First Haircut

A week ago, (yes I'm a little behind) Annaliese had her first haircut!

A friend of mine, Maria, that I went to school with has been a hair dresser for 11 years and I asked her to come to our house one Friday while Justin was on a lunch break, so that Annaliese could be in the comfort of our home and make it a pleasant experience.  Well it worked!

She was all smiles!  Maria was so good with Annaliese!  The only part she was unsure of was the spraying of water to wet her hair.

 After about 5 minutes in the hot seat...

We were done and left with bits of hair to keep as a memento.

So the next day, after she was showered and dressed, I was able to do her hair...and not have all of her hair on top of her head and not have all of her hair in her eyes!  Ah!  There's my pretty girl :)

She digs her haircut!  (And being able to see again)

14 Month Update

Wow...

I seriously have a 14 month old daughter??  Where the heck has the time gone!?!  And when the heck will this shock wear off?!  Seriously!

I have loved each and every day with this little human being we've created.  It still amazes me how smart Annaliese is, how much she has grown and how much of her own little person she is already.

She is very kind and will share her food and drink with mommy and daddy.

Said has said " book", "cat", "duck" and tries to repeat other words that we say.  She goes on and babbles all the time now.  She also says "woah" and "wow" a lot!  Hehehe  I love it!

She loves to walk and run around!  She doesn't like being held too long unless she is really sleepy.

And because she is walking and running around all the time, she also falls a lot more and really hurts her pride (and tush) sometimes more than anything else.

She is still in 18 month clothes and can still fit in most 12 month pants.

She loves spaghetti and mac and cheese!  But for some reason she isn't fond of bananas anymore.  :(

She also LOVES water!  (thank God!)  She doesn't really want anything to do with any kind of juice just yet, but water is just fine.

She still doesn't want to drink milk from a sippy cup either, so we still have a morning bottle and a night time bottle.

She has somehow transitioned herself into only taking one 2 hour nap a day.  I'm okay with that!  It had to happen eventually!  :)

She still loves playing with other kids and hearing them laugh!  I love the smile she gets on her face when she hears other kids laughing.  It's like they have their own little baby code or something!

She can put her toys away as long as mommy and daddy show her how to the first few times that night.

She points to almost everything in the house now.  Then she mumbles.  She's learning!

She loves to play with pots and pans and make music :)  She is also slowly learning to put the correct shapes into her learning toys.

She knows what the tree is (Christmas tree), she knows what a nose is, she knows Sammy (the cat) and she knows her favorite stuffed toys (Teddy, Mickey Mouse, and Pippi, her doll).

She loves going to playgroup and meeting new friends to play with!

She is so very close to using her spoon or fork with 100% success on every bite! 

Here's some pictures and a video to enjoy!

Made a friend, Norah, at playgroup

Went for a walk outside on a 65 degree day in December

Using a fork! (excuse the crazy hair) haha!

Sitting pretty eating a graham cracker

Playing with her Disney characters

She still sleeps on her belly with her butt in the air

She still loves to cuddle

She enjoys eating mini bologna and cheese sandwiches 

She loves watching other babies laughing on YouTube

She loves running around at playgroup

It still amazes me more and more each day of how beautiful she is and how precious life is.  We are so blessed to have a healthy little girl who fills our days with so much love and joy.   :)

Annaliese And Her Two Feet

I can't even begin to tell you how I feel right now!

I woke up yesterday morning, to a funny girl reading her book in her crib.  Just an ordinary day.  Nothing new...
(I gave her the book...she doesn't normally sleep with a book)


Then by around 3pm in the afternoon, she's walking!  Just.  Like.  That.  Walking!  And she's been walking around the house like a pro, ever since!  Cutting corners, pivots, everything!  And everywhere too!

(Video was taken after dinner and a bath)



It's truly amazing how in literally just a blink of an eye, everything changed and another milestone was met.  Justin and I are SO proud of our growing girl!  Her aunts, uncles, and grandparents are all so very proud too!  Thanksgiving will be really fun now, with a good game of tag after dinner ;)

12 Month Checkup and A Bad Experience

Annaliese had her 12 month checkup last week!  She weighs 21.5 lbs and was 29 1/2" long (both in the 50 percentile).  It's hard to believe that she was born at just under 6 lbs.  I look at her and I feel like I'm always in amazement.  Does this feeling ever end??  She also had to get 3 shots this time, which she was really less than thrilled about.  Hepatitis B, Chickenpox and Flu shot.  She cried like crazy during the shots (man, I hate that part) but after lots of mommy and daddy hugs and kisses, we had her laughing before we left the doctor office again. :)

Anyway, there was a problem.  We didn't have a very pleasant visit to the doctor this time.  I'll explain.  Our pediatrician is an older gentleman, probably late 50s, early 60s, and he's always pushing a wheeled office chair into the room as he enters.  This time, he did just the same.  He came in, greeted us and proceeded to tell us that he was going to be out of the office soon for back surgery.  He looked as if he was struggling to think of and tell us what months he would be out and took awhile to give us the verdict.  Never advised if there was a replacement doctor or what we should do in case we needed medical care in his absence.  Weird.

He asked if we had any questions.  We asked how much whole milk she should get a day.  We asked about the little birth mark on her back.  We asked a few additional questions.  As he answered our questions, he stuttered,  he slurred, didn't really give us any answer other than "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" and then preceded to jokingly tell us that our questions were hard.  Not cool.  Then asked if we had any other questions before he went on to give our daughter her physical exam.  I told him we did, and went to grab my phone (where I document all things I'm liable to forget) and while searching for the questions I had written down, I look up...and doc is straight up NODDING OFF!  Eyes closing.  Mouth opened.  Head falling forward.  I looked at Justin and gave him the "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!" look.  I looked at the doctor, trying to purposely startle him and said "Hey doc!  Are you okay over there?"  He said, "oh, yes.  I'm so sorry.  I'm just really tired."  He took a deep breath and resumed on somewhat of an auto pilot.

Sorry kids, but that doesn't fly in my book.  If you are a medical professional and are that "tired", then you need to cancel your appointments for the day and stay home.  In my personal opinion, I believe that he may have been on some pain relievers for his back (possibly why he mentioned that he would be needing surgery) and was just having a bad day.  I completely understand.  Everyone is allowed to have a bad day, even doctors.  But when I heard that man slurring his words to me and saw that man start to nod off in front of me, the "Mama Bear" came out in me and he's lucky he didn't get an ear full, with a threat to call the Board of Health as I was exiting his office and not paying the co pay I was obligated to pay.

I bit my tongue and kept giving Justin some gnarly looks, I'm sure.  It was impossible for me to take anything he had told us seriously after that.  It was hard to watch him do his regular checkup check list with Annaliese after that.  Watching him check her mouth, ears, nose, joints, hips...even though she wasn't fussing over it, I felt like he was torturing her (which was not the case).  After everything was done and we got a healthy report, he wheeled his office chair out of the room and I was never so happy to see him leave.  The nurse walked in shortly after and gave Annaliese her shots, but still after all of those needles, I still felt like the doctor had done more damage to her than the nurse did.

I think it's safe to say that doctor visit did more damage to me than my daughter.  We are on the hunt for finding a new pediatrician.  I never thought I would ever experience that in my my life.  I just know in my heart that what happened wasn't right and no parent should have to tolerate that.  After "venting" to my friends on Facebook, I've come to learn that this is not the first time this has happened with that doctor.  I believe that he needs to hang up his coat and maybe think about retiring from that field.  Just my opinion.

But all in all, I am just glad that Annaliese is a strong and healthy baby.  That is all I have ever hoped for and I thank God every day for blessing her with a healthy body.  :)

FALLin' In Love

For today's #NaBloPoMo post, I'm just trying to get caught up with everything, including blogging daily.  Now that this post will be posted on the day it was actually written, I feel like I'm a little caught up at least.

Anyway...

Today's high was about 62 degrees.  Perfect day to do some yardwork.  So while Justin was outside mowing the lawn (hopefully for the last time until spring) he was nice enough to rake a pile of leaves together for Annaliese and I to play in.

This is how we enjoyed our lovely fall day. Prepare to be flooded with cuteness!  :o)

On a side note, THANK YOU to all of our Veterans who have served, fought and died to keep our great nation free.  God Bless America!  Happy Veterans Day!

Annaliese and Her Pumpkin Party

I know many of you have been wondering where the heck I have been and where the heck are the party pictures from 3 weeks ago.  Oooops!

Well truth be told, the three of us have pretty much just passed around being sick.  Justin came home from work on Friday (Oct 12- before the party), saying that he was going to urgent care because he was pretty sure he had an ear infection.  Well he was right.  They sent him home with an ear drop antibiotic.  He was in bad pain the whole weekend, but was a trooper and still put on a happy face for his little girl's birthday party.  Then it was Annaliese who wasn't feeling well on the day of her own party.  Insert collective "awww" here.  She was teething (when are they NOT teething?!) and very congested.  No fever, just slightly miserable.  She was also a trooper and loved her party (and her cake!).  Then most recently I've not been feeling well.  I thought it was just really had allergies, which isn't uncommon at all for me, but when I started feeling worse, I went to the doctor and confirmed I had a sinus infection.  I've been on antibiotics since Monday and have been living on soup and hot tea.  Only since Thursday have I started to feel better enough to do dishes, laundry and actually put on make up (yeah it's been that bad).  

So that brings me to now.  I have missed blogging!  I have missed reading blogs, commenting on blogs, linking up with bloggers! ...I feel like I've missed SO MUCH lately.

I'm still working on getting some more pictures from the party from our guests, since Justin and I were pretty busy, needless to say.

So without further ado, here's some party pics!

Loved these invitations from Tiny Prints

Uncle Ashley and Aunt Jenn

 These kids did a really great job on painting their pumpkins!!  Justin and I were impressed!

My dad and step mom catered for us!  THANK YOU!

Yummy food!  Happy guests! :)

She was chasing me in the kitchen!  Having so much fun!

Ready to enjoy her pumpkin cake

Mommy helped her get past the icing

Yummy!!!

Being proper and using an eating utensil

Cake aftermath

Birthday girl with mom and dad

Awesome shoes made by Aunt Jenn!

Balloon Basketball

Evan, Emily and Adrian painting their pumpkins

A happy Baya

Baya painting her pumpkin

Sam helping Baya with her pumpkin

Emily and standing proud next to her pumpkin

Fawn helping Connor with his pumpkin

The gift table

1 Year Polka Dot Pumpkin T-Shirt made by Sweet Pea Ala Mode

Reading one of her many new books!

Showing Grandma her new book

Sorry these are a little out of order...I just want to get this post up!  :)

Annaliese had a great time at her party with all of her friends and most of her family! :)  She was able to get in a morning nap prior to the party which helped, but after her long day...she crashed in her MaMaw's arms.

Annaliese cuddling with MaMaw Elaine

Justin and I can't believe we have a one year old!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!