Time with Gramps and Diane

After dinner on Sunday, we went to spend some time with Gramps and Diane.  Anniston is so lucky to have so much of her family, and all of her grandparents less than an hour away.  Anniston seems to be doing better with her separation issues, and everyone is happy with that.  She spent a lot of time playing on the floor with Gramps and Grandma Diane.  

 We finally got to take a few pictures of Anniston with Gramps and Grandma Diane too.  Now we can start to put the family pictures up in the stairwell at home.

This picture has been one that I have been wanting to create for a long time.  It is not 100% what I want, but it is a good start.  We have a photograph of Andrea sitting on Grand Daddy Byrd's lap when she was still an infant.  Once I can locate the scan of that old family photograph, I will post it up for comparison.

Lets do Lunch!

Anniston's dining out skills have gotten much better lately.  For a while we avoided going out to many restaurants, because Anniston was not very cooperative.  We had a few really bad experiences, and were a little hesitant to go out.  We started going out to places that were family oriented, places with enough background noise that Anniston testing out her lungs would not be the only thing other diners would hear.  We have also developed a routine when we dine out, and are getting better at keeping Anniston involved and content.

This past weekend we had lunch at a not so loud restaurant with Andrea's dad's side of the family.  Anniston really enjoyed her time with her cousin Rory.  They played with toys, Rory fed Anniston some puffs and Rory tried to pull Rory's hair a lot...I think she has hair envy.

Anniston posing for a rare photo op with dad.

A long lunch takes a lot out of Anniston.  Before lunch was over, she was falling asleep in one of her favorite places.

All in all, she did a really good job at a quiet restaurant.  Maybe we will be able to go to nicer places in the future.

Play Time

Anniston really enjoys her play time.  During the day she plays until she drops.  She has more toys than she needs, but with the attention span given to her by my genetics, she needs all the toys she can get to stay busy all day.  I decided to try to get down low and try to take her pictures while she was playing.

At first she was not really sure what dad was doing laying on the floor with the big black gadget up to his face again.

 She played along for a little while, slinging her toys around like she does.

 But before too long, her curiosity got the better of her, and she had to come find out what dad was doing.  From that point forward, all she wanted to do was grab the camera lens...thankfully I was faster than she was, and no camera lenses were damaged in this experiment.  I will try it again, and see if I can really capture the fun she has when she plays.

Plums

Anniston has expanded her palette once again, this time with plums.  Well, she had her palette expanded for her.  I was not at all surprised when she liked them.  She has taken to all but one food that we have fed her, she really is a good eater.

I think she spends more time looking at the camera now.  She is definitely much more aware of it.  Sometimes to the detriment of the eating process.  Sometimes she ends up with more of it on her face than in her mouth.

Happy Valentines Day

I know I am about a week late...but I wanted to share Anniston's Valentines Day Picture.  This is one of our most creative ideas yet, it was a team effort.  Happy Valentines Day!

245 Days

354,240 Minutes
5903 Hours
245 Days

or simply put...8 Months.  That is how long Anniston has been with us, give or take a few minutes.  It has been such a unique experience up to this point.  It has been a lot of fun to watch her grow, develop and form the personality that she has today.  It has been a very rewarding experience, and we are only 8 months in.

Anniston Paige at 8 months.

Yogurt anyone?

When you are on a roll with adding new foods...you just keep going, trying to give your child, and yourself a little variety in the feeding routine.  Yogurt was next up on the list.

As is her routine...she has to make ugly faces at anything new.  We are starting to get wise to her ways, and make her keep eating whatever we are feeding her.  She will get over the ugly faces soon enough.

 Then she starts to realize..."Hey...I like that, tastes like peaches...my favorite!"

 And then she could not get enough, and looked at the cup of yogurt with a hungry look on her face, staring each bite into her little mouth...she had it all over her face before too long, and she had eaten almost the whole cup of yogurt.  A new favorite!

Carrots and bad habits

Anniston has continued to work her way through various different foods.  We recently decided that she ought to try carrots.  While I was making them, I thought to myself...there is no way she is going to eat these.  They smell pretty bad...but then again, I don't like carrots.  So I was pretty surprised when she liked them.

She made her customary funny faces, the same one she makes whenever she tries something new.

She ended up eating the entire serving for the night.  I think she actually liked them.  She is also growing more curious about the big black contraption that dad points at her all the time.  Thankfully, I have not had to clean pureed peas or carrots or sweet potatoes off any of my lenses yet...I know to keep my distance.

Anniston is also learning bad habits...we have a tendency to feed her in the living room, where she enjoys watching her favorite TV show, Wheel Of Fortune.  It can sometimes be a little difficult to get her to pay attention to her food.