Well, our Anna has been sick these last couple of days. Not sure exactly what it is...could be teething...could be something else that's going around. She has had a nice temp the last few days, but seems to be much better today. Just warm instead of leaning towards 'hot'. And I must say, Anna is not good at being sick. She is a fussy whiny sick little one. I didn't realize how 'good' Ethan was at being sick. He just lays there in silence. Not so much with Anna. Lots of yelling and crying and holding letting me know exactly how she feels. It's kind of funny really.

On another note, Anna is finally starting to try and say words. She can say her version of 'bite please', 'thank you', and of course mama and dada. Oh, and she also has some sort of call for 'meow'. She still prefers yelling and she is pointing more which helps. It's a challenge as I am used to my kids talking by now. I was always thankful for that when I saw how difficult it can be for those whose little ones aren't communicating by that age.

Those are all the updates I have for now. :)

Just to update, as of about 2 weeks ago I have a brand new neice, Charlotte Pearl. :) Awwww!

On another note, if you can believe it my kids are already in the pool! Have I already mentioned that? Just Ethan and Emma are the bravest ones. Austin went in one day but that was it. And I have not put Anna in as I am not ready to go in myself! Speaking of Anna, she is attempting to say words...sometimes. She is not big on vocabulary....she IS, however, big on yelling to get what she wants. She is also big on climbing. I found her on top of the kitchen table the other day!! And she had a very guilt look on her face as well. She knew she wasn't supposed to be there! Stinker! As I said, "Anna!" She immediately started trying to find a way down. I have to laugh now, but she is going to be trouble when she gets bigger. This climbing is new for my family. The other three were not climbers. 

Well, Imagination Movers is almost over and I still need to finish my coffee. The kids get one more show to watch and I get 20 more minutes. :)

New Niece/Nephew Yet?

I am waiting the arrival of my newest niece or nephew. This child is taking it's time! Two weeks past the expected due date. I wonder if this is going to be the habit of this child in life? Watch out Julie! ;) Whenever I hear of a new baby coming it makes me stop and look at my children in amazement of how big they are and how far they have come. Little Anna was a newborn just over a year ago. So much has changed since then! Now she is running around the house getting into everything and getting into trouble for it. ha ha ha! Getting at her brother's and sister's things! It is entertaining and it is a lesson in dealing with little ones for the bigger kids. A lesson of accepting that things don't seem fair even tho mom says they are fair. It is good for them to accept that. Austin has had the hardest time transitioning during this last year. Ethan and Emma were thrilled to have Anna! But Austin, well, I think he liked her b/c everyone else did, but it also dethroned him as 'the baby', a very cherished spot in his mind. Therefore, it has been a tough year for me and him. I have HAD to put all the kids and even activities on hold quite a bit in order to take care of Anna. I will admit, that I have even had to put dealing with Austin and his issues on hold just to try and deal with the immediate physical needs of everyone. I felt bad, but didn't know what else to do at the time. Didn't feel that I could do any more than I was already doing. That first year is just exhausting! Plus, in my mind, Austin still was a 'baby'. I couldn't reason with him like I do with Ethan and Emma. So, I had to be up and literally running around after him to tackle the issues that needed to be dealt with. And I did not have the energy for that. So, now that we are in Anna's second year, I get sleep at night and feel like a human being again, and I am also feeling like I am getting back into my game. :) And Austin is going to be 4 years old on Sunday....he is just that much older that I can start to reason with him. And I can give him and the other kids the one-on-one time that they miss. A new phase in this season of my life has started and I am already loving it. 

Anna's First Hair Cut

My baby girl got her first haircut at 15 months old. The fine baby wisps are all gone and now in a plastic baggie. Not sure what I might do with them...but I ought to keep them, right? :) Anna did surprisingly well during her hair cut. I expected yelling, flailing of arms, more yelling and attempts at crawling out of her chair. This is one time I am glad she proved me wrong. Sat there like and angel! There are pics of her at my Picasa Web Album site. I have trouble downloading pics to this blog so I am keeping them on Picasa. 

Twitter-pated!

Tweet tweet! I succumbed...I am now a Twitter-er. ONLY because Matt has been having trouble getting reception with his phone at work and I was having trouble getting a hold of him. I only found out what was going on when a friend from Oklahoma called to talk to Matt (b/c he thought Matt was home from work), I happened to mention that I couldn't get a hold of Matt, and Steve tells me that Matt's having reception problems and he found out on Twitter. Good grief! I can't even keep up with Facebook so I am not sure I will keep up with Twitter. You never know, I may surprise myself. After all I do now use the Things application Matt bought for me for the iPhone. It helps me get things done. Instead of having lists on paper all over the house I now have them on my phone...most of the time. He wore me down until I finally tried it. It does help.  Back to Twitter, the most surprising thing I found out was that my IN-LAWS are on Twitter! I am way behind the times if they beat me to it! Now you have to update your status mom. :) I'll be watching for you!

I'm Still Alive

Well, I thought I'd at least say hi. It has been quite awhile since I have last posted. It seems that when I take the time to sit down and go through emails and think about blogging, well, it's late and I'm about ready to fall asleep sitting at the computer. I can't seem to find an easy and convenient time to do this. But I will continue to try, try again. :)

This evening was a special evening for Ethan and Emma. We attended their awards ceremony for Cub Scouts and American Heritage Girls. I presented Emma and the rest of the girls with their award. I was pretty nervous about going up, but it ended up working out just fine, of course. And then Ethan went up to receive his awards. I worked on the requirements for some of his awards so I felt like I earned them too! :) He got a belt loop and pin each for Marbles, Swimming, and Bowling. And then he also received his Tiger Cub Badge. He was pretty excited about it all. So, now we will go through the different options again and see which ones he would like to earn. It's been fun to help him earn different things for Scouts. It's not hard and gets us doing things we wouldn't normally do. 

Raking, It's Good for What Ails You

You know, I really do enjoy raking....as long as the space is not the size of Grandma Debbie's yard. ;) I just finished raking our front yard and I am sufficiently tired. Matt did part yesterday, I did part earlier today and then had a nap. Just finished up. My arms and hands hurt, but it's the good kind of hurt. It's the get-your-heart-pumping-I'm-using-muscles-I-never-knew-I-had-burn. Raking is great in that there is immediate gratification. You have a messy yard and as you rake it up it looks better and better. Oh, and if you're wondering, the high temp today was 44F. But it felt more like the high 40s. And yes, we should have done this in the fall, but that didn't happen then. That was when Matt was recuperating from working crazy hours and everyone was sick. Our grass is looking a little ill at the moment, but it will perk up when it warms up again. We have bare spots, but thankfully St. Augustine grass has runners and will eventually fill in those spots. Might take a couple of years. That's ok. I'm not worried about it. Hope the neighbors aren't bothered by our poor grass! ;)