For your reading pleasure today, I share a story of the newest word that Analise is repeating and giggling over. As I was changing her diaper yesterday morning, I’d also taken off her pajamas to get her dressed. “Nakey!” she said! “What, sweetie?” I asked as I couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say. She repeated it severl times, until I realized she was happily telling me she was naked:) I think it’s her favorite word right now… she’s said it off and on all day. I’m chuckling just sitting here thinking about it. I wish y’all could hear her say it in her cute little voice with a big grin on her face. You’d be grinnin’ too:) Hopefully, she won’t get the southern twang-version of the word and end up saying, “nekkid”. I prefer “nakey”, thank you!

I’ve been amazed at how well Analise communicates these days. She’s got so many words I can’t even count… new ones are popping up all the time. She was slow to start talking “our” language, but now she’ll bravely repeat almost anything. Favorites are definitely cookie, cracker, baby, and stuck:) I’ll recap the morning wake up routine, so you can appreciate her efforts with me….

Sitting up in my bed, looking over at Brian’s empty side of the bed: “Daddy (unintelligible) wok?”
“Good morning, sweetheart… yes, Daddy’s at work.”
Spying the glass of water on the night stand, “Wat?”
Analise gets a big drink of water. “Dow?”
“Ok, you can get down.” Analise slides off the bed and heads to the door, while I wrestle my aching bulging body up as well.
“Op?” she says trying to get the door open, and she either gets it herself of I catch up to her and she pitter-patter down the hall.
Stopping by the clear glass basement door where Brian either works or how he leaves for work, “Daddy (unintelligible) wok?”
“Yep, Daddy’s at work, but he’ll be home later.” We head into the kitchen for breakfast if we don’t get distracted by toys in the den. Today we were distracted by the zoo animals, and she squealed the clearest word I’ve heard since “cookie”… “monkey!”.

She’s learning lots about concepts, too, like dark, which she says everytime we turn the light off or go into a dark room. We’ve been talking about snow, too, looking at pictures from Wisconsin over Christmas and the snowy Winter Olympics on TV. Yesterday, Analise was having noodles and spaghetti sauce for lunch, and I sprinkled some parmesean cheese on her noodles. “Snow!” she said! Good try, sweetie!!

I guess maybe Analise is trying to prepare us for what it’s like to have a newborn in the house again. We’ve got some serious sleep issues going on. It boggles my mind how her sleep habits can totally change… though usually triggered by something like teething or a cold. Sure enough, just a month ago, I was praising God for several full nights of sleep IN A ROW, and she was going to bed, sleepy but awake without a fuss. It was lovely. Then this lingering cold hit, and I drugged her during the nights for a while. And now, she just screams to be in her room alone. She’s screaming when she goes down to bed, crying when she wakes up in the middle of the night around 4am. She’s even crying when I leave her in her crib with books and toys for 20 min while I shower. It’s so frustrating. And it’s even harder because it’s not just crying, like it used to be. It’s now crying, “Mommy, Mommy”. I feel so bad.
Last night was probably the roughest, though. We had home church here, and I usually get her ready for bed during the worship time so I can be a part of the group discussion time. But to make a long story short, she didn’t go to sleep until Brian and I went to bed at 10pm. She woke up at 4am again, flopped around our bed for almost 2 hours, half asleep. When she finally fell asleep again, she slept until 9am (unheard of… I guess this is one plus of our late nights… the first sleeping in I’ve felt in ??? long!). Anyway, I hope we get past this stage soon. It’s wearing me – us – out.

Though I was so frustrated with Analise last night, I woke up this morning to her sleeping next to me, and I can’t believe just how much I can love this squirmy, fussy little creature. She looks like such an angel while she’s sleeping, and honestly, she’s crying because she wants to be close to me. I’ve never had someone need me that way before. It’s boggling to my mind, and it fills your heart up like nothing else. Anyway, that’s all the mom-mush for today:)

I just tried a new slow-cooker recipe tonight that I had to share. It was very tasty! Have I mentioned that I love my slow cooker? Toss everything in early in the day, come back to find supper ready whenever we are. Enjoy!

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (can even still be frozen)
• 1 16 oz jar of salsa
• 2 tsp of garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• Salt and pepper

Cook on high in slow cooker for 2 hours or so. Shred the chicken with a fork and knife. Add the following:

• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can mexican corn

This is a thick, chunky chili, which you can eat topped with shredded cheese, sour cream and chips. Or you can put it in a tortilla with cheese, chopped tomatoes and sour cream to enjoy burrito-style. If you’d like something a little jucier, you could definitely add 1 can of diced or crushed tomatoes. (This isn’t as spicy as my recipe for taco soup, but it’s got mild great flavor.)

Sure enough, Analise has pink eye. We got started on antibiotics this afternoon, without needing to go see the doctor, thankfully. My poor girl has drippy, watery eyes, though they weren’t matted shut this morning, as I’d feared. I hope, hope, HOPE (fingers on both hands crossed) that Brian and I can make it out of this without ending up pink as well. Anyway, no bible study for me in the morning, as she’s highly contagious until she’s been on antibiotics for 24 hours. Bummer. I’m doing a bible study through church called The Patriarchs by Beth Moore about Genesis 1-50 and the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It’s EXCELLENT, and I hate to miss tomorrow. Oh well. This weekend, Beth Moore is coming to Birmingham to speak, and I’ll be going Friday night and Saturday. I’m very excited, as she’s the best teacher I’ve ever heard, and you never fail to leave one of her sessions just filled with insight and application. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to post this weekend!