Anne Elizabeth is 18 months old!

She is amazing in every way!

She has the cheesiest smile and her front teeth stick out. It's too funny. She knows when her picture is being taken and says, "Cheeeeeese!!!!!" She loves to dance and sing. Our house will NEVER be quiet, and I'm so ok with that :)

She loves trying to keep up with her big sisters, and she can be aggressive towards them if she wants something. When they're brushing their teeth, she'll walk right up and try to edge them off the step stool so that she can brush hers, too! She will push one of them off my lap if SHE wants to sit with mom. She has this really bad habit of hitting- even me!- if she's upset. I'm working hard to break that, but it doesn't help when the big girls laugh and think it's funny :)

Annie is pretty vocal, I guess you'd have to be in this house! She says, "I wan da!" which means, "I want that!" She points to the iPad and says, "Let it Go! I want that!" It's her favorite songs and she's actually been saying "Let it go" for months now (arms up and everything!) After her bath she says, "I co!" which means, "I'm cold!"...something she hears both of her sisters say, lol. She says "please" and "thank you", "night night", "uh oh", "hi" and "bye." She blows kisses and gives air kisses if you're too far away :) It's sounds like she tries to say Audrey, but it comes out as "Awdaaaaaaay!!!!" Yeah, she yells. A lot.

She's by far our most affectionate baby. She loves to be held and cuddled. She is always laying her head down on our shoulders. Sometimes she'll just walk up and give hugs and kisses...it's especially cute when she does it to her big sisters. Love her.

She's a great eater, but super messy. She just loves to smear food in her hair and throw it on the floor. She's allergic to peanut butter :( Completely breaks out in hives on her face and gets super itchy. Luckily everyone else can eat it and still be near her.

She loves Miss Staci! When I leave her in the morning there's no tears! Such an awesome feeling. They're quickly becoming her second family. We could not have asked for a better arrangement. Staci says they feel the same; they are just as grateful to have her :) The way she loves on Anne and talks to her...I feel like she's with another me, and that's all I want for her!!!

She has a wonderful routine. She wakes between 6-7 am. Will take a morning nap around 9-10, then again around 2-3 pm. She goes to bed between 7-8 pm. She's an amazing sleeper! We put her down wide awake with her paci and some music and she eventually falls asleep. I always go in to check on her before I go to bed. Sometimes she'll still be awake, just quietly laying still. I love her so much.

Her big sisters adore her. They are so sweet to her, even when she is NOT sweet to them, lol. She always wants to be involved in what they're doing, she wants to be wherever they are. Annie is the sweetest little baby, we are so lucky this precious girl is in our lives!

Moving: Making Selections

I love this part of the building process!

Luckily we have similar tastes. It helps that Chris does this for a living, so he gets to see what looks good. I have Pinterest, so that makes us about even ;)



Kitchen: This was our biggest challenge. I either wanted to go with really dark cabinets or really light cabinets. The kitchen in the model is light and absolutely gorgeous. BUT with small children (and pets in the far future) they made us nervous. I flip-flopped so many times but Chris remained pretty steady. We picked espresso cabinets, white granite (with some gray streaks) and white beveled subway tile backsplash. One of my worries about having dark cabinets was that it would make the kitchen look small. However, with it being so open I don't think we'll have that problem. Our appliances are stainless steel and I think we'll have plenty of natural light. We're getting an induction cooktop...can't wait to use that baby!


Flooring: a few weeks ago we had some browse time at the design center. We chose a REALLY dark wood hardwood floor (another reason I was hesitant about dark cabinets.) When we actually made our selections, I spotted a lighter floor with 5" wide planks and fell in LOVE. I think the wider planks are beautiful. We are running hardwood throughout the entire first floor, even in the kitchen (still undecided about mudroom, though!). I'm a little nervous to see what the espresso cabinets looks like the with the floor. I think once we have furniture, area rugs and curtains it will all come together and flow nicely.

We chose a gray tile for the mudroom and laundry. We might change the mudroom to wood for a nicer flow into the kitchen.

I'm excited about our stairs...we're doing wood on the stars, but we're painting the bottom planks white. I think it will look great, especially with our wood railing. We'll definitely have a carpet runner (light gray) so the girls don't slip and slide and take tumbles down the stairs.

The upstairs carpet was a bit of a battle. I like the look of a lighter carpet, but that's what we have now and it just shows EVERYTHING. Chris wanted to go dark, but the light brown that he picked...I didn't like at all. I just don't think it'll go with anything. I chose a dark gray. It's darker thank what we have now, and I think it will look beautiful with the paint colors we'll eventually chose for each bedroom (pinks, yellows, blues.) Chris is not loving it, apparently nobody chooses it. I think it will be beautiful!

We're doing standard paint for now, but I can't wait to pick custom colors in the future. We like a blue/gray color for the entryway and dining room, then gray for the main living area. Each girl gets to pick her bedroom wall color :)



For our master bathroom we kind of flip-flopped from the kitchen. We picked white cabinets, a gray tile floor/shower, and a silvery blue granite. I think we were feeling dangerous ;) The girl's bathrooms will be a light beige tile with marbleized counters and espresso cabinets.



I think we are most excited about the exterior. Our house is Craftsman style, garage right. We picked blue siding and...a YELLOW DOOR. To be honest, Chris picked it months ago and I was completely surprised! I love it, and I think it will look very cheerful and welcoming.

I've been inside the model a couple of times. I've seen pictures of two other Emersons online. Since we wanted our garage on the right (we don't want to see the garage as we drive up to the house) it's switched around. I tease Chris and call it "backwards" :) I'm having a hard time envisioning everything being the opposite of what I've seen. So when we enter the house, the stairs wll be on the left, not the right. Even the dishwasher is on the other side of the sink!

Our contract was ratified, now we wait for permits. In the meantime I'm focusing on this house, packing and purging. I love this part of the process, too!

MOVING!

We are so excited that this is finally happening! We found a great location and an AMAZING house. We signed the contract and we're making selections at the design center tomorrow.

We are very happy to be moving closer to school and work. We'll have so much more time in the mornings and in the evenings to be at HOME!

I'm a little obsessed with our new home. Chris took us to see the model back in December, but I never thought we'd actually be building it.

The main area is an open plan, which I love. There's a mudroom off the garage, which we totally NEED! There's a ton of space in the kitchen PLUS a huge walk-in pantry. Behind the kitchen there's a small room that will be the girl's playroom (Audrey calls it their creating space!) It has a small pocket office, perfect as a command center.

There are 4 bedroom upstairs. Our master has a lot of windows, separate closets, and a nice big bathroom. One bedroom has it's own bathroom and the other two bedrooms share a Jack and Jill bathroom (Jill and Jill? HA!) It will be very interesting adjusting to life in a two story house...I REALLY love the closeness and convenience of our current home.

As excited as I am, it will be so sad to leave this place. It's where our family was started and where it has grown. We moved here in December 2006. Time just absolutely flew by. There will be plenty of new memories to be made. I'm looking forward to seeing the girls grow up the new new house...this might be the house we're in until they're grown and gone!