HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY ANNA BANANA!!!!

July 25th was the big day! It was wonderful with so much happiness and so many mixed emotions. We started the day with our Friday trip to Stroller Fit where Anna brought a birthday treat of her beloved Mum-Mums crackers to all of her baby friends. We then headed home for nap time and awoke to toys, Daddy, great first birthday gifts, birthday dinner of pasta and watermelon, and a wonderful walk with her favorite doggy.

Mommy had her heart set on a doll named Anna for Anna's first birthday gift and Daddy was set on a basketball hoop and a play tunnel/tent. She loved it all but after "kissing" her baby doll, she went right back to b-ball. That's our girl!

WOW! Has it been that long?.....

The answer is yes. It's been a VERY LONG TIME since this blog has seen any activity. If we still have visitors left, here are the much anticipated updates of our lives. I'm sure you are all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting.

The last post said that our baby niece and cousin Myla was born. She's such a cutie! We were able to take a trip to South Bend late June and we also saw her this past weekend here in town for her Baptism. It's such an exciting time to watch your siblings become parents - and Matthew and Kasey make fantastic ones!!! We can't wait to see her again in the fall and also to stay updated via the web cam.

We took Anna to Myrtle Beach with Matt's family mid-June. What a moment to witness your child seeing the amazement of the ocean for the first time. Even at her young age of 11 months, Anna was in awe of the water. She absolutely loved touching her feet and hands in the waves with Daddy and had so much fun splashing in the pool. She didn't care for sitting in the sand too much, but we managed to get a few pictures before a wave came and knocked her over (oops!). She also was a very big girl on the airplane and did quite well (of course her parents are to be credited for the good baby that everyone dreams of traveling with =)

Another big event would have to be Anna's first Fourth of July celebration. Last year she definitely experienced Uncle Andrew's fireworks as she kicked mommy very hard during the display. However, this year she got to fully appreciate this grand American holiday.....from inside the family room door cuddled very close to mommy. She didn't mind them so much when she didn't have to stand right next to them and hear the loud bangs. She was a trooper and managed just fine. We headed up to the Independence Independence Day (not a typo) parade on the 5th with "the girls" (Indi included) and they both loved it. Indi especially enjoyed the dog treats that the float-riders kindly threw to her. Anna loved waving her blue and silver pinwheel. Definitely good ole' fashioned USA fun!

Finally, to Myla's Aunt Kelly: I hope this helps catch you up =) Thanks for the encouragement to jump back on the train!

"The decision to have a child is to accept that your heart will forever walk about outside of your body." -Katherine Hadley-

Matthew and Kasey welcomed our newest little miracle, Myla James Blazejewski Thursday, June 5 at 10:31 pm. What a blessing and what a beauty. I'll be sure to post some pictures as they're passed to me until we make our own trip to South Bend in a few weeks to meet her.

Congratulations Matthew, Kasey, and Myla! Your life is forever changed for the better...and the best!

How Baby Anna Greets Her Daddy...

Anna's walking all around with help from her post office walker. She delivers her mail and waits for her favorite part of her day: when she gets to greet her Daddy. Isn't this picture so funny and so cute?! She's such a peanut and looks so tiny when she's walking. A momentous occasion happened today in the walking arena - Anna stood by herself for about 5 seconds---yay!!!! Our life is just getting fun...... =)

The BEST Sound EVER......

(click below)

We're Slackers...

We have been snapping pictures of Anna since day one. Tons and tons....and tons and tons. We get every angle, every pose, adorable pictures and we used to race home to upload them and post to the blog. My dad would laugh and joke that we take too many pictures and should be careful b/c it will fade out with the 2nd, 3rd, and so on. I think we've begun hitting that phase already. We burned ourselves out in the beginning and now we are officially slacking.

We have tons to catch up on!

First, some of Anna's new tricks.....

She loves the walker. It buys us some time to get things done now and it will keep her busy for about 10 minutes (which is a long time in baby minutes). It's great because we can take her on the deck and the driveway and she can entertain herself.

Anna is excellent at pulling herself up now. She is very fast and thankfully hasn't become a climber yet, but she is full force into the exploring stage. She knows what she isn't supposed to go for, ie. the tv, Indi's water, cords, but of course it has become a cute little game where she gives us her sweet little smile and heads right for the forbidden object laughing the whole time. Her new thing is to pull herself up on the cabinet/hutch and hold onto each handle. You can just see her mind churning as she tries to decide which handle to let go of first to ease her fall.

Hats! She has a love-hate relationship. Anna loves grabbing them and putting them on but then she'll use all her might to make sure she rips it off. The sun hats are adorable on her and she's pretty good with them if we distract her while we put them on. It's become a real treat taking walks now when you combine her love for throwing things from her stroller and her love for ripping off her hat. Yesterday, we got halfway up a street and I noticed a tiny red thing in the corner of the street. She smiled at me when I asked her about it =)

Anna's second trip to Keeneland

(We heard her up late with Indi the night before. They were calling Grandpa trying to get tips on Dreaming of Anna. Almost Grandpa!)

Do you wanna go to the zoo Anna? Do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya?

Those are the lyrics to a sweet little song on a personalized CD that Anna has. It's so cute - they sing "Anna" in every song! Anyway, we get to sing that song often now that we have our zoo passes. We've headed over with the hypnobabies and also just for a mommy-daughter date. Anna absolutely loves it! It's so great to watch your baby learn the world around them. She soaks eveything in when we are there and loves the colors, the noises, the people, and of course the animals. We're so excited to be able to spend some fun moments there this summer.

Daddy and Uncle Jonathan Run the Flying Pig

Anna got to watch her Daddy run his third marathon over Derby weekend. She was so proud of him and her uncle and absolutely loved the crowds and cheering. She studied the medal pretty closely in hopes of earning one herself someday. Her favorite part was definitley dressing up in her Nike outfit to head out and support the runners.

Our Little Athlete

We don't mean to brag, but Anna already has an amazing athletic streak in her. She's fast on the crawl, she loves to chase Indi, she's flexible, she can fly, and she has a great shot. We're starting her on a strict training program early. Enjoy the video! (It's from March Madness; Anna was feeling inspired)