It has been a long time since we’ve posted anything here! We’ve had a very busy summer, buying and renovating a new house. We finally moved in a couple of weeks ago, and continue doing work along the way. Here are a few recent pictures of Anna, and a few pictures of the new house!
We went on a family trip to Arizona in January (Anna’s first plane ride! Cacti!) and had a professional photographer take a whole bunch of pictures. Here are a few of the highlights:
Happy birthday to our Anna Banana!
Anna and I went down to the lake today to watch the swans, which have stopped by to hang out on Lake Monona for a while. They’re pretty loud! Anna was more excited about getting to slide around on a little bit of ice on the shore. Soon the whole lake will be frozen and we’ll get to go “ice skating”!
We’re nearly a month past it and the candy is gone, but it’s never too late to post Halloween photos!
Lots of changes happening this spring! We put up a new album featuring a final visit to Grandma Kathleen and Grandpa Steve’s house in Iowa City, a morning visit from Soren (while his mommy, Claire, was off giving birth to the beautiful Sylvie), and a visit to the Madison “Kid Zee-min” otherwise known as the Children’s Museum, where Anna tires herself out frequently.
Click on the picture to see the full album!
Tonight Anna treated us to a read-aloud of “Breakout at the Bug Lab,” in which she remembered an almost frightening number of the lines from the book. (Yes, there is a line that mentions how the bugs eat animal poop.)
We haven’t posted anything new about Anna for a while, so here are the important updates.
At the beginning of the month, a stomach flu made its way through our family. Anna got it first, and it was her first time throwing up (an important first, I’d say). She got through it pretty well and enjoyed eating crackers. It really upset the household for a week or so, as we each took a turn and everyone was tired and cranky for a while. But we are back into our normal routine and feeling good again!
Just before we all got sick, Anna said goodbye to bottles. This was one of those changes that I worried about beforehand, but Anna cruised right through without any fuss. We switched her bedtime routine from a bottle of milk to a cup of milk with no problem at all. It has been very nice not having to wash bottles anymore.
Moving on to the next challenge, Anna just decided that she wants to start potty training. Without any prompting, yesterday she wanted to use the toilet, so we’ll embark on that soon.
We’ve always told Anna lots of stories in the car and over dinner, and recently she’s started making up her own stories. Sometimes you have to prompt her to keep going (“and then what did they do?”) but it’s really fun to hear her make up something new. Last night she told me a story about branch falling into a lake and being eaten by fish.
Soon it will be spring, which is good because Anna is outgrowing all of her clothes again. She stood by her 2 year old height line the other day, and she’s a couple of inches taller than she was two months ago. Hopefully we can wait to switch her into 3t clothes until the warmer weather arrives!
Click here for our December 2013 album. We had a great month with lots of winter/holiday fun: decorating the Christmas tree, sledding, visiting grandparents, opening presents and playing with new toys, and more. This album also features a few shots of Anna modeling the Muppets hoodie she has been wearing for over a year now (not continuously, thank goodness) that will likely be too small very soon. (So sad!)