Anderson Family News

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

16 months old!

Playing outside and eating a cookie- 2 of your favorite things!

Being silly!

happy boy!

Rockin' some bedhead!

Ethan, you are 16 months old! What a big boy you are getting to be! You are officially a "toddler" now and not a baby anymore! You started taking some steps after your 15 month check-up, and haven't stopped since! You are walking everywhere now and getting more steady everyday. This has to be one of my favorite ages (although I think I say that about every age). You are a lot of fun and just light up the room and make our hearts so happy everytime we look at you. Here is a little bit about you at 16 months:

-As I mentioned above, your biggest milestone is that you are WALKING! You definetely took your own time learning to walk, but the doctor wasn't a bit concerned when you weren't walking at 15 months, he said it would be anytime. And 3 days later, you were!
-You are trying to sound out and say lots of words, and say new ones everyday, your most common are Da-Da and Bubba (you say those ALL the time), Momma (when you are tired), bubble, Pappaw, Mmmm (for Memaw), bye-bye, ok, ta-tu (thank-you), and lots of other "sounds"
-You have a temper!!! Like, a whole different level than even a month ago. If we take something away from you, you scream and throw your hands down on the floor or pick something up and throw it while yelling. Little stinker!!! At first we thought it was funny, but now we actually have to scold you for having such a fit!!
-You LOVE going bye bye. You will get your shoes and/or socks and try to put them on while saying "bye-bye" (you only wear shoes when we go somewhere). It is so cute!
-However, you do not love getting to where we are going! You have started arching your back and screaming when we open your door and you see your carseat. We can't get the DVD player turned on fast enough! Luckily, that calms you down, but only if it's Yo Gabba Gabba. Anything else makes you scream!
-You love to play outside on the swings and driving your new 4-wheeler, and just walking around exploring the yard.
-You still take a bedtime bottle and one very early morning bottle. I might have said we were going to wean you from the bottle at 16 months...? But if so, I am now changing that to 18 months :) We brush your teeth morning and night so I think it's ok ;)
-You love to imitate us and your big brother, and you love to be silly and make us laugh.
-You flip out, crying and screaming, when Ayden puts his Spiderman mask on! It scares the daylights out of you!!

You are a happy, funny, sweet little TODDLER! We love you so much!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Resolutions!

I am a big fan of New Year's Resolutions. I think it has something to do with my love of list-making. I make lists almost everyday and love to check things off as I accomplish them. I'm a nerd like that I guess ;) I also love the excitement of setting goals and (hopefully) acheiving them. And finally, I like how it gives some structure and purpose to my year and makes me feel more prepared for the 52 weeks ahead!

Resolutions for 2012

1. Lose 40 pounds by June, to reach my ultimate goal weight of 175 lbs.

2. To accomplish goal #1, reduce sugar intake, mindless snacking/grazing, and start walking at least 3 times a week, either outdoors or on my treadmill.

3. Reduce my insane caffiene intake. Note that I said reduce, not eliminate. I'll do that later, like 50 years from now ;)

4. Start college savings funds for the boys. (I'm actually doing that this week!)

5. Get pregnant with baby #3 this summer!!!!!!

6. Attend church regularly. This has been a resolution for the past few years, and since I often work weekends, we continue to fail at it. We are really going to try to make it a priority this year, even if it means sacrificing sleep. I feel conviction daily that we don't have our kids in church.

7. Do better at sticking to our budget, which is so beautiful on paper, but rarely is what is actually spent. Considering using the envelope cash system.

8. Start donating to a charity regularly. (I can check this one off, I signed up for auto-draft contributions for Unicef a few days ago.)

9. Take the time to stop and smell the roses, which in my case, means my baby boys are growing up right before my eyes, so I want to remember that laundry can go unfolded, dishes unwashed, and beds unmade if it means building a tent or jumping on the trampoline with my little guys.

10. Strive to be the wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend that God wants me to be. Have a positive attitude, giving and patient heart, and kind words to speak every day.

Wish me luck!!!

Farewell 2011!

Well, 2011 has come and gone, even faster than the year before, so it seems. It was overall a very busy but good year for our family, with many happy memories made. It was also the year that I experienced the loss of a grandparent, not once, but twice. After almost 3 years of searching and saving, Chris and I found and bought the perfect home for our family and we have been enjoying it so much. The boys are both growing and changing so fast, so we do our best to savor every minute! An idea that I have seen from other blogs is to highlight each month of our year in pics (and we all know that I take enough pics to do that!), so here goes! (I will warn you, I had a very hard time narrowing down my fave pics from some months, so this is quite a lenghty post!)

The Anderson's 2011

January

Early in the morning of New Years Day, Grandpa went to heaven and we started our year with heavy hearts, mourning the loss of a very great man and wonderful grandfather.

While we dealt with losing Grandpa, we also took turns sitting at Grandma's hospital bedside as she fought serious illness and was on a ventilator. January wasn't the greatest.

February

We had record-breaking snowfall in Northwest Arkansas this month!! It was pretty awesome for about the first day. Then it got old and we were pretty much snowed or iced in the rest of the month. I couldn't wait for Springtime!!

Also, Grandma turned the corner and began making a full recovery! Such an answer to prayer!

March

Ayden got bronchitis and was the absolute sickest he had ever been in his 3.5 years of life! It was a rough few days tending to my sick big boy and keeping the germs away from baby brother...but we did it! Ethan thankfully remained healthy all winter.

Ethan turned 6 months old and the boys became increasingly interactive with each other. It was so fun seeing my boys playing together.

April

My brother got married and I gained a new sister, Brandy! Ayden made an unbelievably cute ring bearer and Ethan was just cute :)

We celebrated Easter the next day, and I took advantage of one of the first chances to dress the boys in matching outfits.

Preciousness!!

May

Chris and I decided we were ready to buy a house and the serious searching started! We knew what we wanted and only had to look at 3 houses before we found "the one". We put in an offer and were beyond thrilled to have a closing date of June 24th! Also, the warm weather we had been waiting for finally arrived and we started spending lots of time outdoors!

I celebrated my first Mother's Day as a mother of 2!

Later that month, we took the boys for their first trip to Silver Dollar City.

June

Summer arrived and we started spending lots of time eating snowcones and getting wet! We were so excited to discover our city's splash park downtown!

Ayden started swim lessons at the Walmart Fitness Center!

Chris celebrated his first Father's day as a dad of 2 boys!

Then...we bought our home!

Three days after the excitement of closing on our new home, my Papa passed away in his sleep at the age of 91. We were grateful for his peaceful passing, but so saddened to have lost both grandfathers in a 6 month period.