This and That... I Know It's Been A While

I know it has been a while since I've posted an update. I really don't have a good excuse for why except to say time has just flown by the past several weeks. Since Ann Maxwell's birthday it seems she is learning and growing at an even more rapid pace. Seemingly overnight our baby girl has turned into a little girl! She's maturing so fast and learning new words every day. I counted the other day how many words she uses regularly, and it's almost 30! Then there are the words she just repeats or says rarely on top of that. She's always been a very vocal child, but here lately the words seem to flow non-stop. It's so exciting to hear her communicate with us! Here's just an example...

Tonight I painstakingly went through the bedtime routine with her to try to ensure a good night's sleep. (Lately she hasn't been sleeping so well, in addition to the usual battle to actually get to sleep!) We started with the bath. In the bathtub she told be about "bubbles," "Elmo" (on the toothpaste tube), "duck" (rubber ducky), "brush" (toothbrush), "hot" (the water when it first came out), "ball" and "squirt squirt" (her blowfish toy). Then my mom called while she was in the bathtub. Ann Maxwell told her Granna, "Hi," "bye-bye," and blew her a kiss, complete with sound effects. After the bath we went back downstairs to give hugs and kisses to Daddy and Little Bit. Ann Maxwell said, "Night-night Dada," and "Night-night Bit." She then echoed my "no-no" when I asked her to stop opening the cabinets. We settled in for the night and she asked for her, "milk" and "bottle." When I gave it to her she told me, "thank you." She then told me "Night-night Mama," and then went to sleep, or so I thought. I laid her down and crept out of the room oh so carefully. I tiptoed into the kitchen and opened the fridge to get a bottle of water as quietly as possible so not to wake the sleeping baby. Just then the bottle slipped from my hand and hit the floor. The "sleeping" princess was a faker because I heard a loud "uh-oh" come from down the hall! Some of the other words Ann Maxwell can say are: boc-boc (chicken), woof-woof (what the dog says), ba-ba (what the sheep says and her beloved stuffed sheep), meow (what the cat says), ah-ah (what the monkey says), banana, Ava, apple, a version of Barney, eye, ear, eyebrow (shockingly this comes out perfectly), baby, bye-bye, animal, a version of elephant, and most recently, no-no. Needless to say, there's never a quiet moment around here these days!

Talk, talk, talk...

"Are you listening to me, Mom?"

Ann Maxwell has always loved being outside, but now that she is mobile we're really taking advantage of our backyard. It's fully fenced, so I just open the door and let her go. She has a great time running around, exploring, picking grass, touching the flowers, etc. We have a porch swing which she is still a little wary of, but tonight she let me swing with her in my arms for just a little while.

Another outdoor activity Ann Maxwell enjoys is riding in her wagon. She could literally ride for hours checking out the neighborhood.

Playing with bubbles in the backyard...

Although Ann Maxwell hasn't always been the easiest baby (i.e. colic, reflux, hating the car), one thing we've never had trouble with is eating. This child will eat anything we give her. So far she hasn't turned down anything but spinach. Some of her favorites these days are Yo Baby yogurt, Cheerios, the beloved goldfish crackers, peaches, mac & cheese, English peas, and broccoli. She is, however, obsessed with chicken (boc-boc), lima beans (she eats them almost daily), and apples (the kids is wild about apples). Those are our staples, although she'll eat anything off our plates we offer her. So far we don't have a picky eater, but we'll see what comes when she gets even more vocal and opinionated in toddlerhood!

Goldfish crackers in a snack cup - what more could you want?

Digging for as many crackers as she can fit in her little hand

"Look, Mom, I got 'em!"

Trying spaghetti for the first time and loving it

Since Ann Maxwell is so keen on eating and trying new foods we're working on integrating utensils into mealtime too. She's good at using her fork, but she gets tired of it and usually puts it down after a while.

A few other brief notes...

• Ann Maxwell loves her dollies. She doesn't have a favorite, but one is almost always with her when she's playing or riding in her wagon.
• She loves to play with her buddy, Harrison. She wore herself out Saturday playing with him at Ellen and Russ' annual crawfish boil. So much so that she fell asleep sitting up riding in a toy car. It was so cute, but I couldn't get a picture before I had to scoop her up and lay her in the bed!

Laughing at Harrison spraying the crawfish

Studying the strange creature

• She loves to "love on" her dollies, stuffed animals, and especially her Mommy and Daddy. She gives sweet kisses and hugs all the time. When she gives hugs she says, "oh," to let you know she's giving love. It melts my heart every time!
• She's finally getting some hair! This poor child has been lacking in the hair department all her life. At long last she has cute little blonde curls in the back. No more being called a boy by strangers at the supermarket!

• She still loves Super Why on TV, but she also will watch Barney, Clifford, a little bit of Dora, and always anything with Elmo on it. Sometimes she points at the TV and screams "Elmo! Elmo!" until I turn it on. She also brings us her Elmo books constantly to read.
• Still walking up a storm and running everywhere, she is almost never still.
• She loves to dance and clap. Anytime she hears music she claps and tries to dance, even to background music in department stores.
• She's trying to say her name, which is adorable, but it doesn't quite come out right. We did kind of stick her with a tough one!
• We've discovered she's allergic to carrots. No fun, since she loved eating them.
• She drinks well out of a sippy cup, but mostly she drinks out of a straw. She has these insulated Dora cups with bendable straws that are her favorite. She would exclusively drink out of them if I could keep them washed fast enough.
• Our little diva has begun to accessorize. She loves to wear her sun hats around the house and go get purses out of my closet and carry them around. I truly don't know where she gets this because (as my girlfriends will attest) I am no style maven!

• She (and this one is for you Uncle B!) loves to try and sing an old "Brush Your Teeth" song that I sang as a kid. I had an electric Mickey Mouse toothbrush as a child that sang a little tune about brushing. My brother HATES this song! Unfortunately it's the only thing that persuades Ann Maxwell to let me brush her teeth, and now she tries to sing it too.

No, this is not HER toothbrush

Ann Maxwell loves stacking things, especially canned goods. However, when the stack gets too high and she can't get it to work out the way she wants she gets frustrated and starts throwing the blocks (or cans). I can't imagine where she gets that fastidious nature! Surely not from her father! Haha!

Lately Ann Maxwell thinks the most hysterical thing in the world is to get laundry or a blanket out, throw it over her head and run around. She literally cackles while she does this, and I do not understand the appeal. I don't know if she thinks we can't see her because she can't see us or if she just thinks it's silly, but she cracks herself up to the point of crying when she does it. Unfortunately she's had a few spills doing this, so we have to limit it, but she thinks it's the best. We call it "the ghost."

Playing "ghost" with some laundry covertly stolen out of the basket

For her birthday Ann Maxwell got a role play kit for the Super Why character Princess Pea. It came with a crown, cape, and musical magic wand. The wand is sometimes fun, the cape was a bust, but the crown is a hit! She brings it to us all the time demanding we put it on her head. It is so funny!

This picture just cracks me up! I can't tell if she's adjusting it just right or if she's thinking, "Why do I have to deal with these fools taking my picture all day? Don't they know I'm the princess?!"

"Hello, I'm the princess. This is my dolly. You'll be serving us today."

In other news, we've put our house on the market. We've outgrown our cute little starter home by a longshot. We've chosen a house in our same neighborhood that is larger and suits our needs. Our only problem is we must sell our current one before we can move. Unfortunately in our area and in this economy houses aren't exactly selling like hotcakes. However, we've done a ton of work on our house, and we've received some encouraging feedback. Hopefully, the right buyer is out there somewhere. If anyone knows someone looking for a great house in a great neighborhood in DeSoto Co., let us know!

Daddy, Ann Maxwell, and (again) Dolly

All dressed up and heading to her first NAHS Band Banquet

(Thank you Ms. Ellen Rolfes for the beautiful, beautiful dress!)

Loving on her Christmas dog on Granna and Grandaddy's house

We met Ellen and Harrison at Chick-fil-a this week to have lunch and let the kids play on the indoor playground. Ann Maxwell had such a good time that she ran around shrieking with glee. The other mothers there kept remarking how full of life she was. I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a veiled show of annoyance, but either way we had a great time. Ann Maxwell, as always, tried so hard to keep up with Harrison. She even followed him backwards up the tunnel slide and even attempted to use him as a ladder to climb higher. I ended up having to go in after her....

I'll try to be more diligent in the future about posting more often, so the posts aren't as long as this one. We're just plugging along as usual, enjoying watching Ann Maxwell learn and grow so much every day. We're having the best time with our little girl and just enjoying time as a family. Not much is going on except trying to sell the house and eagerly looking forward to summer vacation. We're headed to the beach with my whole family, and I couldn't be more excited. Some of them haven't even met Ann Maxwell yet, so I'm bubbling over with excitement. We're hoping the beach is not tainted with the results of the oil spill, but no matter the condition we're meeting at the beach house as a family! I know we'll have a good time no matter what. We've been challenged to a Trivial Pusuit tournament, so we're definitely going - haha! Thanks for checking in with us! Our best to all out there! Enjoy the coming summertime!

PS - I almost forgot! Saturday will be our sixth wedding anniversary. It doesn't seem like that long ago! From Oxford to NYC to Southaven to Parenthood and everything in between, it's been a wonderful six years. Happy Anniversary to my darling husband!