She's a Walker!

And just like that, she's a walker!  For about five weeks she had been toying around with a few steps here and there, but really preferred crawling.  She only walked when encouraged.  On Monday I saw a shift for the first time.  We went to the "inside park" and she had a BALL.  Climbing, sliding, crawling and WALKING - by choice, while laughing.  She has been doing it more and more all week.

And then she woke up from her nap yesterday and - I kid you not - she hasn't crawled since.  In fact, walking is ALL she wants to do.  It made our trip to the bank challenging, but Sam kept running after her, offering her a finger and yelling back to me "Its Ok, I'll walk her back!"

Annabelle Walking


And today is the 29th, so she was officially walking when she was still 12 months old (yesterday).  Let the toddler adventures begin!

SOLD

As of today, we are no longer homeowners.  For a few weeks.  But we are not homeless.  Its all happened very fast.  Its all very scary and very exciting.

So what happened?  In January I asked Chris, "Hey - do you want to go drive around a look at neighborhoods?"  We found one we like that weekend, and there happened to be a house on the market that we wanted to look at.  We took our realtor out that week to look.  We liked it enough to start talking about listing our house.

I was terrified of selling the house.  The staging, the packing, the showings, the "living like no one lives here" - in 1400 sq ft with two small children.  It gave me great anxiety.  So realtor suggested a pocket listing - he would bring people through before we went on the market, "test" the house a bit before we spent money fixing things up.  We could hold off on the staging for a bit.  Ok.

Realtor brought 1 buyer through.  We pushed the toys to the corners and wiped down the counters.  She loved it.  She made an offer, with the gentleman's understanding that it was "as is" unless something horrifying was found during inspection.  We accepted.

At that night, I sobbed.

It happened SO SO fast.  We had a contract before January ended.  I thought we'd be here another year.  At least until this summer.  I wasn't ready to go.  I am attached to this house.  Its where I came home to after my honeymoon, and the house I brought my babies home to.  We, quite literally, became a family in this home.  I love my neighborhood, Sam's preschool, the conveniences of city life, the list goes on.  I wasn't ready.

But the Lord was clearly telling us to go.  He made it so easy to sell it - he eliminated every fear I had about the selling process.  We didn't spend a dime to fix it up.  We didn't pack a thing away.  It was a gift.

And it was time.  We have beyond outgrown this place, and the suburbia is the right place for our family.  It is what I want for our family, long term.  I know this, but my heart wasn't ready.  And signing away a house that I love when I had nothing to look forward to was terrifying.

The hunt got serious.  We have looked at a TON of houses.  We narrowed our neighborhood selection to one very specific location.  The kids got the hang of house hunting.  Sam knows some real estate terms. 

We put an offer on a house that was fine, but got beat out.  Apparently our target neighborhood is a VERY competitive market.  We put an offer on a house on a lot we LOVED - the first house we looked at - at got it.  It was a fine house, but needed work.  We got bids, made plans, had inspections with LOTS of red lettering.

Meanwhile, I hadn't slept well in weeks.  I woke up several times a night with thoughts swirling, fearing we had made a terrible mistake.  I was not at ease.

And then we couldn't reach an agreement about what was to be done with the inspection items.  We felt like God was speaking to us, and we terminated the contract.

The very next day, around lunch time, a new house came on the market.  My mom, the kids and I viewed it at 3:45 that afternoon.  We were one of 5 showings that hour.  We made an offer that night.  We were told the next day that the owners would be accepting "best and final" offers by 6 pm that night.  We upped our offer.  The next morning we hadn't heard any thing, and that real estate website said "Option Pending."  My heart sank.  I was beyond bummed to have lost the house.  I was excited about that house!  I sent a quick email to the realtor to tell him I was bummed.  He emailed back,

"It says Option Pending because you're in contract.  They accepted your offer!"

Woohoo!  Since that day, Chris has gone to see it, we've had it inspected, and quickly reached an agreement with the owners about the inspection items.  We are out of option and scheduled to close mid-April.

And I am sleeping well.  I feel good about the new house - I am EXCITED about it.  I will be very sad to move, to leave this house (we are leasing back until late April), but now I am ready. 

Strawberries!

Its Spring Break here in Houston, so I'm trying to plan a few extra, fun things for the kids and I to do together.  One of them was a trip to the farm for strawberry picking!  Sam was excited because he remembered blueberry picking.  He asked if we'd ever been "grape hunting," and I remembered that he was calling Easter Egg Hunts "Easter Picking" last year.  Cute how he still gets the two a little mixed up.

He was waaaay better at Strawberry picking!  Lower bushes helps, as does the cooler temperatures - cooler by 35 degrees.  Yes my kids are wearing coats when its 60 degrees.  They are Tiny Texans and that's how they role.  Their Midwest Mama had no coat.

Annabelle was done in the baby carrier about half way through, so she got to crawl around in the dirt and pick at the bushes, too.  It took her about three minutes to realize what was on the bushes before she started to try to pick for herself.  Some were tough to get off the stems, so...

Eat right off the plant.  No fuss, no muss.  Plenty of mess, though:

Sam got stuck in the mud once and I had to pull him out.  I went into the mud once because there were lots of good strawberries untouched in those areas!  But we came home with tired and happy hearts, and 6 pounds of strawberries.  And a promise to go back next year.

And They Call The Thing Rodeo

As promised, we followed up our visit with the Trail Riders with a visit to The Rodeo, aka The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  We took Gommy and Papa the Monday after Annabelle's party.  Unfortunately, Chris had to work, but the rest of us made up for his absence.

Believe it or not, there is more to the event than carnival rides and concerts.  Don't ask Sam, though, because he wasn't much into seeing the animals that the youth had worked so hard to raise for a chance at well-earned scholarship money.  Maybe when he's older.

We did get him into the petting zoo, which was no small feat.  He freaks when the animals run into him, and petting zoo animals can be a bit crazy.  He loved feeding them and brushing them, but that's it.  Annabelle, on the other had, loved every minute of it.  She is all about animals, lets them lick her, pets them, giggles, etc.

He rocked the pony ride, though.  Next year, baby girl, I'll pay for you to go, too.  When you have some concept of what is happening to you.

Driving the Chevy Trucks and John Deere Tractors is a priority for every visitor, too...right?

Fun on the Farm was a cute display we hadn't visited before.  Each kid starts with a "seed" that they bury in the sand and pretend to water.  They leave that station with a piece of produce in a basket.  Next they can play in a corn kernel pit, and collect a plastic ear of corn for their basket.  They continue on to feed some corn to pretend chickens, milk a pretend cow, sheer a pretend sheep.  At each stop they collect an item for their basket.  At the end they "sell" their items at the farmers market for a play dollar, which they trade in for a snack of their choosing.  Sam chose a fruit roll up.  He'd never seen one before - how did he know to pick that?

Because it was Monday morning and so empty, Sam got to participate in the Pedal Tractor Pull.  Since it was just two 3-year-olds, they didn't do the whole thing, but he had fun riding the tractor.

And then the rides.  Who doesn't love those?

And what about BabyBelle?  Well, we were there all morning, so she spent a good bit a time nuzzled into Papa, where she eventually fell asleep.  Too sweet.

A stop for some fried food, a light rail ride back to the car (a hit with both kids!) and we called it a day.  Great fun!

**Fun note: I got a call from my credit card company calling to investigate possible fraud because they didn't think that "Fried What?" was a legitimate business.  Hahahaha.

Trail Riders

Its Rodeo season in Houston.  This year we kicked it off on "Go Texan Day!" (yes, everyone dresses the part - we even did at my old office) by visiting the Trail Riders.

What are Trail Riders, you ask?  Well apparently, here in Texas, there really are still people who raise horses and ride them around. And the day before the Rodeo starts, Trail Riders from all over the state ride into the big city to take part in the Rodeo parade.  It is a fun and surreal day to see wagons and horses trotting down some 8 lane road.

Well, the Trail Riders are all assigned different times they are to parade into Memorial Park, where they are judged on their presentation.  So they all stop for lunch in order to stage appropriately for their entrance.  This year I was finally on top of things enough to go meet up with some of the cowboys before they hit the park.

We met some friends at the Sears parking lot, where this group had spent the night.  Seriously, in the middle of the 4th biggest city in the country, that gets its wealth from oil and gas, there are cowboys camping in parking lots.  Most of the riders were really friendly, letting us pet the horses and the kids even got to sit on them.  We stayed long enough to watch them parade out onto the road - and then purposefully took the other direction home.  Sam waved good-bye and was pumped to go to the Rodeo to see the cowboys again!

12 Month Stats

We had to visit the doctor this week - well visits are less fun when you know they will be followed by blood draws.  And she wasn't even all the way well.  Poor girl has had a cold for over a week.  Yuck!  Doctor said the cold was nothing and she could go ahead with the shots, but I'm pretty sure that made things worse.  That girl was MISERABLE for about 48 hours afterward.  High fever and just super-clingy to Mommy.  Poor girl!

Fortunately, the blood draw was not nearly as dramatic for her as it was for Sam (shocking - Sam dramatic?!).  Not sure the tech had much experience with babies, but we got through it.  And her blood work came back normal, so that's a plus.

As for the stats: She weighed in at 17 lbs even.  It flicked between 17 even and 16 lbs 15.8 oz.  I prefer to call it 17.  But that is all the way up to the 9th percentile.  Woohoo!  28.5 Inches long, which is 24th percentile.  Funny, Sam was half a pound larger and not on the charts.  I guess they expect girls to be more petite even at a young age!

 

Annabelle's First Birthday

As promised, Baby Girl had a fun-filled, multi-day first birthday celebration!  There were the streamers and Children's Museum on the 28th.  The 1st began with a present first thing in the morning, per Sam's request) and she enjoyed 2 looong naps IN HER CRIB, followed by dinner out and a scrumptious cookie.  Which she devoured.  The day ended with gifts from family.

  And then on the 2nd, Saturday, was her big party.  This time around I opted for a lunch party and, although it made for a busy morning, I liked it so much better than a dinner thing.  My kids are just in better moods at lunch!  Thankfully, Papa Sivard was in town and helped us get everything ready on Saturday morning.  We were instructed to call him "Carson" - happy to be the downstairs help, concerned with the utmost presentation, but dignified enough to be seen by the invited guests.  (Will I understand that Downton Abbey reference when I ready this on her 21st birthday?  I guess I will now!)

At the peak of the party we had over 30 people here, half of which were children.  It was a busy place, seeing as our house is so small!  But I enjoy that kind of chaos at a child's birthday party.  The little ones took turns eating in the high chair and booster seat, the big kids formed a circle around the coffee table or ate outside. 

I can say with absolute certainly that my floor has never been so dirty in the 6 years we have lived here.  Annabelle crawled around eating crumbs off the floor before I had a chance to vacuum.  Gross.

Different from Sam's first, we had lots of older sibling at this party.  So we borrowed a small bouncer and it was a hit with the kids.  Even the 1-year-olds enjoyed it!  It was a bit chilly, but that didn't seem to stop anyone.

And the cake.  Baby girl really enjoyed her cake.  So much so that she didn't mind having the birthday hat on, which she has tolerated exactly zero other moments of her life.  But how cute is it!  She was pretty into the sparkler candle, too!

I ask you all to note the attention paid to the Leap Frog theme throughout the event.  The same logo was used on the invitations, banner, party favor tags and food labels.  The picture was also decorated onto the big cake.  The hat was adorned with the same frog.  Even the bounce house was on theme, right?  And yes, I even found a little smocked froggie jumper for her to wear!

1 Year Old.

Discussion over.  No matter how you count it, my daughter has now been here for a full year.  12 Months.  Every season, every holiday.  Through the difficult (on Mama) stages of infancy and through to the adventures of toddlerhood...

Although not quite toddling, the child gets around.  Rarely have you seen a baby crawl so fast.  She lacks a great deal of confidence in her abilities.  It seems she may be a bit timid about new things!  We have seen her take up to 5 steps at a time, but really doesn't like to walk unless she's holding your hand.  And that's all she needs, one finger.  People keep telling me, "be careful what you wish for!" but I know what I'm wishing for!  I'm wishing for a child who doesn't rip up her clothes and get covered in dirt every time we go to the playground.  I am wishing for two kids who can do more of the same activities as each other, making my day planning a bit simpler.  Even if that means my house gets messier...  Although she doesn't walk, she is an incredible climber.  She climbed a 4' cargo net in the big kid section of the Children's Museum last week.  Crazy!

Another way she shows her timidness is her responses to situations.  When someone steals a toy she is playing with, she just sits there and cries, waiting for someone to fix it for her.  When things aren't going her way, she just wants to be held. 

She loves music.  She smiles when you sing to her and loves to dance when you turn on the radio.  If she's upset in the car (which doesn't happen much anymore), she will calm down if Sam sings to her.

She now has separation anxiety.  She cried the entire time I was on the treadmill the other day.  She does a little better at church, but doesn't love it.  Hopefully this passes quickly.  She is very attached to me, in particular.

She is growing fond of routine.  She knows that Daddy tends to come home when she is finishing up dinner, and he gets her down and cleans her up.  So the other day when Daddy came home right as I put her in, before she'd had a bite to eat, she lost it when she saw him, certain that he'd take her out before she'd been fed.  HA!  She loves her bath, zooms to the bathroom if she hears the shower curtain open or the water running.  Splashing with her brother is her favorite game.  And then she looks for me and her blankie, ready for bed.

Baby Girl wears size three diapers and can fit into anywhere from 9-18 month clothing.  She takes two naps a day, both of which would be really long if it were just the two of us on her schedule every day.  She sleeps 11 hours at night. 

We are still nursing first thing in the morning and right before bed, but that's it.  And there isn't a whole lot of nourishment in either feeding.  She is adapting to whole milk, she does drink it out of a sippy cup with meals.  Not a lot, though, never more than 8 oz a day.  My kiddos have never been big drinkers.  She is offended by the notion of being spoon fed.  She literally turns her head and sobs if you try.  But she STILL has NO teeth, so there are certain things she can't eat.  So I got these and have been having fun putting really random combinations into them and watching her suck them down.  Honestly- I put kale, carrot, scrambled egg and cantaloupe in one last night and she devoured it.  Gross!

Likes:
-Music
-Paci
-Climbing
-Crawling/Chasing Game with Sam
-The "Dump" side of the "Fill and Dumb"

Dislikes:
-Being Spoon-Fed
-Childcare
-Wind (Still!)