Weeks 74 & 75

Someone was enjoying a snack... and so was her face.

On Mother's Day, she wanted to pose with Grandma...wearing Gram's glasses.

Grandma bought her this nifty stroller for Mother's Day.
Daddy & Mommy bought her this dolly.

We went to the park to play and swing.

She was completely intrigued with the person swinging next to her...
and kept smiling at her the whole time.

On Sunday, she kept asking for her bow.
Then she would promptly take it out.

On Tuesday we went to the Lake Farm Park.
She liked to keep the animals at a distance.

After a long nap that day, she woke up all smiles!

On Wednesday she was given a ride from Grandma...
I took many many pictures, of which she looked at me for none of them.
So, this is the best one with her showing us her "baby muscles".

We have been enjoying the nice weather so much the past two weeks.  It has been a lot of fun.  We have met up with some friends who have kids roughly Anna's age, gone to the park to swing, slide and play.  We've seen animals at the Lake Farm Park and the Nature center at the metroparks. We've also taken in a few baseball games.  It has been a fun few weeks with gorgeous weather!!

Anna is a full-fledged walker now!  It is so much fun to see her walking around. She looks so much older in just a matter of 3 weeks. (Three weeks ago today -Thursday- she took her first consistent independent steps on her own.)  I just can't believe it!  It is so much fun having her walk.  Now, I'm just trying to get her to listen better when she is walking.  Guess it's all a learning process, right?

Anna was sick last week with a cold, so she wasn't much for food.  Her love was her milk cup!  She did eat a  little bit here and there.  She continues to love hot dogs, and LOVES to drink from my water bottle too!  She usually is willing to try a lot of things, but it may not make it completely down the hatch.  I'm starting to realize that she has a very sensitive gag reflex... of which I am told she has her paternal great-grandmother to thank. And she is very good at gagging herself if she has something that she doesn't like, if she gets too upset about something, or if something is just at the right spot in her throat.  We've had a few episodes in the recent past.

I am starting to transition Anna over to 18 month clothes... although some are still WAY.TOO.BIG on her, there are a enough outfits that are starting to fit.... the pants/shorts/skirts are little large around the waist, and a little long in the legs... but they work.  She does really well with 18 month shirts for the most part.... some are a little bit big and not very proportionate to our child.  We have committed to another case of size 3 diapers, but I'm not sure how long she'll be in them after this case.  We may be close to upping to size 4s.  (Although poundage, I think we still have 5or 6 pounds to go.)  She still wears a size 3.5 shoe... and I think there is room to grow.

Sleep is pretty good these days!  Wow!  I can't believe I can actually type that with a smile on my face.  Anna, now, is consistently sleeping from 9-7/7:30+.  We don't usually hear too much from her after she does sleep.  Although, if we do hear from her, it's not usually too big of a deal, and she will put her back to sleep in just a little bit of time... not usually more than a minute or two, really.

Anna is continuing to add words to her vocabulary.  It's amazing that she is soo great with names of people, things and characters.  This week, the top of her list is: Larry ("Warry"), hat ("at:), apple ("appool"), and jeopardy ("jeopa-jeopa-jeopadee").  However, she is really good at mimicking a lot of things I say.  I love to see how her brain works, and how much she is learning each day!!

Anyway, that's about it for now!

Weeks 72 &73

We spend a lot of time outside.
(She should be wearing her hat!)

And she knows it... so she's trying to put it back on.

After I did the walk of shame with a screaming baby,
and I made it up a hill, Anna stopped screaming...
I looked, and this is what I found.  A sleeping baby.

The first day I got her water & sand table out.
(I'm pretty sure, due to the high quantity of  water this year, it will likely be
a "water & water" table.)

I finally figured out where some of Anna's food was going.

Her stash!

We went to physical therapy (see video below).
She got a little highlighter on her face.
I thought she looked hilarious.
The PT kept apologizing. 

We knew she could do it!!
Yay!

She loves to be outside, and loves playing in the water!

She always pours it on the driveway, unless she is pouring it on herself.

We went to the Chagrin River Reservation today.
We saw the mounted ranger/police.  He was
very nice, and Anna (and I... EWWW!) pet the
horse too.
She was fine, but she was getting tired as you can tell.

She's silly during her bath time.

Well, I've come to realize I will not apologize for combining weeks on this blog.  After all, it's mostly for me (and Anna, and our small readership), and I prefer to spend my time investing in my beautiful daughter, than sitting on my computer ignoring her and blogging.  So, I'm going to say, that it is very likely that until we're once again stuck inside for days or weeks on end because of the weather, it is highly likely that we will be out enjoying our time together playing, basking in the sun, and splashing in the water!  So... I will try to only combine 2 weeks, but... we'll see.

The biggest news for this blog is that as of May 2, 2013 we have a walker!!  Woohoo!  I knew she could do it, she just needed to do it!  Stinker!  We were at our PT appointment for probably about 15/20 minutes before she was walking...the length of the building.  Our second appointment we spent working on getting her to stand up from the floor.  I'm happy to say that she is doing well with that also.  I knew she could do it!  I knew it, knew it, knew it!  Stinker pie!!  But, I am thanking the Lord for his renewed mercies.  It's such a relief to know, even though I knew it in my heart of hearts, that there is nothing wrong with her other than her stubbornness.  We have 1 more appointment this coming Tuesday, then I doubt we'll have any more.  She's doing well, and is embracing her new-found mobility.

While she may have taken a while to walk... she is certainly a smarty pants!  I counted today all the words that she says, I came up with 37... and then later that day I realized  a few more that she says that I didn't write down.  So, I'd say that she easily has 40 words.. and I didn't even count the words that are iffy.. that I know what she's saying, but others might.

Anna is doing well eating.  She still LOVES baby food pouches, but it seems like she isn't eating those as much either.  Now that she is on a new acid reflux medicine, food doesn't seem to be such a big deal.  We used to try to make sure she had enough food so that she could sleep through the night and not wake up in the middle of the night because she is hungry.  Now, we still give her a snack, BUT, she isn't waking up in the middle of the night.  While morning is a little early for my taste, she consistently sleeps from 9-7am.  So, that answers the sleep and food situation.

Last week I had Anna in an 18 month outfit.  It was a little bit long, but it still worked well.  She is still pretty comfortable in 12 month clothes, but I can see 18 month clothes on the horizon.  She's still in size 3 diapers (almost a year now), but, we may try her in some size 4 soon.  (Although we still have a lot of room as far as weight goes in the size 3s.)  And she is still enjoying her size 3.5 shoes (that we bought with room to grow.)

Anyway that's about it!  Thanks for checking in on us!!

Weeks 70 and 71

Looking at herself in the camera

smiling, now!

She put her "hat" & necklace on all by herself!

"Helping" Grandpa C and mommy put together the bike trailer.

We put it together!!
And it works great!
Not to mention she likes it!!

Enjoying being outside!

 Make that LOVING, being outside!

Showing off her new "jams" from Grandma C

Enjoying "Jepadee" and a popscicle with daddy

Like I said, the girl loves "Jepa-dee"

Someone enjoyed her lunch!!

"Catch, Mom!"

All right!  Well, life was a little bit busy... so I had to combine weeks to catch up!  Oh well!  I imagine that as the weather gets nicer and nicer this will become the norm.  (Sorry kid, but we're enjoying the weather!!  I'm sure you understand, sweetie!)

Things are going pretty well in the Flatt household.  We are back to our good old routine now.  Anna is LOVING the nice weather. She loves to be outside... sunny or not.  Cold or warm... doesn't matter!  Since we got back from our trip, she is a crazy girl when it comes to pushing her push toys.  It makes me laugh.  (WARNING:  She has no regard for personal space, and if you're not fast enough, stand in her way, or obstruct her path in any way, shape or form, she will run into your heels.  Sorry!)  That being said, she is still not walking independently, and we are still on the waitlist for physical therapy.  So we'll see how that goes.  (We're just trusting the Lord!) Anna has really taken a liking to balls, and throwing balls.  I can tell than Anna and Mollee (my parents dog) will be best friends in a year or so (when she's no longer scared of Mollee taking it out of her hand, OR she's fast enough to throw it before Mollee takes it out of her hand.).

Anna is doing well eating!  I've said this before, she doesn't mind trying things, BUT you have a better chance at her eating it and liking it, if she can do it herself.  She is Captain Independence!  The list of food she likes is too long to list.  But, she is doing well with eating meat/protein, doing better eating some veggies (that aren't pureed in baby food pouches), and definitely has a liking for dessert!  hahaha

2 weeks ago we started Anna on a new, stronger acid reflux medication.  I think that was a good move.  It seems to be helping.  She is doing better sleeping at night (!!)  and it seems to have kicked her lingering cough to the curb.  So that's great!!  Anna does usually sleep through the night, but lately she seems to be thrown off a bit by the sunrise.  So, it's not uncommon for us to first hear her about 6:45am, and then go back to sleep til about 7:30ish.  (Some days later, although rare.)  Which is ok, because with the new medication, we have to give it to her, and wait a half hour for her eat... so, waking a little earlier is helping!

Just like listing the foods that she eats would be too long, so is listing the words to say.  It seems like she is adding a few new words each day!!  It's amazing.  She has really begun parroting us.  The other day when she was in the bath I said "Wow!!"  Shortly thereafter I heard her say "Wow!!"  With the same inflection and everything!  One of her newest words that she likes to say is "Larry"  (for the Veggie Tales character, Larry the cucumber).  And she uses it correctly!  I am amazed at how well she does with people & their names.  If I counted, I'd say she probably knows at least 12 names of people... maybe more.  So, she's definitely good with names! 

She's still a runt!  As far as her clothes go.  We're still in 12 month clothes for the most part.  Here and there I try to put 18 month clothes on her, but they're just waaaaay too big usually!  She's still in size 3 diapers, and rocking her size 3.5 shoes (which I bought a little big, so she'd have room to grow).

Well, that's about it.  Sorry for the delay!!  Hope everyone is well, and enjoying spring!  We sure are!!

Thanks for checking in on us!!

Week 69

Anna moved up to the 1 year old class on Thursdays
This (along with some chocolate covered pretzels) was our thank you gift
to the ladies who have watched her since she was 10 weeks old.

I said "Smile" and this is what I got.
Unfortunately when the flash on my phone is on, this is what I get...

She was trying to get her hat on.
She even successfully got it on at one point, not correctly
but it was hysterical.  However, when I went to take a picture
she quickly swiped it off! Stinker.

She's showing how much of a sippy cup pro she is.
It's still about month since we've had those b-words (bottles), she's doing well.

 

She has learned that she can move her feet to make this little musical car
go backwards.  I'm guessing it won't be long before she figures out she can go
forward if she moves her feet the other way.

Grandma C requested a picture... this is what she got!
Too cute!

After lunch, before her nap, I was finishing up the dishes, and I put a Veggie Tales on
for her to watch.  I looked in, this is what I saw.  I thought it was really cute....
although, I really would like her to sit up!  hahaha

I took a picture of this scenario... that object with the yellow top in the middle
is called a "snack trap." Kids can reach in, get a snack, and not make a mess.
Well, our baby genius, has figured out how to get it to make a mess...
She sprinkled our floor with cheerios!  I sent this picture to daddy.

We found out this week that our bffs Tiffany and Kurt were moving to Michigan.
We are sad to see them go, but we wish them all the best.
I foresee that Grand Rapids, MI will become our new favorite weekend vacation spot.

 

This was a good week as we were getting back into the swing of things after our vacation... in fact I often referred to it as "detoxing."  Anna has done well, and is pretty much back into the normal swing of things.

One of my favorite things (so I'll start with it!) is how well Anna is communicating these days.  It seems like there isn't a word she will try to say, at this point.  This week's new impressive word was "Jeopardy!"  It comes out more like "jepa-jepa-jepadee"  but, hey!  I think that's excellent.  She is also doing really well saying "Please."  Now all I have to do when she wants something is say "Anna, what do you say?"  and she will say and/or sign "Please."  It's absolutely precious!  Anna also has started saying "this" a lot.  She'll point at something she wants and say "this."  (Then comes the whole "what do we say?" )  Anna has a lot of words at this point... here's what sticks out as her current list:  Jeopardy, mama, dada, this, please ("peace"), night-night, teeth ("teet"), bye-bye, hi, fish, dog (duh), duck (duh), Grandma (mamaw), papa, nana/banana (both pronounced "nana"), ball (bo-- short o), Bob (also bo--- short o), Katie ("Taytee"), Todd ("To--- short o), Tuck (tu-- short u), Kimmee ("Mimmee"), more, all done, turkey, chicken, cheese.... and I'm pretty sure that's all I remember, but there are probably more.

Unfortunately, our amazing talker isn't an amazing walker.  She is improving!  She does really well pushing anything and everything, including turning around and/or backing up.  So, we'll see.  We may end up doing a little physical therapy to get this show on the road.... although everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) non-medically experienced says don't worry about it, she'll walk when she does.  I may talk to another pediatrician in the practice and see what he says... so we'll see.

Anna is still a decent eater... although she is a pro with her sippy cups!  It's only been a little less than a month since we gave up those "b-words," but you'd never know!  She does so well with them!  And, her milk intake is almost what it was with bottles... errr... I mean, the b-word.  One thing that still remains true of Anna is that getting her to try something is the biggest hurdle.  Once she tries it, she usually likes it, but unless it actually gets to her mouth... you'll never know!  I have noticed, that a big hindrance to her trying something new... is how it feels, and how it has to get to her mouth.  If it's slimey, it probably won't make it to her mouth... she doesn't like slimey.  If it only gets to her mouth with a spoon, and she can't do it herself, then it may not make it to her mouth.  Speaking of spoons... While Anna doesn't do very well with spoons (mostly plays with it), she does do pretty well with a fork!  It's impressive actually!  She likes to stab things on her own, and can also get it to her mouth (stabbing it is the hardest part for her).

Sleep is going okay, although every sleep session is usually met with tears.  Every now and then I can get her to take a nap without too much of a fuss, usually there are tears.  She goes to bed (usually) by 9, and then sleeps fairly solidly until 7/7:30, sometimes later. 

Anna is still in her size 12 month clothes, I put a 18 month shirt on her this week, and she just about swam in it.... so it may be a while (at least with Carter's brand) til we're safely in 18 month clothes.  She wears a 3/3.5 size shoe, and size 3 diapers.

Her favorite things are definitely Veggie Tales!!  (Bob!! is a constant chant in our household).  She also LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to be outside.  Anna loves her rocking chair, sit-n-spin, and taking as many toys out of her toy chests as I will let her!  She loves to watch Jeopardy, and the Big Bang Theory.. and pretty much anything with music.  Anna also loves to look at pictures, and carry pictures around, especially pictures of her Aunt "Mimmee."


The Lord has been good to us, and continues to show us His mercies every day!  I love our little girl so much!  She is such a delight to us, and those she comes in contact with!  I love seeing her mind process things, and see more of her personality.  I am excited for each new week, new stage, and new thing she learns!  It's fun (and sometimes exhausting and frustrating) to be her mom!  She is such a joy, and blessing to us!!  We love you, Princess!!

Thanks for checking in on us!!

Well, I think that's about it!!

Week 67 & 68

Posing with mama for a picture...
Simply because she's cute!

Sleeping... mommy couldn't resist snapping a picture.

Mommy got creative and tried to put a ponytail in my hair...
it lasted 2.7 seconds.

It was sunny, so we went out.

Cutie pie going for a walk up and down our drive.

We left for our vacation to Myrtle Beach on Wednesday, March 27. 
Our first stop was headed to Charlotte, NC to visit friends.
During our trip, I had to get creative to keep our little miss happy.

While we were visiting in Charlotte... I made friends.
I was napping & woke up early... mommy was outside reading
so I was rescued. 
After seeing mommy outside, I cuddled back in and took a longer nap.
Mommy found us like this.

At the condo, I found a new seat... perfect for my short legs.

While we were there, my Auntie tried to put pigtails in my hair!
She didn't hate them (but they didn't always stay in very long).
I also enjoyed looking at, and smiling to the baby in the mirror.
(Our one wall on our condo was a full length mirror.)

Getting silly with mommy.

Another smile for mommy, showing off my new found pigtails.

My two favorites combine!!
Having a book read to me AND Aunt Kimmee!!

Playing in the water with Miss Jess

In the video above, you can see how much fun Anna has with her Aunt Kimmee.
(This action was not prompted by any adult... just caught on video by one!)

Well we had a computer catastrophe.... thus the blog has been silent for a week or two.  I am back up and running with a new computer... so blog life is good again.  Unfortunately, I fell behind with my blog weeks, so instead of making to separate entries, I decided to make one entry.  So there are a lot of pictures!  :-)  Also the two weeks sort of merge together since we were on vacation most of it.

Leading up to our vacation, we were very busy.  Jeremy and I worked on the church musical the weekend before Easter.  It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun.  Anna got some extra time with some of her favorite people.  (THANKS!!)  Then, I had to work Monday through Wednesday... so she got a little more "extra" time.

  Anna and I (and our friend Jessica) left for vacation Wednesday after Jess was done teaching.  We went as far as Charleston, West Virginia.  I thought we had it made.... she had only slept 20 minutees for my father... and didn't fall asleep on our way to the school.  So I thought for sure she'd be good for a nap for an hour or two.  WRONG!!  That little stinker didn't sleep a wink!  Although, I can't complain too much, she was pretty well behaved (all things considered.).  She went to bed pretty quickly when we arrived at our hotel.  Then on Thursday we headed to Charlotte, NC to visit some friends.  (One of whom is pictured above.)  It was really sweet, as soon as the door was opened for us, Anna reached for "Mimi".  (It was determined we could call her "Mimi" since she doesn't have one of those already.  hahaha)  Granted it had been 9+ months since we last saw them... but she was very friendly with them.  And our trip was fun.  I always wish it were longer!!  We left on Saturday, and we were Myrtle Beach bound.  

We had pretty good weather!  So that  was a blessing.  Although, we did get progressively colder.   Anna had a lot of fun with her Aunties, and grandparents!  She also was spoiled watching "Bob"  (aka Veggies Tales).  It was a good way to keep her quiet in the morning!!

As far as the regular stats go...  She did pretty well on vacation sleeping.  Which those of you know I was super stressed about how she might sleep during this vacation because of the last vacation.  I'm happy to report that while it wasn't perfect... it wasn't bad either.  I usually did take advantage of taking a nap with her.  Anna usually went to sleep about 9:15, and then slept til about 7:30.  Although the longer we were there, the later she slept.  I think if we would have been there a week longer, she might have slept solidly til 9am.  But... we weren't.

Anna is still not walking, but she seems to be making progress.  I still believe that she is just a scardy cat.  She likes/loves to push things.  She found her love for pushing her stroller.  Too bad she can't see over it... although that does provide for some comic relief as she was bouncing from wall to wall running into it.  I don't think it will be long til she will walk, but I do think we won't meet our deadline.  So we may be therapy bound... which is ok.... I have come to terms with it.  But... we'll see.  Maybe the doctor will be pleased with her progress.

Anna ate well on vacation... and was even spoiled with some treats from her Grandma!  :-)

She is still in 12 month clothes... in fact I tried an 18 month shirt on her... and it was WAAAAY too big.  So, we'll probably wait to transition to those... or just go through a few and see how they work.  LIke all girl's clothes... different brands fit differently.  

I'm also very happy to report, that Anna is no longer drinking from a bottle.  She has been bottle free since the 21st of March!  Yayayay!!!  Sippy cups!!  So at least we hit one of our objectives from the doctor... and pretty quickly I might add!  It's kind of funny that she's a cold turkey kind of gal.  All or nothing!  (I"m hoping this will mean she'll be an easy potty train... although I have no disillusions of such!)

Anyway, thanks for checking in on us!