Pay it Forward

Okay, so my friend Melanee did this and I'm doing it as well. The first three people to comment on this post, will receive a gift of some type from me (sometime in the next few weeks/months. Give me a little while, depending on where you live). It could be homemade, something edible, a cute craft of some type, etc. The catch is that you have to post this on your blog and keep it going. So, let's just see who'll be getting a free gift sometime soon. :) 

My Awesome Husband!!!

One plus to having an art teacher as your husband is, he can make you things, that most people can't. Dan's speciality is ceramics. We've been needing some things for a while and he decided to make them for me. What a nice, sweet, and kind husband. I think they all turned out great and am extremely happy and pleased with them. 

Here is our new kitchen utensil holder. The camera doesn't give it's true color. It's a little darker and not so shiny. I love the swirls, so cute!

Here is a pitcher he made for decoration. I'm going to decorate the kitchen in a Tuscan theme. Again, the color is much darker than here in the picture. I think the handle is very cute.  

This is my favorite. It's our new fruit bowl for the kitchen table. You can't see very well, but there are three feet that are also swirled. Again, this is actually black, but the camera doesn't show it very well. Awesome, huh!

I'm very proud of him for using his talents and making such awesome stuff for me. I love him so much!

Here are some pictures we took on Valentines Day. Our little Anna is getting so big!

I love her smile! Lately, she's been sliding her lower jaw over, so her smile is crooked. I think it's so cute. You can kind of see it here in this picture. Our lil' Sweetheart!

Active Lil' Anna!!!

So our little pride and joy is getting so big! She just turned 7 months last week. She is now closer to being one, than she is to being a new born. Here are some pictures of her doing her little thing. She just loves to explore. I don't know how other babies are, but Anna HAS to be doing something. Whether it's grabbing, reaching, playing, pushing, pulling, chewing, crawling, standing...you name it. She can't just be. Even if I'm holding her and walking around, she's constantly looking for something to do. I'm not complaining, because it's cute and she's exploring the world that she's in.

I usually feed her on the couch. Lately, she decides she done and tries to bounce off me and crawl down the couch. There's a lamp on either side of the couch. She's been trying really hard to reach for the one below and she finally got it! (I was making sure she wasn't going to fall off the couch, even though it doesn't look like it here). :) 

 

This picture was taken another day after she grabbed the lamp. She loves to smile for the camera. I thought this one was just so cute, even if her eyes are closed. 

Anna LOVES magazines. She could seriously spend 10 minutes here just playing with them (and usually does). I finally had to put the magazines that I don't care about in the front, so she wouldn't ruin all the others. She is fascinated with strumming her fingers on them as they fan out.  

Another favorite of Anna's is this swing. She is pulling herself up ALL the time. Anywhere and everywhere. I will leave the room for a second and come back to find her standing somewhere. Sometimes, I'm at the computer and turn around and she's right behind me, standing! Some places make me really nervous. This swing makes me nervous when she pulls herself up at the back of the swing and then pushes on it to go back and forth. She loves it, it makes me worry. Here, she's leaning backwards a little, but a lot of times she's able to stand up right. 

The box. Why pay money for toys when you can get them for free? :) Dan thought it was funny to put Anna in this box. She actually really enjoyed it. For a while when we didn't want her crawling around when we couldn't keep as good of an eye on her, we would put her in her box with some toys. It worked for a while, but I think she's done with that. Now the box is turned upside down and she stands up by it and pounds her fist on it. 

I'm so happy Mommy and Daddy! This is the BEST toy ever!

We love our baby Anna SO much. We thank the Lord for her everyday. She makes us so happy. We're so lucky to have her as our baby. 

Anna + Solid Foods = Funny Pictures

So we started Anna on solid food a few weeks ago. At first she kind of liked it, and then less and less with each day. Now, the only way we can get her to eat it is by surprise attack. When she opens her mouth, we have to be ready to swoop in and get the spoon in her mouth before she closes it. It ain't easy all the time. I'm guessing it will just take a while for her to really get into it and we'll just have to keep trying. 

Her first time in the high chair...she has no idea what's coming. 

Daddy feeding Anna

Mommy feeding Anna

I love the little carrot mustache and goatee here. 

Many times after she gets hit by a surprise food attack, this is the face she makes. I don't think she's a big fan of rice cereal. :)

AWESOME sewing machine

Okay, so I am so excited, that I had to write about this. I just bought a sewing machine for $95. I got it from a guy on Craigslist. He had only used it a handful of times. Funny guy, he made a purse for his wife. Kind of weird, I know. But it was very cute. Anyways, so he originally paid $150. So I feel I got a pretty good deal. It's a Brothers brand. I'm not really into sewing machines and what the top brand is, etc. However, I did research online what

 the reviews were, and about 97% of them were positive. 

The coolest part of this is that is has 50 different types of stitches. Yes, you read right, 50! A lot of them are decorative/embroidery type stitches. They range from flowers, vines, leaves, curvey lines, swirly/pretty lines, aztec block/funky squares, a variety of x type patterns, etc. It's so COOL! I'm going to have SO much fun with this. It is also computerized. So all I have to do is choose which stitch I want and voila'! Here is a sample of some of the stitches it will do. I went to a fabric store and just bought some bargain/leftover material for cheap. It's kind of hard to see, but hopefully you can get an idea of what it does. 

Other features include a needle threader, and it makes button holes. I don't know what I want to sew first. I really don't know how to sew, so I'm going to have to start simple. But eventually I want to make blankets, a duvet cover for our down comforter, some pillows, cute stuff for Anna, possibly some clothes. We'll see. 

5 Things

So my friend, Rebecca tagged me with this. 

Five things I have in my purse

1. Part of a broken key chain

2. 96 cents in change

3. Small bottle of lotion

4. Chapstick-would die without it.

5. Stub from my voting ballot in the November general election

In my Work room (I don't really have one, so the 2nd bdrm)

1. Food storage shelf

2. Dan's work table for Warhammer

3. Safe (nothing valuable, just documents)

4. Art canvas

5. Lamp from our family room (there's no overhead light)

I've always wanted to do

1. Visit London

2. Learn how to sew

3. As of yesterday, visit San Francisco

4. Perform in a musical

5. Go somewhere tropical

I am into right now

1. Raising my baby girl

2. Scrapbooking

3. LOST-I'm so addicted. I'm catching up on the previous seasons.

4. Organizing my house aka sorting through Dan's junk. :)

5. Working out-staying in shape and getting my arms buffer so I can handle carrying around my 16 lb (and growing) daughter

I want to tag

1. Sarah

2. Kathleen

3. Melanee

4. Carina

5. Emily

Poopy Sunday

So I decide to dress Anna in a really cute little Sunday dress. It was one she hadn't worn yet. We get to church and right after the sacrament, we hear her poop-a lot. I always keep diapers in the diaper bag. I was about to take her out to changer her when I had the thought to double check that I actually had diapers. Well, it turns out I didn't have any. I frantically tell Dan this. He's about to go home and get some, when we think of a family that has a girl 2 months older than Anna. I see that they're sitting on the opposite end of the chapel from us. So during someone's talk, I get up, go to the family, briefly sit down next to them and ask them if they have a diaper. Luckily, the mom did and I went back to our place, grabbed Anna and went and changed her. Now, something you need to know about Anna's poopy diapers. They can be REALLY big, and sometimes ooze out of her diaper because they're so big.

I'm changing her diaper and thinking everything is fine, until I notice the poop has gone all the way up her back and a huge amount is on her dress. Luckily, I keep a onesie in the diaper bag for just such occasions, but that was all I had. So I took off her cute little dress, tights, and shoes and put a onesie on her. It's unfortunate because I had a pair of pants in there, that I just took out the other day. But maybe it's all good, becuase the pants were red, and her onesie was pink and that would have just looked funny. :) I ended up just wrapping her blanket around her.

So, lessons to be learned. ALWAYS make sure you have enough diapers in the diaper bag before you go anywhere. Plus, make sure there are enough clothes in there. I'm just glad it turned out fine, it could have been a lot worse.