66 weeks

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day by dressing up in our shamrock dress.
She looked super cute all day!

Doing a little reading this morning

Singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider with daddy

Giggling, while playing with daddy
(She has a lot of fun with her daddy!)

Enjoying a little snack at Sams club

It may not seem like much... but we're trying to get away from bottles.
These cups were all full this morning (it was taken around 2pm).

My two favorite people!!
Smiling for me after Anna's bath

Well this week seemed to fly by!  Every day was pretty busy.  Monday & Wednesday, was our normal work day stuff.  Tuesday we had a morning doctor's appointment (more on that later), today (Thursday) we went to our church for my "mom's group"  (known as "Mastering Motherhood"), and we made up our swim class that we missed on Tuesday.  And tomorrow (Friday) we're going the library for story time and music-- as long as the weather cooperates.  (This is our first time doing this... so, we'll see if it's something we should do again, or wait a while...)

Well this week the big thing was our doctor's appointment on Tuesday.  It was just a routine well-check.  I wasn't expecting a whole bunch, and there really wasn't anything that I wasn't prepared for.  One of the biggest topics was getting rid of her bottle.  While we have been trying to adios those bottles... it has not come easy for us.  Anna is just not that interested.  So I went out and bought, yet another set of sippy cups.  These ones have a soft spout.  (They're very bottle like... but not a bottle... and apparently a good way to transition Anna to a real cup.  So we'll see.)  So far (and again, i'm writing this on Thursday evening because our weekend is jam packed....), today she did not have a single bottle.... and it wasn't that bad.  Another topic on the agenda was the fact that Anna is still not walking.  It was hard to read how much concern the doctor had for Anna's lack of walking... but, the bottom line is, she really should be walking soon.... so if we don't have a walker in our house in 3-4 weeks, then the doctor is going to recommend us for physical therapy.  I'm ok with it... she is healthy, and developing normally... she just is a scaredy cat.  So, why not let a PT give it a go... she can't crawl forever!!  (Nor do I think she will.)  Another thing that was talked about quite a bit at our visit was Anna's continued cough.  Her lungs still sound great, and her ears are fine!  The doctor thinks that maybe it's either a post-viral cough (from when she was sick the very end of January), OR it potentially it's her acid reflux becoming an issue again.  For now, the doctor increased her dosage from 1 mL to 1.2 mL.  While that doesn't seem like a lot... it's a 20% increase from what it was a few weeks back.   (She has been on 1.1 for a couple weeks.)  Other than that... she is healthy, and happy.  She did get 2 vaccines, and so was a little bit cranky on Tuesday and some of Wednesday... but she did well today.    Anna officially weighed 20 pounds 9 oz on Tuesday.  She was in the 41%.  She was 30 inches tall which puts her in the 33%.  She's on the "smaller end of things."  But the doctor isn't worried about that.  In general, I didn't get the feeling that the doctor was worried that she wasn't walking, but is ready for us to kind of give her a little experienced push with the help of some physical therapists.  Her doctor kept saying, "she just needs to build her confidence... then she'll walk."  And I agree.  So, we'll see what the Lord has in store for us.  We will also be championing advice from some friends who are also physical therapists.  I look forward to a new stage that will be coming soon.  :-)

This week Anna has slept pretty well.  She doesn't usually sleep straight through the night without a peep, but she is able to get herself back to sleep without a problem usually.  She is still going to bed between 8:30-9:30, but it is usually a little bit before 9.  As it is, this past week Anna has started giving us some verbal cues that she is ready for bed.  A lot of times it looks like her putting her head down on me, or Jeremy or on the couch.  Then when we ask her "Are you ready to go night-night?"  She usually responds with "teeth!"  And if she's on the couch, she will climb down off the couch, and go over to the baby gate and wait until we open it for her to climb the steps and go into the bathroom.  It's really cute that she loves to brush her teeth.  I've started brushing her teeth before her naptime, instead of in the morning, because some times I forgot, and also, I'd like to connect teeth brushing with sleep.  So we eat, we brush teeth, we pray, we sleep.  That's pretty much our routine. 

Anna continues to eat well.  I think her teeth were bothering her this week a little bit, because her appetite was a little lower than normal, but nothing to be alarmed by.  As mentioned above, we're working hard to get her to drink from a sippy cup and not a bottle.  Today was a good, and productive day as far as sippy cups.  So hopefully it will continue this way.  If this works, it seems like Anna is a "cold turkey" gal.  We stopped breastfeeding- cold turkey, and today we stopped bottles cold turkey.  So, if we can keep away from the bottles... then we're 2 for 2...and I may start seeing a trend.  :-)  Anna still does like those baby food pouches, as well, but cheese is still tops on her list!

Our princess continues to be a chatterbox.  She seems to add words daily.  Even if the word isn't said correctly, she definitely makes an attempt to say what we're saying... or at least give us a response.  I would love to know what is going on in her head when we have some of our "conversations."  :-)

The last week or so, Anna likes to help me unload the dishwasher.  So, I finally had Jeremy help me by taking a video of it.  For those of you wondering, I do try to make sure that her hands are clean, and that she's only touching the handles of the silverware she's helping me with.... she does a pretty good job!  :-)

Well, I think that's about it for now....thanks for checking in on us!

65 weeks

Cheese!!

She turned on her own dvd, and then sat down and watched it.
Hilarious and scary all at the same time.
She is currently obsessed with Veggie Tales,
mostly Bob the Tomato (she says  it "Bo" --short o sound-- Bob without the last "b" sound)

At the gym this day, she enjoyed playing in the ball tent.

a few weeks ago, she was eying this toy...this time she got it!!

Muscles!!

Well 65th week was good.  We were pretty good with sleep, routine, and visiting with friends.  I keep telling everyone she's a lot of fun!!  I love the new words that she adds to her vocabulary almost daily.  I also love how she watches everything, and tries new things... of course she still isn't "trying" to walk.  But... we'll get there.  :-)  It also reminds me a lot to be a good example, because her little eyes are watching everything I (we) do!  I've always known that, but a reminder is good.

So, Anna still has a little cough.  She is still on the children's Zyrtec, but, we haven't really seen any improvement.  I won't be surprised if it boils down to an acid reflux issue again.  So stay tuned with that. 

Sleep has been pretty good for all of us.  So, hopefully we'll keep up at this.  Anna does wake up at least once or twice at night, and cries a little bit... but she does go back to sleep.  We NEVER go on in there (it actually makes things worse if we go in, and try to lay her back down).  So, we are progressing.  She does a great job putting herself to sleep, although there are always tears!  ALWAYS tears.  However, they don't last too long.  She is also enjoying the few toys that she does have in her bed.  It's kind of nice, because if she wakes up early, she usually will play with her glow worm for a little bit, instead of waking up screaming.  So that is appreciated.  It usually is enough to get me up, and get going before she does start to cry.

Anna still is a pretty good eater.  There are definitely some things she likes, loves, and other things she does like.  Anna still seems to be deterred by the way things feel in her hand.  She's not always a big fan of slimy things... ie spaghetti.  And if she doesn't like the way it feels, she won't even attempt to put it in her mouth.  We are still working to get rid of bottles... but she really likes them.  So... hopefully we can continue to ease off of them, and use them for drinking as opposed to pure comfort.  :-)  She can drink from a cup, but she just prefers her bottles.... Anna continues to love baby food pouches.  In fact a lot of times that's what she has as a snack before she goes to bed.

Anna is still in 12 month clothes, although, I do think that we'll be looking in to some of the 18 month clothes soon.  I know it really depends on brand, but some of her pants are becoming a little too short.  So, while there are still a few stragglers of 9 month clothes, most are 12 month clothes.  There are a few 12 month clothes that are a little big, and a few that are becoming too small or short.  Sooo... I guess we'll just ease out of those, and into new clothes soon.  :-)  Anna still is in size 3 diapers, and I believe size 2/2.5 shoes.

I think that's the important stuff now.  Thanks for checking in on us.

***I know this post is a little skimpy on pictures.... I'm experiencing problems with the way I've been sending pictures from my phone to my computer... so I may need to figure out a new process.****

64 weeks

Hello, in there!!

She was afraid she would miss something... and didn't fall asleep
for the entire hour and a half car ride.

Fun, at Great Wolf Lodge!

I gave her a wipe, and let her play with it...

She cleaned a milk jug (that has water in it)

She waved it around....

 As a whole, she had a lot of fun with the wipe... and I got about a half hour of work (dishes, dinner, cleaning etc.) done!  It was great!!

After my Bible study on Thursday, the nursery workers gave me a thin mint cookie...
a certain little someone swiped it and took a bite.

She is actually wearing far more than she actually got!

But, she's so stinkin cute!

I find the video above hilarious!!  I turned out a lot funnier than I would have ever thought.  I wanted to take the video because this evening she actually figured out how to spin around (albeit slowly) on the sit and spin... hahaha... it makes me laugh, so I thought I'd share!

This past week was a pretty good one.  We started out the week going to Great Wolf Lodge on Saturday afternoon and staying the night til Sunday morning.  This was a Christmas gift from our Aunt Teresa.  Boy did we have fun!  We shared a room with Jill & Dawson and kids.  It was a blast, and I had fun seeing all the cousins, and catching up with Jill on our many trips around the lazy river with Anna hanging out with us.  There were many laughs to be had during this time!  (Especially when it comes to tandem tube water slides... and over zealous lifeguards!!)

I took Anna to the doctor on Monday just to make sure that this lingering cough isn't anything.  The doctor listened to her lungs for a long, long time, and then decided we should have a chest x-ray.  No need to worry... her lungs and heart look great!  The doctor put her on children's Zyrtec to see if the cough is more allergy related... if not, it may involve tweaking/upping her acid reflux medication.  We go back on the 19th for her well-baby check.  That also means that we got her weighed.  With her clothes on (add at least 5 or 6 oz I've been told), she was just over 21 pounds.

Anna's sleep improved this week, with the addition of adding a baby food pouch with her bottle.  Although there is a fine line between giving her some, and giving her a snack, and giving her too much... if she has too much... it comes out, in ginormous portions!  UGH!!  But, we've done a lot better with her NOT screaming her head off in the middle of the night for a few hours... so we'll take it for now!!

I tried some 18 month clothes on her this week, and it was pretty big.  The pants were too long, and the long sleeves were way too long... but, I assume it will be like most girl clothes, and we'll just have to play around with it.  :-)  For now, she's still mostly in 12 month clothes... I may try to add to her more summery clothes soon, for our beach trip... but, we'll see how that goes!

Anna hasn't really had anything new this week to eat... but, she is eating pretty well.  I'm noticing that she's really good at eating when she wants, and not eating when she either doesn't want or I assume she is full.  Cheese continues to be her favorite, along with baby food pouches and pretzels.  I do like that she is at least willing to try most things, although some items take her a few tries before she'll actually eat it.  I guess that's the way it is, though, no?

One of Anna's favorite things to do is to brush her teeth.  She loves it when we open the gate, let her climb the steps on her own, sit her on the bathroom counter, and brush her teeth.  The rule is that we (Jer or I) brush he teeth first, and then she gets a chance to do it when we are done.  That usually means she plays with, sucks on and/or bites the toothbrush... it is nice that she likes it!  Oh, and fair warning to anyone, she is also obsessed with everyone else's teeth too!  She'll say "teeth" when she sees yours, and attempt to put her finger in your mouth.  More awkward is when she tries to shove her little burrowing finger in your mouth through your pressed lips!  hahaha

Anna continues to be a talker!  She seems to add words almost every day.  Her favorite word is still "Mimmee" (Kimmee).  She will often greet me in the morning with "Mimmee?" and will look for the picture I have of my mom, dad and Kimmee.  It's really sweet.  She rode around the mall in her stroller with her picture in her hand!  When I would ask her what she had she would respond with "Mimmee."  That included when a mall worker asked her what she had.  :-)  It's so nice to see how much she loves Kimmee.  Children are so sweet and precious!!

I think that's about all for now.

K

63 weeks

We started off the 63rd week seeing our favorite Uncle Todd
(to be fair, he's our only Uncle Todd)

Who's holding me?  Oh, yeah, it's you!

Good morning princess!!
Can you smile for me?
Give me some cheese!!

Cheeeese!!

Teeth!!
Cheeeeeeese!

Mommy gave me some spinach & feta pizza!!

Then she gave me some yogurt, which I insisted on feeding myself!

Ta da!!  This is the final look!!  Yes, some of it did make it in my mouth!!

Tryin' on my shades for my beach trip!

Peek a boo!

I like to pull my glasses down, like Grandma Corbett's

Wishing Miss Chrissy a happy birthday!
(And our cousin Chrissy also a happy birthday!!)

Eating a snack

Give me some cheese!!
(as you can see she's getting really good at smiling for the camera!)

                                                  (Video above: features her saying "Grandma")

We had a great time with week 63, for the most part.  We enjoyed a few meals with Uncle Todd while he was in town for work.  This week also brought about some interesting sleep issues... so we spent many nights trying to tweak things here and there... but finally we got back to a decent sleep routine.  Also, this week I could finally say, that while Anna still has a lingering cough, she seems to be back to her old self.  She's eating well, playing hard, laughing, and enjoying life all around!!

As you can see, Anna is doing well eating.  She really does like the spinach and feta pizza that she is shown above eating.  Which is funny because she's never really taken to pizza before when I tried giving it to her.  (but a few weeks ago, she swiped it from my hand as I was eating it at a friends house... and now, it's love!)  She tries a few things new each week, I think.  I have to keep reminding myself to keep giving it to her, even if it wasn't a hit the first time around.  :-)  Most of the time breakfast is her best/biggest meal.

As I mentioned, sleep this week wasn't the greatest.  In fact a few times this week, it was downright miserable.  But, with a little bit of tweaking and brainstorming....Anna now wears a nighttime diaper, gets a snack & a bottle before bed, and gets 1.1 mL of her pepcid.  The combination of which seems to help her... at least at this moment.  So that's good.  Hopefully we'll keep up with this!  She usually goes to bed around 9, and will sleep til 7:30/8am sometimes later (if the conditions are right!).

Anna still isn't walking, but she's becoming more daring!  She is still pretty cautious about falling though.  She will fall on the couch, and she will fall on her bed or our bed... but she prefers not to fall on her butt on the floor.  (It makes her sad!)   Anna will push anything that will push, and walk behind it.  So, she's definitely showing signs that maybe in the next few weeks she'll be walking.  Again, it's not that she doesn't ahve the ability to walk... she just doesn't walk.  She doesn't like to fall!

This week, I officially weeded out all the 6-9 month clothes, except for 2 outfits (that are still large.. maybe mislabeled?).  So, she's in 12 month clothes only!  It's amazing how many outfits were still 6-9 month clothes.  There may be some consignment shopping in my future to get her some spring-like clothes for our beach trip at the end of the month.  Anna is still in size 3 diapers, but I think it won't be too long before she's in size 4.  Even though, size 3 goes up to 27 pounds, size 4 starts at 22... so we're almost there. :-)

Anna continues to be a chatter box, she mimics many words, and will give a lot of words a try, even if it doesn't quite come out the same.  It's super cute!  She adds so many words each week, I don't think I can keep track of them now.  Although, it's interesting to note that some words she does not "complete".  Example?  Duck and Dog are pretty much the same word (distinguished by pointing to either a duck or a dog).... but both come out "duh".  So, I keep working on her to encourage her to say the whole word, not just the beginning.  She also does this with "Bob" (the tomato from Veggie Tales) and says "Buh" when it comes on.

Anyway... that's about it for now!

Thanks for checking in on us!!