Well.. I haven't posted in forever! Magnolia is 16 years old today! Just kidding...but she DID turn 2 a couple weeks ago!

So much has happened in the last few months. It's hard to sort it all out but I was just lying in bed, feeling guilty that I have an empty baby book to give to Noli someday and thinking it's my job as her mom to let her know where/how/when/and where she was in her early years. It doesn't help that I am surrounded by AMAZING moms who do so much for their children and make me feel completely inadequate (you KNOW who you are).

Ok... So my last post was in July??? I am a horrible blogger! Poor Noli... she's going to be so jealous of the other kids whose mom's have every significant AND insignificant event of their lives documented. Hopefully she will still think I am ok. Ha...

Ok... since July. Good grief. Where do I start?

1. I have a new niece, Stella Anne (named after yours truly) Rankin born November 23 (oh my gosh I hope that's right) 2009. She is gorgeous. DUH. and we love her so much. She is a mini Ava but by mini, I don't mean skinny, she is a chubbo and it's perfect. Pics to come!

2. I am currently 26 almost 27 weeks preggo with 2nd child, a boy, named... Cletus the Fetus. Still working on the name, obviously. Here he is!

3. We put our house on the market and it's been on for a full month, almost 5 weeks, and during this month, we have had record snowfalls and record horrendous lack of sunshine. That's not science- the last part, that's just my personal opinion. Magnolia and I are sick of being cooped up - which means we are always HOME - which makes having a "show ready" home slightly difficult.

Anyhoozle, our hopes were to move closer to Jordan's work, out of Irving, and into an area with good schools, and good friends. At this point, we are probably pulling it off the market in a couple weeks because it's just too close to the end of this pregnancy with selling, closing, buying a new place, and moving.

On that note...

My doc says that there is a pretty likely chance that this baby will come as early as - or earlier - than Magnolia. Which is pretty scary. I am jealous of people with actual due dates. Because of that, the house coming off the market so that we can prepare for baby boy is in our near future. I fear having him come early and have to stay in the guest bedroom. It's perfect for my mom, but not exactly how I envision my baby boy nursery.

So at this point, I'm just trying to take it easy and deal with Magnolia... Which brings me to the subject at hand.

Magnolia turned 2 on the 13th of this month. I must say, she's been a GREAT kid so far. Not to sound like one of those moms, it's just that Jordan and I are shocked that between the two of us she's so chilled out and ....not wild and insane, basically. She has been pretty well behaved and hasn't required much discipline because she has always responded to "NOLI! NO!" or "DANGER!". She has always shoved her way past the kids screaming, crying, and clinging desperately to their mommies at church, or any event that requires me to drop her off and walk away. She LOVES the social interaction and could care less if I'm there. I am proud of her independence. Well, those days are over. Here is a list of things that Naughty Noli has decided are going to be a major part of her turning 2. And I'm talking literally. About a week before she turned 2 - this all happened:

1. Fits. Huge. Awful.

These fits include the following stereotypical 2 year old reactions:

-hitting

-kicking

-high pitched squealing

-yelling NO!

-throwing stuff, which, if you didn't know this already, Magnolia wanted me to tell you- IT'S HILARIOUS.

-and when I picked her up from MOPS today, she was hysterically crying for Mommy for the first time EVER. Not a good feeling for me.

2. Quietly destroying things.

Before you know it, she will have:

- taken off her clothes - including her diaper

- pulled out every single toy and anything small, round and dangerous is immediately placed in a direct path of where I am walking.

- she has turned my computer into a talking robot, turned screens sideways, turned on music (not a comforting feeling when you know it is just the two of you in the house and all of a sudden you hear the soothing sounds of James Taylor coming from seemingly nowhere)

- ripped up entire rolls of toilet paper

- emptied out entire boxes of baby wipes - which she promptly squeeeezes all the juice of them as though competing in a strongman competition. - complete with the grunting sound effects.

-colored on the walls, tables, fireplace... you name it.

-folded laundry left on the couch? thrown all over the place.

-and lastly, but not leastly, all of this comes with hurting herself all the time. For the first time, I actually feel like my daughter is kind of like me! She busted her lip twice doing the same thing 2 times within a 15 minute period. We're talking blood pouring out of her mouth. Turns out she's more like her mommy than originally thought.

All of this may not seem like much for you people with crazy kids, but for me, it's an enormous change and while my child is adorable and borderline perfect - this whiny wild 2 year old behavior is not my favorite thing about her.

On to the good stuff!

2 year old Noli does this stuff:

Walks!

Runs!

Jumps!

Dances!

SINGS! My favorite, of course. She sings twinkle twinkle at top volume and it's just absolutely the most beautiful sounds to ever be heard on our planet. She also sings the ABC's and a few kiddie songs we listen to but she really loves The Wiggles (no one else in this house has seemed to embrace it..hmm...) They sing and dance on their show (in an extremely annoying way) and that's right up her alley. She has learned all the moves and words to a few of their songs. I have big plans to get this all on video and onto this blog before I post it. We shall see. I'm not very good at technology. Obviously.

Talks. A LOT. She went from no talking to never stopping. She has even started with little sentences. I can't decide if this is a wonderful breakthrough in our communication as parents and child, or if it's devastatingly sad because she is growing up. And she is HILARIOUS. She is already making me belly laugh. I have been waiting for this time for 2 years! She also says, I love you AND I love you too. It's definitely the best feeling even though she probably has no clue what she is actually saying. She has embraced the disappointing fact that daddy goes to work. Almost every day. And has decided that if someone isn't around, that's probably where they are. We couldn't find Trousers one day and Noli concluded that he was probably at work. Turns out he's a dog and he doesn't even have a decent resume.

She basically does everything and is right on track - or if you want to say she's a GENIUS, I won't argue. She has had a history of running a bit behind her peers, but she seems to catch up and pass them pretty quickly. She counted to 10 a couple times, then decided she just wanted to count like this, "1..2..1". Everyone in our family can attest to this. She casually mentioned 3 and 4 today. We shall see if it sticks.

Ok. I feel like I have done my job as a mom tonight. I can go to bed and hopefully even sleep. Wouldn't that be nice! I can't post quite yet as I need to try to figure out pics and videos onto this contraption, but this week!!!!

Thanks for reading this far. I type as fast as I talk so as you can imagine, I have alot of words that pour out onto this blog once I finally sit down.

Gurgle Blogle

So, for over a year, Jordan has been debating on whether he should leave Fidelity, his company of almost 5 years. The financial industry has taken a huge blow - if you don't know this, you have been living under a rock, or have been turned into a rock and just turned back into a human - and after several paycuts and multiple scares of whether or not he would be employed at the end of the day, he decided to start looking around. Good news! He ended up getting a job at TD Ameritrade doing something similar, but different enough to hold his interest for a while! He is working for his old boss in Denver that he LOVED and is a much happier man to be around these days! ANYHOO..... with a new job comes a little bit of spare time between jobs. So, we made an impromptu visit to Florida. Jordan's cousin's live/work - on/in a - beautiful/gorgeous/fantastic resort on Pensacola Beach. We went down there for almost a week and made ourselves at home in the most luxurious place I've ever stayed in my LIFE. I truly felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman - except less of a prostitute and more of a mom/wife. I'm really feeling the "//////" today.

Anyhoodle, let's begin with the pictures.



This is the view from our hotel room. Not too shabby. A quick elevator ride and a stroll across the street and we are at the beach! It is a little inlet in Florida and on one side is the Gulf of Mexico and the other side is a bay with beautiful dolphins jumping around being adorable. A very narrow inlet to say the least!



We were probably a little TOO excited to see such a beautiful view of the Gulf from our hotel balcony. With a 1 year old, 2 naps a day and a pretty rigid bedtime of 8pm, the balcony became our little sanctuary! Drinking wine, listening to the waves and always a good soundtrack playing on the speakers, with my soulmate and a breeze in your face...ahhhhhhhh I can imagine it now! Sortof... Wait. I'm in Irving, Tx.


This is a little view of the kitchen (you can't see all of it. it's bigger than my kitchen. I have major kitchen envy), the dining room, and a little of the living room. Who needs a dining room in their hotel? Seriously? Anyhoo.. it was a great place to put all your crap when you come in from being out all afternoon.


This is a view of one of the buildings of the three on the resort. See how narrow our little inlet is? I told you so. It's gorgeous and slightly better than my last vacation to OKC. Kidding family and friends! OKC is better. Does that make you happy mom?


Noli trying to figure out how to get to the patio. It was glass walls so she could safely play out there even though now and then it totally freaked me out. Can't help myself.


We went to a place for dinner where they give you eyepatches....which, if you know me, is freaking awesome. I wish I could wear an eyepatch to dinner every night. Noli thinks eyepatches are stupid, by the way.


The first evening we were there, we finally got to the beach around sunset, which was absolutely perfect! Noli was totally digging (pun intended) the beach and brought home about 10 pounds of sand in her diaper and booty crack. As soon as she saw the sand, her eyebrows shot up and stayed up in "alert position" the entire time we were there. Those eyebrows mean business.






AHOY MATEYS! Pointing out to sea. I think she saw the Nina, or maybe the Pinto, Wait! I think it was the Santa Maria.



Ahhhh... there they are.




She loved the sand so much! It was NOTHING like the horrible sand in Malibu and Venice Beach! I didn't even find one empty syringe, or have my feet covered in tar when I walked away from the sand. I love Florida. So FANCY!


My little Indians. Or just one little Indian and one non Indian sitting Indian style. Close enough.


Loving on Daddy.


So, she looks kinda weird in this picture, but I like it of me and I'm vain like that. Whatever. You would do it too. Also, she has a big greasy forehead because about an hour before this shot, she feel violently onto her face and is smeared with neosporin. Poor thing.

...So we went swimming, and took a windy boat ride...

Every pool had a little ledge running all the way around the edge. Isn't that cool? It was amazingly kid friendly. Even little kid friendly.



Yay!

I can't believe I'm putting a picture of me in my suit. It was such a good time, I couldn't resist. By the way, the added SPF in this picture of the two of us totals 300 spf.

This kid was totally Noli's boyfriend for about 30 minutes. I can relate.

Look how silly and cute my baby is. SO WINDY!

I thought this picture was hilarious until she actually lost half of one of her front teeth. Now she just looks like a hobo version of herself.


Miss Lego Hair and her daddy.


Mommy + Magnolia = 2 gether 4 ever!


I never thought that I would love the Florida beaches so much but we had an amazing time and loved the silky soft sand and the lack of shark attacks! Can't wait to go back!

Hi sweet baby bananahead.  I love you so much!

My blogs are always a work in progress, so this blog starts on June 17th, but actually goes to today...whatever todays date is... Boy.  That's a prime example of what mother hood has done to me.

Here is the big news of the month!

Sarah Elise Gingrich Is here!!!!  6lb 9oz, 19 in.  Born June 14 at 11:51pm.  Here is one of about a billion pictures you will see of her! 

Also, Mandy, my sis, who is 20 weeks pregnant, called me today to tell me she's 90% sure she's having a girl!  Yay for girls!  We are the BEST!  Annie Jr. is going to be so sweet... Can't WAIT to have another niece!  Also, I LOVE seeing Noli's clothes on Sarah and will love seeing them on Annie Jr. too!

And Michael Jackson died this week - not that it is as important as my two new nieces..but still pretty monumental!   He was a strange man in his later years but we will miss you MJ!  He seriously effected our lives with his music and the desire to follow his footsteps to so many musicians that we listen to today!  Justin Timberlake?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Yeah.  I thought so. 

Back to Nolicious:

So, today, June 17, 2009, is Noli's first day of actually being disciplined by ways other than saying "no". It's a rarely heard concept that was developed by the ancient beings that built the Mayan temples. Or not. It's called "time out". So, I started the "time out" thing today around 2pm today... so far...she has already been in time out 4 times! For the SAME OFFENSE! STAY OUT OF THE DOG'S WATER BOWL LITTLE GIRL! ....I kinda understand the thick skulledness...between her dad's stubborness and my slight rebelliousness - ok.  EXTREME rebelliousness.  Anyhoodle...it's been a lovely day needless to say. I have to sit next to the time out rug with my hand either on her chest or her leg to keep her from running away...to... you guessed it... the dogs water bowl. COME ON! hahaha.. She is running and getting into EVERYTHING. This weekend will be our big weekend of childproofing. She has also realized that turning the doorknob opens doors. Not good news for mommy and daddy.  

Update:  she carries around her time out rug and, also, she was in time out 4 more times for putting her hand in the dogs water bowl that evening.  happy to say that she hasn't done it since!  It must be working!

I had a brief moment this morning during breakfast (her favorite, eggs and turkey sausage) where she kept looking at me and saying "mama!" and I would go over to her and see if she was really calling out for me... she wasn't. She was thirsty and I was holding her drink - or "mama". Dang. I can't win. She really isn't talking too much so I encourage it as much as possible.  

We went to the doctor for her 15 month appointment - which was actually her 16.5 month appointment because she's just so darn healthy! - and the doc said that she's great, growing big and strong.   I have a message for my pediatrician, "Dear Dr. Agrawal, do you really think it was necessary to say really REALLY big when describing my daughter's head?  don't you think ONE really would have been enough?"  No surprise here, but her head is HUGE.  "lots of room for brains!" Dr. Agrawal said with a smile....  Magnolia doesn't say too much but I did see her look at a picture of a cow and say MOOOOO! Which was way too exciting for me.

Noli's words at 16.5 months:

1. Arf Arf

2. Whoa

3. Yay!

4. Uh-oh

5. Daddy

6. Moooo

7. Mama (but not usually to me, so I'm not sure it counts)

8.  EIEIO

9.  Ooh ooh aah aaah (monkey!)

10. aaaaaaaaaaaaa!  Ok, that's not a word, but I wanted to round out my list with a healthy 10 words.

She:

-runs

-dances like CRAZY

-squeals when anyone says "i'm gonna get you!" then runs right to said person

-laughs a ton

-loves the sprinkler and anything else involving being outside

-swimming - esp. at her cousin Sarah's house.

-DOGGIES

-wearing one shoe - specifically the hand me down croc that won't fit for at least another 6 months

-brushing her teeth with MY toothbrush - then brushing the dog with my toothbrush, then the floor, then her teeth again...yum.  I just saw her brushing the window sill with her toothbrush, then upon a closer look, I realized that she was spit cleaning it.  She's like a little housekeeper.

-loves her PINK CHAIR! Yo Gabba Gabba, Hi-5, Wow Wow Wubbzy, and music videos

-loves rubbing stuff in her hair EVERY SINGLE MEAL  (right now it smells like maple syrup.  can you guess what she had for breakfast?)

She loves her new cousin Sarah!  Is definitely confused and wants to hand her stuff in a very aggressive way that makes everyone in the room freak out a little...but she still is very interested in the little one!

I found this to be the perfect opportunity to throw in another picture of her...amazing how much they change from day to day!  Isn't she beautiful???

Here are a few pictures of the little one doing what she does best.

Begging for food while chewing ...

Chilling out in Barnes and Noble with her one of her many boyfriends, Parks.  Watchout fellas, she's a "cougar"!

Patiently waiting to see her new cousin Sarah

Trouble.  This is not the first roll of toilet paper that has been annihilated at Noli's hand.

More...

Sweetie pants!  She has the worst, straightest, mullet-iest hair ever in the history of time.  Add in some "bumper bangs" and you have Noli's hair.  We like to call it "lego hair".

Nice hair Mr. Lego.

She has scary teeth!  Her daddy says, "have you been chewing on rocks?"  I'm pretty sure she HAS now that I think about it.

She got a new playground thingy!  She loves it so much but I don't love heat and mosquitos....so we don't use it that much unfortunately.

Doesn't that look like a wall cloud?  I'm just sayin...

Pretty much everything else...

HELLOOOOOO AND GOOD MORNING/AFTERNOON/EVENING EVERYONE!

Let me begin by saying, today is a GORGEOUS Texas day and we are enjoying it immensly -albeit indoors for now...

So, I'm starting this on kind of a sad note but this is my blog and I'll do what I want!!!
This last weekend was the 10th anniversary of my dad's death.  I tried not to get too wrapped up in being sad, (because believe me, it can happen quickly) but instead, to celebrate his life by remembering the good stuff and telling Noli about him.  It seems strange, but it's so easy to forget things about even the most important, life-changing people once they are gone.  I try to remember the little things that helped build who he was as an attempt to create an outline for Noli of my dad, self-coined "Poppa Bear" to his grandchildren - of whom he now has 5 and one on the way.  None of which did he have the pleasure to meet.  Lots of people in my life never met my dad, including my husband.  This is sad and I hate to even say it out loud because it hurts my heart.  Anyhoodle, my dad was an amazing man and is missed more than he could ever imagine.  I can't believe it's been 10 years dad. 

love you.

Ok.. on to the happy lil baby news:

...since my last blog, Noli has learned SO MUCH! Here are a few of the things that have happened since Valentines day.

Magnolia's stuff that she does:

1.) Embraces clapping whole heartedly and now accompanies it with an alarmingly deep voiced "yaaaaaaay!" I enjoy this. Bigtime

2.) she has 8 teeth!

3.) screams when she doesn't get her way. I can't say I'm surprised. Between Jordan and I, we saw this coming a million miles away! We're working on it.... Otherwise, I can honestly say that she is a pretty chill kid.

4.) Walks!  and RUNS!  (not so much fun for me, but adorable nonetheless)

5.) Climbs! and gets into EVERYTHING! She only recently started putting everything in her mouth. Not cool. "danger!" is a common word around here...

6.) We have been to three birthday parties and I'm pretty sure that Noli has more fun than anyone else...including the birthday boy/girl. Sorry Kairi....in every picture of Kairi opening presents, little Noli is 1 foot away clapping and saying, "yay!" and pushing something across the room...haha...uhh...sorry.

7.) we have made 2 new friends! Kai, a big 2 year old boy that likes Juicy and Ricey and Magnolia is pretty much obsessed with him, and Parks, a 7 month old baby boy that Magnolia wants to play with her but he's too busy staring at his mommy.

8.) we took a trip to Austin with our friends Shawn, Suzy Q, and wee little Kai: fun, really fun, stayed in a super cool modern house and painted the town uhh...green? It's a different kind of trip with two 1 year olds... super fun nonetheless. I am so glad we took this trip and really enjoyed our time together because we didn't know they would be moving to Pheonix in just a few weeks! :( We miss them terribly but it's great that they get to get their new life started!

9.) We also went to Seaworld with Mandy, Todd, A.J., and Ava! It was ridiculously fun and I look forward to more family trips with other kids! I'm not sure if I had more fun than the kids, but it's a possibility. We fed dolphins stinky fish and petted them and saw Shamu's big self flying through the air. (by the way, I heard that litter eventually makes it's way to our oceans and the chemicals from the trash is actually causing killer whales to get breast cancer. So please do NOT litter and recycle if possible)(thanks)

10.) My sister is having another baby!!!! I can't believe all the babies happening right now! Jordan's sister (due June 21) and my sister (due Nov 28th - within 2 weeks of both of her other children's birthdays...ha) both are pregnant, and Mandy's sister-in-law, Jen, is also pregnant! I can't lie...it makes me want to be a part of the party, but Noli is pretty much wanting to be an only child right now! And also, having another baby would mean that I would be PREGNANT again and that I would be having a real live 2nd responsibility....  Not yet, but thanks.

11.) Sings EIEIOOOOOOO, and has recently started dancing (feverishly) to almost any song and quitely singing along with her own words and tune.  I LOVE THIS.  My musical baby.  

There is so much that I'm not sure where to start, but I will blog again with some pics!

Believe it or not.. it's a blog!

Magnolia is 1!!!















------------------------------------------------
I'm not good at doing anything consistently but eating and ensuring that my child is cared for so, needless to say, blogging isn't my strong suit...or rather, monthly scheduled bloggings.

Ok. I'm going to try to keep this from being absolutely obnoxiously long like the last blog. In fact, this blog begins as "a morning in the life of Annie" with some info thrown in for good measure. I'm pretty desperate to hold your attention people.

Begin:

So...Magnolia is teething...bigtime. She officially has two fullies on the bottom and one halfie to the right. For those of you who don't know, I read the Twilight (vampires!) series and made fun of my brother-in-law for being a freak baby with fangs, and lo and behold, my little one grows not one, but BOTH fangs. Literally. No top front teeth, but their counterparts on either side. I, of course, find it to be awesome and, of course, am overwhelmed with pride. She now has one of the middle front teeth coming in and vaguely resembles a Halloween decoration (rhymes with mack-o-mantern).

Teething... so she is a fuss bucket, as can be imagined, and seems to be particularly difficult to please in the AM. So, this morning, I decided on oatmeal for us both and am excited as this is Noli's first time to try it. As Magnolia is unhappily screeching in her high chair with about a billion cheerios (she must be the only baby in history to stop liking them at 11 months) I pull out the oatmeal (all the while being trailed by 3 "ravenous" dogs) and realize there is only enough for 1.5 servings and, being a professional oatmeal burner, want to make sure to get it right. - maybe the longest sentence ever- but I digress...

I carefully measure out one cup of oats and proceed to knock the rest of the box over on the floor...DOGFIGHT!... 3 dogs, whom I consider to be relatively picky- especially Disco, eat the dry oats like I just threw a T bone on the floor.. hilarious/annoying. I let them work it out and clean my floor simultaneously as I cook what was left. I get Noli's bowl ready with a splash of whole milk and a teense of butter and pull out the sugar to dust it as this is a special first time breakfast. To sum it up, I salted it. And way more came out than I expected. Overall, a pretty awesome morning. She had cheese for breakfast. I'm trying not to think aobut how quickly the oatmeal will leave the dog's bodies but i know there is some serious fiber in it.

Alrighty. To the subject at hand. The kid.

1. Thanksgiving: fun, super fun showing off my little beauty queen. Is it too early to become a pageant mom? (I'm kidding, by the way, just because I put lipstick on her doesn't mean that I want to put mascara on her too...)

2.Christmas: so great to see family and I got a new fancy camera to get even more beautiful pics of my dogs... and Magnolia...I guess.

Pictures of the chaos of 5 children on x-mas morning.

3. many trips to OKC: our little getaway where my ENTIRE family lives.




This guy is one of the 4 cousins that we go to see in OKC.... he waits for us at the window making this EXACT FACE. Hi A.J.!

4.a birthday party: a heart/love/valentines day theme. maybe generic but so much easier decorating around the holiday. She ate some cake and hung out until she passed out!

yum yum yum!!!




































That was awesome! Let's do that again tomorrow!












Party girl, signing out.








opening presents and hanging with friends and fam...

It's so good I can't even look! Partay!












Olive, Kaya, Magnolia, and Kairi - this is the only picture we could catch of all the girls! Party party!










Momo/Grandmommy likes to party.












Olive, Kaya, and Grandpaface Noli. Three girls who know how to party.









Mommy and Noli! She wore her bow for about 3 seconds after I painstakingly picked it out! Look at my party shirt. I definitely know how to party.





My great-grandparents, Mia and Pop! They ALSO like to party!









Bubbe and Benzo like to party! Rarrr!












Well... alot of people who are important to us showed up to Magnolia's party. Thanks so much for coming. I worked SO HARD and it meant SO MUCH for you all to come. I love you guys!

p.s. how is it possible that I don't have one picture of Mandy and Todd being at the party? Talk about CHAOS. Next time we'll have Mcdonalds do all the planning so we can relax and get pics!!!!


...............Good thing I managed to get THIS...........