Okay, fess up. She's the cutest thing you've ever seen. I knew it! I mean just look at those cheeks! We're constantly commenting on how she really is one of the most perfect babies we've ever come in contact with. She's just happy most of the time and content playing by herself. Though, she does okay with having us around. :)
Christmas was fun and crazy. We spent Christmas with my family this year and Anna had fun playing with her cousins. Autumn (who's name Anna will get switched for when we visit my family) is only about two weeks older than Anna and already walking. It was fun to watch those two playing around each other. Jude, who's about a year older, had a lot of fun playing with the little walking activity thing. I think he ended up playing with it more than Anna did during that trip. Haha. Afterward, we went to Othello to have a small Christmas before Ty's parents left for Oregon, and spent New Year's with Nathan and Celia. Who to our happy surprise and their sad disappointment, had not been able to move to Utah yet. When she met Ty's brother, Brandon, this time, she got so scared she started crying and kinda freaking out. I think it's because of his crazy curly fro hair. No matter what we tried to get her to see he was safe, she wouldn't take to him. Poor guy.
Friday afternoon, most of us went to Burger King for lunch and when we were done one of the employees brought out a tray of tiny soft serves for the kids. I decided to let Anna have one. Because of the coldness, she made a sour face, but seemed to get used to after awhile and liked it. She couldn't finish it though. So naturally, being the good mother I am, I finished it for her. I couldn't possibly let perfectly good soft serve go to waste. Later that night, while we were watching a movie, I started feeling really cold and nauseous. By the time the movie was over, I felt awful and had to throw up. I had to have Ty come and stand outside the door just in case because I felt so weak that I almost past out. That continued for the next couple of days and soon after I got sick everyone else started too. Even little Anna to a small degree. Everyone, except Nathan. He was the trooper through it all and took good care of all us sicklies. It certainly made for a not so fun New Years. Oh well. Anna still enjoyed herself and enjoyed having tons of toys to play with. In fact, she was kind of a little stinker when in came to sharing toys. One time, one of the boys was trying to get a toy back from her and she totally played keep away. She's too smart for her own good. It was so bad that once, I think it was Ezra who was crawling towards her, he started crying because he knew what was coming. Those boys are sensitive and my girl definitely isn't. Haha. Like I said, she's a stinker.
Some things we are loving about Anna right now:
- Her laugh and smile. Hands down the best way to get happy instantaneously.
- She grew her next to bottom teeth without a peep. I'm so glad that she hasn't had to endure a lot of pain for it. If she has, she is amazing at tolerating it.
- She started rocking whenever she hears music or a beat (like when I'm running on the treadmill). It's so cute. It first started with the Ernie that she got from her Grandma & Grandpa Robbins. You push it to have him talk and the second thing he does is sing "One little, two little, three little duckies" and so forth and she'll hold Ernie tight and rock. It's so sweet. Her walker also makes sounds and has music so she'll press buttons until music comes along and start rocking.
- About a week and half to two weeks after we came home from Othello she became a full fledged walking girl. There was no out-of-the-blue, spontaneous act that she did. Just a lot of practice over time. She loves to toddle back and forth around the barricade, completely independent. I think what's she's been waiting for all her life. Now if she can manage to get past the new gates we put up, she'll be one happy camper.
- She started doing this head shake where it seems like she's saying "No", but really she's doing it to be funny and play. I think she may have got the idea from when she would sit in her high chair and I would dance for her, then get really close and shake my bangs and it made her laugh so much. She does it every once in awhile and I think it's really cute. Ty's not as much of a fan, but she doesn't seem to associate it with "No".
- Since we put up the gates we moved a few things. One of those being a footstool with a lid and collapsible legs. Ty bent the legs in and we started using it as the toy box. She loves going in it and sitting in there while she digs through the toys she gets to play with that week. We try to rotate weekly so she never gets too bored. It really seems effective. I can tell when I've forgotten to change them out because she starts to get overly cranky.
- When we come into her room in the morning to pick her up out of her crib, she is so happy. She still sleeps through the night (maybe waking up once or twice every so often, but always going back to sleep) and when she wakes up she happy. Getting her out of her room is almost like a game to her and she laughs when we are about to go downstairs. It definitely helps when you don't feel excited about waking up early.
Some things we aren't loving so much:
- Her appetite is so all over the place. I can never tell if she's going to like something that we give her one day and then hate it the next. Experimenting can be exhausting.
- The Rash. We had to have her wear a sweater at all times so she couldn't scratch her back and shoulders as easily. She's very determined though, so I have to keep a close eye on those finger nails. We noticed it started coming back on her head a little so we put bag balm on it. As long as we remember to do that every night we don't have any problems there. Her feet are still always needing to be covered with socks at all times. Ugh. I've kind of resigned myself to the idea that this maybe how it is for her. As her parent, I'm sad that she has to endure this, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help her. One day, it might not be as bad or go away completely. I hope.
- When we leave the room and she notices, even if I'm just going into the Kitchen, she gets really upset. I really wish we had a more open floor plan so that she doesn't have to worry that I'm going somewhere without her.
