These Boots Were Made For...

This video was from a little while ago. Anna was playing peek a boo with the table cloth. Naturally, it just wasn't the same after I got the camera. Then she took a few steps. This was from a while ago before she really took off with the walking thing.

This second video is more recently after having gotten more of a hang of walking. Between the walking, the striped clothes and the pig tails, I actually had to laugh at her out loud.

Pictures are back!

So we finally got the cord for the camera we have been borrowing so here is the first bit of pictures to catch up on. I'll go chronologically and start with her birthday. A celebration in two acts.

As you can tell, Anna thought the candle was pretty cool. She never did get blowing it out but she sure wanted to see what that orange glowy thing on top of it was. Fortunately, even though it did fall, it didn't catch anything on fire or burn any small fingers.

And it was yummy to boot. She figured out pretty quickly that the best part is the icing on the top and it should be eaten first. She did get around to eating the rest of the cake too.

Opening her present. It looks like Daddy is more excited about it than she is.

The present from Mommy and Daddy. It plays fun songs and everything. Fortunately she hasn't yet explored the options of the mallet.

Here is the doll that Aunt Megan got for her. She is still a little bit young for it but has been known to carry it around.

Here are the decorations from her party. There were pink balloons in each corner. Most of them are still full and being played with to this day. Side note, it's really hard to get a decent picture of the whole ceiling with a turned on light involved. I'm just saying.

Here is Anna with one of the girls from the party. Her name is Sage and they are pretty much the exact same age (Sage is a week older but who's counting?). For some reason, Anna thought it would be a good idea to sit on Sage's lap. As you can tell, Sage doesn't really know how to respond.

And Anna's second cake. This time I was able to get actual candles (rather than use the white emergency candle again) and went all out with writing and everything. Anna still didn't know what to do with the candle other than look at it but it still tasted good.

So that was Anna's birthday. Good times were had by all.

Go Mega Balance

Anna seems to have developed the best balance practically overnight. First, the history of his walking development. When we were in CA for Christmas, she took her first few steps. They were more like a prolonged fall but I say it counted. But then she only did them that one time. Then when we went back to CA, she started walking all over the place. Even across big rooms. But then she wouldn't walk when we got back to Philadelphia. I guess out tiny little apartment wasn't worth the effort. Then when we were visiting my brother last week, their big house and older kids running around made it worth the effort and she took off. I was mildly concerned that when we got home she would stop again but not so. Now she is walking all over the place.

She has even figured out how to stand up all on her own. She no longer has to hold onto anything to do it. As a corollary to that, she is able to bend down and pick things up! Providing it's not too heavy (not that that keeps her from trying). With these skills firmly in place, she has discovered the unending joy of carrying things around and putting them in rooms that they don't belong in.

I guess I now know what people mean when they say that your life changes forever when the baby learns to walk. After all, you can't carry things when you're crawling. At least not very big things. But while walking, you can carry such fun things as toys, balloons, remote controls, Mom's cell phone, anyone's shoes, oven mitts, all manner of things out of the recycling bag, spices and pretty much anything that isn't nailed down. I had to stop her from trying to pick up the hall rug. I am often pretty amazed at what she can carry (isn't too heavy for her). For example, my 1 L water bottle even when it is pretty full is fair game. She does have a hard time with our really big CD case but that doesn't stop her from trying.

Needless to say, my day is now filled with getting things out of rooms that they don't belong in and putting them back. At least that's what I do when Anna is asleep. There almost doesn't seem like much point while she is still awake and will just carry it off again. In spite of the frustrations, it is really cute to see her walk around with things in her hands. Usually it's two completely unrelated things, one in each hand, like a wooden spoon and a remote. Or a book and a jar of spices. Fortunately, our place isn't too big and I can usually find the things I need.

Lessons Learned

Last week, was quite a week for me. Rather than talk about what I did, I'm going to try to put a finger on what I learned.

-Moms need to take care of themselves so they can take care of their family. So often, we as women put ourselves on the back burner thinking it is more important to care for other people. What we don't realize is that when we do that, we are doing everyone a disservice. We cannot care for others if we are not ok ourselves.

-The power of humility. With life's ups and downs, we tend to think we can handle things ourselves or with us and the Lord. Sometimes, there are things we can't do ourselves and when we find ourselves in that position, we need to have the humility to reach out to those we love or even to professionals and ask for help.

-When we do that, those we love are concerned and want to help.

-It is important to finish the things we start. When we don't, we run around and around but don't accomplish anything. Plus, when things are finished, we receive piece of mind.

-Avoiding things we don't want to do doesn't help. Whatever we are avoiding will still be there when we return and it is usually worse because of the delay.

-Anna takes better naps when it is dark.

If I'm really lucky, I'll actually be able to remember and apply these lessons.

Development

Sometimes, as parents, we worry about our child's development. I try not to worry too much and figure she's probably just fine but even I have the occasional concern. Why isn't she talking yet? Are those supposed to be words? Why can't she point out her nose? Does she even know what it is? She walked all the time in CA, why won't she at home? Is she eating enough? Is it strange that she tries to pull up on buttons rather than push them? And on and on.

It doesn't help that we left our What to Expect the First Year book in India and haven't been to a doctor since before we left (long story). I try to covertly gauge her development on other kids around us but we all know that's usually a bad idea.

Fortunately, on the plane ride home from CA (which she did very well on) something happened to help me feel better. Anna walked up and down the aisle several times so that we got to know a lot of people on the plane (such a social butterfly). When we weren't walking, I was letting her play with a Pringles can. She figured out how to open it with her teeth and was working on trying to close it. I don't think she was able to fully close it on her own but got pretty close. Well, a guy who was sitting near us happened to be a doctor (not a pediatrician, a kidney doctor but still) and wanted to guess how old she was. He thought about it for a while and said that based on her fine motor skills, he guessed 15 to 18 months.

I worry sometimes that she doesn't play with enough toys and is behind somehow. Often times, she doesn't really know what to do with them when she does play with them. So even if he was rounding up to make me feel better, I guess she is learning all that she needs to and I don't have to worry about it so much.

A New Look

As you can see, I changed my blog's look. And let me tell you, it was harder than you would think to chose something then to change the colors of the fonts to have it all match. For the background, I went to a website called The Cutest Blog on the Block where I got the previous one too. They have lots of free backgrounds along with the option to have one made specifically for you for a fee. It took so long to choose something because not only were there lots of options (and I'm the kind of person who has to see what all the options are before I decide on one) but also, they were all so cute. And not in a good way.

Now don't get me wrong, I like cute things as much as the next girl but I'm not into scrapbooking (I'm more of a slip it in the pocket and maybe write a caption kind of girl) and these were very scrapbooky. Plus, with the title of the blog, I do try to have a vaguely urban feel to it. The black and white of last time was pretty much the closest they had to sleek (what I was going for). This time, I was thinking of something bold and bright that could pass for an Ikea Fabric. I realize I could probably find a different website for more backgrounds but then we get into too many options.

Then was the added problem of not choosing something that anyone else I know has and it had to look good with my city skyline picture. This all added up to a bit of a tall order. I'm starting to understand how my sister, Kristen, feels. She has the gift/curse of knowing exactly what she wants. Everything from clothes to home decor to food she can picture what would be perfect then has the daunting tasking of going out to find it. I remember once, when she was living at home, she was hungry and wanted something "fruity and foamy and frothy and icy and light". As this was before Jamba Juice, I think she decided on an orange julius.

Like Magic

I am not that careful with keeping Anna's clothes clean. She's a fairly neat eater so I've been known to not even put a bib on her if what she is eating isn't particularly messy. Even if it is, I may just push up her sleeves rather than roll them up and inevitably they fall down at some point in the meal. Fortunately for me (or for her so she isn't always wearing stained clothes) there is spray and wash (or shout or the like). I have decided this is practically magic the way it works.

The other day, we were at Target. It was around lunch time so I got some food including a drink of Hawaiian Punch. Anna drinks from a straw pretty well so I was trying to give her some out of the full cup with a short straw. Naturally, she ended up with Hawaiian Punch on her shirt (apparently even when you think the lids are on tight, they aren't). I was bummed because I liked that shirt and was afraid I would have to toss it (this wasn't a small amount off to the side, it was two big stains front and center). I figured I would try spray and wash the next time I did laundry which happened to be the next day. To my surprise and delight, it all came out!

Then while we were in California, we were all eating dinner and I unthinkingly gave Anna a tube of Crystal Light with a small container in it to play with. I figured she would like the way it rattled. Well I forget that she is as old as she is and can open containers like that. It didn't take her long to get the little container out of the larger one and use her oh so helpful teeth to find out what was inside (I also forget about the damage those little teeth can do). Next thing you know, she is having a ball with the dark red , super concentrated powder. We tried to rinse it out as best we could right there but once water hits that stuff, it just seems to get worse. I was sad, again, because I really liked that shirt, again (see picture). This time I used Shout when I washed it and you can't see it at all on the yellow stripes. You can kind of tell if you already know it's there on some of the other stripes but not enough to worry about. Yeah for stripes.

I feel like I'm writing a testimonial for a commercial but seriously, how did parents manage before? I guess either they were constantly replacing clothes, dressing their kids in stains or only feeding them (or even keeping in the house) non-staining foods. Oh the things you can do with cauliflower. I like this way much better.