Anna's black-eyes one week later. A blankie and friends always makes things better.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Vacation
It's always a vacation for us when family comes to visit. We had a wonderful time, minus Sunday (see post below), when Jeff's parents flew in for a visit. We were able to visit Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, spend time on the beach, and just have fun in general. Some of the highlights:
- Stopping for a quaint, original cherry cider stand on the way to Savannah only to discover that there was an identical stand about 10 miles down the road, and about 10 miles after that. Hmmm...playing on the emotions of tourists? I think so.
- Watching Anna book it to the water on the beach and get her feet knocked out from under her by the waves. Hmmm, that sounds kind of cruel how I said that. It really was funny, though. She was a little shocked.
- Sitting on the screened porch of the condo and watching the golfers tee up on the most beautiful green. I'm not even a golfer and I could appreciate that it would have been AMAZING to play the course.
- Finding out that if you want to go to Paula Dean's restuarant in Savannah you have to stand in line at 8:00 am to get a ticket in order to make a reservation to get a table. Seriously! Bummer deal.
- Live Oaks and Spanish Moss everywhere.
- Walking along the Battery in Charleston. Beautiful, historic, pastel.
- Peeking in the beautiful private gardens through the rod iron gates in Charleston and Savannah.
- Eating at Chez Fish. Ghetto on the outside, fine dining on the inside.
- Good conversation with great company.
Thanks for a wonderful time, Larry and Marlene!
The Accident
While we were vacationing in South Carolina with Jeff's parents a couple of weeks ago, Anna had a horrible accident. We were staying in a condo and a TV and TV stand fell on top of Anna.
It. was. terrifying.
We heard a crash in the bedroom, a cry of pain, and ran in as fast as we could. I cannot tell you how truly awful the site was. Oddly enough, I've had a fear of this happening and have always been very careful about securing things in our own house. Before we moved there was a news story about a little girl dying because of a TV falling on her. Anyway, we came in the room to find Anna under a heap of really heavy things. We pulled everything off and I was immediatly frantic. Jeff's mom called an ambulance and Jeff and his dad gave her a blessing. Anna was so upset which was a good sign. She seemed to know what was going on around her.
The EMT's showed up and gave her a quick exam. (Too quick, though. HELLO! A TV fell on her, people!) She wasn't showing any signs of a major head injury, so we ended up driving ourselves to the emergency room instead of taking the ambulance. By the the time we got to the hospital Anna was wanting to walk around and play with toys. It was a comfort, but a HUGE goose egg was growing on her forhead, so I was still pretty nervous.
The doctor checked Anna and he too thought that she showed no signs of major injury so we opted not to do a CT scan. He advised that the risk of radiation of the scan was too great with no major symptoms showing. We headed back to the condo fairly reassured that she would be okay.
Anna was able to take a nap when we got back and get some rest and Jeff and I had a few minutes consider what could have been. Tears flowed. This was the single most terrifying event of my life. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but I've never felt that sort of desperation for someone I love. I'm sure some of you mothers out there who have experienced serious injuries or illnesses with your own children know the feeling I'm taking about. It is a complete fear of loosing something so dear. It's a wonder so many children make it to adulthood.
Anna is doing great. Her softball-sized goose egg slowly drained into huge black eyes and scarlet eyelids. She has had no side effects. She's now in the yellowish-greenish black eye stage and, to me, looks amazing.
I feel so humbled and grateful due to this experience. Life and good health are so precious. How grateful I am for the blessing of family.
It. was. terrifying.
We heard a crash in the bedroom, a cry of pain, and ran in as fast as we could. I cannot tell you how truly awful the site was. Oddly enough, I've had a fear of this happening and have always been very careful about securing things in our own house. Before we moved there was a news story about a little girl dying because of a TV falling on her. Anyway, we came in the room to find Anna under a heap of really heavy things. We pulled everything off and I was immediatly frantic. Jeff's mom called an ambulance and Jeff and his dad gave her a blessing. Anna was so upset which was a good sign. She seemed to know what was going on around her.
The EMT's showed up and gave her a quick exam. (Too quick, though. HELLO! A TV fell on her, people!) She wasn't showing any signs of a major head injury, so we ended up driving ourselves to the emergency room instead of taking the ambulance. By the the time we got to the hospital Anna was wanting to walk around and play with toys. It was a comfort, but a HUGE goose egg was growing on her forhead, so I was still pretty nervous.
The doctor checked Anna and he too thought that she showed no signs of major injury so we opted not to do a CT scan. He advised that the risk of radiation of the scan was too great with no major symptoms showing. We headed back to the condo fairly reassured that she would be okay.
Anna was able to take a nap when we got back and get some rest and Jeff and I had a few minutes consider what could have been. Tears flowed. This was the single most terrifying event of my life. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but I've never felt that sort of desperation for someone I love. I'm sure some of you mothers out there who have experienced serious injuries or illnesses with your own children know the feeling I'm taking about. It is a complete fear of loosing something so dear. It's a wonder so many children make it to adulthood.
Anna is doing great. Her softball-sized goose egg slowly drained into huge black eyes and scarlet eyelids. She has had no side effects. She's now in the yellowish-greenish black eye stage and, to me, looks amazing.
I feel so humbled and grateful due to this experience. Life and good health are so precious. How grateful I am for the blessing of family.
A couple of days after the accident.
The goose egg the day of the accident. You can see the main point of impact was right at her hairline.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Baby # 2 is on the way!
Due: October 10, 2008We couldn't be happier about our soon-to-be new addition to our little family.
I'm 16 weeks along and feeling great.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Birthday Festivities Part 2
Since we're moving and I love birthdays (see Part 1), I decided to throw Anna a party with a bunch of her little friends. Anna loves Mickey Mouse, so I based the party around the mouse.
Anna even wore a Mickey shirt and Mickey socks. I know, I know overboard. It's just so fun!
Anna even wore a Mickey shirt and Mickey socks. I know, I know overboard. It's just so fun!
Anna in the queen's seat.
The party was pretty basic. The kiddos made Mickey crowns, Anna opened presents, and we all ate cupcakes.
Making Mickey crowns.
It was just right for a bunch of wiggly toddlers. Anna was so excited and had been talking about the Mickey party for days. She was so thrilled to have her friends all over at the same time.
Overall, the party was a success!
Anna coloring her crown and Avery modeling hers. I never did get a shot of Anna's. :(
The Birthday Festivities Part 1
I LOVE birthdays. I think it's so fun to celebrate someone for a whole day! I love the presents, cake, gifts, decorations, the whole nine yards. Anna's birthday was no different. I'm sure I went overboard, as I'm sure Jeff will attest to, but I had so much fun!
The day started with a special breakfast. I let Anna pick out a special cereal at the store earlier in the week for the occasion. She chose a cereal that had the characters on Monsters Inc. on the front. She concurrently loves and it scared to death of that show, so it was a pretty funny pick.
Jeff didn't have to work so we took Anna out to lunch for some chicken nuggets. She was especially excited to go with Daddy since he's usually not around for lunch.
After Jeff got home from school, we had a special dinner with Anna's favorite things. This basically turned out to be party platter. Cold cuts, pickles, tomatoes, olives, and cheese were on the menu. She wolfed it down!
Of course cake and ice-cream followed and my masterpiece was unvieled. I spent a good portion of the day on the Mickey Masterpiece. Anna wasn't too happy about being ignored during the four hour ordeal and I decided it was pretty dumb of me to spend so much time ignoring Anna on her birthday so I could make her a cake. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have cared if I'd frosted an oreo and stuck a candle in it instead. Lesson learned: Two year olds would rather play with their mom than wait for their birthday cake to be made, even if it is fantasitically cute.
The day started with a special breakfast. I let Anna pick out a special cereal at the store earlier in the week for the occasion. She chose a cereal that had the characters on Monsters Inc. on the front. She concurrently loves and it scared to death of that show, so it was a pretty funny pick.
Jeff didn't have to work so we took Anna out to lunch for some chicken nuggets. She was especially excited to go with Daddy since he's usually not around for lunch.
After Jeff got home from school, we had a special dinner with Anna's favorite things. This basically turned out to be party platter. Cold cuts, pickles, tomatoes, olives, and cheese were on the menu. She wolfed it down!
Of course cake and ice-cream followed and my masterpiece was unvieled. I spent a good portion of the day on the Mickey Masterpiece. Anna wasn't too happy about being ignored during the four hour ordeal and I decided it was pretty dumb of me to spend so much time ignoring Anna on her birthday so I could make her a cake. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have cared if I'd frosted an oreo and stuck a candle in it instead. Lesson learned: Two year olds would rather play with their mom than wait for their birthday cake to be made, even if it is fantasitically cute.
The Big Two Year Old
Anna confirmed the fact that she was two by running away from me and yelling "NOOOOO" pretty much the whole time I tried to take her picture. These are the good ones. How I love my sweet, independent, funny, beautiful girl.
Happy Birthday, Bammer!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
We'll be living here.
Red Rock Ampitheather overlooking the Denver skyline
We're very excited to move back to the west. We love all things mountains so, needless to say, when Jeff got the Denver residency we were so excited at the prospect of hiking, camping, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, and climbing again. (Not that you can't do all those things in VA, it's just different.) After we found our place and got all the logistics squared away, we took some time to explore the edge of the Rockies just west of Denver.
Red Rock Ampitheater
Jeff first showed me the Red Rocks Ampitheater (he'd been there before). It's BEAUTIFUL! We can't wait to go to a show there. The accoustics are completely natural and supposedly perfect with the rocks. Jeff already bought concert tickets to a Death Cab for Cutie show later in May. I guess the pressure is on to quickly find a babysitter.
We then took a beautiful drive up the canyon to Silverthorn. It's about an hour and a half away from the city. Jeff lured me there with the promise of outlet malls. He didn't fool me though, I knew the real reason we were headed to Silverthorn was to check out a world class trout stream. It didn't disappoint. It was a really pretty river. We spent a few minutes spotting huge trout in the crystal clear water and took in the crisp mountain atmosphere. There were outlets malls there, but funny enough only Jeff found anything to buy.
Blue River in Silverthorne. Jeff is giddy.
This is where I would normally play the wife-victim of a somewhat obsessed flyfisherman who dragged me out to look at fish, but I have to say, I thouroghly enjoyed myself this time and I have no complaints. The mountains were beautiful and it was fun to just take a long drive together with out the element of a demanding two year-old.
16th Street Mall in downtown Denver
Lastly, we headed downtown to the 16th Mall. It's a pedestrian only street with all sorts of shops and restaurants. I must admit I was a little disappointed with the selection of stores. I'd much rather browse through boutiques and little shops, but the mall was mainly just a mall including a Ross Dress 4 Less, CVS, and Dress Barn. We did find a little more intimate shopping street a couple blocks away and treated ourselves to some gelato. Mmmmmm...
We found a place to live!
After a very discouraging day (Denver is much more expensive than we were anticipating), we found a place to live. Here are the specs:
- 1300 sq. ft.
- 1 car garage
- full-size washer and dryer (YES!)
- 2 bedrooms
- 2 1/2 baths
- gas fireplace
The townhome is in the city of Brighton which is Northeast of the city center of Denver. It's pretty undeveloped with lots of open space (it's very flat) and housing developements in pockets. It's not as close to the mountains as we were hoping, but it's a nice, safe area and it's affordable so we are very happy.
Move in date: May 8th
Can't Wait!
Anna was beyond excited to stay at Amelia's house while Jeff and I went house-hunting in Denver. These were taken on the way there.
Actually these were taken while we were stopped for a few minutes. I promise we make Anna sit in her carseat while we drive.
Easter Sunday
Ben and Sarah invited us up for Easter dinner and we were grateful to be able to go. We love spending time with the Black's. Ben and Sarah's good friends, Phil and Micaela and their two girls also came, as well as another couple they are friends with. We've met Phil and Micaela a few times, and Anna loves to play their daughter, Emma. It was great company and Sarah completely outdid herself on the meal. Check out the Norman Rockwell steam coming of the ham.
The girls spent a lot of time playing outside. Ben and Sarah have a nice sized backyard with some really fun toys. Anna chose to play on the side of the house in the rocks for most of the time.
The backyard and Anna's choice of play area.
Before dinner, the dads, as tradition dictates, hid some eggs for the girls. I have been hiding Anna's basket for about a week. She kept finding it and I kept taking it awayso by the time I actually gave it to her she was SO excited. She was nearly frantic trying to find eggs. I swear I could hear her thinking, "There's an egg, hurry get it in the basket, where's another one? Quick run, before mom takes my basket away again."
Emma, Amelia, and Anna seaching and posing.
Anna, Emma, and Miriam at the girls table.
Dinner was seriously amazing. Ham, potatoes, asparagus, homemade rolls, salad, pinapple, and chocolate bunny cake for dessert. So good! The girls sat at their own table and sort of ate inbetween running around and squealing. After dinner we let the girls pretty much destroy Ben and Sarah's house (sorry about that!) while we sat around and talked.
Thanks Ben and Sarah for hosting such a wonderful day.
The girls spent a lot of time playing outside. Ben and Sarah have a nice sized backyard with some really fun toys. Anna chose to play on the side of the house in the rocks for most of the time.
The backyard and Anna's choice of play area.
Before dinner, the dads, as tradition dictates, hid some eggs for the girls. I have been hiding Anna's basket for about a week. She kept finding it and I kept taking it awayso by the time I actually gave it to her she was SO excited. She was nearly frantic trying to find eggs. I swear I could hear her thinking, "There's an egg, hurry get it in the basket, where's another one? Quick run, before mom takes my basket away again."
Emma, Amelia, and Anna seaching and posing.
Anna, Emma, and Miriam at the girls table.
Dinner was seriously amazing. Ham, potatoes, asparagus, homemade rolls, salad, pinapple, and chocolate bunny cake for dessert. So good! The girls sat at their own table and sort of ate inbetween running around and squealing. After dinner we let the girls pretty much destroy Ben and Sarah's house (sorry about that!) while we sat around and talked.
Thanks Ben and Sarah for hosting such a wonderful day.
Amber's Visit
My dear friend, Amber, came for a weeked visit. It was so great to see her. She flew into Reagan Airport Friday morning, so I woke up at 5:30 in order to miss the traffic, and headed up to DC. I crashed on Ben's couch until her plane arrived about 9:30. We spent the day in the city together seeing some of the sites. It was Amber's first time to DC so we mostly saw the major landmarks and monuments. Some of the highlights of the day included:
- Buying $7 hotdogs on the mall and sitting on the Federal Reserve steps to eat them.
- Watching Amber take a picture of some Chinese guy and then have to pose for several pictures with him at the Lincoln Memorial. (Who can blame him, if I were a random Chinese tourist I'd want to pose with a beautiful, blonde, American too.)
- Navigating the Metro through the city. Amber was so impressed with my subway skills. Funny because I'm sure I stick out to all the locals as about as unsavy as you can get.
- Eating at Le Madeline in Georgetown. One of my favorites. I always love going to this fun, little French cafeteria style restaurant while I'm in the city.
Jeff was gracious enough to take Anna for the whole day, ignoring tons of school work, so I could spend the day with Amber without carting around a toddler. It was much appreciated! Thanks Jeff.
Saturday we pretty much layed around. Amber tried her hardest to gain favor with Anna. Anna threw her lots of mean looks for a couple hours before warming up. Then, miracle of miracles, Anna fell asleep with Amber on the couch. What! I don't think this has EVER happened to me.
Sunday it was back up to DC to drop Amber off at the airport. What a fun, relaxing weekend with a great friend.
Easter Eggs
Anna's first experience dying Easter eggs was short, sweet, and lots of fun to watch. Anna is still learning colors, so it was fun to listen to her identify each colored egg, mostly incorrectly. I love these pictures. She looks so sweet and content. Simple joys. 
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
