Anara is 3!!!

I know that everyone always says "I can't believe my baby is..."but I completely understand it. I can't believe that Anara is three. She has brought so much joy into our lives and I can't imagine life without her. This post is extremely long and simply for me so that I can dedicate a little blurb on what she is doing now in this stage of her life. It is mostly for Ben and I to be able to refer back to in the future and remember this fun, entertaining, yet trying stage!

She certainly keeps us on our toes! For instance, she talks....ALL THE TIME!!! We like to describe it as 'Anara narrates her life'. EVERY thought that goes through her head has to be mentioned. And she wants confirmation that you heard her or feedback on what we think. It can be very entertaining and interesting to hear what she has to say but exhausting too! For instance, her current thought process on getting the baby out is to get some stairs and put them by my belly and the baby can walk down the stairs. Hilarious!

We don't let her watch much tv but when we do, all she wants to watch is Dora and Diego. She LOVES them! I swear my child knows more Spanish then I do. The other day she was eating and all of a sudden starts yelling out Ayudeme, Ayudeme. I had no clue what that meant until I asked her and she said, help me! She had dropped her spoon. Then later we were talking about Minnie (or dog) taking dance classes with Anara (Anara was very disappointed that Minnie would not get to come) and I said she couldn't dance because she didn't have legs. Anara said, "Yes she does, see...Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro. Mom, she has four legs! I only have two legs." Like I said, she cracks me up!

She has also turned very affectionate. I was worried when she was a baby because she wasn't very loving. Never wanted to snuggle or get close. I never rocked her to sleep when she was little because she would never rest her head on my shoulder. She had to be up looking around at all times. Now, she has become very affectionate and I love it! She tells us how much she loves us all the time and loves giving and getting hugs and kisses. They are so sweet and make my heart melt every time!

And, boy! This girl can be outgoing! It is all about her comfort level though. If a situation is new or unfamiliar to her, in the mouth goes her thumb and she shuts down completely. (Don't get me started on that thumb and her constant companion the blanket!) On the flip side though, if she is comfortable in her environment, she is very outgoing and certainly not shy! She will talk to anyone and everyone and tell them the most random things. Her current favorite thing to tell strangers is that Ursula is a bad lady and she is very mean to Ariel. (We are also going through a Disney princess phase where she likes to dress up and read about them. Ariel is her favorite) I admit it is very funny watching people's reactions to Anara. Luckily she is cute about it so people are nice.

So far Anara seems to be a very big rule follower and doesn't want to make mommy and daddy upset. That has helped with discipline. Time out doesn't really work for her (she started making a game out of it) but counting to three does. We rarely have to worry about what happens if we get to three and she has not complied. For the most part she is accepting of the fact when I say no or tell her she can only have one of something. She has this great way of saying ok that is hilarious. Anytime Ben or I have a soft drink, she also has this cute way of tilting her head and saying "one sip?" And she is very good about taking one sip and gladly giving the drink back. Sometimes the sips can be......long.....but for the most part they are just regular short little sips and she is happy as can be about getting it.

Anara is VERY excited about being a big sister. She asks me almost everyday if the baby has come yet. She has no idea that there will be no way for her to miss that event! I told her that the baby had to grow big and strong first and that she wouldn't come until it was close to time for Santa to come. Now she tries to convince me everyday that it is winter and cold outside and that Santa will be coming soon. So sweet. She also talks all the time about what she wants to do with the baby. What she wants to feed her, give her, how she wants to show her around Playtime, and she wants to share everything with her. She will come and put things on my belly and say she is sharing them with her sister. I hope this sharing continues when the baby is actually here! That is another thing she likes to share with strangers, how her mommy is having a baby and she is going to be a big sister!

She is very big into learning and scares me with how smart she seems to be. She loves playing Apple (Starfall.com) so much so that we got her her own computer for her to play on. It is an incredibly educational website and has taught her so much. She knew all of her letters (uppercase and lowercase) by 18 months, could tell you what sound each letter made by 2 years and could sound out words by 2 and a half. She doesn't really like to sound out words yet though because it takes too much time and she would much rather we do it for her so I am not pushing it. She can also recite books pretty much word for word that we read on a regular basis.

Overall we are so in love with her and thank God everyday for this perfect angel he has put into our lives. Anara, we love you so much!

Flower Girl!

Connie is getting married! We are so excited for Connie and Will! Thankfully the wedding date isn't until January so I won't be pregnant but it will be one month after giving birth.... Connie, can you rethink the date to give me a little more time to lose weight???

Anyway, even though it is still several months away, I picked up Anara's rehearsal dinner and flower girl dress. We had our fall Just Between Friends sale yesterday (if you are a parent and don't know what this is, look it up! Greatest thing ever!!!) I picked up her rehearsal dress for $8 (brand new still with tags reading $40) and her flower girl dress for $10. We are probably going to change the bow to red to match Connie's wedding colors but couldn't pass up on the deal!

Here are pictures of the rehearsal dinner dress. Anara was very disappointed that she doesn't get to wear pink for her flower girl dress so we promised her a pink dress for the rehearsal. She decided this was an acceptable plan as long as she got a pink dress out of it! (Oh and I still have to get shoes for both dresses so we just left her in the shoes she had on. Use your imagination!)




At first Anara was very sad about the flower girl dress (refer to the comment about it not being pink) but then she tried it on and all of a sudden she is in love with it and keeps calling it her wedding dress. She told me she was a true princess in it. She went around the house saying Princess Anara! It is a little on the big side so we might need to take it in a little but then again, it is several months away so she might grow before then! There is also really fancy embroidery on the front that is hard to see in the pictures unless you look carefully. Beautiful work, just hard to see because of the lighting.

First Dance Class!

Anara had her very first dance class this week! I am not sure who was more excited, me or her! I promised I wouldn't be one of those moms, but she was just so cute about the whole dance class thing! Wearing her tap shoes around the house...

Well, I would say it was a huge success! She loved it! She did very well considering it was her first class. She had trouble staying on her assigned X and never really got 1st position down but other than that, she followed directions well and participated fully. No better than the other kids in her class but I was am still a proud little momma!

After the class, she talked all day long about it and didn't want to take her dance clothes off for the entire day. Am I a bad parent that I didn't make her??? We will see if she continues to enjoy it this much!

Car Seat Recover

I was scared to death to try this project but I really wanted to do it! I decided to recover Anara's old car seat for Linnea (or Lynnea, still working on spelling). The great thing was that if it worked, I was going to get a new car seat for only $20. The bad was that if it didn't work, it was going to cost around $80 for a new cover. I was scared but determined. And guess what....couldn't be happier with the outcome!

Here is what it originally looked like when we took Anara home from the hospital. I always liked it but never really loved it. I decided this time around I wanted to love it!


I even had enough fabric left over to make a matching travel size blanket for her! Really happy with how it turned out and is the perfect size.