Birthday Party #2!

Saturday was Anna's "official" birthday party, which we had at the YMCA that's right next to our house. I really didn't want a million people squeezed into our house in the middle of winter, so we rented a room there. It was a short party, but I think it was pretty fun. Anna got to have more cake (which was delicious and had bananas in the filling!), but then we didn't have enough time to open her presents. We ended up relocating to the Sky View Restaurant to open the presents and have a drink or two. She got all sorts of great stuff; lots of clothes and even more new toys. This little girl is going to have enough to keep her busy until she's 2! I think she had a fun time, but she got very tired and ended up going to sleep a bit early. She had to wait until the next day to play with most of her toys!

Birthday Party #1!!

Anna is such a lucky girl, because she gets to have TWO parties for her first birthday! So that means two cakes and tons and tons of presents! My family came over on Friday night (her actual birthday) to celebrate, because my parents were leaving for Hawaii the next morning. They brought pizza with them, which Anna ate with gusto. She actually ate an entire piece! I can't believe that. Then we opened some presents. Let's see if I can remember everything she got, because it sure was a lot! We gave her a Tinkerbell easy chair that rocks and a table/bench for her to play, color, and read. Auntie Loonie got her an aquarium lamp, fish maracas, 4 balloons, and her very own cell phone! I know she got her more, but I can't for the life of me think of anything else. Grammie and Grampy got her a See & Say, some new books, her first Little People set, and her very own set of Tiffany earrings! Dano gave her a bunch of new books, and one of them was Dr. Seuss' ABC's! We're so used to the condensed board book version that it's really neat to read the real thing! Uncle Dave sent her a drum that lights up, plays music and different sounds, and also does the ABC's! This little girlie is maybe a tad spoiled :) I just can't believe how much new stuff she got! She also had some cake and was nice enough to share a lot of it with Abbey. Then after hanging out with the fam for a bit and playing with her new stuff, it was time to say goodbye. Quite a busy day for my little one year old!

ONE YEAR OLD!!!!

My little Banana is turning one year old tomorrow!! I just can't believe that a year has gone by already. I still remember sitting in the doctor's office Wednesday evening, Dr. Kelly telling me that I won't go into labor tonight, but I might get a few contractions because of the exam. I was VERY unhappy to hear that, to say the least! We went to Culver's afterward and had a double butterburger with cheese and bacon! Then around 2 am I got my first contraction, and I noticed that they kept coming every 10 minutes. After that kept up for 2 1/2 hours, I thought... okay, maybe this really IS going to happen today! So I woke Tim up at 4:30, much to his confusion. Of course, when he found out why I woke him up, he was much too excited to go back to sleep! We got up, took showers, made sure everything was in order, I called work to let them know maternity leave was starting, and around 7:45 it was time to call the doctor! We made it to the hospital around 8:30 (though if I had my way, it would have been sooner - I think I'm lucky Tim didn't throw me out the car window!), then about 5 hours later, our darling little Anna was born! Other than having a little trouble at the end, the labor wasn't too bad (the epidural helped, of course). The umbilical cord was loosely around Anna's neck, so that caused a bit of trouble when I was pushing; the nurses solved it by having me lie on my side for a minute in between contractions. I have no idea why that helps, but it did. Anyway, one year later, here we are! Let me see if I can give a run-down of how she's doing...

Anna's likes:
Music - any toy that makes music, particularly her Cookie Monster saxophone, her CD player, and her Love Bug book. She also likes it when I sing to her.
Books - holding and turning the pages are a delight to her. She also loves her Sesame Street book with the finger puppets
Crawling/Cruising - honestly, I never even thought she would crawl, but I guess she has found it a lot safer than trying to walk. I thought for sure she would be walking by now, but she is so cautious about trying to take risks. She always considers taking a step when she is moving to another place, but if she determines it looks too far, she will drop down and crawl there. She does love to walk while holding onto things, and she is very fast!
Exploring - she gets into EVERYTHING! No cabinet is left unexplored, no shelf within reach is off-limits, and she loves the microphone that was plugged into my computer
Food - go figure, she tends to likes breads and unhealthy things! She loves mac and cheese, spaghetti, fruits, and pumpkin. I've also made her a ground sirloin, spinach, tomato, sweet potato mix that she devours! I'm pretty proud of myself for coming up with that.

Anna's dislikes:
Pizza, surprisingly. I think it's too much for her to chew!
Taking a bath when she is too tired already.
Being strapped into her car seat with her coat on (can't blame her there)
Okay, she doesn't really have any real dislikes. She's such a happy kid, and so easy-going I can't believe it! I love her more than anything in the world!

Homecoming

Daddy came home tonight!! Annie's reaction was priceless - she squealed and jumped and just got so excited that there could be no doubt that she remembered him! I'm sure that was a little fear of his. He was gone in the Philippines for 15 days, so it was quite a long stretch to be without him around. Although I managed to keep the house in order, it was a tiring stretch that left both of us sick. Poor little girl came down with a fever last night, so she started crying around midnight. I could tell that something was wrong (she almost fell asleep in her high chair while she was eating her cereal, and she felt a little warm at the time...), so I just let her sleep with me. I thought that would help make her feel better. She felt so hot that I gave her some Tylenol too, but she had a fitful sleep. I took her temperature in the morning and it was 101.4, the first time that she's ever really had a fever! I guess that's not bad considering she's just about a year old, but I still feel terrible because I know I'm the one who got her sick. She's such a trooper though; she cuddled with Grampy in the morning, but then she started playing and acting like her old self again. She took a long nap this afternoon, which must have messed up her schedule - she didn't want to go to sleep at bedtime! It gave her a chance to cuddle with Daddy though, so that wasn't so bad. She also got a chance to sit in her rocker and read books with him, which is just too cute. Welcome home, Daddy! We missed you!

Under the Sea!

On Martin Luther King Day, Miss Banana took her first trip to the Shedd! We drove downtown with Grampy, Grammie, and Uncle Dano. It was kind of a dreary day, but it wasn't crazy cold (for winter in Chicago, you can't ask for much more) Considering Ms B's love of aquatic creatures, I was thinking this trip would be right up her alley. She really loved looking at all the fish, especially the big ones! She would squeal and get excited looking at the big tanks. I was nervous every time that she would put her hands on the glass, because I was afraid that she would start whacking it and I'd have to pull her away. But each time she would put her hands up, she was as gentle as could be. The place was SO crowded it was insane, and it's really not the most accessible place for strollers. It was just a pain to get around, so we didn't stay the entire day (but staying from 11-3ish when the admission was free is still pretty good). Dano really wanted to visit Koreatown, but it turns out that it's more Mexican than Korean these days. He got a couple good pictures, but then we were on our way home.

I also put up a picture of her playing with her fridge magnets, because it's so cute how excited she gets about the letters that sing. She can get a little frustrated when she's trying to put a new letter in the "dog house," because she's not always successful in lining it up correctly. You can also see her little teeth on the bottom! Such a big girl!

Little Miss DJ

Yesterday we were playing in Annie's bedroom, listening to a Sesame Street cd. She must have seen me change the track, because she immediately scurried over to the cd player and started pressing the buttons. She got a kick out of changing the songs, starting them over, fast-forwarding them, etc, and continued to do it for quite some time! That girl is so observant and never seems to miss anything. While I was getting my coffee ready this morning she opened the garbage can and started taking out the trash. What a mess! She also loves taking ALL of her books off the shelves. Such a fun game. I'm trying to teach her the "Let's Put Everything Back In Its Place" game, but I'm not having much luck.

Anna's become an imitator. If you make a sound, she'll make it back. Plus, just today she started putting her hands on her head every time you say, "Oh, no!" It's so hilarious.

Daddy-less

On Tuesday Tim left for a 15 day trip to the Philippines, so Anna and I have been on our own the past couple days. We've been doing well though; we're having fun playing together, and thankfully she's also at the age where she likes to explore and amuse herself. It's allowed me to get my stuff ready for the next day before it gets too late in the evening. Anna has been doing this adorable wiggly dance to the worm (or caterpillar?) that Grammie got her, but I haven't been able to catch it on film. If I do I'll have to post it. We went over to Downers Grove last night to hang out with Grammie, Grampy, and Uncle Dano, so that was pleasant (especially since it's been a little quiet around here). Anna has been sleeping a little better at night this past week too, so that's good. I just hope she keeps getting better and better at it.

Today we've been having a blizzard of sorts, so that's been kind of fun. We never get snow days, so of course I had to drive in it, which is NOT fun. Oh well, they kept up with the plowing reasonably well this time. I would really like Anna to be able to go out and play in the snow, but it's so cold outside that it's not possible. I think it might warm up to close to 30 next week, so hopefully she will get a chance to do it then! It will be interesting to see how she reacts to it.