Easter

We had a lovely Easter brunch over at the West's house yesterday. Anna wore her new dress from Nana and we managed to get in a few pictures before changing her into a more "crawling-friendly" outfit. Later, everyone headed down to the park for a little Easter egg hunt and basketball. What a fun, sunny day!

Sitting pretty.

Auntie Em and Uncle Ben

"You're mine, egg."

"Almost got it..."

"Yeah. I'm pretty good at this."

Surprisingly, nobody broke their ankle playing in flip-flops.

Birthday Video Highlights

(have patience - it requires a bit of buffering)

Playing Dress-up

I couldn't resist putting Anna in her new tutu this morning. Thanks Laurie and Marissa for the adorable birthday gift!

Anna turns one!

What a weekend! We had so much fun celebrating Anna's first birthday. My parents flew in from North Carolina, Todd's mom came from Florida, and Todd's sister Lee flew in from Phoenix. On Saturday we had a party for friends and family at our house. It was a beautiful day - just like the day Anna was born!

Here are some of her current stats:
- weight 23 lbs 8 oz
- height 30 1/2 inches (please note this is almost half my height!)
- sleeps from 6:30pm - 7:30am
- naps twice a day for about 1 1/2 hrs each
- favorite foods: cheerios, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, broccoli, banana, and cantaloupe
- favorite toys: kitty, cell phones
- says "mama" and "bye-bye" (with a wave)
- cruises all over the house and can stand on her own for approximately one second
- has eight teeth - four on bottom and four on top

Anna and I went for a walk in Tennessee Valley this afternoon. It was a gorgeous day. Three more days until her first birthday!

Dance Party

I don't know exactly when or how it started, but "Eminence Front" by The Who has become our nightly dance party soundtrack. Anna just recently started to dance on her own (assisted by her trusty walker, of course) and we caught it on video the other night. If you're wondering what's in her hand it's a packet of formula that she did not want to give up!

Walking her socks off... sort of.

Spring Fever

We took advantage of the beautiful weather last weekend and headed outdoors...

Anna at Muir Beach (eating, surprisingly, very little sand)

"Toonces," Anna's favorite new toy.

Shannon & Ella, heading out to Tennessee Beach

The Sisters Mann

Emily at 26 weeks.

Julie & Natalie

Sweet little Natalie

11 Months

Here's our little girl at 11 months. I can't believe it's been almost a year since Anna was born. I'll probably be saying that a lot this month! She has six teeth and two more breaking through on top. She's getting more and more curious - especially about anything behind closed doors or drawers. She's also cruising around the furniture and using her little walker - practicing for the big day.

January was our breakthrough month in terms of sleeping through the night. So far we've had 31 days of Anna sleeping from 6:30pm to 7:30am - but who's counting? Ahh...I almost forgot what it was like to get so much sleep!

beets

Anna recently decided it's more fun to play with your food than eat it. Coincidentally, it was the same night we introduced beets. What a mess!

sump pumps

To be honest, I didn't even know what a sump pump was before we moved into this house.  But after this past weekend I can fully appreciate what they do and especially what they don't do when your power is out!  We were without power for almost two days and our back room flooded.  Just when we thought the whole living room was about to go under we got a generator - the last one in town - and the sump pumps kicked in.  Thank goodness.  

We managed to have a good time despite the circumstances.  Our friends came over and we played games and drank beer by candlelight.  What else is there to do when the power is out? 

 

Always exciting living in a flood plain...

Yikes!

Anna managed to stay warm.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe the holiday season has already come and gone. It's even harder to believe that Anna will be 10 months old in a few days. Where did the time go?

We spent Anna's first Christmas up in Truckee this year along with my parents, Emily, Ben, and their cats (who Anna is obsessed with!). The weather was perfectly snowy and sunny and a good time was had by all. Anna was more interested in the wrapping paper than any of her gifts but we kind of expected that! She's becoming more and more active these days and definitely keeping us busy. Her little legs are getting so strong and she's loves to pull herself up into a standing position whenever she can. We've heard her say "ma" and "mama" a lot lately and I'm pretty sure it's only when I'm in the room - or maybe that's just wishful thinking!

Anna taking her sled for a spin!

Modeling her new outfit from Grandma J

Reading with Daddy

Snuggling with Giraffe

First Crawl

Here's a clip of Anna crawling for the first time. It happened a couple weeks ago during "diaper free time" when I think she was feeling a little less encumbered.

Thanksgiving

Wow, so much to talk about! The past couple weeks have been very eventful. First, Anna started crawling a few days before Thanksgiving - finally! [video to follow as soon as I figure out how to edit on our new computer] Her first attempts were kind of shaky but she's now crawling around the house and exploring like an old pro.

We celebrated Anna's first Thanksgiving here at our house with Grandma J, Jack, Emily, and Ben. Anna loved all the attention from Grandma J and was happy to show off her new crawling skills! Here are a couple pictures:



A few days after Grandma J went home we hopped on a plane for Casey's wedding in East Lansing (one of Todd's buddies from high school). Anna did really well on the plane rides but didn't sleep very much so Todd and I were busy keeping her entertained. We stayed with the McKay's whose two little girls, Georgia and Ruby, were gracious enough to share all of their fun "big girl" toys. Anna loved watching the girls! I can't wait until she's a little bit older and can interact with them more. Sadly, we didn't take a single picture while were there but we did take home some fun memories.

Anna's nine month check-up was yesterday. She's in perfect health and is now a little over 21 lbs and 29 inches tall. Her top two teeth are just visible beneath the surface so I'm sure they'll be popping through any day now.

Swingin'

First Halloween

Yesterday we went to a Halloween playdate in the city. It was hilarious! I have to say that Anna's costume definitely stood out among the dogs, cows, and pumpkins we saw. Originally we were going to go trick-or-treating with Glenn, Shannon, and Ella but realized Anna's 6:30 bedtime would make that impossible so we stayed home and passed out candy instead. Here are some pictures of our little goldfish...

Weekend with Nana & Papa + Yosemite

When my parents were in town they watched Anna for the weekend while Todd and I went away for our friends' wedding (Congratulations AV and Sonia!). I hadn't been away from Anna for more than a few hours, let alone two days, so I was pretty freaked out about it. I knew it was going to be harder on me than Anna and I literally had to run out of the house after saying goodbye so she wouldn't see me crying. The first night was definitely the hardest, but by the second day we were both starting to relax. She was totally fine! My mom and dad sent constant updates and pictures to my cell phone which was a huge help. I feel like I say this all the time, but what did we do before cell phones?!

We got back on Sunday and then the five of us left Monday morning for a quick trip to Yosemite. It was gorgeous this time of year with the fall colors and diminishing crowds. Anna did really well during the day and was totally mesmerized by the surroundings. The nights were kind of a different story. I don't know if it was the hotel room, the altitude, or what, but she was up every one to two hours and nothing seemed to make her happy. Todd and I haven't had nights like that since she was two weeks old! I forgot what it felt like to be so tired.

It was a busy couple of weeks but so much fun. Now we have Thanksgiving to look forward to, which means a visit from Grandma J who hasn't seen Anna since she was three weeks old! I have a feeling she might be just a little bit excited to see her granddaughter :-)


Nana and Anna - happy to see eachother!



Hiking around Yosemite Falls



The spoon provided hours of entertainment at the Ahwahnee Lodge



Nana and Papa


Half Dome at sunset

Emily and Ben's other big news...

Okay, I've been dying to talk about this for weeks... Emily is pregnant! She's about 11 weeks and due on May 10th. I'm so happy! I'm excited for Anna to have a little cousin, but mostly I'm excited for Emily and Ben to go through the whole pregnancy and birth process. I think what happens once you have a baby is that you want all of your friends and family to go through the same joys because they are impossible to describe. Emily and Ben started their own blog "le petit croissant" to document the experience. Check it out!

Congratulations Emily and Ben!

I'm thrilled to say that Emily and Ben were married last Thursday, October 18th, at City Hall in San Francisco. Emily and Ben are pretty non-traditional so it was no surprise that they wanted a simple, civil ceremony to celebrate their vows. The sun came out after a week of rain and lit up the rotunda to create a setting that was absolutely stunning. We followed up the ceremony with a nice, long lunch filled with champagne and lots of laughs. We were so happy to be able to share in their special day.