up, up and away!

We are getting ready today for our big trip out to D.C. to visit Monica and Chad.  Since we leave early tomorrow morning, I’m spending the day doing laundry, cleaning and packing.  Woohoo!!  Anna and I both woke up with colds this morning.  Or, to be more exact, I woke up with a bit of a cold, and she’s been grumpy as all getout, so I’m assuming she has a cold too.  Either way, I’m hoping she’ll cheer up for our flight tomorrow.  Wish us luck!  It’s back to laundryland for me. 

Miss Kitty

We had to say good-bye to Miss Kitty, Kurt’s cat from before we got married, this weekend. It was a really hard decision, but she was very unhappy and hadn’t adjusted well to the new marriage/house/baby/cats/etc over the past few years. We tried different ways to help her get comfortable but she was compulsively peeing all over the basement, and we just didn’t know what else to do. Poor Kurt took her in to the humane society on Saturday, and since she was an older cat and very aggressive, they decided to euthanize her. I will miss her, but I just can’t think of what else we could have done for her. Everyone send hugs to Kurt, it was an especially hard weekend for him.

Anna the frog.

Skinny baby

I took Anna in to the pediatrician this morning. She’s been pulling on her ears a lot lately, so we wanted to make sure she didn’t have an ear infection before we got on the plane for D.C. next week. Turns out, her ears are fine, but she does have a mild cold, which should be totally cleared up by the time of our trip. Also, of course, they weighed her at the doctor’s office- she’s at 16 pounds, even. 16 pounds! That’s barely the 1^st percentile for baby weight. She’s about 85^th percentile for height, too, which makes it official- Anna is a String Bean! Good thing her Halloween costume is green, I just hope no one tries to eat her.

Sadly, this also means that it’s going to be awhile before we can turn her car seat around to face forward. It’ll be so nice when we finally can, then I’ll actually be able to see her face and hand her stuff without ripping my shoulder out of its socket. I was really hoping to be able to do it on her birthday, but she needs to be 20 pounds.

Always keep your hat on.

teletubbies

I know TV isn’t the best thing for babies, and in general we try to limit how much Anna watches, but there are exceptions. She has recently discovered Teletubbies.  She LOVES Teletubbies.  It’s really fun to watch her watch the show- she dances, laughs hysterically and grins like a maniac.  How can I turn off something that makes her so happy?  J  Plus, now she’ll have something to share with her Uncle Val when he next visits, since he is already a big Teletubbie Fan. 

Right now we are getting ready for our big trip out to visit Monica and Chad in D.C.  We’ll be leaving next Thursday, I can’t believe it!  This will be Anna’s longest airplane flight so far.  I’m a little worried that she’ll be fussy, since she’s now much older and more cognizant of her surroundings than when she last flew, but I mostly think she’ll do fine.  Also, we’re really grateful to Monica’s mother-in-law, Sharyn, who has gone out of her way to get us everything we’ll need for Anna while we are there, so we won’t have to lug a car seat across the country.  Mo, who is due with her first baby at Christmastime, already has a crib, stroller and high chair that we can use.  Anna will be set up like a tiny little queen, lucky girl!

Pikes Peak this morning, glowing from the first snow.

Anna, happily modeling the very first hat I've ever made.

First snow of the season, from our front porch.

Let it snow!

Woohoo!! It’s coming down out there, I love it.  This marks the first snow storm of the season, the earliest one since, apparently, the winter of 2000.  It was so wonderful to wake up and see the bright white landscape from our bedroom window.  Anna is very excited, I could barely get her attention during breakfast, she was so busy staring out the window and commenting with awestruck chirps.  J 

We were going to go to the zoo today, but I think we’ll just have to postpone that until later in the week.  That’s one of Colorado’s charms- no matter what the weather is, if you just give it a couple days, it’s sure to be back to mild and sunny.  Happy snow day, everyone!

 

Yay!  Three cheers for Anna, she’s finally figured out self-feeding.  As little as three days ago, she absolutely wouldn’t put food in her mouth, she’d just open up like a little bird begging for worms.   Then, all of a sudden, while I was out to lunch with Terry on Friday, she just- did it.  We had put some baby snacks out in front of her for distraction, and she just reached out and started shoveling them into her mouth.  Since then, she’s progressed on to cheerios and small pieces of fruit.  She’s already started chewing, though she has no teeth, and I have hopes to be done with mushed baby food in the coming months.  Good job, sweetie! 

11 months old! Now the fun of the holidays really starts. It kicks off with Anna’s first Halloween- she’s going to be a frog! I got her a fuzzy frog costume with a warm hood, so she’ll be nice and cozy, as well as adorable. It’s already getting chilly here, and the cool days are beginning to outnumber the warm ones. For Halloween, we’ll be taking Anna to Boo at the Zoo at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

The weekend of Halloween, we’ll be visiting Monica and Chad in Virginia and celebrating at Mo’s baby shower. They’ve just moved into a new townhome and I can’t wait to see it and the baby’s room. Mostly, though, I’m just looking forward to seeing Monica and giving her a big hug! I miss having her near us and I’m so excited to give that baby belly a rub!

I just heard from my friend and neighbor, Jen, that she gave birth to her baby girl, Olivia, on the 4th! She was about one month early, too, but is doing just fine, weighing in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces. Jen had some complications following the birth but is doing okay now, so I’m going to go visit them this afternoon.

Also, welcome to the world, Vivian Belle! She was born September 26th to our good friends in Chicago, John and Jen. Vivian is their third daughter, and Maya and Lydia are thrilled to have a little baby sister to play with and take care of. So congratulations to both my Jen’s and their families. I can’t wait for Anna to meet these little girls! --Megan