We're alive!

Here's my girl making a big mess for us to pick up after her!















More messes!















Making funny faces and clapping...so much fun!















Looking adorable with Uncle Neil















My girl LOVES books!!

I was given a guilt trip by Sara for having such an outdated blog, so I'm here to redeem myself! In all honesty Sara, I had planned on writing a new blog tonight anyways. :)

I thought I'd share some pictures of Anna since it's been a while. That girl is attracted to anything that will make a huge mess. She loves to throw around clothes, pull all the dvd's and books onto the floor, rip up paper and throw it (or eat it). And it is so much fun to watch her explore and have fun with it. We are seriously having so much fun with her these days and she is constantly making me laugh! Does anybody else find their kids hilarious? I just can't get enough of her. Every night my heart is just overwhelmed with love and gratitude for our little girl.

Anna is doing GREAT in daycare in the afternoons. Yesterday when I went to pick up Anna after work, I asked Kathy (the provider) how she did and she said that she is by far their easiest baby right now. She said she plays great, is always happy, she's napping good and she doesn't get fussy if they leave her sight for a minute. Yay Anna! That makes mama so proud! I am so relieved that we found Kathy and her daughter Brittany to take care of our Bear. It seems like the few weeks of adjustment are over for Anna and she is so much more comfortable there. It makes it so must easier to be at work during the day knowing that she's playing and happy at her daycare and is in good hands.

So, I wanted to share Anna's new tricks that she has mastered! She is waving bye-bye to everyone and everything (parked cars, bushes, doors) and it is the cutest thing ever! I swear she's even said "bye-bye". Every day that I go pick her up at daycare now, I walk in and pick her up and give her big hugs and when she pulls away, she turns to Kathy and Brittany and waves bye to them with a big smile on her face...too cute!

She is an old pro at signing "more" (although one might mistake it for clapping) and although she doesn't use the sign herself, she knows what I mean when I sign "milk". She gets all worked up and throws herself back to get ready to nurse...it's pretty hilarious! The funny thing is when she knows she's about to nurse, she says "boo, boo". I use to always say "do you want some boob?" before feeding her...could it be that she's trying to say "boob, boob"?! How funny would that be?! We sign other words to her as well, but we haven't seen her use them back yet. We'll just stick with it and I'm sure one day she'll be using them like crazy.

Dane and I swear that she has said a few words. I don't know when it normally happens, and it could very well just be baby noises that happen to be words...or our girl could be wicked smart and be talking already! :) She has said "up" many times (most of the time in context), she's said "ball" while she and I roll a football back and forth to each other, and Kathy said one day at daycare, she was playing with a bin full of baby dolls and Kathy handed her one and said "here's you're doll" and Anna said "doll" back! How great is that?! Also, I think she's understanding that I am "ma ma" and Dane is "da da". She's saying our names in context a lot more which is so endearing. :)

Another darling thing that she does is shakes her head "no". If she's getting into something I'll say her name and when she looks my way, I tell her no and I shake my head. She now shakes it right back with a huge grin (and then turns back around and continues with her naughtiness). What a little turkey!

Those are just a few of the precious and heart-warming things that Anna is doing these days. I've decided to not talk about how she's sleeping, because I would like to keep this post positive. :) I'll get into our night time at another time. Speaking of which, I'm exhausted, so I'm going to wrap this up and hit the hay. We have a great weekend ahead of us which includes our friends Adam and Courtney's little boy Jaxson's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. Then on Sunday, my parents are coming for a day trip visit and I can't wait to see them. It's been a while since they've seen Anna and she's changed a lot, so it should be a fun day! I'll make sure and take pictures ove the next couple of days and I'll post some in a few days.

P.S. Anna is 10 months old today! My baby is going to be 1 in two months!! Augh!