THE GARAGE FLOOR IS IN!!!
See her teeth! (I think she looks kinda funny/cute with just the one top tooth)
Anna points a lot. I don’t think she is always pointing at something. But it’s really cute. Here she is standing in the wind as the weather changed to warm:
Wasn’t it just a little while ago that I was sharing pictures of Anna crawling outside?
I have really been looking forward to warm summer weather so that I can strip Anna down for meals!
Anna thinks some of the strangest things are funny… so we can often be found doing very strange things…
So on Friday when Brian got home… he said “Let’s go to the beach!” I thought camping would be a little hectic with no pre-planning, so I began phoning hotels in Rockaway beach. About an hour later, we had left the roasting hot roost and were on our way to the beach! Glory be!
Here’s Anna enjoying fresh yummy fruit at the restaurant where we had a yummy breakfast.
Lots of cool kites at this part of the beach!
Anna gets her first feel of sand…
Wheee
Big kites!
Little baby footprints (her steps are so close together!)
Yay running!
Anna fell asleep in the car on the way to the beach at about 6PM… her bedtime is at 7PM, so we knew things would be a little weird for her. We checked in and unpacked her play pen and then headed to the beach for a short walk. This trip had lots of “short this” and “short that” because Anna just doesn’t last as long as big people! 🙂 We decided to watch a little tv while waiting for her to go to bed… that didn’t exactly help her. 🙂 So at about 9:30, when all the other guests were settling down watching tv shows, we were laying perfectly still on our bed, waiting and waiting for Anna to fall asleep. After she finally fell asleep, we tiptoed to the bathroom to brush our teeth and then went to bed ourselves, like the old boring people we are. What else could we do? Play cards in the bathroom? Anna woke up crying once but after holding her she went back to sleep again.
The next morning we were up bright and early at about 6:45 or so (the room didn’t have a clock!). We found a nice little diner for breakfast where we bought a very light breakfast since we’re never that hungry when we are traveling. Still cost us $10. Anna was a cutie and smiled and stared at the other early breakfasters. We tried to take a walk on the beach, but it was a little cold yet (we weren’t dressed too warm) so decided to take a dip in the hotel pool… doesn’t open til 10AM rats! So we watched more tv. It was definitely time for Anna to nap, though, after a hard night. Brian took off to the beach with Razzie (who was kept in her crate in the van) and I played sleeping tiger (or whatever that game is where you don’t move or make a sound) until Anna was asleep. Then I watched tv on almost-mute. 007 is still pretty good that way.
After a nice long nap, we packed up our stuff and then played in the pool. Anna kinda liked it. 🙂 She was pretty concerned, but was pretty game just the same. Then we went to lunch and then to the beach! After a short time on the beach (less than an hour?) we drove to the Tilamook cheese factory for a little looking around and ice cream. Tip: Three scoops costs less than buying two scoops one at a time. We did that. 😀 And we had them put some of it in a bowl. Happy day!
Then home again… we left the beach at only about 2:30, but child and dog were pooped and we didn’t have more tricks up our sleeves. So home we went. We unpacked, rested, drank lots of water, rested, snacked, fed Anna and then bought a kiddie pool to cool off in. Ahhhhhh
Here are some videos!
Anna’s is let loose – watch out sand!
Anna whines, laughs, and runs on the beach:
Anna plays in the back yard… so does Razzie and the cat.
Yay for the garage floor!
Lil’ raptor says ‘nice kitty. Nice Kitty! NICEKITTYNICEKITTY!!” 🙂
We finally bought some fans. If you end up coming down here they’ll come in handy. 🙂
Which btw, I was going to suggest; if you’re hesitant about having anna in the car for 10 hrs, you’ll have me to drive and believe me- I can drive through anything. Plus ash and kt can keep her company and she doesn’t even have to be in her carseat the whole time. Just thought I’d run that past ya. Have you considered maybe disciplining her for her fits? But I don’t want to be a pesky butter-in-er.
Fans are nice. We need more fans. Or AC. Gotta have ’em! Although it’s supposed to rain and be 59 degrees all week starting Tuesday. 😛
That is good that you’d be cool driving through fussy baby noise – but I am more concerned about it from Anna’s perspective. Frustration and discomfort and restriction for that long (even with breaks to let her run around) equals a very unhappy kid. I don’t mind her experiencing discomfort for short periods of time. Because of some unusual days lately, she took two hours to fall asleep tonight and about five visits from Brian and me. (She’d be quiet, then whine, then cry, then work herself up… at which point we went in and snuggled and wiped her with a cool washcloth and then put her back to bed.)
But I don’t want to let her express a need to me (“Mom, I’m uncomfortable!” “Mom I’m overwhelmed!” “Mom, I’m stuck!”) and not rescue her for so long. I think it could damage the trust she has in me and develop an untrusting and hopeless side in her. Being able to trust that I will be there for her is her privilege as a baby and my daughter.
And yet, with Ash and KT to entertain her, that would help. And with stops, she could be refreshed. And if we had something really pressing… well, we could press through and do the best we could. Oh, not having her in the carseat while driving ain’t an option (not sure if that’s what you meant).
Anna’s fits aren’t really “fits.” She can get overwhelmed. I would say that she is “dramatic” to a point that makes me laugh sometimes. (I told her no the other day and she cried and slapped her hands over her eyes… “woe is me!” haha) She is only just beginning to experience a more complex system of emotions (it’s not just hungry=cry or uncomfortable=cry… it’s desires, excitement, confusion, losing things, expectations… you know, big kid emotions)… she doesn’t know how to control them yet.
I did more than consider disciplining her when she was being unreasonable at first. I said “no” (she understands this) and flicked her when she was unreasonable. This didn’t work a bit, unless it was correcting a specific behavior… that is, it didn’t help her control her emotions. She didn’t know what to do with her bad emotions or with the way she felt out of control and I just added that “being in trouble” feeling to the mix. When she is a few months older we will revisit some specific areas of her temper, attempting to show her the right way to handle her emotions. I’ll tell you how once I’ve done it, because I don’t know yet.
Sooooo – we’d love to visit, but since you’re going to be in Oregon and seeing you is more important to me than seeing your digs, we’ll put off the visit. Distance sucks. Wish we lived closer together.
p.s. You asked for the long comment back after offering parenting advice and butter-ing in. hehe
I see HAIR blowing in the wind in the pointing pic! Looks like a fun trip 🙂
Also…. when do you move into the office???
We are hoping to buy carpet for the loft and stairs one night this week. We also need to buy wood to build “baseboards” around where the concrete is showing at the bottom. Once those two things are done, we will move in!
Other than that, we’ve got to buy and install trim around the windows, put insulation in the wall between the attic (very hot) and the loft, clean and paint the window, and do something about our achilles heel back door.
YAY!
True true. I asked for it. 🙂 Sorry. Next time I will send it in an email…a little more appropriate than posting it as a comment…sorry.
I guess I’ll let you off the hook- this time.
See you in a few!!
Hey Rae Rae.
We were just wondering if Anna might be interested in a Princess tent.
It looks like this: http://www.growingtreetoys.com/images/products/bg/018069.jpg
We were trying to think of a little GIRL that might get some enjoyment out of it. 😀
And we figured Anna was small enough to actually be able to stand up inside
of the tent 😀
Anyway, let me know!
The garage looks great 😉