9 months!

(I wanted to post this before it slips my mind. I wrote this when she turned 9 months, and already so much has changed. Soon she will be 10 months!)

height: 2 ft. 5.25 in. (94th percentile)
weight: 20 lbs. (69th percentile)

• Anna Kate is not crawling in the traditional sense, but she makes her way around the house as she pleases. We have mostly hard wood floors, and she spends most of these cold days in footie pajamas, so she has figured out how to scrunch up like a bug and pull herself forward with her hands. She looks like a cute little inch worm!
• She is quite the comedian. She makes funny faces and then laughs. She knows how to fake cry, but when we laugh she starts laughing too. Sometimes she changes up the way she laughs and sound like a woodpecker. She is just a goofy little girl!
• She pulls up on things, but can't quite get to standing
• She is eating most table foods and refuses to eat baby food (who can blame her?)
• She is still a good sleeper most of the time, but occasionally gets up once in the night wanting to nurse. I am happy for those moments because she has a hard time nursing during the day when she is distracted.
• Two naps a day, around 2 hours each
• Says most sounds and combines sounds, like "BaBi" "DaNa" etc.
• Trip taught her how to clap

little helper

This was the scene I returned to after putting Anna Kate down for a nap. Trip had taken a brand new box of cereal and dumped it on the ground, "by accident" he said. I found him cleaning it up with the dust buster. Of course, Jack had "helped" clean most of the mess already.

Trip kept saying, "It's otay Mama, it's otay."

Sweet Memories

Making ginger bread cookies before Christmas. Yum!

Even Anna Kate got in on the action.

Santa!

Trip has seen Santa several times this year on various occasions. He has asked for a guitar and a Lightning McQueen car.

A few of my favorite things Trip has said about/to Santa ...

Trip: "There lots of Santas." Me: "How many Santas do you think there are?" Trip: "Ummmmm, one, two, three, four, FIVE Santas. There are five Santas."

Santa: "What do you want for Christmas?" Trip: "I think I want a cookie." Santa: "I think I can handle that."

T-r-i-p

My genius son wrote his name!

I told him the letters to write, and he did it! I couldn't believe it as it was happening, but I have the paper to prove it. He didn't copy it from me writing his name, he just wrote it as I told him each letter. 

Now, in all fairness, I think his lower case "r" is probably another "T", but the letter R is a hard one! And how perfect is that "i"?

I am one proud mama! :)

Bad Dog

To answer your questions:

No, I did not put him in the sink for a bath.

No, he is not helping me with the dishes.

I came into the kitchen after getting both kids down for naps and found this guilty face staring back at me. My guess is he jumped onto the counter from a nearby chair.

Bad dog Jackaboo!

Fun phone pics!

I think what I love about the pictures I snap from my phone are that [even though they aren't the best quality] they pretty accurately capture the reality of life. For instance ...

This adorable shot of Trip and Anna Kate in their matching chairs also reveals piles of laundry in the background and the fact that I have my 9 month old camped out in front of the TV in order to accomplish some household tasks. 

What the picture below doesn't reveal is that Anna Kate has just chewed on the side of the fast food restaurant table OR that I am about to feed her a lunch of french fries in an effort to distract her long enough to have a semi-attentive adult conversation with a good friend.

(Is it bad that I justified the french fries because we were at Chik-fil-A? It's better than McDonald's, right?)

... But hey, at least she's happy and looks cute!!

6 years!

(cell phone picture with fountaine bleau in the background ... only one we captured on the trip)

I am a little behind the ball on some of my posts, but wanted to be sure and make note of the awesome vacation J and I took to celebrate our 6 years of marriage.

J had a work conference in Miami over our anniversary, so we decided to make a trip of it and I joined him at the Fountaine Bleau hotel in Miami. We slept, ate good/expensive food, had relaxing massages, spent quality time together, and slept some more!

We both agreed that 6 years seems like such a short period of time for all that has happened in our lives!

Of course, we can't take the credit! Christ has been the foundation of the past 6 years, and His Word our guide. We have grown together, challenged each other, and with each passing year I am more amazed at the grace that J shows me as his wife. He works hard without complaining. He provides for our needs physically and spiritually. He is patient with me, loving, and kind.

We both know that without Christ as our anchor, our marriage would not be sustained. We praise Him alone for 6 wonderful years of marriage!

The Tree

Picking our tree.

Trip helping to cut it down.

J proud of his accomplishment. Trip trying to lift the tree.

The boys working hard.

Taking a break after such hard work.

This year we decided to cut down our own Christmas tree. This is something I did growing up, and it was so much fun to pass on the tradition. If course, cutting down a tree in 65 degree sunny weather in Texas is quite a bit different than cutting one down after a Missouri snow, but I'm not complaining!

This was especially fun for Trip. He thought he was such a big helper and was rewarded with a candy cane after all of his hard work. Anna Kate and I watched contently as the boys did the heavy lifting.

The Ranch

Here are a few of my favorites from our time after Thanksgiving at a friend's ranch. We had such a nice time and the weather was so perfect. The highlight was going to watch Uncle Collins and his friend rope. Trip thought this was the most exciting thing he had ever seen. To top it off, Uncle Collins let Trip ride his horse, "John" all by himself. Trip took this very seriously. He was not at all afraid of the horse and has not stopped talking about it since.

Afterward, J gave Trip one of the ropes to play with and Trip looked at him in all seriousness and said, "No thanks. I want a horse."

Collins is convinced Trip can have a pony in our backyard. I see a little cowboy in our future.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we hosted my mother and brother in law at our home for Thanksgiving Day and traveled to Charlotte, Texas the following day to spend time with friends at their family ranch where J and Collins got in some hunting and fishing. We ate good old fashion food and enjoyed the beautiful Hill Country weather. There was much to be thankful for.

Pictures from our time at the ranch to follow ...

We love our new HEB!!

Trip's Animals

There is apparently no limited to the quantity of stuffed animals Trip is capable of "loving".

Tough Guys

Trip and Zac pretending to be tough (but I just think they are pretty darn cute!).

On the Verge

She's not quite there, but this sweet girl is on the verge ... of crawling!

Happy 30th Big Brother!

Happy 30th Birthday Matt! We love you!

Caught in the Act!

8 months

We spent Anna Kate's 8 month birthday in Missouri (... More on that trip later). For now, here are the high points of her 7th month.

• This sweet girl is constantly smiling
• She babbles loudly, but is often a quiet observer
• She got her bottom two teeth while we were in Missouri.
• She had her first "cry it out" (CIO) experience in Missouri, and is now sleeping well through the night
• She dropped the swaddle and now sleeps on her belly. She is so easy, we just lay her down and she goes to sleep before we walk out of her room
• She spent her first time away from her parents when my mom came to Texas to keep the kiddos while we celebrated our 6th anniversary in Miami
• She now takes a bottle regularly, but still primarily nurses
• She eats 3 meals a day
• She loves "mum mums" and any kind of teething biscuit
• She can drink from a straw
• She wears 12 month clothes
• She rocks on her hands and knees, but no crawling yet
• She intentionally cuddles. She loves to lay her head on your shoulder and wrap an arm around your neck. This is my favorite.
• And last, but not least, she still adores her brother. I hope that never changes. They are so darn cute with each other. He really does take such good care of her. I get glimpses of them together when Trip doesn't know I am watching. He brings her toys, puts her pacifier in her mouth. He knows how to get her to laugh when no one else can. Trip prays for "Sissy" every night. He has started calling his "Monkey" his "Sissy Monkey". He even lets her play with his beloved stuffed animal every once in a while. This is not an exaggeration for the blog. They really love each other so much.

Sweetie Baby

Just testing out the blogger app by posting this sweet face :)