Visits from Lucy; Sara; Great Gram; Christina, David, and Joshua; Bryce; a black swallowtail; Aunt Peggy, Uncle Glenn, Aunt Betsy, Uncle Chip, and Austin; Mari-Anne, Bruce, and Amy; and Aunt Anna W and Mr. Carl.

Also check out new videos here.

Whew! That was exhausting!

Uncle Max came by for a visit. Anna enjoyed playing ball with him. And now we know where the genes come from for sticking your tongue out as far as possible…

Anna was given a ducky and a bear that she loves. Of course, she really really needs more stuffed animals, as you can see here and in this better shot here that John took upon having the same idea less than 24 hours later (and we missed some…). One of our favorite cards to celebrate Anna’s birth was from our friend Emily. It had “types” of baby girls, which included “stuffed animal magnet.” Yep.

GramE has been trying to teach Anna to “E.T.”, or touch pointer fingers, with limited but some success.

Anna welcomed Elliot (and mom Laura). Until, that is, he wanted to play with a toy that immediately became more desirable than all the other toys. Sharing lessons begin. We were amused whenever Elliot, who is very mobile, would walk away from Anna, she would scream. Loneliness? Anger? We’re not sure. But we’re interested to see how she responds to that when she’s mobile, as that’s now two older men (Joshua K being the other) who have broken her heart by walking away.

Becky and Aunt Anna M came to visit, and enjoyed playing with a hedgehog hand puppet. I proved that I had completely memorized Dear Zoo when I caught Aunt Anna M skipping a page. Anna’s taste in books has widened a bit, thankfully, but she still loves lift-the-flap books above all others.

Rachel and Kent, who are in our area temporarily from Little Rock, came over for dinner. We hope they stick around!

We had the D family, the B family, Michelle, and Donna over for lunch. We didn’t pull out the camera until after the D family had left, but we did get some shots of crazy antics. This is the day Anna learned how to clap, which she now does when someone else claps or says “hooray!”. Serenity, Promise, and Katherine were all clapping, and they are “big girls.”

For the rest of the month, we were just hanging out…

Rachel, a college friend, came to visit us. Our favorite Anna moment was when Anna had a toy in each hand. The dilemma came when Rachel offered her a third toy. Anna looked at her left hand, looked at her right hand, then leaned forward and grabbed onto toy #3. With her mouth. She remained attached while the three of us tried not to fall over laughing. Anna’s cousin Joshua, just one-year-old, uses the same strategy. I guess ingenuity runs in the family.

Grandpa Bill came over for dinner, and got to spend some time with the little bear before she had to go to bed.

Anna and I very much enjoy watching quite a variety of birds on our birdfeeder in the morning. We now have identified several I had seen around before the birdfeeder–blue jays, cardinals, goldfinches, house finches, two kinds of woodpeckers and chicadees. I’ve been really interested to see tufted titmouses (tufted titmice?), junkos, wrens, and beginning last week, the pine siskin. (And in February we even saw a flicker. Very cool.)

Here’s some evidence. This year was a perfect year to get a feeder because there was snow on the ground (not patches, the whole ground) for the entire month.

We celebrated John’s birthday with a football extravaganza, with only one photo to show for it:

GramE stopped in several times to visit and Annasit

Anna’s reading skills are now bilingual, thanks to Aunt Megan:

GramE tries to teach Anna how to propel herself, to cries of “nooooo!” from her parents. We’re really really okay with the fact that she can’t move towards electrical cords on her own yet. Check out the new range hood and cabinet in the background. Wow, did that take a bunch of planning and work. Thanks for all your work, John, Eileen, Mom, Dad, and Samson Electric!

Anna, more excited than any baby in the history of the world to receive her car seat for when she outgrows her bucket:

A visit from Aunt Shauna:

And a visit from Uncle Louis. I had no idea how good Louis is with kids until I saw him with Anna. It’s the rare person who gets on the floor and plays with her, and she really enjoyed Louis.

Aunt Noelle, Most Valuable Bridesmaid, stayed the weekend with us. Noelle was my roommate the entire time John and I were engaged, so it was like old times to have the three of us hanging out together, plus Anna of course. It was the most relaxing weekend any of us had in a long time. It was so good to see her. Sometimes she hid behind Anna, though…

See all the pictures we posted from January here.

As I’m posting this in March, I am really, really glad the snow is gone and it’s warmer now. Hooray, spring is coming!

Enter Grandma (grandmother #1). We play with my stacking cups. Still, a quiet, peaceful morning.

“GramC” (known to the world as Cindy, GramE’s best friend) wants to come over and play. We play with my stacking cups. She’s grandmother #2.

GramE, of course, can’t miss the fun! So she comes, too, and there are now three grandmothers who are playing with me. I tolerate it pretty well. I don’t want them to feel badly, you know. (Close-up provided so you can admire my acting skills.)

There are two videos in a row of their crazy antics here. All appeared to be going well. The grandmothers were getting along splendidly. Suddenly, a fight breaks out! I am pulled in three directions! Does my mommy save me? No! She takes a photograph!

Now, I ask you, do I have too many grandmothers? If you need to see more to decide, you can see the rest of my time with the three of them here. I throw myself upon the mercy of the court of public opinion.

We were in 5 homes in 5 days. Anna slept in all of them, though we only slept in two. Follow the links for many more photos.

Before we left home, the neighborhood carolers came around, and sang The First Noël to us. It was beautiful. I love the enthusiasm from the kids at bottom right here. And hooray for a camera that can take decent photos of people when it’s really dark outside.

Home #1 was Uncle Chip and Aunt Betsy’s house for Christmas Eve with John’s dad’s side of the family, his mom, and Gram. Emily (of Timeless Paper–shameless plug) made beautiful place cards, we opened the traditional Christmas poppers from our English cousins, and Anna even came down for a very confused visit before we went to my parents house.

Home #2: Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we went! Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa’s house is only 15 minutes away from Chip and Betsy’s house, so we put a confused and bleary Anna to bed. Precisely a year after we first felt Anna kick, we saw midnight opening Christmas Day. In the morning, the first time we had my whole family together since last Christmas, we opened presents. Max played Santa, and Grandma and Anna showed off their hats that Aunt Megan made for them:

Home #3: my Uncle Mike and Aunt Lynn’s house, with my dad’s side of the family. Anna was delighted to meet my Aunt Gow. Mike and Lynn got my parents appropriate hats for lounging in their new hot tub in the snow (or rain, or sleet, or hail…). Max, Megan, and I were together for the first time in a year. Megan especially enjoyed her Anna time, as the last time they were in the same state, Anna was 3 weeks old. It was also the first Christmas for Anna’s second cousin Joshua (not to be confused with the other Joshua, in this post I’ve been meaning to link to since, oh, October). We then got in our sleighs and headed back to Home #2 for a more extended stay. And so we saw the midnight closing Christmas Day.

Back to home #2 for a more restful time. We saw Heather and Linda. We also saw Paul, Ann, Daniel, and Laura (we missed you, Rachel and Jason!), but apparently we were photo-ed out, because there is no record! (gasp!) Anna got in some good aunt and uncle time, and began playing with her most versatile toy yet–stacking cups from Grandma and Grandpa. They stack. They nest. They turn into 5 balls. Or one. They make spectacular sounds when rolled, smacked against other objects, or dropped. They also make julienned fries. Fisher Price (and Grandma and Grandpa), kudos.

Home #4: GramE’s house, with Great Gram. Anna had a wonderful time playing with Great Gram (who seemed pretty happy as well). GramE and Great Gram are kind enough to be very flexible with when they see us near Christmas, which makes things a lot easier. I really like the 4 generations (and Peaches in the corner) shot, and the shot of the closest women in John’s life.

Home#5: Our house (actually we went back and forth between GramE’s and our place). We were happy to see Uncle Bob, Aunt Michele, Paul, and Marie for lunch. Uncle Bob played peek-a-boo with Anna from across the room. Our last photo of 2010 is of Matt (of Matt and Melissa) with Anna, when they came to visit us.

And then we rested. That wraps up 2010 for our family.

I just know you’re sitting at the computer like me, right? I’m wearing my blue beanie in support of web standards. (Yes, my daddy is a web developer–why do you ask?)

My parents got a new washer and dryer. They are really old, because they are still excited about it. My favorite part is that it plays a song when it’s done. I like to watch the clothes tumble around in them, too.

Sarah, Andrea, and their Mommy and Daddy came over to play with me.

Grandma reads me the tastiest stories.

I had turned in early, but Promise (shown here with Mommy) brought her little sister and parents to spend the evening with my Mommy and Daddy. Next time I hope to be awake for the fun.

Great Granzi and Great Grandpop sent me my first doll!

Here’s a video of me playing with the busy box Grandpa Bill and Darlene sent me, one of my current favorite toys. They sent me a bunch of presents!

This is my favorite finger food–rice mum mum. I highly recommend it!

I was a bit confused when I arrived at Aunty Margaret’s house for dinner, but Mr. Kamesh made me feel better.

Aunty Margaret got me a little black dress with pearls!

Playing with Grandpa is so much fun!

I got to meet my great aunt Carol and great uncle Neal

Elliot and Miss Laura stopped in, mostly while I was super-napping.

I woke Mommy and Daddy up in the middle of the night just at the right time to see the lunar eclipse, which they appreciated. All I cared about was milk, though, so I didn’t see it.

Grandma and Grandpa got me a birdfeeder for Mommy’s birthday. Daddy calls this bird the Great American Shark Finch, but I know it’s just a Tufted Titmouse having a bad feather day.

Whew! Just wait until I get to Christmas and January! I’ve been busy…

When it came time for Thanksgiving dinner, we walked several houses up the street to our neighbor’s house, where we’ve had Thanksgiving for 9 (?) years in a row. Thanksgiving hosted by Mark, Chris, Amanda, and Garrett is always a treat. Here are some of my favorites from the trip.

Mark and Eileen taught Chinese Lucy and James how to carve a turkey:

Great Gram came to Thanksgiving too! You know you have gracious hosts when a guest can say “I went to Thanksgiving dinner at my grandson’s wife’s family friends’ house.”

Garrett helped Mark with his birthday candles:

Anna got a leeeetle bit of attention, including from Amanda (holding her). I babysat for Amanda beginning when she was not much older than Anna is now.

The next day, Chinese Lucy, with help from James and Max, introduced us to hot pot–kind of like fondue with boiling water.

There was much bustle to prepare the meal.

And even more once once the G family, Matt, and Ann and Paul came over:

There are more photos of Thanksgiving and the day after. Anna had a wonderful first Thanksgiving. Thank you, all!

Anna the bookworm, reading a book about Albert Einstein from Aunt Megan:

Anna was really (really) ready to start solid food:

She actually opened her mouth for the spoon the first time John fed her:

Anna got a package in the mail from her English relatives, and participated enthusiastically in its opening. Thanks, Auntie Pat, James, and Christina!

My friend Sarah paid us a visit:

So did our friend John M–on the same weekend, no less! We were honored to be the parents of the first baby he ever held. Anna was sure happy:

You can see more November photos, including Frank assembling our new desk, here.

Ruth and Tiyona catch up while Sam and Sarah ready the table

Anna squared

Flying baby!