44 weeks old!

Breakfast, it's our new fashion accessory!

sporting her beater

I went to wake her up one morning... and this is what I saw.  So I
thought I ought to take a picture.

Who me?

Auntie Katie came to visit... she stole some snuggles.

Auntie also got to participate in swim lessons.... mommy got to take pictures!!

She holds on really well...

Well, I know this is a late post about week 44, but we were having too much fun with our Auntie Katie when she came to visit... so blogging wasn't high on the list.

Anyway, our little munchkin is doing great.  She crawls everywhere!  Anna has completely abandoned her army crawl for a more traditional crawl.  She isn't super fast getting anywhere yet, but she gets there.  She also is really good at charming people when she crawls to try to get where you don't want her to go.  Hahaha...  Anna isn't walking, but she does like to pull up on things when she can.  She isn't adventurous enough to furniture walk too much either.  She will do some walking with our hands holding hers.  Although, I am not yet ready for her to walk.  I'm just adjusting to her crawling!!

Sleep is going really well.  Anna takes her pepcid twice a day about 8:30am & 8:30pm. That is really helping her.  She typically wakes up once a night, or not at all.  If/when she does wake up, it's usually about 3am.  In fact lately I've been waking up right at 3am, and that is about 2-5 minutes before Anna wakes up.  I don't mind if she wakes up once... and 3am isn't bad either.  I get a couple hours under my belt... and usually she is really easy to feed and get back to sleep (in her crib) as well.  The nights when she wakes at 6:30 or so, it's more difficult to get her back to sleep.    Anna usually wakes up about 8/8:15.  (If she doesn't wake on her own, I usually wake her up... it works well for our schedule.)

Anna is doing well eating also.  She LOVES the baby foods that come come in a pouch.  She can feed herself, and little miss independent loves to do it on her own.  In fact, she really doesn't like food that she can't feed herself.  So, I wipe her off a lot... but, that's ok.  It's a good learning experience, those textures.  I do try every few days to work with her using a spoon.  I know that it's a bit of a ways off, but, it's never too early to start, I think.  Anna is still nursing, but definitely not as often as she used to.  She nurses about 4-6 times a day (less if she eats well in her high chair, more if she doesn't.)

I do not know how much our little pumpkin weighs... since I haven't had her weighed in a while... maybe next week?  But she is in 6-9 month clothes still, and size 3 diapers.  I may start to transition her into the 9-12 month clothes soon, because some of her pants are starting to look a little short.  We'll see though, because if it isn't stretchy... then she has a hard time holding up her 6-9 month pants sometimes... so I guess it will just depend on the article of clothing.

Well, I think that's our update for now...  thanks for checking in on us... I'm sure week 45 will be posted in a more timely manner.  :-)

Dinner time

Dinner time around our house can be fun some times... here's a great example.  (I'd love to state that Anna is such a daddy's girl!!  You should see the excitement that comes over her whenever Jeremy comes home from work!!)  Please notice the amazing eyebrow action at the very, very end!  LOVE it!!

week 43

I'm 43 weeks old!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At cousin Brad and Ali's wedding in Lewisburg, PA

A much different smile from Gina (see post around  December 23, 2011... she looked petrified.)

How do you occupy a 9 1/2 month old while waiting for gym class to start?

By taking pictures where she can see herself, of course!

Despite the fact that her eyes are closed... I turned my head briefly, only to look
back and see that she dumped the entire container of puffs.  Stinker!
(And of course, what do I do?  Grab my phone to document it all! Haha!)

Another meal... silly faces.

Grandma C thought we needed some shoes, so she bought Anna these ones!
LOVE them!  They're sooooo cute!

We went to the zoo on the sort of chilly Friday.  But we had a lot of fun!

As the weeks pass, I get a little more anxious that I'm closer and closer to having a toddler, as opposed to a baby.  However, we are making GREAT strides each and every day (and week).  Some nights I'm so excited to wake up in the morning and be about our business for that day... Anna is an AWESOME baby!  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her personality... and every day, it seems to get better.  Sure we have good days, and probably still some bad days too, but we're awesome.  It's amazing how different a tune I am singing a month after starting our dear on pepcid.  It is like night and day.  I thank God once more for a doctor who was willing to listen to a hopeless mother, and for medication that works!

Anna's sleep habits are getting better and better each day it seems.  Most days this week she woke up once.  Many days it was about 2:30am, once it was 6am,and last night she slept THROUGH the night!  When she does wake up, she eats, and goes right back to sleep, and then either wakes on her own, or I wake her up around 8-8:15.  Friday, we slept in until almost 9.  It was heavenly!!Last night she went to sleep a little bit before 9, and woke up at 8:20 on her own.  What an awesome night!  Many of the parents from our birth class would talk about how their babies would sleep 12 hours at night.... I longed for that day, and even doubted we'd ever get there.  This is the first night that she actually came REALLY close to 12 hours without waking.  I could soooooooo get used to that!  She's asleep now, after falling asleep about 8:45.  So, we'll see how tonight goes! 

Anna is also doing very well eating.  As the picture above shows, she enjoys the baby food that comes in the pouch... and has even done very well feeding herself from those.  I like when she does that, but it's kind of sad that she doesn't need my help as much any more.  However, I take it all as a sign that she is developing well (and of course, is a baby genius!!).  Every now and then she tries to smack the pouch when it's on her try to make a mess... but Jeremy and I are pretty good at catching her telling her "No" and taking it away when she does this.  Anna is also enjoying puffs, cheese, gluten free bread, chicken, rice crispies, and yogurt melts.  She will eat yogurt, but only a bite or two.  I think it's because I have to feed her it, and she can't do it herself.  In time, little girl.. in time.  I love that she's usually willing to try a food item, and very quickly you find out if she is going to like it (for that sitting) or not.  She is still nursing every 2-3 hours... but many times it is closer to 3 or more.

Anna and I were busy on Thursday so I don't know how much she weighs.. it must be at least 18 pounds by now, I imagine, if not it's very close to it.  She is still in 6-9 month clothes, and still in size 3 diapers.  This week, Grandma C took her shoe shopping.  We went to Stride Rite where she got 3 pairs of shoes (the shoes pictures above, slipper shoes, and boots -- mommy couldn't resist the boots... they were on sale!).  They're really fun to have her wear.  Anna is "almost in size 2" shoes.

Crawling has been mostly Anna's preferred mode of transportation.  She isn't too fast, but she can get to wherever she wants to go.  I have seen her trying to pull herself up on a few things in our living room (the jumper, her toy basket, or an ottoman).  So, she's trying. 

Our little girl is so precious. We just love her so much!

That's about it for now.... thanks for checking in on us!!

42 weeks

We had the wedding for Lindsey & Dennis on Saturday.

While we were at the wedding,, Anna stayed with her Aunt Launi,
and Grandma & Grandpa Leeper.  They took her to the park, and she had
A LOT of fun!  (She must have because she slept through the night!!)

They also had story time!  Anna LOVES story time.  Here she is
with Grandpa Leeper.  (Hope the designation of Grandma & Grandpa is fine, guys. 
Try it out for size, and let me know if it works!!)

I found that I can take pictures of her with my camera, where she can see herself
as I take the picture.  She was facinated!

Sporting her bathing suit before our swim lesson.

This week, Anna started to crawl on her hands and knees, not just army crawling.

I even got it on video for you to enjoy!

Shopping with Mommy & Aunt Jill.  If you can't read the titles
They say "My Grandpa is Special" and "My Grandma is Special."
Made us laugh because she has some "special" grandparents.  hahaha

Sporting her jammies before bed.

She loves her remote!  (And I love instagram!)

Well, this week has been another good week.  I love this little monkey!  She's such a ham!  Her personality is starting to shine (and so is her temper.... she definitely lets you know when she doesn't want to do something!  We're working on it!)

Sleep this week has been good.  She has only gotten up once in a night, or not at all.  It has been absolutely WONDERFUL!!  We've been getting up between 7:45 and 8;15 every day.  Anna takes 2 naps.  The first nap is shorter, and the 2nd one is AWESOME in that it allows me to take a nap too!!  She typically goes to bed between 9-10, but sometimes it's later.  We are working on trying to get it earlier... but, it doesn't work so well.

Anna is still doing well eating solids.  She loves to feed herself, and if I can give it to her where she can feed herself, I have a better chance at her eating it.  She tries most things that I give her.  Anna still LOVES avocados!  She eats a lot of turkey, chicken, gluten-free bread, rice crispies, cheese, yogurt, sweet potato puffs.  These are her current favorites.  She still is eating every 2-3 hours on average.

We continue to work with Anna on using 3 basic signs.  We do "more", "eat", and "all done"  Sometimes she seems to sign "all done."  Or at least we call it "all done."  She doesn't do a lot of "more" it seems to be clapping.  And she claps all the time...

Anna is still in 6-9 month clothes, and size 3 diapers.  I think we'll be in both for quite a while still.  Which is ok, I love some of the clothes that she has in this size!