{ Extra Extra Read All About It! }

I locked myself out this morning when watering my plants. Peanut was asleep in his swing. I bolted a quarter mile to the clubhouse and got the spare key. He was still asleep when I got back. Note to self, always unlock the deadbolt and the handle. Yikes!

Well it seems that TONS has happened since mid March. So let's get started...

I found Peanut, sans pants and on his tummy, like this after his nap three weeks ago. I was so excited I called Rob immediately. He hasn't stopped rolling over since. We officially have a tummy sleeper folks. I find him like this every morning. I'm just so glad he did not roll off of the couch or bed. I think he decided to roll over because it gets him easier, lazy, access to his hand for sucking. Whatever motivates you dude.






Peanut and I flew to Arizona this past weekend for Annie's wedding. Look at the happy couple. It was a beautiful wedding and the weather was to die for. I wish them all the best. On a not so blissful note, flying a five and a half hour flight, with a three month old, all by your lonesome, is a horrific experience. The majority of the people hate you the minute they see you walk on the plane. I could see fire coming from their eyes. The other folks with kids cheered for me and commended me on my bravery.  I have made a resolution to always sit next to children for the rest of my life.

This is my dear friend Janel. I was so happy to see her at the wedding. She is by far the best conversation and the greatest example of seeing and acting on any opportunity to help out. We had lots of fun making thai peanut dressing, frosting cheesecakes and accidentally destroying a cheese cake when turning into a parking spot. She even talked me into going to a Cubs vs. Mariners spring training game, and we all know how much I love baseball. Anyways, because of her I realized just why people might hire a nanny even when you only have one kid. Seriously. First off Janel had watched him all morning while I was in the wedding. She was constantly making sure he was covered and happy. She got the car seat all buckled in the car faster than I am capable of. And picture this...we're at the wedding luncheon. Peanut is asleep. The father of the groom decides we should all give a big hip hip hooray for the bride and groom. Peanut is now screaming bloody murder. I scoop up baby, head to the bathroom to try and soothe him.  She comes to the restroom to let me know the food is out. So I come and sit down, holding the baby to keep him quiet and there is Janel cutting my food up for me so I can hold the baby while we eat. What a friend! Ha ha! Oh and look at the onsie she gave to Peanut. It's quite possibly the most perfect outfit for our little man that could possibly have been created. (It says "Little" and has a picture of a peanut if you can't see it.) 

This is my new friend's baby. He is one week younger than Peanut. I'm pretty sure he could sit on Peanut and smash him. Poor Peanut. He is so small! Look at those little chicken legs. Oh and guess what? I make a friend and what does she decide she's going to do? Move to VA. Just my luck. 

Also speaking of my luck, this was the fate of our perfect fruit salad last week. Ha ha! I haven't gone barefoot in the kitchen for awhile.

Well there is the update for now. Here are a few random pictures for your enjoyment. Keep your eyes peeled tomorrow for another edition of "Look What I Made!", and an unveiling of our apartment...I know, FINALLY. I promise you will be impressed with both.

{ Dear BYU Basketball }

Dear BYU Basketball Team,

Please ruin my bracket. Please win another game and take down those Gators. You already beat my home team, and I'm not even mad.  I don't even particularly like March Madness. But you, you have peaked my interest. You won me over. Now don't let me down.

Love,

Anna 

{ Small and Simple Things }

I love my feet. I think everyone has at least one feature about themselves that they adore. The one feature that we are absolutely sure could rival any model in any magazine if we were comparing just that single feature. Well for me, it's my feet. My cousin Liz once told me I had nice feet. I obviously took that conversation to heart because here we are, 15 some odd years later, and I still distinctly remember it. As a young girl I also always desperately wanted her approval so she gave me a taste of it that day and I relished it. It's the small and simple things in life that really keep us going isn't it?

With that little introduction I have posted this post is for three small and simple reasons. First obviously is my love of feet, which my mother further enhanced by making these adorable slippers. I have needed slippers since the beginning of time and never seem to get around to finding myself a pair. I will look no further. I just had to show them off.

Secondly, since I love feet, and the wonderfully cute shoes you can put on a child's feet, I wanted to show off the steal of a deal I found at a yard sale. The find is this: a $1 pair of miniature L.L. Bean galoshes for a two year old. They have given me visions of Peanut stomping around in puddles, looking for bugs and frogs and tromping around getting delightfully muddy. I see only a practically perfect photo opportunity in that vision when in reality it will be quite a mess to clean up. Oh well. I have a feeling I'll be just as muddy as he will that day and I'll enjoy every minute.

Lastly, do you see the little yellow flowers next to the boots? Well, I had a little visitor knock on the door last night. It was our charming five year old neighbor. We had the pleasure of watching him a couple Saturdays ago and sharing ice cream with him and his family just last week. I opened the door and there he was, holding out those little yellow flowers, saying he brought them just for me. His mother told me he had been talking about me earlier and had told her that he loved me. I just melted away.

Thank you for the little things.

{ Birthday Surprise! }

All of last week Rob was reminding me that we had to pick up one of his co-workers from a business trip on Saturday night so I shouldn't forget since he didn't want to go by himself.  I kept trying to figure out what kind of business sent their employees on a weekend business trip but didn't pay for their transportation back to their home. I kept reminding Rob to check and make sure that they would reimburse him for his gas at least. Now you're all wondering what this has to do with a birthday surprise.Well just keep reading...So we drive through DC and pull into the cell phone waiting area at Reagan. I get in the back seat so that his co-worker doesn't have to be smashed in the back with the baby. All the while Rob keeps telling me that I don't have to do that. So we finally get a text that the plane has landed. We drive up to the terminal and Rob says, "Well look who it is." Lo and behold it's my sister, my dearest friend, standing there bags in hand. Boy was I shocked. My face looked something like this:

Then something like this for the rest of the weekend:

It was the best surprise I could have asked for. I am the luckiest birthday girl ever.

Des meets Aunt Katie for the first time

The silly girl taking our picture said she couldn't fit the whole monument in. Where are the Kodak picture spots like at Disney when you need them. We made it safely and speedily to and from the metro station all on our own. That's an accomplishment when you are with directionally challenged me.

Oh lovely nap time...

This is my new most absolute favorite picture of Peanut.

I can't help but smile when I look at that picture. I hope you do too! Des is down for a nap right now I thought I'd hurry and do an update. Nap time is one of the few times I am able to sit down and concentrate on anything. I have started to sort my daily task list into these three categories:

1. Can be done with baby awake
2. Can be done while holding or nursing baby
3. Must be done while napping

Blogging falls into that third category. I can not seem to complete anykind of post while he is awake or I am holding him. Even though it seems possible I just haven't found the skills to do it yet. I will persevere!

Ok here's the update. Our lovely little Peanut is growing up so quick. He smiles, he's an excellent snorer and he is developing bald spots in exactly the same places as his Dad. Poor guy(s)! He is quite a runt though. At 7 weeks he only weighed in at 8lbs 11ozs, and he is so skinny (he makes up for that by being tall and lanky) that he is just barely growing out any of his newborn clothing. The only outfits I have actually retired are his premie outfits and the little monkey shoes. His feet and hands are huge! He is quite the snuggler and if he could he would like to be held absolutely all day everyday. I oblige him all too often. He is sleeping great, giving me 6 hour streches at night.  Hallelujah. Well rested Mom=happy Mom. Happy Mom treats everyone better.

Also he his so cute, and our ward members so kind, that they decided we needed another baby shower. I was so surprised and grateful! It was a great way for me to get to know more people. One lady decided she is absolutely done having kids so not only did she get us a gift but she gave me a giant bag full of all the baby clothes her sons have grown out of. Our little dresser once full of girly items is bursting at the seams with boy. And they absolutely spoiled him like everyone else has. I am so thankful for everything everyone has shared with us! We are just too lucky.



Picture time after the baby shower



  

Playing with his new toy from the baby shower.

And right on cue, Des is sounding that his nap is over. Adios till next time! I'm off to feed him and read "The Help". Finishing book club books is on the "To do while feeding" list.  : )

{ Rob Blogs! }

The other day, Rob looked at the blog and said, "I have an idea. Can I write on here?". So write he shall! I felt he needed a small introduction. Welcome to the blogging world.

Rob's inaugural post:

So I think hypotheticals are fun.  Tons of people do.  There's the popular, although more often than not distasteful, "Would you rather...?" game.  Or there's the more classic, "If I were _____, then I'd _____."  Anna, on the other hand, is not a fan of my hypothetical questions.  The exchange usually goes something like this:

Rob: What if you could live anywhere in the United States and money/job wasn't an issue?  Where would you go?

Anna: Rob, there's no way I can answer that question?  That will never be the case.  We'll never face a choice like that.  We always will have to think about at least one of those things. 

Rob: Well just pick somewhere, it's a simple question.

Anna: I can't.  There are too many things to think about.  I mean, I've always wanted to move back to Spokane, but I do love California 'cuz it's warm and there's an ocean.  Or what about Florida? More beaches and, of course, DisneyWorld!  And where will our kids be, we'd want to be close to them...

Rob: You're terrible at this game.  Okay, what about this one then?  If you could build a house and money wasn't an issue, what would you make sure it had, other than a swimming pool?

So then I imagine you can already guess at how she would respond to other hypotheticals: "What if along with his and hers vanities, you bought a home with his and hers toilets, like stalls in a public bathroom, but this time you wouldn't need the separator?..." or "What if I were black, would you still have married me?" or "What if I were really really short (no offense to our vertically-challenged friends out there)?" or "What if I wasn't an engineer but was, instead, an ultimate fighter, or a superhero, or an ice trucker, or a redneck hick named Cletus...?"  I mean, how can you resist answering those questions!  And one of my favorites, though, involves my least favorite state (so far): "What if we sold the state of Wyoming to another country?  Just kept Yellowstone and the Tetons and sold the rest of the state to Russia or something?  We all know there's nothing really great in Wyoming and the U.S. could sure use the money..."

So that brings me to the main reason I wanted to write this post.  First take a look at this photo of Desmond.

So here's the hypothetical: What if babies could walk right after they were born?  Wouldn't that be awesome?!  It would look something like this picture from above, without me holding him up, of course.  But they would look like little dwarves, or little hobbit children, I imagine.  It would be like little, real-life Lord of the Rings characters standing up on your table, with the little knobby knees there and everything.  Des even makes this old man face that I wish I could have had him do on cue for the picture.  Last thought, thinking about this reminds me of the little garden gnomes in the Harry Potter movies.

So I wonder how Anna will respond to this blog attempt?...Oh, and the other day in Washington, D.C. she told me that if she were President of the United States of America she'd want to be friends with Will Smith and his family....wait a minute, I thought you didn't like hypotheticals...