Just another Saturday

Cutting up fruit with Mama

Mama trying to help me find my feet.....I'm not interested..thanks!

Helping Mama stuff my diapers

Well I think I'll stop helping and start playing....YAY!!!

**Notice my 3 outfit changes.....I drool a lot!**

Growing....

We went to the doctors yesterday morning and found out that we have a lovely growing healthy girl. Anna weighed in at 13.2 lbs and was 23 1/2 inches long. (YAY for Mama...Anna can stay in the bassinet for a little while longer!!!) Dr. Ashley said that everything else looks good. Her thumb sucking is OK...it'll just be harder to get rid of than a pacifier. She has a cute little birth mark showing up on the palm of her left hand right under her pinkie. Anna got 2 shots with 2 cute peanut band aids to make it feel all better. 

Even though all went well, Anna wasn't too happy about being there. First of all, the appointment was for 10:00 and her nap time is at 9:30. She wasn't happy about the 1/2 hour nap in the car. Then we had to get nakey and lay on the cold scale. Not happy. Next, had to be held down straight to see how long she was. Not happy. Had to lay back down on the cold table and take my diaper off to check my legs, etc. Not happy. Look in my mouth as I screamed, put the cold stethoscope on my chest and flash lights in my eyes. Not happy. THEN the shots. At that point I was already screaming so the screaming just continued. While checking out...still screaming. As soon as we set foot right out of the front door towards the car.....HAPPY SILENT BABY! 

Oh well....at least she's healthy. 

And here's Anna with her pal Syd. We have to lean her back when she sits propped on the couch because if not, she topples over forward. (It's happened 2 times already...oops!)

Other than that, all is well. Headed back to the doc at 6 months old, sometime in September.

4 Months Old

Anna is 4 months old today! So many things she can do now....

* When we go to pick her up from lying on her back, she'll lift her head and shoulders as we reach to pull her up

* She can sit supported and enjoys it

*When she sits she can hold a toy if we put it in her hand. No reaching yet. 

*She is adding new sounds and sounds like a broken record some days. Currently she is enthralled by her new found ability of this razzing sound that you head on the previous video post

* LOVES her hands and sicks, gnaws, drools all over them all day long

* Still a great sleeper both at night time and at naps, but sleeps very differently for each time. For naps, she sleeps in her crib, I put her down on her back and she then rolls over to her side and sucks her thumb to sleep, with a blanket. At night time we put her down on her back and she stares at the ceiling until she falls asleep, no side rolling like naps. 

* She can roll over from her tummy to her back, but not the other way. It isn't consistent t yet, only once in a while will she roll over. 

*And the best...her smiles and laughs. She will let you know when she's happy and ready to play and when she's not in the mood to play because her eyes will glaze over and she'll just stare at you no matter what you're doing. 

Love her to pieces!!!!

Love is all we need....

What a wonderful 3 years it's been.

Happy Anniversary!

With many more years to come...

Mimic Me

Too Sweet

No more eating....I just want to sleep....

with my Daddy :)

The Support Hand

We had success with the thumb lately and we've recently added gnawing on hand(s) as seen in the pictures below. But what we're trying to help her with is this darn other - support hand, usually her left hand.

Every time she goes to find her thumb, the support hand gets in the way and prevents her from successfully sucking on the her thumb. And she gets very aggravated when her thumb keeps popping out of her mouth, like someones preventing her, but it's her!

The support hand is ALWAYS there and tormenting her. Sometimes she happy just gnawing on both fists, but when she really wants to suck on that thumb, it takes a while to get the support hand in place so it doesn't keep pushing the thumb away.

Oh.....to live the life of an almost 4 month old....miss Anna Caroline.

Off Topic: Anna went to her "school" (daycare) last week to meet her "teachers". She liked seeing where she'll be playing when mommy and daddy are teaching in a few weeks. She saw her new crib, all the cool play toys she'll use during the day and all the nice friends she'll make. I think she's going to like it there.....now lets try and convince mommy that everything will be OK!

Suds suds suds

I love suds

Suds suds suds

Suds on my nose

Suds on my cheeks

Suds in my mouth!

I love suds

Suds suds suds

Thunderstorm

We're having a HUGH thunderstorm right now....

and....HA HA HA!!!!

Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our little peanut has done it! After a few weeks of weaning little bit from her swaddle she is successfully sleeping all by herself. The great thing is that I can now put her in real jammies at night instead of boring onsies. She's too cute!! It's been great....we take a bath, put our jammies on, have a bottle, read a book (or 2...or 5....or 10), give good night kisses and then to bed!

Look at those little froggy legs....

Great Summer Days....

Anna attends her first summer concert at Wrightsville Beach park...

She LOVED the music of the blue grass band and listened contently for over an hour!

While Sydney made a new friend....YIKES!

Had her first shrimp boil....

Matched outfits with Aunt Aimee...

Took one of her famous most favorite naps with Pop ...

And finally sat in her Bumbo chair at dinner time....trying to figure out what to do with these new creatures...hmm....

Roll Over

First: Encouragement from Syd... "You can do it sissy"

Second: "Hey....how'd I get like this?"

Third: Fluke? or not?

I rolled her back over again to see what she'd do...no luck.

Anna's 1st Holiday

For the 4th of July weekend we enjoyed 2 days at the beach.

Here's Anna when we sat her in the water....

And after...what a pout!

I guess we'll stick to just the feet in the water for now.

That night we had dinner at Mom & Dad's (Tacos!!) and enjoyed sparklers together. We're not sure if Anna liked the sparklers or her hands more.

2 hands free & Video

Last night Greg pushed the go-ahead for 2 arms out. I was nervous but went with it. She went to bed at 8....fussed for about a 1/2 hour, but then finally passed out and slept until 4. This is a pic of nap time today. Still has that thumb. Does sucking on her right thumb mean she'll be a righty?

Here's a short video of Anna & I singing our good morning song on the deck.....

Sleep

So Anna's been sleeping pretty well, from about 8:00 - 8:30 until 6:00 or 6:30. During our trip to NY, she decided that she would start to wake up around 3:30 instead. As I was not too keen on that choice, I went with it. She ate at that time for most of the trip and then went back to sleep. She has continued that lovely wake time into our transition back home.....bummer. As for her naps, she's been sleeping on her belly and getting some solid naps in during the day. But nervous nelly mama can't take it anymore and am determined to get her to sleep on her back for naps. It is also my mission to eliminate the swaddle so we can ultimately lay her down on her back for naps and night-night sleep. Today was my start day. After a lot of google-ing on how to de-swaddle, I decided to use the 1 arm approach. For a few days we will put her down for naps and night-night sleep swaddled with one arm out. Once she gets used to that, we'll go 2 arms for a few days. And then we'll attempt the no swaddle sleep.

Day 1: This morning she woke at 7, we ate breakfast and played until 8:50. At that point, nervous mama swaddled the princess up with one arm hanging and put her down in her crib for her morning nap. Fuss...fuss...squirm...squirm.....quiet. Ah! When I went to check on her about 20 minutes later, she was staring at the ceiling! Yikes! Has she been awake and quiet this whole time? I have no idea. I quietly crept out and listened for the next 15 minutes. She decided to tell her self a story and was just talking for a little while. Since she had only been down for about 30 at this point, I forced myself away and let her do her thing. It's now been 2 hours and here is what I found...

Success! Well, knock on wood, lets see what the rest of the day brings and tonight. Will keep you informed once we try 2 arms and the big day....NO SWADDLE!

Side Note: I cried yesterday when I read her bassinet instructions and found out that she can only sleep there up to 15 lbs.... At her 2 month visit she was 10.8 pounds....we go for her 4 month visit in about 3 weeks...ugh, I have a sick feeling she'll be close to 15 pounds. That means she'll be taking her first big girl step and sleeping across the house in her own bed.....all...night...long.....with....no...mama!!!!