was getting dressed, Jason put Anna on the bed and started playing peek-a-boo with her and the blanket. After he stopped, she decided she wasn't done and started playing by herself. It was the first time she has been in control of the blanket and it was so cute! She madeher face that she makes when she knows she is being cute and looks at you just waiting for you to notice it. Talk about personality.

Free Stuff

I love free stuff. Especially good free stuff. Yesterday I went to the library and they had two large carts of free books. I decided to take the time to look at what they had. Mostly there was the usual bunch of romance paperbacks and hardbacks that I didn't recognize at all. In spite of that, I did find a couple of things worth taking home. The best was that I found a copy of the second and fifth Harry Potter books, the last two that we need for our collection. Woo Hoo!

New Tricks

Anna seems to have started doing a bunch of new things lately. Amazing how once we stop moving around, she is able to focus on increased development. As we still are without our camera (we are both getting worried), I can only tell you about them.

She is dancing more and more and really enjoying music. Apparently, yesterday when Jason was watching her while I was at the Stake Women's Conference, she was getting a touch fussy but cheered up and started dancing when he turned on some Beatles music. She knew the songs already because Jason sings them to her sometimes when he is putting her down for naps.

At meal times, she now very deliberately drops food off of her tray. Unfortunately it's not when she is done eating, it's more for fun and drives me crazy. She knows she shouldn't too because she looks right at me, holds the food off of the side briefly and drops. The little pill. Also at meals, when I try to feed her if she is done, she shakes her head 'no' and sometimes bobbles her head like they do in India. And she has taken to blowing on her food. Even if it is cheerios. Then she wants me to do the same.

She isn't walking anymore than she did before. We try to get her to take a few steps but inevitably she just crawls. She doesn't seem too interested in walking even if she can stand unaided for longer periods of time.

While she doesn't try to go too high, she has gotten into climbing. I let her play in the cabinet with the pots and pans and she likes to climb in. Today she even climbed up onto the upper shelf in the cupboard. It was too short for her to even sit up straight though so she was doubled over and had fun until it was time to get down. She can't get down and so far she doesn't try, which I appreciate as that will undoubtedly result in a fall. One place she can get down from is the couch. Generally, she turns around to do it but has successfully slid down facing forward.

And she has more teeth. She now has all eight of her front teeth and is working on molars. So far, there are two - one on the top and bottom on one side. These have been pretty traumatic for her and neither of us are looking forward to more.

Octuplets

I read an article on MSN about the new octuplets in CA the other day and watched some video clips from the Today Show. One thing that has, of course, come up is the talk of the risks of having that many babies at once. Apparently the whole thing has raised eyebrows in the fertility community. One woman was even quoted at saying that it gave her the heebie jeebies and that "there's some degree of inappropriate medical therapy there,".

When they first found out how many babies had taken hold they talked with the mother (somehow there doesn't seem to be any mention of the father) about selectively aborting some of them so there wouldn't be as many. The mother chose not to do that. As the grandmother pointed out, that would have been a very painful thing. It also came out that she has 6 older children, including another set of twins. Which raised more eyebrows.

One thing I liked about the article I read is while it talked about the risks of having so many babies at once, it did point out that how many babies a woman has is her choice. Some of my favorite parts:

Dr. James Grifo, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the NYU School of Medicine, added: "I don't think it's our job to tell them how many babies they're allowed to have. I am not a policeman for reproduction in the United States. My role is to educate patients." Asked by a reporter whether medical ethics may have been breached and whether fertility assistance was provided to a mother who already had multiple children, Henry replied: "That's still a private, personal question."

"Our patient was counseled regarding her options for pregnancy. The options were to continue the pregnancy or selectively abort. The patient chose to continue the pregnancy," Henry said. "Our goal is to provide the best possible care for our patients, no matter what the situation or circumstances."

Doctors say they advise against higher-order births, but acknowledge the decision is not theirs to make.

"Who am I to say that six is the limit?" said Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, medical director of Fertility Institutes, which has clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York City. "There are people who like to have big families."

So many times in our society, people talk about a woman's right to choose but somehow it seems to only apply to her choice not to have children. I was surprised and pleased that this article pointed out that women can also choose to have children.

Unexpected Gift

So a little while ago, Jason mentioned that he bought me a present and that it would come in the mail at some point. He said it wasn't for anything, just because. Of course he wouldn't tell me what it was (which I hate) so I promptly put it out of my mind. It came today. He got me one of my favorite baby board books - Urban Babies Wear Black.

Now that's a chic baby.

I had forgotten just how funny it is. Each page has something about urban babies and a really funny picture. Possibly the funniest thing about it is how true they all are. It includes things like urban babies visit galleries and enjoy architecture. Plus just about all the babies in the pictures are wearing at least some black. Plus, it's part of a series that included such gems as Beach Babies Wear Shade, Country Babies Wear Plaid, Eco Babies Wear Green, Foodie Babies Wear Bibs and Winter Babies Wear Layers. I haven't read any of the other ones but I bet they are just as fun.


It was because of this book that I had to buy Anna's black shirt in London and was sorely tempted to get a black onesie with a Sex Pistols thing on it. Unfortunately, I just couldn't justify the exorbitant cost at the Portabello Road stall. I've heard that there is a store there that has black onesies somewhere in London but didn't get a chance to get there before we left. I'll have to look for something here. Hopefully I won't have to go to New York to get Anna's next size up black clothes.