Anna at 8 Months

Unoffical weight (on our home scale)= 19.2 lbs

Tooth count= 2 (on the bottom)!!  One day when Anna was fussy due to one of her teeth coming in, I tried to put some baby teeth numbing gel on her gums.  That was easier said than done, and it ended up on her lips and tongue as well.  About 10 minutes later, I noticed Anna stick her two fingers in her mouth (like always), and then pull them out to look at them.  Then she stuck the two fingers back in her mouth, then pulled them back out to look at them, this time feeling her two fingers with her other hand.  You could see that her little "wheels were turning" as she tried to figure out why she couldn't taste/feel her fingers with her mouth, lol!

Things Anna enjoys:

-Patting things (this activity usually includes both hands).

-Watching her daddy clap.

-Being able to shake a rattle.

-Being tickled under her chin and neck.

-Giggling at people wiggling their eyebrows up and down.

-Dropping toys over the edge of her high chair.

-Feeding herself Little Puffs.

-Sitting up on her own-- she has now become pretty steady, and doesn't topple over very often.

-Sitting up in her small bathtub, splashing, and playing with aquatic animal bath toys.

-Rolling, twisting, and kicking herself in a circle to get to where she wants (usually to a cell phone, Ipad, TV remote, etc.)-- but only when it is barely out of reach.

-Being held and carried around... she will only tolerate playing without being held for ~10 minutes at a time, before getting very upset (even if you are 3 feet from her).  The lady from Parents As Teachers said that this is a form of separation anxiety, and it is okay to hold her.

-Even though she wants to be held (and is generally quiet and content when being carried around), she is continually pushing away (so I'm always re-positioning her in my arms).  She knows she wants to go places (crawl/walk), but doesn't quite know how to make it happen yet.

-Anna enjoys saying her first consonant sound... ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!  I'm not convinced yet that she is associating it with me, but it is still heart-warming :)  We've been working on teaching her "da-da".

 

We attended the MU vs AR basketball game in Arkansas..

On our way back from Arkansas.  Anna is very proud to be in the drivers' seat (only while we stopped!).

Ryan trying to coax Anna to crawl



Anna with her friend Ayla

Anna trying to feel her friend Ayla's face.

Anna is very proud to be sitting up on her own.

Anna at 7 Months

Things About Anna at 7 Months:

-Anna enjoys being bounced on a adult's knee... flapping her arms and legs furiously, with a serious and intense look of concentration on her face.

-Anna has seemed to be recognizing familiar faces (family members, etc) for a while, but now she is starting to get excited to see people--smiling, squealing and laughing.

-Anna has now re-discovered her tongue and lips.  She likes to stick her tongue out often, and as far as she possibly can-- when she's laughing, when she's crying, when she's "talking", etc.  This is resulting in a lot more drool.  She also enjoys slurping and sucking on her lips, and also sucking on her own tongue, if that's even possible.

-Anna now likes frozen teething toys, and is getting better at grasping them.

-Anna's decided in the last 2 weeks that she will no longer eat from a bottle (which is how she's been eating on Tuesdays for 4 months). This has been hard on her and her Grandma both, as you might suspect. I've been trying to work with her to take a bottle also, without success thus far... any suggestions?

-Anna is enjoying trying new foods (that we mix in with her baby cereal)... pureed mango seems to be her new favorite.

-Anna is very interested in whatever is behind her-- no matter which way is facing, she thinks she is missing something in back of her, and is always craning her head around to see whatever that is . One challenge caused by this is when changing her diaper, because she is always twisting to try to get the things behind/ above her head.  She has therefore been given the job of holding the wet wipes package during diaper changes, to keep her occupied ;)

-Anna's becoming increasingly interested in her surroundings.  This time trying to take her "7 month old" picture next to the same bear and sign, was a bit more challenging due to her developing awareness of her surroundings.  Anna was very interested in feeling the bear and grabbing the sign.

  

Things are getting quite a bit messier around here.

Just chillin' with her tongue out.

Anna is getting really good at grabbing earrings...

Anna at 6 months

Anna's Stats at 6 months:

Height = 26 inches;  73rd percentile

Weight = 17 lbs, 1 oz;  75th percentile

Hed Circumferece = 42.3cm;  50th percentile

 Things Anna is doing:

-Almost sitting up on her own-- still slightly wobbly and will topple over without support.

-Scratching things (mainly me).  She has figured out how to curl her fingers some, and intentionally scratch her fingernails along different surfaces.

-Rolling from front to back to front to back-- but mainly to her right.  Therefore she can still get stuck when she comes up against an obstacle.

-Sleeping inconsistently--sometimes waking up 3 to 4 times per night.  I've started trying to let her "cry it out" if it's been any less than 3 hours since her last feeding during the night.

-Becoming very busy-- her hands are always reaching, grabbing things, people's faces, etc.  This is especially funny to me when she is flailing her arms and exploring my face with her hands while nursing.  She's also very busy exploring her activity center.

-Growling-- the best possible description for the sound she is making all of the time.  Kind of like a bear cub, or shall we say tiger cub, since she was born into a Missouri Tigers family!  You would think this would be a sound of disgust, but she uses it to express a variety of emotions (including happiness).

-Developing an interest in other people's food-- at a birthday dinner for my dad, he was holding Anna while trying to eat his cupcake, and she kept watching each bite go in, and eventually redirected the spoon to her mouth.  Mom and I were crying, we were laughing so hard.  Anna's first taste of "real food" was a carrot cake cupcake-- let's just say that she LOVED real food.  From the expressions on her face, pureed carrots and bananas since then just haven't quite been the same experience :)

 

A few more pictures of Anna at 6 months

Had to document these cheeks!

Anna is one fun little girl!

Anna at 5 Months

Anna's new activities:
-Anna has become more proficient at rolling from back to front, although she gets frusterated once she is on her stomach for long.  This has sometimes had an adverse effect on her sleeping at night.
-Anna has just developed the ability to grab her feet, pull off her socks, and more recently to stick her feet in her mouth.
-Anna enjoys licking things.
-One sweet thing Anna is doing is curling/cuddling into you when you are holding her, and making a loud high-pitch squeal.
-Anna now makes a lot of high-pitch squeals, in general :)

-Anna occasionally has a strong preference that it should be silent while she is eating. Sometimes if Ryan or I are talking while she is trying to eat, she will start making a loud, frusterated, humming noise of disapproval.
-Anna likes to explore people's faces with her hands, when she is allowed to.

-Anna's hands are now busy all the time, ie grabbing Grandma's glasses, batting at different toys, etc.
-Anna is enjoying jumping in her Jumperoo!  Super cute :)

Other information:
-Anna had seemed more fussy for the last 3 to 4 weeks, so I took her to the pediatrician to see if she possibly still had her ear infection. We found out she 1) no longer has an ear infection and 2) is not teething-- the Dr just said she is just at the age where babies "are more aware, and start developing more preferences and opinions", lol :)
-What I have realized is that since Daylight Savings Time (approx 3-4 weeks ago), I have been trying keep Anna awake longer at night, so that she'll sleep in longer in the morning (although it hasn't been working), so her increased fussiness may be due to not getting enough sleep. The last couple of days I've been putting her to bed when she wants to (~6:45pm), and she has been sleeping in later (~12 hours), has been taking better naps during the day, and has been more back to her less-fussy self!   I'm thinking that whoever it was that told me that for babies, "sleep breeds sleep", knew what they were talking about!
-Ryan and I trimmed Anna's hair for the first time, because it was already starting to get in her eyes.







Anna explores the world through licking.

Showing off her new haircut




 

Anna enjoys matching her cousin Clara!  Thanks to my mom for making their Christmas dresses!

Anna at 4 Months

Anna's Stats at 4 Months:

Height = 25 inches;  75th percentile

Weight= 15 lbs, 2 oz;  85th percentile (down from the >97th percentile at her 2 month check-up)

Head Circumference= 41cm;  50th percentile

 

Sleeping information:

-She is developing a more regular sleep/awake cycle during the day. Naps and eating are more predictable.

-She is regularly sleeping 11 to 12 hours straight at night, Wooh-hooh!   At her 4 month check-up, the doctor was suprised by this, and told her that she could still be getting up 1 or 2 times a night, if she wanted.

-Most of the hair on Anna's head is approaching 3 inches long, except for the 2 inch nearly bald spot on the back of her head. Proof that she is sleeping on her back, per the pediatrician's recommendation.

 

Other information:

-She has rolled from back to front (approx 3 times over a 3 week period), and more recently from front to back (2 times).  These have not been repeated often, so could have been an accident :)

-Bibs have now become a regular part of Anna's outfits, due to increased drooling.

-She has her first ear infection, and has been a bit more vocal and emotional because of it.

-She is trying to grasp at different objects, and noticing more things in general (such as taking time to look at and evaluate my scarves)

-She has developed the fine motor skills necessary to grab and hold onto my hair!

-She is now laughing and squealing when you pretend to eat her sides and tummy, and also when you kiss her cheeks.

-Whenever she is starting to get tired or is relaxing, she has a new "go to" position... two fingers in mouth, one hand over eyes/nose area...

Anna was a pea pod for Halloween :)

A few photos of Anna's Eldon visit...

 

A photo with the tripod on Roger & Caryl's visit to Columbia... we had a really pretty 70 degree week-end right before the temperature dropped.

 

 

And the grand finale...

 

 

Anna at 3 Months

Things Anna is doing:

-Smiling a lot more.

-Talking a lot more.  Anna and Ryan have some fun conversations, where he's trying to imitate her different vocal noises, and she's encouraged to try out some new ones.

-"Sleeping through the night" sometimes, if you mean sleeping 7 to 8 hours straight  (even if the 8 hours ends at 3:30am)

-Getting startled and crying at loud noises such as her daddy 1)coughing 2)laughing 3)cheering while watching sports

-Becoming less interested in her swing.

-Becoming more interested and better at using her pacifier-- this is becoming the key to calming her when she's fussy and helping her to take her afternoon nap.

-Enjoying having books read to her (especially her books with high-contrast, black and white pictures.)

-Laughing consistently at two things in paticular:

1) When I'm pretending to eat her hand.

2) When I keep leaning in to kiss different parts of her face.

Anna being three months old also marked the end of my 12 weeks of maternity leave and going back to work (only one day per week, though).

Thankfully Anna is in good hands :)

A few more photos of Anna at 3 months old...

Visiting her Uncle John's house





 

First visit to Arkansas-- she did a lot better on the car ride than expected!



All dressed up and ready to attend church at FBC Eldon.

Anna will imitate someone sticking out their tongue at her.



Here Anna is busy talking.



This is an expression she makes when concentrating
 on making new vocal sounds.



So far each stage of Anna's life has been so fun for us-- we really enjoy her!