14 Months

Dear Annie,
For some reason blogger refuses to let me upload pictures right now, so for now I can't add pictures of you balancing precariously on various chairs and toys, which seems to be your favorite new trick. Of course, we are constantly trying to get you to sit on your bottom in the chairs, and you usually comply, after giving us a wicked little grin. You seem to have recovered from your double super nasty ear infection, or at least you are now eating and sleeping normally. I have learned that the curse of the new mother is that you have very little wisdom from experience. I have been frantic about your sleep and convinced that none of us will ever sleep through the night again but then once the infection was gone, you were fine. Almost instantly. I think second time Moms know this. They know that almost everything, both good and bad, is temporary when it comes to these babes. When you have never been through it before, it seems to be so concrete and permanent, like there's no way anyone will recover. But you do, and we do, and we all move forward. I will try to remember this more as you continue to grow.

But for the same reasons, I think first time Moms have a little bit easier being "in the moment". I don't know what it's like to have a 2 year old that can talk, so I don't look forward to any of those future stages. I just love where you are right now. We don't know anything else. And right now you are officially walking 100% of the time, you wobble around with precarious speed, you have a wonderful sense of humor and have learned to laugh on cue. You know your belly button and are inclined to show it to just about anyone that takes the time to look your direction. You also have found your nostril and love nothing more than to stick your finger up there. You now have FOUR top teeth, though we rarely get a good look at them. There might be more up there but you won't let me look. You WILL let me cut your nails now, which is a huge relief. You even crawled up into my lap yesterday with your baby nail clippers and let me get a few. Fingers are easier than toes, but you have yet to scratch me with your toenails, so this is fine.

You are still in size 4 diapers, you still prefer milk from a bottle but will drink water from a sippy cup like a champ. You know that you can get snacks from both the deli section and the bakery at the grocery store, and get very confused when those snacks are not received. Your hair is still blond and curly and I still haven't figured out exactly what to do with the curls. Most of the time they look crazy despite my best efforts. Aunt Lynnie, our resident expert on all things curly, has advised me to finger curl your hair, but there simply isn't enough or I am doing it wrong. Likely the latter. Hopefully she can give me some tips when we see her in September.

The one good thing that came from the great ear infection is you seem to be a bit more cuddly. You will crawl into my lap now with a book and actually sit through a reading (or two, which is dictated by you slamming the book closed and then reopening it back to the beginning). You have started playing Hide and Seek with us, making one of us "hide" with you while the other seeks. You have not mastered the art of being quiet while hiding, and your shrieking with glee always gives you away.

You love your bunny and you love the binkie more than I would like, but it's not a battle I am looking to fight right now. You love Danimal yogurts and cheese. You love bath time with Daddy and playing "where are you" with bunny. You love the movie "How to Train Your Dragon", which still surprises me. I think it's because you can relate to the main dragon, Toothless.

In 20 years I want to remember your sweet new voice saying "peese"(please) and "dis" (this) when you want something. I want to remember your sly grin when you are testing our boundaries. I want to remember your "uh OHHHH" when you throw your binkie out of the crib. I want to remember your arms up, straight leg zombie walk around and around in the house and how you never.ever.seem to get tired from walking. I want to remember how you make the "eek eeek" noise, which is our sign to brush the teeth. I want to remember how we sing "bears are now asleep..shhh shhh shhh" when we are trying to be quiet, and how you touch the tip of your index finger to the roof of your mouth when we shhhhh. I want to remember how tough you are and how you rarely cry, except for if you bonk your face. Anything else seems to be no big deal. I want to remember how fearless you are around water and how much you enjoy it, even if it is splashing right in your mug. I want to remember how you play with the two tags on bunny when you start to get tired, especially since those tags are not long for this world as you have started biting at them with your six big teeth. I want to remember how I can get you to eat pretty much anything as long as it is on my plate. Once it hits your tray, there's zero interest. I want to remember how sweet your little hand feels around my index finger as we walk around, especially since you seem to need my hand less and less.

I want to remember everything. We love you so much, sweet girl.

Love,
Mom

Updates

It's been a busy summer! The Hagemann clan returned from their Michigan trip just in time for swimming finals. Parker swam in the freestyle and butterfly and kicked booty in both races. It was so wonderful to see how happy racing made her.

Though racing makes her happy, photos by her aunt....not so much.

Due to an unfortunate disqualification, Chloe was not racing. Webster Waves' loss was Annie's gain and she got to play with the big girls while we were waiting for Parker to race.

Hiding under the umbrella

Inevitable skinned knee incurred while learning to run/walk in flip-flops.

The whole night it looked like it was going to rain, but it never happened. But, thanks to the rain somewhere ELSE, it was a delightful 95 degrees. It's a strange world when 95 is a relief.

Endangered

Dear Baby Appetite Reducing Ear Infection,
If you cause the premature disappearance of Annie's invisible wrist band and "sugar bowls", I will hunt you down and kill you.


Band still somewhat intact. Have you ever tried to get a clear shot of a 13 month old's hands? Not easy.

Unless you temporarily zombi-fy them with a Disney flick, in which case they will lay their little hands with still intact sugar bowls (what my grandmother called the little knuckle-dimples) on the table for a whole 4 minutes until they are distracted again.

So back to the threats.

You better let our girl get her appetite back soon or I will start a campaign to eradicate you from this earth. Sure, curing the world of ear infections isn't as dire as testicle cancer, but this too is serious business. I will make bracelets and create a catchy slogan. Ribbons will be worn. 5ks will be walked. By others.

You have been warned.

Night Moves

The Double Super Duper Ear Infection I mentioned yesterday is slowly rocking our world. At least our night-time world. Before you say anything, I know. I know Rick and I are lucky to have such a wonderful sleeper and we should be thankful and yadayada. Believe me, I know and we REALLY are thankful that under normal circumstances she is probably the easiest baby around, short of a robot baby. And I would worry that a robot baby would be constantly plotting against me, so really she's just about perfect.

Where was I? Oh yes, the sleep. We've had a rough few nights. Yes. A few. Well, two really. I know. I am horrible. But it's really Annie's fault for getting us all used to those good night sleeps. Is it too much to ask for a little consistency from this 13 month old?

Kidding, obviously (hopefully it's obvious-and only kidding about the consistency part). Annie has had some trouble sleeping, though I can't say I blame her. I will say I have somewhat selfishly enjoyed the part where I get to hold her and rock her to sleep. And the part where she's extra cuddly and will actually let me HOLD her for more than 3.5 seconds is also pretty great. BUT...

...let's just say that the holding has it's consequences. Particularly late at night.

Just last night, around midnight, I was holding my sweet daughter. Her head resting in the crook of my arm. Tears were welling up in my eyes as I looked at this sweet thing that Rick and I created. Her eyes grew heavy as she reached up with her hand to touch my face. Unbelievable sweetness. Her hand moved to my chin as she seemed to be sort of exploring my face in the dark room. Then the fingers on the hand started tapping my lips, all still very sweet. We were bonding in these moments.

Then she started tugging on my lip. Her eyes still partially closed, apparently drifting off to sleep.

ok. Whatever she needs to fall asleep.

Fingers (with those razor sharp nails because her cousins have gone on vacation so I can't cut them, and I have been left with Annie Scissor Hands) start reaching into my mouth. Strange. A bit painful, but whatever. I can take it. She still seems to be almost asleep.

Next thing I know, somehow her thumb is jammed 100% up my nose, and her remaining four fingers have taken ahold of my top lip and those nails seem to be about to rip my upper lip from my face. I look down and I see two bright eyes shining up at me, and a big smile behind that binkie.

I push her hand away but try to remain calm. Hand goes right back to my face, but this time with her palm flat over my mouth, index finger digging into the tip of my nose.

And so it went, on and off, for an hour an a half. Annie likely has a significant amount of my skin cells under her nails, if anyone needs a sample. But we bonded for sure. I will have the scars to prove it.

Fun times two

Annie has had a bit of a runny nose for the last week. I attributed it to the fact that it appears that all of her teeth are coming in at once. Then there was about a 12 hour fever on Wednesday, but teething can give you a fever too, no? So I chalked that up to the teeth too. She had been a bit crabby at night, but we had been busy and I thought it was from being kept up a bit too late.

But then she woke up on Saturday morning and was digging in her ear. Digging like there were yogurt-covered car keys in there (her two favorite things). I was convinced it was nothing, and this was supported by the fact that she stopped shortly after she started. The Mom Paranoia crept in and I made an appointment to get her in on Saturday for my own peace of mind.

We hauled ourselves to the doctor and waited to get the green light to resume our weekend. Quick check in the ears and then the verdict.

Doc: She's got a double ear infection.
Internal dialogue: Crap. Here's where she hits the Child Protective Services button and I get my Mom Card pulled. Double is extra-bad. Double trouble. Double meat/double cheese. Double pinky swear. All mean extra serious business.
Me: Oh no! So it's worse than a normal ear infection? How does that happen? Should I have brought her in sooner? Is there anything that can be done? (back of hand to forehead; swooning may have been involved)
Doc: It just means it's in both ears.

I am no doctor, but they probably could have come up with a less dramatic name for that one.

4th of July

I don't know if any of you noticed, but it's a little warm out. Like, burn yourself with the metal part of the seatbelt-hot. Melted chapstick flowing from the tube-hot. Our yard looks like it was set on fire but it wasn't-hot. We will pay out the nose for AC and it still won't get below 77 in our ancient uninsulated house-hot. You get the picture.

I was excited that Annie was old enough this year to potentially celebrate the 4th instead of being a sleepy little raisin she was last year, where I was terrified to take her outside in weather like this. Unfortunately, I was still pretty worried, but she seemed to tolerate it well and we managed to get in a few fun activities in between cooling off periods.

We attended the Webster 4th of July parade. Our trusty-dusty fan kept her breezy and somewhat happy. The shades have become one of her favorite things and she insists on wearing them if I have my sunglasses on. She will also put them on the top of her head like Mom. It's pretty stinking cute. We spotted our neighbors in a shady spot, so we glommed on to them right quick and that made the thing tolerable. For a bit, at least.

We met this little fella and climbed up into his wagon for a bit. He shared his raisins and goldfish. It was all very civil. Until it wasn't....and Annie was lunging at him to try and steal his water bottle. Thank the sweet Lord for child restraints.

Daddy and Annie walked around to admire all the fun stuff going on.

Annie gets held like a football. Here's a fun fact: Annie really doesn't like to be held. At all. So when you try to hold her, she will flip her legs back in an effort to break free. This will inevtiably result in her being carried like this. Good times. She also appears to have her Mom's curse of the "red face". Sorry, darling. But if you play your cards right, you might be able to get out of finishing the mile run during the Presidential Fitness testing if you fake passing out. The red face will make it all look very real. A tip from me to you. You're welcome.

We then took the neighbors up on an offer to see how the other half lives at a local country club. Annie loved every minute of it and made all the ladies jealous by how she fills out her suit. Don't hate.

It was a wonderful island of fun in the middle of the week. I am thankful it was only one day because a gal can't handle that much action for two days in a row. 

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

It's official! Liza/Shisha and David are engaged! It's been about a week since it happened but I have been waiting to announce the big news to avoid people hearing about it via the blog. Though I doubt anyone is coming to this blog for current Harkins/Erwin/Loyd family news. 

The cute couple.

They are looking at an October (yes, this October) wedding and it will be at City Museum (see, Ricker, I left of the "the" just for you...MWAH). And to be clear, there is no other reason for the rushed nuptuals other than these two are in a rush to be husband and wife! Get your mind out of the gutter. Can you blame them? I mean, look at 'em.

Meanwhile, I have shifted into full-on Frahnk (Father of the Bride reference) mode, which I reserve specifically for when one of my sisters gets married. As the last time Frahnk came out it was 2001, he's ready and raring to go. I have told Shish that we need a safeword for when I start to overstep. She insisted that wouldn't be the case and refused to come up with a word. So it's left to me. That word will be "ketchup".

So while I might not be able to tie a bow, I am an expert internet searcher, scheduler, and logistical guru, so hopefully I will be able to pull my own weight as a sister of the bride. And the fact that my husband is the director of the venue doesn't hurt much either.

On top of everything else, this means there is one more male to be added to this sea of estrogen. Welcome to the family, Uncle David!