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Thanks to all my friends and family for making my 2nd birthday so fun and memorable. I love you all. -- Analayne

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Good-bye Beloved Pacifier

We went to the pediatrician yesterday for Analayne's 2-year check-up. We got a clean bill of health and we had a great visit. However, her doctor encouraged me to help Analayne give up her pacifier. Russ and I were only allowing her to have it during nap times and at bedtime, but I knew the day would come when we would have to stop using the "paci" altogether.

Well, I am the type of mom that just has to make up my mind, change my course, and go for it. No "wallowing" around with the issue, no sulking and no turning back. You see, I had a pacifier when I was a baby, toddler, and preschooler (yes--I had the paci through several developmental stages) and it was very difficult for me to let it go. So when it came time for me to let the "paci" go my mom successfully bribed me with a pair of wonder woman under-roos!

So with my known personal history of "paci" use, I decided that there was no time like the present for Analayne to bid farewell to her beloved pacifier. So as soon as we got home from the doctor I went around the house gathered up all of the pacifiers and put them away. Then when it was time for Analayne's nap I told her "the pacifiers had to go bye-bye. All the little bitty babies needed them." She looked at me puzzled and repeated the word "bye-bye" and I layed her down for her nap. She cried a few minutes but then went to sleep (her nap was about 45 minutes shorter then normal). When Russ got home I told him what I had done. He looked at me and said, "okay, I don't want her teeth to be messed up." Then bedtime came and she cried for at least 20 minutes. It was so sad to hear her crying "paci...paci.." It broke my heart. I just wanted to go in there and give it back but then I thought she might get the idea that if she cried enough I would give in under any circumstance, so to alter my focus....I cleaned. Russ was very helpful and he continued to affirm the decision and he helped me clean (that was the best part of it all).

As we cleaned I thought about what a paci really is and then I decided to look up the definition of pacifier, according to Webster. Webster's Dictionary defines pacifier as: a nipple or teething ring for babies, or a person or thing that secures peace. Peace is a perfect word for what that little plastic thing brought to Analayne. She found great comfort in her "paci." She would cozy up and settle in for a long snooze. She would relax and gaze off and dream and best of all she would be comforted enough to stop crying. I started thinking, if this thing can bring so much peace to this little girl, why don't I get one for myself? Maybe I wouldn't snack so much during the day.

I also thought to myself---what earthly object do I find peace in that I don't really need? Where should my (our) peace come from? Thank God that I am a Christian and I know that my peace comes from the Prince of Peace! Once again, Analayne has provided me with another opportunity to reflect on my life, my feelings, my thoughts and my beliefs. What a blessing she is to me (and to her sweet daddy---Russ). Now... let's see if we can just get through another night without the pacifier!

Happy Birthday To You.....

On July 24th Analayne turned two years old. Several of her little friends were able to come to her birthday party. It was fun to celebrate together and watch all the toddler/preschoolers play!

On Analayne's first birthday I decided that each year I would purchase a birthday card and write a message for her in it. I would then stash the cards away and wait until she was older before I gave them to her. I decided that as she gets older and realizes what a card really is that I would purchase two cards. One card to give her that is fun and the other that I will write my message in and save for her. Here is a portion of what I wrote to her this year.

Analayne,

You continue to amaze me with your sweet and caring spirit. You really love life and you live it to the fullest. You are beautiful and your beauty radiates from the inside out. I am so blessed to be your mommy. You teach me so much. You are truly my greatest teacher! You have grown so much this year. Sometimes I feel sad that you are not a "baby" anymore, but yet I am so happy that you are my little girl and that I get to watch and help you grow into a young lady. Each day I thank God for allowing me the opportunity to be your mommy and for entrusting you to us. Your daddy and I love you so much. Nothing will ever change that. Analayne, did you know that our heavenly Father feels the same way about you? He loves you and you can not do anything to change that. As you get older, I pray you will fully understand His love for you and His sacrifice for you. He is the model for unconditional love!

Happy 2nd birthday my dear sweet "Annie" (that is what you call yourself these days). I cherish each day that we share and though these years are flying by so fast I feel peace in the fact that no matter how old you are, or where you live someday, or who you marry, I will still have the privlege of being your mommy and I am thankful for that.

I love you,

Mommy

What's Your Name?

Just last week Analayne really started calling me "mommy" instead of Ma-ma. She also started saying "daddy" instead of da-da. When Russ leaves for work in the morning we go through what we are now calling "role call." Role call is when Analayne says, "where daddy go?" in which I reply "he went to work." Then Analayne says, "where mommy go?" and I say, "mommy is going to stay with you today. Do you want to play?" Then she starts repeating every name of every family member or friend she can recall. It's a real hoot!

Well, yesterday as we were eating lunch at Mimi's house (prior to me going to work---it was a Friday!) I began playing a little game. I would say, "Analayne, what's my name?" and she would reply, "MOMMY." Then I started saying, "what's your name?" and to my surprise she said, "Annie" and smiled really big. I then said, "your name is Analayne." We did this several times and each time she would smile really big and say, "Annie." Now, what's really funny and sentimental to me about all of this is that when I was little that was my nick-name. My daddy would call me Annie. As I got older the nick-name eventually faded away. It's been years since I have been called that (or heard that name). However, I always liked the name, Annie. In fact, it was on my list of names that I liked when Russ and I were searching for the perfect name for our little girl. However, it was brought to my attention (by me dear sweet hubby) that Annie might not be a good choice for our little girl, since she was being born to one red-headed daddy and one curly headed mommy. Russ even joked around saying he would have to shave his head and call himself "daddy no-bucks." Needless, to say the name fell off the list and we moved on. Now, I feel like I get to call her Annie if I want too!

I love having multiple names. I love being Leeanne, mommy, mama, and aunt Lee-Lee! There is room enough in this world to get to enjoy multiple names. It sure does make life more fun!

Next Time Won't You Sing With Me?

"HIJKLMNOP. Jeepers...Eyyes, Quack..." You thought I had a typo didn't you?

Actually, that is what I hear nearly every morning when I walk into Analayne's room and begin to lift her out of her crib (except the HIJKLMNOP part kinda runs together and sounds more like "ella-nnn-ooooooo-p"). Our first conversation of the day starts out with me saying, "good morning, Analayne. I missed you. Did you sleep well? We are going to have such a fun day today." I can barely get those words out of my mouth before she immediately tucks her little hands up under her arm-pits and within 20 seconds we have sung the alphabet song, followed quickly by her new favorite, jeepers-creepers-where'd you get those peepers, and then our concert is wrapped up with the song cock-a-doodle-doo by the Wiggles (in which Analayne has physically had her hands tucked into her armpits waiting for the quack-quack part the entire time we sang the other mandated and necessary songs). It is a riot and I love every minute of it. It has become our morning ritual this week. I am not sure how long we must sing these songs in this particular order but its so cute---so I don't mind to accompany her!

So what have we been doing? I have been meaning to post since July 5th but we have been so busy. This week Analayne is going to Vacation Bible School. Our mornings are filled with hurrying to get ready, shoveling breakfast in our mouths and dashing off to the church for drop off (well--not dashing--actually sitting in loads of traffic). When we get home we hurry to get some lunch ready and then we read books in preparation for Analayne's afternoon nap!

Analayne's favorite things to do right now are sing and read books. Let me indulge you with the details of her favorites. The four main books that I can think of are: Llama Llama Red Pajama, Goodnight Moon, Wheels on the Bus, and Chicka Chicka ABC. In particular, she loves Llama Llama Red Pajama, which we read at least 6 times a day! Her song list is made up of the following: Jesus Loves Me, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, Ol McDonald, Hot Potato, Cock-a-Doodle Doo (wiggles song), Hokey Pokey, and last but not least her new favorite, Jeepers-Creepers-Where'd You Get Those Peepers!

Other than singing and reading, Analayne finds great enjoyment in wearing my shoes and she is more than willing to wear anyone else's shoes too! She has always loved the feeling of being "big." From day one she felt the need to show me who made the agenda for the day! For instance, why would she be content sitting in her a stroller travel system, eating a little snack so mommy could look at something in a store when she could open her great big mouth and cry a great big loud sound for a great big long time. Now that she is older why would she be content strapped into a contraption such a stoller or grocery cart when she could be BIG and walk or better yet run alongside (or down the aisle) OR why would she be content letting her mommy make a phone call when she can always manage to talk on the phone better?

I always love it when Analayne does something that teaches me something too! It dawned on me that we as adults are a little like this too. We want to walk and run ahead sometimes in our effort to feel special, important, viewed as if we know something. We decide we need to feel big. We think we have to live up to the standards that our community, world, or possibly family and friends place on us. In our need to feel big we are quick to run to other humans to get these needs fulfilled, instead of running first to our Father God--who has a plan for us---who already knows that we are special. God knows that we are important, He loves us---because He is "BIGS." He is the Biggest! It is only normal for Analayne to demonstrate her abilities to be Big. However, as Analayne grows older I want to teach her and show her that God is Bigs. He made her and He sets the standard.

Life

Since blogging is new to me I decided to write a synopsis of our life with Analayne up until now. I was thinking it would be nice to have this type of a "date-line" all in one place. I guess this entry is more for me but for those of you interested... its for you too!

July and August 2005: If I could sum the month of July 2005 up with just 5 words, I would choose amazement, bonded, thankful, happy and busy. We were amazed at how beautiful our daughter was to us. We were amazed that God could and did bless us with her. We were bonded. Bonding happened immediately for me. One look at her and I was changed (I guess that is how God intends for it to occur). However, each day we bonded more and each day I felt more secure with my mothering. We were thankful that we had a healthy and happy baby (well...happy when she was fed and being held). We were thankful that we finally had our baby girl to hold. We were happy. Despite being tired--emotionally, physically and mentally happiness was still felt. Lastly, we were busy. Never a dull moment and almost two years later we still rarely have a dull moment! When Analayne was born she had a very low resting heart rate that was worrisome to her pediatrician and to the cardiologists at Vanderbilt. I can remember being so scared. She looked good (she was pink, breathing well, crying well, and did not seem to be "working to breathe). We had to do several EKG's which ending up being fine and the doctors concluded the low resting heart rate was from a long delivery (yes, it was very long...). One thing about Analayne's infancy was that she was ALWAYS very alert and responsive. Even just a few hours after being born you could walk into the newborn nursery and there she would be lying in her bed with her eyes wide open. She did that all the time! In fact, she very rarely slept during daylight hours until she was 2 weeks away from turning one year old. That's right folks, I had a newborn that would sleep through the night but did not close her eyes the entire day which obviously meant that we had very long days together! Looking back on that characteristic of Analayne I am not surprised at all by her lack of daytime napping. She still has strange sleep issues that we have learned to deal with and/or modify.

September/October 2005: You smiled for the first time on Sept 6th. You repeat me when I say, "ohhhh." You laugh out loud on October 3rd. You grasp and hold an object for a long period of time on October 19th.

November/December 2005: You can "talk" really loud now (you are still really loud)--November 17th . You roll over for the first time on December 13th. You love to hold your little lambert lamb.

January/February 2006: You love your exersaucer, You took your first airplane ride on Feb 8th. You can now sit up, play with toys in the bathtub, say, "dadadada," eat some baby food.

March/April 2006: You are trying to crawl, you love music. You waved for the first time on April 16th. We went to the beach in Tx.

May/June 2006: You crawl for the first time on May 23rd, You love to crinkle paper in your hand, Your favorite book is Meet Little Tex, Your favorite song is "itsy bitsy spider" You can clap your hands.

July August 2006: You can eat table food, We had a luau birthday party for you. You love to eat fruit, You can say "eyes." You love the books, Splish-Splash and Cookies Week. You enjoy riding in your wagon.

September/October 2006: You can say the words, bird, cat, fly, outside, Russ, da da, poppa, GiGi) and you can point to specific people on pictures. You can also climb off our bed onto the floor. You walked for the first time today without help (October 12th).
November/December 2006: You love to open cabinets!

January/Feb 2007: You say, mama, bus, show, baby, sky, bird, cat, hi, bye, that, fish, socks, duck, whoops, wee, pee-pee. You can make some animal sounds, you love to hold the phone and pretend, you can spin in a circle, you love to be chased, you like to put your head on the floor, you know what toilet paper is for, you love to unload the dishwasher with me, you love to go to your class at church, you say the word show when you want to watch baby einstein

March/April 2007: You say "ut-oh" You say "amen" after the prayer, you love the horses, and say the word "jo-jo" when you want to watch Jo Jo's circus on the computer. You brought your first "scribble" picture home from church (it was a horse pictured with a few colored lines on it). You play with your sand table and love taking wagon rides, you love to go to the zoo.

May 2007: You can dance to "ring around the rosie" like a pro!

Well, in a nut-shell that is all I seem to have recorded on paper. I feel like I have left out SO MUCH. I want to really keep up with the phrases she says and the new things she does. Despite feeling busy almost all the time, its not just "being busy." I want my life to be filled with meaningful events not with trivial business. I try hard not to fill our days with silly things like watching television. Each day should be spent doing things together. I figure when she older she won't remember the day she watched the wiggles but she will remember that we went to the beach together, or that we went to the petting zoo. We live our busy lives but in all actuality we are not just "living life" We are truly experiencing life---its so much more fun that way. From now on expect greater detail. I am just getting going!

Put You're Running Shoes On...Let's Go Through Life Together!

Hey Friends & Family,

This is my first ever attempt at blogging, so hang in there with me! I love to write. I am a practical person. I think deeply. I actually communicate best when I am allowed the opportunity to express my thoughts in the form of writing and the weird thing about it all, is that I can't compose anything with a pen and piece of paper. I am a computer girl. I love to type. I love the delete key. I love that I can type really fast and I can compose complete thoughts without my words starting to "slope down the page." I have tried to keep a journal to record all the irreplaceable memories of my life. More importantly, I have tried really hard to document and record the happenings of Analayne's life. I would declare that I have failed miserably at both, since I have about 12 entrys written and Analayne is almost 2 years old!

This blog is definetly for a dual purpose. I want to have a recording of what each week is like for our family, but I also want our friends and family to get a better glimpse of us! Soon after the birth of our daughter I was really struggling with the MANY changes that take place within a mother's heart, life, home and relationships. I was talking about these feelings with my mother and she reminded me that each day, week, or phase of life is "a season." A season being a time in life that whether difficult, easy, sad or sweet, it is just that....a season! Often these "seasons" go by way to quickly (although there have been a few that dragged on for way too many months). I invite you to put your running shoes on and come along...we can pass through these seasons together!