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!!

58 weeks old

We went shopping with Grandma C on MLK day.  Anna enjoyed
the mirror.  She was talking to that baby...then she caught me!

We dealt with a diaper rash for a good portion of the week.
We finally let her air it out a bit on a waterproof blanket.
So, here it is... Naked Jeopardy!!
(What you don't appreciate is she is sitting there watching
Jeopardy, while sucking on a pedialyte popsicle. )

Her shirt says "I have the World's Best Aunt!"

All smiles, as we were getting ready for our play date!

There aren't that many pictures this week because I caught a horrendous cold...  So, I wasn't feeling up to taking too many pictures.  I am such a blessed Mommy though, because Anna slept well, and Jeremy took good care of me when I needed it.

Here's the basics...

The biggest update that we have for this week is sleep.  Anna decided on Sunday night/Monday morning to be up from 1am til 4:20am.  It was pretty downright awful.  Saddly for daddy, he was up most of the time with me...  That was the straw that broke the camel's back!  I went out on Monday, in the snow, and bought some earplugs for Jeremy and I to wear at night.  So Monday night, when we went to bed, we put the ear plugs in, and didn't take them out until Jeremy needed to get up for work.  I would wake on and off and look at how she was doing in the video monitor.  Every time I did that,s he was always asleep.  We slept this way the entire week.  So... she would go to bed about 9 o'clock ever night, and she would wake up around 8 in the morning. I completely cut her off during the night.  No night feedings, no night comforting.  She just had to work it out on her own.  Needless to say, I do not know a ton of what happened at night... since I was asleep.  Naps are going well also.  Anna is doing well putting herself to sleep (also doing that at night), and will usually sleep for 2-3 hours.  This week, we made BIG strides in sleep! FINALLY!!


Anna did really well eating this week.  She tried a few new items, and stuck a lot with the old standbys.  With the elimination of middle of the night feedings, Anna is currently drinking whole milk from bottles.  We're working with her to drink it out of sippys but right now she drinks it mostly from a bottle.  Don't worry, next on my list is sippy cup.  I have a feeling it will have to be like our sleep reform... sippy reform!  hahaha.. poor kid.

Anna is still not walking, but she crawls super fast.  She does really well furniture walking.  So i think that when she builds up the confidence, she will be walking soon enough.  She just doesn't like to fall on her behind.  (In fact, when she does you would think that she broke her butt with out sad she is with all those tears.)  I'm not too worried.  I think she's just afraid and doesn't like to fall.  She'll get over it soon enough!

She continues to add words to her vocabulary.  Right now, the mystery word is "Bop"  I have no idea what it means, but she greets me in the morning with it... and she will randomly say it throughout the day.  It is not the same as "Baba" because that is very clear... So if/when I figure out what "bop" means, I will be sure to share.

Anna is still in 12 month clothes... and if they aren't stretchy pants, the 12 month pants tend to be big.  I can still have her wear quite a few 6-9 month clothes.. but those are becoming fewer and fewer.  Anna still wears size 2 shoes, and size 3 diapers.  Anna is approaching the 20 pound mark each day.  :-)

Well, this update was late... sorry... so we'll just end it here.  BUT not before I reward readership with a cute video.  Enjoy!!  It shows how sweet and cute our little princess is when she gets out of the bath.  I LOVE that she tries to play peekaboo with pretty much anything.. at any opportunity.  It's hilarious!  So, enjoy our little babe...  Thanks for checking in on us!

57 weeks

Anna has a new found love for popsicles.
This happens to be a pedialyte popsicle.

Enjoying a popsicle with Aunt Duck.
(We call her Aunt Duck because (1) Anna says "duck"
and (2) she buys Anna a lot of duck things!)

Nice cheesy smile.
Nice outfit from her Auntie Katie and Uncle Todders
for Christmas.

Our first "stab" at a fork.  She did ok.

After showing her, she tried to stab her own food with her fork.
See video below.

She dropped a cheerio down her jammies.
She went looking for it!
Hahaha

The many faces of breakfast.

Kisses to the camera

"the" look.

Another week has gone by, this week was a little less fun.  Anna struggled some evenings.... and mommy was reduced to tears several times.... but the culprit of the madness was a newly emerged tooth on the top. So now the little babe has 3.2 teeth.  2 on top, and 2 on the bottom.  This week, she was fine during the day, but at night would scream terribly for anywhere from an hour to three hours.  (That's where the tears came in on my part.)  So, I'm hoping that we're in the clear for better sleep this week.  Otherwise, it was a busy week, but a good week!

Anna went to the doctor as a follow-up to the hives/ear infection incident.  Her ear infection cleared up, but there was still a little bit of fluid in her ear.  The doctor rattled off some statistics, but the only thing I remembered was that 95% of all children have the fluid clear up on its own within 12 weeks.  So, unless she gets sick with a cold or congestion in the next few weeks, we do not need to go back to the doctor until her 15 month well check.  If however the fluid becomes an issue and doesn't clear up we may be looking at the possibility of ear tubes.  (Poor girl!  She may have inherited her mother's ears!)

So, I've touched a little bit on sleep.  We have fallen into a pretty nice routine when she isn't teething or sick.  She's been going down between 8:30-9:30, with a few nights a little later (due to our schedule).  Normally she's in bed closer to 9 though.  Most nights she slept from 9-1:30, and then ate, and then went back to sleep til about 8 each night.  (Except for the 2 nights when she wailed terrible as described above.)

Anna has been eating well this week.  I found that she really likes hot dogs.  So, if she is good then I've been getting a hot dog after our shopping trip to Sam's club.  This week, she ate half of the hot dog all by herself!  Ridiculous!  hahaha....  I've been impressed with her willingness to try most things.  This week's newest item is a banana.  She's enjoyed banana flavored things in the past, but wouldn't eat an actual banana.  So, this week she's actually been eating a banana.  She also was given gold fish crackers too.  (Of which she tried to share with her gluten-intolerant grandmother.  She's such a good sharer! Too bad, grandma couldn't enjoy!)  She still likes cheese, yogurt, baby food pouches, yogurt melts, bread, eggs, pretzels, ritz crackers just to name a few things.  We've also been doing well with milk intake.  I've gone back to adding a little bit of breastmilk in with her bottle, because then she tends to drink more of the bottle.  Right now the ratio is probably closer to 1:4.  1 ounce b-milk, to 4 ounces whole milk.  I've also been giving her a sippy cup with plain cold whole milk.  And, she has taken a few sips on her own (tipping it up too!!).  So, I think we're making progress.  At this point, she most often is just nursing before bed (and sometimes not even that), and in the middle of the night.

Anna isn't walking yet, but she is doing well walking on furniture or with toys.  She has really improved even over this past week.  She is also crawling VERY VERY fast.  Anna does very well climbing up the steps, and can do that pretty fast too.  This past week, though, we put up our permanent gate, so she's not able to climb up there as easily unless we let her (or leave the little door open).

Since Anna went to the doctor's office as a follow-up, she was also weighed.  Now granted she did have her clothes on... but it looks like she possibly has gained almost a pound in the past month.  (Actually a little less than a month.)  She weighed in at 19 pounds 6.5 ounces.  So we're still not at 20 pounds, but she's starting to get really heavy to carry around.  Ha!  Anna is still rockin out the 12 month clothes, size 2 shoes, and size 3 diapers.

Anna continues to be a chatterbox.  She is still saying her favorites: Mom/Mama/Mommy, Dad/Dada/Daddy, Baby, Baba, Anna, Nana, Papa.  She continues to greet me most mornings with "Bop"... I have no idea what that means, other than potentially "baba."  This week, Anna added "bubbles" and "Mimmee" which we believe is close to "Kimmee" since she said it when she was at my parents house.  It's kind of cute... actually it's really cute, since she is soooo in love with Kimmee.  I LOVE that she says her name now... or at least tries.  I know that Kimmee loves it as well!!

Anyway, that's about it.  So I hope everyone is well.  Thanks for checking in on us!

56 weeks

We went for a walk since it was a pretty nice day!
56 weeks old!

Trying not to smile...

She's doing well eating these days!

Eating a "Banana Wheel"
(she used to stick it WHOLE in her mouth and scare me to death,
now she nibbles off little pieces with her new found teeth!)

Cheese!!

Mommy did my hair!!

Ahhhh!!!

 Well, I know this post is late.... oh well!  We've been busy!  Last week was my birthday, so it was fun to celebrate with my family of 3.  (Even though last year Anna was here, she was so itty bitty.  This year was a lot of fun!)

I realized why a lot of her pictures these days are either in the bath tub or in her high chair eating... because she can't crawl away!  She's captured!  hahaha!!  I must say, I LOVE the last picture that was posted above.  It was a joint effort with Jeremy and I.  I did her hair and Jeremy got her to make that face.  (We are starting to get that face more and more, but were finally able to capture it.)

This week finally Anna was feeling better.  So that was a plus.  Hopefully we'll get back to our normal sleep routine.

As far as our stats go, here ya go....

I mentioned sleep... sleep has been less than stellar, BUT manageable for the most part.  Anna is still usually getting up once a night.  It is usually about 1:30 when she wakes up.  She's been going down between 8:30 and 9:30 usually closer to 9 or 915.  Anna has also been waking up around 8am.  Occasionally if we have a not as great night, then we  may sleep in a bit.  (And most of you know that I would LOVE to sleep in any day!)  Anna usually takes a 2 or 3 hour nap during the day... starting around 1 or 2.

Eating.  Well, Anna has been eating like crazy! She is doing a lot better trying things, and does well with different textures as well.  Anna usually wakes up and has breakfast.  After breakfast anywhere from a half hour to an hour later she has a bottle.  Then I give her a little bit of a snack between breakfast and lunch.  Around noon Anna has lunch.  Then about 1 or so she has a bottle.  Usually after her nap we have a snack.  Then when daddy gets home we have dinner sometime around 6 or 6:30.  Then we may have a little snack and a bottle or nursing before bed.  She is still waking up once at night to eat.  (It's like it NEVER ends!! AHHH!!!)  Anna is doing better drinking whole milk.  We have been mixing her bottle either half whole milk or a little less maybe 3:1 ratio.  Sometimes she will take a bottle that is straight whole milk.  So I feel like we're getting somewhere.  Most days she has only been nursing morning and night.  So we're doing better backing things off.  I discovered that she loves hotdogs!  (For those of you concerned, she doesn't eat them often, I did cut them up into itty bitty pieces, and they were all beef.... still hot dog... but, every now and then ya gotta splurge, right?)

Anna is doing well in 12 month clothes, but there are a few straggling size 6-9 month clothes (mostly pants).  She is also still in size three diapers and size 2 shoes.  :-)

Anna continues to talk a whole bunch.  She tries to imitate a lot of what we say, even though it doesn't come out that way.  Every morning she greets me with "Bop".  I'm not sure what that means.  I usually try to say "Mama".  She is good at asking for a bottle by saying "Baba".  Anna says: Mama, Dada, and baby regularly as well.  It's so much fun.  I love that she's able to at least mimic if I give her a one syllable word she will give me a 1 syllable word, if I give her a 2 syllable word she will usually give me a 2 syllable word back.

Anyway, that's about it... life is ok right now.  It will be even better when we get on track with sleep.  We love our dear Anna so much!!

Thanks for checking in on us!!

55 weeks

We started the 55th week with some fun in the snow!

She loved it!! (I think you can click on this picture, to see the little pictures a little bit larger)
(See video below.)

Unfortunately on Monday, the princess woke up with hives.
(more on this below)

This is our 55th week picture!!

Well, we started off this week with a little bit of fun in the snow!  Anna had a lot of fun.  Her Aunt Jill gave her a sled for Christmas,she also had a snow suit that we acquired for free, and a new hat & mittens set she got for Christmas as well.  While we only played in our driveway for a few minutes, the princess was speechless... well almost.  When you see the video please notice her trying to sign "more".  We were out about 15 minutes.  While we had a good time, one of the best things that came during this time was NOT caught on tape.  After Anna was done sledding I set her down on the ground to see what she would do.  As it was she fell back (not hard) and just stared up at me.  She really was like Ralphie in the movie The Christmas Story.  It was absolutely hilarious!

Monday, brought us a whole new barrel of fun.  Anna woke up with hives covering her back, her torso, her face, her legs... everywhere!  It was crazy. After talking to the doctor's office, we went in, and it was determined that she was having an allergic reaction to the Amoxicilin that she was put on for her ear infection 7 days prior.  We immediately discontinued it... and as I write, she is doing a bunch better with that.  As it was, Anna never seemed bothered by it.  She was in pretty good spirits, and never once seemed "itchy."  I suppose it is never a dull moment being a parent.  (Can I get an Amen?)

Here's the current stats as I have them...

We'll start with sleep.  Anna seems to be back on her wake-up-once-at-night routine.  While I sincerely wish that she wouldn't wake up at night... I try to remind myself that only a few months ago we were waking up every 45 minutes.  So, I am grateful.  It will come in time.  She will do it when she is good and ready, I suppose.  Until then, you will probably see me trying to catch a nap in the afternoon, yawning if I don't get one, or telling you that I'm a little sleepy today.  I may never get used to this sleep routine... although I wish my body would just give in already and adjust.  Hahaha!!    Naps, on the other hand, are going well.  She seems to take between a 2-3 hour nap once a day.    She usually goes down between 1-2, it really just depends on our schedule as to when.  She goes to bed about 8:45-9:15.

Eating... Well, Anna still continues to be a finicky eater.  Just when I think that we have an item that she "loves"... I get a nice supply of them, and guess what?  She decides "eh" I don't really like it that much.  Last week she loved Ritz crackers... this week, she nibbles 1 a little bit, and then it ends up on the floor.  My floor has eaten way more Ritz than she has! But last week?  She probably ate a dozen or more in 2 days.  (over kill maybe?)  We are trying to get her to take more bottles and less "me". Currently she is drinking "half and half" bottles.  So, hopefully we are full swing weaning.  I try to nurse her as little as possible, but I will nurse her if necessary, with my goal being at most morning and night at this point.  I think we're going to try to get her takin bottles first, and then move full time to a sippy cup. 

Growth... Anna was weighed this week, and while she had her clothes on, she weighed 18 pounds 15 ounces.  So we could subtract a few ounces for her clothes, and assume she is roughly 18 pounds maybe 10 ounces?  either way, she is not yet 19 pounds.  She typically wears 12 month clothes.  As long as the pants are stretchy pants, they fit.  However, if she is trying to wear jeans, most of the time they don't fit... Jeremy put her in some new jeans this week, and when I asked him how they fit his response (as Anna) was "Fine, if you have a newborn to put in it with me."  Hahaha... yeah they were a little bit big.  But she'll grow into them.  She is still in size 3 diapers, and size 2 shoes.

Her words continue to grow, although she's not consistent.  Her consistent words are "mama", "dada", "baby", "baba".  She will attempt "all done", and things that sound like "Anna", "I love you" and "please" although only when prompted.  I'm sure there are more words, but right now they are slipping away.

Anna is not walking yet... that is a question I hear a lot.  She crawls like a mad woman.  Currently she is afraid to fall on her butt so that prohibits her from learning to walk.  I just imagine that one day she will just "take off."  We'll see. 

Anyway, that's about it for now!!  Thanks for reading!

1 year 2 weeks (54)

Waiting patiently for me to get her toy out of the box

Hi Great-Grandma!

Nice picture of Anna and my grandma... (Great-grandma Surso)

Love this little face!

Merry Christmas!!

Smiles for Aunt Leah!

I just love when I catch a "serious look stare down."  LOVE IT!!

This dog sings, lights up, talks, and has labels on it that say things like
hand, foot, tummy, ear... it's great! 
Anna loves it!

Check it out! All 3 teeth in this photo!

Anna also got a rocking chair for Christmas... LOVE it too!
She loves to rock on it, play with it, walk with it... it's an
all around great item. (Thanks Leepers!)

Well, this week was similar to last week.  Anna was still on the mend. (We went tot he doctor's on Christmas Eve... the angel had her first ear infection.)  The 54th week included Christmas, and many other Christmas festivities!!  You would think that after so many Christmases this little angel would like to open presents... but she was still only slightly amused, and would much rather have the toy to play with than to open the next gift.  

Her basic stats are....

She is still under 19 pounds although the weight is a little iffy... hahaha... we had her weighed at the doctors office on Monday (Christmas Eve) but they didn't make us take off her clothes.  So, the ounces may be off.  a bit (4 or 5 ounces maybe?).  Even still, she weighed in at 18 pounds 15 ounces.  Anna is still rocking a lot of 12 month clothes.... although, every now and then we get a pair of pants that is just huge on her.  She does really well in the stretchy variety of pants at this point.  She can also wear some 6-9 month clothes, but those are getting fewer and fewer these days.  (mostly just undershirts still)  Anna is still in size 3 diapers.  Anna does, however, continue to have tiny feet.  She wears a size 2 (which the box at Stride Rite said 6-9 months).

Anna is doing well eating, although, being sick definitely set us back on the weaning process.  (UGH!)  I will still be plugging ahead though.  She seems to be far more finicky, and this week would rather eat more bland food than anything.  We did find out that she enjoys Ritz crackers.  So, that's kind of fun, and new!  (I like new!)  Anna now has 3 chompers... and she is starting to realize their usage (not just on me!) when she eats things like Ritz or her yogurt melts.  She tends to nibble them now.  It's kind of cute.

Our princess continues to be a chatterbox and not much of a walker.  Anna is a great crawler, and if you want to see her crawl really fast open a laptop OR open the fridge.  She sure will bolt toward either one.  (It's kind of hilarious, and yet very frustrating sometimes when you just want to open either appliance really quickly.) I'm not sure what her draw is to the fridge, but I do know her draw to the computer (she wants to skype!!)  Anna's current favorite words are: Dada, Mama, Baby, papa/pop... Sometimes we'll hear her say things that sound like: Anna, Nana, Katie, Please, and Oh.

Anna's sleep is still trying to rebound from being sick.  Although I think we're getting more toward only once a night.  However, I really, REALLY would love to get to not waking up at all.  But... I'm at a loss (no, the doesn't mean I want readership advice either....) I've read a lot of books on this subject, and I've come to the conclusion... it will happen when it happens.... and there really isn't a lot I can do about it.

Well that's it for now.  Hopefully life will slow down a little bit more, so i can begin posting closer to the day than almost a week late.

Thank you for checking in on us!!