47 weeks old

I got to see my Great-Gram on Saturday

Every kid sleeps with a snot-sucker at one point or another, right?

Fun time with my Nana
(Please note:  Aunt Jill re-dressed me after she changed my diaper.
It's hard to tell, but she put my onesie on the outside...)

Having a serious talk with my cousin Ella

Smile!

Having lunch... or maybe it was breakfast...

Love the squinty little eyes in the morning.

Hey Mom!

Yummy lunch!

I think.....

Yeah, it was ok...

Love this little wet face from her bath...

She was looking really hard for a toy that she wanted.

This week, our little sweetie graduated to the bathtub without a bath ring.

Mommy insists on putting this hat on me... I look SOO cute, don't I?!
(at least that's what she says to me after she puts it on me.)

 Anna has had a great week.  Although, I've come to determine that all our weeks are great, and continue to improve in their greatness because she is sleeping so much better!!  Praise the Lord.  Who knew acid reflux could be such a terrible, terrible problem.

We had a lot of fun this week.  We were pretty busy... Monday, Anna went to play with her Grandma & Grandpa Leeper while I went to work.  That is pretty much our day... she usually is sleeping when I get there, and we don't leave until she wakes up and I feed her.  (Sometimes we stay and play a little bit too.)  Tuesday we had our swim lessons!!  We still love them!  On Tuesday evening we had an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner with Aunt Jill and Uncle Dawson.  (Aunt Jill has pictures.. but mommy couldn't find them on facebook... so you'll have to take her word for it.)  Wednesday, Anna played with Grandpa C while I was at work... and once again that pretty much eats up our day.  We went out to dinner at TGI Fridays where I was winning over the table next to me with my petite body, and my unsurpassed charm!  :-)  Thursday was Mastering Motherhood at church, and then lunch with Christine from work... home for naps... and well.. that was our day.  Friday is normally our day to take a breather from the busy week, before a busy weekend.  Soo... that's our week in a nutshell.

Here's the normal stats...

We'll start with sleep.  SLEEP has been great!  Anna adjusted well to the time change.  She slept in til "9" even though the clock said it was 8.  hahaha... Another perk to daylight savings ending is that Anna used to go to bed between 9-10... well, she now goes to bed between 8-9.  It's GLORIOUS to have an hour or 2 to hang out, and chill with Jeremy before we go to bed.   I think I'm going to keep this bedtime for the near foreseeable future. Also, since last Thursday we have been setting her in her crib usually awake, and she has been putting herself to sleep.  THAT is wonderful as well.  We aren't fighting with her, trying to get her to settle down any more. She does usually cry, but I think the longest is about 3 or 4 minutes.  This also works well for nap time also.  I love that too.... because she hasn't taken any naps in her swing this week!!  And, she's been putting herself to sleep.  This means that if I take a nap, that I can sleep in my own bed!  It's WONDERFUL folks!!  So as you can see... week 47 has been great in the area of sleep.  Anna still wakes up once a night... but, every now and then she will surprise me with sleeping through the night.

Anna is also doing very well eating solids.  She still likes to eat anything she can put in her mouth, and she's not too keen on eating anything with a spoon.  Although, tonight I did manage to get 4 or 5 bites of yogurt in her mouth... but then she lost interest.  Anna still really likes the baby food pouches, as well as cheese, gluten free bread, turkey, veggie/sweet potato/strawberry puffs, and yogurt melts.  Anna eats 3 meals a day in her high chair, and some days a snack or two.  She still is nursing and/or getting bottles, but those are limited to about 4-6 a day usually.   (Which is a good thing, in my opinion.)

I did not have the princess weighed this week, but I'm sure it's only an ounce or two... in a months time she gained one pound, so.... she has definitely slowed down in the weigh gain department.  Anna is in 6-9 month clothes, but I'm finding a few of the pants to be a little short... or at least ones that ride up too easily when she is being carried.  So, I'm transitioning her to 12 month clothes... they're a lot longer, but it works well if I cuff them.  :-)  As far as diapers go... still size 3.  And, she's still in size 2 shoes (and there's still room to grow!)

Anna is getting stronger and stronger each day/week.  She has been pulling herself up like crazy.  If she sees something she wants, and it requires standing up to get to it... she has no problem.  Anna does a little bit of furniture walking, and a lot of crawling.  Anna isn't a big fan of me trying to get her to stand by herself, and DEFINITELY does not like it when she falls on her little tush.  (Which makes me laugh usually because as I tell her, there will be lots more butt falls over the next weeks/months/years to come... not to mention.. she has a diaper on... this is the time in her life when it will have the most padding!!)  I think it will still be a while before she is walking... and I don't expect it any time before her first birthday... which is 5 weeks away!!  AHHHHHHH!!!

I think that's about it as far as updates go on our little munchkin.  She is the joy of our hearts!  Her daddy and I have a lot of fun with her... she makes me laugh SO much, I regularly have tears in my eyes!  I love her fun personality, and how much she's such a ham!!

Anyway, thanks for checking in on us!!

46 weeks old

New jammies that Aunt T gave her.

On Tuesday, after the terrible storm Sandy came through, Aunt Jill (and family) came to play!

Giving Uncle "Dason" the look!  (This picture makes me laugh every time I see it!)

Aunt Jill wanted to get pictures of me with my cousins.. here is my buddy, Bryant.

Playing, tuckered me out....

Got a picture with my oldest cousin, De

And my other buddy, cousin Valerie.

Apparently they played too hard too... (Thanks Aunt Jill!)

Apparently Valerie was mid-play when Aunt Jill took this picture.

And even cousin Deanna got in on the nap fest.

Trick or Treat!!  (Mommy dressed me up as a cat!)

Well this was a busy week.  We had awful weather, as far as that goes.  Really, it rained all of week 46.  It started Friday, and culminated with the parts Hurricane Sandy bringing devastating rain and winds to the region.  Our little trooper did well though, and since we only lost power a little bit, twice, we weren't really put out.  The winds did howl... and I think it woke her up a few times.  I just played her cd a little louder to help drown out the wind.  As you can see we made the best of the situation, in that we got to see cousins, Deanna, Valerie, and Bryant on Tuesday because their school was cancelled.  It was fun, because Aunt Jill & Uncle Dawson, Nana and Papa came over too!!  And if that wasn't good enough... Daddy got off of work early too!

Anna was a good girl this week.  Her tooth is just comin' on in nicely.  I personally can't wait until it inconveniences her to clinch her jaw when I try to give her medication.  :-)  I am going to work really hard on getting her napping for good stretches in her crib, and put down on her own.... in the next week or so.  We're nearing our big 1st birthday, so.... we can only hope things will work out completely by then.

Anna was weighed this week and weighed in at 18 pounds 2.5 ounces.  That's a pound up from her 9 month appointment.  I think that's pretty good?  This week, I started putting Anna in a few 12 month outfits.  She definitely got her mom's [short] legs. But, all in all, they fit ok.  I think I will be trying to get some of the 12 month sized stash out a little bit.  That way, we can get full usage out of that size.  Anna is still in size 3 diapers... and I think will continue to be in them for a while longer.

Anna is still waking up about once at night.  Although, I'm sure she will be unhappy to find out that her dad and I will probably just start ignoring her when she cries at night... or as a friend suggested, we may try to just "wean" her night time feedings til we're no longer needed them.  I guess we'll have to see... cold turkey or  night weaning... I'll keep everyone posted.  I'm not comfortable with this, since we have her "problem" of acid reflux now under control... or at least improved.

Since I mentioned eating.. Anna is still doing well eating.  She likes to try whatever it is that we are eating  (and I often give it to her if it doesn't have one of the [many] high allergens in it, including nuts, wheat or eggs).  Anna still likes to eat the baby food from the pouch, and has a strong liking for veggies that taste like fruits.  :-)  Smart girl.

45 weeks old

The answer to "Where is your tongue?"

Sporting her baby overalls!

A Johnson & Johnson ad?

She's so happy in the morning.

Surprise!!  The tooth FINALLY popped through!!

The new look she gives everyone!

It was a beautiful day (80 degrees), and she was all worn out.

While Auntie Katie was here, Anna was trying to FaceTime uncle Todd too... She kept getting her little butt right in the way.  It was really funny, and really cute!

All smiles.

We went trick or treating at Breckenridge with some friends

Love her little facial expressions!

Well I'm getting TERRIBLE at blogging... some weeks I do GREAT, other weeks.. NOPE, not so much!  I think I'm 2 weeks in a row of "not so much!"  Oh well... My goal is always before the new week... and it's Thursday, so I made it!

It was a pretty busy week.  I only worked one day, so we spent some of the time out and about enjoying friends and family, as well as just playing and enjoying the nice weather.  My sweet girl and I had a lot of fun!

The biggest news with week 45 is that she FINALLY had her tooth break through.  (Yes, I did call my mom at 4 1/2 months and say "Mom!  I think Anna is getting a tooth!"  So it only took 6 months... but we finally got it!)  I was at Sam's Club with Anna, and low and behold I looked down, and said, what is that in your mouth... sure enough, it was a little bitty tooth.  It's exciting that it's finally here...although I will miss that exclusively gummy smile!

Anna is doing really well eating food.  She really likes to feed herself, and is doing great with those baby food pouches.  She almost always eats 1 a day, sometimes two... she doesn't quite finish a whole pouch, but there isn't much left when she is done!  I do like that she feeds herself with it too.  Although, we do have to take it away at some point because she's playing with it, and that can get very messy, very quickly.

Anna is definitely a crawling machine.  She doesn't crawl super fast yet, but she does get where she wants to go.  I can no longer cook dinner in piece, there is usually a little princess hanging around my feet. (I usually remind daddy that he was supposed to be watching her.  hahaha...)

Anna is still in 6-9 month clothes, and size 3 diapers.  Although, I think I may start trying to introduce the "smaller" of the 9-12 month clothes.  There are so many cute ones.  We have a 12 month jacket, and it's a little bit in the arms, but if we cuff the arms, then she does well with it.  So... we'll have to see.

Sleep is still ok.  Anna usually wakes up once at night to eat.  Although, I've been told by the lactation consultant that she should be able to go through the night without sleeping.  So... I don't know if we're going to have to do some "tough" love with some ear plugs.... we'll see.  However, I am enjoying that the pepcid is helping tremendously.  I can handle once a night, although I wish she would just sleep through the night.... we'll get there, I'm confident.

Anyway, I think I'm going to keep this shorter since I need to start working on 46th week post (tomorrow)... so... thanks for checking in on us, and reading.  We love our little girl, and hope that you have fallen in love with her too this past (almost) year.

God is good!  It is amazing to see how far we have come!!

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!