Some pix I've been meaning to post

So, because I started this post before the "Long time no blog" post, no one may notice that this post is here. Oh well! The pix are still cute :)

Violet, Ellie and Anna

Carter and the dreaded ball of terror.......seriously, we have no idea why, but Anna is terrified of this ball.
Violet licking the lid of her yogurt
Anna inspecting Ellie's ear
Anna and Ellie having a discussion en espanol, naturally, about the color red....ROHO!

Burt's Pumpkin Patch

We headed up to North Georgia today to see the 'famous' Burt's Pumpkin Patch, where there were pumpkins-a-plenty, and even a hayride!

Just north of Dawsonville, Burt's provides the option of purchasing pumpkins, squash, corn stalks and other grown goodies. Their rules included not sitting on, hitting, dropping, kicking or otherwise abusing the pumpkins. As they announced these rules every ten minutes over the loud speaker in between what seemed like an endless version of Flatt & Scruggs' 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown,' most everyone there (mainly kids) were sitting, hitting and kicking a pumpkin. Pretty amusing. Here's a snapshot of the scene:



Also amusing were all the folks with wheel barrows (provided by Burt's) to haul around their anywhere from $6 - $75 pumpkins. Size matters at Burt's.

Here are some shots of Anna amongst the pumpkins (most were as big or bigger than her!):

The next few shots are of Anna breaking the 'no sitting or standing on pumpkins' rule!

After all the pumpkin madness, we went on a hayride, where a group of people hung out in a flatbed full of hay and were pulled by John Deere tractors through Burt's farm. It was 'interesting' I suppose, but Anna seemed to love the tractor a little more than the scenery - this shot may explain why:

No idea... anyway, here's the Hayride:

Anna checking out the tractor over Daddy's shoulder (and getting sleepy!):


We can't wait to go back (or to another one a little closer!) when Anna gets a bit older. Overall, it was a fun day!

Anna and Cart Cart

Wanted to share some recent times that Anna and her Cart Cart have had together... I see a lot of her in him and vice versa, so I thought it a good idea to post the below:



Two of my favorite people!

The Lounge

Once again, as promised, we'd like to present our daughter. Recently, she has begun crawling and is getting better and better by the minute. Her favorite stationary pose continues to be 'The Lounge' although sitting normally has begun to creep up on the favorites list. Here is a taste of said preferred pose:

scratch all that!

Nanner crawled at daycare today. She had that look of determination, stuck her tongue out of her mouth with intense focus, got up on all fours and before my very eyes it was left knee forward, right knee forward. Lyla did not stand a chance against the fierce pursuit of the Bo-Bo-Nanner. She reached her hand out and THERE! At last! Lyla's foot had been captured.

Anna also has a tooth now. It must have broken through sometime during the day yesterday, because as of last night, there was undoubtedly a tooth (bottom front, the left one - her left).

My baby is growing up waaaaay to fast.

The Almost Crawl

Anna is on the verge of her first legit crawl... currently, she can get to where she wants to go, but it's by rolling or 'stomaching' as I've just now coined it.  But mainly, she just gets on her hands and knees, then rocks back and forth several times before conking out.  So, as promised, below is such an occasion, as we try and lure her with her toy 'tambourine.'

She's so close!!

Going, Going, Gone!

Anna has been sitting up on her own for a little bit now.   This did not come without some missteps along the way, however, and we caught some of the previous 'learnings' in action via the camera... see below the progression of events on one of her first tries to sit up on her own:

Looking good so far....

Hold it, hold it.... hold it...

...and touchdown!

Her preferred pose is 'the lounge' which we will have video evidence of soon.  She's got quite the personality!

punishment

So. If you're baby spits up or gets her outfit dirty in "other ways" while at daycare, the teachers will change her into the spare outfit that you have supplied. If you have forgotten to bring said spare outfit, or your baby messes up both outfits, mommy and daddy are punished with lovely random outfits like this:

The above is yesterday's runway hit, and not shown here are the other prize winners: the Christmas outfit that had a collar like a doilie and today's size 2T ensemble.

Protesting Gustav

Omi and Grampallen came for a visit this weekend as a protest to our not making it down to Pensacola last weekend, thanks to Gustav. As usual, there was much cuteness to be found.



Oh, and Anna is very excited about her most recent donation from wee Carter - the musical table 'o' joy!

Catching Up!

So it's been a little while since we posted, so in true Ash and Park fashion (or at least Park only fashion), wanted to give you a smorgasbord or steady smattering of pics from recent weeks.

Anna is growing quickly and she just got the thumbs up on her 6-month doctor appt... still 75th percentile in height (projected to be 5'6") and normal on weight (16.04 pounds) and length (26 3/4").

We've been out and about visiting family, as well as hanging at home with some folks too... so here are some shots:

Anna with Aunt Linda in Sky Valley

Anna with Uncle Vic in Sky Valley

Anna with Cart Cart at home

Anna with Nino

And just because she is the cutest thing in the universe, Anna naked... yes, I've posted naked pictures of my daughter on the internet. Until she can talk and tell me to stop, I'm OK with it!

More posts coming soon, so stay tuned!

Finger Lickin' Good... Y'all

Piggybacking on the previous post, we've begun routinely feeding Anna solid food, but here was her first Sweet Potato experience - caught on film!  

Enjoy:

Anna tries sweet potatoes

As Anna continues to get ever bigger, we realize it's time for her to start eating 'solid' food... for her first try we went with Sweet Potatoes (or at least the baby food version). At first, it's the surprise of something sweet:

As we continue on, she warms up to the idea... notice we've moved on to the nose area. Things are fairly smooth at this point:
Next, we start to get weird looks like, "wait a minute, this is not milk in orange puree form... it is something different and I am skeptical:"
But in the end, she realizes that it ain't so bad.... in fact it's finger-licking good!

J & J lookin' out for out little ones

I love The Onion.


In a recent article by alert Onion reporters, we learn that Johnson & Johnson has developed a new product to aid parents in the arduous endeavour of preparing our little ones for the realities of the road ahead.

Favorite lines from the article, though I highly recommend you read the whole thing for maximum side-splitting:

• Available in an easy-to-find-and-open bottle, the new shampoo is also guaranteed to give children a "healthy dose of reality."


• After rigorous product testing at the company's research headquarters in New Jersey, the new "Nothing But Tears" shampoo was found to give newborns up to three times greater resilience than the leading competitor, as well as a stronger grasp on the crushing disappointment that is life. In addition, when combined with Johnson & Johnson's new line of bleach-based conditioners, the shampoo resulted in noticeably thicker skin after only six uses.


• In recent years, a growing number of parents have begun looking for ways to raise more adequately jaded toddlers, and Johnson & Johnson is not the first company to respond to the rising demand. In 2003, Fisher-Price unveiled a new adventure play set containing 85 easy-to-choke-on pieces, and in 2006, the Walt Disney Company introduced an interactive DVD entitled Baby's First Brush With A Cruel And Unforgiving World.

Because we're such givers

Just thought we'd share a little cuteness, since we seem to have plenty to go around.

Miss Violet is here giving Anna a few pointers on acheiving maximum cuteness.

Smile for the birdie!
Uh, remember when she couldn't reach these?

Anna and GrampAllen!

Just wanted to share a couple of moments of Anna and her GrampAllen!