Happy 1st Birthday Anna Kate!

Ok...I am trying not to get all emotional on this post, but it was very difficult to go through all my photos and pick just one for each month. I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by. I wish (at moments) that time could stand still.

Newborn- Welcome to the world, Anna Katherine Barnett! Born February 1st, 2010 at 9:27 am weighing 8 lbs. 10 ounces and 21 and 1/4 inches long.

One month old- highlights- you slept a lot

2 months old- highlights-you started to smile and coo

3 months old-highlights- more alert and so sweet

4 months old-highlights-rolling over, lots of tummy time

5 months old- highlights- sitting up and having fun

6 months old- highlights- said "mama" for the first time!

7 months old- highlights- such a happy baby all the time!

8 months old- highlights- I cut my first tooth!

9 months old- highlights-I am eating more and more solid food!

10 months old- highlights- I started crawling, pulling up and moving more and more!11 months old- highlights--I'm cruising around everywhere, talking more and more, learning my sign language and having fun!

12 month highlights--learning new things everyday! I'm not too far from walking!

Oh baby girl you are so loved! We are so thankful to the Lord for giving you to us. We hope and pray that we lead and guide you toward Jesus in your life and that you would glorify Him and be a strong woman of God. You are such a blessing in our life. We enjoy you every day...your personality is blossoming and you have such a sweet disposition. Happy FIRST Birthday, Anna Kate! We love you SO much

Love,

Mommy

bath and bubbles

We've had a ball the last two nights taking a bath with the addition of .99 bubbles..you know--the kind you blow in the air, not the kind you put in the tub

the kids were intrigued that the bubbles stuck to their bodies...Anna Kate didn't quite know what to do with them

bubbles all over my face!

Bubbles all over my face too!

fun times :)

Are you ready for some football?

She is!

And she talks to herself too!

Caleb, Almost 30, all over the world, presently in GA

*Updated*...if any of you lovely ladies are checking this site again, just wanted to let you know what was going on! thank you for all your kind responses to my brother...I told him about all these responses and he said he is just not really interested in seeking a lady right now--so, I am going to keep all this info on file and maybe one day when he is ready, I'll be back in touch (that is if you haven't already been snagged..all of you are beautiful girls and I know will make a man so happy one day!)...Blessings to all of you!

So I am hooking up with Kelly's Korner today in show us your life "singles"...I have three people in mind that I'd like to link to, but I am choosing to show my brother--since I am doing this without permission and would rather do it to a guy than my sister or best friend :)

this is a last minute entry for me. My brother does not know I am doing this (well, he does now if he is reading this!) Anyways, back to my brother, Caleb.

He is the baby of 4...with 3 older sisters! I am the sister closest to him in age...

He will be turning 30 this spring, is college graduate with some post graduate work, speaks fluent French, loves sports, has traveled all over the world (almost literally), lived in France for many years (currently in North East Georgia), and comes from a great christian family!

Meet Caleb

See...he is fun too..ice skating with my mom :)
and can be goofy...and grow a lot of facial hair at times...
Loves the outdoors...including skiing
And is an uncle to 6 nieces and nephews!

He is great catch, peeps!

11.5 month communication

At 11.5 months old, Anna Kate is starting to communicate more and more each day. She is in a big growing phase right now--learning new things and doing new things each day.

For example, last night I had her in the bath with Rody...let me back up...I had Rody in the bath first alone for a few minutes and she could not stand it. I even tried to block her off from the bathroom and she pitched a fit. The minute I turned my back, she had crawled her self into that bathroom and was standing up on the bath. So, I put her in. I let her play. Then I took her out--and she pitched a fit. I had her on my lap and she was reaching for the bath and since that didn't work, she signed "more"...so I put her in the tub and she was happy as a lark! Until I took her out again and no matter how many more times she signed "more", she did not get her way which was inevitably confusing to her.

She is getting into more and more these days. She is a turbo crawler and has starting walking behind push toys. She pulls up and cruises on anything and stands on her own for short periods of time. She can eat some food--sometimes more than Rody--and is on all table food (except for the fruits that we put in her oatmeal in the morning)
She can sign "more", "all done" and "please"
She can say "mama", "dada", "good night", pease"
She blows kisses and gives kisses like it is going out of style
She loves to try to feed us and then quickly pull it away and she thinks this is hilarious!
She likes to dance...but she dances sitting down on her booty right now--she definitely shakes it to the music.

She is so much fun right now--I am enjoying this stage so much. She seems to be getting over her stranger anxiety and seems less attached to me overall.

We finished breastfeeding a few weeks ago. She is completely on whole milk and doing great!

snowed in and such

Well, the snow is still on the ground a week after the snow fall! We were "sniced" (snowed and iced) in for 4 days. I had Monday-Thursday off of school and had to go back Friday with a late start. It was such a fun week! We just played, hung out, stayed warm and had fun with the kids. We played out in the snow the 2nd day with Rody, but then the snow just got hard and not fun after that...

This was his face after a little bit of a meltdown. Randy made him a little tunnel out of the snow and we were trying to get him to crawl through it. He eventually did

Happy boy in the tunnel

Anna Kate has turned 11 months old! I cannot believe it!!! She is so much fun. She is signing please and all done and tries to say them. She also loves books right now and is pretty peticular about the ones we read to her. She is a turbo crawling and is cruising around everywhere. She can stand on her own for a few seconds. She is so happy and getting over her "I'm scared of anyone and everyone...especially those that smile at me" period. We are enjoying her so much!

One night we got out some play tents and the kids had a blast. Rody thought it was so fun that Anna Kate was crawling through the tunnel too

The kids have been sleeping really well lately. They share a room and they do pretty well...it is funny to listen to them on the monitor!

This is how I found Rody one afternoon after he had been napping almost 3 hours...no wonder...he was totally inside his blanket--over his head

And today after church...they were just both in the corner together looking at some books

Very cute!

And Saturday I took the kids to the Aquarium with my friend Veryll. It was quite an outing! I had free tickets that day for teachers and could get a guest in free too...so off we went. It was fun, but I did not take pictures. However, Veryll documented it pretty well here.

Good night!

When it snows in the South....

the birdies must be so confused...but what a beautiful color contrast...love it

We play!!! and play and play...Randy and I even went outside by ourselves when the kids napped!

So many of my pictures are of Rody looking down and playing in the snow...

Randy ventured out many times in his jeep...this is what a jeep is made for...or so he says...it was fun (I took a ride while a friend watched our kids for a few minutes)

we played snow football...

And got all bundled up...

and brought our baby girl out in the snow for a few minutes...

and took some fun pictures

The fam

Happy boy

best picture I could get of both of them

not too enthused at first

Ready and excited

It was such a fun, low key day. We knew nobody was going anywhere...we couldn't...it snowed almost 8 inches...of the nice fluffy snow...Rody played a few times, then he took a 3 hour nap...We got to spend about 2 hours with Anna Kate alone while Rody napped--which was way fun (that does not happen much as you can imagine!), and we topped it off by spending the evening with many of our neighbors--eating dinner, talking, fellowshipping, laughing--so good.

And tomorrow I have the day off again--so round two! I am blessed for this special time with my little family!