Another year just like that. We asked her to stop at 5 but she just keeps going! She has gotten sweeter, smarter, funnier, and bigger in the last year. She's become more patient, reasonable, and self aware but she's still a kid. The thing is she's a joy to be around. We really like her :)
She wanted her birthday party to again be at home with a bouncy house, all girls. She decided for some reason to do T-shirt decorating and make-up. We ran out of time for makeup but the girls got to take home little makeup kits (ick, I apologized to the parents in advance!). We had about 7 girls and it was great! Parents just dropped off their kids (only 2 parents stayed) which was great bc there was more down time with less feeling like you had to entertain parents too! They're at the age where they can take care of themselves which is so cool! What I will it feel like to drop her of someplace with her friends and just leave her when she's old enough?
We loved you baby girl! It just keeps getting better and better.
Our child had had stinky shoe feet for the better part of almost a year now, but now the smelly arm pits have arrived early. We tried to deny it (she's not even 7 yet!) and blame it on foods maybe but no. No, we have arrived. She has stinky pits! Asking around to other parents of girls this age it's apparently common?! I thought this was 9-10 year old stuff? Well they do say it's happening earlier and earlier these days...I guess no one is an exception.
Natural deodorant has been ordered!
Sorry to post this milestone in the ether, Anna, but this is content that's saved for you for the future :) By the way, both of your canine teeth are also loose and your growing is out of control. Knock it off! Love you!
Here are some valentines day photos of us at the Melting Pot. Your first fondue! You loved the salad, cheese, and chocolate. Not much for the meat :) We are ALL STUFFED AS EXPECTED.
Your valentine class party:
Your favorite valentine was a little paper ruler. You loved measuring everything around the house!
Now that I just figured out how to add videos here (through YouTube) this will become much more fun! I can share stuff like this (she didn't know I was recording it). We watched her from the kitchen window and it was I adorable I teared up. A perfect example of my Future Self telling me how much I already know I'll miss this.
And last week's piano recital! Over The Rainbow with a little bobble in the beginning but nice recovery (that's the hard part). By the way she hates piano but too bad so sad, this is something we are insisting on. Her piano teacher is awesome and knows Anna hates it too and navigates around it! Anna asks how long she has to continue piano lessons and we say "until you're really good". You'd think that would motivate her to practice?!
I raked a path through the leaves a few weeks ago for a little obstacle course :)
And this was a few weeks ago at her winter school fair (hers is the hamster ball in the back). We had visitors that weekend who were there with us: Nana, grandpa Ray, Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw all came to town!!!!
It's tougher and tougher for me to keep up with the blog these days because I do these entries from my phone and it's a lot to type on a tiny iPhone screen! I don't do these on the computer because that means having time to sit down and plan and thoughtfully process my entries. Plus my phone has all the cool pictures on it to include here, like these:
Anna's single riding lesson we purchased from Groupon (January). Anna loved the lesson but hated the jeans :) She would love to take regular lessons but finances don't allow it this year ($165/month!). We'll keep it in mind, though!
And this blog doesn't let me insert movies directly. I'd have to post them to YouTube and then link. The extra steps are too much for me these days! Her life in iPhone photos and movies are all pretty much on Facebook. Here's a test video to prove me wrong maybe? I can't tell as I write this!
Some high level thoughts of lately. Anna's definitely has her "only child" habits/tendencies but she is such a great kid! She's growing out of the meltdown phase when we say no which has been awesome (though she still has her moments!).
She's understanding practicality of everyday things like not needing to spend money on certain things or cleaning up after herself as she goes to help keep the house tidy, or brushing her teeth now while she's in the bathroom instead of remembering to so it later...little things like that (including, Daddy while you're in there can you get me a cup of water?). She is trying to be mindful of eating healthy and notices when we do too.
She's still a picky eater but has started to venture out a little (she finally tried, and loved, the soft tacos from our fave Mexican restaurant instead of her 3-year long streak of cheeseburger!).
We still have these guys who blend in with the household nicely and put up with Anna's constant attempts at forced cuddles:
Cats aren't much interested in selfies.
We also still have the hamster Buttercup who is happy enough being left alone in her cage everyday, but tolerates the madness when she's out and can run a mean hamster ball path through the house.
And after 4 fish in 3 years we are done! Those things were more upkeep than the cats!
Anna's going to be 7 in just 7 short weeks. She's got ideas for her party, all girls, at the house again, decorating T-shirts and putting on makeup or something. Pretty sweet.
She's growing out of her clothes so quickly it's insane. I've heard about this with kids! :)
We love this little girl so much! I am so grateful for the last 7 years.
The witch, mid evil dude in a robe, and mermaid girl :) Horrible rainy day dried up in time for trick or treating! Anna's alternative to a rain out was to just stay home and hide candy all over the house for her to find. :)
We did that after we got home anyway. It was a Thursday night this year and the night before her endoscopy to try to figure out what's been causing all of the horrible stomach and esophagus problems since August. She seemed to have gotten over it with the help of Prevacid in September after having refused food for awhile due to a feeling like she was choking on her food. She had gotten down to a liquid diet only and dropped from 61 to 55lbs in just weeks. Prevacid got her back to eating again and them a few weeks after the Prevacid was done it all started up again. So she'd gotten back to sharing our queen sizes bed in Oct and was scheduled for an endoscopy the morning after Halloween. And since this meant no food or drink after midnight, she was in candy heaven till we finally made her go to sleep around 10:30.
Her reward after the endoscopy was lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in the galleria, right next to the ice skating rink...which led to her first time on skates! The child loved it! She held on to us mostly (and mostly she prefers steady Paul on this one since I was just learning too!) and fell a few times but wanted more!
That evening when I was reading the post-procedure paperwork there was express caution about letting her do any kind of physical activity that day that would challenge her balance due to the anesthesia effects. Well ice skating would have been the worst choice now wouldn't it? Haaaaa! She was fine!
Good thing there's a rink here by the house!
Her endoscopy was normal and so was her biopsies. I was conflicted bc I was sure they would find something given all her pain but no. I'm gratefully that whatever it is wasn't causing damage but felt like how could you fight something you couldn't even diagnose?! He GI specialist is awesome though and doubled her Prevacid dose. Also gave her an antihistamine for stomach cramps in case it's a food allergy (we only take it occasionally). I've put her on a probiotic and this mix seems to have made a difference! She's back in her own bed (miss her but we appreciate a good night's rest without a tiny hand in our face or kicks to our kidneys).
SpaceDaddy (Paul) and I have been in love since 1989. We have a happy, beautiful toddler, Anna-Marie, who was born March 8, 2007. I work at NASA as the Associate Program Scientist for the International Space Station, and Paul owns his own Physical Therapy clinic (Valeo Physical Therapy: www.valeopt.com). We miss Colorado but have happy lives here in Houston.
