Four Years Ago Today . . .

Today is Annie's fourth birthday.

I want to write some moving tribute to the amazing person I've had the opportunity to parent for the last four years . . . or, at least, a funny synopsis of all her amusing stories and her adorable personality. But, I fear I wouldn't do her justice. She is smart, humorous, inquisitive, sweet, kind, compassionate, determined, vocal, opinionated and an amazing big sister (most of the time -- far better than I was ever though, so I give her huge amounts of credit.) She is a source of daily heart swelling pride -- and, at times, immeasurable frustration :-)

Four years ago today . . .

The first night . . . when we really figured out for the first time that we were gonna have our hands full. Despite all our intentions of 'rooming in' our entire hospital stay, it was about 3AM when we'd still never seen our little one sleep, that we asked the nurses to please come take her for a few hours so we could finally get some sleep.

Her first birthday.

Annie turns two -- check out her little mop of curls. So cute!

This was right before bedtime on her 2nd birthday -- Greg was putting together her new train set.
I was nine months pregnant at the time, and right after these pictures were taken we got Annie to bed, and about 2 hours later, my water broke. (Which means tomorrow you'll get a set of "Happy Birthday Ellie" photos.)

Annie turns three. Her bedhead gets better and better every year.
We started the tradition of birthday cupcake breakfasts.

And now she's four -- growing up too quick, in my opinion.
All morning she's informed us of things she should or shouldn't be doing because, in her words, "I'm the birthday girl!" She been so excited about her birthday this year, and we're all so happy the big day has arrived!
Here she is with her traditional morning bedhead, and she's just finished off her breakfast cupcake. At four though, she doesn't leave behind nearly as much evidence of consuming frosting for breakfast as she did last year.

Happy Birthday Annie Bananie! We love you!

Dance Picture Day (Or, The Tale of Three Cameras)

My blog is very 'picture only-ish' right now. This is a combination of a cool new camera, being 8 months pregnancy and lazy, and a dear friend in the hospital, which is where my mind wanders to much of the day. But, I wanted to share some great pictures of Annie from today. It was her formal 'picture day' for her dance class, and she looked just beautiful, and I couldn't help myself from taking dozens and dozens of pictures. Of which, I promise, I'm only sharing a fraction of . . .

I took a bunch of pictures at home, with our new nifty camera. Then some at the dance studio with our old camera, which was in my purse. And one on my camera phone. Each was a fairly significant step down from the last :-)

Here's Annie all dressed up . . .

The two of us posing for a self-portrait.

OK, someone tell me when my baby girl shot up into a full grown child?! Is this what 'four' looks like? 'Cause I took one look at this picture when it was downloading and told Greg, "Our baby girl looks 25!!"
Seriously, look how long that hair is . . .

Here we are at the dance studio -- she was super cute for her individual and group photos with the photographer. Then I tried to snap some shots before we left, and that apparently just pissed her off. Or made her pouty. It was a combination.
But these are the ones with my older camera . . .

Then I snapped one with my camera phone to message off to aunts & grandparents . . . it's the poorest quality of anything I took today, but it was so cute, I had to share it anyway . . .

Then, just for fun, a picture I took a week or so ago of the girls cuddling one morning while still in their pajamas. It was on the old camera, so I just came across it today while downloading the dance studio pictures.

Fabulous Ensemble

Annie got to go to her friend Lily's birthday party today. She's been looking forward to it all week. It was a "Fancy Nancy" themed party, and each party guest was invited to wear their "fanciest ensemble." This is right down Annie's sunglass-wearin'-fancy-purse-totin'-tiara-sportin' alley. She's been planning her outfit for days.
The other highlight of the day was pouring a big ol' concrete slab (where our new shed will one day reside), and the girls thought that putting their hands in the wet cement was all kinds of fun. (Also exciting, we worked in the garden for an hour or so this morning, and both of my girls are all about picking up worms and roly poly bugs. "They tickle," Annie giggles. She is slightly more wary of clean worms though, and prefers really dirt covered ones to hold.)

Here's Annie and Daddy, right before her party, after putting her hand in the cement.Ellie found this whole cement/hand thing highly amusing. Greg slightly less so, since it took about 6 tries to get Ellie's hand print done, and one of those she stuck her little whole fist into Annie's original hand print, so we had to redo Annie's again.)

Here was Annie in her 'fancy ensemble' . . . this was her 'fancy' pose.
(I'm kind of an idiot, and about half the time I take a vertical picture, I hold the camera in such a way that I block the flash, thus the weird shadow half way down the picture -- I need more practice on this camera!

Another fancy pose -- but this one cracked me up. She did about a dozen poses in a row, just sticking her fingers in random, odd directions.

Fancy Annie

Ellie also changed into her pettiskirt . . . here she is singing into her giant plastic microphone. This kid is all about putting on a show for company!

This is just a random picture of Ellie from earlier in the week, I just liked it.

Improving Speech and Time Flies

Ellie's been using more and more words. And the words she's been using for a long time are getting clearer. Greg and I just about did a dance of joy when she called for him the other morning with a clear, "Daddy!" One of Ellie's speech issues has been that she just uses one syllable, then repeats it, to say many of her two syllable words. (Think of a baby saying "ba-ba" for bottle.) This meant our whole family was Mama, Dada, Nana (Annie), Doh-Doh (Cody -- this is our favorite). Then suddenly this week, we've heard Mommy, Daddy, Annie and Doh-dy. It's not consistent yet, but it's happening with very reassuringly increasing frequency. She's also recently moved from a noun-filled world of just naming names and objects, to using a bunch of words like go, stop, up, down, in, out, off, on. And she asks for everything with a sweet, "peees" (Please.) She's combining more and more words now -- pointing out a big truck, and a 'bug up' (a fly walking up the screen on the patio door), up please (which means despite being sore and tired and huge, I pick her up every single time she says it, 'cause I can't tell my two year old who just barely decided to start speaking that I'm not going to pick her up when she so clearly asks for me too! And there's no reasoning with her about me being 8 months pregnant, she seems to have no empathy.) :-) She finds amusement and joy in mimicking words or showing off a new word, which opens up a whole big world from when she refused to even attempt to say what we asked her to. And all of this in time for her second birthday next week!

Speaking of which -- this may sound dumb, but it just hit me yesterday that the girls birthdays are NEXT week. I mean, sure, I knew they were coming up. I knew they were the 19th and 20th of May. And I knew that was soon. But only yesterday did it hit that they were literally only a week away. My babies are going to be two and four in one week (or less now)! Then came the realization that this baby's coming soon too. I mean, sure, I was telling someone just last week I had 8 weeks left. And 8 weeks seemed close, but not that close. Then at Annie's dance class yesterday, one of the other Moms asked me how long until I was due, and I thought for a second, and suddenly realized, "Wow, like 6-7 weeks." And then later on in the day it hit again, that if Isaac was born as early as Ellie was (which I don't think he will, but it's a possibility), I would be having a baby in 5 weeks. Holy crap. We haven't painted or decorated the nursery (which currently has a cute pink checkerboard trim around the wall), or finished the sandbox, or started the shed, or got the yard all ready for summer, or cleaned the house from top to bottom, or made a dozen meals to throw in the freezer for later. Or all the other things I want to get done before the baby makes his debut. And, between my low, low blood pressure and the dizziness and weakness that's been plaguing me lately, these projects are looking all the more daunting (although, really, it's not like I was gonna be out building a shed either way). I think I need to make a list and just get started . . . or accept the fact my baby boy's gonna spend his first couple months in a room with pink wallpaper trim :-)

Sisterly Advice

Annie is talking with Ellie on the other side of the room right now, "You need to be nice Ellie. Do you know what that means? Being nice is like helping people. Giving them hugs, kisses, anything like that . . . "

She just turned to me and said, "Mom, we're trying to be nice sisters . . . and she's being totally nice, and I'm being totally nice. I'm letting her do what she wants, and it's making her be nicer."

Buyer's Remorse

I was out running errands with Ellie this morning, while Annie was at preschool. We stopped and got some birthday party supplies for the girls' upcoming birthdays.

Oooh, off topic . . . didn't Annie's invites turn out cute?!
(Obviously edited for minimal internet privacy).

Anyway, I've spent weeks searching for 'My Little Pony' birthday loot. I've scoured approximately 27 stores, and haven't found anything until this morning. Surprisingly, K-Mart had a huge section of party supplies dedicated to 'My Little Ponies'. Favors, hats, paper products, the works. I should've been excited. Instead, I quickly did the math, and figured out it would cost me $16 just to buy enough paper plates, napkins and cups. That didn't even get me started on party hats or favors. Forget you, Ponies. I drove down the street and spent $4 to get all the same stuff in adorable butterfly patterns. (The promptly spent the rest of what I saved on random other party things, since the Dollar Store is evil and sucks you in with its bargains.) Anyway, long story short, I have now finished all my shopping for Annie's birthday party with her friends. Which is not going to be 'My Little Pony' themed. (Although we do have a pin the tail on the 'My Little Pony' game that Grandma got her weeks ago). But, that doesn't get us to the 'Buyer's Remorse' part of my day.

After saving all that money (that I didn't end up saving any of), I decided that it only made sense to stop by the new "Sweet Tooth Fairy" bakery in Draper. Mmmmm, I've been craving a good cupcake for weeks, and this place is pretty hyped, so I figured it was as good a place as any to blow money on pastries. Ellie and I braved the now pouring rain and ran into the bakery, where we were surrounded by cupcakes, cookies and cake bites that all looked to die for. Ellie was pointing at all the different cases, and then pointing at herself, while miming the act of shoveling food in her face as fast as possible. I totally understood. Everything looked so yummy. I perused the cases; I knew I wanted to try the VaNIElla cupcake I'd heard about, but the lemon looked just as good. So did the one with the chocolate covered strawberry on top. Mmmm, and the marble chocolate cake one. And the raspberry lemonade one. Key lime? That could be good. Then I made a huge mistake. While trying to narrow it down to just a few, and feeling dumber and dumber standing there gawking at the cases while Ellie screamed for more free samples, I foolishly blurted out, "I'll just take a half dozen." And quickly pointed out the six that sounded best to me, paid and got out of there. As soon as I was sitting in my van again, I called my sister Talina, "I just made a dumb purchase, blew a bunch of money stupidly, and I can't even go return it!" They're gonna be stale by tomorrow! Even pregnant, I can't possibly eat 'em all today! I'm stuck now with 5 more (amazing) cupcakes that, it turns out, are so rich and sweet that they make me kinda sick to my stomach, and cost me FOURTEEN freaking dollars. I spent $14 on six cupcakes. Do you know how many cupcakes I could've made at home for $14!? I feel kinda stupid. Especially since I'm afraid to eat any more and get sick again. That'll be the last bakery I visit for awhile -- until the next pregnancy craving hits, combined with the pregnancy forgetfulness that'll make it so I learn nothing from any of this.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day was good. Breakfast was prepared for me. The girls painted me pictures. Annie gave me a 'Mother's Day' pin she made in preschool, and you've never seen a three (almost four) year old so excited about anything in the world. She ran around calling me the "Mother's Day Girl" and giving me lots of kisses. Ellie didn't quite get it, but didn't want to be left out, so she gave me lots of random hugs and loves too. Their competitiveness has some perks. An added bonus -- Ellie took a nap before Church, which doesn't always happen, and makes Sacrament meeting go much smoother. And then, 'cause she had a snotty nose, we dropped her off at my parent's house rather than fight her about going to nursery, so it was like we got a 'get out of parenting free' card for the last two meetings of Church. :-)

After Church, my family all met up at my parent's house for a Mother's Day barbecue. All of my grandparents, siblings, and many of my Aunts & Uncles were there. Even my sister Lacy. (Hi, Lacy!) The girls had a blast, being the youngest and, as always, the center of attention. Ellie gave all of the great grandparents an extensive lesson in sign language, and also showed off her newfound ability to refer to us (occasionally) as Mommy, Daddy and Annie (instead of Mama, Dada and Anna). She has also started calling Cody, my little brother, "Doh-dy". Which kinda makes us all sad, as we were all quite fond of (and have adopted) her previous nickname for him. "Doh-doh." We think it suits him. :-)

And in the tradition of all great family parties, there was a water fight (in the kitchen; my Mom threatened everyone's life if there were water spots left when clean up was done), a huge Nerf war complete with nefarious scheming and surprise attacks (my girls are surprisingly handy with a Nerf gun), wrestling with Grandpa (where Annie showed off some amazing fighting moves), and Star plucked people's eyebrows. The only thing we didn't do was play cards, but it was getting late and it was time to get the girls home for bed.

Mommy and her girls on Mother's Day, 2010.

Uncle Karl loves a good joke -- and Annie wanted to show off her side-splitting 'knock knock' joke ("Boo", "Boo Who" "Don't cry, it's only a joke.) So, here's Annie sitting with Great Grandpa and amusing Talina and Uncle Karl with her comedic prowess.

Annie and I

Probably my favorite picture of Annie from the whole day.

Annie with Aunt Star

Ellie & I

Annie hanging out with Great Grandpa -- they just look so cute together.

Aunt Talina & Annie

Ellie looking at a picture book from our last vacation with Great Grandma.

Another couple Annie pictures I loved.

Ellie eating ice. Her favorite past time ever. Taking pictures on Aunt Talina's cell phone. Second favorite past time.

Ellie chilling with her Dad. Up on his shoulders, while sitting on the couch. Of course.

My Grandpa and Uncle Karl giving each other 'eskimo kisses' while Grandpa sings to Karl while putting in his painful eye drops. Grandpa is so unbelievably tender and loving with Karl, it always melts my heart.

Uncle Karl hanging out with the girls.

Annie and Grandma

Uncle Karl loves to untie people's shoes. Greg always 'accidentally' finds his foot way up on Karl's wheelchair armrest, and Karl laughs uncontrollably the entire time he unties Greg's shoes. Annie originally ran up yelling, "I'll save you Dad!" and holding her hands tightly over the shoelaces so Karl couldn't get to them. We were all laughing, and had to explain that Dad was fine and didn't need protecting. She was amused once she got the 'game'.

Here's Annie getting ready to attack Grandpa. She was making the funniest faces, then attacking him like she was fencing without a sword . . . then she'd poke him, jump back and run away, shouting, "I won! I won!" triumphantly. Her reasoning, "I didn't get hurt! I win!"

Ellie's moves were a bit more 'sumo-ish', but equally amusing as she'd also prepare to charge at Grandpa Robert.

One of the many times Star's tweezers were put to good use. Nothing says 'Mother's Day' like tweezing!

Happy Mother's Day, Y'all!