Growing Girl

She's trying so hard to reach for everything in sight.

Church Time

New Car Seat

Anne Elise loves her new car seat! With our upcoming move to Waynesboro & potentially building a home, we have a lot of 3 hour trips up & down Hwy 45. They were starting to get to our little angel, so we upgraded to the "big girl" car seat, & we got her a TV screen that she can see. The one built in the car is behind her, so she was watching it through a mirror. She loves having one right in front of her now so she can indulge in Baby Genius shows. I think I can sing every song on those DVDs backwards & forwards!

Noisy Neighbors

Good morning! It's 5:06 am, and I have been up since 2 am! Yay! I love not being able to sleep. This fun "party in my bed" night started when my awesome single bachelor neighbor decided to start his "I'm still single at the age of 40" party at 2 a.m. When one of his "shy" guest decided to carry on loud conversations (the only words I could make out were "load 'em up" at the end of her rant) in the street at 2 am, my dog decided to jump in my bed and bark towards the door.

So after trying to go to sleep for an hour, I got up and decided to read. I even googled "handling noisy neighbors." It wasn't much help. The number one resolution was bang on the wall or ceiling with a broom. I guess that won't work since he's about 150 yards across the street. Then I read a few funny mom blogs. I read about toddler years, potty training, sleeping habits, and some other random blogs. I even started swimsuit shopping for our summer vacations (bring on the saggy mommy 1 piece). 3 hours late, I'm still wide awake. Yay!

This post isn't/couldn't be good, but I thought, I might as well write while I'm awake. I'll probably read this tomorrow and think "what?". I'm sure Anne Elise will awake around 8 am, I'll drag myself to the kitchen to warm her bottle, change her diaper, feed her, then somehow muster up the energy to play with her for an hour like I've had 8 hours of blissful sleep, then go back to bed as she naps.

Two goals for tomorrow:

1. NAP!

2. Make sure to give the neighbor the evil look.

Ok, number 2 isn't very nice, and probably won't accomplish anything, but picturing myself getting this "revenge" (like it bothers him.... HA!) is a little satisfying. Wow! I probably should have read my devotion or Bible instead of the sarcastically funny mom blogs.

Any suggestions on how to calm this noisy neighbor? I'm open to any ideas. As bad as my bark sounds now, I prefer to keep the peace and not have him hate me at the end of the day. Besides, my sleep rest at his mercy these days. Yes, I've tried calling the cops. He's had them over at least 3 times by different neighbors, and that doesn't seem to bother him in the least.

Season of Blessings

This holiday season was beyond anything we deserve. I have to say, Anne Elise made it all very special to us and our families. This girl got spoiled by so many, and was quite a trooper as we spent a lot of time on the road.

Forgiveness has been something heavy on my heart the last few weeks as I have been reading the book "Amish Grace." Long story short, it is about the Amish school in Nickel Mines where 5 young girls were killed, and the Amish families extended grace and forgiveness. The book goes on to tell of many other horrors among their community, and how they so graciously extended a caring and forgiving heart to those who wronged them. During the holiday season, we must remember why we are able to forgive. It was a Savior who was born, to come to live among us, and offer us forgiveness. The Amish believe that if we do not offer forgiveness, we can't expect for it to be offered to us by our Savior. I'm not going to go into theology here, but I do believe because we are offered such a beautiful sacrifice of forgiveness, we to must forgive even when it is hard. I can think of many grudges I hold deep that I am striving to let go of and receive peace. I pray we all will find forgiveness in our heart.

The Wood family is always on the move and change is coming our way. We have started a house hunt in our future town of Waynesboro, and I am slowly trying to clean out and organize our home to be put on the market. Pulling out old memories has been so hard for me. I do not want to leave Tupelo or the many memories we have made in this home. This is our first house to purchase, the first place we lived as Mr. & Mrs. Wood, and the home where our first born was welcomed. It's going to be so hard to pack it all away. I feel a large lump in my throat and my eyes are getting cloudy just typing this all out. At the same time, I'm excited to see the many doors that the Lord has to open for us ahead.

Anne Elise is just rolling through the milestones. We are teething now; however, we haven't yet had that first tooth pop out. I know it will be soon, because the drool is pouring out by the gallons and she is gnawing on everything in sight. Whew! Never knew cutting a tooth would require so much energy from mommy as I am constantly rubbing gums, researching relief, and trying to take her mind off of it all. She also is rolling over in her crib nonstop. It's hard for me, because I have to get up and put her back to sleep now. There isn't much online research about tummy sleepers (yes, we broke a rule) who roll to their back. I don't know what I'm going to do with this little munchkin. She is growing too quickly for me. It may seem hard at times, but I'm counting my blessings each day. I am so blessed to have such a healthy beautiful child, and those who lost love ones and are watching family members as they try to recover are heavy on my heart. Please pray for the Wilson family as they are starting a long path to recovery after Laken's skiing accident recently. This is the link to her CaringBridge site http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lakenwilson Also, please keep the Staten family in your prayers as they deal with the loss of their sweet Sophie Grace. Many prayers are being offered for both of these families during this hard time.

I hope everyone had a great and joyous holiday. I hope you had many blessing, and I hope your family has a beautiful 2012.