The new house

Well, we have officially moved and are loving our new house. We moved on Friday and Saturday and got out of our last box last night. We are getting more settled everyday. It has been a crazy last couple of days but WE DID IT!!!! Our pictures are not hung and our sun porch remains empty but that will come with time. I have to return to work a week from Monday and want to take next week to just relax and spend time with the girls. I am dreading the return to work but know that I will ease back into it and make it work for now. Our house is wonderful. We love everything about it. We miss our wonderful neighbors and friends from Shirley street but know that they are only a couple of miles away. We have met our new neighbors and they seem really nice. I think that we have a female version of Mr Moon. A 93 year old lady lives diagonally across the street from us so I am anxious to meet her. Sallie has not said anything about the old house as she always says that she wants to go to her new house. I guess this is a good sign that she likes it. She has a nice big play room to play in now and that has been great. She also loves her play set outside and has learned to ride her tricycle. The tricycle was put away in the garage for Christmas and she found it in the move. Instead of fighting that battle we went ahead and let her have it. We made this her moving gift whatever that may be. I will post some pics of the house as soon as I can find my camera. Ha!!! We went to Boo at the zoo last night and had a good time. Sallie could not un wrap her candy quick enough. She ate more candy last night than I know. We did not take the camera with us so no pics of boo at the zoo. Anyway, Anna is napping so i must go take advantage of my time with two sleeping as that does not happen often.

Halloween 2008, the duck and the ladybug

Anna's first trip to the beach

Well we took Anna on her first trip to the beach and had a really good time. After titling this post I realized that we did not take any pictures of her actually on the beach. Friday we went down on the beach and did some fishing but left Anna at the house because she was sleeping. Saturday it was cold and rained all day and Sunday, the tide was up and we left at lunch time. Due to all this, Anna was not on the beach, just at the beach. Oh well, we will get pictures next time. We did get some pictures of her on her first golf cart ride. We had a really good time and enjoyed spending some time with my parents. Sallie also got to watch me reel a fish in on Friday. I was not acutally fishing but watching Ward's pole for him while he was going to get a drink. I saw a tug at the pole and started reeling it in. It was pretty cool. That was the first fish I have ever caught and Sallie watched the whole thing. Her eyes were so wide as she watched that little fish. We threw him back to find his parents. He was a little too small to keep. While at the beach our first niece on Ward's side of the family was born. Beth and Carter had a little girl name Elizabeth "Ellis" Arrington Warren. She is precious and everyone is doing great. I will post a couple pictures of her. We went over there last night and had a great visit. Anna looks huge compared to Ellis and they are only two months apart. It is amazing at how fast they grow. Anna seems to be doing a little better and it has been confirmed that she does have a milk allergy for sure. We went back to the doctor today and had another diaper tested. It was all clear. Since I have been off of milk for a week we can only assume that is what caused the first diaper to reflect a allergy. Oh well we will see how long I can do this!! It has been tough. Only two more days until our big move. We are so excited. Sallie is getting ready too. I am not sure that she really understands but she seems to. There are boxes everywhere. On a last note, something really funny...Ward took Sallie to Lowe's with him last night. He was asking a man there for some help with the paint. After the man helped Ward, Ward said thanks, I appreciate it. Sallie turned around and yelled "Appreciate it" Ward said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. She is a little parrot now. We really have to remember to be careful with everything we say....

You know it is October when............

Pumpkin spiced items become available (especially at Starbucks, yum!!), football is in full effect, Fall festivals begin, pumpkins on porches, mums everywhere, and the South Carolina State Fair comes to Columbia, SC. As always, we went to Fair this year. We left Anna at home with Peppy and Ward and I took Sallie. Unfortunately we went on a day that was pay one price ride night and also a holiday from school for most school districts therefore it was so crowded you could hardly walk. Sallie could only ride three of the rides due to her height but wanted to ride every ride there. She was a little "difficult" to manage this year at the fair due to this and just due to her age in general however she loved the rides that she could ride and really enjoyed her ice cream cone. Ward got his fair food fix for the year and I just watched it all. I have become such a germ free crazy person that it was hard to enjoy some of the animal petting part this year. I will remember to pack my sanitizer for next year. Anna had her two month well visit today. She weights 10 pounds 8 ounces. She is in the 50th percentile for everyting. She is bigger than Sallie was at this age. I have been concerned over the last couple of weeks that Anna never feels comfortable. I know that she has reflux and bad gas pains however it just seems like she grunts in pain all the time and does not smile much. I had a lot of questions for the doctor this morning and even took in a stool sample. nice!!! The doctor loved that one. I noticed that her stools were getting more greenish in color and smelly. Sorry for the gross description. Anyway, they looked at it under the microscope and saw some blood in it. They believe that she has a milk allergy and that is why she is always uncomfortable. They are sending the stool sample off to make sure that it is not a bacterial infection however the doctor says that she is pretty confident that it is a milk allergy. I am soooo glad that I thought to take that diaper in. Before examining the diaper the doctor thought that it was just Anna's reflux. Now we can adjust my diet with no diary and see if this helps her. This is going to be so hard for me as I do love my cheese and especially my peanut butter cup ice cream every night, but I will do anything to ease Anna's pain. We will go back and re examine her stool in a week and see if this worked. She got 4 shots today and that was rough but we are all healthy and that is a true blessing. Please keep us in your prayers for a improved little stomach and for me being able to resist ice cream.

The weekends

The weekends mean lounging around on Saturday mornings and not having to rush with breakfast and getting dressed. The weekends mean that Ward is around to help and not rushed off to work. The weekends mean reading the paper and drinking coffee slowly and not gulping it down. The weekends mean a good shower without interruptions and being able to put on makeup and look in the mirror. The weekends mean morning stroller rides and help at the grocery store on Sundays. The weekends mean a little time out to Starbucks or Target while Ward watches the girls. I love the weekends. This weekend Ward was out of town and Wow....talk about taking a step back and really appreciating all that Ward does that may sometimes go unnoticed in our busy lives. It was almost like Sallie knew that I was by myself this weekend. She tested every ounce of patience that I have. We went to lunch yesterday with my Uncle and Grandmother. Sallie was pretty good at lunch but just getting out of the house to lunch was a disaster. If I said white, she wanted black. Thank goodness she went down for a long nap after lunch. Anna slept really well Friday night but not so well Saturday night. Sunday the three of us went to church. I was so ready to get Sallie strapped in a car seat this morning that we were actually 15 minutes early to church and that was a first. I then decided to stop by the grocery store with both kids on the way home. Bad idea..... first of all where do you put groceries with two children in the cart when you have to get one of the car buggies from publix. This is the only buggy that we can get now when we go to the grocery store. They are so hard to steer and get around in publix but it is a fight everytime so I always try and find a car buggy. Then Sallie decided to run off from me in the parking lot of publix and when I called her, she looked at me, laughed, and ran even further. Needless to say, we came home, had a cracker for lunch, and Sallie went to bed. Ward is now home and it feels soooo good. I know that these two year old tantrums can be so trying but I will blink my eyes and Sallie will be all grown up. I am so thankful for these trying times. Bless her two year old heart.... I prayed for patience at church this morning!!!

A busy weekend

We had a very busy and fun weekend. Friday we went to dinner with some friends and Saturday my nephew, Sam, had his 5th birthday party. I can not believe that he is 5. Wow, time flies. His birthday party was at Country Adventures and Sallie had a blast. She rode a horse, roasted marshmallows, had a hayride, and got to pet the animals. Ward took Sallie to the birthday party so that I could go to Beth's baby shower which was a lot of fun as well. The pictures that I will post of Sallie riding the horse make me laugh. They are so funny!!! She has not quit talking about the horsie ride and all the marshmallows that she ate. She smelled like a camp fire when she got home. Ward said that she did not care about the hot dogs and all that she wanted were the marshmallows and birthday cake. Saturday night Nana came and played for a little while before bedtime and Sunday we took Anna to Church for the first time. She did great. She was quite the entire service. We sat in the back just in case but did not have to get out of our seats. Now both girls are asleep and I am getting ready to join them!!!!