Anna is Growing Up!

What has Anna been up to lately? A lot. She has had an ear infection ever since the day before we were supposed to go to Ecuador (a month ago) and on Monday (after a long cranky weekend) I took her to the doctor and her ears were still infected! Poor thing. She had just finished up her 3rd different antibiotic. She also had some gnarly looking purple gums from teeth that were attempting to come through so she's been through the ringer.

By Sunday I was beside myself with all the waking up in the middle of the night and general crankiness. Since I couldn't give her any pain relief besides Tylenol and teething gel I got desperate and went all holistic on her. I read that you can make a mixture of 1 tbsp warm olive oil + 5-10 drops of tea tree oil and put a few drops in the infected ear. The tea tree oil has antiseptic properties and is supposed to help soothe the pain. I also read that you can rub a warm cloth with a few drops of lavender oil on the jawline to help with teething pain and yes I did that too. Well, the next day I took her to the doctor and she perscribed some numbing ear drops that I administered once and ever since then she's been fine so was it the essential oils or the perscription drops? I don't know but my sweet angel is back.....

.....back to modeling mom's crafty projects that is! Here is Anna's Christmas dress I made. I'm basically making her wear it every other day so I get some good use out of it. I used a pattern and, man, is that so much easier than trying to wing it!

It kinda looks like an angel robe the way it's all flowy and loose. I think I might add a sash to cinch it a little at the waist. um, check out those chubby legs...oh my goodness.... Here Anna is showing off standing with one hand. She's really advancing. Two days ago she crawled to something, kneeled, and pulled herself all the way up and stood. She is mobile! And today I actually saw several crawling paces on only hands and knees versus the army crawl she normally does. This little woman means business--especially when it means keeping up with the brother.

And here she is REALLY showing off doing some push-ups in that Christmas frock. Gotta stay in shape for cookie season!

We love our bath time. I think we're going to have to move to the tub soon. I've been getting soaked and end up having to clean the kitchen floor of all the mess.

This picture is kinda scary--she looks like an amputee with her right arm moving so fast. Not even my fast lens could capture the intensity of her delight.

So the other day John looked at Anna so sweetly and said "I love you , Anna". Let me note on this blog here that is the first time John has ever VOLUNTARILY told anyone he loved them without being prompted or someone saying it to him first. How sweet that his first declaration of love was for his sister. Ah, makes my heart melt! And I must also note that on Thanksgiving I asked John what he was thankful for and he said "Uuuuummmmm.....Anna!"

Bless his little heart. I hope he feels that way in 6 months....

Mommy loves you two crazy cats!