The Skateborder in Action

Spending time outside on Friday Annaka thought she would show off for me.
She was actually pretty good!!

I made it!!

I had surgery on August 10th and because of that I couldn't lift Annaka for 6 weeks. She has been going to her daycare mom, Judy's house 5 days a week. You don't realize how much you lift your child until you can't do it. I really miss not having her here with me. I can not wait to have her back home with me on my days off. She is so fun and so happy.

Surgery was a lot tougher than I had prepared myself for. Unfortunately, I had to have another surgery on September 6th for a complication that came up. Its been a long road but we are getting to the end. I am just glad that I don't have to start the 6 weeks over from the 2nd date of the surgery. Annaka is getting so grown up. She says so many things and has such a personality. Her favorite words are .. moo, meow, sissy, bro-bro, no, mine, mama, dada, nana, dudu for Judy, night-night...

Her favorite things are books, her blankey, stuffed animals, chocolate milk, dancing, and being around her big brother and sister.

She has tantrums now. Falls to the ground, arches her back and lets out a scream. She can get really mad if she doesn't get something she wants. If her big sister has a stuffed animal and she wants it she will defiantly let her know! And if you don't give it to her she will start the tantrum, watch out!

For Halloween she is going to be a cow. She LOVES to say MOO. She thinks everything says mo0 and will look at pratically any animal and say moooooShe has a Halloween party to go to at Laney's house and there will be 2 of her other friends there. They are going to decorate pumpkins and play. I will take pictures to and post them to show you.

What a joy she has brought to our family. Scott and I wonder when we will look at her and not think about the 1st year of her life. She has blessed us so much.

Okay, I wrote that about 1 week ago and today was my first day home with Annaka. WOW, what a difference from being home alone. Her new thing today is to hit me and then look at me and say "no, no" and to stand and walk on our couch and to say "no,no" the whole time she is doing it. Oh, and she throws her food when she is done eating, and her fork,and her spoon.. She's a cutie, but a stinker to! SO, here are a couple pictures of her. This is her halloween costume I was talking about. I got it off of Ebay and it is really cute. She isnt to fond of it on, but everytime she sees it in her room she looks and it and says MOO. Another picture, is of her Uncle Kip who she adores and wants him to hold her the entire time he is here. The reason he is not smiling is because everytime he comes to visit he buys a ice-cream cake and had a mouth full when I snapped this shot!

Then one of her, Jade and Ally walking on our road. I love these kind of pictures.

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Two Peas in a Pod

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Bath Time

We decided to give Annaka a bath in the sink last night. She absolutely loved it! I think this will be our new way of giving baths. Its much easier for us to.

From then to now

What I love about her......

It has been 6 months since Annaka was placed in our arms. I can hardly believe it has gone this fast. For over 2 years we waited for this little person to come home. Now, I can't imagine a day with out her in our life. She has fit in like she has been with us all of her 17 months of life.

There are so many things that amaze me about her.
I love the way she knows she is home now.
I love the way she sleeps in her crib and knows she is safe.
I love the way she cries to tell me she is awake after a nap.
I love the way she plays with her brother and sister.
I love the way she giggles when I take her out of the bathtub and wrap her up in a towel.
I love the way she tries to copy what we say.
I love the way she loves her blanket
I love they way she sucks her tongue when she is tired
I love they way she goes to Judy in the morning and I can tell she feels safe.
I love the way she dances to music.
I love the way she tries to imitate what we do.
I love the way she loves the baby pool in Kasson.
I love the way she smiles at me when I pick her up from daycare.
I love he way she loves her feet tickled.
I love the way she loves ELMO!!
I love the way she is learning new things everyday.
I love the way she says LaLa for Laney.
But most of all I love the way she knows I am her Mommy.......

Some of my favorite pictures

Happy 4th of July

Summer time fun!

So you think you have bad hair days???

• Miss Annaka has some pretty funky hair these days. She has had 2 haircuts (only to her bangs). This is what a typical morning looks like. I take her ponytail holders out at night time, but when I get her out of her crib they are usually standing straight up . Scott and I decided this morning definetly needed a picture!
  

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Here we go agian....

Raina and I tried so hard to get the girls together for a snap shot again. No matter how hard we tried we did not get one good picture of just the two of them. I think we scared Andrew's friend he had over because we were making

such loud noises to get the girls to look at us to take the picture. The girls are getting so big. They both have such different personalities. Laney is a very good dancer, if I ever get a video on my blog I will have to download it. Annaka was very busy making sure Laney didn't take anything that was hers. I think with a brother and sister she has learned to keep her things to herself. Either way we love them both. They are so fun to watch together. So, once again this is what we got. The best picture is the one with Michon by far!!

Our first trip to the Kasson Pool

We decided on such a hot day we should go for a swim. It was our first trip with Annaka to the Kasson pool. Her and I stayed in the baby pool. I didn't wear my swim suit (big mistake). At first Annaka didn't really care if she was in the water, but after mommy finally realized there was a shallow end in the baby pool she did really good. She loved to play with all the toys that floated by. Of course they all belonged to someone else, but they were fun. Ally and Andrew and Ally's friend Kylie all came over from the "big kids pool" to play with her. The kids friends love to play with Annaka. I think a lot of the kids have older siblings so to play with a baby is really fun. Annaka loves it! She gets all the attention and shows off for everyone! So, our trip was a success!! We will definitely be going a lot more this summer. BUT, we want our BFF Laney to come too!!!!!

First Swims in the pool

Okay, she didn't really swim, but she played really good. She didn't like the water and wouldn't sit in it. We have had some problems with her liking water ever since her daddy washed her hair and got her head all wet. We are working with her to like her baths again.
What a weekend! Yesterday I accidentally tripped going down my neighbors front step and twisted my foot. OUCH, the pain was unreal! I cried it hurt so bad. I went to the ER and thank heaven I didn't break it, only a sprain. I can not imagine life with a broken foot this summer. Crutches are not fun and not being able to do anything is even harder. BUT, I keep reminding myself that at least its not a break... I took some snap sots of Annaka with Ally playing. Andrew was just to busy playing his game boy to come out and enjoy the big pool with them.

soccer, clothes and smiles

The pics above are Ally and Andrew in soccer this year. The kids were really lucky and had great weather for the season. It was only cancelled one day.

Annaka continues to get gifts from family and friends. Today she got a really cute dress from one of my aunt and uncles. Thanks!

The bear she is playing with is the bear the kids made for her at Build a Bear Workshop. Its fun to see her play with it when it sat in her room for over a year waiting for her. She loves stuffed animals just like Ally.

Thoughts of being home with Annaka 4 months

I can hardly believe Annaka has been with us for 4 months already. Sometimes it feels like she has been with us all her life and other times I feel like everything she does is new to me. While we waited for her we were so excited, we couldn't wait to get her home with us. I can honestly say it has been the best thing we ever did. I remember family and friends voicing concerns about the adoption. Wondering if Scott and I would have our hands to full with other things. Those of you who know us know what I am talking about. I never wanted to not adopt, I felt like it was like a pregnancy and I would never abort a baby because of another child. I knew we had enough love for all of them and I also knew that we are a good family with lots of good things to offer her. Now that Annaka is here we are so happy that we stuck with it. I look at her and I can not believe we traveled around the world to get her. Sometimes it makes me get teary eyed. We are so lucky to have been given this chance to have one more time to enjoy all the things little kids do. I realized how quick my children grew up and to get to do it one more time is a blessing. She to will be a big girl soon enough. But for now we enjoy the little things. Like the smiles, the hugs, the need to have us by her all the time, the way she hangs on our pants to get us to pick her up, the way she has learned that we are not going to leave her.. I love the way she loves Ally and Andrew, and treats both of them totally different.
She has started to say hi, so cute! She says MaMa, DaDa, baba, nana for banana, bye-bye. Yesterday on the way home form daycare we were going back and forth saying things.
Daycare, she is doing really good. When I first starting bringing her to Judy's she would cry when I gave her to Judy. Since last week she doesn't cry anymore when I hand her to Judy in the morning. And, she says bye-bye to Judy when I pick her up. I can tell she is doing really good there and getting more secure with Judy and the daycare children. Thanks, Judy for taking such good care of her.
So, we have made it this far. I cant imagine what 1 year will bring. Last year at this time she was a dream in my heart. Now I can hug and kiss her. Speaking of hugging her she is waking up to start her day. Better go get her~

Playing ball

Jade really isn't to fond of Annaka, but once Annaka found the ball she was in for it. Annaka tried her best to keep it away from Jade. In one picture you can see Annaka tyring to figure out where it is when Jade has it in her mouth. They are funny together. Jade is getting such raccoon eyes from age she is 8 and such a nice dog.

Bubbles, Bubbles and Bubbles

This is the coolest little bubble maker. It was 10.00 dollars at Walmart and makes a billion bubbles. All 3 of the kids loved it!!

Check out the hair on Annaka. This is our summer look. She gets so hot and sweaty that I have to pull it up to keep her cool. I even had to cut her bangs again. That's the 2nd time now.

She is sick this weekend. She came down with a fever yesterday afternoon and has been not feeling good all weekend. This is our first bout of fever and icky nose with her. She only wants me or Scott. Oh, and dont forget her "blankie". That thing is gold. She will take it and rub her mouth and suck her tounge. Laney does the same thing. Its a real sorce of comfort for her.

I hope she will be feeling better tomorrow. Poor little thing. Well, she just woke up and is crying "mama" gotta go~