Peek a boo!

Today we played with Anya's puppet theater that Santa brought this Christmas. She has little finger puppets that she loves. Sometimes I put a show on for her and she laughs and reaches up to grab the puppets from me. :) Today Herman liked the puppets. I think he thought they were cat toys. This might explain why he jumped on my arm and bit me when I was playing with Anya. I was SO MAD. I will not tolerate our cat biting.. especially with a baby. It is the second time this has happened this week. Maybe he was angry at the attention she was getting or maybe he thought we were playing with his toys.. whatever the reason it is just not okay. He probably misses the warm weather and having the screen door open. We all miss that!!!

This picture was taken before he turned nasty on me.

Good riddance bug!

We are at the end of the nasty bug. It was icky and also scary as first time parents with a first time bug. I called the doctor yesterday to make sure that we were heading in the right direction. The doctor I spoke with (not Anya's) told me to stop the formula and give her Pedialyte for one day. She said to stick with bread, rice, apples and bananas for food. The day before no solids were given because they wouldn't stay down but yesterday I got oatmeal to stay in. The second day she told us to give her formula mixed with double the water. Anya and I headed to the grocery store. We had non flavored Pedialyte and she wouldn't take it so I headed out to get flavored. We both were a little too happy to be out of the house. Anya was looking every which way in the store. :)
Once we were home I tried the grape Pedialyte and she refused it. She isn't a fan of juice so I suspected that this would happen. It tastes like grape Gatorade. She was exhausted from our shopping trip so I put her down for a nap. When she woke an hour later I tried again with the grape figuring she had been too tired to eat... and she gagged and threw up. I threw that idea out. I instead gave her formula mixed with extra water. She was unsure and knows the difference but she took it. I gave her oatmeal, rice, and rice with banana yesterday and she kept it all down. Things are definitely looking better.
Quick story from our un-fun week: On Tuesday I overestimated her recovery from Monday and I gave her a little more formula than the 2 oz I had been doing. I sat her up on my lap facing me. Next thing I know there is projectile throw up coming at my face. A drop got in my mouth! The rest was covering the front of me. I just sat there wondering how I was going to stand up. It was bad...
I am so happy to see my sweet girl feeling better. The worst part of it was to think of her feeling nauseous and not understanding it. We were also scared when we heard her throw up in her crib at night. There is something about nighttime that is more scary than day. Maybe because the doctors office is closed?
I have gotten through this new threshold as a mommy.. isn't there a trophy or something I get? Oh yeah it's Anya!

baby blogs and giveaways

I have found that there are many fun baby blogs out there. :) Here is one called The Foster Family that is doing a giveaway for a gift card to The Spunky Stork.. check it out!

nasty little bug

Anya's been hit with a nasty little bug. It started somewhere between Saturday night and Sunday morning and we are still in its presence. She is having trouble keeping things in. Anya and I have been both covered in spit up/throw up multiple times.. it has been very icky. I am really hoping it leaves this house immediately. Babies shouldn't be able to get sick. She is such a trooper and still smiling away and playing. She has no fever, thank God. I stopped giving her solids and I am giving her 2oz of formula at a time so that it stays down. We tried Pedialyte last night and she didn't like it. I have also given her a wet washcloth to suck water out of. She doesn't really like water out of a sippy yet. Any suggestions are appreciated.

babies change everything

Now that we have Anya I don't look at anything the same. I see a commercial with a mommy holding a newborn and I can feel Anya in my arms and smell her soft head. I hear a newscaster recap a horrible story about a missing child and my heart aches. I see a child on television that has been battered by someone they love and I feel such anger. I always felt for things like this but never so raw.. it just feels so different now. Recently I saw the movie 'Lovely Bones'. I know I would have been upset with the story line before having a baby. After having a baby it was ten times as disturbing. The story is about a family that has a daughter who is murdered by a pedophile. I cried through most of the movie. I don't understand how parents can move on after such devastation. Being a parent has made me want to take all of the hurt and pain that my baby will feel in her life and crush it or at least take it and keep it for myself.
It now hurts to hear about babies that are sick.. mommies and daddies that have sick babies.. missing children.. or parents that live longer than their children. I know it sounds horrible but it is the truth.
The wonderful thing is that I now see children laughing and my heart sings with happiness. I see grandparents hug their little grandchildren and it makes me smile. I see a missing child found on television and it brings tears to my eyes. I hear a story of a child who has recovered from a disease and I sigh with relief for that family. I hear of a new baby on the way and I gleam with anticipation of that new life.
I think when I gave birth to Anya she took a huge piece of me and it is tucked into her little pocket every day. There is no hiding the fact that babies change everything. I go all day thinking about her and what she needs. I do it because I love her and I do it because that is just what mommies do.. without even trying.
Loving so deep is scary, but it sure is worth it.

visiting friends

Our friends Deb and Gino invited us over for lunch over the weekend. They have a new entertainment room with a fluffy rug that Anya loved! :) We had a fun time. Anya started to get really tired right before we left. This picture of her with Deb shows how exhausted she was. She slept the whole ride home and went back down to sleep easily at home.

sweet cheeks

My mom was trying to see Anya's 5 teeth... lol..

balloon fun

Herman wants to play with the balloon too!

Our doodle bug <3

Loving this girl!! I just cover her with kisses all day ;)

holding her bottle

Today we went to the Currier art museum. Before we left I mixed a bottle and gave it to her. She held it and drank it all by herself!

8 Months

Anya is turning 8 months tomorrow! I am actually beginning to think about her 1st birthday.. only a few more months. About a week ago I got really sad at thinking about our little baby getting so big so fast. I am over it, for the moment, and keep thinking of how much fun we have in store for us. Soon she will be on the move and saying 'mama' and I just have so much to look forward to.

She is really getting a personality and it's so cute to see this individual grow right in front of my eyes. During bath time on Monday I gave her the wash cloth so she could suck on it.. she LOVES this. I needed to wash her hair so I took the cloth back before baby wash was added to the water. She got soooo mad at me. She started thrashing her arms up and down and was splashing water all over her face. She made an angry face at me. I hate to say it but I thought it was the cutest thing... mean mean mom. I called Dwight in to see. She is such a happy and content baby that when I see anger it surprises me. However, when I see sadness it just breaks my heart.

She has started to hold her own bottle. This works best when it is a Playtex drop in bottle with the ridges on the sides. It is thinner and easier for her to grasp. She has more trouble holding the big Avent bottles. She does well when she is really hungry and holds on to that bottle for dear life.

She still has a 4-6 oz bottle every 3 or 4 hours. For foods she eats a fruit with oatmeal for breakfast, a fruit, veggie or mix of both for lunch, and the same for dinner. Some dinners include meat. She likes the pureed meals that include meat from Earth's Best brand. I think the only meal she really did not like was spinach and potatoes. I don't blame her, it was yucky. I try everything I give her. I make her apples, sweet potatoes and squash myself. I want to try to make more foods soon. Her favorites are apples, carrots, pears, green beans, and oatmeal. We have tried the baby yogurts and she likes those but usually only eats a half of one. We have tried berry, apple and strawberry/banana.


Yesterday when I went to get Anya after her nap and there were hairs on her crib sheet. I wasn't sure if they were cat hairs (pleeease tell me this cat isn't getting in there!).. or if they were Anya hairs. I am pretty sure they are Anya hairs. They were up where her head was. I just didn't know they would be falling out at 8 months. She is getting some new hair because it is sticking up a bit on the top with short new pieces. The color seems to be one shade lighter.

She is using her pincer grasp to pick up puffs off her tray now. She holds one up to her mouth and takes a bite out of it! Instead of putting the whole tiny puff in her mouth she uses her teeth to chew away at it. :) A month ago was our first attempt at puffs. I had put the whole puff in her mouth myself and she gagged until she threw up :-/ I started crying and we hadn't tried again until this week. I put them on her tray and let her play and nibble on them. I wish I had known that this is how to do it.. oops. I guess we learn as we go. This week (after her doing great with the puffs) I was eating cheez-its in front of her. She was really interested so I handed her one. I watched carefully as she nibbled away at it. She loved it and didn't gag once so I gave her another one. We just sat there watching each other eat cheez-its.. it was great :)
Here is a picture of her holding her cheez-it.

Another thing Anya loves is sucking on wet washcloths (remember how she got mad at me at bath time for taking it away). Now she tries to grab a wet paper towel away from me when I am cleaning up her face after a meal. This week I gave her a wet washcloth while we watched our Baby Signing Time video. She sat there in her glories.

The winter can be very looong when you have an infant. She isn't old enough to play in the snow with, bake cookies or make forts. She can't even color yet. So we end up being stuck inside and I am trying to think up new things to do. I miss our walks! We have books and toys but after a while that gets old. This week I put her in the kitchen with pots and pans. I filled water bottles up with corn kernels to use as maracas. She had a great time hitting things together. She loved the wooden spoons and the metal measuring cup. I also put her in her highchair with soft cheese on her tray. I let her play with it and taste it a little. I let her get messy.. I mean she is a baby. I let her eat away at those baby biscuits and get it everywhere... hands, arms, face, hair.. She has a grand ol' time.

We have been trying out sippy cups. I fill it with water and an ounce or two of juice. She seems to like it but she doesn't have the hang of it yet. :)

Tonight I went to vacuum and Anya started crying. She never cries when we use the vacuum so I figured she was just hungry. I gave her some formula and then tried to vacuum about an hour later and she started crying again. Oh oh. Now what do I do? Do I continue to try and vacuum around her or do I wait until she is napping for a while until she gets out of this stage? Hmm?

Anya's in a rock band

We haven't named the band yet.. any ideas?

our little giggle head

Adventures in the grocery

I'm dragging my mom grocery shopping with me in two weeks. After a couple of crazy adventurous shopping trips with Anya I decided to do two weeks of grocery shopping at once. This makes our trips happen less often which is a good thing. Today Anya and I headed to the store and we were doing great.. fantastic. I had a list of things for 2 weeks and it was organized by area in the store, ex. dairy, meats, fresh produce. Anya was a little fussy but not bad. She dropped her toys a couple of times and wanted my list. Once I was at the end of the list I only had bread to grab. We raced to the aisle and she started crying. I picked her up and she stopped but was clearly ticked off. I looked at my cart full of 2 weeks of food. Her diaper bag was directly at the bottom. There was no way I could hold her and get to it to make a bottle. The cart was filled to the top so I couldn't just move things to the other side. I placed her back in the cart and she started crying again. This was just not going to work. I can't leave her screaming while I dig out the bag and then mix a bottle. I headed to the check out lane to get in line. I began moving things in hope of finding that diaper bag. A kind angel worker came to my rescue and unloaded all of my food for me. When it was my time to pay I placed her back in the cart while giving her a bag of mini rice cakes to slam away at. I'm sure it is all crumbs now, but that is okay. After paying I moved the cart to the side to zip up her fleece one-piece and she started crying again and threw the bag of rice cakes on the floor. I picked it up and got the next arm in her winter fleece. The rice cakes go flying again. A kind lady picks them up for us. By this time I'm sure others are judging me. Please.. please don't judge a mom and a baby in a grocery store, ever. Yes I let my daughter slam our food to pieces and throw it on the floor... hey whatever works.. do you want to hear her cry? We get to the car and she isn't having it with me putting her in her car seat. I had figured I could give her a bottle with her in it.. but nope. At this time I smell a yucky smell and realize she has a dirty diaper. I put her back in the cart to watch me load up the car with food... take her out and get out the changing pad, diapers, etc while holding her... I also grab a bottle, water, formula. Next, we get in the front seat and I change my poor little ladies bum while she looks miserable. She starts crying again and finally I mix and give her a bottle. I only have one child. There are parents out there that go out and do this with 2, 3, 4 children. I don't understand how this is even possible. She is such a wonderful baby.. but even with a wonderful baby there are difficult times. So, yes, I am dragging my mom with me in 2 weeks. :-)

Comment!

It's leave a comment week!! Comment comment comment! Whooooo is out there?.. Even if you are a friend of a friend of a friend or just a stranger who found me by mistake...

I'm getting curious as to who reads this...

If there are enough readers I may attempt to post every day in February as a challenge.

If you don't know how to.. just click on 'comments' at the bottom of a post and if you don't have a google account you just click on 'name/url'.. you do not need to type in a url.. just your name and send!

:) Holly

Pulling teeth.. not really

Last spring I went to the dentist for a cleaning. I was 8 or 9 months pregnant. I have a new dentist and I have seen the same hygienist the two times I have gone there. The first time hurt like hell. I almost did not want to go back. I forced myself to because I told myself that A. I was really due for a cleaning that first time.. of course it would hurt and B. I was pregnant at the time and I didn't know it.. (gums bleed and hurt more when you are pregnant). Anyway, 6 months after this hellish appointment I made my way back to the dentist. We went over my health history. Any changes? Yes I am almost about to pop with a baby.
As she is cleaning my teeth she is asking me about the baby.
Do you know the sex? No.
How have you felt? Pretty well.
Are you returning to work? No.
This prompted her to tell me all about her sister who had babies and stayed home. She just can't understand how she will ever be able to go back into the work force after taking all this time off of work. I am laying there with my mouth open for my cleaning not really saying anything. I can't, my mouth is being worked on. Next she begins talking about a co-worker who is pregnant. She is debating her choices of daycare after the baby arrives. "She says she doesn't think she would be able to stay home and do nothing all day". Really.. glad to know I am going to be doing nothing at home all day with a newborn. I didn't say a thing because this hygienist has no children. She doesn't know that staying at home is not doing 'nothing' all day. When I was on bed rest.. THAT was doing nothing all day. She doesn't know what it is like to care for a child.. how tiring.. amazing.. challenging.. stimulating.. fun.. She hasn't held a person that came from her.. and felt her heart ache with love. That is why I will continue to go there and have her clean my teeth... because seriously.. she just has no idea.

Monkey play

Here is Anya in her monkey outfit playing with her monkey toy! When she hears music she rocks back and forth. She loves music!

Ordinary days

A video for moms..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0

We love our ordinary days :)

Sleeping

This morning I asked Dwight, "When was the last time Anya woke up in the middle of the night?"... and he couldn't remember. It may be 2 weeks ago.. it may be 3 weeks... I have no clue but she hasn't woken up and needed us to feed her those 2 oz to go back down in a while. When people asked us in December if she slept through the night I was telling them that she did half of the time and the other half would wake to eat 2 oz and go back down. I am hopefully not jinxing myself but Anya sleeps through the night now. We put her down at 6:30pm and we don't see her until 6:30 or 7 am. I do hear her in the monitor once or twice a night. When I hear her it is just talking or maybe a small whine and then she falls back down to sleep. She has never been difficult with sleep. I am not sure if this is her nature or that we put her in her crib so early on. I think she was sleeping in her crib in her own room at 3 weeks old. It is probably just the type of sleeper she is. Anyways, I don't know the exact time she started sleeping through the night officially but if I could guess it would be right after Christmas. Lets hope this keeps up :)

New Car Seat

Today I had Anya's new car seat installed! I am very happy because her infant seat was just getting too snug for her. When I pulled into the police department for the install I had an image run through my head of us bringing Anya home from the hospital in her infant seat. She was under 6 lbs leaving the hospital and she looked so tiny in it. I know it sounds silly but it makes me sad to know that her time in the infant seat is over. I held back tears at this thought, she is just growing so fast. I am having the best time with her and I can't fathom the thought of her turning a year old in only a few more months. Time please just slow down a little for me. Keep her chubby thighs and round cheeks an extra month or two.. that little round belly sticking out at bath time.. and her grin with those cute bottom two teeth showing. I just want to hold her close a little bit longer and smell her baby smell and touch her soft hair. I know she is still little ... but before I know it she will be walking on to the bus on her first day of school . Here is a photo of her first time in her car seat... and a picture of her in her new seat :-)

Jumping (and swinging) bean

This video shows what Anya does in her jumper much better than the other jumping video... she has learned to swing... quite entertaining.

6 months ago..

Here are two photos.. first is from 7 weeks old.. second is from almost 8 months old..

two stories

Here are 2 stories from yesterday...

I was putting Anya in her doorway jumper and one of her legs was folded in and stuck. I didn't notice and I began to back away. She started jumping like usual but something didn't look right. She was jumping with one leg. We have such an easy going baby. She figured "well okay mom I will just use one leg then, it's alright".. :)

Later on at bath time I felt in her mouth and she has a 5th tooth cut through!! It is the upper left lateral incisor (tooth next to the front middle 2). I am so happy that this one wasn't as painful as the last two... maybe the next one will be this easy :) I am going to really try and take a photo of these teeth. It is much easier to get pictures of the bottom teeth.

Crib mirror

When I take Anya out of her crib after a nap or in the morning she stares at her Sesame mirror. If she does this I place her sitting in front of it so she can look at herself while hearing the song and seeing the lights.
I will be posting more videos and none will be as entertaining as the belly laugh video. I know the grandparents appreciate seeing Anya in action. Here is a clip of her with her mirror.

10 things we like

Some of these things we have always enjoyed.. and some of them are new to us.. you can click on the name for a picture:
1. Doorway jumper- Anya goes in it every day and bounces all around with a huge smile.
2. Cart cover- she can sit up in the grocery cart and restaurant high chairs and be comfy & clean.
3. Caterpillar bath cups- She is obsessed with the blue head cup and will choose it every night out of all the bath toys I surround her with.
4. Bundle Me- It is freezing in NH right now.. this keeps her cozy warm.
5. Sanitizer- I throw the toys that fell on the floor in the store or restaurant in here when I get home. It kills 99.9% of germs with dry heat.
6. Play Mat- We still use this and have been since she was a few weeks old. We hang toys above her and now sit her up to play on it.
7. Diaper bag- Every time we go out we take this and it has worked out great.
8. Projection Mobile- Anya loves this and soon enough we will have to take the animals off (when she starts pulling on them) and use the projection without them.
9. Johnson's Lavender bedtime bath- Smells very nice.. supposed to relax babies and I love to smell her after :)
10. Pandora. com- Music website that creates a station for you. I type in Laurie Berkner or Raffi and we listen to a childrens station. You can use it for any type of music. Speaking of children music we love They Might be Giants Here Come the 123s, B is for Bob (bob marley), Jack Johnson sing-a-longs, and Laurie Berkner Victor Vito... we also love a few lullaby CDs.. including Celtic, Classical and Disney soundtrack lullabies.

Push up

Anya is now pushing herself up with her arms. She still isn't fond of being on her belly and would much rather sit up or lay on her back. She does sit up really well now. We can place her standing up while holding onto something and let go for a second or two. I will have to get a photo of her doing that. :)

Jumping Bean

Just for This Day

Just for This Day

Author Sally Meyer

Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say you’re beautiful.
Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.
Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the garden blowing bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won’t stand over you trying to ‘fix’ things.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you put all kinds of barrettes in my hair, and put lipstick on my face, and I will tell you how pretty you have made me look.
Just for this afternoon I will take you to McDonalds and buy us both a Happy meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born, and how much we love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch swing and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for three hours and miss my favorite show on t.v.
Just for this evening, When I kneel down to pray, I will simply be grateful for all that I have and not ask for anything, except
just one more day.

Belly laughs

I was copying Anya's farm toy today and making animal noises. She thought it was hysterical and especially loved the pig. Watch the video :-)

A Monday

This picture is Anya all bundled up and ready to go grocery shopping yesterday. I never would have imagined my day being complete because we had a successful grocery shopping trip and two scheduled naps. It is and I am totally happy with that. Not only did we do that but we made up some more baby food, cleaned the house (ok not the floors hehe), and cooked dinner before I had to leave to attend a wake of a cousins wifes mom. When I was driving home from the store I looked in the back seat and smiled at Anya and she smiled back into her mirror. She can see me well in her mirror and I had no idea.
We had some fun play time yesterday. Anya has begun to learn to search for something after she drops it (object permanence) and hold onto something in her hand without dropping the first object in the other hand. This is big people. She now can slam two things together continously to make lots of noise. :) She is doing raspberries with her tongue out lately. Before she would just do it with her lips. It is so cute to watch her try and try until she gets a good one.
I get teary eyed almost once a day at something she does or just looking at her. Yesterday it was just watching her with her pop up toy from my aunt Vicky. The look of wonder on her face did it.
I told you this cat loves her...
or is it her toys that he loves?.. hmmm..

Routines

The past few days it has snowed, stopped, snowed, stopped. We have spent these days inside playing with Anya, snuggling on the couch, cooking and eating too much, moving the cars for the plows, organizing Anya's little clothes, taking the tree down, cooking Anya more pureed food and at night watching movies. It has been really relaxing. Since we have been home so much Anya has been on a nap schedule. It has been nice. She wakes up in the morning and this time varies. Sometimes she is up at 6:30am and sometimes it is 7am. This morning she woke at 6am and Dwight gave her 2 oz and then she slept until 8am! She always takes a nap 2 hours after she wakes up. Her afternoon naps were random until the past few days. She would sometimes fall asleep around noon in the car for a short nap and then I would struggle to get her to nap more later on. Sometimes she would be easy with a third nap and other times she would only take two naps. Well being home all of the time has made a second nap that happens 3 hours after the first nap and this one has been about 2 hours. It has been so pleasant to know that she is getting a good amount of rest and it has been nice to have time to relax alone or get some more things done in the house.

Our night time routine is basically the same as it has been. We pushed the time back a half hour but other than that it hasn't changed. We give her solids around 4pm and around 5pm give her 3-4 oz of formula. We play some more and at 6pm she gets a bath. After bath we put on her PJ's and sleep sack, lullaby CD (same one every night), and give her 4 more oz of formula in the glider with the lights dimmed. She definitely eats more in the last couple hours before bed. I turn on her mobile and rain forest toy and say goodnight. She is usually in bed at 6:30pm. I want to add in more stories and I sometimes do that before bath. I also want to start brushing her gums in some sort of way to get her used to that.

I'm not going to lie.. I love it at 6:30pm when she is asleep and we are finishing up making dinner. We have dinner together and watch our shows. It's so nice. I get my time with her all day so this adult time is wonderful.

When we are staying somewhere else like my sister's house our routine is off but we just go with the flow. When we return home after our trip Anya smiles away when she is put in the bath. I think she really enjoys knowing what is going to happen next. Life is easier when you know what will happen next. :)

Welcome 2010

Best Friends

When we brought Anya home in May our cat Herman was curious about her for a moment and then didn't care for her. He didn't love or hate her.. he just ignored her. Over the past 7 months he has grown to love her. Now they are best buds. When we play upstairs, Herman is upstairs. When we go downstairs he follows us. He sits an arm length away from her so she can smile and laugh at him without grabbing at him. He lets her pet him. We try and make sure she doesn't grab at his hair but she has once or twice and he has just sat there and let her. She adores him and I think he adores her.