Her New Lip Thing.

She does this all the time now...very cute!

Our Little Annie Bug is growing!!!

Our Annie Bug is growing up! She turned 10 months on the 20th...she's amazing! Here's her stats from today's dr. appt: 17lbs. 13.5 oz (19th percentile), 27.5 inches (30th percentile). And here are some of the super cute things she's doing now: standing on her own to squatting to standing again! She's a strong little bugger! She waves "hi", blows kisses, holds her hand up to her ear and says, "hello". What a little cutie she is!!! :)

Who are you?

Lately it's been on my heart to tell my children the story of how they were named. Mike and I didn't just choose a name we liked, we prayed and the Lord gave us a word for each baby and it always matched with the meaning of one of the names we liked.
When I was pregnant with Isabelle, every time we prayed over her in my womb, the word we got was "Set apart for God". When we looked at the meaning of the names we liked, we saw that Isabelle meant, "Consecrated to/Set apart for God".
When I was pregnant with Ethan and we prayed over him in the womb, the word we would hear was "Strong". Again, we looked at the meanings of names we like and saw that Ethan means "Firm, Steadfast and Strong".
The story is a bit different with Anna. Three years before she was born, I had a dream that I was pregnant with another girl and there were 2 names that I liked: Allison and Anna. In the dream Isabelle told me to name her Anna. So, that name had been in my mind for 3 years before she was conceived. When I was pregnant with her it was 2008, and the Lord spoke a promise to Mike and I for the year. The word was "Grace". We held fast to that in every situation we walked through and took hold of it in my pregnancy as well.....again, when we looked at the meaning of Anna, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it meant "Grace". This time it only confirmed the name we felt we were supposed to give her.
With all of that said, the reason I've been wanting to tell each of them those stories (of course Anna doesn't understand it yet) is because I want them to know what God says about them....What He calls them. I want their identity to be ground in their hearts and minds so that when the world tries to label them, i.e. "too hyper" or "tom boy" or (heaven forbid) "fat", they'll brush it off because they already know who they are.

Adorable Annie

You're 6 months old and absolutely amazing. I love your personality. You are more than I ever imagined! These are a few of your favorite things:
Favorite place to crawl: kitchen
Favorite food allowed: Pears
Favorite forbidden food: Ice cream
Favorite toy: a rubber whale...love to chew it!
Favorite place to sleep: car seat
Favorite saying: "na-na-na"
2nd favorite saying: "ma-ma"

You are one happy baby, Annie! We are so blessed by you!

Annie's 3 months old!

Annie turned 3 months old on the 20th...she had busy week accomplishing milestone after milestone! On Monday, she started grasping objects and today, on Thanksgiving, she rolled over from back to tummy! Then, she laughed for the first time! You're so much fun , Annie!

A Smile is worth a thousand words....

Though she has been smiling for a while now, this is the first real one caught on camera....sooo cute!

Trick or Treat!

We had a blast trick or treating....in our midst we had a Power Ranger, Bumblebee Transformer and a little kitty!
This year was dfferent, we watchd Bella "speed trick or treat" with the big kids, and Ethan brought up the rear because he was busy opening his candy after each house! It was our last Halloween in our neighborhood, so we savored every moment of it!

baby massage

Annie LOVES her baby massages! She falls asleep every time! Tonight I massaged her after bath...too cute!

he loves her.....

Ethan has been the best big brother, ever. He's so gentle and caring and always willing to help! Here are some pictures of him giving her a bath....well, helping me give her a bath. :)

Annie: 2 months old!!!

It's amazing how quickly time goes by....I'm sure it's because I, as a mother, wife and household manager, gets caught up in the day to day tasks of my 3 jobs. I am so very grateful to hold these important positions in life! So, to toast how quickly these last 2 months have gone, here's Annie's progression!
Birth stats: 7 lbs. 11 oz. 20 inches.
1 Week stats: 8 lbs. 2 oz. 20 inches.
2 Month stats: 11 lbs. 9 oz. 22 inches. (75% for weight, 60% for height....wow!)

I left her appt., sure that she was the biggest of the 3 kids so far, and was eager to find out! So, I pulled out Bella and Ethan's baby books:
Bella at 2 Months: 10 lbs. 14 oz. 23 inches!
Ethan at 2 Months: 12 lbs. 0 oz. 23 inches!
Much to my surprise (really shouldn't have been though) Ethan was the biggest...thus our nickname for him, "Beef". Bella has Mike's body type....long and lean...always in the 90+% for height and 25% for weight!!! Ethan has the Parker genes (my mom's side).....really broad shoulders and average height. Annie takes after the Duenas's (my dad's side), like me.....shorter and "athletic" thighs...the Duenas's breed good runners. :)
Anyway, her most recent milestones include: smiling in response to someone, "talking" and rolling from tummy to back. I posted her pictures....from birth, 1 month and 2 months.... Enjoy!!!

isn't she lovely.....

The first time ever I saw your face.....

It's all beyond me.

With 3 weeks remaining before Anna arrives, my dreams are getting more and more intense. Last night she came early, or I should say that I took her out early.....she was of course gorgeous and looked just like Bella.
Since we are currently in Gig Harbor with my family, I am eager to get back home and finish settling in before the big day comes. And by settling in I mean, cleaning and doing laundry so I can come home to a clean house....hmm...maybe Mike will let me hire a maid to clean thoroughly. :)
I am excited for this new transition, and yet fighting feelings of anxiousness. I don't want to walk into it with any bit of fear, so my days and thoughts are filled with prayer and refocusing. Along with all of this, I am enjoying the last 3 weeks spent as a mother of only 2. Again, I can't stop saying how much I adore Bella and Ethan and imagining the expansion of my heart for Anna seems beyond me, absolutely possible, but beyond me.

Anna's Room

So, I finally finished Anna's Room....just so you know we are going to call her "Annie", just to clear any confusion. Her full name is Anna Rose Noelani, all family names. Anyway, just wanted to share the pictures! I hand painted all the flowers on the walls, shelf and stool to match her bedding. It was time consuming, but I LOVE doing stuff like that......