Mommy's Musings at Christmas!

It's been a looooong time since I have blogged. I tried to keep up with a monthly blog with Anna, but life got in the way and honestly I really wasn't in a great place to be writing about anything.

So here is a quick update!

Anna is 16 months old! I have no idea where the time has gone! She is such a big girl! She has done so much in her little life! We have been to Seattle twice, Galveston, Dallas, all over Oklahoma, we go and do as much as time allows.

Here are some one year pictures since I didn't get those posted!

Miss Priss started walking at 11 months and hasn't stopped and she is talking more and more each day. Being the mom of a toddler is the BEST thing in the entire world! It is so amazing to see someone learn and figure out this world. You can see their mind spinning and working to figure stuff out. You guys, it is so much fun! Yes, I am tired, my house is a mess, and I am pretty sure I had something weird in my hair last night that she decided to spit out, but IT IS AWESOME! She makes me smile everyday!

 Last year Anna was only a bitty baby for Christmas. She was 4 1/2 months old by Christmas day, she wasn't mobile, and could only go where we put her! It was a sweet first Christmas, but she had no clue what was going on.

No clue what is going on...

This Christmas Anna has opinions, for example, she does not like Santa. Okay. Well, we can check screaming baby Christmas picture off the list. She wants to touch EVERYTHING. Okay. All of the plastic ornaments at the bottom of the tree and all of my favorites go to the top. Check. She likes to oo and aw and it is adorable. I have no idea where she learned that but it's cute! Cute kid to dress up for the holiday...check! It is completely different this year and that makes it a lot more fun!

MAMA!!!

So being a mom of a toddler at Christmas time has really got me thinking. My mom got Anna two little play Nativity sets that are currently scattered about the living room and I tell Anna about baby Jesus, Mary, the sheep, donkey, angel, etc. Well, last night I was thinking, I wonder what baby Jesus was like as a toddler and what was it like for Mary? Then I decided to replace Anna's name with Jesus and it went something like this:

• Jesus, NO! We don't eat dog food. Jesus!!
• Jesus, we don't hit the dog, she doesn't like it and it's not nice.
• Jesus, please don't sit on the kitty.
• Jesus, be gentle with the kitty.
• Jesus, don't pull your cousin's hair!
• Jesus! When mommy says no, she means NO!
• Dear Lord, when is Jesus' bedtime!?!
• Jesus, what is in your mouth? Give it to me!
• Jesus, we don't hit. 
• Jesus, no...no...NO!
• Goodnight Jesus, mommy loves you. You are her most favorite baby in the world!

Needless to say it made me giggle then think that maybe that is why the toddler years were omitted from the Bible. I would like to think that baby Jesus was just a regular toddler, learning about the world around him just like Anna is. I also wonder if Mary thought he might sleep through the night like a good baby, you know, because he is the Son of God and all, but then he didn't. :)

Christmas with a little one is incredibly magical. The way Anna reacts each time she sees our tree or when she plays with the decorations around the house, is because she is seeing the magic, sparkle, and wonder of the Christmas season for the first time. Her life is filled with love, laughter, warmth, and snuggles. She doesn't know yet how scary this place can be. She only knows that mommy and daddy like to ask her where her belly button is  and then they laugh at her when she finds it. It's so incredible to see Christmas though the eyes of a curious little girl you get to call your own.

I'll leave you with this for now. We are blessed to have a whole season dedicated to actual real love. The love of family, friends, and the amazing unconditional love of the little kids in your life. This whole season is about Peace on Earth and spreading Joy to the World. At a time when the world is going to heck in a hand basket we should sing more loudly and love more powerfully. Give more hugs and kisses and why not watch non-stop Hallmark Christmas movies. It is one month out of the whole year that we are bombarded non-stop with reminders to love each other and care about each other. It only took a 16 month old to remind me what it is all really about. She is a pretty amazing 16 month old! :)

The Adventures of Anna Banana~ Month Five

Anna’s 5 month blog is going to be more of a picture montage. The holidays were tough for us and then we lost my Uncle Kenny right after the first of the year, so the blog fell through the cracks. 

Anna is so wonderful and I loved having two weeks off to play with her! We did make one trip to the doctor’s office because she wouldn’t stop crying. There was nothing wrong with her… ha! She is rolling all over the place and still won’t sleep through the night!! I won’t trade her in, but I could use a full night’s sleep if anyone wants to take a shift!

I promise the 6^th month post will be much better! J

One quick story. Our sweet Anna is going to be thoroughly confused about how Christmas trees leave the house! We got our tree in the house through the back sliding door and it was all bound up. How do you suppose we got it out? TJ in true redneck fashion, got the tree to the back sliding door and it wouldn't fit so he tied a rope to it. Yep, you guessed it! He started to pull it slowly with the jeep, then as it came loose he pushed the gas and Anna, Mimi, and I watched our ginormous Christmas tree bounce along behind the jeep and over to the back of the property! Poor confused Anna! That is not normal! :)

That's all for now! Like I said the six month post will be better! I am very excited to hear her stats when we go to her appointment! :) 

Until Next Time,

Leigha

The Adventures of Anna Banana~ Month Four

Our little Annie is four months old! I can't believe it! She is growing so fast and changing everyday. It's incredible! I had no idea how amazing it was to have a baby. She is so cool! I love watching her learn and discover new things. Her smiles and laughs are wonderful! I can't even begin to describe how much I love her. It's so weird! It took me awhile to feel what people would talk about, but I get it now. It is an all consuming love that is just out of this world! I look at her and she melts my heart. She is amazing!

At the end of last month I had started back to work. Thankfully, I didn't have to work too long before it was Thanksgiving break. Before I get into Thanksgiving, I will say this. I am on the road a ton each and every day. Driving from our house in Luther to my Aunt's house downtown to Edmond and back again racks up a ton of miles. So here is what I propose:

1. All Semis need to have their own road system. Like trains have tracks and they can't deviate from that path. Semi's need the same. They get in my way and bother me!
2. If you are going to have a stop light that has the option of turning left, CREATE A LEFT TURN LANE! I hate wasting time at a light because someone needs to turn left and there is only one. single. lane. I want to get to Miss Anna!

These simple fixes will make my life much better. Oh and if we could throw in some literal bumps in the road, that would be great! They help Anna fall asleep in the car.

For Thanksgiving we all went to see my Aunt Mary in southeast Oklahoma. She loved having Anna there and she was the star of the show! Her first Thanksgiving was a success! She even had a tutu to match the holiday. My mom asked me once if Anna needed another tutu. How is this even a question? Anna ALWAYS needs more tutus! :)

Since this would be Anna's first Christmas I wanted to start a new tradition. I wanted to pick out a tree at the tree farm and have a real Christmas tree. Kaytie always said that we needed a real one and to ditch the fake one, so we did. So my little family headed out to the tree farm to get a tree. It was so fun! I carried Anna in her carrier and TJ and I looked at trees. Since she is not old enough to enjoy actually chopping down a tree we just bought one. We went with a Douglas Fir and it was bigger tree than our fake one, plus it was beautiful! So we snapped a few pictures and loaded up! TJ had brought the pickup to haul it home and as I was following him I thought to myself, that tree seems really big... We pull up and TJ goes to unload the tree and I take Anna change her diaper. We come back in and there is this HUGE tree in my living room! I tell him I want it in front of our window and he goes to set it up and it won't fit! The top is bent over! When TJ got the ladder out just to get the netting off of it I knew we would have an unforgettable Christmas tree! I laughed and laughed as he tried to get the thing in place and undone. Seriously, it didn't look that big at the lot! However, when the sky is the ceiling I suppose everything looks small!

We took Miss Anna to see Santa at the mall. She looked adorable of course! Anna was lucky enough to see Santa four times in just two weeks! There was the craft fair Santa, the Mimi's work party Santa, Cookies with Santa, and the mall Santa. Lucky for us she is too young to be afraid of Santa!

Anna also got to experience her first baking party. Christine, Lauren, Casslyn, and Kristen all came to help us put together some yummy treat boxes. We had the most delicious hot chocolate and a great visit while we put the boxes together. Anna LOVED Casslyn, she thought she was so funny! Something really cool about these ladies is that I have been friends with them since around
kindergarten. There are too many people in this world that are blessed to have those kind of lasting friendships.

In between all this crazy holiday stuff, I decided we needed new carpet if Anna was going to be crawling soon. Yep. Sooooo..... Anna and I had to move in with her Papa for a few days. TJ had to take up all of our old carpet and reinforce the subfloor in about 24 hours. You know so we could save a little money. This also meant he had to move the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. You know where he put it? He shoved it in our entry way! Poor tree! I love our carpet though it is so cushy and it cleans up really easy!

We wrapped up month four with Anna's four month check up, so here is what we know!

Anna's stats and updates:

• Anna is 14.6lbs and 40% for weight and 25 inches long and 60% for height! It's gonna be so cool if she is tall!
• She is wonderful developmentally. Those are the doctors words not mine.
• At her six month appointment she should be able to sit up unassisted for 3 seconds. I told Anna we are gonna shoot for 6!
• Annie is a social butterfly! She doesn't like to eat too much during the day because there is too much going on and she wants to be apart of it! Then she is starving at night and eats a ton. I don't get it, but whatever.
• At the start of December I actually laid out all of Anna's Christmas outfits and determined what she would wear to what event! 
• Nearly all her hair is gone! I have a bald baby! Poor thing!
• Our sweet little bundle of joy REFUSES to smile for the camera. She needs a lesson or two!

We had Anna's four month pictures this month and they are adorable EVEN though she didn't smile! Goofy girl! 

Coming in month five, Santa Clause comes for a visit and we celebrate a Happy New Year!

Until Next Time,

Leigha Denee