Home with Annelise!: June 2011

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

THREE months home!

Three months ago today we celebrated our forever family day. The first picture is in the hotel room right after we got back. Daddy feeding his girl. The second picture we are signing at SWS to take custody of our Annelise. Three months ago today, we had a daughter forever! We love you Annelise. !!! Annelise turned ONE year old last Wed, the 22nd. I am a terrible blogger, I still have to get those pictures from my friend. Guess who forgot her camera for the party? sigh. Soon, soon!

Friday, June 17, 2011

For Annelise

A long long time ago, a wish was planted in my soul
A wish for you, daughter of my heart
I dreamed of your beautiful almond eyes
And I knew, You would be a part of me
I carried your face with me through two pregnancies
I never forgot you
I knew deep in my heart, you were for me
On my youngest son's first birthday, I heard you call
Desperation drove me to make that big call
I did not want to miss you
Your life was created during that time
While we paperchased and filled out necessary documents
I knew, I knew you were formed
God created you just for us in the fall time
I waited, prayed and longed for my sweet girl
Until one day, miraculously they called
A baby girl, so little and new
Was waiting in South Korea for us
Eighteen months to the day we began looking for you
You were placed in my arms forever
God knew

- Mommy

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

{ I just love her }

Just a few reasons why I can't get enough:

1) She smiles when I walk into her room in the morning and holds her hand up to me

2) She carries around any and every small object she can fit in her hands. Most times her fists are full of crumpled paper, a toy car and a prized coin she pulled out of my purse. (eeeek)

2) She is super curious about everything, which I consider a major sign of intelligence ;)

3) She LOVES to eat. Almost anything I give her. And she always devours my dinner while the boys will sometimes question my cooking

4) She smiles really big at Daddy and melts his heart

5) She smiles really big at the boys (as long as they let her have their toys :) )

6) She has two little bottom teeth, which are kidna crooked, but that makes me love her more

7) She laughs when I put my finger in her mouth and pretend to be shocked when she chomps down. We do this game many times a day just so I can hear that sweet giggle

8) She loves the water. Bathtime, pooltime, water table time, toilet water (ok, so that is not cool but she thinks the toilet is an indoor water table for her) !

9) She get super angry when I remove her from her beloved bath every night. Which is why she manages to smear every piece of food from breakfast, lunch or dinner into her hair assuring her more than one bath a day. :) I love that she does that, too!

10) She is starting to take her first steps and after she does she looks right at me while I clap for her and she grins really big. She is proud of herself as she should be!

11) I love that we got to SEE her first step!

13) I love that she gives me kisses with her whole mouth open and just kinda sucks on whatever part of my face her mouth lands on. Super cute.

14) I love that she has tiny dimples in her cheeks that I see when she grins really big

15) I love that I NEVER get enough of my sweet girl.

16) I love that I am her Mommy and I can call her my daughter, forever.

17) I love that wherever we go, people see her and just grin. :)

18) I love that she lays her head on my shoulder when I rock her at night.

19) I love how she magically has settled into our family and I can hardly remember life without Annelise

20) I love that my when I threw her in the air for this picture, I was bathed in the warm sun, looking at my girl smile, thinking about what a blessed Mama I am. And I am. Blessed.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

So how is she doing?

I feel like I have been really terrible at blogging since Annelise came home. Two and a half months ago! wow! Life with three kids is just so.... busy! Man, I hit the bed at night and I think I am asleep before I get fully in it. My sweet boys are up every morning by 6:30am at the lastest. Usually by 6am. Annelise is generally a very good sleeper of late, but I think she may be getting another tooth because she has been unusually fussy for the past few days, and not sleeping as much. But generally I feel really lucky about her and her love of sleep. It was not always that way, but we worked it out. ;) She seems to really like her crib now and her stuffed animals in it.
She is a really happy baby, VERY active. Today I found her splashing in the toilet. Yep. Third time this week. And she took 4 steps at once today! Whoa! Slow down baby! She loves playing with any toy that is little or that belongs to the boys. Which they are not so fond of. We are working on sharing. And when they do take a toy out of her hand, watch out!!! DRAMA. We hear great noises come out of her tiny 19lb self. Well, actually, she is not very tiny. She is very long, and already in 18 month clothing. I think she will be taller than me. (I am 5'5) She loves her Mama and her Dadda, but lately I have noticed she is favoring me. (I am not happy about that at all.;)) She can be kinda sneaky, too. At times I have heard her shrieking and I assume the boys are messing with her, so i poke my head in the room already yelling for the boys to leave her alone, and she is just sitting there on the other side of the room from them yelling looking at them. lol. Today she tried to grab Andersons arm and she does scratch so Daniel kinda swatted her hand away since she had just scratched him. She wrinkled up her little face and you would have thought he had really done something awful to her. Poor baby. I think a little taste of the drama that will come with this sweet baby girl. :)
Anyway, life is settling into a pattern. We have alot of fun, and she takes a good nap every afternoon now, which is a relief. With preschool out for the summer, I do find I tend to stay home more. I have tried a few outings by myself with all 3, but Anderson is still not yet three years old, and I find it is overwhelming. If we just go to the park, that works, but a big outing is hard. I think the older they get the easier that will be. Jack will be in kindergarten in the fall (sigh, how did that happen?) so then it will be back to two littles each day. I will admit, I am looking forward to that only so that I will be able to do activities again by myself. I have heard people say the jump from 2 kids to 3 is harder than 1 kid to 2. I totally did not get it. Until I had 3. Now I see, now I see. lol.
Annelise is amazing. Gone is the baby that clung to my leg and would not leave my sight. I keep losing her in my house! I have to go hunting for her because she is so independant and relaxed with us now she just crawles away and gets either into something or makes a beeline for the stairs if the boys leave a gate open. She does like to be held sometimes, but generally she is happy playing on the floor. I see such a different baby now than i did that first month. She enjoys meeting new people. There are times when she will look into my eyes with her big brown eyes and I can just see she trusts me. That is everything. And she loves it when I rock her. Not for long, mind you, but she will let me for a bit. When we first got home, she would fight me if I tried to cuddle her. Now she lets me then needs to get down so she can explore. And I hear Maaamaaaaaa alot. And sometime uhmammaa which is Korean for mama. I will take it any way I can. Love it! I am more than blessed to wake up to my sweet boys and this little face every day: