Tea Party for a Baby Boy

I consider myself lucky and blessed to have found a good circle of friends since moving to Atlanta.  And, I felt the love at a recent baby shower for little boy Bergstrom.  The theme was a tea party and the spread - from the scones and sandwiches to the clotted cream and yummy petit fours - made the day very special to me.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you, to Susana and Liz for hosting and to all who attended.  I know when the little man arrives (he will have a name one day!!), that he will be welcomed into a loving, supportive group of friends, the same way they've welcomed his mom.

Now, I just have to get those thank you notes done!

Anna's True Loves

Anna continues to have a love, love, love relationship with her "guys".  Although the members of the group have changed since she was two (except for Bug!), one thing remains constant - Anna has developed special relationships with several of her toys and always wants them with her.  We hope to not see her on the show Hoarders in the future...

Most notable of the guys are bunny and bear, whom she could not sleep without (I dread the day we lose one of them).  This love has led to certain rules, like, bunny is rarely allowed to leave the house and if he does go on a journey, he is FORBIDDEN to leave the car.

On Valentine's Day Anna was feeling particularly lovey towards her pals and when she woke up from her nap asked if I would take a picture of her playing with them.  Of course I obliged (but wasn't allowed to enter the room until she had everyone set up and posed).

I love these pictures because they capture her personality and "best friends" at this point in her life.  I hope she remembers the joy they bring her forever!

Sleep trials

The first few weeks of the big girl bed were completely smooth sailing.  But, apparently, novelty wears off and we have had some late night differences of opinion (disagreements, battles, wars?!?) with Anna related to her staying in her room and her bed.

On "good" nights she wakes up once around 1 a.m. and is easily coaxed back to her bed and to sleep.  A "bad" night involves multiple wake ups and her valiant attempts at negotiating to sleep in our bed, or read another story, or have a glass of milk, or put all of her animals to bed, or, or, or...

And, a "horrible" night, well, let's just say we've had to resort to locking our bedroom door and enduring hours (yes, hours!) of top of the lung screaming and begging to let her come in and sleep with us.  Thank goodness this has only happened twice.

I know in my mind this is a passing phase, but when you're in the thick of it, all you can imagine in your mind is, "wow, I'm never going to sleep through the night again."  I guess I should get used to that for awhile - maybe Anna is just helping to prep us and refresh our memories for when the baby arrives.

Anyways, on one particular "bad" night, I heard Anna wake up at about 11 p.m. (third time of the night) and knew she was moving around in her room.  I debated going in and telling her to get back in bed but decided against it - she was being quiet and I knew (hoped!) she would poop out soon.  And honestly, the night was precariously balanced on the threshold of becoming a horrible night, so I felt ignoring was the best course of action.  I did keep hearing a clicking sound and vaguely wondered what it was, but again, I was looking to avoid a horrible night.

At about 11:30 Anna was at my bedside with a huge grin, a head full of bows/clips (clicking sound solved!), asking, "Don't I look pretty, mama?!?"  Now, I know I shouldn't have grabbed the camera because it lends undue attention and recognition to the fact that she is out of bed, but I had to capture the look.

And, after I took her picture, it actually was quite easy to get her back to her bed and back to sleep for the rest of the night.  I guess late night grooming is pretty tiring... 

Dance Obsession

Anna loves to dance and twirl, much to my delight.  Recently she has become obsessed with the Taylor Swift song, Back to December, and begs for me to play, "my favorite song, mommy, about December", in the car, on the computer, on my phone, over and over and over again.  In addition to singing the words, she also lets loose on the dance floor.  Here is tonight's performance (sorry for the grainy video...iPhones can't do everything, I guess...):