~ November 2007 Update ~

It's cold. I know I shouldn't be thinking about Spring already, but I'm looking forward to warmer days.

We flew stand-by to Albany for Thanksgiving. We were able to make it there and back without getting bumped. It was so very nice to be with family on Thanksgiving. I think that's something I've taken for granted all these years of living only a few hours drive from family. This is the second year in a row that we celebrated Thanksgiving at my brother's house. A friend fried a turkey for us and it was really good! Our family normally eats a chicken dish that has become a tradition for us. But is was nice to have a real turkey dinner and it was scrumptious!

Jae Anna enjoyed her cousins so much. She loved having playmates around. I really wished that I could have brought my brother's oldest daughter back to Arkansas with us. She is the best little babysitter you ever did see. She probably doesn't weigh much more than Jae Anna, but she'd prop Jae up on her tiny hip like it was nothing at all.

I decorated for Christmas before we left for Thanksgiving. I wish I could leave the Christmas trees up all year. I love Christmas trees. My grandparents gave me their big tree when they down-sized. I put that one in the playroom so it can be seen from the road and decorated it with white lights and gold and silver decor. I put our 2nd tree in the living room and granted Tim's request for colored lights this year. I think you have to have colored lights when you have kids anyhow. It's just more festive... Unless I missed a Christmas box in the attic, we really don't have all that many decorations for the house. I should be hitting the after Christmas sales big time this year.

Jae Anna bit for the first time today and broke through my skin. Yow! Out of reflex, I poped her as soon as she bit down. It really hurt! I hope that was enough to teach her to not bite again. I'd hate for her to bite another child. She's also getting rougher with the dogs and they're growling back at her. I hope this stage of rough play doesn't last too long.

The picture at the top is of us in front of my Dad's store. We grabbed a few Hot Dog King hot dogs on our way back to the Albany airport.

This picture below is Jae Anna enjoying a picnic lunch with her cousins at Turtle Park. We found a shady spot under the overpass.

~ October 2007 Update ~

Tim just brought to my attention that I had not posted our October blog, yet!

We took Jae Anna to her first Halloween party last night. Her playgroup friends were there all dressed in their costumes. Jae Anna went as Little Red Riding Hood and I put my 60’s Go-Go costume on. It was held at the Prairie Grove Battle Park in an old barn. We also went on a haunted trail and hayride. This is one of America's most intact Civil War battlefields where the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi clashed with the Union Army of the Frontier resulting in about 2,700 casualties on December 7, 1862. Walking, where so many lives were lost, at night with a full yellow moon is creepy enough. The haunted trail actors actually served more as comic relief!

We’ve spent most of the month getting unpacked and slowly getting things up on the walls in our new house. Tim really dislikes having to hang things on the walls. For his sake, I’m taking my time decorating. My favorite room of our house has to be the kitchen. I have so much storage space. It’s ridiculous!! And it’s so functional. Cooking is actually enjoyable now and we’re eating at home a lot more.

Charlie and Ruby stayed outside for the first few weeks, but we really missed having them around to cuddle with and Jae Anna really enjoys their company. We just have to take them out on a leash so they don’t get their paws in the dirt and track it back inside. The house didn’t feel like a home until I could see dog hair on the floor. Jae Anna is eating less these days because she’d rather feed the dogs from her high chair. I’m trying to teach her – when it’s gone, it’s gone - otherwise, she’ll just continue to toss her food to them no matter how much food I bring her.

Jae Anna is talking a lot more now. Mostly jibber-jabber, but she can say most anything that she wants to say. She just doesn’t make sentences. She’s mostly quiet when we get around other people. I’m trying to get her out of the house more now that we’re settled in. I could tell a difference in her comfort level around other children since we had not been going to playgroup meet-ups as often. It’s good for both us to get out more and socialize, so we’re trying to make a point to do so.

I’m really looking forward to the holidays this year. It’s fun having a toddler who can enjoy all the festivities. Tim’s cousin, Paul, and his family have talked about coming for Thanksgiving. It would be nice to have family here to celebrate with.

~ September 2007 Update ~

Our house in Georgia is SOLD! Yay! Closing was on Monday. The movers came and packed the house up in five hours. They don't mess around. They were in and out in no time at all. Loading the truck took much longer though. The loaders that came on Tuesday had to park across the street from the house. With the street busy from school traffic, it took extra time for the loaders to get back and forth. So the hardest part of the move is done. The long drive is over :) My mom kept Jae Anna for us while we were in GA. This made our trip much easier. Jae Anna is really hard to contain and it was better to not have her at the house under every one's feet. Our precious puppies made the trip just fine. No one vomited, so that makes it a success.

Poor Tim has strep throat. He started feeling bad last Thursday, but thought he could fight off the illness. He's been miserable the entire trip. I did talk him into seeing a doctor on Sunday morning. He got an antibiotic, but he said it doesn't seem to be helping that much. I think he's starting to feel better slowly. Jae Anna and I have not picked up the virus from him, thankfully. Even though I accidentally drank after him a few times on the trip. Keeping my fingers crossed.... Strep makes you want to roll over and die from what I remember anyhow.

Tomorrow we close on our new house and I can't wait to get the keys! Our furniture and things won't arrive till Saturday, but we'll be taking our air mattress and two bean-bag chairs over there tomorrow night and call it home. After sitting on the floor for three months, I can manage a few more days :) Charlie and Ruby are with us in the apartment tonight. We tried to quietly sneak them in, but they've been barking when they hear the neighbors walk above us. Ruby is a nervous wreck when we take her outside to "do her business"... so she won't "do it". Hoping she doesn't have any accidents in the house. Between Jae Anna chewing the windowsill, Tim spilling a drink on the wall, and stained carpet from where Jae Anna's sippy cups leak... we might as well have paid a pet deposit.

Okay... Now for a quick 16 month update on our big girl:

She loves to sing. We have a CD of children's praise songs in the car and when we turn that on, she'll sing along with the music. Of course she's not singing the words, but she loves to try. It's very, very cute.

I make a funny face at her when we're playing and now she makes that face when she's feeling silly. She'll squint her eyes almost closed, but peek out of one eye. I'll have to try and catch a picture of her making the face. It's also very, very cute.

She's been a bit of a bully on the playground lately. She likes to stand at the bottom of the toddler sliding board and make sure no else uses it. Of course I'm trying to teach her to share and take turns, but we haven't mastered the sharing skill, yet. I'm guessing this will take some time for her to grasp.

She's trying to say lots of new words. There are a lot of things she can say, but she doesn't use the words repeatedly. She also is starting to speak some baby jibberish. I love listening to her read a book. She'll jibber-jabber and point as if she's reading the story.

Okay, I could continue to gush about what a sweet baby girl I have, but I've got to get to bed!

~ August 2007 Update ~

Yep... We're still in the apartment waiting for the right buyer to come along. Last weekend we took a fast trip to Atlanta and back to grab a few things. Mainly Jae Anna's crib since she has long past outgrown the travel pack-n-play and we were starting to feel really guilty seeing how she couldn't stretch out head to toe. We were also able to do more organizing and cleaning in the house. Going back there made me realize, all the more, how much I miss our house. It's just a great house and in a great area. Hoping the right people come along to buy it and enjoy it as much as we did.

We also got together with my family while we were in ATL. That was nice since it's not often that all of us are able to schedule to be in one place at the same time... even on holidays. We all went to dinner at Baldino's Giant Jersey Subs on Buford Hwy. We love that place. There are two places that we always try to eat at when we're in the Atlanta area. One is Bento Cafe because it's the only Taiwanese food in Atlanta (and we think it's really good). And the other is Baldino's. We were lucky to squeeze both in on this trip. We're also finding all the good places to eat here in NW Arkansas. So far, Tontitown is my favorite city to eat in. I love Italian and they have some scruptious Italian. We just ate at Mama-Z's in Tontitown tonight. It's been three hours since dinner and I'm still about to pop!

Jae Anna and I have joined a playgroup here in NW Arkansas and we are really excited to have something outside of the apartment to do! It's really cool because there are 142 members in the group. People schedule play-dates or events to do all throughout the week and we can pick and choose which to attend depending on Jae Anna's schedule and my energy level! Of course all 142 members aren't active, but there are still a lot of moms that are. I also registered to join the local MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) yesterday. So we are keeping busy and it's been fun meeting other moms and babies that live near by.

Jae Anna is officially walking! She started walking everywhere just last week. The only downfall is that she can get into things so very quickly! Her new favorite thing to do is to bring us a book, sit down in our lap for a split second while we read the first page, then she's off to find another book for us to read. Another favorite activity is to pretend to feed us. She'll act like she has food in her hand and place it in our hand for us to pretend to gobble it up. She thinks this is pretty funny and can play this game forever. One food item has been added to her list of things she'll eat. She likes chicken nuggets. Chick-fila and McDonald's are her favorites. I love that the fast food places are giving healthy options of sides and drinks for us and kids. She's also giving hugs & kisses now and I love it! I ask for a million hugs and kisses a day and she'll comply maybe 80% of the time :)

Tim is enjoying his job. He works really hard and puts in almost 12 hour days. I don't mind as long as we get his time in the evenings and weekends. He's good about leaving his work at work and rarely discusses business at home. Maybe that's because I get a glazed over look if he tries. Ha! He could be speaking Mandarin to me and it would compute about the same. We have our 4th anniversary coming up on the 30th. That's hard to believe. The four years have flown by!

~ July 2007 Update ~

Jae Anna and I flew to Albany a couple of weeks ago to watch my nieces and nephew while my brother and sister-in-law took a cruise for their 10th anniversary. This was Jae Anna’s first time flying. The picture above was taken on our flight. I just kept shoveling in the cookies and crackers to keep her from climbing off the seat and into the aisle. Luckily, we had some light-hearted people sitting around us and Jae Anna had fun playing peek-a-boo with the couple seated behind us.

My nieces LOVE babies; especially my niece Ramsay. They were a huge help with Jae Anna. They would carry her around everywhere, feed her, and even change some diapers. My nephew, Jax, couldn’t get enough of Jae Anna. He would love on her all day long. So much that when Jae would see him coming, she’d scream. Jax’s two year old lovin’ often resulted in squeezing her cheeks or accidentally poking fingers in her eyes. They are really good kids, though, and we had fun partying while the parents were away. My sister and her three kids came down to Albany while we were there, also. So we spent every evening over at my parents’ house swimming and hanging out with all the cousins. Jae Anna loved being in the pool. She was so comfortable and kept trying to put her face in the water. When it was time to get out of the pool each night, I’d strip her down before taking her back inside to wash up. She would just run with her little naked bottom back over to the pool and try to jump back in.

A few days ago I got a call from a couple that are interested in renting our house in Atlanta until they are able to sell their home and buy ours. We are open to doing that and should be hearing something as early as next week as to whether or not they are able to iron out some details on their end.

I’ve been converted from my love of historic homes to the newer, cleaner, bigger homes after visiting some stale smelling, awkwardly arranged and in need of renovating, older homes. We found a house that we both feel would be really comfortable and meets all our criteria as far as size, neighborhood, floor plan, location, style, etc. I know Tim needs to have bargaining power… so I’m keeping an open mind if we’re not able to get our #1 pick. And it may not even be available once we’re ready. Keep your fingers crossed for us, please!

We are enjoying the area more and more now that we’re able to find our way around town better. It’s such a vibrant area. Can’t wait to get settled in and move our dogs and all of our stuff here so we’ll feel even more at home. I miss our dogs and I know Jae Anna misses the constant entertainment they provide. Anytime I say the word “doggie”, she’ll make a woof woof woof woof sound.

Girlfriend has been off the bottle for almost a month now and she’s chugging her milk and juice from the sippy cup. She knows how to walk at least 8 steps at a time, but will only do it when we coax her. I think if we had furniture in the apartment, then she’d be getting more practice because she’d have something to pull up on and then cruise from one thing to another. She’ll get the hang of it one way or another. She lives on bread and fruit. Hates her veggies and rarely will eat a piece of meat. I hide her veggies in cottage cheese. Sometimes I can trick her that way and sometimes she can detect the taste of a carrot or green pea and will spit it out refusing to eat another bite. Her favorite things to do lately is unroll the toilet paper and pull out everything in the kitchen cabinets. Those safety locks will be the first thing we do once we move into a house! For now, I feel like there’s not too much here to entertain her, so she can have at it.

She’s turned into very much the daddy’s girl here lately, clinging to him whenever I try to take her from him. She’s a smart cookie, though…. She knows who will feed her the junk cereal and treats. They do love to share cranberries and grapes every night, also. So I have no complaints there.

~ June 2007 Update ~

Tim flew back to Atlanta last weekend. We packed as much as we could into our mini and headed to Arkansas. Jae Anna did remarkably well on the trip. She was happy to watch her videos and sleep for most of the trip. We did a good bit of the drive after her bedtime, but she ended up waking at 1:30AM… pointing and grunting at the T.V. The T.V. was a lifesaver! We arrived in Bentonville around 3AM (Arkansas time).

So now we’re in an apartment with an air mattress, a pack-n-play, and two bean-bag chairs. Thank goodness we got cable and Internet hooked up pretty quickly or I’d be going totally stir crazy. The apartment is really nice, though. There’s a golf course right outside our window. Tim wants to go buy me a golf club so we can play. The few times I’ve tried golfing it took many swings before I could ever make contact with the ball. So we'll see....

I’ve been driving a lot during the day, looking for houses. I’m trying to not fall in love with just one house since we really need to wait until we get a contract on our house in Georgia before buying here. But there is this one house that I keep driving past. I love historic homes. They have so much character and life about them. Tim thinks it’s too close to the road and says he’s vetoing this one. I’m hoping he’ll have a change of heart.

We visited Bella Vista Christian Church yesterday morning. They have two services. One that is more of a contemporary worship service and one that is more traditional. We attended the 8:45am contemporary service. I prefer a mix of the contemporary worship with traditional. But since we had to pick one, we went with the contemporary since it’s probably more upbeat and we enjoy getting an early start on the day. The people were very friendly and we enjoyed it. So we plan on going back.

Last night we went to dinner at one of Tim’s co-worker’s homes. He’s from Taiwan and she is Caucasian and they have three sweet and beautiful girls. The youngest is only 9 months and Jae Anna had so much fun playing with her. Nice, nice people.

~ 13 Months ~

Now for the Jae Anna update! Talk about a busy, busy girl. She is still a very good baby. Still sleeping through the night and taking two good naps during the day. I read that the morning nap should disappear soon, but she still gets tired right at 9:30am every day. She almost never cries when she goes down for naps or bedtime. Climbing is her big thing now. If there’s something that can be climbed, then she will attempt it. She still doesn’t really know a stranger. She’ll go to anyone. She loves watching other children in the grocery store or when we’re out to eat. She’ll smile and try to get their attention. I finally bought her a pair of shoes since she enjoys walking anytime we’re out of the house (holding our hands, of course). She thinks she’s hot stuff with her shoes on. We shopped around a lot and tried on a lot of baby shoes. Didn’t think I’d pay the Stride Rite prices, but they truly seem to be the best fit and most comfortable on her feet. So I’m checking every few minutes when we’re out to make sure they’re still on her feet! I can’t get by with just a couple of bathes a week anymore. As soon as her hands get dirty and sticky… the hands go directly into her hair. Plus the fact that she sweats like a stuffed pig these days. I guess because she’s so busy and non-stop movement. She’s getting pickier with her eating. We switched to whole milk this week. No more formula. I said I was going to put the bottles away, too. But I’m still worried that she doesn’t drink enough out of the sippy cups. And I’m afraid to leave the milk just sitting around the house waiting for her to “sip” it all down. Got to make the transition soon… especially since she doesn’t seem to mind using the sippy cups.

Arkansas, Here We Come!!

I have no idea who reads these blogs besides our immediate family. So this may not be “news” to any of you… Tim accepted a job with Wal-Mart in northwest Arkansas. He starts his new job tomorrow! Jae Anna and I plan to join him very soon, but until then, we’re busying ourselves visiting family and friends and making sure the house is show-ready. We’re excited about this opportunity. And as is true with any big change, we’re looking forward to settling in and getting our bearings in the new town. I think we’ll really enjoy living there with lots of lakes, the Ozark Mountains, hot springs, and any shop or restaurant you can think of. We enjoy outdoors activities, so I think we’ll be right in our element.

We celebrated Jae Anna and Tim’s birthdays, together, yesterday. Tim’s b-day is actually the 20th (today!) and Jae Anna’s b-day is the 25th. We had a little party for them at my sister’s house since a lot of the family was going to be in their part of town for my niece, Ellie’s, band concert. Tim always says he doesn’t need to celebrate his birthday, but I think he enjoyed blowing out his 33 candles with Jae Anna on their Hello Kitty cake.

There really aren’t that many things to share with you as far as new things that Jae Anna is doing. She’s not walking, yet. But she is standing for longer and longer periods of time. I’m thinking that she’ll take a couple of steps in the new few weeks. We got her some big girl toys for her birthday and I can tell she was ready for them. She hasn’t been playing with her old toys for some time now. The dog bowl, the remote control, my keys (basically anything non-toy) are way more entertaining. My good little shopping companion no longer likes to shop with me. She’s not content sitting in a shopping cart or stroller anymore. So our shopping outings are very brief these days. She has learned that a continuous high pitched squeal will get her out of the cart pretty quickly since mommy doesn’t like the attention it brings. I see now why a lot of women’s clothing styles get outdated once they have kids. I can only imagine how much less and less time I’ll be spending on what used to be a favorite pass time or as I like to call it “my favorite sport”. But that is okay. I’d much rather have my beautiful daughter to play with than spend my life shopping without her. Motherhood has proven to be so much more fulfilling than anything I had anticipated it to be. It’s hard to imagine having more children and feeling that overflowing feeling of love for them as I do for Jae Anna, but then I see my nieces and nephews and how much love my sister and brother have for all of them. I’m sure every parent struggles with that thought until they hold the next child in their arms for the first time.

A friend of mine brought to my attention that she couldn’t leave comments on our blog. So I’m trying to adjust our settings so that anyone can holler at us.

~ Eleven Month Update ~

Our baby has been breathing air for almost a year now. In a lot of ways it seems like it’s flown by. Then again, it is hard to remember her being that teeny tiny newborn. I’m so glad I’ve been keeping up with this blog each month so I can look back and remember little details of what she was doing and when. I’m keeping printed copies, also, so Jae Anna can enjoy reading them when she’s older. So these are the big happenings in the life of Jae Anna Wu this month. She has five big pegs (A new word I learned in South GA) and two more that have just cut through. She hasn’t fussed about the teething once the first couple cut through. Around the end of March she started saying and waving bye-bye. Now she prefers to say da-da while she waves. I don’t think she knows who Da-da is. She just likes to make the sound. She’s been drinking from the straw-type sippy cup for a while now, but she finally decided it’s okay to drink out of a regular sippy cup as well. She doesn’t suck enough liquid out to really amount to much, but I let her practice anyhow since she seems to enjoy the new challenge. Feeding her had begun to be a challenge this month. When she got a taste of table food, she wouldn’t eat her baby food. Now she’s gotten very picky about the table food and has decided that baby food isn’t so bad after all. I prefer to feed her the baby food as I feel she’s getting more nutrients and variety that way since she’ll eat any vegetable in baby food form as long as it’s mixed with a fruit. So we’re back to the jarred foods and she’s welcome to have whatever we’re eating on the side. A few weeks ago we left Jae Anna with my sister’s family while we got away for the weekend. This was the first time I’d been away from her over night. I cried when I drove off, but once we got on the road, I knew she was having more fun at my sisters house than she would strapped in a car-seat for hours. And I’m glad she got to spend some bonding time with her cousins, aunt and uncle. We were only gone for two days, but she looked bigger when we returned.

~ Ten Month Update ~

Jae Anna learned how to climb the stairs this month! About a week ago I walked into the kitchen for a second and when I returned Jae Anna was on the first step and continuing to climb. I called Tim out of the shower to come see. Very exciting! I knew it was possible that she could be climbing stairs at this age, but it was still shocking to see her actually doing it for the first time! We had railings put on the stairs today – just in time! I’ll let her practice climbing the stairs if I’m right there with her. It’s so cute because she’ll boogie on up the stairs and then crawl straight to her bedroom to play.

She started eating "real" food this month and that’s been kind of fun. I’m not sure how much of her food she’s actually eating, though, because she really enjoys feeding Charlie and Ruby. So I always top her off with some jarred baby food until she lets me know she’s done.

Jae Anna and I are getting out a lot more now that the weather is getting nice, and my tailbone has healed enough that it’s not too uncomfortable to sit in a car and drive. This makes Tim nervous as a lot of our “getting out” means “shopping”. I started taking Jae Anna to a playgroup a few weeks ago and she seems to be enjoying it. Most of the babies are around the same age as her, give or take a month or so. I like seeing what the other babies her age are doing. And it's fun to just get to socialize during the week.

This past Sunday we drove to Elberton, GA, the town my family lived in from the time I was 9 months old to 12 years old. My dad was preaching at the Elberton Christian Church’s 40th anniversary celebration. I’ve only been back a few times since we moved away, but it always feels like home there and I consider Elberton my “hometown”. My wonderful friend, Anna, and her family were able to come also. We both grew up in that church. Lots of memories… mostly of trying to contain our giggling during my dad’s sermons and hoping he wouldn’t see me goofing off… which he never did. After the anniversary celebration, we drove out to Anna’s parent’s farm. It’s not really a farm, but it’s out in the country on a dirt road with lots and lots of land. Tim was in heaven because Anna’s dad has many toys (fast sports car, motorcycle, 4-wheeler, a “gator”). Crazy me didn’t take any pictures on that trip. I’m getting a little slack with my picture taking lately.

I’m blogging a little early since Jae Anna and I will be traveling down to Albany, GA to see her Granny & Gramps, Great Grannan & Great Granddaddy, Uncle Red, Aunt Heather, and cousins Ramsay, Mattie and Jax. Seems like forever since we’ve been down there to visit. So we’re way excited about that.

~ Nine Month Update ~

Tim's parents came for a visit this month. It was Jae Anna's first time meeting them and she really enjoyed the extra attention. She had a stomach virus for a good bit of their visit, but was back to her busy happy self before they had to leave.

She had her nine month check-up yesterday. Got mostly good reviews, except the doctor saw an ear infection in one of her ears. Must not be bothering her, though, because she hasn't slowed down or been fussy at all. She's taking an antibiotic that smells like bubble gum. If only they made medicines that smelled/tasted good when I was young!

Measurements:
Weight 19 lbs and 7.4 oz 50-75%
Height 27 inches 25-50%

Of course the 25-50% on height concerns Tim greatly. He so wants her to grow as tall as him. The odds are -- she won't need to carry a step stool around the kitchen or sit on a pillow to see over the steering wheel. So her height does not worry me.

She's pulling up and cruising the furniture a little. Her favorite thing to do is rip paper, napkins, etc. This is endless entertainment for her. Second favorite thing is playing in the dog food bowls. Charlie and Ruby have to eat during Jae Anna's nap or they have to fight her for position at their bowl. Hates her car-seat... She starts crying when I take her to the garage door. The anticipation of being put into the car-seat disturbs her. Tim wants to install a DVD player in the van. If it will keep her from screaming in the car, it may be worth it. She's becoming much more "needy" as far as wanting to be held. If we leave the room she'll cry and follow us into the next room. All in all - she's still a super good baby and sweetie pie.

~ Eight Month Update ~

I can not even believe I'm typing the eight month update. Seems like a week since the seven month. Jae Anna is SO busy. She is crawling all over the place and into everything! She has now been introduced to the word "no"... Although she has no idea what it means, yet. She has two new front teeth on the bottom. I thought you could see them in this picture, but that's actually a glare off of her tongue. She's not quite pulling herself up into this position, but she loves to stand and hold on. We lowered her crib mattress last night because we feel she may pull herself up at any time and attempt an escape. She enjoyed drinking from a sippy cup for the first time tonight. We've tried in the past, but she just wasn't having it. She still prefers for us to hold it for her. I've seen five month-olds holding their own bottle, so I know she can do it. I don't mind, though. She's really cuddly when she's taking her bottle and I enjoy it. Tim and I have been somewhat lazy this month, recuperating from the busyness of the holidays. Tim's parents will be coming to visit soon. This will be their first time meeting their first grandchild. We're excited about that. Should be fun watching Jae Anna interact with them.