Pillow Talk

[Lying in the dark between Mommy & Daddy in our bed...]

Anna: [pointing out the window] Look! Airplane!

Mommy: Yes, baby. That is an airplane. You're very smart.

Daddy: Anna rode in an airplane when she was little. Do you remember?

Anna: I ride choo choo.

Mommy: Yeah, angel. You rode a choo choo with Mommy.

Mommy: I love you, Anna.

Anna: I love you too, Mommy.

Mommy: Okay, no more talking now. It's time to go night night.

[Silence]

Daddy: I love you, Anna.

Anna: No more talking.

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Since WHEN does she listen to me?!

And just so you know...she did eventually tell her Daddy that she loved him too before drifting off to dreamland :)

Old Friends

I have a friend named Allison. We met as freshmen in high school on the dance team and were roommates through most of our college years. Unfortunately, we now live roughly 1,000 miles apart, so we don't get to see each other even close to as often as we would like. Luckily, we both found ourselves back “home” in Baton Rouge this weekend and were able to catch up a little. It was wonderful, but I have to say… why is it that even though you would think that spending time with old friends would make you miss them less, it actually winds up having the opposite effect?

Oddly (and awesomely) enough, Anna and Allison’s son Dylan share the same birthday. We all sweated it out at the Baton Rouge Zoo for a few hours today, and despite the sweltering heat and humidity, it was so much fun to get to see the two of them interact. Dylan was the stereotypical rough-and-tough, catch-me-if-you-can boy, and Anna was more than happy to flit around, delightfully chasing him. She constantly wanted to hold his hand, and if he got out of sight would keep saying “Where Dylan go?” over and over again until she found him. It was hard not to have just a teeny tiny little pang of sadness thinking about how nice it would be if they could grow up together, but they were so darn cute that being sad was just not an option!

My camera is out of commission due to an unfortunate incident this weekend where Anna pulled the diaper bag (with the camera in it!) off of a table. Allison took some pictures with her camera of the kiddos together at the zoo, so I’ll update this post with more pics once she gets the chance to send some to me (No pressure, Alli!)

It was so refreshing getting to see you guys and spend some leisurely time together. I hope the next time isn't so far away. . .

Deep Thoughts

Looking at one of Anna's old baby pictures...

Daddy: Do you know who that is?

Anna: That Anna.

Mommy: Can you give Anna kisses?

Anna: [Kisses picture.]

Daddy: Hey, is that Anna pretty?

Anna: No, that Anna Fernandez!

Out of My Head

Ever since I was a little girl, I've always had a love affair with dancing. It's been a very long time since I've danced, but there's still something about the way I feel when I even just watch other people dance that I can't quite put into words.

Tonight after I put Anna to bed, I watched tonight's episode of So You Think You Can Dance on my trusty DVR. Tyce DiOrio's contemporary piece to "This Woman's Work" was easily the standout of the evening. It's about a woman fighting breast cancer and the friend that helps her through her struggle, and it was so incredibly moving. Everyone on the panel was in tears, and I have no doubt that most people at home were too. I was.

The only disappointment for me tonight was seeing Mia Michaels on the panel. Not because I don't like what she has to say, because I do. But if Mia Michaels is on the panel, that means that none of her choreography will be in the episode, and no choreographer is able to move me quite like Mia Michaels. This woman could literally come up with a way to choreograph picking your toes that would no doubt be nothing less than riveting. I am convinced.

No matter how hard I try, I just cannot get Mia's piece from two weeks ago to "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles out of my head! It's about addiction, and it was just so unbelievably, beautifully, perfectly emotional and haunting that I just can't stop thinking about it. So I found it online so that I could watch it again (and again and again), and now it's here for you to watch too. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.





Then, if you're a contemporary junkie like I am and like dancing that makes you feel something, check out this piece from last week that Travis Wall choreographed to "If It Kills Me" by Jason Mraz. It's lovely, and not as heavy as the other two, so a good note to end on.

Sweet [Suspicious] Silence

Anna had a doctor appointment yesterday, so she stayed home with me while I worked from home. It's always a challenge to keep her entertained so that I can get work done, but miraculously she played very quietly in her playroom while I got through my morning conference calls.

It's important to note that I was in the same room. Only my back was turned, my eyes were on the computer, and I had a headset on my head. She was quiet, and me? I was deliriously happy.

Until...
Mommy's going to be a little quicker on the uptake next time, so watch out munchkin!

The Cheerleader in the Potty

As we were rushing to get out of the house. . .

Anna: What are you doing, Mommy? [the eternal question]

Me: I'm washing my hands.

Anna: Anna wash hands too!

Me: No, baby. We're in a hurry. Mommy is just washing her hands because she went wee wee.

Anna: Mommy, You went wee wee?

Me: Yeah, baby. I did.

Anna: [With equal enthusiasm and sincerity] Yay Mommy!

I just might need a cheerleader every time I go to the potty now - you know, so I can feel like I accomplished something important.

Sweet Calla-line

Anna has two cousins, both older than she, and she completely idolizes both of them. We don't get to see either of them as often as we'd like, but on Sunday, Anna got to spend some time with one of them. This one. . .

This is Caroline (a.k.a. "Calla-line").

Mimi, Tio & Caroline gave Anna her very first Vera Bradley purse (Thanks guys!), so Anna was feeling like a big girl and was very excited to show it off. Does she look excited?

And here they are together, rockin' in the cool, kid-sized rocking chairs on the porch at Cracker Barrel after we ate lunch.

Two peas in a pod.

Anna & Ryan's Playdate

Anna got to play today with Ryan, the son of our good friends Michele and Matt. They got to swim (or "smim", as Anna says it) and blow bubbles and eat ice cream and play (and play and play and play). They played together really well aside from just a couple of really short-lived, easily-remedied scuffles, and that left me & Michele with lots of time for a long-overdue catch-up session.

So I'd say the day was quite the success - apart from the part where Anna peed in her swim diaper and it went all over Michele and Matt's carpet! (Not embarassing AT ALL!)

Here's Anna on Ryan's playset.

And here's Ryan.

And here are the partners in crime together.

Thanks for sharing your toys and for being so sweet, Ryan! Anna had so much fun with you, and we can't wait until we can do it again!

Bossy

Pronunciation: \ˈbȯ-sē, ˈbä-\

: inclined to domineer : dictatorial

---

I'm pretty sure it's a universal toddler thing to some degree, but Anna tends to be a little controlling from time to time. I will admit to, on occasion, after succumbing to her every command and whim, giving Derek sideways glances and muttering, "she's bossy," not thinking that the "she" I was speaking of was paying any attention.

Maw Maw has always made comments, even from the time that Anna was very young, about how intently Anna listens when Derek and I are talking about her. And I recently got full confirmation that she most definitely is listening. She's *always* listening. And soaking it all up like a little sponge.

I was sweeping the living room and Anna was following me around with the swiffer "helping" me. [Note: The word "helping" is in quotes because I use that term very loosely - but cutely, too.] It was time to put our sticks away, so I told Anna she needed to put the swiffer back in the laundry room. She plainly replied, "Mommy, you bossy!"

My mouth fell open, and I was actually kind of wondering where she would get the idea to say such a thing to me. Then of course Derek was *more* than happy to remind me. I'm thinking we're going to need to start talking less and spelling more!

If she starts calling me "B-O-S-S-Y!" then we have a serious problem!

New Family Member

Anna took a trip to PetSmart with her daddy this weekend to buy food for Bailey, and somehow they got to looking at the birds and fish. I'm really not sure whose idea it was, but she came home very excited about the prospect of getting a fish to call her own.

Because I'm not a pushover AT ALL, Sunday after church we made our way back to PetSmart, and came home with this little guy...

My friends, meet Me-mo! Yes, It's Me-mo, not to be confused with this cute little guy, Nemo. Anna has loved "Finding Nemo" ever since her twin friends Brook and Allison at school lent it to us for a weekend, but she just can't seem to say "Nemo", so Me-mo it is! Besides, the fish deserves his own name...who wants to live in the shadow of the great Nemo?

She loves looking at her Me-mo. She'll just stare at him and tell me with the utmost sincerity, "Mommy, I love him!" This makes it so worth the fact that we bought a $3.99 betta fish, and still managed to spend 50 bucks at the pet store on all of his lovely accessories.

She loves to hug her Me-mo, too. I put him on a lower table for these pictures, but thankfully for sweet little Me-mo, his permanent home is out of her reach. We keep having to explain to her why she can't hold him, and every time it's very upsetting. lol.

Here she is giving Me-mo a kiss. She wanted to do this again this morning as we were leaving for work/school, but I talked her into just blowing him a kiss instead.

Me-mo, you are very loved by the little girl that I love most! Lucky fish!

Kelly's Kids Photo Contest Finalists!

For those of you that don't know, aside from my "real" job, I also am a rep for Kelly's Kids clothing on the side. I recently held my first Kelly's Kids Photo Contest where I asked my customers to send in pictures of their kids wearing their Kelly's Kids outfits!

Now I have picked the five finalists, and it's time for voting to decide who is the final winner! So if you have 30 seconds to spare, run over to my Kelly's Kids Houston blog and vote now!

Phantom

Thursday night, my baby sister Katie and I went to the theater to see a production of Phantom of the Opera! We had some random stranger take this picture of us in the lobby at intermission to commemorate the event. I think the only thing we enjoyed more than the show was each other's company :)

Thanks again Mom for the tickets - the seats were amazing!

Free MCP Actions!

MCP Actions has some free photoshop actions, including one for her "Blog It Board" action (in the "Try Me" section of the site). I haven't sprung for the paid version of the "Blog It Board" actions yet, although I think they're really cool. So I instead decided to play around with the free version with some pictures of Olivia from the beach.

Besides, her mommy may or may not have been giving me crap about not having seen any yet ;)

Enjoy Nicole!

Texan Holiday

We made it out to the beach again with Ross, Nicole, Olivia & Amaris over the long weekend. Not quite a Roman Holiday a la Audrey Hepburn, but we did the best we could Texas-style and I think everyone had a wonderful time!

We got to the beach quite a bit earlier this time, so there was much more time to play and explore. We brought food and drinks and had a nice, light dinner out there. Anna didn't really want to stop to eat because she was far too busy having fun, but she did go wild over the strawberries, watermelon & freshly-squeezed, really yummy lemonade that Ross & Nicole brought (although there does seem to be a bit of a debate over who actually MADE the lemonade. Haha!).

Anna did a whole lot of not listening to us (which I can kind of understand as she was in complete sensory overload), but I was hoarse the next day from running after her calling her name, so we're going to need to work on that for the future. Luckily, she didn't do anything dangerous and instead spent the day. . .

playing in the water,

digging in the sand,

looking for "rocks" (ie. shells),

and "flying", among other things.

Here's a family pic that Nicole snapped for us as the sun was starting to set. (Thanks Nicole!) Anna somewhat cooperated here because I told her that if she wanted to go swim she needed to smile for the camera. And she really wanted to swim out to the sand bar with her daddy. So nice now that my bribery attempts succeed at least some of the time!

I have so many more pictures from that day to wade through (Haha! Get it? Wade?! Okay, maybe not.), but I wanted to get a few up now. Hopefully, I'll get to it later in the week.

I hope everyone had a fun & safe 4th, and that getting back to the grind wasn't too painful today!