2 Months - Annalee Style

Hello friends!

2 months old and it's a great time!  Getting dressed up, snoozing, smiling here and there...

I've lost some of my hair, but momma says that's just baby hair and it will all grow in soon!

We've been going on quite a few outings - to church, choir rehearsal, MOPS, the pool, the store, and plenty of walks.

I definitely like to have my sleep time!  I like to be awake a little longer now, but I don't like to be woken up at all!  Daddy says, "Like mother, like daughter!" :)

I'll go for my 2 month appointment later this week and mom will post my "stats" then.

Momma says I have the cutest clothes but I'm a beauty no matter what I'm wearing!

Lots of Love,
Annaee

Connor's Hairy Day

My little boy turned 20 months on Saturday (can you believe it?!).  Today, we went to see Jeannie for his first haircut!

The before - just some trimming needed!

1st Snip!

He kept saying "ow" when she was no where near him - oh boy...

He did not even eat his sucker - so I did! :)

Much happier when he was getting in on the action!

Daddy came too...it was a big event. ;)

Jeannie let him have her spray bottle.  Connor figured that one out very quickly, and kept spraying everyone and giggling!

Wiping water off of his leg and checking out his next spray victim...

Trimming it up!

Ta da!

They Made It!

Jonathan took these last night with the camera (instead of my phone!) before the storm came.  I was nervous but he checked this morning and they were still moving around!  Hurray!

The BEST!

This evening we were headed to church.  I put Annalee in the car while Connor waited in the other side...til he ran by me, giggling, into the front yard.  I obligingly chased after and scooped him up, and turned around to see this sweet bunny no more than five feet from us!

As Connor and I admired the bunny, I thought it was strange that he/she didn't run away.  We walked a little closer, and while our bunny friend twitched and looked so nervous, he/she stayed put.  We crouched down, wondering if it was hurt, and saw HER babies, nursing away!

 I had never seen anything like that and let's not lie...I was beyond thrilled!  We stepped back but she hopped away and left her babies squeaking.  We let them be and went on our way.

I thought they were gone when we arrived home (sad, because I thought something got them, they were too little to go anywhere!).  I showed Jonathan the spot though and he found them, they were just burrowed down in their hole.  We read online and apparently momma bunnies come back to their nests once in the morning, once in the evening, and once in the middle of the night.  We might have never even known they were there, and we bet Jonathan mowed the grass right above them on Saturday!

OF COURSE there would be flood warnings tonight...it has already started to thunder and rain.  Laura thinks I should put an umbrella over them...ha, we joked about it but I don't think it would work.  I hope they will be okay, watch for an update!

Double Your Moments of Fun!

Double your delight-mint! :)  Mother's Day #2, now a mommy of two.

Mother's Day was my first attempt at getting all three of us to church (Jonathan gets there super early so no babies are awake when he leaves).  I was anticipating tears (um, either child's or my own!), diaper explosions, and who knows what else...but you know what?  We made it just fine, thank you Lord!

Don't laugh...I even managed a couple pics before we left (as my friend Super Grover says...Hubba WHA-?!)

Ha!  Love her face and Connor's chunky little legs!

Hmm.  When I was taking the above shots of Annalee, Connor kept saying, "Chee!  Chee!" (translation: "CHEESE") Of course, when I did attempt to take his picture, he was busy untying Annalee's booties...

Church was wonderful.  We had a special women's choir and Annalee sang with me in the front carrier.    I did that once with Connor too, when Jonathan was ordained.  Afterward, I got sweet cards and gifts from my kiddos and hubs, flowers, and an AWESOME bookmark Connor made in Sunday school (it's hid fingerprints made into a flower!).  Then I spent some time working on a Food Network recipe I had been wanting to try for strawberry lemonade (ie: made from strawberries and lemons!).

We weren't sure if we wanted to attempt dinner out on Mother's Day, but decided to try a Greek place just a couple of exits down the highway.  So, we packed everyone into the car, hopped on the highway, and stopped.  Traffic was crawling at <5mph for at least the 2 miles it would take to get to our exit, which also happened to be the next available exit.  Yikes.  Baby girl started screaming as soon as the car was no longer in motion, and little boy joined in moments later out of sheer hunger, I suppose!  Thankfully, I carry extra snacks and have super bendy stretchy mom arms to reach them into the back seat!

We finally made it to the restaurant at about 7:40 (just about Connor's normal bedtime) and determined by the aromas that we were uncertain about a Mother's Day meal somewhere new, so we headed into a tried-and-true favorite, Qdoba, where I knew it was 2 for $10 that day and Connor can eat without worrying about his allergies!  Hello, run-on sentence.  We ate and passed Annalee back and forth (not so content to sit in the carseat right now) and Connor sat in the booth and ate pretty much everything on his own, which was awesome!  We finished our night with Ben and Jerry's (yum, didn't know it existed there), got Con to bed asap, and rocked and jiggled our cranky-in-the-evenings little girl!  Phew.  Blessed to be a mother.

Love to both of our moms, who we miss tons and can't wait to see this summer!

*Don't judge my messy living room which was pictured twice in this post.  I have pretty much given up on that one. ;)  MOMMA SAYS SO!

Strawberries and Swimmies

Some days I feel like I can do it all.  Most days, not so much.  

Strawberries came early this year, right about when Annalee was born.  Last year Connor and I picked with some friends that have a patch right by their house.  I sent her a little message saying that I wanted to pick (6 weeks ago) but there was no way that I was physically able to do it!  So, she brought a bucket to me then (THANK YOU!) and we planned a date to pick berries last week.

Well...by last week the owners said that the picking was a little scarce, and since we had 7 kids/babies with us and just 3 adults, we decided to buy them "already picked" (that morning!).  They still let us go in so that the kids could pick a few and have fun!

Uh...yeah.  This is Connor "eating" a strawberry.  By eating I mean that he licked it and said "mmm!" but then just pretended to nibble on it instead of actually taking a bite!  He is so funny about textures...because he will definitely eat strawberries in puree or smoothie form!  Sigh...

All of the babies with their berries!

Koral and Tina came to visit and have lunch the next day.  Annalee snoozed with both of her visitors while Connor napped - we got some serious chatting time in! :)

Our biggest outing so far...the Charlotte Ultraswim Grand Prix!  

My cousin Ashley (the swimmer in the middle lane, below), is training for the summer olympics.  She recently had some incredible wins in open water swims in Florida, and will go to Portugal next month to swim for a spot in the 2012 Olympic 10k.  She has also been doing some (distance) pool swimming, and Laura and I were excited to catch her in a meet nearby!

See that looooong arm in the top of the picture below?  Yeah, that's her!  You can read a lot of articles right now about her long, consistent stroke and how well she is able to navigate the open water courses.

The announcer let us know at the end of this heat, Ashley's time put her in 8th in the world ranking for the 1500m free.  Um hello...awesome!  This is not an event in the Olympics for women, sadly...maybe someday!

Connor was very focused and quiet at first.  Then he started lifting his arms and we weren't sure what he was doing...til we realized he was mimicking Ashley's coach (at the other side of the pool!).  Shortly afterwards, he started getting his cheer on and was probably the loudest person in the stands...

Poor attempts at a spectator self portrait.  Love that Annalee's first swim meet was at 6 weeks!

Good luck in Portugal Ash!  We'll be cheering (loudly) from here!

Wilson flying by...

The days are flying by.  Even though some days seem like the "longest day ever," I am trying to remind myself to cherish these moments with my babies, because I can already tell they are going so fast!  Annalee is 7 weeks today.  She has started to smile and we love to catch them when we can!  

This little smile came almost 2 weeks ago!

I'm learning to move faster with my camera as Connor gets quicker every day!

Oh, hey Wilson!

Guitar guy.

Sweet girl.  Jonathan and I are learning that it's sometimes hard to remember how Connor grew, quickly, but little by little!  We feel like she should be sleeping longer or crying less or things like that because we're not used to it anymore.  Truthfully though, she is generally a very happy, calm baby and I have gotten some pretty good "spurts" of sleep at night - depends on the night and how the day has gone!  So, we are re-learning the infant phase with a few tricks in our pockets. :)

Uh yeah.  Some people tell us she looks nothing like Connor and some think they look so alike.  I can't really tell, but this is totally a Connor face!

I got to be part of a fun women's event at church, titled "Meet the Better Half."  Hahaha - it was about the wives of the pastors on staff at church!  Annalee came with me and mostly slept in the front carrier while we got to eat, answer some questions, and have fun with the ladies.  I didn't really take pictures - except for this beautiful laughing daughter and mother.  Amber is getting married next month and I think she and Brenda have barely stopped to eat (or breathe!) while they have been preparing.  Amber went to get seconds and came back with a plate of chicken salad that made Brenda's jaw drop, it was about the funniest thing ever!  Amber's always teasing me about how much I manage to fit in my belly (especially when pregnant!) so I was proud that she went back for more!

Caught the boys being cute.

Little girl is very good at rolling from her back to her side...I thought she might go all the way over!

Big eater enjoying his burrito.

He definitely ate the whole thing...yikes.

Sweet napper...notice her doggy brother napping behind her!

Fingers or paci?  Yet to be determined.

I hate to say that it's been 2 weeks of blogging in my head and never making it to the computer.  I hate forgetting everything that I wanted to write down, but time to sit at the computer is definitely lacking right now.  C'est la vie - having fun making memories even if we don't always get to writing them down!