Anna Turned Four

"Mommy. I'm adoreable."~~Anna, 4 years old

I'm a bit late in posting birthday thoughts for my younger daughter so I wanted to take some time to do that.

Yesterday morning, I dressed Anna in a new outfit that I bought her. She loved it and after she was dressed, she said, "Mommy. I'm adoreable." And, that in a nutshell, is Anna.

When Jeff and I were trying to have children, we never thought we'd have one child much less two. And, to have gotten pregnant only six months after Rachel was born seemed like a miracle to us when it took so long to conceive Rachel.

Rachel made parenting easy. She was one of those easy babies that people talk about. She made the whole parenting gig seem like a piece of cake. So we had no reason to panic when I had gotten pregnant again so soon. We could handle it!

Anna made us rethink that shortly after she was born. Let's just say she wasn't so easy as an infant. Come to think of it, she's still not so easy. She was a challenge then and nothing much has changed. She entered the world three and half weeks early at almost 8 lbs. She was already making her choices back then. She's stubborn (Gee! I wonder where she gets that from?). She is a woman who knows what she wants. When she makes up her mind, she's done with it. She has a vibrant personality and is quite the jokester too. She's a bit too smart for her own good. I have to work at learning things. Anna seems to simply absorb knowledge by being in the same room. She amazes me with the speed at which she learns new things. She is joy but she is a one-woman wrecking machine too. We never had to put safety locks on cabinets when Rachel was an infant but we had to with Anna. She explores and climbs and if it can be broken, she'll break it. I suspect she'll be an engineer when she grows up. She is a brave soul. Her favorite ride at Disney World is the Tower of Terror.

She loves wearing "klippy-klop" shoes; that would be shoes with a heel that makes a sound as the shoes hit the floor while she walks. She has a shoe addiction in general. If finances allowed, there is no doubt she would have a suite dedicated to shoes. She loves shoes!

And, yes Anna, you are adoreable. At least, Mommy and Daddy think so.