Or maybe an alternative title:
“The Amazon Baby”
In case you are wondering, from left to right: 2 weeks old, 1 year old, 2 years old, and 3 years old. That giraffe just keeps getting smaller and smaller. There is a story behind the giraffe, do you want to hear it? Ok, twist my arm, I’ll tell you!
When I was pregnant, my husband wanted to have a surprise, he didn’t want to know the gender of the baby and I REALLY REALLY wanted to know. When I went to the ultrasound appointment, thanks to the army he couldn’t be with me, Anne was in no mood to cooperate so we didn’t get to find out then. I was bummed! However, my mom wanted to know even more than I did, and I will be perfectly honest with you, torturing my mom turned out to be pretty fun. When my mom threw me a baby shower in CA where I grew up she made me a diaper cake and the giraffe above was the very center of the cake.
Now, I was super high risk, so I had to do lots of tests and during the last 2 months of my pregnancy I had 3 ultrasounds a week (meaning lots of opportunities to find out) to check on Anne’s progress and at one point I even had a failed version (Anne was breech). At each appt the doc always said “I’m going to say a gender, but that is just a way of referring to the baby, I’m not actually telling you the gender.” Well at my version, my mom took the doc to heart because the doctor said “HE” so many times. Needless to say at 1:36 pm on November 12, 2009, my mom got a real surprise, finding out that Anne was in fact a girl!
Ever since she was born she has had that giraffe by her side, and he is shrinking at a rapid rate. Anne is only 3 and she is already 40.5 inches tall. This is actually the first time since she was 2 months old that she has actually been on the height chart at 99%, every other time she has been well over 100%.
Are you wondering why I am taking this walk down memory lane? Because every year for Christmas I make my parents, god parents, in-laws, and myself of course, an Anne Calendar. Her greatest hits from the year before, and the picture above is the cover of this year’s calendar.
Happy Holidays from Anne and I!
PRECIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Happy holidays to you and your family, too, Melissa! Love that a giraffe or any teddy bear can last that long with a child. I had a few that took something with them also out of the cradle/crib and that they hung onto for years. Even made a new body for a bunny one time, and have to do so again soon, before there is totally nothing left of it!
Love the cover picture.
Happy Holidays to you too.
What a great gift! And I LOVE the ever shrinking giraffe!
Wow! She has really grown. I love the idea of using the giraffe as the measuring device.
What a sweetie! I am so glad she is doing great! Love the calendar idea.
Love these pictures! 🙂 I still need to make Anna’s collage with her bear adding her 2 year pic! 🙂
How cute!
What a darling! And what a nice tradition, to make a calendar with her photos! Thanks for sharing….I needed to see that grin today! 🙂
What a great mom you are! and Anne is such a beautiful little darling amazon!!!!!!!!!! I love the cover! and your story is so precious. As usual, Anne made my day!!!!!! I LOVE the calender idea. Thanks so much for sharing this! I love her giggle in the 3 year old picture, I can almost here her…….XXXXXXXXXXXX
Funny how those stuffed animals shrink, my teddy was bigger than me when I was born 😉
What precious memories you are collecting of your darling Anne…something you’ll always treasure. Merry Christmas!
Thanks so much for sharing – put a sparkle in my day!
Merry, Merry Christmas to you. Oh my what a sweetheart Thank you for sharing your little one with us.
Have a happy!!!!!
Darling little girl and cute story. What a good idea to photograph her with the giraffe!
Cute idea. I always meant to do that with my kids but never kept it up. Are you and your husband really tall? We are and my sons aged 3 and 6 are, but my 9 yo daughter is not. She thinks its very unfair she’s the smallest year 3 girl!
I love the picture, I love the story of the giraffe, and I love the calendar plan you have each year. What a wonderful family – you are all so blessed, with Anne and with each other.