Patience is a virtue...one I don't posses!

At this very moment Anna is in bed, where she has been for almost an hour and a half without sleeping. If this were a one time experience I would not be writing about it, but I am at the end of my patience at the moment because she does this quite often. It's always in the afternoon or evening; she goes down for her morning nap without a fight.
Here's the routine: nurse Anna, make sure her diaper is clean, then lay her down in bed with her pacifier and bear blanky.
1 minute later: Anna is standing up in her crib, banging on the wall and yelling and babbling.
2 minutes after that: Anna is tired of banging and yelling but can't get down from the side of the crib. Begins screaming.
Few seconds later: I go in her room, lay her down again, crawl on the floor for 2 minutes looking for the thrown pacifier, put it in Anna's mouth, tell her to go to sleep, leave.
Repeat. Over and over and over. For 2 hours.
After 2 hours: nurse Anna again (she's hungry by now) and she goes to sleep while nursing. Frustration.
Right now I'm trying to decide if it is worth it for her to go to sleep on her own or if I should just go nurse her. It is so frustrating because I know she can go to sleep on her own; she usually does in the morning. I always have this dilemma of whether I should feed her and let her go to sleep eating or whether I should keep laying her down until she goes to sleep. It's basically a lose-lose situation for me because she doesn't go to sleep on her own when I feed her, but if I don't feed her she won't sleep very long because she is hungry. What to do?
I always give in. She's just too pathetic.
Oh, I forgot the step where she cries uncontrollably until I pick her up and try to rock her to sleep. After several minutes of trying to control the squirming Anna is placed back in bed to scream again. I love being a mom!

The Amazing Anna-mobile!

Apparently I was a little premature on my statement in my last post about Anna not crawling yet. The next morning after I posted that I looked down at her playing with her toys and noticed her slowly making her way across the living room! I was so excited! I'm sure all of you more experienced moms are thinking t yourselves, "she's acting excited now, but just wait until Anna starts getting into everything!" I just want to state that I am fully aware of the joys of having a mobile baby! The main reason I am so excited for her to be crawling is so that she can get to her toys on her own and doesn't have cry and scream with frustration at not being able to move. And really, I feel more sorry for the dog than anything because now she can catch him and pull at his fur! Poor Cooper! Anyway, here is a video of her cute beginning crawling. (She's still a little slow and hasn't quite got the technique down yet).

Four hours later.... I have tried uploading the video twice only to have it tell me something went wrong. So if you want to see the video of Anna crawling go to my facebook!

A long needed update

I haven't posted much for awhile so I'll just give a short update. We had a really nice Christmas with both Barrett's family and mine. It's fun having both of our families so close because we get to open presents at both houses so it's like having two Christmases! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at my parents' house (where Anna decided not to sleep) and the rest of Christmas day at the Gibson's. Anna had a lot of fun ripping the paper off her presents and playing with her new toys. She was actually really good, especially since she hadn't slept well for 2 days. (We are still working on the going to sleep on her own thing).

We didn't do anything really exciting during Barrett's break from school, just enjoyed spending time together and with family. On new years eve we stayed at my parents' again so we could stay up late and not have to wake Anna up to go home. She slept a lot better that night (thank goodness!)

Anna is growing up so fast. She is still not crawling, but she gets around somehow by scooting on her stomach. I think she uses her toes or something. I think she will get the hang of it soon. She is so close...but then again I've been saying that for like 2 months! Either way she would rather walk around holding my hands all day. She loves to stand up next to the furniture or anything she can. She just learned how to clap her hands last week and it is so cute! I'll have to put a video on here of her clapping. She thinks she is so funny. We love her!

Barrett started classes again this week. He is so ready to be done with school here. I think he's already counting down the days until he graduates in April. We won't find out if he's been accepted to physical therapy school anywhere until February or March. I can't wait to find out where we'll be moving!

Well, I've written enough and Anna is crying for my attention. I'll try to stay more up to date in the future. There are more pictures on my facebook because they upload way faster.

Opening presents at my parents' house.

Opening presents on Uncle John's lap at Barrett's parents'. She was so tired!

By request...

This is Anna's latest trick. She is so funny!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

Yes, it's true. I love snow, especially at Christmas time. I believe I have been singing this song for way too many Decembers. Is it too much to ask for a little snow to make it feel like Christmas? Oh well, I suppose I should just remember that the important part of Christmas is remembering the Savior. I am trying really hard this year to focus more on Him during this season. I love Christmas and all the wonderful traditions, but sometimes it is hard for me to determine whether the traditions we have really have anything to do with Christ. This is my first Christmas being out of school and I'm loving it! I have so much more time to focus on the important things instead of worrying about finals and buying presents the day before Christmas. This year I got my shopping done early (most of it anyway) so now I can focus on serving people around me and spending time with family.

Backtracking a little... We had a really nice Thanksgiving with both our families. We took family pictures with Barrett's family Thanksgiving morning (hopefully I will be getting those soon) because it was the first time we have all been together for 3 years. Then we ate the big meal at his parents house. After that we went with my family and cut Christmas trees! (pictures to follow soon). We usually do this the day after Thanksgiving but the weather was so nice we decided to go the same day. I'm really glad we did because the next two days the weather was really yucky! We got a beautiful tree and I loved putting it up. I love the smell of the freshly cut tree. It always helps me have the Christmas spirit. I love this time of year!