Just Some Things To Remember

I have been thinking a lot lately about the many things that Anastyn is doing and how I am not doing a very good job of writing them down when they happen. There are some things that she does, that are just soooo sweet, and I absolutely want to remember them!

She is just getting too big!

-loves giving kisses. She kisses all of her toys - over and over again. Last night I told her to kiss her giraffe good night, so she would kiss it, then start to walk away, then turn around and go kiss it again. She did this about 10 times - it was really pretty cute, though! She also will always give kisses good-bye and goodnight. She used to give sweet open mouth kisses- not slobbery though- now she always puckers. Nathan and I sometimes miss the big wet kisses!

-always waves bye-bye. When I go to get Anastyn up in the morning, as I am walking to her crib I always see her waving to her piggy. She holds her hand really close to it and does this sweet little wave, she also waves to her blanket if it is in there, she always does this before she stands up to have me pick her up. If we leave a room, she likes to wave to the things in the room. For quite some time now, she would wave everytime she heard a vehicle of any kind. It is pretty sweet because if we are in the yard, she stands out there waving at any car going by.

-blows kisses. She has blown kisses for a while now too, but she used to kiss the back of her hand and just hold it on her mouth. In the last few weeks she has started kissing her palm and releasing the kiss to us. LOVE IT!

-signs. Anastyn does signs for more, thank you, please (love this one, she sometimes rubs her hand across her belly), food, eat, hungry, drink (on occasion), all done (this is a favorite of hers)

-actions to songs and phrases. Jesus Loves Me - she points up for Jesus then to her self for loves me, This Little Light - she waves her light around, blows it out (she blows through her nose though), and hides it under a bushel, Itsy Bitsy Spider - she puts her fingertips together for the spider and raises her arms as it climbs and waves her hands in the air for the rain coming down, Wise Man Built His House - she will sometimes hit her hands together, but she mainly loves the rain came tumbling down and she waves her hands in the air for the rain. If You're Happy and You Know It - claps, stomps and snaps her fingers. Jesus Loves Me - she will put her arms up like she is showing her muscles for STRONG.

-knows body parts. She can point to her/your mouth, cheeks, nose and eyes, sometimes ears. She knows her hands, head, knees and toes/feet. She likes to wash her own feet in the bath tub, she does a pretty good job, too! She has gotten her shoulders a few times, but usually skips to the knees and toes (when singing the song). We are working on her belly/ belly button.

-mimics. She mimics most of the things we do. She brushes her hair, rubs her hands together for lotion, tries to jump if you jump, claps her hands, stomps her feet, tries to make the same faces that you do, if you make a sound - she tries to make that sound. She always coughs if anyone around her coughs. She also makes a sound ( similar to a cough, but different) if someone sneezes. If I blow my nose, she blows through her nose or sniffs. If she hears people laughing she does this cute little fake laugh. She does it alot in church, if people kind of laugh during an announcement or something, she always laughs once it starts to get quiet. I think it is kind of cute! Pretty much anything we do, she tries to do. The other day, I filled her sand/water table up with water from the hose, a few days later, we had the hose out and she took it over to the table and held it over it like she was filling it up.

-animal sounds. Lion - roars, Cat- mow, mow (personal favorite), Pig - she snorts very well, Horse - she does the horse sigh (lips together -blow through mouth? not sure how to describe this one), Elephant - puts her arm by her nose and makes a small sound - she hasn't quite figured the sound out yet, Dog- pants, Cow- mooo, Duck - ack, ack, Bear - growls, Rooster - some form of errr-errr errr-errr errrrr, Monkey - ahh, ahhh (when prompted)

-everyday things. she blows through her nose to smell a flower and blow her nose. When you tell her to blow on her food - she also blows through her nose! She loves to get in the refrigerator and pantry - she always picks something out and wants some of it- milk, water, pickles, yogurt, bluberries, raisins, meat sticks - she will pick it up or point if she can't reach it, bring it to you then sit down so she can have her snack. She LOVES lotion right now. She will bring you the bottle and holds her hand out for some. She then rubs her hands together and is ready for more.

- words. Hi, mama, dada, hot, hat, I love you, go, good, na-na (banana),Yay, UH (this is uh-oh, she just never says the oh part. She is constantly dropping things, then says "UH". It is kind of funny, we always finish by saying " OH" for her). She tries to repeat words we ask her to say, we have a little work to do in this department though!

When she is tired, if I am lying on the floor, she comes and lays close to my head, grabs a handful of hair and sucks her thumb, like she is going to take a nap right there

She loves to bring you books and have you read to her.

She loves pushing the doorbell on her little dollhouse. She always laughs really big when she does this.

When she is sleepy, sometimes she sneaks into her room and tries to pull her pig out of the bed through the rails. You can always tell when she is having trouble because she starts fussing, which then turns into a scream. We have rushed to make sure she was okay multiple times, only to find her in a struggle with her pig and the rails of the crib. You just can't help but laugh at her desperation!

This isn't something she does, but I need to remember. She has 4 teeth that are in fully. She got the bottom two first (central incisors), then the top two (central incisors). Now the tooth to the right of her right front tooth (lateral incisor) is making its way through. I believe she is working on the left lateral incisor as well.

The things I love the most about her, are sometimes the most frustrating too. She is extremely independent. She knows exactly what she wants, and how she wants things done. She refuses to hold your hand - unless she needs help with a step or something has scared her. She can't be easily distracted. If she wanted the yogurt out of the fridge and you give her the cheese, she lets you know ;) She DOES NOT want me singing certain (bedtime) songs. She fusses the whole time I am singing them, and stops as soon as I stop. When she wants to go outside, there isn't a toy that can take her mind off of it. On the other hand though, I love that she likes to figure things out for herself. I hope that her strong-will will help her be a strong christian one of these days and help her hold to her values. I love that her mind is working to help her form her opinions and will teach her to be creative. She is a precious blessing and life would not be the same without her. What an awesome first year! So many more blessings and great things to come!

Family, Horses, Flowers, and Cows...

Now, how's that for a title! The weekend of July 17th we headed to Belle for the Belle Fair. Anastyn got lots of time to play with her cousins during the weekend since they were down. They are so good with her and love her dearly. She loves them as well. She follows them around wherever they go and they follow her around trying to take care of her, making sure she is okay. They are such precious girls. They will be such good big sisters to their new brother!

Trying to get all the girls together

Trying to get a picture of the girls together is never an easy task. Skylar was afraid there might be bugs in the grass so she was not going to sit down, she didn't really even want to sit on the blanket! It turned out kind of cute though, even the confused look on Anastyn's face!

Me with Skylar and Londyn

At some point during the weekend Anastyn got to meet the horse that my dad and brother got. She really liked him, but only wanted to touch him once. I think she will warm up eventually and I am excited for her to get on him one day to ride. I know she will love it.

Grammy Tammy showing Anastyn the horse

Not so sure about petting it though

At the 4th of July festival we found this adorable headband so we had to model it, of course!

Is this not the cutest?

Then we let her model her new ladybug outfit that her Aunt Devin got her. I love this outfit and the colors look so good outside. She loves flowers and picking those little white flowers (weeds) that grow in the yard. She also found a pretty orange flower at Grandma Nette's that she tried to smell!

Picking a white flower (or weed, whatever they are)

Happy girl, especially if she is outside

Anastyn with her pretty orange flower

This is right after she smelled the flower, I love how her nose gets all wrinkled up.

And finally, one of my co-workers gave us this little cow that her daughter used to use (Thanks, Sue!). Anastyn LOVES it. It is so funny, for weeks she would not get on it, but she would walk up to it and give it kisses or moo at it or stand to the side and rock it. Finally we got her on it and now she loves to go for a ride. She can rock it by herself, but she really likes when her daddy pushes her around the living room. She squeals and leans back like she is riding a bull or something. I love watching her. She also likes to climb on it backwards, but she always gets herself turned back around so she can rock. So cute!

Here she is climbing on backwards

And finally, one of my favorite pictures. Nathan was pushing her around the couch and she was so excited, I love the look on her face.

Birthday Triplets!

So, how cute are these three?

On July 18th we were excited because Anastyn got to meet some new friends. Mary Julius had twin little girls the same day that I had Anastyn, so they all share the same birthday. Mary and I started talking on facebook about our girls and comparing what they were all doing, so it was so much fun to get to see them together. It has been great sharing information and it will be fun to see them as they continue to grow. It was fun watching the girls play and seeing the similarities that come with the big number ONE! The twins are absolutely adorable and I think all the girls had fun together. Skylar and Londyn were there as well, and they were such good little "mommies"! I love how they all have such different personalities. Anastyn never sits still and isn't the best at sharing just yet, but loves to give kisses. Carly is so laid back and sweet. She would grab a toy, but if someone else came and got it is was no big deal. Clara was very sweet as well. She and Anastyn are probably the most alike. Both a little head strong, maybe. There was one instance where they both wanted this pink soccer ball and neither one was going to let it go! They were so cute to watch. It is, however, extremely hard to get a picture of three one year old girls all together. I got a couple though! (Maybe more than a couple!) Thanks so much, Mary, for bringing the girls out to play! We will have to do it again sometime! They are absolutely precious!

About the closest I got of all three girls half-way looking!

I just loved the looks on these girls' faces.

Anastyn giving Clara kisses

Sweet little Carly, she was such a good little poser!

Not sure what is going on, but I loved this look on Clara's face!

I just laugh when I look at this picture. I think maybe they were just touching hands, but who knows! ; )

Of course, Miss Anastyn wondering what I am doing behind her!

We found a little frog outside that we let the babies see. Anastyn actually grabbed it out of my hand at one point, then she wanted nothing to do with it. I think all of the girls thought it was kind of neat though.

These next pictures just kind of made me laugh. I love how quickly the photo op dissolves.

Here was another attempt to get all three girls together.

Miss Clara is the first to lose interest


Here goes Anastyn (probably after the soccer ball!)

Miss Carly wondering where everybody went!

4th of July

July was a very busy month for us. First was Anastyn's birthday, then the 4th of July, which made for one really busy weekend. On July 2nd, we celebrated Anastyn's birthday and went to a Cardinal's game. On July 3rd we had her 1st birthday party, which I still need to add pictures of. On July 4th we headed to Frontier Park to the festival that they have every year. It was a little rainy at first, but ended up being a great day. Later that evening Nathan, Anastyn, and I went back to the park to brave the rain and watch fireworks. Anastyn liked them some, but they were a little too loud for her. All in all it was fun, even though we got rained on. The Lawrences were in town for all of the festivities, so it was fun for the girls to get to spend some time together. They are so much fun to watch but it is kind of hard to get a picture of them together. However, I did get a few cute pictures of them by themselves while we were walking around at the 4th of July Festival.









I love this pose of Londyn!

Skylar giving me her cute little pose.

Watching fireworks in the rain with daddy.

We watched fireworks in the rain but it was actually kind of fun. We had a decent little set-up to keep us dry and we got to enjoy a nice fireworks show. These were the only pictures I got. Maybe we can get some better ones next year!