A mover, a shaker, an army crawl dragger!

In the above movie, Anna shows off her new found army crawl skills. She just turned 6 months yesterday, and although she has been much less frustrated now that she has a little more mobility, she has also begun to teethe which adds a whole new dimension of slobberiness to our lives.

the movie was taken this morning. It is now 4:30 pm, and she has not napped all day! Oh the joys of motherhood. She has kind of a coyote howl when she doesn't want to nap and I leave her in her crib. Home, home on the range!

The changing face of Anna

Richard is constantly fascinated by Anna's changing faces. He has literally taken thousands of pictures because he is afraid he is going to miss a moment. When he has the camera, he can take a hundred pictures in just a few minutes. When I have the camera, I take two or three careful pictures and call it good. I used to think he was exaggerating when he said that Anna's face changes in just nanoseconds (I'm not sure how small nanoseconds are, but I wanted to convey a very small quantity of time), but after seeing some recent footage, I believe he is right. The next 4 photos were taken in probably just a few seconds but they show how Anna's face captures individual, precious expressions that change from moment to moment. The expression in the first picture is the one she wears the majority of the time. Surprise, complete surprise...at everything!


These pictures are from Christmas in St. George. Anna has now outgrown all her clothes and has moved up to the 6-9 month and beyond category. Even some of the 6 month clothing is a bit strained (mostly because she is so tall). We have her 6 month check up next week and it will also include her first immunizations. Scary! I can't help but think that Anna will look at me with a feeling of betrayal as I allow a stranger to poke her with needles.

I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair

Happy day! I was offered the solo (Ensign Nellie) in "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair" in our Stake's Broadway musical review!

In addition, I will also be in "The Farmer and the Plowman" from "Oklahoma," a group musical number from "Kiss Me Kate" and "Seasons of Love" from "Rent"

I am so excited. I have never had a lead in any musical before and already Richard has found me dancing around the house practicing endlessly. Our performance will be March 20th.

The death of our marriage...

...as represented in the plant kingdom!

Our friend Rachel from Grand Junction gave us this great plant for our wedding along with three ceramic pots to transfer the plant to as it grew.
It was called a "Bridal Veil" plant. And its growth was meant to represent the length and vitality of our marriage. For the first two years it grew abundantly and its vines overflowed the pot we kept it in. We cared for it...watered it...placed it in the sun...and it flourished.


then we moved to Seattle...and it began weathering some storms. After experiencing its first frost, the cold was too much for it to bear. And the vines were not strong enough
And now all we have left are the dry, dead remnants of what was once a beautiful plant!

Sorry Rachel. IT was a great gift!

Someday, I will tell this parable around the fire to tiny tots with their eyes all aglow. I would not be surprised if it also found its way into some church talks:

"when we were newly married, we were given a plant, and a charge to care for it..."

Luckily, Richard and I are still going strong!

Wicked Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, and other alliterative updates

Beyond pictures, I thought I would tell everyone about some of the non-Anna happenings in the Rose household (amazing, I know, that anything could possibly be as interesting as Anna, but there are a few things)

1. Rachael tried out for the Stake Broadway musical review yesterday by singing an acapella version of "The Wizard and I" from the musical "Wicked." (I was so spastic prior to and after the audition, and maybe a little in the audition itself. I couldn't stop myself from jumping up and down and repeating the phrase "I'm so excited." I found myself becoming best friends with a thirteen year old girl, also waiting for her turn, and she told me all about her life plan including her future wedding and what her bridesmaids would wear. For the last two weeks I have been anticipating this audition and I have sung my audition piece for neighbors, friends, the woman I visit teach, and of course Anna and Richard)

2. Rachael is going to sign up for the Seattle Rock-n-Roll marathon on June 26. (They have bands playing at every mile marker. This will mark my re-entry into the world of competitive races. I found another woman in my ward up here, also a stay at home mom who loves to exercise, who happens to have the same race pace that I do-- the infamous 9 minute mile)

3. Richard is rocking the Audit department at Moss Adams and people are noticing! (Despite the poor rap that "busy season" gets, Richard is doing great at maintaining some balance. we still have dinner together at nights, and he still plays a little with Anna in the morning before he goes to work. Most nights now, he just brings some work home with him, but I appreciate just having him near me)

4. Rachael has found friends by using the tried and true classic line "will you be my friend?" (When you are a grown up, asking someone to be your friend is like asking them out on a date. No joke, I felt like I was having a dtr when I told my new friend Amanda that I enjoyed spending time with her and that I felt we should be good friends and hang out regularly. Tonight we are having girls night ala indoor s'mores with some of the other young moms in our ward. Cool women are everywhere)

5. Rachael is contemplating taking on some legal work part-time. (I would love to just do 5-10 hours a week to keep up my skills, and now that Anna is starting to have more of a routine, I feel that a little work on the side is actually plausible).

6. Yes, my dad did indeed get remarried just before Christmas break. (After being a bachelor for more than 20 years, my father's reign was ended when he married Jeannie Braun. So now I have a new stepmom and three new step siblings. My dad only told us after the fact. I guess you are never too old to elope)

Here is the Thankful Thursday part. I realized yesterday that God has answered all my prayers when it came to my anxiety in moving to Seattle: we are having great weather (honestly, 50 degree days and sunshine half the time), I have made some great new friends, and I am getting involved in activities that make me supremely happy. In addition to that, I have completely fallen in love with my daughter and I really enjoy motherhood. I still have days where a shower doesn't happen and where I still feel discouraged, but those days are coming much farther apart now.

Working on Solids

Anna had a few red letter days this past week. She started working on eating solids. As you can see, she is a very fast learner. She started with rice cereal as an appetizer.....

she then moved on to eating her feet....
and then finished with her hand for dessert
However, I know that as a result of this food shift, something else in Anna's life is going to become more solid....

sigh.

Our Romantic Evening...In

Just goes to show you that there is more than one way to skin a cat...or have a date night after you have kids! Richard and I have a pretty long standing tradition of having carpet picnics and this last weekend was our best one yet! We dressed up, got some good food, some sparkling apple cider, put on some good jazz tunes, and settled in on a blanket in the middle of our living room for a romantic picnic while Anna slept in the next room.
Fondue is one of my favorite things in the whole world. There is nothing better than playing with your food, especially when the food involves decadent melted chocolate and cream and a variety of dunkers!

It is nice to know there are alternatives to going "out" on dates. Having no family around, and still being new to the area makes it necessary to get more creative when planning date nights that don't just involve watching our latest Netflix rental (though we have many a good night like that).

A sum up of the New Year for Rachael

I took this idea from my friend Christy. I am sure Richard's list would be different, but if he wants to tell you his thoughts, he will just have to post them himself!!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you had never done before?
had a baby, moved across the country, took the Utah bar exam (and passed), got admitted to practice law in Washington (yet to act on that)...and started coupon clipping!

2. What would you like in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
excess money, a tiara, and an exercise ball....

3. My best memory of 2009.
Got to say, giving birth to our daughter Anna. There is nothing quite like becoming a mother for the first time. I have never felt so connected with God or my husband and daughter.

4. What was your biggest achievement?
giving birth...and doing it without an epidural was an experience I will never forget (though parts of it I have chosen not to remember well). I didn't know I was that capable. It was harder than running a marathon, that is for sure!

5. Did you or someone you know suffer any illness?
yes, my dad....but not only is he recovering, he decided to get remarried a few weeks ago.

6. What was your best purchase?
I would have to say that it is a tie between all my craigs list purchases that now fill our apartment.

7. Where did all your money go?
Moving to Seattle and Anna took a great bit of it as well.

8. What was your favorite song for 2009?
Viva la vida by Coldplay. I like to dance to it!

9. Who was your biggest influence of 2009?
Anna! She makes me want to be a better person every day.

10. What was your favorite new TV show?
So you think you can dance and So you think you can dance again (Seasons 5 and 6), but I have successfully achieved my new years resolution to watch more t.v. (and more of it, and more of it...)

11. What was your favorite new book?
I really liked "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss. Beautifully written.

12. What was your favorite movie?
I really liked Sherlock Holmes....and I don't care if it is true to the books. It rocked!

13. What has kept you sane?
Richard, my mom, other mothers, my sense of humor, God, my faith that everything will be for our good, and Anna

My favorite Christmas gift

This was by far my favorite Christmas gift! "The Romance of Oxford" and no, it is nothing like a Harlequin-- it is much more meaningful, and romantic (at least to me).

Richard and I went out on our first date 4 days before I left for a summer internship at Oxford (our first date was the day AFTER he kissed me the first time). I left him with the understanding that we were not boyfriend and girlfriend, but that my absence would be a good time for us to get to know each other through email. Over the next 6 weeks we wrote each other long emails and chatted every single day, and I couldn't help it, I positively fell in love with Richard (and I think he fell in love with me).

So for Christmas, Richard compiled the entirety of those emails and chats (nearly 350 pages in all) and bound them in a book for me. When I realized what he did, I just cried! As I have told people about this book, they have asked me if Richard needed to edit any emails or withhold some steamy passages from the final product, but in true Rachael/Richard fashion, much of the emails we exchanged we centered around our faith and life experience.

I thought I would include a small passage that always makes me laugh. The last few days of my trip to Oxford were spent in Switzerland and some of the computers I wrote on did not have the letter "Y" on it. In its place was the letter "Z"

"Richard, I onlz have 6 minutes, and I believe its onlz about 4,000 minutes until I see zou...I will talk to you soon from the same countrz. zou may be in school that time on mondaz, but I will leave an exuberant message. zou makes me so happz. I canat wait to see zou." (Saturday July 29, 2006, two days before I came home)

All I can say is that Richard is amazing! My true life partner. I have loved reading through this book and learning about him all over again, and falling in love with him all over again.

Our First Christmas as a Family

Richard can attest that normally I like to argue with commercials or tell them how dumb they are, or innaccurate, or how I am not going to be sucked into their commercial scheme, but this year, inexplicably, I fell in love with a certain Kay Jewelers commercial that featured a family experiencing their first Christmas (you know the one...the husband comes into the family room to find his wife rocking their baby to sleep, and he just can't wait to give her a watch, or a bracelet, or chocolate diamonds...whatever). The sentimental part of me recognized that this was also our first Christmas with Anna, as a new family.

It started off with a plane trip. I traveled with Anna on my own to St. George with Richard to follow in a few days. I was so nervous, especially with how disruptive it might be on Anna or if she would be one of those babies on a plane that no one wants to sit next to. Well, Anna showed me!! In her usual rock star baby mode, she made everyone fall in love with her-- cooing and smiling and not making one peep during take off and landing. And she slept for most of the flight too. On the return flight, I could hear the general mummurs of adoration as we walked down the aisle together to find our seat. Everyone wanted to see her, to know how old she was, and commented on what a good baby she was.

We gave this toy to Anna in preparation for her first airplane flight. Its her "I can do hard things" peacock. His name is Jacque by the way.

Richard is thinking of switching professions, from Accountant to Master of laughing babies (or an Mlb)




Anna loved opening her presents! We only had a few things for her, but she had a ball....(literally) opening them. We figure that Christmases this simple will only last a few years until she can start requesting things like a pony or Barbie's dream start up company...


In true baby fashion, the only way to christen a new present, is to try to eat it!
probably won't fit this year Anna....but keep trying!

Our niece Natasha loved her cousin Anna. Perhaps Anna will be her protege and together they can conquer the world together.MY contribution to Christmas was making gingerbread men for the kids to decorate. It took me hours, HOURS to make the dough, roll it out, design a cookie template, cut out each cookie, bake them in batches, make frosting, gather candy decorations.....and it took them about 5 minutes top to decorate and then abandon the poor gingerboys!

Richard, Anna, and I got to go on a donkey carriage ride on Christmas day. My stepdad Mike is the handsome one in the middle, but only slightly less handsome is his donkey Yoti (get it....donkey yoti!! Just say it together fast and you will chuckle).No, that is not a trick of your eyes. I seized the opportunity to chop off most of my hair. Now when I shed hair in the bathroom, they will be shorter strands!

more to come on Christmas a little later....this is just to whet your appetite!