Look what I can do!

She's discovered the novelty of her toy chest, mostly because the cats keep jumping in and out of there, so she wants to get in, too. Go, Anna! 

Stairs

We've been working slowly to teach Anna how to safely traverse the stairs, simply because they are everywhere and I'd rather she be confident around them instead of afraid of them. It's become her New Favorite Thing. If you have stairs in your house, beware. She'll happily scoot over and make her descent, and woe to the person who tries to tell her it's not Stair-Time.
Since she doesn't crawl, the best and safest way for her to get down stairs is to thump on her butt. She scoots up to the very edge, giggles (I beleive I mentioned the giggling earlier...), and then sllllloooooooooowwwly scoots herself forward, leaning way back, until she thumps down on to the next step.
To get down the 6 steps outside the playroom usually takes her about 10-15 minutes, if I let her do it by herself. We're also working on getting back up the steps, and she's started pulling up to her knees at the bottom and reaching for the next step up, so we'll see how that goes.
Speaking of which, she's starting to pull up on to her knees a lot now, trying to look into things, like the toychest or on top of a table. This is a big step for Anna, since she still won't stand totally by herself, though we can get her to do a sort of march by holding her under her arms and walking her forward. I don't know if it's helpful to her development since she won't put her full weight on her legs, but she certainly thinks it's funny! 

Monica and little Ryan

 

Crying? Me? No way!

 

New Photos

Once again, we’ve had our very talented friends at Trystan Photography take pictures of Anna.  Click here, and you’ll be taken to a gallery of the new photos, as well as her 7 month pictures.  Thanks again to Charlotte and Tryg!  Anna wasn’t exactly cooperative during the shoot (okay, she was screaming and crying), but you’d never know it to look at the pictures.  Charlotte can work miracles with a camera, I swear. She’s also set the gallery up with some great prices, so please feel free to order prints directly.  They have some cool options like coffee mugs, t-shirts and fridge magnets, too… anyone want a t-shirt with Anna’s face on it?  J

one sick, two sick...

Me sick, you sick! 

Anna started it, with a few random sneezes on Wednesday.  By Thursday morning she was a runny-nosed, whimpering mess of a baby.  By Friday morning, I was starting to cough, but still managed (thanks to a steady supply of Tylenol and Sudafed) to dress up and smile for Kurt’s post-holiday party for work. Lisa, my wonderful best friend, came over to baby-sit the drippy-nosed baby, thank you Lisa! (Anna’s been calling her “Eesah” since Friday). We got in at just after midnight and by morning on Saturday, I was a sniffling puddle of pure misery.  Kurt was, as always, the BEST husband in the world.  He took care of me, took care of Anna, cleaned the house, gave the baby a bath and made dinner, all while I was obliviously passed out in a fevered fog.  Fortunately, this morning dawned with Anna feeling MUCH better and me more able to live my normal life.  Hopefully I’ll be back to 100% by tomorrow.  Kurt, of course, is perfectly fine and has managed to sidestep the plague once again.  Lucky so-and-so.  J 

In all our sickness this weekend, I totally forgot to say “Happy Anniversary” to Monica and Chad!  This time last year, we were celebrating their wedding in Las Vegas, one of the best parties I’ve ever been to.  So, Congratulations, guys, hope you had a good day and that little Ryan was an angel (as if he could be anything else, right?  Too cute!!!). 

"Cake!"

The first blossoms of independence are budding inside the heart of my baby girl.  She’s starting to reach out into the world, take hold with both hands…and shove it in her face. 

Today, after a nice jaunt around the zoo to visit Anna’s favorite large, long-necked cats (formerly known as giraffes), we headed down with Terry and a friend to the Broadmoor for lunch.  Always charming, Anna won the heart of our innocent waiter and to prove his love, her brought her an extra special dessert- a large scoop of vanilla ice cream.  As he set this treat down in front of her, Anna cooed with delight and said, very clearly, “Cake!”.

I tried to spoon it into her mouth, but she would have none of it. Anna decided that she didn’t need any old spoon, instead simply reaching out to squeeze little bits of ice cream between her fingers and then rubbing her sticky hands in the vicinity of her mouth.  Within two minutes she was a vanilla coated disaster, but she was a HAPPY disaster.

Needless to say, our waiter confessed his undying fidelity at this sight, his eyes shining with little stars of adoration as he watched the ice cream drip off the tip of her nose and into a puddle on her lap. Sadly, I think Anna was just using him and has no intention of ever calling.  I hope he’s not too hurt and learns to be more cautious with his heart. 

Anna has learned from this experience as well. She’s been saying “Cake” all day and looking around hopefully for another gullible waiter.

Under Cover Baby

One of Anna's new hobbies is to put things on her head. Sweaters, blankets, mittens, rubber duckies, cats... It doesn't matter to her, unless it's a hat, which of course she'll just take RIGHT OFF. 

Giggle Fit

My parents always told me it would happen.  They warned me, but I didn’t understand.  “One day,” they said, “You too will have a daughter and you will know the true ear-piercing reality of little girl giggles.”  I shrugged it off, thinking blithely… How bad could it be?

Now I know.

Anna has discovered the giggle.  The high-pitched, practically screaming, only-dogs-can-hear-parts-of-it giggle. On Sunday we got up and dressed early and headed out to the local breakfast hot spot, the Omelette Parlor.  In an award-worthy good mood, Anna simply could not be contained.  She giggled and bubbled and giggled some more, with a screamy intensity that was too much for something so earthbound as a large restaurant.  Kurt and I were at a loss; we didn’t want to surpress this obvious happiness, but she was so LOUD in her joy! 

With parental quick thinking, we distracted her with crayons and pancakes, and managed to get through our meal with only a few scathing looks from the other patrons.  In general, her cheer in our day to day lives has been contagious and totally captivating, but also exhausting.  I mean, really, who can continue on at that level of happiness for hours and not feel drained?  I’ll tell you who.

Little girls. 

Cheesy Mommy Moment

While I was giving Anna a bath this morning, the song"How Far is Heaven?" was playing on the radio. Kneeling uncomfortably on the floor next to the tub with my wet and giggly daughter splashing me, the knees of my jeans right in a puddle and drippy sleeves up to my elbows, I couldn't help but think, "This is heaven, not so far at all!"  

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit!

When I was growing up, my grandmother taught me that, in order to have good luck for the whole year, your first words on New Year’s Day had to be, “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!”.  Now, I’m not sure where this practice came from, maybe it had something to do with the rabbit’s foot she carried around on a key chain (eww, gross, I know, but it used to be a common practice). If Dad or Paul knows, leave a comment and tell me why we’re crazy about rabbits. 

Still, regardless of why we started saying it, to this day I always ring in the New Year with a solid, “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!”.  So, happy bunnies to you all and I hope your New Year’s dreams all come true!