Anna on the Potty!

She's so proud of herself! And she's wearing one of her new dresses... ehhehe Look at that smile!!!

♥ Blessed ♥

My wonderful and lovely friend bought Anna a bunch of clothes size 3T. I am so blessed and to tell you the truth, I have no idea why God is blessing us so much. He has always taken care of us. Friends and family have always clothed Anna. We've only bought a few outfits in her lifetime, but God and family and friends have always taken care of her needs. I'm so overwhelmed at how good Our God is! He is Good!

(Thank you, Violet!)

Matthew 6:28-34

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Pooping Incident

The pooping incident shall go down in history... At least for the next week.
Today Anna went poop in her underwear... a daily occurrence, unfortunately. But with time I hope that'll change. The thing is, she was squatting and grunting, so I asked her if she was pooping. Her reply? "No, mama." (That's her reply to EVERYTHING.) So I took her to the bathroom where she continued to squat and grunt next to the door and she pushed on the door and closed it. I figured she wanted privacy. I read somewhere about that being a sign of potty-training readiness... the need for privacy. Anyhow, so I let her close me out of the bathroom so she could squat and grunt and poop in her panties. Then she locked the door. And locked me out. Argh! Luckily, I could open the door with a knife inserted into the lock--very lucky me. By the time I got the door open, Anna had taken her baby shampoo and had squirted the yellow gunk all over. The bathroom stank of poo and she had the log in her panties. Yuck.
Lately she's been telling me she doesn't want to go pee-pee in the potty and she throws a tantrum sometimes when I take her into the potty (especially first thing in the morning, that pee-pee is the worst for her). So, I've discovered that I'm probably encouraging her to pee in her underwear so often by bathing her when she does. She loves baths (which is a good thing), except for the fact that she must think it's a treat to go pee in her underwear and get a bath. So, I've been breaking out the showers. Hopefully that'll stem the peeing-in-the-panties scenarios.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Bathtime, Bathtime, Bathtime...

Ack, someone encourage me! Anna has been peeing her pants so much in the past two days. I know it's only like day four or five... but it's like she doesn't care to sit on the potty today. It's kind of frustrating!

Hero in the Hold Promo Video

Looks gooooooooooooood!

"It's Bro-Kin"

My painting just fell off from the wall. The tack just broke in two and the whole thing came tumbling down. The frame fell apart. One good thing: We got a laugh. Anna kept pointing up at the wall and saying, "It's Bro-Kin, It's Bro-Kin."

M&M Bribery

Anna has been doing so well on the potty! Since we have finally moved, Anna has her own bathroom and she can go potty whenever she needs. So, we've been giving her an M&M for going potty and a Tic-Tac for trying. She will run to the potty and when she starts to go, she grins really big and she points to the cabinet where I keep them and says, "Cockua" (Chocolate) and she gets an M&M. Yesterday night, she was in a diaper and she asked to go potty and she did! I was shocked! Blown away! She's doing so well!

Blessed by Friends

We are so blessed. We had friends come over last night and they bought us groceries! We were getting low and since Paul isn't employed yet up here, we were probably going to have to borrow more from Paul's parents. This is just another one of those things that goes to show that God is watching over us. Left and right, God is blessing us through our friends! Thank you, Jesus!

Twirling

I had a fun time today trying on all of my old prom dresses. They all fit (they fit because I gain weight in my hips and thighs) with the exception of one in which my boobs were too small to fill out, and a bride's maid dress which I wore (Anna was 6 months old) that now drowns me in taupe material. It's hilariously huge on me now. So that's a good thing, I guess. I just won't get to wear it again.
But the highlight of the day and the whole reason for writing this: Anna and I twirled together. She was wearing her pink & white party dress (which is now almost ridiculously small on her) and I was wearing my pink & white prom dress--and we twirled and twirled. It was so fun. Crazy fun. It will be a good memory, I think.

WOTD

laissez-faire \les-ey FAIR\, adjective:
1. the principle that business, industry, trade, etc. should operate with a minimum of regulation and interference by government

adjective:
1. maintaining the principle of letting people do as they please

Names

I thought I should just jot this here. Paul and I... Huh... It's funny that whenever we talk about baby names, we always focus on girl's names. Anyhow... we were just chatting the other day and we talked about Kathryn Eleanor. Paul likes the nickname Katie... which I'm iffy on... I'm kind of picky when it comes to nicknames. I think if I were to give her a nickname, it would probably be Ella or Ellie b/c I'm not too fond of Kate or Katie. Kitty? Nah. Eh... maybe. It's kind of an old fashioned nickname for Kathryn and I love the old fashioned aspect of Kathryn.

I liked the name Catherine, but not Katherine (spelling counts with me!) and liked the name Kathryn. Paul also liked Kathryn and liked that over Catherine, so there you go on that one. Eleanor I've always liked... especially since reading Sense and Sensibility with Elinor the heroine. Do you think two odd-spellings would be too much? Kathryn Elinor... That's why I preferred the spelling Eleanor. Anyhow... I'm babbling now. And I shouldn't be thinking about babies. Bad Sarah, bad. *thinks about childbirth* Yeah... there we go. Yup, I'm good. Not wanting another baby...

Although... I fear that Anna is having yet ANOTHER growth spurt. She's eating constantly again which is never a good sign as far as growing goes. She's already filling out 2Ts quite nicely. *prays her baby won't be a giant when she's older* A. I don't want her to have to deal with that... and B. I don't think we can afford that many wardrobes. *soothes self to stop stressing over things not yet come* Is anybody out there a really tall woman? Say... 5'11" + ? How was your adolescence?

Done babbling. I swear.

Yup... I'm gone.

I swear it.

Being Ruthless

I've been ruthless. Without Ruth. While unpacking my boxes, I've been throwing out things that don't fit, things that are from high school, things that are broken, things that I've never worn, things that are hideous or not my style. And it feels GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. We're getting down to necessities and it feels really nice. I've been organizing photos, going through things. The house is still a wreck because of boxes and such, but it's really starting to feel like home. It feels so good. I love our home! :D

Our New Place!

The weather and roads were never trouble for us. We moved on the date we wanted. :D We are now in our new place! It's great! I feel like we're in a mansion, although it's a 2 br/ 2b place. It's perfect. Anna has her own room and bathroom and we have one of our own. I'm so excited. I spent today decorating Anna's bedroom! I hope she catches on to sleeping in her own room quickly and easily... although, I've learned that nothing is easy with Anna. The only thing that went remotely smooth was breastfeeding with her lol! Go figure! Everything else has been a struggle... sleeping through the night, for one!

Anyhow, I hope to post pics soon! I don't have my BIL's great camera to take pics with, so they'll be low quality, but you'll get the idea. It'll probably take all week for us to get everything unpacked and cleared out.

Stupid Closed Roads...

I-5 between Portland and Seattle is closed. Argh! >.< So hopefully we'll be able to move there in time to start classes on Monday. Pray the flooding retreats in time!

Bones Promo

Yeah, anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Bones fan! ;)

Enjoy!

Blessed Again!

Thank you to Candi, Violet, and everyone who has had their prayers with us. I am so blessed and overwhelmed by how blessed we've been! I'm excited to see life move forward. Thank you all!!!

WOTD

rhap⋅sod⋅ic/ræpˈsɒdɪk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation

[rap-sod-ik]

–adjective

1.	extravagantly enthusiastic; ecstatic.

2.	pertaining to, characteristic of, or of the nature or form of rhapsody.

Words of the Day

beleaguer \bi-LEE-ger\, verb:
1. to surround with troops; besiege
2. to surround or beset

The Spanish word of the day was Siempre meaning Always. ;)

Moving!

We'll be moving this Saturday! I'm so excited! Beforehand, I was afraid, though. But our financial aid has gone through and it looks more than just promising. I'm psyched! We're moving into a 2 bedroom place! Anna will finally have her own bedroom! That'll be different! I think it'll be as difficult a transition for her as it it will me. We'll also be starting classes. Paul will be finishing his communications degree and I'll be taking a writing course and a PSYCH course (I love psychology!)

That was the up side. On the down side, we'll be leaving our church friends and family behind. I'm sad about that. We'll be trying out the Assembly there in WA. Hopefully it will become a family like this church has become ours. Pray that we fit right in. :D

Favorite Picture of 2008

From Violet's Blog, I got this idea, to post my favorite picture of 2008. In that time period, Anna was 13 months-25 months. So much has changed!!! I can't believe it!

So, without further ado...I love this photograph. We all went to the park and the sun was setting behind her and she just grinned. I can never get enough of that grin. Sometimes it's very hard to be a parent--financially, emotionally... but we wouldn't trade it for the world. Our lives are just that much more full and perfect having her in our lives. She's so full of energy and life. She's so loving--so, so loving. She loves without question. I can't imagine going through life without her.

I'm off to go give her a kiss!!! ♥

Blessed!

I just want to take a moment to thank Violet and all of my wonderful friends. I couldn't have been more blessed in one lifetime. Thank you so much! For your prayers, your friendship, your support. I am overwhelmed by blessings! Thank you so much!!!

♥

Words of the Day

xanthous \ZAN-thuhs\, adjective:
yellow; yellowish

The Spanish word of the day was Nunca, meaning Nothing.

Moving

We're officially and positively moving to Washington within the next couple of weeks. Paul will be starting school again. I'll be taking a couple of courses myself, but mostly caring for Anna. It will be different and exciting. I was nervous and didn't want to say anything until this point, but today we talked to Financial Aid and my fears were relieved. Wish us luck!!!

Word of the Day

wanderlust \WON-der-luhst\, noun:
a strong desire to wander or travel

Growing Again!!!

She's growing again! And getting sooooooo tall! Now her feet go OVER the lip of her high chair! Anna is fitting into those 3T dresses just fine. the length of the arms is perfect! All of her 24 month clothing is TOO SHORT. *sweats* Hopefully we'll find more awesome sales at Target and get more dresses! I'd say she's fully and definitely wearing 2t/3t clothing and 24 month things will have to be put aside!