Peekaboo

Anna loves to play Peekaboo. Whenever something is placed over her face and we say where's Anna she immediately pulls it off and gives a big smile. A friend tried this with her a month ago and she didn't really understand - it's so fun to watch her learn new things.

My wonderful husband

For the past 72 hours I have been in bed with the stomach bug and have done little more than sleep and sip Gatorade. Needless to say, I have been in no shape to take care of Anna for I had a hard time even picking her up. My husband has taken wonderful care of us during this time - doing all of Anna's feedings, playing with her, putting her down to sleep and so much more. What a blessing that I've been able to focus on getting better. Hopefully no one else in the house will catch it!

Happy 6 Months Anna!

My cute little Anna is now 6 months old. She has hit many of the 6 month milestones:
- Turns toward sounds and voices
- Sits without support
- Mouths objects
But she has no interest in one key milestone, rolling over. When placed on her belly, Anna will push up on her arms and reach for toys and will even scoot a little. Though after a few minutes she's ready to be sitting up and playing with her toys. Anna has her 6 month checkup next week.

Anna's First Fever

There are many exciting firsts that are happening in Anna's life, her first fever is not one of them :(. Yesterday Anna woke up with a runny nose and today she had a temperature of 102. I gave her a little bit of Tylenol which seems to have lowered her temperature and she is gradually getting happier. I'm thinking it could be from her tooth coming through since she has been fussing and putting her hands in her mouth most of the day.

Solids continued...

I am continuing to introduce solids to Anna 4 days apart. So far we have had squash, bananas, green beans, applesauce and pears. In my previous post I mentioned we started with squash because some people say if you start with a fruit, the child won't like vegetables. Anna definitely prefers fruits to vegetables right now. Whenever I get out the bowl and bib for Anna to eat she starts going crazy. She anxiously takes the first bite and then depending what it is will either immediately open her mouth for the next bite (a fruit) or close her mouth so that I can't get the spoon back in (a vegetable). Last night I even mixed in a few bananas with the green beans so that she would eat them. Hopefully this is just a phase.

Baby Talk

Over the past few days Anna and I have had the opportunity to hang out with some other little ones Anna's age. Whenever we are in a new place Anna gets this very serious look on her face and quietly watches everyone. Yesterday, after Anna got through observing everyone, she decided she wanted to talk to the little girl sitting next to her. Anna started babbling to her and the little girl babbled back. Anna smiled and then made a few squeals. How cute! This went on for a few minutes. It is so much fun to watch Anna interact with others.

I can feel a tooth!

The drool started a few weeks ago and now I can feel the top of a tooth. Anna has constantly has her hands in her mouth and all of her toys are covered in slobber. I have been on the hunt for the perfect teething toy but have yet to find one that Anna really likes. I first bought a simple ring with plastic beads which Anna has a hard time getting her mouth around. Then we got one as a gift that goes in the refrigerator. This one is a little softer but still too thick for Anna to really get it in her mouth. The thing that seems to feel best on Anna's gums is a bunny we bought at Target that has hands and feet for her to chew on. Next we will try a simple cold washcloth. The tooth doesn't appear to bother Anna too much for she has not been overly fussy.

Sitting Pretty

In the past few weeks Anna has gotten much stronger and sturdier. On Saturday we went to a friends house and she sat Anna down on the carpet in the sitting position and Anna stayed there for almost an hour with her toys. Whenever she would start to lose her balance, she was able to steady herself with her hand and then sit back up whereas in the past she would just topple over. We tried it again last night at a friends house where we just set up a pallet on the floor with lots of toys and Anna was amused while we ate dinner. It is so amazing to watch Anna grow each day and discover the world around her.

Anna at Church

Ever since Anna was 4 weeks old we've been back at our church trying to find the least distractive way to attend the service with Anna. Because it was a big flu season this year, we decided to keep Anna out of the nursery until she hit 6 months. In the beginning, Anna would sleep all the way through the service and my husband and I could attend our usual service together. Once she got a little older and no longer enjoyed sitting quietly in her car seat, we started sitting in the lobby where the sermon is broadcast on TV. This past Sunday as we were sitting in the lobby Anna got a little antsy and so my husband took her to the back of the lobby with some other infants. Anna was sitting on the floor and a little girl crawled over to her and Anna started laughing and squealing EXTREMELY loud. I thought it was cute but I'm sure it was a distraction to others. Since Anna enjoyed the other little girl so much I think we may put her in the nursery this Sunday and see how it goes.

Jump, Jump, Jumperoo

We are having some work done on the downstairs of our house and so Anna and I have been spending a lot of time upstairs. I wanted to get something to entertain Anna and so I purchased a Fisher Price Rain Forest Jumperoo. Anna absolutely loves it! I put her in it first at Babies R Us to see if she would enjoy it. At first, she wasn't sure what to do and looked a little scared since she was surrounded by toys. I gently bounced her a few times and then she got the hang of it. Now, as soon as I put her in it she immediately starts jumping and smiling. This Jumperoo has a rotating seat so that she can go around to all of the toys. It's amazing to watch Anna figure out new toys. I just hope Anna doesn't outgrow it anytime soon - the maximum weight recommendation is 25 pounds.

Baby Clothes

When shopping for Anna it is hard to figure out what is going to fit now and what is going to fit this summer, especially brand by brand. For the most part, Anna is wearing 6-9 month clothes. This past weekend Anna fit perfectly into a pair of 3 month pants by Carters where a pair of 6-9 month capris from Kohls were too tight. What brought this to mind was a one piece outfit that Anna got for Easter that was size 0-12 months. How silly I thought - there's no way a 3 month and a 9 month child could wear the same outfit. Now that I've put the outfit on Anna I see that it is actually a neat idea (though there is no way Anna could wear it at 12 months!). The outfit fits as long sleeves and pants when the baby is younger and progresses to shorts and three quarter sleeves. As it says on the outfit, it gives Anna "room to bloom".

Vacationing Part II: Cousins

Two of my cousins have kids - one is 22 months and the other is 2 1/2 years old. Anna absolutely loved being around them. Whenever Anna would see them she would smile and laugh.


Anna loved being around the rest of the family as well. The first day we were there, Anna showed signs of what my latest magazine called "separation stress" and she would cry whenever someone other than myself or my husband would hold her. By day two Anna would go to anyone. We would sit at breakfast for 2 hours as our family came in at different times and Anna would watch everyone and absolutely loved all the attention she got. She loved it so much that whenever I would take her into the hotel room and it was just her and I, she seemed to get bored and fussed. Anna is very much like her dad in that she loves being around people - they seem to energize her.

Vacationing Part I: Packing & the Drive

For the past 32 years my extended family has headed down to Jacksonville, Florida for a family gathering. It started with my grandparents and now includes lots of great grandchildren, Anna being the youngest. We stay at the same Inn, eat meals together, and spend our days golfing, beaching, or whatever suites our fancy. This was my 27th (yikes!)year at Ponte Vedra and now having Anna it was a much different experience.

We loaded up the car with everything we could possibly need for Anna - what if she gets a cold, what if she gets the first 12 outfits dirty, what if, what if, what if. I even tried to cram the exersaucer in the car since Anna loves it so much; unfortunately it did not fit.

We left at the time Anna would normally take her morning nap which worked great for she slept the first 2 1/2 hours of the trip. A little ways into the trip we found out there was a slow leak in one of our tires and so we had to stop every 100 miles to pump up the tire. This didn't work well for Anna since every time the car stopped, she wanted to get out of her car seat. Anna took one more nap in the car and then cried for the last 30 minutes when we hit some traffic. The drive took about 8 hours with all of the stops for the tire - Anna was glad when we finally made it to our destination.

Anna's First Easter

We just returned from vacationing in Florida for Easter with my family. We missed the light snow that hit Raleigh, but still had cool weather in Florida. So that Anna could still wear her cute Easter dress, I had to go to the local Target to pick up some pants to go underneath.

Bananas

We are continuing to introduce new foods (4-5 days apart). Yesterday Anna had bananas for the first time. Anna now gets cereal and a fruit in the morning and cereal and a vegetable in the evenings.