Silas was cast as a one of the three blind mice that come out in the battle scene.  He did great!  He is really enjoying dancing and I think we might have found an activity he will enjoy for a while.  He loved being in the Nutcracker!

December 5, Anna-Grace turned one!  What a year it has been.  So many changes for our family!  We celebrated the weekend before with an owl themed party.  I made a fun owl cake, we passed out owl ornaments and ate soup for dinner.  She enjoyed all the attention and the wrapping paper!  On her actual birthday, Nana came over for dinner and made chicken pot pie - her favorite!  She loved the chocolate cake!

Now at 13 months, Anna-Grace keeps us laughing.  She is cruising all around (not walking yet), can walk pushing a toy, loves to climb the steps, eats great and is SLEEPING ALL NIGHT!!!!!  Can I get an amen for that!?!  Over Christmas break, I reached my breaking point.   Over a year of interrupted sleep and I could not function anymore - it took us three nights, but now our little angel will go to sleep on her own in her own bed and will sleep all night.  It is heavenly!  She sleeps better and so do we.  I do not regret a moment of co-sleeping and nursing her.  It was a great way for us to bond and spend time together since we are apart so much during the day, but it was time to stop.

I'm weaning her but it is hard since she loves nursing.  I just cut out another feeding, so we are down to two a day.  I'm hoping in the next few weeks to be done - I'm still dairy free and am ready to resume a normal diet.  She still enjoys her school and we are so thankful we found a wonderful place for her to be during the day.  She is talking which is adorable - she says, uh-oh, yes, no, Ma-ma (Madelyn), bye, hi, more and said doll the other day.  This girl knows what she wants and lets you know about it!  She also HATES to be told no.  She is very sensitive and gets her feelings so hurt!

At her 12 month check-up she was 16 lbs 11 oz.  Tiny!  She is in the 1%.  She is still in 6-9 month clothes, although I have pulled out some 12 month things and she can wear some of them.  She never has a dull moment with the big kids around.  She dances, plays and does all kinds of things with them.  She loves each one of them and has such a full, fun life.  We all love her so much!

I'm still hear - hanging on - sometimes by a very thin thread!  I keep hoping one day I will have some time to sit down, download my pictures and catch up the blog but that is never happening.  I want to keep it up since this is our scrapbook.  Well, this post is about Anna-Grace and then maybe I can take a few minutes each night to catch up on the other kids!

Anna-Grace is 9 months.  She is the most precious child.  She giggles, laughs, squeals, babbles and has SO much personality.  I get a lot of comments about how social she is.  She is very aware of everyone and wants to be right in the middle of all the activity!

These past few weeks have brought some big changes for her.  Her favorite teacher, Ms. Chrissy left her daycare for a new job.  AG LOVED her Ms. Chrissy!  She would only let her feed her, and was Ms. Chrissy's favorite (shhh). : )  She loving cared for AG for months and it has been hard on all of us.  We decided to take the opportunity since she was having to make a transition anyway to move her somewhere closer for us to save time driving.  God is so good.  He always takes a bad thing and makes it better.  We absolutely LOVE where she is going now.  It is an excellent center, both her teacher and assistant have master degrees in early childhood education, she does tons of fun things each day like painting and going outside for walks and to play.  The caretaker to child ratio is very very small.  She has been 4 days and loves it!  She is taking her bottles, eating her food and today did not even shed a tear when I left.  We are so blessed.  It will be a great place for her to grow and learn these next couple of years while Jason is finishing school.

All about Anna-Grace at 9 months:

• Still exclusively nursing - Praise God!  Although she would rather be playing with her siblings than nursing...except in the middle of the night.
• Still waking up 1 or 2 times at night to eat.  This momma is exhausted.  She has slept through the night 2 or 3 times.
• She has had 3 ear infections and seems to keep a constant cold/runny nose right now. : (
• Loves to eat food!  She still loves sweet potatoes and squash and has started to eat some table food like broccoli and little pieces of meat.  She likes crackers and cheerios!
• Sits and spins, rolls and can scoot small distances.  Not crawling but I think it will happen soon.
• No teeth.
• Very spiky hair! It is precious and we non-stop comments about it!
• Constant smile!
• Starting to mimic faces and noises.
• Says da-da, bye and will wave.  Lot of other babbling noises.
• Loves her passy.
• Has stranger anxiety.
• Loves to play with toys.
• Everything goes in the mouth.
• Still adored by her siblings.
• Is spoiled!  I understand now why the baby in the family is always spoiled.  It is impossible not to spoil her.
• TINY! Weighs 14.11 lbs (1%) and is in the 4% for height.  
• Just starting to wear 6-9 month clothes.
• Doing better about sleeping in her own bed.

We are just so in love with this little girl.  I never thought I would have another baby and I just thank God that he blessed us with one more angel.  She brings so much joy to all of us and we can't imagine life without our little AG.