I Love...

the stream of "words" constantly coming out of her mouth.

that I put her down on her tummy and find her on her back a few minutes later.

her giggle.

how she can reach for and pick up toys.

that singing to her brings a smile to her face almost instantly.

the way she licks everything.

the way she holds on when you carry her now.

how she smiles like her dad.

her.

Lullabies

Getting ready for a baby requires a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  You pick out a carseat, you set up a nursery, you take a childbirth class, you pick out a name....In the grand scheme of things everything's pretty easy.  You get advice from friends, family, old ladies at church, and random people at the grocery store...  Eat this, don't eat that.  Use this product and steer clear of that one.  Lots of the advice is great, some of it is not for you, and some of it is just flat out wrong.

The only thing that no one talks about is something that is needed daily. In fact, mulitple times daily.

Lullabies.

My advice for any soon to be parent would be learn some lullabies to sing to your little one when they arrive.  And by lullabies, I mean anything soothing not just the typical "rock a bye baby" stuff.

Anna went through a period (like most babies) between six and twelve weeks that she was really fussy. Especially at night. Like 3-4 hours of crying with very little calm in between.
I read that babies love to hear their parents sing to them.  Even more than hearing them talk.  So when Anna was fussy, wanting to soothe her, we would sing to her.   My iPod resides in Anna's room now and with the iPod it was easy to sing to her. Take the iPod away and we were LOST.

How many songs can you sing begining to end without the song playing?  We were pathetic. I knew a line or two but I couldn't keep the singing up to soothe her.  Allen was a bit better but not by much.  Often we would resort to Christmas carols which in the begining was ok since it was the Christmas season. 

I sang Kum By Ya one night at least 197 times because it was the only song I could keep singing long enough.  See, that's pathetic.  After 197 times, I added Jesus Loves Me to my set list, but still, only two songs...

Desperate times, call for desperate measures.

I've been listening to the Pandora Lullaby channel, and I've purchased some children's music but that's not what helps the most.  I grabbed the hymnal I have at home.  I know it sounds cheesy but I grew up singing those songs and there are lots of familiar tunes in there.  The words are the hard part so there's no excuse if they are in front of you. 

A old familiar tune is as comforting as a mother's embrace so put the two together and you are sure to win.

Bunny Love

TN & Easter

Anna's first vacation will go down in the books as her trip to Pigeon Forge with Allen's family for spring break.  There was a car show in town which made for a very crowded and painful first weekend but it ended on Sunday so we had a very nice week. For example- Allen, Anna, and I sat in traffic for over 3 hours to go 3 miles. OUCH!!! I nursed her twice in the car and changed two diapers.  Considering we were stuck, she was a rock star.  Allen was only with us for the first weekend because he traveled to DC for a conference.  Anna and I spent the week relaxing with family, taking in some shows, shopping, and eating good food.  We were gone for 9 days and guess who wore cloth diapers the whole time?!  I have some flats (very thin one layer diapers that are a 30 inch square you fold up) and I did wash each night.  It worked out perfectly.  Right now, each diaper costs about 27 cents so I paid for the flats already after just using them for a week!  I was worried about how Anna would do away from home for so long.  Well, no need to worry.  She was great.  She napped like a champ (now that we are home she's back to not napping) and only had one really fussy spell that lasted about thirty minutes! She really is the best baby!



Anna's First Easter

We left TN to come home on Friday and my parents were already in NC to visit for the weekend.  We spent the weekend running a few errands here and there and eating lots of food! We went to the early service at church for Easter and Anna slept through most of it. My sister and her boyfriend came up on Sunday for lunch.  While they were here we dyed eggs and took a walk.  Seems that walking around the neighborhood is becoming a holiday tradition.  We took a walk Christmas Night too!  Pop and Nona (no-nay) left on Monday after spending the morning playing with Anna.




You'll notice there aren't many pictures of the three of us from either trip.  We are getting bad about taking family portraits.  My goal is to work on that...

OHHHH !!!  I forgot!!  Miss Anna rolled over!  Granddaddy, Great Grandmother, and I got to see her go from her tummy to her back.  Ever since then we have all be encouraging her to do it again, with no success.  I guess she'll do it again when she's ready.

In Progress

I'm working on updating y'all on our vacation as well as Anna's first Easter.

Firsts of Manys

First National Park --- First Hike --- First Waterfall

The first stop of the day was a bit too windy for Mama and Anna to get out.





After our second hike of the day, she's all smiles.



Have baby.  Will hike.

There's a Monster at the End of This Post

Besides loving that book and somehow not having a copy yet, there truly is a monster at the end of this post.

I overheard a conversation between Allen and Anna the other night.

It went something like this:

Anna- GROWL! UGH!
Allen - Wow!
Anna- ROAR! GRRR!
Allen - What else do you have to say?
Anna - GROWL! GRRR!
Allen - Well, I don't know who taught you to be a monster but you are really good at it. I'm proud of you.
Anna -  GRR! ARGH!
 
It's true.  She often sounds like she is a happy little monster rather than a little girl.  Always growling at something, usually her hand (toy, blankie, your hand, etc) as she tries to shove it in her mouth... you know little girl monster stuff.
 
 

Doesn't she look the part? Crazy hair, crazy expression, crazy monster noises.

Little monsters eat whatever is nearby - including Daddy's hands.



Or their own fingers!

Have to say it... she's the cutest monster I know!

 

A Mother's Guilt

Allen and I thought it would be good to test our no dairy theory for Anna. 

So Saturday night, I had some dairy for the first time in six weeks.  Of course we had some pizza and split a CookOut milkshake.

That night and Sunday morning went smoothly.  She didn't seem to be any worse for the wear. I was hopeful.

Then after church, everything hit the fan. It was crystal clear, she most definitely has a dairy allergy or is very, VERY sensitive to it.

The crying, the spit-up, the dirty diapers, the rash..... poor little one.

She's doing much better today, still a little off but with no more dairy the end is near.  We are still working on kicking the diaper rash too.

I read that babies bellies mature greatly after nine months so we will give it a try again then but for now we are dairy free.

I felt awful yesterday, she was clearly uncomfortable.  Lots of crying, very little sleeping, lots of diaper changes which caused more crying because of the rash.  She did get lots of diaper free time to help the rash.  I'm sure this was the highlight of her day as she still loves to be naked. 

In between the crying episodes, the sweet girl we know and love was there.  It was just hard to find her.  Wait, I love the crying girl too, ahh, you know what I mean.

Here's a picture of her during one of her "nap" times....notice the lack of sleep.

On an unrelated note - Blogger seems to be going cheap on us.  The quality of this picture is terrible.  It's so blurry and compressed.  Blah. I shouldn't complain because Blogger's free but it is hard when it messes with my pictures. If you click on the picture to open it in a new window, it looks a lot better so the pixels are there but not at the same time.

4.2

Anna's four month birthday was last Saturday but her checkup was this morning. 

She is now at the age where she is changing everyday.  Allen often comments after he's been traveling for a day or two how much more control she has over her body or how much better she is at playing with a toy when he gets home. 

She has really started laughing. Which has to be the absolute best noise in the universe. I thought that having a girl meant I was free from having to make lots of sound effects.  You know when you watch little boys play with cars or action figures?  You know all the sound effects you hear?  Well, I'm terrible at making noises like that and I was thankful that I wasn't going to have to attempt them for Anna.  Boy, was I wrong. or should I say - Girl, was I wrong.  Making funny noises and faces is the easiest way to get Anna to release that beautiful laugh she has.  I'll admit, I spend the better part of my day making all kinds of silly faces accompanied by noises to get her to smile and eventually laugh.  I'm getting better but I still can't hang with the boys.

We are still working diligently on naps.  I can usually get her to the first nap of the day and then after that who knows.  Typically an hour or so after we get up, she starts staring off into space, rubbing her eyes, and snuggling a bit more so I know it's time to start the routine.  We rock and we sing for a little and then I lay her down and sometimes she takes a nap.  I would say 4 out of 6 times she'll drift off to sleep after I lay her down.  I then have 45 minutes to do as much as I can.  How much can you get done in 45 minutes? I've been learning, for me not a whole lot.

So here are her stats from the appointment -
13lbs even (50%)
24 and 3/4 inches (75%)
40cm head circumference (50%)

We made our guesses on her weight while in the waiting room.  I think the two As in my life are in cahoots because Allen guessed 13 even.  Needeless to say, my guess was wrong.

She got another round of shots today. This was Allen's first round of the shots...Anna barely whimpered after the first shot and I thought we were in the clear. WRONG! The second and third shot were a bit too much for this sweet girl.  She broke out the silent cry before really letting us have it. Or hear it.

She's sleeping now.  Rosy little cheeks and all.



 













Here she is on her birthday.  Don't you just love the barrette? (Thanks, Kim!)
I wish it would stay in for more than zero point two seconds! What can you do about baby fine hair?

Let the Good Times (egg) Roll!

This post started two Super Bowls ago.  While we watched the Saints march to victory, we enjoyed homemade egg rolls our friends made.  I love egg rolls.  They are my favorite part of Chinese take out.  Even better than my fortune.  I have been known to order more than one per visit.

A homemade egg roll was a foreign concept to me.  (pun not intended) For whatever reason there are a few foods that just seem down right impossible to make from scratch.  Egg rolls were probably at the top of the list.  Our friends had great success with the recipe they found, so I thought I should at least try it.

In the end, we made the egg rolls with our friends.  We doubled the batch and now each have a nice little stash in the freezer for stir fry nights. (or late night cravings)  In the end we made 77 egg rolls and I will admit that I only rolled about 7 of those.  I did, however, make sweet and sour sauce to dip the egg rolls in while they were rolling.

The egg rolls turned out great so I guess I should revisit the "can't be made from scratch" list and see what else I can whip up.

I envisioned a great blog post about this recipe.  Gorgeous pictures of each ingredient and the different steps.  But we got to talking, laughing, and having a good time that we only have a few pictures of the recipe.  Oh well, the fellowship in the kitchen and around the table is more important anyway. Here are the few pictures from our egg rolling experience.

He was so excited about his carrot shredding job!



Recipe reader and baby holder.
BTW - Anna thought the carrot shredding was very interesting,
as you can see she's watching him intently.



Stirring the pot.

One head of cabbage, six carrots, and two pounds of ground pork.

We went for broke and fried the egg rolls.