Sunday, February 24, 2013

Will you be my Valentine?

We had a sweet Valentine's Day!  Scott and I found a little time to say that we loved one another :) but the rest of our love was spent on Anna Scott.  We had many Valentine's Days to celebrate us before she arrived, so the past couple of years have been all about our newest valentine. 


I gave Anna Scott one of her gifts a little early because she needed it to wear during the holiday.  She loves the books All Tutus Should be Pink and Best Friends Wear Pink Tutus.  The pink tutu from her first birthday party has seen better days (never recovered from being covered in cake), so I got Anna Scott her very own pink tutu for Valentine's Day.  


What's that face?  Well, she and the tutu have a love/hate relationship.  She loves the thought of the tutu, but it frustrates her to death.   




On Valentine's Eve, Anna Scott's pink bear gave her a balloon, cupcake, and gift.  Valentine the bear was Anna Scott's gift last year on her first Valentine's Day.




After thanking Valentine the bear for being so sweet, she had a piece of cheese toast and laid down for a good night's rest.


I picked her up after work on Valentine's Day, and we came home to find a package in the mail from Aunt Allison!  It was the highlight of our day.


This cute head band was part of her gift.  Little love bug!



Scott and I also had a happy waiting for our little Valentine.






Anna Scott got to meet a brand new Valentine this year.  My friend Katie had her baby boy Thomas on February 7th, and Anna Scott met him the week of Valentine's Day.  I snapped these pics of her before we went to visit Thomas.   



Sweetness.


During Valentine's week, Anna Scott also went to a sweet shoppe celebration for her friend Lucy's 1st birthday.  I worked the Saturday of her party, so Daddy got Anna Scott dressed and brought her to the hospital to see me before going to the party.  I gave her a grape sucker from the residents' lounge, so by the time she arrived at the party, she had a purple mouth.  Great idea, Mom.  :)



She loved Lucy's party and sang "Happy Birthday to Lucy" throughout the whole next week.  I love that she is still holding that grape sucker in the group shot below.


Here are some photos of our afternoon at the park, a few days before Valentine's Day.






Sending lots of LOVE your way!











Sunday, February 17, 2013

Anna Scott, you're growing up!


I surrender.  At 21 months, for the first time, I feel like Anna Scott is no longer a baby.  She is quickly losing those chubby cheeks and chunky legs and becoming a sweet little girl.  I am excited to watch her grow over the next few years.  What a sweet time of laughing, learning, playing, and bonding this will be. 


Anna Scott will start going to school/daycare on March 4th for the first time.  She has been staying with my friend Kristin (who has been so wonderful) for the past year and now we are making a big transition.  She will be joining the Early Learning Center at Mountain Brook Baptist Church.  Scott and I are so excited for her, as we know she is going to love it there.  She will learn so much and have the time of her life with all of the other children. 


 I took Anna Scott to see her classroom and meet her teacher and classmates a few days ago.  I made these photos of her on the steps leading to her classroom.  She was a bundle of excitement.  I was a bundle of nerves.  :)  I quickly learned, however, that there was no reason for me to be nervous.  Anna Scott jumped right in like she had been there from day one.  She had the best time during our short stay, cried when we had to leave, and has been talking about it ever since.  Also, my mom is going to be keeping Anna Scott a couple of days a week, so she will have a good mixture of school and home. 

We are excited about this new adventure!







    

Monday, February 11, 2013

21 Months Old and Much Much More!


Anna Scott is 21 months old.  She is becoming such a big girl, but she is Mommy's baby now more than ever.  I love her too much (if that's possible) and can't imagine a day without her sweet smile, her contagious laugh, and the sound of her little voice.  Life is so much fun with Anna Scott around.  She is the life of the party!  Make no mistake about it, the world revolves around her.  :)  Here are some things about our sweet girl at 21 months old (i apologize for this being so random.  i just type the info as it comes to me)...


She knows her ABCs and sings them (including the "next time won't you sing with me" part).  She can count to 10 and does it over and over and over.  She does it slowly too... it's so funny.  She says so many phrases.  A few examples are - I love you, I got it, I found it, I want it, I like it, Where is she, Where are you - you get the point.  When I sit her in her high chair, just before giving her a plate of dinner, she says, "Here it comes!"  :)  She loves to dance.  When a song comes on television or one of her movies, she gets down off of the couch just to dance.  She also loves to sing.  Our life is a sing-a-long.  We sing all of the time.  Anna Scott loves Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and her favorite songs are "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Sherry."  She already dictates what we listen to in the car.  


She is into hugging right now.  She'll throw her arms around me and say "hold you tight!"  She is so friendly.  :)  She tells everyone Hi and Bye and Thank you and I love you, everywhere we go.  Funny story:  when we were getting off the plane once we had landed in Disney World last month, the flight attendant said, "Thank you" and Anna Scott said, "You're welcome!"  :)  She still loves to read and to be read to.  She reads to her stuffed animals and babies, making sure they can see the pictures.  She has so many "favorite" books.  It's a different one every minute.  Her favorite movies are Alvin and the Chipmunks (Chipwrecked) and Mary Poppins.  She will sit on the couch and watch Mary Poppins (the entire movie) without moving a muscle, except to sing along or to reach down to get a snack or drink.  She also loves Disney Jr, Elmo, The Wiggles and The Pajanamals. 


She has the best memory!  I can tell her about something or teach her what something is just one time and she knows it from then on.  It's amazing to me.  She is such a smart cookie!  She also remembers all of the details about places she has been or things we have done.  She knows all of her colors now and likes to joke around by saying the wrong color when we ask her what color something is, smiling, then finally saying the right color.  :)  She enjoys herself so much.  It doesn't matter what activity she is immersed in, she gives it her undivided attention and doesn't ever want to stop.  This makes for some fit pitching when we go from one activity to the next.  :)


She has the sweetest voice!  I love how she repeats EVERYTHING we say.  It is so precious (and so scary!)  :)  I love how she understands most of what I say to her and can respond.  For instance, last Saturday morning, I said, "Anna Scott, I am going to make some Muffins for breakfast."  She said, "Thank you, Mommy!"  :)  I love these mini-conversations.  


She is so funny when it comes to being scared of things.  She scrunches her face, squints her eyes, and says in a weak little voice, "I scared..."  She is scared of the weirdest things.  Yesterday, she told me she was scared of the trees.  "I scared of trees."  I just laughed.  :)  If you ask her how old she is, she says "two" and holds up two fingers.  She has been two for about 6 months now and I really don't know where she got that.  If you ask her what her name is, she will tell you and occasionally will put "Laney" on the end.  She can almost spell her name.  She is working on it.  :) 


Her New Year's Resolution was to start doing a better job brushing her teeth.  She has not done so well.  I think we will need to see a dentist soon.  :)  When I pull her hair into a ponytail, she says, "Don't mess it up.  I just fixed it."  So sweet.  Every time we pull into our driveway, she says "We're home!"  Every time.  It's going to be sad when we move.  :(  She loves to color and she loves loves loves playing with stickers.  There are stickers all over our house and most of the time, all over my clothes. 


She knows she is funny.  She will say, "I so funny" then laugh.  She is her daddy made over.  She is in this phase where she puts an "nd" sound on all words that end in "n" so she will say "fund" instead of "fun" etc.  Just something I want to remember.  She loves to clean up her toys.  I think she enjoys cleaning up as much as playing.  She may get that from her Mommy.  :)


When I stand her up on a high surface, like to pull her pants up or something, she says, "I'll fall!"  :)  She loves to dip her food.  She dips fries, chips and anything else she can dip and then eats it after she has dipped it about 10 times.  She literally needs her own bowl of salsa at a mexican restaurant.  :)  


She has started to count objects.  She will say, "one giraffe, two giraffes, etc,"  She loves to look at pictures and watch videos on my iphone.  She knows every video now and says what it is before she even plays it.  I love when I will say something and she doesn't respond, thinks hard about it for awhile, then catches me by surprise when she brings it up later.  It let's me know she really listens to me.  I think that is about all that I can think of for now.



Learning to eat with a spoon.  It is really hard work!


She likes to stack those blocks but loves to knock them down.



Checking out the pics/videos on my iphone.  :)


How much does Mommy love you!?  This much!



Our little basketball player about to shoot the ball.  Love the look on her face.


Ok, so what else have we been up to lately?  Well, if you remember, there was a snow day in January.  I worked all day, so Anna Scott and I had a fun snow night when I got home from work while we waited for Daddy to get home.


We celebrated our cousin Chandler's 14th birthday... 





We also celebrated my 29th birthday!  Allison and Alan were able to come home for the celebration, which is always a treat.  We had dinner at Firebirds.  Allison made some delicious chocolate chip cookies and we also had Granny's famous chocolate cake for dessert.  Those are two of my favorites!


Love this Bama jersey from Scott.  He has wanted me to wear one of these to the games forever, so he finally just bought me one himself.  :)  


Opening a new medical school graduation charm for my charm bracelet from Mom, Dad and Grandmother...


and my framed diploma and oath from Scott's parents.


I love these gifts.  So very special.


My most special gift (ha) was that Anna Scott pooped in the potty for the very first time on my birthday!  I told her how proud I was of her, so now when she sees the potty, she says, "Proud of you!"

What else?!  Well, we went to Tuscaloosa for a Bama basketball game a couple of weeks ago.  That day, when we asked her where she was going that night, she would say, "Tussaloosa!"  First we had dinner at my favorite meat and three, 15th Street Diner.  It was Anna Scott's first trip to the diner, and she loved it.  She even told the waitress she loved her when we left.  :)  Just an aside, she is "dipping" her french fry in the mashed potatoes below.


She also loved cheering for the Tide!  She said "pass it" and "shoot it" and "miss it" and "go go go" over and over again!  The game didn't start until 8 pm, so she was tired by half time but it was fun while it lasted.  She even got a seat all to herself.


Last Saturday, I had my first day off from work in about 2 weeks, so I was ready to have some fun with my baby girl.  Too bad it was a rainy day, so we took a family trip to the McWane Center.  Anna Scott had a blast as you can tell in the photos below...







I think her favorites were the water table and digging for fossils (below).  


Now, we are ready to spend our second Valentine's Day with this little Valentine!  What's that face, you say?!  Well, she was just a little angry.  More on this later... 


Happy 21 months Anna Scott Laney!  My heart would POP if I loved you any more!