62 weeks!

Hello!!

Mommy stuck this foam 3 on my head....and laughed.
(Bad mommy!)

Good morning!!

Eating Breakfast!

On Thursday, Mommy & Grandpa went to a hockey game.

I got to spend the night with daddy.
(He took this picture.)
I always have fun with daddy!

(Above)
I went to play with a friend on Tuesday.  It was cute, because
I watched her jump on the trampoline, and then I went and jumped on the trampoline.
Unfortunately, Mommy couldn't quite get it on the camera.

I love to dance to Jeopardy's Think Music!

Mommy says I'm "super smart" since every time she goes on her computer
I assume I may get to talk to my Auntie Katie... here's a good example.

This past week was very good!  Anna was definitely feeling better and better.  We were pretty busy this week.  We got to go to our swim class on Tuesday and then on Saturday (which technically isn't part of this post... but I'm make an exception...haha).    Anna LOVES to swim!!  Loves it!  She is improving her skills.  And while, she is still young, she does do very well at climbing out of the pool, and she will sit on the edge and fall into me.  She still isn't a big fan of going under the water (usually that induces tears), and she doesn't like to stand by herself and jump in yet.. mostly because she isn't good at (read: doesn't) stand by herself really.  I love it when we go to her gym and swim class because she gets to socialize with kids close to her age, and  it's a good skill to learn.  :-)  Not to mention it's fun!!

This week, sleep has been hit or miss. Jeremy and I are doing well holding back and letting her try to "figure it out" on her own.  Usually she does well with this.  Although, on the rare nights that we decide to go in, and lay her back down, it usually makes it worse, and drawn out quite a bit longer.    But most of the time she is doing well.

Anna, now that she is feeling better, is definitely eating a lot more these days.  This past week she even swiped the little bit of pizza I had in my hand and finished it off.  She likes pizza!  (That's her new food.)  We've tried giving it to her before, but she never really liked it, or even gave it much of a chance.  But this week, she took my spinach and feta pizza right out of my hand.  I liked it too, because there was genuine spinach on it, and she still liked it and ate it!!  Yay!  She continues to eat her "regulars".... chicken, turkey, cheese, bread, babyfood pouches, yogurt, goldfish crackers, eggs, turkey hot dogs and cheerios... just to name a few.

She also continues to be a chatterbox.  Anna seems to add new words almost daily but definitely weekly.  This week, she said "avocado" pretty clearly... also, she has added a form of "Katie" to her list.  (See the video above.)  

Anna loves, loves, loves music!  She likes to dance to it, sing to it, giggle over it, and listen to it!  It calms her, makes her laugh, or even puts her to sleep.  This past week, she learned that I can YouTube Veggie Tales on my phone.  So, she likes that because sometimes when we're out to eat, and she gets antsy, I pull out my phone, and this keeps her happy for a while.  So, we can usually buy ourselves some time.

Well, that's about it... apparently I'm running behind on my blogs.... so, hopefully I'll catch up soon!  I'm still ahead since the week hasn't flipped over, but I think the last 3 weeks I've blogged on a Thursday... NOT GOOD!

Anyway, thanks for your patience, and thanks for checking in on us!!

61 weeks old

Auntie Katie & Uncle Todders after they finished this race

With their race finishing shirts!!
Great job guys!!

Where's Anna?

Peekaboo!! There she is!!

She fell asleep as we were landing...
This is Anna after we deplaned.

Snuggling with her daddy!

She's such a cheeseball!  I love her!

(I know I said I would do the other set up, but right now, I don't have the time to fiddle with it.... so, the old set up it is... sorry!)

So week 61 started out in Virginia.  As we mentioned last week, we went down there to cheer on her Auntie & Uncle.  They did a GREAT job!  We were so proud!

We stayed there until Monday... then we headed back.  Anna did really well on the plane rides coming back.  I was impressed.  I didn't expect her to do as well as she did.... especially since our flights were delayed and we didn't land until 11pm.  Boy was that a late night!!  But, she was quite charming to the passengers we sat next to!

Anna has continued to get over her cough/cold.  She seems to only be coughing more when she's asleep and not so much during the day.  We keep praying that we'll see good health, because so far 2013 has not been so good for us in the Flatt household.

Sleep this week was still bouncing back from last week.  She didn't sleep as well as we would have liked, but she slept ok.  We're still not where we were... so that's a blessing.  I think we'll be back to where we were previous to our trip.

Anna continues to eat well.  I'm finding now, that she is becoming more and more willing to try food... but still, will only try it if she can feed it to herself.  I like to offer her a variety of foods.  :-)  She still really likes baby food pouches, and can easily down one if she wants to.  She also is still a cheese lover!  Those are her current favorites.  In other food, she still likes the following as well:  eggs, cheerios, bread, goldfish crackers, ritz crackers, bananas, apple slices, chicken, turkey, nutrigrain bars... and I'm sure there is more I'm forgetting.  She's still not so keen on eating veggies straight up, but I am able to get them in her via the pouches.

Anna crawls like a maniac, but still isn't walking.  I guess she feels she is so fast at crawling, why bother?  We'll get there when she's good and ready... I'm not worried.  Instead of walking, she continues to add words to her vocabulary.  She can say:  mama, dada, baby, baba, Mimmee, Nana (for Jeremy's mom) or nana (for banana), bye bye, teeth, keys, this, duck (duh), dog (also duh), and please (peas). She will point a lot at other things too.  Anna has also become very animated with things she's excited about, and her little legs get a-kickin' and she starts bouncing/jumping when she's excited, and sometimes that is accompanied by a ridiculously cute squeal!  I LOVE HER!!

She never ceases to amaze me!  I count her as such a blessing.  Even though we've been battling colds and the flu for months now, I am so thankful to the Lord for blessing us with such a healthy baby.  Thank you, Jesus!  Anna continues to make me laugh... daily!  (Probably hourly, really!)  So blessed by her!

Thank you Lord!

Thanks for checking in on us!

60 weeks old

Showing off the cute baby belly!

 

Chilling with her Aunt Kimmee

 Anna has such a sweet and tender spirit toward her Aunt Kimmee.  They just love, love, love each other.  On this particular evening we went over to my parents house for dinner, as we were wheeling Kimmee out to the living room Anna was getting a little sad, and pointed up to Kimmee.  I asked her if she wanted to ride on Kimmee's lap.  I put her up on Kimmee's lap, and the two of them were two smiling peas in a pod!  I love it!  (It also makes me realize that things like "awareness of differences" are taught to children.  I love how Kimmee is one of Anna's favorite people!!  Oh to be childlike in some ways!)

After a few tries, Anna finally took a bite of, and liked eating a baby nutrigrain bar.

 Along with the nutrigrain bars, Anna still enjoys eating goldfish crackers, pretzels, ritz crackers, turkey, chicken, hot dogs cut into itty bitty pieces, baby food pouches, bananas, yogurt melts, Cheerios, bread, and cheese.  She will often times not initially try something, but if I keep giving her the opportunity eventually she tries it.  I am learning, as her mama, that I need to continue to offer things even if she didn't take a liking to it the first time around.  Anna is also doing very well drinking whole milk, and is improving each day with her sippy cup.  I am proud to say, that Anna is fully weaned!!  :-)  Now we just have to work on weaning her from her bottles, and on to a cup full time... but, it's such a process, and I know I need to be patient.  She'll get there when she's ready.

Anna has been doing pretty well when it comes to the sleep department.  This picture below was taken last Tuesday when she decided to sleep in instead of wake up to go to our gym and swim... instead we went to
just the swim portion.  She slept through the night every day... except didn't do such a hot job when we were visiting her Auntie Katie.  I guess she was out of her element, still getting over being sick, and on top of that popped in another tooth.

Sweet baby, still sleeping.

Chilling, while I took a picture

We started brushing Anna's teeth this week.  (Frankly I'm a little embarassed we waited so long.)  But now we're doing it!  We just have to make sure it makes it into our nightly routine.

Brushing our teeth for the first time!

First plane ride

Reading a book with her Auntie

 Last Thursday Anna and I headed to Lynchburg, Virginia to see her Auntie & Uncle run a 50k (about 32 miles).  It was a lot of fun, aside from a slightly more cranky baby than normal.    It was great to be there to support Katie and Todd, and cheer them on.  We traveled from aid station to aid station and cheered them as they went... and of course we saw them at the finish line.  They did a great job!  Very inspiring!  We couldn't be more proud!  Way to go guys!!

 On Friday night, they prepared for their race.  While they were talking, and packing their bags, Anna looked on very intently (See picture below).  At one point Uncle Todd placed on Anna his "victory visor."  She liked it! 

It was also funny to note that Anna really, REALLY likes her Uncle Todders!  It was hilarious!  She always wanted to wave to him, crawl over to him/on him if he was on the floor.  And especially was always blowing him kisses.  It was kind of funny that she usually didn't blow Katie kisses, and in fact would usually wait til she had left the room to give her Uncle some kisses.  hahaha... little flirt!!  By the end of our time there though, she was delving out the kisses in great proportions to Katie as well.

Listening, and watching intently to her Auntie & Uncle

Miss Estela was our buddy!! 
We hung out with her the whole time they were racing.

Riding like a big girl facing forward.

 Anna rod like a big girl in our borrowed car seat... at home she faces backwards.. but they had it installed forward, so I thought I'd try it.  I do not think we'll be turning her around any time soon... it was hard for her to sleep.  Which she doesn't always do any more, mostly on longer car rides, but, when she did her neck would flop forward and that doesn't seem safe, or comfortable to me.  So we'll just keep her the way it is for now.  (Not to mention it is the current recommendation by the AAP to have kids rear facing until age 2.)

Well, that's pretty much our week in a nutshell.  I think I will continue to blog, based on the pictures we have... with occasional updates on stats... but since they don't change too much now, from week to week... I think this style will better suit our needs.

All right, thanks for checking in on us!!

Wekk 59

This was taken on a Sunday after church (?)...
She was lookin good!

Less than 24 hours later...
She looked like this...

48 hours later...
Sad, sick baby.

Mommy likes baby snuggles, but not at the expense of the baby...

So what do you give a baby when she is sick and won't eat any meals?
Pedialyte Popsicles of course!!

She liked gnawing on a peeled carrot for about .3 secconds.. then threw it on the floor.
(Don't worry, she was carefully supervised so she wouldn't break off a piece and choke!)

Yay Pedialyte for making such a delicious frozen remedy!

By the end of the week, she started feeling better.

This past week was probably one of the worst weeks for our little princess.  She came down with a dreadful "cold" that was accompanied by a fever.  The fever lasted for 4 days before it finally broke.  Then her nose started running, and then she started to get a cough.  We were down for about 6 days this week.  Mommy felt like she was on house arrest!  It was super sad.  So there won't be that much to update for this week.

I do know how much she weighed this past week, because on Monday when she first came down with the fever, I took her in to have her ears checked (per the doc if she came down with a cold, bring her in!).  She was just shy of 20 pounds.  Still in size 3 diapers, size 2 shoe, and mostly 12 month clothes.

Eating this week... well it was mostly bottles.  Occasionally she'd take a cheerio from me, but I think that was only to be nice... most of the time she was just not interested in anything but a bottle.  I didn't mind too much, as long as she was getting something particularly liquids.  Pedialyte popscicles and pedialyte juice boxes were also a favorite.  (Much better than the last time we tried to give it to her and had to force feed her the pedialyte!)

As far as sleep goes, I was actually pleasantly surprised she slept as well as she did.  She definitely didn't "over" sleep.  She may have taken a little bit longer naps... but she wasn't sleeping all day most of last week.  The first two days she was pretty sleepy, and miserable.  Most of the nights she slept all night, waking/crying only a little bit, and according to jeremy who was up at the time, she never really woke.. and didn't need to be consoled or anything.  So, I was pleasantly surprised.  I thought she'd do much, much worse.

Anna wasn't really too interested in talking, or playing this week, so I don't have too much to update in that department.

I do want to thank those of you who prayed for us, knowing we were under the weather.  God is good! As I mentioned in the pictures above, I love baby snuggles, but I hate when it comes at the expense of my princess.... although, sweet memories were made by me as I just rocked and held her.... she's not usually too much for snuggling.  She's usually on the go go go go!!  (I knew she was really sick, when she sat on my lap and for the most part watched Sister Act and Sister Act 2 back to back without ever attempting to get off my lap!)

Anyway, thanks for checking in on us!!