Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!

Here are some of the highlights from Anna's first birthday. We had a nice little princess party for her with just us and my mom and grandma. Anna had a good time and loved all of her presents. She got a riding horse, a swing for outside, some bath toys, a Minnie Mouse, Cinderella movie, her first purse, and some new outfits for spring and summer. Noah loved helping her open her presents and couldn't wait to eat her birthday cake. He was so excited that it was her birthday, and he sang Happy Birthday to her as soon as she woke up that morning. Anna loved her cake and dug right into it. She was as messy as Noah was on his first birthday and just like on Noah's first birthday she had to have two baths, but she didn't mind that. She loves bathtime, and it gave her a chance to play with her new bath toys.

My decorations for Anna's party. You can't see it, but it says Little Princess on them.

Checking out her new bath toys.

Her first purse

Her new Minnie Mouse

Her new little riding horse

In case you can't tell, that's supposed to be a crown on the cake. As you can see I'm not very artistic, but at least I tried.

Why's everyone singing to me?

Hmm, what's this?

Digging in

I'm done. Time for a bath.

A Look Back at Anna

One year ago today our sweet baby girl was born. I can't believe it's been a whole year already. It goes by so fast. She has been the sweetest little blessing to our lives. I can't imagine our lives without her. She's grown and changed so much in the past year. I do miss my little baby that could sleep in my arms any time of day for hours at a time. Now she just wants to go, go, go, but it's so cute watching her learn and discover new things everyday. I love watching her waddle around the house and interact with Noah. He enjoys her more and more everyday now that she's doing so many new things. I'm so thankful that he's been such a good big brother to her. I was worried he'd be jealous being the only child for so long, but he's loved her since day one, and still brags about her to everyone. I thought I'd share a few of Anna's first pictures along with some pictures of her waking up on her first birthday so we can look back and see how much she's changed.

Just entering the world

All swaddled up and wide awake, only a day or two old

This is how I found her when she woke up on her birthday. She had somehow gotten her arm out of her pajamas during the night.

Saying good morning to Daddy and getting some birthday kisses before he heads off to work.

Just some random pictures from January

Playing with one of her new toys from Christmas

Eating fruit puffs

Anna found Tigger's hiding spot in the entertainment center

Isn't she adorable?

My two sweet babies

Anna's first shoes

He loves his sister

And she loves him

Sweetness!

Stirring the brownies and helping Mommy bake

Messy face

Playing with one of her new dolls

Making her fish face

Anna and Bailey

Playing with her lion push toy

Part 2 of Noah's Second Surgery

Two weeks ago Noah went back to the hospital to have his big cast taken off, the pin removed from his leg, and a new cast put on. Everything went well with this surgery and Noah got a smaller walking cast on his leg. It was a short procedure, and he came home the same day. He was a little upset that his new cast wasn't a cool color like his last one, but then he found out it glows in the dark, and he was happy with that. Although it was a walking cast he had a difficult time at first learning to walk on it. I didn't think he'd ever get used to walking on it, and he'd have to keep using the wheelchair the whole time it was on. A week later though he went back to school, and after a couple of days he finally started walking around on it just fine.

Everyone in Noah's class signed his cast.

Another look.

Heading to the hospital.

Playing with some blocks while waiting for surgery.

Noah and Daddy before surgery

Playing with Superman while waiting for surgery.

Waiting for him to wake up in recovery after surgery.

His new cast.

The New Addition

We have a new addition to our house. We got a cat last week. We adopted him from the Humane Society through our local Petsmart store. He's 7 months old, his name is Tigger, and he gets along great with our two dogs. He likes to curl up with them for a nap, and then he likes to chase them around the house and attack them when he gets frisky and wants to play. Noah just loves him and really enjoys playing with him. Here are a couple pictures of him.

I must have forgotten...

I took these pictures of the kids before Christmas, and I looked all through my blog for them and realized I must have forgotten to post them. They were so cute so I couldn't not post them, so here they are a little late. And yes, the kids are wearing matching pajamas. I actually found some Christmas pajamas that came in both their sizes. I was so happy.

Noah's pretending to be a reindeer

Breaking News

Anna took her first steps last night just before bedtime. She's been standing up alot without holding on to anything, but then she usually either sits down or reaches out for something or someone to hold on to. I've been trying to stand her up in the middle of the room where there's nothing for her to lean on and get her to take a step towards me, but all she's been doing is sitting down or reaching for me. Last night though she finally took one small step toward me, and I kept practicing with her, and she finally took two steps towards me before sitting down. She did it over and over again several times for me and then a few more times for Daddy when he got home. We were so proud of her. She also got her two top front teeth finally earlier this week too. That makes four teeth altogether now.

Happy New Year!

We had a very nice, quiet New Year, well, as quiet as it can be with two little ones. On New Year's Eve we had our friends Mike and Dolly and their son Michael Dean over. We ate pizza, the kids played together, we watched some shows and played some games. Then before we knew it, it was 2008. On New Years day we got Noah a new fish for his aquarium (we had already bought some, but I guess we're not very good with pet fish cause most of them died), and that evening we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with my mom and grandma. Here's a few pictures of the first couple days of our New Year.

All the kids playing at Anna's new learning table.

Anna playing with her new magnetic fridge farm.

Anna exploring the cabinet.

(I rearranged my cabinets back when Noah was this age and made this a kid friendly cabinet. It only has baking pans, cookie sheets, plastic mixing bowls, and plastic storage containers inside, so it's fine for them to play in. Noah loved it when he was a baby crawling around starting to explore things, and now Anna enjoys it as well.)