Let's Catch Up

Blogging has fallen so far on the back burner that it would take me forever to do individual posts on everything.  Hopefully I can stay caught up after this and make it a point to blog a few times a week.

First, Drew lost his job.  His company closed their doors and everyone but a few keys employees was terminated.  It came as quite the surprise to everyone.  Apparently, the company has been bought now.  Drew is waiting to see if they are going to ask him to come back.  He's been applying for other positions, both here and in other states.  I'm torn about whether I want to move or not.  On one hand, it would be a great opportunity and a chance to try out a new place.  I've only lived here in Illinois.  And we've got to face it, this isn't exactly a great area for aviation.  On the other hand, it will be hard to leave our families.  We've both got extended family in other parts of the country, but it will still be hard to leave our "home".  We're both just saying lots of prayers that Drew gets a job quickly and that he is able to grow and expand his skills in it.

We recently took a week long, extremely spur of the moment trip to North Carolina.  Drew's BFF, Drew, was talking to his dad one day when we arrived at his parent's house.  He was talking about how he was going to start laying some laminate hardwoods that weekend.  Drew decided that we should go out there and help him.  So, we left the next evening.  Annelise did such a great job traveling and while we were there!!  For some reason, her bedtime was extremely late every night.  Not quite sure what that was about.

Drew spent the whole time laying the floors and didn't really do anything fun.  Poor him.  Annelise and I were busy little bees.  Jen and Emma took us to a place called Discovery Zone Kids.  It was a blast.  There was a huge place for Annelise to play.  When we first got there, she spent about 10 minutes just looking around at everything.

But, once she warmed up and had a chance to take everything in, she had a great time.

She especially liked playing in the water table.

I had the awesome opportunity to meet a lady that I've been friends with for quite a few years.  We met while we were both planning our weddings on an online chat forum.  Lindsay only lives about a half hour from where I was at.

She also has an adorable daughter named Lila.

There are a lot of blue eyes in that picture!!

Drew decided that he wanted to travel back home during the day, so that we could see the mountains as we drove through them.  That idea was all fine and dandy, until night fell and we ran into a snow storm in Indiana.  And then, we got stuck on a closed highway that got shut down because of an accident.  So basically, a 12-13 hour roadtrip turned into 18 hours, and we didn't get home until about 4 AM.  Not so much fun!  It was definitely the second worst road trip ever.

Now that we've been home, we just been focusing on getting stuff done around the house.  Hopefully we can knock out a bunch of little projects that have been on the back burner while Drew is off of work.

Ten Months

Dear Annelise,

My goodness girl, how fast time is flying now!  I swear that since you've become mobile, the days, weeks, and months are just zooming by.

You finally have teeth!!!!  Daddy and I were beginning to think that you'd be toothless your whole life. You have four teeth, two bottom and two top.  They came one right after the other.  The first one came in, your bottom right, then a few days later, when I feeling the first one, I noticed that the second bottom one had popped through.  Just a day or two after that, we were playing and I noticed that your top right one was showing.  A couple of days later, your top left one.  It was so weird to see your with teeth and not the gummy smile that we've grown so accustomed to.  Sometimes, I still get caught off guard when I see them.  Every once in a while, it sounds like you grind them together.  I think that you are probably wondering what they are.  You've bitten me while breastfeeding a couple of times.  That hurts, A LOT!  I would appreciate it if you didn't do that ever again!

You actually cut those teeth pretty well.  I've heard horror stories about kids teething and I have been dreading it with you.  You did very well and, honestly, weren't really much different than your usual self.  I hope that the rest of your teeth go just as well.

You have become such a pro at crawling and cruising.  There is no stopping you now.  You crawl everywhere and pull up on things like you've been doing it forever.  You are definitely a lot happier now that you can get to where you want to go.  You are very good at cruising along the couch and then dropping to your knees to crawl to get somewhere else.

You think about taking some steps, but then you get scared and drop to your knees.  You took one step while we were visiting some friends in North Carolina.  I held out a puff to you and you took one step and then fell.  I've been trying so hard to get you to walk, but you don't show a lot of interest.

While we were visiting some friends in North Carolina, you learned how to climb the stairs.  At first, you climbed one and then didn't really climb anymore.  Then, a little while later, you saw their cats upstairs.  You started climbing the stairs like you've been doing it forever!  I guess all it takes is the right motivation to get you moving!

You continue to be a lover of food.  There isn't much that you don't like.  At this point, I think that the only things that you definitely are not a fan of are bananas and avocados.  You love yogurt, and will usually have some yogurt and fruit in the morning for breakfast.

Sleep is still pretty consistent and not much has changed from last month.  I'm so thankful that things are going well here.  Let's just continue, ok!

Little lady, you absolutely adore Maya!  I think that your love and fascination for her grows everyday.  You love to climb all over her and rub your face into hers.  You love it when Maya gets hyper and runs around.  In return, Maya tolerates you climbing on her, and loves it when you eat so that she can get some treats.  You have started to love Leo too.  If he's near you, you'll scurry over to him and then grab onto his fur and start screeching.  Leo is not a fan.  He usually tolerates it until he can run away.  Simon doesn't even let you come anywhere near him.

You are quite the opinionated, headstrong little girl.  You know what you want and you won't stop until you get it.  The tantrums are out of control.  You throw a fit about practically everything.  You throw a fit when you get put into your car seat, when you get put down, when someone else holds you, when you don't get fed fast enough, when something gets taken away from you.  Basically, it's temper tantrums all day long.  Boy, I'm certainly looking forward to the toddler years.  Ha!

You are still wearing 12 month clothes and in a size 3 diaper.

I cannot believe that we are getting so close to your first birthday.  I have started planning your party and I am so blessed to be able to plan a first birthday party.  You are so much fun lately and it astonishes me to watch you grow and learn.  I love you so much my darling!

Love you always,
Mommy