Happy 1st Birthday, Anora!

It's hard to believe Anora is already one year old! 

 

On her real birthday we went to the Pacific Science Center with Aunt Amy, Uncle Aaron, cousins Lexi & Ava, Uncle Mike and Gammy & Grandpa Meier!  She loved playing and splashing in the water and the butterfly exhibit. 

Checking out the dinosaurs!

We loved the Pompeii experience.  Here we are running from the volcano - bahahaha!

The next day was her birthday party at The Great Wolf Lodge!  She celebrated with the family and her friends came too. Eleanor brought her parents, Stella brought her mom, and Shayli & Aliyah brought their parents too!  She loved playing with all of them.  But, she was having so much fun, she decided she wasn't in the mood to smash her cake!  I had made a (weird looking) lamb cake that had colorful layers inside.  We only saw the inside when we cut into it and let Ava and Lexi eat it the next day :) 

Crazy lamby cake

My birthday cake making helpers :)

The princess on her throne.

Party people.

The girls loved the balloons!

Anora decided to wake up SUPER early on Sunday morning, so momma took her exploring around The Lodge.

We spent a lot of time in the arcade.

 We had such a fun time!  It was so special to have family in town for her big day and to have friends to celebrate with.  Thanks for making this lil gals day so special. xo

She loves her cousin Lexi!

 

Aunt Amy singing songs to Anora!

Here are her 1 year stats...
Height : 28.75" - 31.69%
Weight: 17 lbs 10 oz - 16.71%
HC : 44.5cm - 37.13%

Using a walker...

Anora likes to use anything she can push around to stay on two feet. 

Just an update on our gal!

Well, this little lady is becoming more like a toddler each day!  Anora can now stand unassisted for a decent amount of time and can walk around the house with her walker.  Periodically she lets go to stand and clap.  It's my favorite.  She does a lot with her hands - she can clap, point, wave, blow kisses and do 'all done'.  She's also learning how to point to her nose, eyes, and mouth.  Her eating is still hot and cold. Most of the time she won't eat more than a few bites of anything except puffs, crackers, or bread.  Tonight we had a good night and she ate tons of peas and carrot/apple sauce!  Yay for veggies!  Her night time sleep has improved to the determent of her day time naps, but I'll take it!!!  She often sleeps through the night (with the exception of this last week since she's been sick). Her naps on the other hand have gone from 3-4 naps, to 2 naps lasting 45 minutes (if we are lucky!).  She will sit in her crib and cuddle and play with her lamb for an hour and never close those peepers!  Clearly she is growing up, because despite some fussiness, she really is handling less sleep pretty darn well.  She smiles and giggles tons through the day.  I love working and hearing her laugh and play with our nanny, Yeni.  Her and Eleanor are interacting more - Anora is learning to share her toys, stick her finger in Eleanor's mouth, and crawl together (E can crawl now!).  Anora loves to watch E move around and thinks she is very funny.  I'm so glad they have each other :) It's always fun with this little gal around.

 

Happy New Year!

As we just wrapped up 2014 I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the highlights this year brought. 

** Late pregnancy and the gift of my mother's visit for a whole month!
**Bringing our little Anora Sun into the world.  She is the biggest blessing of my life and she brightens each day.
**Anora's baptism - I had seen this day in my mind before her arrival, so the day was even more meaningful** The whole Meier family of 7 visiting SEATTLE!  Never saw that one coming, but I'm so grateful it did!
**Both the Egan side and Meier side of the family really came through for us and visited multiple times and we are so blessed for the efforts made to see us and meet our little gal!
**Getting to experience motherhood with my sister, Amy, has been such a highlight for me this year and has created a special bond. 
**Seeing Ben as a Papa has been beautiful and heart warming :-)
**Experiencing parenthood has been both challenging and funny!
**We are so grateful for the treasures 2014 brought and look forward to many more to come in 2015!

Top Tooth, almost ready to munch on Christmas cookies!

Anora has been hard core teething for the past several weeks.  We can see lots of bumps where her teeth will be popping through.  Just a couple days ago (12/15/14) her top right tooth came barreling through and is totally visible!  Her smile is completely adorable with these mini teeth.  She is starting to look more and more like a little girl and less like a baby - Wahh! :(

She is going through a bit of a stranger danger phase and is a bit clingy to mom and dad.  This can be hard for me during the day when I'm working because she will cry for me if she hears my voice.  If I go down and pick her up she immediately stops crying and is ready to play. Then the instant I even consider going back upstairs, her sixth sense kicks in and she climbs all over me to stay.  Mostly I love it, but it's challenging when I have a lot to do.

We are so excited to celebrate Christmas with Anora this year.  She really loves her plush nativity scene from Gammy and discovering the tree.  More than anything she wants to plug and unplug the Christmas lights. She did help us set up the tree and waved at the new decorations as she noticed them.

9 months

Anora turned 9 months old on Thanksgiving day!  We spent it with her cousins in Utah and had such a blast.  We got to join the Schauers clan at the ultrasound that revealed my sister was going to have a BOY!!!  Everyone was so excited, especially Lexi who could hardly bare the wait!  She was especially anxious when the baby's legs were crossed at first.  Oh the agony of anticipation!! We felt so special to have the chance to join them and find out first.  SO fun!

On thanksgiving day we went over to Aunt Wendy's house to enjoy a tasty meal with most of the Schauers family.  It is so fun to be there and I can't wait until Anora is old enough to run around and play with the other kids.  It was a beautiful day and we even got to spend some of thanksgiving outside playing in the leaves. 

 

 On Friday we ventured to the HOT SPRINGS for a day of swimming and soaking.  There were several pools that ranged from freezing, to bath water, to hots-ey tots-ey (as Lexi called it).  Then we had a good down home meal at a steak house that had delicious rolls!

 Saturday was especially exciting for me because I got to hang with my big sis while the boys watched the girls.  We went shopping at the outlets for a few hours and found some cute cloths for the girls and for baby boy!  We even found some things for ourselves :)    The boys hung out in the sun and hit up the "Get Some" gun store. 

 That night we went to see Christmas lights at Thanksgiving point.  We ate dinner at a little cafe first and checked out the reindeer. Then we got the kids out of the car seats and drove through a spectacle of lights!  The girls loved it.

 Sunday was our last day :(  We decided to go to a movie!  The Box Trolls.  It was Anora's first film.  She lasted for about 40 minutes before I could no longer entertain her in the confines of a seat.  :)

That night we ate a scrumptious homemade dinner, complete with homemade Swig sugar cookies.  MMMmmmm.  Then at around 7pm we went on our way to make the long overnight journey home.  Anora slept all the way home (except for a few wake ups when we stopped for gas).  Otherwise she was such a trooper!  We came home to snow in Seattle!

 We are still missing our Utah family ... even DUSTY!


Here are Anora's 9 month stats.

Weight 16 lbs 2 oz  / 15.45%
Height 26.73" / 15.28%
HC 43cm / 16.93" / 25.03%

She had to get two shots and a toe prick this visit.  Each time she does better and better with the shots.  She still loves being at the doctor and even showed off how she can wave when Dr. Hott was leaving the room. :)