SURPRISE!

Today is Brad's 30th birthday! I knew he would suspect that I was going to do something special for this birthday, so I copied a play from his playbook (some of you may remember the super secret surprise pre-emptive she ain't 30 yet surpise birthday that he threw for me). I threw a pre-emptive surprise birthday 3 weeks early. It was a casino party and it was so much fun. Brad was totally surprised and he felt blessed to have so many friends and family there to celebrate him (about 60 people!). He really deserved it because he has worked so hard this year and is such a wonderful husband and father. I have to say, a party like that is a LOT of work so it may be another 10 years until we do that again! I owe a big thanks to everyone who helped me pull it off!

10 Months!

The other day Brad was like "Anna isn't really a baby anymore but she isn't a toddler yet either...she is a bobbler." So we have thrown that into the mix of nicknames for her. Here's what the bobbler has been up to lately...

- She took her first plane ride when we went to Florida. She did great and didn't cry at all, but she didn't want to sleep either. She was too busy saying "Hi" to people that passed by and trying to get the attention of the people sitting around us. This forced me out of my comfort zone because I had to socialize with everyone too!

- She has become a cuddlebug! From the moment she could lift her head after only a few weeks of life, she would not just lay on my shoulder and cuddle. I discovered that if I put her lovie on my shoulder she will lay her head down and start sucking her thumb. She won't fall asleep and usually pops her head up after a few seconds but I take what I can get!

- She has started dancing to music we play for her and the songs that her toys play. One of her favorite songs is Put a Ring on It by Beyonce. As Brad says, it is a good song for her to hear because the message is empowering for single women :) It is interesting to me that we are wired from a young age to move to a beat but as we get older we become too self-conscious to bust out in a dance when we hear a song. I wonder at what age this begins to happen...hope Anna will always want to dance like nobody is watching! Reminds me of one of my favorite youtube videos.

- She progressed from the army crawl to crawling on all fours. She only crawls long enough to get somewhere she can pull up on, usually that is me. I know this will get old, but I think it is so cute when I am standing in the kitchen and she pulls up on me and holds on to my let. Now that Anna is mobile, I'm feeling sorry for Kia, our 16 year old puppy. At least for now she is still faster than the bobbler.

Rob + Kristina = Married

On Valentine's weekend we went from this...

We had a record 12 inches of snowfall in Dallas!

to this...

when we flew out to Palm Beach, Fl for my good friend Kristina's wedding. It is funny, in the last 2 years, three of my close friends from college have had destination weddings. Thanks Cara, Rachel and Kristina for giving us a good excuse to take beach vacations!

The wedding was so much fun! It was the first Jewish wedding I have ever been to and I have always wanted to go to one. It was full of dancing, storytelling, and lots of laughing. Brad was excited that he got to help hold a chair during the Hora.

Rob and Kristina are perfect for each other in lots of ways and one of them is their love of excercise. They met through a triathalon club in San Francisco, so it only made sense that they had a group run the morning of the wedding. They also scheduled a group swim and gave away swim caps as favors.

Mazel tov to Rob and Kristina!

The happy couple.

Me with the beautiful bride.

Weddings are such good family photo ops!

9 Months!

As the stats show, Anna is dropping in percentiles and losing her chub :( Thankfully she still has her cheeks :)

Weight: 19 lbs ~55%
Height: 27.5 in ~50%
Head: 44.25 cm ~55%

It seems like this month has been a big month developmentally for Anna, so I want to document some of her milestones before I forget!

(It's getting harder and harder to get a picture of her sitting still. She is clapping in this one.)

I showed her how to flip the lightswitch so now when she notices one, she whines until I let her flip it.

After weeks of only being able to go in reverse and finding herself stuck under the bed, she can now go forward in an army crawl. Most of the time she prefers to sit in the same spot playing with the same toy. I joke with Brad that I'm not worried about her having ADD because she can focus on one thing for so long!

She has started "talking" a lot more and finally says "ma ma ma". The other day Brad was trying to get her to say da da and she kept saying ma ma. When I try to get her to say ma ma, in her sweetest little voice she babbles says da da da da. Silly girl.

She is starting to feed herself table food and tonight ate everything that was on my plate - penne pasta, chicken, and tomatoes. Part of me is happy because I make her food and this means I won't have to use the food processor as much. Another part of me is sad because she is slowly becoming a toddler.

She has had a doll for about 4 months now, but has just recently taken a liking to her. She gives her hugs and kisses, pats her, and will hold her. Wonder where she gets it from???

(mommy circa 1980)

When she is tired she puts her thumb in her mouth and grabs her ear with her other hand. When we give her Rosie, her lovie, she immediately does this because she knows it is time to sleep. So sweet.

She can pull up on things and likes to cruise, especially in her crib.

The other day, I walked into her room to get her up from her nap and found that she had taken off her diaper! Lucky for me there were no surprises in the diaper. She wears cloth diapers with velcro closures so they are probably easier to take off than disposables. (no picture necessary for this milestone :)

She got her first two teeth this month. They are on the bottom, so she likes to stick her tongue out and run it over them.

She just started putting her arms in the air if we do and then she clapps for herself.

Give Mommy Kisses

The other day we were playing with Anna on our bed and I was making kissing noises at her and telling her "give mommy kisses". She would lean towards me with her mouth open to kiss me and she did this several times. Of course, I had to get the camera to document her latest trick. Watch the video to see what happened when I tried to get kisses while the camera was rolling.

Texas Pride

We were so sad to see our beloved Horns lose the National Championship after Colt McCoy was injured on the first drive of the game. My heart welled up with pride and my eyes with tears during Colt's interview after the game. As always, he showed great character and acknowledged the greatest influence in his life. Here is an interesting article on this year's team. I'm hoping he will return to UT one day to coach with one of my other favorite former Longhorn quarterbacks, Major Applewhite. We are looking forward to next season when Garrett Gilbert will lead the team!

On a more positive note, Anna and Luke looked really cute for the game and the UT men's basketball team is ranked #2 and undefeated. I would gladly settle for a basketball championship this year!

8 Months!

Another month has flown by and Anna continues to grow and change. Her hair decided to suddenly start growing (although still no teeth), so now I can adorn her head with cute little barrettes. It's funny because when I found out I was having a girl, I swore she wouldn't wear big bows in her hair and poofy skirts and pink all the time. I've come to discover the reason those things are so popular for little baby girls is because they are so cute...and I cannot resist a few of these items for her wardrobe. The other day I even found myself searching for "twirl skirts" on ebay! Here she is in all her 8 month old girly splendor:

Here are just a few more cute pics from the last month:

Gotta have the monthly pic of her in the recliner with her monkey.

Hanging out with Noah and Emery Kate at church.

She pulls herself up to stand and play at this cube that she loves.

Playing with her buddy Sam.