14 Weeks Old

 

Some children talk with food in their mouths...others...fingers!

Like mother, like daughter

Three Months Old

Five seconds!

 

These blue eyes are here to stay!

Anali is gaining coordination.

It's fun to watch her reach for things and move them about.

She can even grab her Soothie and put it back in her mouth

if it falls out onto her chest. Amazing!

She's started giggling more readily.
Pat-a-cake does it for her this week.
Next week, she'll have us standing on our heads doing the Hokey Pokey.

Gaining Balance

My new students joined me at work this Monday. Grammy and Grandpa boarded a plane for Europe on Friday. And my mom and dad are on their way down this evening. We've got a lot going on. While Tana is certain Anali will forget her during the three weeks they are out of town, I am quite sure she will remember the sweet smells and smiles of Grammy's house. If she didn't coo and squeal when I walk in their house each morning, I'm not sure I could leave her for those few hours to go off to work. Teaching has been going well...better than I expected. I like my new students, and I'm finding that a part-time day does go quite a bit faster. Brandon's landscaping ventures are tapering off as the air cools down, and we'll be enjoying evenings by the fire any day now...if I'm allowed to turn on the gas..."You know with gas prices so high these days..." Yeah. Yeah. Even my dad let me turn the heat up to 68 degrees...if I rubbed his feet. Can you believe I'm already talking heat? It was 80 degrees not a week ago. It will be nice to have my parents with us for a while. They're excited to live with Anali this week. Who can blame them? She's pretty much our television these days. At 7:00 we have our own "Entertainment Tonight," complete with celebrity blow outs. After a bath, it's CUsLie - a.k.a. bedtime (Brandon's doubtful anyone will get my super-dorky joke.). Oh, yeah. And you thought we were the life of the party before! Oh, no! I have mom humor now! I can just see the eye rolling of 2019! I'm stopping now. And I'll be sure to delete this blog before my baby turns 13...though it's pretty stinkin' hard to picture anyone so cute rolling her eyes! 

 

Here's What We've Been Up To

I forgot to pack socks for Anali the other day, so Grandpa Leon,
in his compassion, put mittens on her feet.
Great Grandma Betty, or Gigi, is an excellent babysitter.
Anali likes the attention she gets at Willow Gardens!
Anali and Nameless Duck.
Playtime with Mom.

 

Back to School

We've hit the books! Starting back to school has been a bit of an adjustment for me, but Anali seems to be doing great. She even let out a tiny squeal when we walked through Grammy and Grandpa's door the other morning. She knows she's in for fun when they're around. 

Inspired to Write

Dozens of pages
should
be filled by now

Blanks accuse me
but I don't
shame

I am a mother

I am the waking and sleeping
love
of my daughter's eyes

I am fierce and not afraid
of narrow definitions
of What it looks like
to follow a dream

My prose has delicate fingers
and my poetry is written
on the cooing lips
of a Greatest Work

Fun with Dad

Anali's nine weeks old, and she's getting pretty good at communicating just what she's thinking. In this case, she's glad to see her Daddy!

Sweetheart

It's hard not to be a mushy mommy. I look at pictures like this after I've put Anali to bed, and I want to go right back upstairs and wake her up and hold her all night long.

Today she had her two-month "well baby" check up. She weighed in at 11 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 24 1/2 inches long. She's growing so fast! The pediatrician even suggested contacting the women's basketball team, Seattle Storm, to let them know she's headed their way. This one's going to be a tall one! Poor Pumpkin had four shots today in keeping with her immunization schedule. It was hard to watch, but she was a brave girl and was comforted pretty easily. I think it was her parents who needed a band-aid. 

Bright Eyed

Anali and I really enjoy our walks. This was a new day for us; she arrived home awake. Usually, we walk to the swings several blocks south, and we swing until her head droops. There is nothing quite like sharing your favorite things with your favorite people. 

A Whole Night's Sleep

I'm going to eat Taco Time every night! Anali slept through the night for the first time! She woke up at 1 a.m., like usual, but I wasn't fooled! After stirring for a few minutes, she fell back asleep and didn't wake until 4:00 a.m. That's EIGHT HOURS of sleep for baby and mommy! And Brandon got to visit with us when he woke at 4:15 to get ready for work. A nice little family morning. I'm so proud of her! I've been sitting here thinking, "I'm so proud of her!" all morning. Amazing how it all changes in a night. I'm excited for bedtime to see if it'll stick! It hasn't been too hard getting up in the night. In fact, she's very polite about eating quickly and going back to bed. But with my starting work next week, I'm very glad to have a child who sleeps longer!

Updating our Blog

Anali likes to give her input in the blog. She agrees with Gina that it's been too long since our last update. It's been a busy week. We've gone from fighting a 24-hour flu to celebrating - I'll get to our classy festivities in a moment - our fourth anniversary.

So...even a year ago, my expectations for our anniversary were much higher. Last year, Brandon gave me a beautiful, gem-adorned band to go with my wedding ring. An extraordinarily meaningful gift. This year, I looked forward to our anniversary like any other year, but my priorities were different. After a full day away from my little family, all I wanted was to be with them...both of them. So we celebrated our fourth year of marriage with take-out Taco Time, which we drove to a pretty neighborhood in Lake Tapps to eat, while Anali snored in the back seat. Hey, it's as good as a picnic, except we never really got out of the car, and we spent half the "picnic" cleaning salsa from between the seats. And, yes, I did it again! I ate an entire spicy meal before I realized, "Ahhh! I'm eating a spicy meal!" You'd think I'd learn: Spicy, greasy food + nursing mother = .... You fill it in this time...Pray she sleeps tonight! Pobrecita! Lo siento! 

Conversations with Anali

Leon and Tana love having "conversations" with Anali.Leon says often, "She's a real talker." So often I look at her and expect her to say what she's thinking at the moment. It's incredible how on-the-verge-of-talking she looks. It startles me more when nothing comes out of her mouth than it would if she were to break out in song. Her cooing is so adorable! I could be anywhere in the house, and if I hear her talking to herself, I'll drop anything to be with her in those moments. They are so precious.

Today was my first day back to work. A hard morning. The first days of the school year are scattered at first, then we'll meet regularly in the next couple of weeks. It is sure going to be hard to leave her every morning. She changes so much every day! I'm just thankful I get to leave her with two loving grandparents.

Brandon and I were talking just yesterday about how fun it is to watch our parents become grandparents. There can be no greater compliment than watching your own parents adore your own children. It feels even sweeter than their love for us.  

Barbeque, Birthday, and Baby

On Thursday, our little family traveled up to my sister Shannon's home in Bellingham for a barbeque with the Coughlins, as it was Matthew and Letha's last day in Washington before driving back to their home in Victorville, California. It's been nearly a year since all of us were gathered under one roof! Shannon made a colorful and eclectic spread of dishes that we all thoroughly enjoyed; I even copied a few of her recipes for a dinner I hosted last night. Before we left on Thursday, they even surprised Brandon with an early birthday cake! 

Carson's Birthday

Brandon and I enjoyed celebrating his friend Carson's birthday with him and the crew. A merry time was had by all...almost all...mostly merry. OK, so Anali put a bit of a damper on things with her wailing. I apologized profusely for the taquitos I ate (breastfeeding + spicy, greasy taquitos = selfish mother of wailing party POOPER).

That's Brandon, Anali, and me with Carson's neighbors Scott, Erin, and their son Reed, Carson, and his lovely girlfriend Sidney.