You are Kind. You are Smart. Your are Important

Lately, I've been thinking about how I'm going to raise Anniston in this very superficial world, where it is normal for looks to be held above all else, especially for women.  This really troubles me, especially being a mother to a little girl. I don't want Anniston growing up believing that outer beauty is the ultimate goal in life. I want her to know that inner beauty is. Being intelligent and knowing the importance of an education is.  I want her to know that looks are not what makes us beautiful, they only help us distinguish one person from another. I want her to be kind and humble, not believing attractiveness or wealth can put one person above another person. I want her to be able to lighten the load of someone in need, despite their looks or circumstances. I want her to know that she is important to the world, not because she is outwardly beautiful, but because she is a kind, intelligent woman.

Thinking about this made me think of myself and how I need to lead by example.  I have been fortunate enough to have a pretty balanced self-esteem, but one thing that has been a struggle for me is being comfortable about my body.  It mostly started after having Anniston. Despite my husband telling me I'm beautiful and crazy not to know that, I would try to avoid places where I had to be in a bathing suit and if I happened to be in a bathing suit, I would avoid the camera like the plague.  I have since then decided I need to be more confident in myself.  I mean, I should be proud of my body anyway. I'm healthy, I work out daily, and I eat a well-balanced diet.  I am currently working on being confident and comfortable in my own skin and that is all I can hope for Anniston as well.  

Happy Birthday Anniston Starr

Brand New Anniston

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

  

7 Months

8 Months

 9 Months

10 Months

11 Months 

12 Months 

 My baby is now one year old, which to me, is still processing.  I'm not all emotional that my baby is technically a toddler or anything, just in awe of how much Anniston, Gabe, and I have grown this past year of her life. She is such an amazing blessing to us. I remember the night we brought Anni home. She was screaming and would not sleep, I was in lots of postpartum pain and exhausted, thinking, "Why do people put themselves through this more than once?"  Now I completely get it!  Being a parent to Anniston has been the most incredible thing I've ever done.  I thank the Lord everyday for blessing Gabe and I with our beautiful daughter. I absolutely love this age, and I keep saying how I wish our next kid would pop out at least 9 months old. Ha. But Gabe isn't okay with me delivering a 21 pounder anyway. :)

• Anniston at 12 months weighs 21.9 lb 
• Is now walking.  She has been walking consistently for about 2 and a half weeks now.
• Has found a passion for the ocean.  Waves and sand don't freak her out at all. A wave will knock her down and then she will get right back up and trudge back out to sea.  She's fearless.
• Seriously enjoyed the fireworks on the 4th of July.  She kept squealing and clapping. 
• Her current favorite words are ball, dog, duck and fish.  
• Now that she is walking, she likes to constantly walk me to the front door to show me she wants to go outside.  She's still a little tree hugger.  She also likes to hold out her hand for her daddy so she can drag him around the house with her. 
• She and cake are close friends.
• Finally is getting her two upper teeth.  The amount of food that little girl can eat with only two teeth seriously astounds me. 
• Her current jams are The Sound of Music and the Mary Poppins soundtracks. 

Anniston's Dino Beach Bash

Anniston turns one tomorrow, and it is completely blowing my mind!  Turning one is a big deal, so of course, we had to celebrate. We decided on a dinosaur theme, because Anniston absolutely loves to roar.  However, I wasn't aware that it is nearly impossible to get dinosaur themed anything in somewhat gender-neutral colors. Heaven forbid Party City make an invitation or napkin with a yellow or light green dino on it.  So we basically had to make everything for Anni's party ourselves. It was actually really fun, but thank goodness Gabe is artistic and good with a computer, because that helped so much.  We chose the beach because, well, it was free. Ha. This was actually really inconvenient for everyone, because the beach was so crowded and there was tons of traffic.  The party actually started almost 40 minutes late, because everyone was stuck in traffic.  :) Once everyone arrived, we kinda just relaxed and ate food.   It was not overwhelming or overly busy, which was so nice.  I'm just so thankful to all of our family and friends who were patient enough to be stuck in traffic and search for parking so we could celebrate our baby girl's birthday.  Thanks to everyone who came!  You guys are all awesome!  Also, an extra special thanks to Kas for being Anniston's personal birthday party photographer. :)