It's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Hey everybody! Ansley here, taking over the blog. My mom is busy so I decided to post myself. Bet you didn't realize 7 month olds had the ability to type! Anywho, see what I'm doing in this picture? That's right folks! I'm eating from a bottle! Why is that so strange you ask? Well for those of you who know me well, you know that for the past 5 months my mom and dad have tried endlessly to get me to drink from a bottle! And each and every time I have very politely through screaming and crying, told them I'm not interested. Well a girl can change her mind can't she? Now all I want is a bottle! I don't need mommy anymore. I'm a big, independent, almost 7 month old doll. I think it frustrated my mom at first, but I also think she may really like being able to leave me for more than 3 hours at a time! Although I don't know why she would want to ever do that! Aren't I cute though?

Disclaimer: If you think I am posting this blog in hopes of the "blog curse" happening and her completely reverting her ways...I might be--but for a few very important reasons.
1. While I would like to have the freedom of the bottle, breastmilk is better and sooooo much cheaper!
2. Jeremy and I have been doing weight watchers for about 4 weeks...while nursing I get 10 extra points a day! Now I'm going to lose those and have to start really watching what I eat :(

Video and funny story

Here's a cute video of Ansley in her bouncer. This is one way I can get a shower, put on my makeup, fix my hair, and do anything else I need to do in the mornings if Jeremy is already gone!

Also, here's my funny dialogue of the day:
Kennedy: "Mom, can we go to McDonalds for lunch?"
Me: "No Kennedy. We just had McDonalds on Sunday. We don't eat McDonalds that often. It's not healthy for us. Plus it costs money, and Mommy doesn't have any money."
Kennedy: "Okay mom." Pause...(I'm thinking this is the end of the conversation) "Then can we go to Sonic?"
Me: "No Kennedy. It costs money too, and also isn't healthy for us very much either."
Kennedy: "Fine. How about Applebees?"

I think we've created a monster!

Blog Facelift

This is a picture we took on our computer a couple of months ago, but I thought it was cute. Do you like the new look of the blog? I did it all without Jeremy's help! I tried not to make it too girly, since occasionally Jeremy will post something. I thought it was pretty cute though. We are planning on making a trip to the orchard this weekend which is one of my favorite autumn activities...even though it's still blazing hot here! Then we are headed to Arkansas later next week for Jeremy's cousin Erica's wedding. We are looking forward to seeing all our family. We'll even get to meet our niece Chelsea, whom we haven't met yet, since she was born in New Zealand and has just recently moved back to the states. She's only two weeks younger than Ansley though, so it should be fun to see them together. Then the following week we are heading back to Peoria to watch our friend Drew debut his talents in High School Musical 2. We've also got a few friends coming to visit this month, so September will probably fly by! It's pretty weird that neither Jeremy or I are starting school now, but we're still keeping busy and having lots of fun. Until next time. . .

The Awesome Park

Jeremy took today off work and we all went to the "Awesome Park" as Kennedy refers to it. Not only does it have a fabulous playground area, but from Memorial Day until Labor Day it has a splash area with water spraying that the kids can play in. Since that will only be available for a few more days we decided to let Kennedy to have some fun there today. We even ran into some of her little friends from church there, who you'll see in the pictures. Also, in case you're wondering, the curse of the blog occurred again! Last night Kennedy had her first accident (although if you ask her, she has no idea how her underwear got wet...maybe there was something wet on the floor where she sat...needless to say we had a lesson on lying last night) and Ansley woke me up at 4:26 am to eat! Oh well, hopefully it was just a fluke!

Ansley slept most of the time we were there. I think she's trying to figure out what's going on!

Greta, Kennedy and Sophie being silly for the camera

Milestones

We've had two major milestones in the Picker household this week. I hesitate to blog about them though, because it seems like everytime I blog about something I jinx myself. For example, a few months ago I blogged about Ansley loving her binky. The next day she would have nothing to do with it...and still doesn't like it. I also blogged about potty training Kennedy a while back...yep, shouldn't have done that either. However, this time I think I am safe. She has had an entire week in underwear with no accidents! She doesn't even wear pull-ups out in public, and she use public restrooms too! She just doesn't like the "loud flushes" that some public restrooms have, so she plugs her ears and waits by the sink while I flush. Jeremy and I decided to reward her with a complete surprise the other night. We took her to Build-a-Bear and let her make her own High School Musical Bear. She was so excited. The rest of the evening I heard her say at least 6 times "I just can't believe I have this bear...I'm so excited!" Since then, the bear has not left her side. "Taylor" the bear has gone with us to church, slept with her, and joined us today at the Magic House (which by the way is an awesome Children's Museum that we plan on visiting quite frequently!)


Milestone number 2 involves Ansley. She has slept through the night every night for an entire week! This has been great for mommy, who is now also getting uninterrupted sleep! It makes us all very happy!
And this is not a huge milestone, but important none the less. . . Ansley has started enjoying her first finger food...Peach Puffs. I like this picture because she's so longingly looking at me as if saying "How do you get this lid off woman?"
And then this one shows her studying the nutrition facts...watching her figure I guess.

New Game

It's sometimes hard to come up with things to keep Kennedy entertained during the day. Don't get me wrong, she's a great self-entertainer, and can play for hours with her Barbies--just like I did when I was little. But she always knows when Ansley is napping and immediately wants mommy all to herself to play together. I saw this idea in my Parenting magazine and decided to try it. I wrote all the letters and numbers 1-9 on paper plates and we place them in a circle around the family room. Then we put on princess music and had to walk around the plates until the music stopped. When it stopped we had to pick up the plate we were next to and tell the letter on the plate. She knows all the numbers, but we still need work on identifying the letters. She had a lot of fun though, and I felt good knowing she was learning at the same time! Here are some pictures from our new game that we may make a point of playing everyday!

Ansley's 6 month stats

Well we visited our new pediatrician today for Ansley's 6 month well-baby appointment. She was in the best mood and just as happy as could be until the dreaded shots. Then she cried for about 10 seconds, stopped, and left a huge scowl on her face, as if saying "I cannot believe you let them do that to me!" Then she took a marathon nap and is about on her way to another one I think. Her stats are as follows:
Weight: 18 pounds 4 ounces (90-95th%)
Height: 26 3/4 inches (75th %)
Head: The doctor's reply was "Has her head size always been off the charts?" Poor girl, she gets that from her daddy!

A Few Pictures

These are just a few pictures I took recently from New York City, and around the house.

Quote of the Day

I know I already posted once today, but I couldn't help myself with this one. Tonight we were on our way home from Jeremy's grandma's house and along Interstate 64 there is a whole row of strip clubs all decorated with very bright neon lights. Kennedy looked out her window and said "C'mon people! Take your Christmas lights down!" We were cracking up! Where does she get these things from?

Jeremy's Girls

Jeremy snapped these pictures of the girls and me today.  I thought they were cute.  

Then, today Jeremy snapped this picture of 2 deer in our backyard...Kennedy was disappointed she didn't get to see them, but was happy to see the picture.  

 

Who's that baby in there?

On Ansley's exersaucer, there is a little book that you can turn the pages. When you get to the last page, there is a mirror underneath it. Today I turned it to the mirror for the first time and it was so funny to watch Ansley. She was mesmerized by the baby in the mirror. She spent a good 5 minutes just staring at herself and trying to get closer to it. This is the best picture I could get though, because she would look at me everytime I tried to snap it. We go this week to get her 6 month pictures, so hopefully I'll have some cute ones to post later. Also, her 6 month appointment got changed to next week, so I'll post her stats then.