Update

Well, a few updates for the Gardner family: Jared passed his NCLEX exam yesterday, so he is officially a licensed LPN - YAY! Anna is being the amazing toddler that she is, even dealing with two canine teeth coming in. She loves to have us read her books over and over again. Right now, her favorite is Jack and the Beanstalk. We have one from I think the 1970's, and it's art is horrible, but she loves it!
Little Sister, as she is called since we don't have a solid name yet, is very strong and growing fast. I don't have any pictures that make me look even remotely cute, so I'm not posting any! :) This pregnancy has gone really well, I'm just pretty tired. Anyway, we're not too tired to hit the splash pad for one last hoorah before the season ends. Here is Anna playing:

And here she is at our house that isn't ours yet. Although you can't tell, she is getting a little more hair every day.

That's it for now!!

Idaho Trip

I am ashamed to admit that it has been 2 weeks since we got home from Idaho, and I'm just now posting about it. I can't even say life has been too crazy; at least, it hasn't been more crazy than normal, I guess I was just too lazy! :) Anyway, we had tons of fun seeing family again and meeting our nephew for the first time! Here are some pics showing our great time:
Here are the girl cousins hanging out watching The Rescuers Down Under

Anna got to ride the lawn mower with Grandma; she waved at me every time they passed.

This is our makeshift icepack for when Anna took her first spill down the stairs. Not her "first spill" as if she did any more during the trip, just her first spill ever... I kind of wish that I would've taken a picture of the swelling. It went away pretty quickly, but she looked like a Klingon for a while.

Anna was able to spend tons of time outside in the grass and sun; she was in heaven. I can't wait until we get a backyard so she can continue the fun!

This is Jared with neice Emmy and Anna at his sister's new property and house. We are so excited for their new opportunity!

We also went to the zoo and spent a few nights at the family ranch, but for some reason, I don't have any pictures of the camping. At least this time Anna only walked away with one mosquito bite, not 30 on her face.
We had such a great time; thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us come up for a while! :)

P.S. We are in the process of closing on a property in Queen Creek, but don't want to jinx anything by posting pictures. We are very excited to say the least and should be moving in around the end of October!! YAY!

Wooohooo!!!

Jared is done with his LPN program - YAY!!! All he has left to do is take his license test (NCLEX) and he is finished! It has been a long road, but I am SO proud of his perseverance! He already has his career lined up with the hospital he is currently employed with, so the transition should go really smoothly! Then, within a few months, we will hopefully be residing again in the east valley. Anyway, just thought I'd throw out that little HOORAH to my hubby for all his hard work!!

Can't Wait

So, I don't have any pictures to post for this entry; it's mostly just a chance for me to vent and whine. We have been at our current residence (if you can call it that) for about six months. Granted, we moved here because it would save us a great deal of money while Jared finished up his LPN program, and it was somewhat closer to his school/work at the time. Well, now I have just about had it, and can't wait to buy our house in October. Everything is lining up great so we will be able to, but for the time being, I'm going a little crazy and I'll tell you why. Here is a list of the lovely ambiance-creators in my neighborhood:
*Car alarms - at least 30 times a day
*Yapping dogs - at least 3 times a day
*Ice cream trucks (3) - at least 3 times a day
*Walking, bell-ringing ice cream vendors (2) - at least twice a day
*Extremely loud garbage trucks (with the banging and the beeping) - at least 4 times a week (twice over because the garbage bins for the adjacent complex is less than 50 yards away from my window)
*Revving engines and peeling out - I can't tell you how many ghetto vehicles in this complex are modified to be excruciatingly annoying, but each one has to show it off right in front of my place at least twice a day
*Loud neighbors - I mean, I'm sure Jared and I have our moments of not being quiet little mice, but honestly, I think I have the loudest neighbor on earth. I can hear her talking (term loosely used) on her phone every night around 11pm from the parking lot all the way up the stairs and once she's inside her apartment, it's even louder
*Airplanes - I think some days that one is going to crash through our roof - at least 30 times a day
Y'know, other than that, we have a very lovely peaceful quiet residence for a really great price.
I can't wait to move.

I Sleep With Guns

Soooo, I was awake the other night, which happens to be a frequent occurrence, and I was thinking about having two girls - whether they would be girly or tom-boyish like I was. I then started thinking about the fact that I definitely have some traits that make me quite girlish, aside from actually being a girl... I mean, I do like to shop, I love pedicures (I've only had one manicure in my life given to me by Michelle Lambson when she was going through beauty school. It was nice, but the nails fell off within a few hours, so I didn't become real hooked.), and I can have pretty emotional days, or weeks, or... well, you get the point.

THEN, I thought about the way I was laying in bed and how nice it was that I had a perfect position to be in while I slept as my belly grew each day. Y'know, slightly on my stomach/side, leg bent, one arm tucked under my chin, the other extended under the pillow with my hand resting on the cold steel barrel of my Mossberg 12 gauge behind my bedstead... at that point I figured that I probably wasn't a normal girl.

First off, now everyone knows where I keep one of my guns, but I don't think that anyone about to rob me is going to check my blog first, and I'm not a paranoid internet person, so there you go. Secondly, I don't have my hand on my gun because I am a paranoid house person, either. It just happens to be there, and the cool touch feels nice at night.

To continue with the strange ramblings of my mind, I had to smile to myself when I realized that the other favorite position of mine to sleep in is exactly the same but on the flip side, this time with my hand on the other set of guns readily accessible to me:

K, so they aren't that big, and they don't usually tote a sledge hammer, but I found it interesting that on one side I'm holding my real gun, and on the other, I hold my hubby's guns. It is nice having such a protected night! :) So, I concluded that although I have many traits that make me a girly girl, I am still unique, and I'm sure that's how my girls will be as well.
P.S. For those who think my post contains a bit too much information, aka: TMI, too bad. It's my blog.

Little SISTER!!

After our ultrasound on Monday, it was determined that baby #2 is going to be a GIRL! Jared just loves it; he grew up with girls and just adores Anna, so he's definitely stoked. I am thrilled as well, a little wary of the idea that I so far am only raising girls, but I think I've done okay for my first year with my first one. The baby appeared extremely healthy and strong, which I could already attest to with the kicks she's dishing out! Jared has already felt her kicks which is always a neat thing for Daddies. As a big sister, Anna is already a favorite, for every time I hold her, the baby kicks against any part that is touching "her side". I can't wait, it's going to be one intense ride having two girls in the house that close in age.

As far as my pregnancy goes, everything is still really great, just pretty exhausting. I can't believe how frequently I just want to crash in my pillow and not move for hours. Kudos for women who have many children. I'm pooped. The doc did bump up my due date about a week, so now we have a Christmas baby instead of a New Year's. It didn't surprise me since Anna grew so fast as well. She is going to be a great big sister. Here is a sweet pic of her and Dada a few days after returning from Colorado. Her poor mosquito bites - at least they are healing fast; she looks much better now!!

Colorado Camping

The week began with a successful eight hour drive where there really were few issues despite having three toddlers in the back seat. We arrived at our camping spot in the afternoon with plenty of time to set up. It was a really beautiful area just outside Delores, Colorado with huge mountains all around and a river about fifty yards away. The first night was pretty cold, but Anna slept pretty well.

On Tuesday most of the family went hiking to the hot springs but Anna and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in camp (I just wasn't sure how far I could get carrying that sack of potatoes on my back...). It was probably good because I was able to help cover everything up when the hail started coming down. It was a pretty good storm that seemed to completely miss the hikers, thankfully. Then, once everyone got back into camp, the real storm hit. It rained so hard and had quarter-sized hail for about an hour! My tent, Grandma and Grandpa's old one, definitely had to be retired after the storm. You should have seen the way it sagged under the weight of the hail as it piled on top, just pouring water onto my bed and gear. I was able to salvage some of Anna's and my stuff during the storm so we only had to run into Delores with an Armada full of everyone's wet gear. Ugh, it was a challenge, especially not having Jared there to help me, but we survived. I moved into the trailer that we had hauled our gear up in (special thanks to the Lambsons for such a sturdy vehicle that perfectly fit a mattress and crib).

The rest of the week was mostly storm free aside from a few drops here and there, but the worst part was freezing at night. I was forced to create a "family bed" for most of the nights as I tried different tactics to keep Anna and I warm. There is a reason that she hasn't slept with me since she was a day old - I don't sleep. Anyway, we survived, and finally on the last night, Friday, we both had a VERY successful sleep. It just came down to the perfect arrangement of bedding and pajamas so that circulation was maintained and heat contained. She slept all night by herself and all I cared about was that I slept! But, despite the rough nights, we had glorious days. The food was terrific, the scenery breathtaking, the mosquitoes hungry. I think that Anna and I taste especially scrumptious to those evil hovering bugs because she now looks like she has chicken pox (despite the ample amounts of "OFF" I used on her). I will try to get more pictures later, but this is the only one I have - Grandma, Anna and I went for a hike that was mostly straight up the mountain next to camp. It was gorgeous and exhausting; I'm such a tired, out of shape, pregnant mom, it's not even funny! :)

Toy Box Time

I like to think that Anna really enjoys her toys. Most of them are homemade from fun items around the house (like the Fanta bottle with rice for a noisemaker...) and it seems that she explores them differently each time she comes across one. She certainly decided to do some exploring today as I found her in her toy box digging through her treasures.


I couldn't even get her attention long enough to get a cute picture of her until I started making monkey noises. This was the reaction I then received, I think its a smile...not sure:

Look at all those teeth, though! You can even see her upper molar in the back there! Anyway, it was such a cute face, I had to share it with everyone. I'm so lucky to have such an awesome kid. :)

Walkin' Tall

Well it's official! She is a walking pro now! She just decided this afternoon that she's known how to walk all along and thought it awfully silly that she was still on her hands and knees. Now, she's walking all over the place like it's no big thing. She bends over, picks up her books, waves her arms in the air like she's a blind woman walking, it's so funny. Anyway, we are sooo excited for her, she's such a champ! Yay! Sorry the video is blurry, short and all over the place; it was hard to catch a great video and your daughter at the same time! :)

Birthday Fun

I can't believe how quickly it's gone by, but Anna's first year has been amazing! I was thinking originally of doing a seperate post when her birthday actually arrived on Wednesday, but then I remembered that I haven't exactly been religious at posting, so I decided on a two birds with one stone kind of thing.
We had Anna's birthday party yesterday, and she was just such a cutie in her little outfit that Grandma Sue gave her! We stripped her down for the cake part though; I wasn't sure a bib would cut it. In this picture, Daddy is standing behind the fantastic photographer (Grandma Birch) making Anna look so incredibly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Then, she really got down to business when introduced to her slice of the cake. You don't want to mess with this hungry bear.

This was the cake I made for her. I got the box idea from a paper plate, but then pretty much came up with everything else on my own. Anna's all time favorite thing right now is animal noises, so I thought it was very appropriate!

At one year, here are Anna's top favorites in her little life (in no particular order):

1. Daddy wrestling. She actually tackles him and burrows her head into him as if trying to bull doze him over. She usually ends up with beard rash, but I know she thinks it's totally worth it!
2. Farm animals. As mentioned, she loves the animal noises that Meh (that's Mama's name) makes. We read her farm books every night. She also loves "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?", which has mostly farm animals, but a bear and some children, too. (Sounds like a bad combo...)
3. Peaches and Pears. Her favorite food right now - she will eat enough to make her sick.
4. Splash pad. She especially likes the Tempe Beach one; there are little whales there that she stands up to, plays with the water coming out of it's spout, and stands without holding on to anything! Ooooooh...
5. 5 Little Monkeys. This is her favorite song, usually because I substitute it with, "Anna is a monkey, jumpin' on the bed; she fell off and bonked her head!...and the doctor said, 'No more Annas jumpin' on the bed!'" I replaced the real lyrics when she did fall off the bed last week.
6. Outside. Anywhere, anytime. This girl is an outdoor addict just like her Mama, or "Meh".
7. Eyes. She will poke anyone's at any given moment. Poor PJ just doesn't think to walk away, plus his eyes are so round and bulging, it's hard to blame her.
8. Being upside-down. She has a little game where she sits on our laps facing us and holds our hands while bending backwards so she's upside-down. She particularly likes her exposed neck tickled and ending her game with a flip that she always lands!
9. Family. She loves her cousins, aunts and uncles, and especially her grandparents!
10. Taking us for walks. Although not walking on her own yet, she absolutely loves taking our fingers and walking us around to everywhere she wants to check out, which is EVERYWHERE!

That's our little Anna! Happy Birthday; we love you sweetie and can't wait to share this next year with your bright and shining self!