Well, I’ve officially posted 3 blog posts in the last 5 days, and I am now starting my 4th. I have such a strong desire to document LIFE, but I can’t figure out the best way to do so. I am grateful for social media and the ease of being able to share updates with family and friends, but I am also highly aware of how much it takes from me if I let it. I have taken the last few weeks to try to figure out the best way to maintain a healthy balance moving forward, and quite honestly, I don’t have an answer. But I do know that I have enjoyed the break, while simultaneously feeling a combination of sadness and guilt that I haven’t been sharing our sweet girl with those who love to keep up with her. That being said, for now I am going to share an update here, where we can easily come back as a family at later dates and see all of our updates in one place.
And where I’m not limited to whatever character limit Instagram currently feels is appropriate, because we all know I love to talk.
Hazel turned 16 months old on December 28th. I shared an update on Instagram/Facebook on November 29th (reposted to the blog here), so this post is just catching everyone up on the last month and documenting for myself all that I love about who she is TODAY. It truly is remarkable how much changes with each day that passes! One month seems like nothing, but looking back on my little yellow note in my phone at all of the things I’ve jotted down randomly throughout the days and I can see so much has changed!
In the last month, we have hosted my sister and brother-in-law, celebrated our first Christmas with just our immediate family, celebrated a New Year, and have prepared to welcome another member of our family! Many sweet memories have been made, and our hearts are full as we reflect on the blessings of life these days!
Our time with Ashley and Andrew (sister and brother-in-law) was such a treat! We haven’t seen them since last Christmas, so it was a very welcome visit! Hazel is (obviously) quite different than the last time we were all together, so it was a real joy to make memories together at this super interactive and fun age! Ashely and Andrew brought their dogs (Biscuit and Gravy :)) which made the visit especially delightful for Hazel; she absolutely LOVES dogs. We are already missing their family and are looking forward to our next visit together.
Christmas this year was quite different than any Christmas I’ve ever experienced; it was my first Christmas without my (or Jeremy’s) family! Baby #2 is due January 16th, so we felt it was wisest to not travel, in the event that baby decided to come early! We wanted to make sure we were within a reasonable driving distance from the birth center. How silly of me to think I might have a baby early. 😉 Anyways, we made the most of this unique year of it being just us; we had a lovely, slow, intentional day. Our gift to Hazel was a kitchen set, so we had that set up for her to see when she woke up. Our friends gifted her a teepee tent, so we also set that up for her, right next to the kitchen set. We started our morning like we always do, reading together in her room. Before coming out, we told her there was a surprise out in the living room. She wasn’t familiar with the word surprise, so she kept repeating it back to us. It was so sweet how she attached to that word and curiously made her way into the living room. Her friend, Rae, has the exact same kitchen set, and her friend, Solace, has a very similar tent– she had such a blast playing with theirs, that we knew she would be thrilled to have her own. A few weeks in and we can confirm, we were right!
Click here for a sweet little video of Christmas morning with Hazel.
Side note: Our original plan was to give her a Kitchen Helper for Christmas, but Mama couldn’t wait to give her that, so we ended up giving that to her a little early. For anyone on the fence about whether it is a worthwhile investment, I would say if your child is showing an interest in helping and being a part of things in the kitchen, then you will get a resounding YES from Jeremy and I– so very worth it.
Back to Christmas day. We then decided to make some breakfast together. We wanted it to be a special but quick breakfast, so we went with egg and sausage biscuits, using Annie’s Biscuits. Hazel got to help with breakfast, which was such a blast. She especially loved baking the biscuits. She was quite tempted to eat the dough, but we kept trying to explain we had to bake them first. Jeremy got a great video of our dialogue. 🙂
After breakfast we read and sang together before opening the rest of our Christmas gifts. A few family members sent Hazel some gifts, so she had a great time unwrapping them and playing with her new toys! We had a VERY white Christmas (over 3.5 inches of snow) so we spent the rest of the day cozied up together, snuggling, reading, and filling our home with lots of imaginative play. It was a very special Christmas that will forever hold a dear place in our hearts!
Some more videos of our morning together:
Hazel with her new Care Bears, Hazel’s new phone, Hazel’s new doll.
Not only was it very snowy, but the temperature was way below freezing, so we didn’t make it outside to enjoy the snow until the following day. Jeremy built Hazel a pretty impressive snowman; she wasn’t quite sure about giving up her carrot for his nose, but we convinced her she could have another carrot when we got inside. (Recalling this day, pretty sure we forgot to give her another carrot. Whoops. )
Life with Hazel these days is such a joy. I mean, life with her has always been a joy, but man, this age is GOLD. Her personality is the best. Sweet, loving, joyful, determined, funny, helpful, eager, caring, compassionate, curious. She’s incredibly smart, which continues to blow our minds! We’ve completely lost count of the number of words she knows, as she’s picking up new ones every day. I love to sit back and watch her with a book; the way she can sit there for an extended period of time, just staring at the page, taking in everything that she is seeing. The way she looks up at me with such a sparkle in her eye as she tells me all of the things that she sees. I am amazed at how much she knows! Her love for books is unmatched.
Often times the first word she says in the morning when she wakes up is “BOOK!” She beelines it for the bookshelf in her room, carefully pulling down the exact book she is looking for. Her current favorite is a book we picked up from the little free library at the playground called “The Lord’s Prayer” by Rick Warren. She calls the book “Amen.” (Short “a.”) She asks for it multiple times a day. Her favorite page is shown below:
She grabs our hand and puts it over the adult hand, making sure to align it as best as she can, all the while joyfully saying “hand.” She then does the same thing with her hand. It’s so interesting the things that stand out to her– the things that make such an impression on her that when we are sitting in her tent together and I say the word “hand,” she says “Amen” and goes to her room to get her book. It blows my mind. In the best way.
I’ve done a terrible job of documenting things the way I imagined I would. Her baby book is essentially empty, and the one-year Shutterfly book I intended to make for her first birthday is still up in my mind somewhere. The one thing I do to help myself remember the moments I never want to forget is keep a running yellow note on my iPhone of miscellaneous thoughts. It’s a jumbled mess that wouldn’t mean much to anyone but me, but it is cherished, nonetheless.
So here are some of my favorite things about life with Hazel right now, from my jumbled sticky note mess.
“Der yu go.” (There you go.) Anytime she hands us something, der yu go. She LOVES to help unload the groceries. We put the bags on the floor and she goes through and pulls out every item that she can lift, and makes a strong effort on the items that are simply too heavy. Grunting as she does, of course. She pulls the items out of the bag, lifting them up to me. Der yu go. Same thing with unloading the dishwasher. Der yu go.
“Tank you.” (Thank you.) She has the best manners of any 16 month old I know.
“Walk!!!” She LOVES walks, and is always asking for them, despite the fact that we haven’t been on many lately. She doesn’t forget.
“Rock!” She always loves to rock in the rocking chair, and lets us know when she wants to rock. Anytime, my love. Anytime.
“Nack!” (Snack) The way she asks for a snack by saying “nack” and simultaneously tilting her head to the side, putting her hand on her ear. We have no idea where this came from or why she does it, but it’s hilarious and cute and I never want it to stop.
“Cheeeeeeese.” The way she says “cheese” for a photo is so intense! And adorable.
“Joos!” (Juice) Hazel is REALLY into juice these days. And by “juice” I mean, cold-pressed, green juice. The stuff I sometimes have to hold my breath to drink because, well, it’s not that tasty. But Hazel? Girl can’t get enough of it! She asks for it multiple times a day, drinking over 8 ounces of it at a time! It blows my mind! Major dad win for Jeremy, who randomly picked it up at the store a few weeks ago. I was certain she would turn her nose on it, but instead, we have successfully convinced our child that THIS is juice. She’s never had any other type of juice (apple, orange, grape, etc.) so we are milking this as long as we can!
“Yeah?? Yeah!!” Probably one of my favorite things right now is the way she says “YEAH?” (as a question) to confirm something, and then follows it up with an excited “YEAH!” exclamation. This probably happens most frequently when we tell her to go get a book. She will confirm 10x, “BOOK?” We will respond, “yeah, book!” To which she responds, “YEAH???” We say, “yeah!” She responds “YEAH!” Gosh, I wish writing this did justice to the cuteness of these exchanges. It’s so great.
Hazel is really into tickling toes right now. The best part is when she tickles toes in books! 🙂 Throughout December we were reading a book called “Who Is Coming to Our House,” by Joseph Slate. It’s a sweet little book about the farm animals making room in their house for Mary and Joseph and ultimately baby Jesus. Each time we got to the page with Mary sitting down on the ground with her legs extended, Hazel tickled her toes, exclaiming “tickle, tickle.” Gold, I tell ya. This age is gold.
When Hazel moves her kitchen helper around the kitchen, she says “beep, beep, beep;” I taught her to say that when backing up her Frozen car, but she has now associated it with moving anything throughout the house.
When we are sitting on the couch (or anywhere for that matter) she will put her hand on us and push us back, saying “back.” If we are sitting and she wants us to get up, she puts her hands under us says “up.” We confirm, “you want me to get up?” “Yeah! UP!” Girl knows what she wants.
“Beeet!” (Brush teeth!) She loves to tell us it’s time to brush her teeth, and the way she says it right now is so cute! She smiles real big and touches her teeth while saying it. She’s real excited about the idea of brushing her teeth, but still puts up a fight at times to get it done. One day she’s real into it, and the next she’s over it before we start. Toddlerhood at it’s finest.
Speaking of being aware of her hygienic needs, I am so pumped to say that Hazel graciously decided to spare us from extra work in the diaper changing arena; she is officially pooping only on the potty! Whoop whoop! It’s been about a month and a half since we’ve had to change a poopy diaper! (Actually, I take that back. We had to change one last week because, despite her pleas to go “poo poo,” I tried to buy some more time and it backfired on me. I felt so awful! Mom fail, for sure.) We knew when we tried EC (elimination communication) that there were benefits worth the effort, but we certainly didn’t expect her to be pooping 100% on the potty by 15 months! We’ll take it! 🙂
“Trash!” Hazel is recently very excited about taking things to the trash. And 95% of the time, it’s legitimately trash, so we are excited about it as well! 😉 I’m telling you, this kid LOVES to help. Anything she can do to help, she is on board!
This last week Hazel has attached to a Waterloo sparkling water can. Haha! Writing that out loud makes me chuckle. She walks around holding it, pretending to drink it, and making sure to keep a hand on it at all times. It’s hilarious watching her try to figure out how to accomplish whatever task it is that she is working on, while also maintaining a grip on her can.
She is incredibly affectionate! She is such a hugger and a kisser! She blows kisses to people walking by, she hugs and kisses the phone when talking to her Nonnie, she hugs and kisses babies and animals in her books. She LOVES hugging and kissing baby in Mama’s belly. Recently she fell asleep in my arms while nursing, lifted herself up in her sleepy slumber, kissed my belly, and then fell right back asleep. I was a puddle.
“HAPPY!!” Another top favorite right now is the way she randomly says “HAPPY!” when she is happy. Guys. It melts us. Every time. We will have just finished reading a book, singing, dancing, or the best– just sitting all together laughing and loving on one another, and she exclaims out of nowhere, “HAPPY!” We respond, Mama/ Daddy is happy too baby! It’s absolutely precious and such a testimony to the joy inside her little heart.
Goodness, I could go on and on, but for the sake of getting this blog posted before we have any more major life updates (baby #2, we are ready when you are), I think that is a good place to wrap it up! My hope and prayer is that this update on our happy little girl leaves you with a feeling of happiness as well! Despite all that is going on in the world today, there truly is so much beauty to be seen and celebrated; we just have to notice it.
We are grateful for this journey, and are grateful for the opportunity to share it with loved ones! Thank you for loving us well, checking up on us when we suddenly go MIA, and giving me a reason to be more intentional about documenting this beautiful, challenging, but oh-so-worth-it journey.
I share this to say, as we all know, there is always more to the story than what we see. I never want to make it seem as though everything is perfect over here in the Anderson household, because it certainly isn’t. We have the same challenges that you and your family have, and I am an open book when it comes to sharing and connecting over those challenges! That being said, this disclaimer serves two purposes.
First, just wanting to keep it real and say if you are in the trenches of parenting right now and trying to balance the overwhelming joy and the overwhelming weariness, you’re not alone. Me too. I’m happy to be a listening ear and a voice of encouragement if you find yourself in a similar place. We can speak truth to one another! 🙂
Second, we welcome your prayers! Especially in these last days before our second child arrives. I have been intentional to soak up these days of it being just Hazel, but I also notice myself getting more and more uncomfortable, more and more impatient, and less and less of the Mama that I want to be for her right now. Would you pray specifically for grace, patience and wisdom for Jeremy and I as we learn how to parent a toddler? Would you pray for Hazel that she would grow in her desire and ability to obey? Pray that God would continue to prepare her little heart for the changes that are coming. Pray for all of us that we would be led by the Holy Spirit in every moment of every day.
It’s becoming more and more clear to me, He is the only answer. We simply need more of Him.
I linked a handful of videos throughout the blog, so be sure to check them out if you are would like! Here are a few more videos, and some favorite photos of the last month and a half:
Hazel climbing her Pikler Triangle.
Hazel climbing an 8 ft. ladder. No big deal.
Hazel climbing up our insanely long and steep driveway.
There seems to be a trend here… 🙂
For His glory and my good 
I started Taylor’s one year Shutterfly book on 5/4/20 hoping to finish it by her first birthday on 5/13/20. It finished it a couple of days ago so I was only off my goal by about eight months =)
Love to see the family and I pray you find the balance you are seeking so you can continue being a wonderful mom to your little kiddos. Now eat some dates, do some squats, and get that baby out!
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