Anna Today

Just some things about anna today.

I'm trying to get her to tinkle on the potty. It's early i know - but hey worth a shot. She peed on the floor 3 times today. Awesome. She'll start peeing while she's standing, so I put her on the pot and she holds it - stand her up and she pees - put her on and she holds it.......... golly gee.

She fell down the stairs today at the park. It was very traumatic for me. I was waiting for her on the slide. I have to remember that she's not as big as I think she is.

She is a signing maven. But none of her signs really make sense. She looks at me like I'm supposed to know what she means when she signs combobulated forms of more/help all day. Its really cute. She does know our made up sign for hot and knows when things are hot. I guess its good that she burned her hand on the griddle a week ago! Now she won't get near it!

She is a big helper with the laundry. She puts the clothes in the washer and pulls them out the dryer and shuts the door. She is a big helper in the car. I was wiping down the dash and stuff and she grabs and wipe and starts wiping everything down. I hope her helper attitude continues.

she is starting to go to toddler time instead of baby time. It's scary for her. She won't leave my lap. But she loves it at the same time.

She wanted corn today. She pointed it out in a book. So we went out the back yard and picked some. When I shucked it she got so excited she couldn't handle it - she grabbed that corn and gobbled it down. She was pretty mad at me when I took it away to cook it.

I taught her how to turn on and off the light switch yesterday. She can't get enough! As soon as we go in the bathroom she's got to turn the light on and off on and off (its a great distraction for her while i change her diaper)!

She knows the sound a lion makes. Whenever we see one in a book she growls. She also stops everything she is doing and looks out the window when she hears a dog barking. If only she wasn't so afraid of them when we get near!

I love this little pea. Its amazing all the new things she learns every day! I hope I'm teaching her to be a kind loving and responsible person.

its raining!

I've grown to love Oregon. Im in a really good mood because it's raining today! I'm sick of the heat. Weird, I know.

The 13th month (+2 weeks)

Been to busy to do anna's month update, but not much has changed. A bulleted list of anna's day:

1. 5:30 anna wakes up. 5:45 we can't handle the crying anymore and get her out of bed. Some mornings (like this morning) it was 5:00 and 5:15 respectively
2. Anna's first word of the day is usually dad. Pronounced "Da". Never Ma.
   
3. Anna's next word and sign of the day is "bu" which means book! I got her out of bed at 5:15, it is 5:55 and she is still reading books. She jibber jabbers like crazy as she reads them. Sometimes she laughs while reading. She still LOVEs her books. Especially ones with animals in them.
4. She eats breakfast with us - often using utensils. She is especially good with a fork these days. She can sign more but often just screams when she wants something. Would drink a gallon of whole milk/day if we let her. Loves berries. Is afraid of anything hot. Likes to drink out of our cups.
5. 8:00 Wave bye bye to "Da"
6. She stays in her pajamas until 10:00. She gets super messy at bfast and we usually go for a run to the park right after bfast - so I keep in her jammies until we get back.
7. She signs shoes. And loves putting them on to go outside. She is not yet bringing them to me when she wants to go out though.
   
8. She loves her jog to the park still. Although she no longer sleeps. Usually she takes along a book. We are starting to meet people in the community since we go every day the same way at about the same time. I feel like I live on sesame street or something. We see our neighbors Teresa and Doris who call her "little annie" (Teresa is from New Jersey - imagine the accent). Some days we see our hippy neighbor dan and his dog and hippy wife. We used to see our friend Jesse pushing Zachie, but he got a job so no more. We see our new neighbor who works on his house all the time. I dont remember his name and now it's too late. I hate that. We see Jessica at the fruit stand and Sara and Levi at the park. Usually on the woodhaven trail we see a pregnant lady who reads while she walks her german shepherd. I think she might have had the baby - I haven't seen her in a while.
   
9. She is a daredevil at the park. We stop at 3 and sometimes 4 parks on our jog. I can't make the whole route continuously (it's about 5.5 miles). Also anna grunts as we pass parks. Grunt is the wrong word, she screams.
10. She likes to re-organize the house. While I shower she usually entertains herself by moving my socks to my underwear drawer and her shorts to her diaper drawer. She also likes to put clean clothes in the laundry baskets and push them around. It makes things exciting. Or really annoying. Depends on how tired I am.
11. She hates riding in the car. We still have her backwards. But we put her forwards once to see if it made the ride any better. It did not. So back she sits scrunched legs and all. (if you aren't aware they changed the recommendations - kids should be rear facing until they are 2). We just worry about her little neck and that big head. So anyways she pretty much screams the entire drive of wherever we go.
    
12. She still loves "babytime". We try to go to the tigard babytime every monday. (10:30am) We have been going since she was about 5 months I think. She loves to read the book they give and sing songs with the other babies. She's the oldest one now - probably time to move to toddler time.
13. Her lunch now has more variety. I love it that I can feed her a PB sandwich and she can eat it. Molars are glorious (although they sucked coming in!)
14. Naptime, glorious naptime! 12-1:30 pretty much everyday. Put in the nuk and put her in bed. Usually no screaming. I've noticed she sleeps better on overcast days. One reason I'm looking forward to the winter. Words cannot express the beauty of naptime.
15. 1:30. Screaming. That's how she always wakes up. The books about kids/sleeping/ect say that if your kids wakes up crying they didn't get enough sleep. I try to let her sleep more - but after 15 minutes her crying gets violent and she throws herself against the sides of the crib. I figure going back to sleep on her own is not going to happen at that point.
16. More books. nuf said.
17. More Bob. unless its hot - then we hang out (usually with friends). Please note that up to this point we do try to clean the house and do at least 1 load of laundry. Not always successful depending on how "helpful" anna is being. Some things we play: crayons, blocks, nursery rhymes with actions, puzzles, sandbox, watch animal clips on you-tube, call family on skype.
18. Dorothy's house. She loves my neighbor Dorothy's house. She has a bunny. all day long she looks out the window and points. When we go outside she points at dorothy's house. So we usually make it over there sometime before dinner to visit our best friends Dorothy and TJ and the bunny (i dont know his name). Dorothy always gives anna a treat. Nothing like positive reinforcement!
    
19. Dinner. This usually involves a trip to the backyard to gather foodstuffs. Usually Anna flirts with neighbors dog "brodie" while I look for something to cook up for dinner.
20. Dinner - the cooking part. Could also be read as more screaming. According to books I've read you are supposed to be able to train your kid to play by themselves so you can do what you need to do. We're working on it. Lately I just stick her in her crib if she's at my feet screaming. Sometimes I can cook one handed and explain to her what is going on. I like it best when its that way.
21. Dinner - the eating part. Soon as richard comes home anna looks and points at him and says "Da!" cute. We eat dinner. Usually she is naughty and throws her bowl and spoon on the floor or at the wall. We are working on it. Doesn't she look so innocent in her booster chair in the picture above?
    
22. Bath - If we eat outside we just hose her down. No. We only did that once (maybe twice). She likes the bath but hates having her hair washed. She loves to splash a rag. She gets real giggly and cute. She likes to stand up but for some reason listens to me when I say "SIT ON YOUR BUM" in a stern voice. So that's good!
    
23. Put Away. I learned the sign for this and try to teach it to her. We put the toys away before we go to bed. Sometimes I'm too exhausted, but I'm trying to make sure to do it anyways. She is getting to where she will put all her toys on a bag or box for me if I'm there handing her the toys. Hopefully someday she learns.
24. 7:00. freedom. Usually just goes down without screaming. This past week has been pretty rough due to molars coming in. But usually shes a good sleeper. Last night we had had enough at 6:00. that's pretty early but it's nice that she'll go down when she's tired at night.
    

Words cannot express how fun it is to watch her grow and learn. She is always trying to be so helpful. Last night we were cleaning up the yard and she kept trying to pick up the 5 pound box of fertilizer. Eventually she moved it 1 foot and then dropped it and fell over and cried. She gets frustrated easily. She loves to see animals in books but is terrified of anything that makes noise. She is usually pretty happy aside from the expected screaming times listed above. She has gorgeous blue eyes and curly blonde hair. She loves to play with her friends and see people. I guess you could sum up anna at 13 months with 3 words: blonde people-loving bookworm.

3 years later my 2 months is up

When I started working in Salem I told Richard I would only work there 2 months. I knew I didn't like clinical dietetics. I disliked it in my internship. A lot. So much that I pretty much almost quit. And I Should have.

Anyways, so when I got that job in Salem I told my boss that I didn't love clinical dietetics but I knew I needed the job skills that it provided and was willing to do what it took to fulfill what the job requirements. So I did. But I still didn't like it. I liked the people. I liked having a job. But I didn't and don't love clinical work in a big hospital. See this blog post for an example of my feelings about work: 1-year 1-raise 1 unsatified worker. I know I am not alone - see the comments section. 3 of the commenters have my same profession.

Flash forward 3 years. Still working. I have Anna. I love my babysitter, but I really don't like leaving Anna for 10 hours every Wednesday and on weekends. Now they want me to do projects too. I'm not opposed to improving my skills and knowledge, but am opposed to doing it on my own time right now. I've got a max of 3-4 hours of "free time" everyday. 1.5 hours (if I'm lucky) during Anna's nap and another 2 hours after she goes to bed (if I go to bed when I want to). Usually 3 of those hours involve taking care of the garden and house. I don't want to spend my free time working on something I don't love and doesn't make me feel that I am contributing something to the world.

So I guess I am writing this blog because felt like I had to justify myself, but what I'm getting at is that I finally quit. Those 2 months lasted a looooong time. Ahhh freedom. I'm going to miss it, that's for sure (not freedom, but work). But its a big weight off my shoulders. And I still have another job. Yes, it's clinical, but its at a smaller hospital, so I only have to do what really needs to be done, which is nice. It's a good fit for me there and more importantly I get to do something I do love - which is talk with patients in an outpatient setting about their diets and educate them about how to eat better. It's fun to talk to people who want to change. I call to check on my patients and some of them are still losing weight (: Which makes me happy.

So anyways. That's that. Now I feel like I can be a better mom and wife and sister and daughter and friend. I listened to THIS talk by pres. monson - and I keep thinking that things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

Wise Dilbert

More summer fun

Last friday we had a friend come over for dinner. I sent richard out to blow off the patio and set the table and he came running back in....."you gotta come see this, hurry!" So I run out there and he says "look at all this poop!" There was black seedy poop all over anna's play structure. Then he points to the tree - "look! There are 2 racoons up in that tree, baby ones!" So I looked (and beheld) the baby racoons living in our tree. They were cute, but a bit scary when they opened their mouths. Anyways, they stayed for dinner and provided nice entertainment for us while we ate. Luckily we didn't get pooped on though..............Later that night richard sprayed them with the hose and they haven't been back. Thank goodness. We don't need any racoons stealing food from our garden. speaking of which..........


All carrots we grow are mutant for some reason. We really aren't that great of gardeners, but we try. Above is a picture of the weirdest one of the bunch, the CARROT MAN. Complete with whips and a purple/green head. Maybe next year our carrots will be edible........
Our corn is really tall. Tall as our house actually!
the garden is overflowing with green plant. not a lot of fruit though. i think its mostly due to late planting and not enough sun. who knows.
squash. its huge. you can't tell from this picture, but it is taking over our garden and almost our house!

A few saturdays ago we went for an evening bike ride on the banks to vernonia trail. It is a rails-to-trails trail, if you've heard of those. Anyways, this picture is a good depiction of what I spend my time doing these days - following anna around while she explores the world. Quite fun actually! She kept getting on her belly in that little pavilion there and peeking under to look at the bikers passing by. A little army spy she is!

work

i hate being away from anna to work. what do you other mom's think about to make it less painful?

Our Little Angel

My friend from church comes over every tuesday to play with Anna while I get some stuff done around the house.

She is a budding photographer and took these great shots of Anna!

The dress is from Anna's coolest Aunt - Aunt Joy (sorry other aunts)

So cute!