Story Time

We have started to read little baby books to Anniston.  I read to her in the afternoon after I get home.  She usually just tries to eat the book, but it is supposed to be good for her to hear the words.  On nights that Anniston does not get a bath, Andrea reads to her before bed time.  Anniston still tries to eat the books, and isn't paying attention, but we keep at it.

It is a good way for Anniston to wind down before her bed time bottle, and good mommy time for her too.  These are the kinds of pictures that I know I will cherish forever.  She won't be this little forever, and she is so much fun.  She seems to grow up too fast already.  Before we know it, she will be reading the books to us.

New Food!

In our ongoing effort to make sure that Anniston is exposed to more food, in the hopes that she won't be as picky as I am, it was time to add something new to her diet. Last night we added peas. One of the only vegetables that I actually like. If you remember back to the Avocado Experiment, when Anniston does not like something, she lets you know pretty quick. Her first few bites of peas were not too bad, no bad reactions, and no gagging...from her or us. Just think about it...cold, pureed peas...sounds really tasty doesn't it?

It was probably 5 or 6 bites before we got the first face that said...I am tired of this food, can I have peaches, or apples or something that I like please!

She ended up eating what we consider to be her serving of food for dinner.  I was really glad that she did not react to the peas the way she did the Avocado. 

Anniston is also getting more and more comfy with the camera pointed at her.  She is also starting to make funny faces.  Most of the time I am laughing too hard to stay steady enough to take a picture.  I got lucky and caught this one last night...it makes me laugh today.

Overall, she has done really well with new foods.  She loves to eat, we don't have to bribe her to eat.  She is usually sitting there, mouth open waiting for the next bite.  She has not had any reactions to anything we have fed her either, which is a good thing.  

Tonight I made one of her favorites for the next few days...peaches.  She loves them.  In a couple days, when the peas are gone, we are going to try out carrots...I can't blame her if she does not like them, I don't.  

7 Months Old

Anniston Paige is 7 Months old today.  Yep, 7 months.

Her hair is starting to grow a little more, I can brush it just a little bit after bath time.  She is incredibly curious.  She gets into everything, especially if she isn't supposed to and its not hers.  Some days she looks more like Mommy, some days more like me.  When she has her eyes wide open with curiosity, she looks like mommy.

When I try to imagine how to explain life with her now, I can only come up with one way...a picture.

This is what it feels like...like we are out numbered and can't keep up.

I think that I am up to date now, and will try to do a better job of staying that way.  For now, it is time to go walk the dog then go to bed.  It is past my bed time.

Fast Paced Change

Remember back, on December 24th Anniston went from only rolling around to crawling.  In the span of the next week, she also started to sit up with ease, and then pulling up on everything she could, and standing there. Sitting on the floor is no longer an acceptable form of entertainment.  If she can't stand up...she isn't happy!

When I get home from work, I am not met by just the dog anymore...Anniston crawls her way through the dining room to the kitchen to say hello with a big smile.  If one of us leaves the room, she tries to follow us to find out where we went.  She tries to chase Abbey around, but she is not quite fast enough for that yet.

Just yesterday, January 7th, she crawled up the first four stairs on the stairs all by herself.  We of course were right there in case she lost her balance, Andrea was supposed to be catching it on the video camera...but she forgot to his record!

The days of her being a little lump of baby stuck in one place are long gone.  If you leave the room, when you come back, she will not be where she was when you left her.  It presents a whole new level of challenges.

First Christmas

I know this is two weeks late...but I am trying to get caught up!  This one is going to be a long one, so, you might want to grab a snack

2011 was obviously going to be Anniston's first Christmas.  Anniston does not realize it yet, but she is lucky, she gets to have Christmas 4 times every year.  One with Gramps, one with Nama, once with Grandma and Grandpa Rhoads and at home!  I am not sure where we put all of it...I think some of it is being stored to use at a later date.  Anniston enjoyed it so much, she loves all of the paper, tissue paper and bows...so many things to chew on!

I told myself that this blog entry would have 3 or 4 pictures, one from each celebration...that did not work out. I had too much fun taking pictures of her having even more fun.  She was surrounded by new things to play with and new clothes to wear.  The first Christmas with a new baby is a lot of fun.

First up...Christmas with Gramps was on Saturday the 16th.

When all of her presents were piled up around her, the look of amazement and surprise was priceless.

Anniston really likes to rip the paper off.  She knew exactly what to do with it.

It is a Rhoads family tradition to wear a bow on your head, Anniston had the biggest bow.

Later that bow was good for chewing on...that is very eco-friendly of her, re-purposing things like that.

Next up was at Nama's house on Sunday the 17th.  She was pretty tired, and spent a little of the time at Nama's house sleeping in my arms on the sofa, but when it was her turn, she tore into her presents with a lot of enthusiasm.

She really was fascinated by the bags, paper and things to play with.

And she knew when things were hers...GIVE THAT BACK MOMMY, ITS MINE!

Christmas Day started out at home, she could finally get into all of the presents under the tree that she had been tormented by for weeks.

She was patient, and posed for pictures for Daddy.  

She really liked to wear her Santa hat.  She was genuinely excited Christmas morning...she could crawl now!

The piles of toys and clothes started to take over the whole room, we had to keep an eye on Anniston to not lose her in the piles!

After we had finished our family Christmas, Gramps and Nama came by to visit and see all of Anniston's new things.  It was good to see them on Christmas Day.  She does not know it yet, but it will be very special for her to see all of her Grandparent's on Christmas.  One day she will understand just how special that is.  But for now, mom and dad will have to be the thankful ones for her.  

Uncle Trent and Aunt Sarah also came to see Anniston on their way to Grandma and Grandpa Rhoads' house.  

After all of that fun, we packed into the car and headed up to see Grandma and Grandpa Rhoads.  Great Grandpa Rhoads would also be there.  

More tissue paper and wrapping paper to chew on. 

More new toys to play with...and chew on.  It was a teething night for sure.

Anniston had a great first Christmas.  We had a great Christmas with her.  We got to see a very large part of our extended family.  She saw all of her Great Grandparents, Grandparents, her two uncles, two aunts and two cousins.  We wish we had been able to spend time with family that lives further away, while they may not have been there in person, they were there with us in spirit.  

A little friendly wager.

Andrea and I have watched Anniston grow and develop over the last 6 months. Some of it has happened faster than either of us would have expected. But there was one thing that I was sure of, sure enough to bet Andrea on. I wagered that Anniston would be crawling before Christmas Day. I made this little wager while she was still working on rolling over and starting to try to get to her hands and knees. She was not even doing the military crawl yet. Andrea accepted the bet, with hopes of getting to go to the spa for a massage. Over the next several weeks, there were times that I was convinced she was crawling, but none met the approval of Andrea. I did not give up, I kept working with her. On Christmas Eve, after bath time, with time winding down...she crawled across her room to get to something that she was not supposed to be in. She was off her belly, hands and knees crawling across the room! I won! I was surprised, shocked and impressed all at the same time. Here is a little video clip about a week later, once she was really starting to motor across the floor.  this video is the first I have tried to post on the blog, so I hope it works.  It is less than 7mb, so give it a minute to load depending on your internet speed.

Cookies for Santa

The second half of December seemed to fly by. Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve. Anniston helped us leave cookies for Santa by the fireplace. Then it was off to bed, to wait to see what Santa might bring her for Christmas!

Separation Anxiety

Our house is suffering from separation anxiety...not mom and dad, but Anniston. In mid December, and still a little now, if anyone other than mommy, daddy or one of the two grandmas held Anniston, she would start to scream and cry. This was new, she had not previously acted like this. It has been very frustrating to us, and I am sure for the people that are wanting to hold her and spend time with her. One of those people was my dad. I am sure he knows what is going on, but I still think that there is a part of him that was upset that she would cry when he would hold her. After all, this is his first grand child. After the first occurrence of this bad behavior, my parents were scheduled to watch Anniston one night while we went to a wedding. We left Anniston with Grandpa Rhoads, and Grandma Rhoads played it perfect, she did not get involved. Anniston had to immerse herself in Grandpa, and deal with it. It worked. The next day, she and Grandpa were best friends, she even let him feed her.

Lets Eat!

At Anniston's 6 month doctors appointment, we were told that it was time to start feeding her something other than the bottles and rice cereal. It was time to start feeding her pureed fruits and select vegetables. We had decided that we would make our own baby food, rather than buy it from the grocery store. It would be better for her. So far, she has really enjoyed apples and pears. Anniston even likes Sweet Potatoes. She gobbles them up, and asks for more. Apparently her mom and dad liked them when they were babies too...neither of us like them now. One thing Anniston has not liked is Avocado...she does not like it at all. We know this, because both times we fed it to her, we got the same reaction. A reaction we have not gotten with any other food.

That is the sequence we got when she tasted the avocado...I think we will hold off on feeding that to her for a while. We still have two containers that are good for another couple weeks, so we might try it again then. After the avocado experiment...we thought, we might as well see if she likes another new food, squash. And she liked it.

Anniston really enjoys feeding time, she is an eager eater. We don't have to bribe her to open her mouth, in fact, most times we don't feed her fast enough. When she sees the spoon and food come out, she gets excited. She really likes sitting in her high chair at the table too. She gets to eat with mom and dad most nights.

Fascination

Anniston has been fascinated by the Christmas Tree. NO matter what toys we put out for her, she went for the Christmas Tree, tree skirt and the presents under the tree. If we turned out back on her...off she went, rolling to the tree to get her hands on the presents and the decorations. If we left the room, we knew where we would find her when we got back.

6 Months Old

A lot of people have already seen the 6 month old pictures, they were on our Christmas Card. This was one reason there were no updates for a while. I wanted those pictures to be new to everyone on the Christmas Card. Anniston had a lot of fun making these pictures, she really liked the tissue paper. Tissue paper was flying all over the place.

December 5, 2011

December 5, 2011 was Anniston's 6 Month Well Visit with the pediatrician. Yep, 6 months old, can you believe it, I know I can't. She did great. She loved tearing up all of the paper on the exam table, and she was all over the place, trying to get into anything she could get her hands on. The doctor was very pleased with her development. Some of the things Anniston was doing were a little ahead of schedule, so that was good news. At that time, she was trying to sit up more, she could roll around on the floor with ease, and she really liked to stand up on her feet if you held her hands. She was right on track, and doing great. She weighed in at 16 pounds 3 ounces, still only in the 50% for her age. She measured out at 27 3/4" long, in the 98% for her age. Long and lean! Anniston had to get more shots...she doesn't like those, she makes really ugly faces after the second one, and looks at us like..."Hey, why did you let her do that?!?" It was a good visit.

We are still here.

I confess...we have been a little on the busy side, and I have not set aside time to update the blog. I apologize. A 6 month old is a lot of work...those of you that have been through it, remember back to those days as a new parent...forget everything you have learned now...its a lot of work. But I am sorry that I have lapsed, I know that there are readers that check back often to see what is going on...way more than I could ever have imagined. This little blog has had over 8,500 pageviews...that blows me away...so I apologize to those that have not gotten the updates they are after. I had no idea that there were so many people waiting on updates, but I have heard from a few now that I need to get with it and post some updates. So, I am setting aside some time this afternoon to start updating. Here goes nothin'!