Baby Mama

To my sweet baby girl,

This weekend I realized just how big you’re getting.  Logically, I realize that time is passing.  I mean, I know in the future you’ll accuse me of “just not getting it”, but I am smart enough right now to know that time has passed since your birth and that by all rights, you should be growing up.  Most of the time, I simply refuse to recognize it baby girl (see?! you’ll always be baby girl!).  This weekend however, you became a Mommy and yes, it was only to a dolly, but it was the first time that you’ve wanted to have much of anything to do with a doll.

We were at Mimi and Grandy’s this weekend for the holiday.  After breakfast, you grabbed the doll and sat on the floor and did the following:

Messy bottom!

Messy face!

Messy hands!

Messy chair..."Ani, you are SO much like Daddy."

Here Mommy. We're all clean now.

And yes.  We got home from the weekend and bought your very first dolly.  Fortunately though, you’re still amenable to being my baby girl.  I hope it lasts forever and ever.

Mommy's baby doll

I love you baby girl.

xoxo,

Mama

Best Friends Forever!

To my sweet baby girl,

A week ago you were promoted to a new daycare class and while we are glad that you’re growing up, well, the problem is, you’re growing up.  The new class is technically for young two year olds, which you’re not.  Let’s just say you’re advanced for your age!  In any case, your new teacher was Ms. Taffy, who was quickly replaced by Ms. Denise.  We LOVE Ms. Denise, just as much as we loved Ms. Rina.  Fortunately, your classmates stay pretty much the same, which is great because the minute we pull into the school parking lot, you get an ENORMOUS smile on your face and say “MEEE-WAAH!”  In other words, Mila.  One of your favorite friends.  Other classmates include:

• Aubrey, who you talk about with a dreamy smile on your face, especially when you talk about him in relation to “schwings.”  I think it’s safe to say that you love Aubrey, even repeating it when Mama said “Ani loves Aubrey.”
• J.D.  While I think you still might consider J.D. a boyfriend, last week, you and he got into a little, um, well let’s just say tiff.  (I think altercation was the real word used.)  Apparently J.D. wanted to use your swing, or you his, resulting in some hair pulling.  Now, as J.D. was recently shorn like a sheep, I’m guessing that he pulled yours and God strike me down for saying this, but GOOD FOR YOU, because you fought back!  Stand up for yourself Baby Girl!
• Kate, who I don’t know too much about.  Unfortunately I don’t see her when I drop you off in the mornings.
• Jake, another unknown.
• Gut-ree (Guthrie) – he’s named after the chicken shack and other than that, well, again.  No clue.

I do think you really enjoy your friends at school Ani.  You learn good (counting, laughing, smiling) and bad (hair pulling) things from them.  I’d like to say that I think you’ll hang out with these friends for the rest of your school years, but the fact of the matter is, I just don’t know.  We live in a different school district than them, so chances are good that you’ll spend your daycare days in their company and then your real school days creating another set of friends.  But Ani, I want you to know the importance of lifelong friends.

There are lifelong friends that you’ve truly known for a lifetime.  There are lifelong friends who you’ve known for half a lifetime.  There are even lifelong friends who you’ve only know a few years or even less.  They are literally family.  They all have one thing in common though.  Your heart knows them when you meet.

They are the people who play David Bowie “Ground Control to Major Tom” every single morning of your junior year of college (ERIN “FIFI” LEE RENFROE!)…and yet, you’re still friends.  They scream your name into the phone when you call them once in a blue moon (my favorite MARCIA on the planet!).  They remind you how *cough, cough* precocious you were as a fourth grader (somehow I just don’t believe you – ELIZABETH!).  They fly to Oregon for your wedding, become the de facto wedding coordinator once there and STILL invite you to come down to Tiger land for the LSU/Alabama game (GEAUX TIDE ALICIA!).  They call you every single Sunday on their way to basketball in Hood River (even making their five year old son roll up the windows in a non-air conditioned car so you can hear them -  CHAD!).  They don’t call often because they are busy with three kids but are one of the first to call when your heart needs them to do so (Nick, you know who you are).  They forgive you when you can’t find a time to meet them the one time they’ve been in town for the past six months (we haven’t known each other long, but we share a rockin’ maiden name RANDEE!).  They live in the city by the bay and provided you more stability in a very unstable time than anybody else…yet you haven’t seen them for eight years (Marta and Elo…I miss you SO MUCH!).

The point is Ani, they are the people that you can not speak to for months, even years, on end and still KNOW them the minute you reconnect.  Its like you haven’t even skipped a beat.  Ani, develop these friendships in your life.  Make it a point to do so. By doing this, you will guarantee that you will never, ever, for a second be alone.  Lifelong friends are living pieces of your heart.  And you can’t live without your heart.

I love you Ani.

Mama

Ani and her forever friend and cousin, Sophia

Signe, Ani and Gunnar - A Couple Holloway Cousins

It’s anybody’s guess!

To my sweet baby girl,

The past few weeks you’ve been pretty obsessive about your “owwies”.  This includes pointing them out on both me and you, as well as scratching anything that even comes close to resembling a scab…again, on both me and you.  Right now you have two scars on your left leg from scratching said scabs off multiple times.  Every day, it seems like you manage to get a new owwie, but I’ve got to say, I am really glad that you are starting to be able to express when you have a hurt.

Like I said in the previous post, the past year has been really rough when it comes to what the doctors have termed “daycare-itis”.  I’m really not kidding when I say that you’ve been sick from May of 2009 to May of 2010.  It’s been one respiratory illness after another, with a few stomach viruses (during which you puked all over Mama…another story for another time) thrown in for good measure.  Needless to say, you weren’t able to express when you didn’t feel good, which left the guessing game up to, you guessed it, Mommy and Daddy.  Talk about TOUGH.  “Maybe she has an earache.  Do you think she has an earache?” “Shall we call the doctor again?” “Knock on wood quick because right now her nose isn’t running and her chest isn’t clogged with  mucus!” “Oh wait, I spoke too soon.” Rough.  Guessing is ROUGH.

So, now you can start to tell me when you don’t feel good or have an owwie, which makes me happy because Baby Girl, you were recently diagnosed with Juvenile Inflammatory Arthritis (JIA), also known as Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA).  What we thought was a swollen knee due to your propensity for exploration and rough play and likely knee tweak, we were told was not.  Instead, our clinical diagnosis from both the pediatric orthopedist and pediatric rheumatologist was JIA.  I’m going to tell you now Ani, it broke our hearts to hear this.  I cried A LOT (poor Dr. Doyle) and Daddy processed this information a lot (he’s a processor – you’ll see when you’re older).

Now let’s be clear.  You’ve been diagnosed with Pauciarticular JIA, which as Daddy put it, is not the best diagnosis, but it’s not the worst either.  You also tested positive on the ANA blood test, which as I understand, means that you have a higher propensity to have optic nerve inflammation.  Again, not great.  BUT.  With proper and regular care from both your pediatric rheumatologist and pediatric ophthalmologist and medication, your prognosis is for a perfectly normal childhood.  This makes me happy because I want nothing more than a NORMAL childhood for you.

Mommy and Daddy will be giving you two shots once a week for the medication that will help keep your childhood normal.  I only mention this because when you get older, I want you to know how extremely difficult it was for Daddy and me to do anything that knowingly hurts you, even if its only for a few seconds, even if it’s only to make you ultimately feel better.  Baby, we were crying right along with you.  I hated then, and hate now, thinking that you might be even the slightest bit confused about why we would do something that causes you pain.  Please know throughout your life, because I’m sure at many different points you’ll think that we’re inflicting pain on purpose, that we would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. We want what is ultimately best for you and sometimes that seems to be masked in brief moments of pain, like it is with these shots.

At some point down the road, you might ask if we second guessed the diagnosis and the treatment we are giving you.  Of course we did.  You couldn’t, and to some extent, still can’t express the kind of pain you’re in, so all we (and your doctors) had/have to go on was observation and testing.  Like I said, guessing is ROUGH.

So you see Ani, I’m happy that you are able to start expressing when you have an owwie, even though most of the time, it’s just a scrape on a knee, leg or hand.  It helps Mommy and Daddy know that they are doing the best that they can for you and THAT is the ONLY thing we want.

Love you Baby Girl.

Mommy

Sweetness.

I’m back!

I guess to say that it’s been a while is a bit of an understatement, right?  So, knowing that there are probably ZERO people currently viewing this blog, why bother to update?  Lets just say that I’ve been inspired and amazed by quite a few bloggers lately.  Women who, for one reason or another, have opened the most personal aspects of their lives up for public consumption.  And I do mean personal…intensely personal.  I keep thinking how cathartic it must be to  put your thoughts down on “paper” (digital paper, yes I know.).  And how completely cool for your kids to one day be able to see their parents thoughts and feelings of the moment, as well as the dreams and aspirations they held for their kids. All in all, things that are pretty personal, but also things that you want your kids to some day know about you.  I mean, there’s a reason that we ask our grandparents to talk about “the yesteryears” and record them doing so. So, the fact that nobody is reading this is actually ok for me.  As long as Ani (and any other future children) someday see it.  Call it my personal place to think things through and talk to my kid(s).  On digital paper.  That maybe a few other people might see.

So.  How to catch up for nearly a year’s worth of non-blogging.  How about don’t try?!  It’s been a long, crazy year, full of ups and downs, but aren’t they all?  Ani, my sweet girl, you are 18 months and have grown so much and are just thriving, despite some pretty nasty upper respiratory illnesses, pretty much from May of 2009 to now.  You gave us a HUGE scare in February, contracting RSV, a temp which spiked to 105 and breathing that was labored.  Fortunately, we were able to work through it with a fabulous new pediatrician, Dr. Angela Redmond, who loves you!

I might have RSV, but I'm still pretty happy!

You love your school, Crestline Early Learning Center.   Your teacher is Ms. Rina and her name was one of your first words, outside of Mama and Daddy (natch).  Your second word might just have been J.D. and Aubrey – the two little boys in your class that are your first boyfriends, but I suspect very far from the last.

Right now, your favorite place to be is outside, whether that means sitting in the stroller while mom runs, running around the yard, talking a ride in your car, or playing on the playground.

Watching the Indy Cars. Outside.

The entire ride to school, you look out the window, intermittently saying “aap-pee”, which is code for airplane.  I know Grandpa LOVES that you are so into aap-pee’s.  One of my most favorite things that you do, also in the car on the way to school, is hold your hand up and urgently “mmm, mmm, mmm” until I wedge my hands between the front seats and rotate my shoulder in ways it should never be rotated to hold your hand all the way to school.  I may have permanent damage to my shoulder but it is so totally worth it.

Sweet girl, you are headstrong and stubborn, but still manage to be sweet and loving.  As you come from a long line of stubborn, it doesn’t phase me or Daddy in the least and we suspect, it will serve you well in the future.

Sweet Girl.

Tonight, you woke up while Daddy and I were in your room checking on you.  You wanted me to rock you back to sleep, snuggled against me with your head on my shoulder.  After a while, you switched positions to where I could watch your face as I rocked you.  I just kept thinking, “I know I’m tired.  I know I have to wake up at 4:30am to catch a 6:25am flight, but right now, I could stay here forever.  I’m so lucky I got to be Ani’s mama.”

Ani, this life is not always easy.  It’s full of twists, turns, and surprises you could never expect, anticipate, or sometimes, even want…but on the flip side, it’s also full of unexpected moments of pure joy, clarity of purpose and unequaled thrills.  Life IS a mess of problems but joy is always, always, always found in the midst.

Baths are happy time!

I love  you beyond words sweet baby girl.

Pretty Baby, Talented Daddy

So, on Stuart’s 31st birthday last year, I got laid off. As a result, poor Stuart didn’t have much of a birthday, what with thoughts of recessions, job losses, a flood of layoffs in the market, a new baby and budgets. Keep in mind that this is the birthday after his 30th, where we had to basically rebuild the front end of our car after an animal/car incident on the way home from a football game. That one wasn’t much of a birthday either. SO, in effort to make up for the lack of birthdays and to celebrate his fabulous daddydom (and because I have a friend at Nikon, THANKS JAC!), Stuart got a Nikon D60 for Father’s Day. Now granted, Stuart is a gadget sort of guy, but I really hope that the Nikon will foster a good hobby for him because he really is talented at taking pictures – the majority of what you see on our blog is just from a point and shoot and his handiwork! SO – the camera came with the request that he also take a class to learn about the camera and further foster his talent. I’m excited for him and for us!

One VERY hot Sunday, a couple weeks ago, Stuart, Ani and I went to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and he took what you see below. Good huh?!

A Rose in the Roses

This is the bench where Stuart and I took our engagement picture

So I Creep! (For All You TLC Fans)

Here are the pics I promised!

Taking off to the cat food bowl.

What?!

Did I mention that I started standing too?

Takin' Curly for a walk.

Bathtime bonus pics below!

Soaped up!

Yo Dad. No more pics.

DAAAAAAAADDDDDDDD!

Houston, We Have A Crawler!

WE DO, WE DO, WE DO!!!

After WEEKS of trying, Little Miss Ani has FINALLY put two (legs) and two (arms) together! Granted, she full on crawls with one leg and the other kinda acts like a spring, BUT, she can get anywhere her little heart desires under her own steam! Thankfully, right now, that’s still in eye-shot of Mommy and Daddy, but still! She’s crawling!

Pics to come in a later post…

Nash, Natch.

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT ANI’S DADDY AND MOMMY, WITH MINIMAL MENTION OF ANI. IF YOU PREFER TO HEAR ONLY ABOUT THE SWEET BABY AND NOT THE BIG PEOPLE, SKIP THIS POST ALTOGETHER.

Ah, Nashville. How I miss thee… Your Music Row with all manner of bars to be had. Your western wear store next to the 80′s/90′s dance club. Your tricked out F250′s bouncin’ down Broadway next to your Cadillac Escalades with spinners. Your Country Music Hall of Fame (where yes, both Stuart and I did learn a thing or two). Your Ryman Auditorium, also the home of your Grand Ole’ Opry. Your fabulous arena, where you so kindly hosted a great Coldplay show. Your Black 13 Tattoo shop… Wait, what’s that you say? A tattoo shop? Close to music row? Close to the hotel that Stuart and Christina stayed in? Too close in fact for them to avoid?

My baby's first. I'm so proud.

Can't see what it is? I'll never tell!

Oh, yes. Nashville was a good time. And don’t worry. We were completely rational when we got these. We both just really wanted them and have been plotting them for a while. What better time to do it than on a fun trip, in a great place, with your hubby?! (Don’t worry mom. Nobody can see it unless I chose to show it! And yes, I’m sure it doesn’t come off.)

Tatts aside, we had a FAB time. We really did. It was a little crazy to not have baby big head with us (seriously, the noggin’ is huge!), but we managed. After’s Friday’s fun at Black 13, Saturday found us up early, walking music row. We decided to be uber-tourists, so we headed to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. You know what?!  It was GREAT. I really loved it and learned stuff. Like Hank  Williams, Sr. (not Jr.) had spina bifida, which is likely why he started the whole drinking thing. Like Hank Williams, Jr. almost died falling down some sort of mountain in the 70′s. Like Kitty Wells is the “Queen of Country”. Like Elvis had a, not kidding, car with paint that had crushed diamonds and gold in the paint. And like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill contributed to the museum. And judging by the size of their name on the donor list, A LOT. What can I say? I expanded my mind and musical knowledge, all in two short hours.

Sunday, Popcorn, Gmas/Gpas... It's either Hee Haw or Lawrence Welk.

GGGOOOOLLLLL...D.

After that mind broadening experience, we headed to the Ryman Auditorium and darn it if we didn’t learn some more! Primarily that it almost got torn down, that Minnie Pearl (my fave on Hee Haw) was a rich girl in real life, that the price tag on her hat happened as a fluke but became her signature, that her plaque in the aforementioned Hall of Fame has no deceased date because “Minnie Pearl will never die”, that you can go down the alley next to the auditorium on show night and perhaps catch your big break like The Everly Brothers (I suspect you have to have singing talent, though. I’m a bit lacking in that department), that if you don’t get the tour that includes the backstage bit, you’re paying $12 too much, but again, stuff learned! Oh, and I REALLY, REALLY want to go to a Grand Ole’ Opry show.

A man who missed his calling.

Oh, and Hatch Show Prints. Really, really want a room in our future home to be decorated in all Hatch Show Prints.

After all that learning, Stuart and I had to go back to the hotel and let our brains rest. THEN, FINALLY, the piece de resistance of the day.  COLDPLAY! We took off a couple hours before the show, headed to the bar across the street and enjoyed a few cold brews (cheaper there than inside the stadium!), enjoyed major people watching (frat boys, southern belles, cowboys, oh my!), and then headed on over. I’ve got to say, the….show….was….SUPERFABULOUS. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to go to a show where you know pretty much ALL the songs. I mean, bad voice aside, I’m a singer  And certainly a singer where the good voices drown out my own. What can I say? I felt like a dancing AND singing queen that night. Good stuff.

VIVA LA VIDA BABY!

Sun and beer soaked at the show.

Gonna Be A…

LONG WEEK. After a long short week last week, this week promises to be the never-ending one. Here is a list of the week’s events: Tuesday – Ani goes to Mimi and Granddad’s for a Cove vacation; Wednesday – Christina goes to Houston for work; Thursday – Christina, having stayed the night in Houston, drives to Beaumont, Texas for a client event, then drives back to Houston to catch the 5:55 PM flight back to Birmingham; Friday – Stuart and Christina head to Nashville for a weekend away and to see Coldplay (floor seats, woo hoo!); Sunday – Stuart and Christina head back to Birmingham, picking up Ani at the Cove; Sunday night – get ready to do it all over again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally excited about next weekend and happy that Ani gets to spend time with Mimi and Granddad. Friday just seems like a long way off!

If you’re wondering how Ani is faring on the growing department, she’s really getting HUGE. I mean, she’s probably around 19 pounds now. I think that the jarred baby food is helping her pack on the pounds. Other than that, she’s a babbler these days, but has also discovered her screaming voice. Let me just tell you how fun that can be. Bored? Scream. Don’t want Mommy and Daddy to make you sit in a restaurant? Scream. Need some attention? Scream. Don’t like that mac ‘n cheese with veggies jarred food? Scream (and then gag yourself as an added bonus). Really can’t stand the car seat when you’re forced back in it on a hot day after being out shopping? Scream loudly ALL THE WAY HOME.

But I digress. She really is a sweet thing. She’s SO SO SO close to learning how to crawl! When we put her on the bed on her tummy, she gets her little legs under her and props her arms like she’s really going to do it then at the last minute, she drops her arms, her face goes to the bed and her legs start pushing, dragging her face along the bed. HILARIOUS. If she’s sitting on the floor, she’ll bend from the waist, get her legs positioned, then freak out at the last minute and go back to sitting. Personally, I think that’s she’s just waiting to walk and to heck with it on crawling. She is taking steps, in fact, will walk from her room to the living room, with Mom and Dad’s hands and some encouragement.
Oh, and she now knows how to clap. SO CUTE.

On the food front, here’s what we now like: green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash (sometimes and in small quantities), mixed veggies, bananas and mixed berries, apples, bananas with granola, vanilla custard with bananas, turkey with rice, mac ‘n cheese, ham (sorta), turkey with veggies, mixed berry yogurt melts (BIG LOVE). What we find really funny is that if Any doesn’t like a certain food, she will literally gag herself. We’re talking tongue out, gagging sound, mouth wide open, food dripping out. It’s really a sight to behold.
Phew. OK. I think we’re all caught up!

I'm a monkey!

Daddy and I gardening today!

Still Catchin’ Up

Have I mentioned the other reason why I haven’t updated the post in quite a while?! Oh yeah! The BIG secret! My mom turns 70 tomorrow. To celebrate such an auspicious event, Stuart, Ani and I all took off from Birmingham exactly one week ago today to surprise her! If the mouth hanging open for all of ten minutes was any indication, she was floored. It was great. Both brothers, sister-in-laws and an assortment of niece (just one!) and nephews (two, soon to be three) were there and of course, Poppy. Little did mom know that the second surprise of the day was family pictures in our backyard, followed by a BBQ the next day. We all had a great time. Ani enjoyed getting to meet her uncles, aunts and cousins, and Stuart and I just enjoyed getting to spend a couple days in Oregon. As Dave T put it, “Your mom is the hottest 70 year old I’ve ever seen!” Happy Birthday mom!

I’m sure you’re all wondering – the plane trip. Um, can you say long? Both Stuart and I just knew that people were looking at us walking down the aisle in the plane for the 4.5-hour trip from Atlanta going “Please God, don’t let them be sitting by me”. After having gotten up at 2:30 AM Sunday morning only to leave at 7:30 AM Wednesday morning, needless to say, we are ALL still recovering. For her part though, Ani did pretty well. She totally lost it flying over Hood River on the descent into Portland, but I suspect ears for that. Other than that, she got bored and fussy at points, but then again, I get bored on that trip! Fortunately for Ani, she’s pretty darn cute, so people let her get away with a lot. I suspect that will happen a lot in her life.

Anyway, the pics!

Cousin Cooper and Ani - did I mention she's tired?

Chad, Dave, Nick and Craig.

Hot 70-year-old, 3rd from left.

Bearded Dad!

Did I mention we were tired?