The Stokes Family

Monday, August 16, 2010

open and shut

We had a busy day today with errands around town. First, we went to Hobby Lobby(my favorite store) and got some GREAT deals. If you are a seamtress, you need to rush your booty on down to HobLob because they are selling McCall's patterns for $o.99!! Holy Moly!! I bought about $180 worth of patterns for $9!! I'm so excited to get sewing! After that we went to Chick-fil-a and baby girl had her first meal there. She loved it!
After a short nap we went to the store to get real food, and had a quiet evening at home. We have started to get into a really great routine at night that I love. We eat dinner at the table together as a family, give Ansley a bath and put her to bed. After her bath tonight we played a little bit in our room. She has begun a new fascination with opening and shutting everything. She discovered Daddy's nightstand and all of its glory. Opening the door and the drawer, pulling everything out and shutting the door over and over. It was the cutest thing ever. We love just watching her discover new things. She is such a joy! Tomorrow we are off to Atlanta so we hope you have a great Tuesday!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

One Year Old!!

Tuesday was Ansley's birthday. I can't believe she is one already. I really don't know what happened to this year. It seems like just yesterday that I was having contractions and making laps around our house. This year has been one of the best of my life. Ansley has brought so much happiness to our lives. I really don't know how I lived without her. She has been such a joy and we are truly blessed. We won the lottery when it comes to children! She has really changed over the past few months, she has developed quite the personality! She is such a ham and just loves attention, she flirts with everyone that will smile at her! She is quite the busy body never ever sitting still longer than 5 minutes. She loves being chased around the house and she also loves climbing. She mastered the stairs before she could even walk, and now she is trying to get up on the furniture. She will hike her little leg up onto the sofa cushions, but she is just short enough where she can't push herself up. One new love that she has found is the bath. She gets so excited when I walk into the bathroom and turn on the faucet. She will pull at her clothes as if she is trying to get them off and watch the water fill the tub. It is so cute when we undress her because she will beat on her bare belly with her hands and just crack up. She is so much fun and we have the best time together during the day. I am so so lucky to get to spend my day with such a cool little girl. On her birthday, we played together with her amazing toys that she got at her party. We also went shopping a little bit and got her a few little gifts for her. After Daddy got home we decided to do some more shopping as a family, and got her some fun bath stuff! We then went to Bruster's for her first ice cream cone, and let me just say she is our daughter for sure!!! She gobbled up that cone like there was no tomorrow! When we came home she watched her new Elmo DVD with her new Elmo doll and then we took a bath and went to bed. It was such a great day!!

Turned around in her big girl car seat. She LOVES facing forward!

She is really into Elmo if you can't tell!

Making herself a little more comfortable.

Eww this part is good!

Party pictures to come...

We're Back!!!

I can't believe it has been three months since my last post. This summer has been absolutely crazy here at the Stokes household. It seems like I was gone for the ENTIRE month of July! We have been doing a lot of traveling back and forth to Atlanta. My mom had her knee cap replaced, so I stayed with her to mend her back to health. While I was gone, Ansley got to spend the whole week with her grandma and grandpa! She had a blast! The day I got home she decided that she was going to walk, and she hasn't stopped since. We also went on a family vacation with my side of the family over the week of July 4th. We went to "the forest" which is outside of Charleston. It is a property that my mom's company owns. It is exclusive to employees of the railroad, and it is my idea of heaven-on-earth! We have been going there for as long as I can remember. It was a favorite of me and my sister, and Ansley absolutely LOVED it!! It is so nice to be there for a week because you get to totally unwind and spend all of your day outdoors. I mean, how often do you get to do that in your everyday life? I am also back in school now. I am currently taking one course online (because I was gone all summer and couldn't attend class) and will be taking courses in the fall and winter. I hope to be in the nursing program this time next year!! So, that is our summer in a brief synopsis. Here are some pictures to go along.

Chilling at Gigi's in my new rocker that she got me for my birthday.

Taking my first steps when Mommy got home.

I really loved all the squirrels at the forest, Mommy says they look like bears in the face.

Standing up on my own at the forest.

Carriage ride at the forest with Pawpaw, Gigi, Mommy and Daddy. I really loved the horses and all of the trees!!

Chilling at the pool with Gigi.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

just the girls!

Freddy has been out of town on business since Sunday morning, so it has been just Ansley and I. Let me tell you I am pooped! It has been the Ansley show all day, everyday with no break for a few hours when Daddy gets home. You know the saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder", well that is absolutely true. I miss my husband bad! I completely admire and respect single parents even more than I did before. I don't know how my mom did it...especially when she was working two jobs. Speaking of my mom, she hurt her knee pretty bad, so Ansley and I are taking her to the doc tomorrow in Atlanta. I am so excited to see her and to have some human interaction with someone who has a larger vocabulary than: ga ga, baba, mama, yaya and so on. I can't wait for Freddy to be home, I miss him so badly, and I know that Ansley can't wait to see her Daddy. Sorry for no pictures, the hubs took the camera to Vegas. They are out in the middle of the desert creating chemical spills and then cleaning them up and he wanted to capture those glorious moments. Oh the excitement of being a chemical engineer!

Friday, May 14, 2010

9 months old and quite the character!

Ansley is now 9 months old, and frankly I don't know where those 9 months went!! She is no longer my little baby, she is my big baby(with quite the personality)! We went to the doctor yesterday for her wellness visit and he said that she is growing and developing perfectly. Praise the Lord! She weighed in at 20 lbs (50-75%) and 27 inches long (50-75%) and head circumference was 17 inches (50-75%).
So here is what she has been up to the past few months:

She is now an expert crawler! She can scoot her little booty very quickly across the house.
She has discovered that she can actually chase after the cat(whom she loves and who is much faster).
She giggles like crazy when you chase her around the house, tickle her, throw her in the air, or spin her around.
She is a great sleeper! She still gets 10-12 hours at night, and takes 2-3 naps a day.
She has a hearty appetite and her favorites are sweet potatoes and apples.
She is now using a sippy cup. I think she gnaws more than she drinks.
She has lots to say, including baba, dada, mama or any other sound that will come out. The dada and mama are not directed towards us however.
She has 5 teeth. 2 on the bottom and 3 coming in on top.
She is in a size 4 diaper and 12 month clothing.
She is going through extreme separation anxiety and will follow me around the house crying unless I pick her up. (the dr. told me not to give in)
She pulls up and moves across the room from furniture piece to furniture piece.
She is testing her limits with the word "no".
She grabs everything!! The good grabbing though, is that she can grasp her food such as Cheerios
She is so happy and she lights up when her Daddy comes home!
She brings such joy to this household and to our family!!!

Getting into trouble. She loved pulling the tp, but hated the "no"!

Stealing a bite(or gnaw) of my apple.

Passed out and lookin' cute!

Yummy Cheerios.

One billion dollars!!! (Our favorite picture) :)

mother's day

For Mother's Day weekend my lovely mother came down from Atlanta. She came on a Friday and Freddy had to work late so we had a good girl's night complete with pizza and a movie(Up in the Air is fantastic by the way). On Saturday we rented a U-haul and pulled it behind the 4Runner all the way up to my Nana and Papa's outside of Helen. We went because they gave us my great grandfather's work table(he made it himself) and an old church pew that came out of a church in Covington, GA. It was one of the first churches that African American's had as freed slaves and they built these pews by hand.

It was so special to me that they were willing to give it to me, because it has so much meaning to our family. I have many memories around that table! Sunday, Mother's Day, we all went to church and miss Ansley was dedicated to the Lord. I don't have any pictures because we were up there and my mom didn't have hers. I have to say she was the most stylin' baby there! Her Gigi, who recently got back from a Mediterranian cruise, bought her a Burberry dress. That's right a Burberry dress!! I don't even have anything designer, yet my little one does. If that doesn't show you how much more she loves her granddaughter I don't know what does! Ha! Although, she did bring me some nice loot too! :) The service was absolutely beautiful, but it was really hard for everyone, especially my mom. I can't even imagine losing a child. I'll tell you though I am so proud to be her daughter, she is one tough yet loving woman. That evening my Dad came up to celebrate my first Mother's Day and took us out to eat to where else....Mexican! Yummy!