Balancing Act

Anna is now pulling up on things and then letting go and balancing herself for a few seconds. I think she is impressed with herself as well because she starts smiling and waving her arms. Good thing diapers are a little padded for sometimes she falls down to her bottom with a thud.

DaDaDaDaDaDa

Just like most babies, this is Anna's first word. Of course I'm not so sure she associates her daddy with being dadada but it's a cute sound to wake up to. It is also fun because it is one of the few things that I can say that she will then repeat back to me.

Nine Month Appointment

Anna had her 9 month appointment today and all went well except she has her first yeast infection :(. Two days ago I had noticed a few bumps that looked like a diaper rash but after piling on the Desitin, the rash only got worse. Luckily, we had the appointment anyway and were able to get a prescription.

Anna weighed 21 lbs 13.5oz (85th percentile), was 27.25 inches (45th percentile), and her head has moved up into the 95th percentile at 46.3 cm. She received her 3rd and final Hepatitis B vaccine.

The biggest question for me at this stage is how much to feed Anna. The doctor said that at this age they don't typically overeat and will tell you when they are full. He encouraged me to give Anna more meats and even to try giving her hamburger and grilled chicken. Besides eggs, peanut butter, shellfish, and milk - it seems the sky is the limits.

The next visit is at 12 months.

Happy 9 Months

I title the below picture I WANT MY PUFFIES!



I wrote about the Gerber Puffs in a previous blog a few months ago when Anna was first introduced to them. Now, they have become a staple. When we go out to eat at a restaurant, when my friends and I take a morning stroll - the puffies go too. I have yet to meet a baby that did not go crazy at the sound of a puffies container and older kids want to partake in Anna's snack too (even my 17 year old cousin!?!?) Now if I can just get her to get as excited about vegetables!

Happy 9 Months Anna!

On to the Meat

Last night Anna ventured into the land of pureed meat in a jar. It was chicken and vegetable though looked like squash and smelled like gravy. I have been a little confused as to which foods to introduce to Anna at what age but I found this site which has a good chart: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm

Fearless

I feel like a horrible mom! Anna was climbing around under the kitchen table today, slipped, and ended up with a black eye :(. Despite being right there, I wasn't fast enough to catch her. She cried, I teared up and we cuddled until she fell asleep in my arms. After she was asleep and I was holding her, the realization hit me that there are going to be many times in the future that I am not going to be able to keep her from falling. I immediately started to pray.
When Anna woke up from her nap, she greeted me with a huge smile and her eye didn't seem to bother her (though it was still very red). She was ready to play and even to climb again - she is fearless.

Swimming at Mimi's

Anna and I took off to my mom's house today for Anna's first adventure in a real pool. I brought a float with a sun canopy for Anna to float around in and first tried putting her in that - to no avail. She got scared when the water came all the way up to her armpits. I then took her out of the float and walked around in the pool carrying her. A little while later we tried the float again and with the distraction of a few toys, Anna and I floated around the pool for about 30 minutes. It was fun to watch her kick her legs and splash her arms.

Back with Anna

For the past four days, my husband and I have been in Bermuda enjoying the beautiful water and gorgeous surroundings. Anna has been staying at our house with my mom. Today we returned home. Anna and my mom met us at the door and despite a wonderful trip, I was so happy to be home. Anna was dressed in an adorable white dress that mom had bought her and she seemed more grown up. At first Anna looked at us and seemed as if she would cry - my heart almost broke. She finally let me hold her and I smothered her in kisses.


Anna did great while we were gone. She slept well, ate well, and never cried. I am so proud of her.

Trading in the Car Seat

In a previous blog I mentioned Anna's new car seat. That car seat has now been swapped with a different one due to some of the problems we were having getting Anna in it securely. It was difficult for us to get the over-the-shoulder harness straps even and so one strap would be tight and the other very loose. This made it time consuming to put Anna in the seat well (and since she doesn't like getting in it in the first place, there was more fussing). We recently purchased a Britax Roundabout and put it in my car. It is much easier to put Anna in it and it has a few cool features as well:

- easier to install correctly into the car; the fireman didn't have to make any adjustments
- extra cushioning which makes it comfy
- cushioning around the fastener between the legs so that little chubby legs don't get pinched
- velcro to attach the straps to the side of the car seat when Anna is not in it rather than having them fall back into the seat; it's not a biggie to move the straps before putting her in the car, but it is a nice "extra"

Baby Reunion

Before Anna was born my husband and I took birthing classes at the hospital that we delivered in to learn more about the hospital and the whole delivery process. Tonight four families from that class came over to have a cookout and reunion of sorts. Many of the babies I had not seen since January and so it was so much fun (and so cute!) to see how they had grown up. It's so nice to know that even though we haven't seen each other in months, we can still bond over the adventures of our little ones.

Just my Size

Our house guest this week is a Snauzer named Jack. Anna likes that Jack is her size.

Happy 4th of July

Anna is patriotic in her American flag swimsuit.

It's all happening so fast

Just yesterday Anna started sticking her tongue out of her mouth and today it has become a full fledged raspberry (a nice way to say spitting all over the place) and the pulling up has progressed to Anna letting go and standing on her own for seconds at a time. What will tomorrow bring?

Yesterday Anna discovered some of the fun noises she can make with her tongue so she spent a large part of the day with her tongue out.