Mothers Day 2009

I am one PROUD and Happy Momma!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Iv'e Got 3 Words For You....Spirited, Tenacity & Spunk

I love Analayne. I love the way she lives life with spirit, tenacity and spunk. She embraces each moment, lives freely and she has FUN. Analayne wants to "feel" everything! Don't get me wrong...she needs some down time but "less is more" for Analayne (unless of course you are serving up ice cream).

You see I first realized that Analayne would be the type of child to want to "capture" each moment and embrace the day about 7 hours after I delivered her. It was about 2:00 in the morning, Russ was asleep in our tiny hospital room and despite my 18+ hours of NATURAL labor I could not sleep. Analayne was in the nursery and I just wanted to see her. I walked into the nursery and quickly spotted her bassinet. There she was just a few hours old, lying there beautiful as she could be...with her eyes wide open, looking around. I thought to myself..."I thought a newborn would be asleep?" I then quickly eyed the other babies in the nursery and saw that they were indeed ALL asleep and it was at that moment that I thought, this girl is full of life and I was RIGHT.

At almost 4 years of age I see my daughter living life to its fullest. Happy, singing, talking, dancing, being silly, never meeting a stranger.... LIVING each day with anticipation and tenacity! This is just Analayne's personality. She is a "people person." Analayne gets up early and likes to go to bed late. She can outlast and outplay both me and her daddy! She inspires me and I love how God gave us a daughter that is SO very different from me. As her mom, I get frustrated with her energy sometimes but in all honesty I want to to bottle up some of her cheerful spunk, tenacity and spontaneity for myself.

Well, that is after I contemplate the idea for a week, think through all the pro's and cons and then make a list of all actions involved in accomplishing the aforementioned task!

Enjoy some of our latest pics that capture just a glimpse of the REAL Analayne!

How many nick names can you give a baby?

Sweet Pea, Doodle, Baby, Cry Baby, Little Buddy and Crank are all "names" we (I) use when referring to Leighton. Don't you just love to make up names to call a sweet little baby? I think my favorite might just be "little buddy" because that is the name that Analayne started using on her own and it is just sheer, sweetness to hear her talking to Leighton and refer to him as her, "little buddy." Crank is the nickname that Mimi started in reference to Leighton's funny cranking noises he makes as he gears up for a good cry!

Analayne still gets confused and says things to Leighton like, "Hi, sissy." I then say, "Analayne you are the "sissy" he is your brother." She knows she is the sister and therefore would correct herself. However, lately I think she is giving up on being so gender specific because I noticed she is now just going up to him and saying, "Hi little baby."