My Anna-nan

My sweet Anna-nan is almost 10 months, and I am in denial.  With every little sound that she mutters that has the resemblance of a word, and every inch closer she is to standing on her own, I am reminded that we are staring ONE in the face, and shes not much of a baby anymore. I mean, shes still a baby obviously, but the baby-ness is diminishing as her personality starts to bloom more and more. It really goes SO fast. I realized I hadn't written much about my little nugget in the last few months, so I wanted share what she's up to!

Anna amazes me. She is the complete opposite of M and her spunkiness definitely keeps me on my toes. For general comparison, at this age, Madelyn was just starting to learn to crawl, Anna has been crawling for 3 MONTHS already! Anna is pulling herself up in her crib, crawling out or away from any seated position, doesn't like being restrained in a car seat, high chair or anything alike, and has a screech that could deafen you. I'm not sure I'll have photos to capture 8,9, 10, 11 months, etc because I literally can't get a photo of her that's not blurry from her moving! She's the happiest like girl, she loves to be involved in anything that's going on around her, and she loves to be heard :) She is smart, quick and always wants to explore and learn what's next, loosing interest in most things quickly. I am having so much fun getting to know our little girl and watching her learn and grow.  We expected she might be quick to crawl because she's never liked being still, but its amazing to actually watch her explore!

Anna started to crawl at 7 months and 1 week. That exact weekend she also got her first tooth, and the second followed quickly after. She loved trying food and is a good sport about anything new we give her. She especially apples, sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans and she is obsessed with yogurt. This week she also tried chicken, sausage, pasta and mashed potatoes and they all went over well too. We don't give her too much water, because I don't want her to fill up and not drink a bottle, but she loves it! I guess it's good to start that early ;)

At 9 months, Anna started to pull herself up in her crib and at our coffee table. Just a few weeks later and she can stand there barely holding on for minutes, before she gets tired and sits down. Her first real word with intent, was "ut oh" and now she also says Dadda, whenever she sees Brian and she'll repeat 'tank you' whenever she hears someone say, thank you. I think she started waving around 8 months, but by 9 months she was doing it whenever people say hello or goodbye, and without being prompted. She also just started throwing up her hands, when you ask her how big she is. Although, she's not that big. Since birth, she'd been measuring in 75%-90% for weight, and 90% for height, but at 9 months, she was 50% across the board. Maybe we were starving her ;) needless to say, we feed her a little more now, which she seems very happy with!

I don't remember being so overwhelmed with the amount of changes and growth all at once with Madelyn, the way I am with Anna. I'm sure it's not uncommon, and maybe more so for the second child because they're trying hard to keep up with their sibling, but for some reason I feel like I literally blinked my eyes and Anna has grown up in a few weeks! We are heading to Florida in two weeks, which I'm getting nervous about, but also very excited for. I can't wait to take Anna on her first plane ride, trip to the beach and swimming in the pool. Something tells me she will absolutely love it all. 

To my sweet Anna-nan - "you are my sunshine, my only sunshine".... I love you so much!! 

Here are some pictures of Anna over the last few months: 

Christmas Morning

first time I caught her standing in her crib

first time she actually paid attention and "watched tv"

today - I asked her to kiss the giraffe, and she leaned in and went "Mmmm" - too cute!

first time her hair was all up in a ponytail

playing with her sissy

It's a sad day...

I have been going to the same salon for more than 11 years to get my hair cut and colored. If you know me, you may know where I'm talking about, and you know I love my hair-guy, and he is not cheap! I also go for massages, facials and I had my wedding hair and makeup done there too. After my visit today, there's a good chance, I may never go back.

I got a gift card for my birthday, and another gift card for Christmas. I finally got around to using my b-day gift card two weeks ago, and I had an awesome massage. Today, I went for a haircut. While paying, the woman was confused with my gift card and couldn't find the record of it. She didn't make a big deal about though, honored it and I left. On my way home, I missed a call from her, and she asked me to call back. I called, and this time she wasn't very nice. Our conversation went like this:

Monica: "Hi, Jessica - you just used this gift card when you were here for your massage on the 28th"

Me: "No, I had a different card that I used then."

Monica: "No, this is the same card, with the same number."

Me: "No, the one I used when I was there for my massage was from my mom, a birthday gift in August. The one today, my husband gave me for Christmas."

Monica: "No, its the same one. I'm telling you. I'm just telling you."

Me: "I had two different card, I don't understand."

Monica: "Well, I'm telling you, you used this already."
Me: "That's not possible, I wouldn't still have it if I paid with it for my massage. My mom gave me the other one, do you want to look that up by her name?"

Monica: "Uh, yeah, I guess. what is it?
Me: "Linda Tiani:"

Monica: Well, OK. These are the same gift card. I'm telling you, you already used this"

and she hung up on me...

I was floored, disgusted, annoyed and frustrated. From the text I included, it's impossible to understand how condescending and cold she was. She was very matter of factly, telling me that I was wrong, and she was essentially doing me a favor with a free cut, because that gift card had already been used. First, what in the heLL are you talking about? That doesn't even make sense, since I surrendered two different gift cards with each visit. B - you didn't try to get the facts to understand what was going on. She gets a F in problem solving technique. C - don't talk to me like that, I've probably paid you thousands of dollars over the last 10 years. Show me a little more respect than to just assume I'm trying to pull a fast one on you. 

Maybe it's because I'm in customer service for a living, but that whole conversation did not sit well with me. Obviously, you can't use a gift card twice, I'm not being shady, and their records are incorrect. I was trying very hard to be nice and help her figure it out, and she just argued with me. She kept saying, well, i'm telling you. Well, Monica, you are wrong. Some customer service I get for being a patron for so long, clearly they don't care. 

I came home all fired up, told Brian all about it, and decided I'd call back and ask to speak to a manager to tell them that I was unhappy with how that conversation went. Monica answered when I called, ugh. I asked for the manager and she replied - "I am the manager, how can I help you?" Double, ugh. I asked for someone else and she goes "who is this?" Really??? So, I said Jessica. She goes - "Jessica, it's fine. You used the gift card twice, but its fine." Oh no she didn't... This doesn't really happen often, but I kinda lost my cool. In the nicest way possible, I told her I'd been a patron for so long, massages, hair, makeup, etc, and this whole thing was not cool. Again, she said it's fine, like she was doing me a favor. Again, not admitting fault, or trying to figure out the glitch in their system. She offered me a free spa mani/pedi - it's vegan and all natural. My blood was literally boiling, are you kidding me right now? I don't want a free mani/pedi. And, I'm sorry would have been nice. I told her that was nice, but I don't think I'm coming back. 

I'm in a bit of a quandary, because I'm in desperate need of a mani/pedi and a free one sounds delightful, but more importantly, I LOVE my hair guy. I tell everyone I know, it costs a fortune, but every time I leave, I'm so happy with what he does. I've tried other people, to save $50 here and there, but he's just the best. I especially, love my cut today. Damn it. Why is it so hard to be nice to people, and provide good customer service? Especially when it's your job, AND you are the MANAGER? Maybe like chivalry, it's just a thing of the past? 

What would you do?

 #worstexperienceever

Tradition

One thing my parents tried very hard to implement in my childhood was the element of tradition. Because they've been together since they were 14, (yes, you read that right!) they started creating traditions early and have a long history of them that they shared with us as a growing family. I kind of feel like as you get older, you either follow along with the traditions you are exposed to, or you rebel and decide to create all new ones. Or maybe you fall somewhere in between. I'm very much the person that has followed along completely, and therefore change for me, can be difficult. Not only with traditions, but just change in general. When it comes to holiday traditions, I almost shutter at the thought of change. Don't get me wrong, change is not bad..  This holiday season though was a good test for changes to come in the future. 

It started when we weren't able to get our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving like we always do. No biggie, we went the next weekend, and actually got ours at a different place all together - pre-cut no less. I survived ;) Actually, it was easier with two kids in bad weather, and the tree lasted much longer! Shortly after that we learned that Brian's parents were coming up to spend Christmas with us. We were so excited to have them, and include them in our Christmas rituals! Christmas for me, for 34 years has been Christmas Eve  Mass at 5pm, maybe caroling at God's Acre right after, then a quiet dinner with my family at my parents. Christmas Day is spent with the Krippene's (TK -Tiani-Krippene Christmas) - either at my parents house, or their house. Every.single.year. 

Gramma and Grandpa arrived the day before Christmas Eve, and spent the day with the girls while Brian and I worked on Christmas Eve. Then we all got ready and headed off to church at 5pm, and dinner with my family at my parents house. It was the perfect night. The girls were good during church, dinner was delicious as always, and it was so great to have our families together on such a special day! Christmas Day started at our house, then we went to my parents house for brunch, and then off to Krissy and Jamie's for TK Christmas. It was a busy day, but a truly wonderful-crazy-exhausting-blessed-fun day. 

Looking back, this was the best Christmas ever! It was so wonderful to get to spend Christmas with my in-laws and share my traditions with them.  It was also a very sentimental TK Christmas since the K contingency of TK, is moving to North Carolina this year. So, this was (most-likely) the last time we'll celebrate Christmas together. There were definitely some tears, and probably more to come in the coming months as they prep to move, but it couldn't have been a better day and way to wrap up the holidays. Traditions are a very special thing, and it's only natural for them to change and evolve, and I guess that what makes them so wonderful. I look forward to making more traditions as a family, that we can pass down to the girls!

Here are some pictures of our Christmas! Hope you had a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year!