September 11th - A Celebration of Life with Anna

Happy Birthday to my 2nd daughter, Anna Isabella Carollo. Born at 3am on September 11th, 2002. It was exactly one year after the attacks of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon & the plane that went down in a field in Pennsylvania. We remember the many people who lost their lives today, but Pete & I also remember a new life that came into our lives.

Anna is the middle child, similar to me, so I can always relate to her trying to get attention & finding her way in our family. She is an aggressive, competitive, smart, caring, beautiful, happy, and loving girl. She still sucks her thumb & can't go to sleep without her Pooh bear. She sings every Hannah Montana song, but Camp Rock is her favorite right now. Anna really cares about her appearance which started at an early age & has always shocked us. She could put her hair in a pony tail at 3 years old & can already braid her hair. She tied her shoes at age 3 also - she just decides on learning something & masters it without any help or questions from us. She does get frustrated easily though! She worships her big sister, Rosie & is so patient and loving with her baby sister, Jo. Seeing her with Jo melts my heart. They love her so much. Anna loves attention at home, but she doesn't like a crowd watching her. She becomes very shy & clings to me.

What a sportswoman she is becoming! If I could pitch to her every night, she would hit balls all night long. She tries so hard & listens really well to her coaches. Anna loves soccer also, and she can't wait to go back to tumbling in a few more weeks. For some reason, she is ready to start volleyball - that sport doesn't start until 3rd grade!

She is shocking us with her math skills right now. Almost every night, we do math flashcards & she is doing pretty difficult addition! She is anxious to move to subtraction. Her reading is coming along as well, but now she just wants to do math! She loves art as much as Rosie and every day, drops her book bag & goes directly to the desk to start coloring. She could color for hours (which we don't mind at all.)

You can always spot Anna with her big grin! She is a beautiful girl who adds so much vitality to our days. God bless her always. We love you Anna.