Anna's learning to walk

Here are some short clips of Anna walking. She's very proud of herself and Jackson says it's "awesome" and "like magic" that Anna can walk! He's such a supportive big brother

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

On the mend

FINALLY! We are on the mend at the Manes' household. No more fever from Jackson and Anna's ears are clear. YAY! Bear is unfortunately not any better but hopefully it's now just a matter of getting used to her new meds. Here are some cute pics of the kids:

Good friends
Cute naked nudies

Jackson--before his haircut

Anna loves to suck on the backdoor

Coming soon---walking video of Anna---the ONLY thing she wants to do these days (walking with help we should clarify)

What's worse than 1 sick kid?

Three sick kids!! Poor Bear finally had to be put on some anti-seizure meds as of today. She's been having seizures very frequently and we think this morning she must have had a really bad one because she wouldn't get off her bed--even for food. Poor thing! And this normally happy face now also has RSV. He's been much sicker than Anna was and is still running a pretty high fever. Poor Buddy!

Luckily Anna is about 100% well so that's good news. Hopefully by next week we are all well again!

Best $19.99 ever spent!

Poor little Anna was diagnosed yesterday with RSV. Jackson has been telling everyone that "my little sister is weally weally sick!" RSV has always scared me just because you always hear of babies ending up in the hospital but so far Anna is doing great, minus the horrible cough, double ear infection and major mucus problems. Yesterday my doctor suggested we buy the Graco Electronic Nasal Aspirator. It sucks out the mucus from their nose. It even comes with a music button to soothe your child. It is the absolute best $19.99 I've ever spent! Just wish we knew about it sooner. Anna actually smiles because it must feel so good to her. Just thought we'd pass along this wonderful item!!

Girl's Weekend

With Mike out of town and Jackson at his Aunt and Uncles' house it was just us girls this weekend. We had our first, of what I hope is many to come, girls weekend! So what fun things did we do??

We enjoyed breakfast on the patio We fixed our hair (of course!!)

Went for a walk

Went shopping (that's a given right?)

Tried on lots of fun outfits---here's a fancy dress

And a cheerleader outfit. Go Red Hawks!

We painted our toenails (don't tell Daddy!). Anna only let me paint two but they sure look pretty

We had a nice soak in the tub

And then picked Jackson up today from Uncle Jack and Aunt Barb's house. The house was really quiet with Jackson and Mike gone. I just hadn't realized how lively our house is with Jackson. We really missed the little guy so it was great to have him home.

He talked the entire way home (30 min) about all the fun he had and then took a great nap. Now for the fun the three of us will have the rest of the night.....After playing some outside Jackson and I are going to have a movie night just the two of us. Am I lucky or what? What a great weekend!

Judgement Day

I cannot believe we are making this public knowledge but here goes----Here is Anna at 10 months old eating a Cheeto cheese puff. I know---I can already hear your gasps

Yes, I cannot cannot CANNOT believe it is MY child I am allowing to eat a Cheeto Cheese Puff at 10 months old! (even though they are my absolute favorite chip I would never never admit that to anyone and never buy them because I will eat the whole bag.) As far as chips go they are probably one of the most unhealthy. The reason Anna is eating one is because we are FINALLY on our way to getting her to eat. The speech therapist that we are now seeing told me how I could crush one up and put it in her gums, just like a baby food puff, and she might eat them. Well, low and behold she ate TWO last night for dinner! Picked them up and ate them!! This is really the first time she's ever eaten anything not being yogurt and I was so excited. Plus they have calories as puffs do not. So...from now on I will NEVER NEVER judge another mother for what I see her feed her child because you just never know what the background story is. I also can report that Anna ate almost an entire Ritz cracker for lunch today--another first! Go girl! In 6 months we are finally on our way to eating and hopefully along with that a little more weight gain!!

Prom 09

Happy New Year everyone!! We had a prom theme for our New Year's Eve party this year. Here are some pictures (everyone wore 80s and 90s dresses) Tuxes

It worked out great to move our island and block off part of our kitchen to set the bartender up

And we had a real professional set up for PROM PICTURES

some of the girls

some of the guys

And no prom is complete without a Prom Queen and King

We even had wrist corsage and boutonnieres

Augh---don't you miss the sequin dresses from the 90s??

Jackson got in the action the next day for a quick pose before we took down the backdrop and lights