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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Anna Kate - 9 Months

Another month has passed, and Anna Kate is growing like a weed! She weighs 20.2 pounds!



This month she started saying Da-Da. I just couldn't wait to share the video, so I posted it almost immediately. If you missed it, you can see it in this post..  She's making lots of other sounds, so I think more words will be coming soon...right now it's a foreign language.

Here's a list of a few other things she is doing now:


  • waving bye-bye at the right time - she's been waving for a while, but not at the appropriate times until now
  • Giving five when we hold our hands up 
  • sleeping through the night most every night
  • crawling EVERYWHERE
  • pulling up on EVERYTHING  
  • walking around her toys while holding on
  • walking really well while holding our hands
  • standing alone - for a few seconds - or until she notices that she's not holding on
  • eating lots of table foods - trying to hold the spoon by herself
  • feeding herself snacks
  • drinking well from a sippy cup
  • putting blocks or balls IN to the toys - up until now she would only take them OUT

Her new favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - She especially LOVES the Hot Dog song. When it comes on, she stops everything she's doing and "dances" along.

I took her outside last week since the weather was so nice. She seemed to like being out there with the girls while they were playing, but she scared of the grass. When I sat her down, she took one look at it and started screaming like it was going to bite her! She doesn't have a swing yet, but I sat in one of the swings out there and swung with her. She laid her head back on me and sat really still - she seemed to like it, so I'm adding a swing to our list of things she needs.

She has really started noticing the dogs now. She would watch them before, but not she gets excited when we ask her "where's Jonas?", etc. Jonas is the big dog, so she doesn't mind Anna Kate pulling on her. It's a good thing too because Anna Kate uses Jonas to pull up on a LOT! Stella is scared out of her mind of Anna Kate - and she should be! Anna Kate got Stella's hair a while back and pulled it really hard - Stella has not forgotten and will probably never feel safe with Anna Kate again! Stella hides when she sees the baby coming her way...

I'm expecting walking within the next couple months!

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Monday, February 27, 2012

Cleanest Windows EVER!

Believe it or not I like to clean and I LOVE to have a clean house! If you've been to my house over the past 12-18 months, I can see where you might not believe it...

One of my favorite things to have clean in my home is the windows. Unfortunately, they seem to be the hardest to get clean (without streaks) and keep that way. So, on days like today when it's absolutely beautiful outside I get a little irritated that my windows are so dirty. I've stopped buying store cleaners because they just don't work or I just don't know how to use them...

Today my BFF Google lead me to the PERFECT window cleaner and I bet you already have it in your kitchen - CORN STARCH! I would have never in my life thought corn starch would clean glass - mirrors, windows, etc.

I tried it immediately, and it works like magic! Here's the recipe:

about 3 TBSP corn starch
about 3 cups warm water

Mix together and wipe on your windows with a lint free cloth. Follow with another lint free cloth to dry. You will not believe how your windows and mirrors look!




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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Runnin', Sweatin', Prayin'

Saturday morning I met Jen, Jen, and Sandi for my longest run yet - 9 miles! I was in no way in the mood to get up at 7AM and go run outside, but I did! I forgot to turn on my GPS for the first little bit, but after about 1/4 of a mile I got it going. We ran from one end of the greenway to the other end and back, but that isn't quite 9 miles. We had to turn back around and run just a bit more, and turning around was NOT my idea of fun...Does anyone else hate that hill any more than me? I don't think so!

I had my music going loud and strong - I need more songs though...I had to start my iPod over once to cover the whole distance. It was a beautiful morning for running and there were several other people out - I even ran into a friend from high school who I found out is running the half too! Maybe we can train together sometime!

I took this picture on the way back - I thought it was so pretty the way the sun's rays were shining down. You can see I was a bit behind everyone at this point...I caught up though ;)



About halfway through the run, I started thinking about my spiritual race and how much symbolism there was in my running that morning. I started out behind all of my friends - I was working on my running app and music - distracted and got left behind a bit - that has happened to me a time or two spiritually as well...

Then, I caught up to the girls and even passed Jen for a bit. I couldn't help but worry about her though, so I kept looking back to check on her - when one of my brothers or sisters is struggling spiritually, I find myself worrying about them and sometimes spending extra time praying for them or checking in with them.

A little while later, Jen caught up with me and passed me. She could tell I was struggling a bit, so she encouraged me to run with her for a while. It helped me so much for her to stick with me for a while - spiritual encouragement works like this too!

I didn't run the entire time - There were times I had to slow down a bit and walk - this reminded me of the times in my life when I've been slowed down by trials and I just wasn't at my best.

There were times I really wanted to just sit down in the grass and stop - having the girls with me helped me to continue on just like having spiritual brothers and sisters does.

It was like I had my own little bible study while running down the greenway! This is where the "Prayin'" comes in because I want to finish my spiritual race just like I want to finish this half marathon - even more really!

Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.


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Saturday, February 25, 2012

Sweetest Adoption Story

I have been stalking following the coolest adoption story I've read in a while for the past several weeks. I've known several families to adopt children from various places, but I've never gotten to actually feel like I was there through the entire process. I started reading Growing with Grace and suddenly the other blogs that I follow seemed a little less important. Some mornings I wake up and immediately check my phone for an update - I know a little obsessed, right!?!?  There's something so intriguing about the whole process of adopting though. I feel like I need to add that I AM NOT thinking about adoption even though there's a little piece of me that would like to...I know it would not work out for our family right now. Having a 9 month old has been tough lately!

The first time I saw a picture of the baby there was something about her that reminded me of Anna Kate. I don't know if it's the hair or the chubby little cheeks or what, but she's a cutie!

I just read the final post where the mom brings her baby home and found myself crying and laughing and filled with happiness for this family. I love how real this story is. Congratulations to the West family on the addition of a beautiful baby girl - Anna Gray! She has a pretty cool name too! 

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Save the Date - February 28th - Peter Pan and Tinkerbell

You are all invited to watch the upcoming Elementary play at Dayspring Academy! Gracie will be playing Peter Pan and Caroline will be Tinkerbell each for a portion of the play. The play starts at 7 o'clock and admission is FREE!

Spaghetti dinner will precede the performance - see info below!

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Sunday, February 19, 2012

7 Miles and a Cupcake (or two)

As you all know I have been slacking on my training a tad lately. Against my will, I took myself to the gym on Wednesday and joined. It took me an additional three days to finally get there though. I had a few obstacles in my way last week including these sweeties:


Never, EVER, in my life have I eaten an entire cupcake of this magnitude up until last week. Remember, it was Valentine's day on Tuesday? Well, Jon brought home a box of these cupcakes for me and the girls. I usually eat half of one and don't care to have another one for a good 2 months, but not this time...I ate 2 and a half of these babies within three days. I think the fact that I joined the gym made me do it...I just kept thinking about how I would be running all week this week and told myself it was okay. It's not really my style to eat sweets at 10AM, but this week it happened...

Sooooooo, Saturday when Jen called to ask if I was ready to run, I said sure! My body was screaming "NOOOOOOOOO!" I chose not to listen to it and then did what all smart people do - drank a 5 Hour Energy and hit the "dread"mill. About 30 minutes in, my hands were shaking and my heart was pounding, but I finished the 7 miles and wasn't even sore this morning. Have you ever tasted a 5 HR energy? Gracie and Caroline were laughing at me when I drank it because it made my mouth pucker with it's sour taste! 

I'm looking forward to my energy returning to normal this week with my running routine back on track. 

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Rock-a-Bye


This is me at 12 months. Check out that couch, y'all! Nice , huh? I'm sitting in a rocking chair that belonged to my mom when she was little. The seat was made from macrame (is that how you spell it?) Does anyone else know what that is because it's been a while since it was popular...I can't even explain it, but the seat apparently broke and the obvious answer was to do some sort of crocheted looking seat ;) That was me being sarcastic for those of you who don't know me well. I actually liked the macrame, but it didn't hold up well in the attic for 20 years because when Gracie was born it was rotten. So again the seat broke and the new obvious answer was to use ribbon to weave a seat into the chair, right? 


Here's a pic of Gracie sitting in the chair when she was a little over a year old. I know there was a better picture of her in the chair, but I don't have time to go through the 1.2 million pictures there are of this child to find it right now. She was the first baby, and I had nothing to do but take pictures of her doing standard daily things and make cute scrapbook pages with them. 



I don't want anyone to think that Caroline was left out of enjoying this chair because it has been here all along. She got this really nice rocking chair from Nanna and Granddaddy though - they painted it and put her name on it, etc. (Gracie got one too, but that's not the point of this post...) This picture is from Caroline's first birthday party. 

Aren't they just the cutest kids you've ever seen? Every time I look at the pictures of them I just want to turn back time and hold them again! 

The rocking chair was put back into the attic after the girls grew up, but Anna Kate's presence made me think of it again. I pulled it out of the attic a few months back and it was in pretty bad shape - I wish I had a picture to show you a before/after comparison!! One of the rockers had broken, the ribbon had fallen off, on of the back rails was chipped, etc. I decided that a chair that's been around this long should get a new shot at life, so I had a friend remove the 75 layers of paint from years past and put a new wooden seat in it. He was so excited when he saw that the wood was a good quality underneath that he called and asked if he could stain it instead of painting it again. Here's the finished product with Anna Kate enjoying it in a couple of pictures!


 I couldn't decide which one was the least blurry since she wouldn't stop rocking! It looks so great! I know she is going to enjoy it, and hopefully the girls will be able to use it for their children! 
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

I'm not a Quitter

I have allowed myself a small break in my running schedule - I didn't quit completely. What I would like to say here is that I took a couple weeks and *rested* but that is not part of my vocabulary. Instead of seeking rest these days, I find myself praying that I won't be too tired to accomplish all that is on my list for the day.  I have continued to walk at least twice a week for around 1 - 1 1/2 hrs at a time. This only happens because Gracie has basketball practice and the school has a walking track and my friends Sandy and Heather are there walking with me most days.

I have to find some way to fit my running into my life though because I'm not a quitter!!!!!!! It looks like my only defense is joining the gym at this point. My theory is that they are open 24 hours per day, so no matter how crazy my days get, I can't use the excuses that it's too cold or dark outside.

I owned a treadmill up until a couple months ago when we realized that we had too much stuff in our house and needed to sell some things. It was one of the first items to go. I would like to say that if it were still here, I would be using it, but the sad truth is that I wouldn't...

So, dear accountability partners, I will go and join the gym - not because it's what I want to do, but because it's the right thing to do and I'm going to look back after the half marathon and know it was worth it to accomplish this goal. If anyone wants to run at either 9 o'clock at night or 5 o'clock in the morning, let me know...

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Monday, February 13, 2012

Proud Mom Alert!

For those of you who don't know, Gracie is playing on her school's basketball team this year. Most 5th grade girls would be playing on a middle school team at this age, but Gracie has been given the task of going up against high school girls. These girls are H.U.G.E.! I mean Gracie is tall for her age, but when I look at her beside one of the opposing team members I am usually cringing thinking about how easily they could hurt her in a tumble...I'm not telling you this to scare you and make you think "Oh, Poor Gracie". I'm telling you because you just wouldn't believe the way she plays against them! She is small but mighty folks! She stole the ball from them tonight and took off down the court!

Here's a picture of Gracie (#54) with her team:


Tonight she played point guard for a while - I know it was one of the highlights of her night! The second highlight we will get to in a second... Just in case you're wondering, the point guard is the one who dribbles the ball down the court after it's been thrown in. This player is a major communicator for the team - telling them what play to do next usually. (I'm pretty proud of myself for knowing that - learned it this year.)

Here's a picture of her dribbling down the court:

 The second highlight tonight was when Gracie made a basket!!!! I found out later that it was a "buzzer basket" - is this a real basketball term? I'm not sure, but it makes sense so I'll go with it... This fact added lots of dramatic effect to her story as she retold the event as if we weren't watching or something. My eyes started leaking a little as I watched tonight - I'm a softie! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the shot, but I don't think I'll forget it.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012

I've got some catching up to do

I've been thinking about blogging for a couple days now. I've actually missed it. We have been in a bit of a whirlwind around home for the past couple weeks. Anna Kate got her first ear infection at the end of January, but the medicine didn't work. The doctor gave her more antibiotic a week later because the one ear infection turned into two. We are finishing the second round of meds tomorrow and I'm so thankful that she is better! I was beginning to think my already clingy baby was turning into a monster there for a minute...Here's what I've been up to:

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Gracie (Rosie) the Riveter

Gracie went to school today dressed up as Rosie the Riveter from the World War 2  Era. I'm not a fan of red lips, but I have to say she wears it well!


She had a 2 page (typed) report due today which she fretted and worried about for a week because "2 pages typed is just too much and it will take forever" which turned out to be a couple hours in reality. We worked for several hours on Saturday researching and typing, and after it was finished she said, "well, that was easy. I think I could have done 3 pages!" She really could have filled three pages with all the information that we found.

Creativity was one of the requirements for visual aids, so we came up with the idea to dress her up. She also had Jon's Papa Duane's dog tags, a pin from his uniform, and a couple of buttons from it. From what I understand he was in some way associated with "The Battle of the Bulge". He has some stories to tell about that, no doubt!

Another cool thing we did was borrow my Pawpaw Dugan's army coat. Gracie wore it today as well! He wasn't in WW2, but I think he was in the service around the time of the Korean war. The coat is really cool! I mean I would wear it with some cute jeans if I didn't think it would get messed up.


Totally beside the point, but notable today - Anna Kate slept ALL NIGHT!!! Praise God! It was a wonderful full night's sleep!

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