Someone loves sitting

The baby who usually wants to be carried 24/7 has finally found something else she likes - sitting. Isn't she just the cutest thing you have ever seen?

1st fourth of July

On Annalise's first fourth of July we did . . . nothing. But we did dress her in a cute red, white, and blue outfit and eat a BBQ with my parents.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Happy 1st Daddy's Day to Dave!

This Father's Day was Dave's first with Annalise in his arms (she was still inside me last year). He enjoyed his mug with a picture of Annalise on it, and his shirt with a picture of a daddy changing a dirty diaper wearing a gas mask.

You are an amazing father, Dave! Annalise and I are very grateful for everything you do.

Catch up with Annalise

We've been terribly lax on posting, and the only excuse we have is that we've been doing a lot of traveling. In the next day or two there will probably be a number of posts as we try to let you know what has been going on with us.

First, here is an update on Annalise at 5 months old.

She continues to be a joy (as her middle name proclaims), although she doesn't appear to feel the same joy that we do - we're really hoping she'll outgrow her tearfulness. This month has marked the advent of 1.5 hour crying sessions at 2 a.m.! However, she has also graced us with many more beautiful smiles during the daytime. This month also marked a sudden ability to sit (right at a little over 5 months old)! Yay! One day we put her down in the sitting position and she just sat. She still needs a bit of support, but is doing really well. We'll post sitting pictures later - after we take them.

She has also begun enjoying her rice cereal/breastmilk food combo. Actually, she's quite a pig and opens her mouth wide and lunges for the spoon. She also wants to feed herself and tries to hold the spoon, which naturally sends food all over the place, which she seems to enjoy.

Everything goes into the mouth now - absolutely anything that gets in her hands. She really wanted to taste this dim sum bun, but Mommy and Daddy were mean and didn't allow it.

She especially loves glasses of water. She admires them, touches them, and desperately wants to taste them.

Our big news this month is that she suddenly starting taking the bottle! I had been trying every day for a long time, and then one day while we were in San Jose, she drank from it. Now I give her one every day to make sure she doesn't forget how. Daddy especially enjoys getting to feed her. This was a very big, important step, as I will return to work in August.

She also loves grabbing and holding and touching things. She's not terribly discriminating, and Daddy's mouth is a favorite thing to grab. She loves the noises he makes when she holds onto his lips.

She wore her first pair of shoes, which were appropriately adorned with electric guitars.


This month she also went on her first plane flight. Luckily it was a short one - about an hour to San Jose. She did extremely well, eating and napping the entire way.

Our little girl is getting bigger every day!

What can she do?

Our little girl is growing and is now 4.5 months old - yay! Just in the last two weeks she has started allowing me to put her down for some longer periods of time (max 15 min) without screaming her head off. She still doesn't like her tummy a whole lot, but will hang out on her back for much longer.



At church last week a friend (who is a doctor) saw me carrying her and this was our conversation:

Doc: So how old is she?
Me: 4 months!
Doc: Great head control
Me: Yes (smiling proudly as though I singlehandedly enabled my daughter to hold up her head)
Doc: So is she sitting yet?
Me: Umm no (telling myself - that's not for a couple months)
Doc: Rolling over though?
Me: Umm no (now starting to freak out - even though I know that some babies don't roll over and I suspect she'll be one of them because she shows no interest in it).

So what do you think I did right after I came home and checked the baby book to make sure it's ok that she's not sitting or rolling? Well, tried to force her to sit or roll over, of course. I was actually semi successful - she appears to be able to hold herself in a sitting position even though she's quite bent over (see pictures below). She HATES rolling over though. Dave's mom says none of her 3 kids ever rolled, so I guess I can comfort myself that once again, she's just like her daddy.



So what else has Annalise been doing lately? Let's see. Her first trip to the pool happened on Memorial Day. She didn't cry, but she didn't rejoice either. She seemed to tolerate it.




She had her first bite of solids on May 26th, while Grandma was visiting. Again, she was not delighted but not devastated either. She was very longsuffering and ate not one bite (spat it all out). She pulled some very funny faces. Luckily, she is now swallowing her small amounts of rice cereal breastmilk in the evenings.

It is fascinating to watch her grow and develop. What a miracle life is! Just think, we were all like this once. We are very grateful to be the parents of this little girl God formed and placed in our lives and hearts.

Mother's Day

For my first Mother's Day I received a very special gift. Dave wrote and recorded a song for me entitled "I'll Cry for Momma." I have listened to it over and over and it made me cry on Mother's Day. Anyway, I would like to share it with you all. You can click on the play button on the player at the top of the blog. The song is based on our experiences with Annalise.

Enjoy!

16 weeks old!

Annalise went in for her 16 week/4 month appointment this week (she's not quite 4 months yet). She new measures 24" long, weighs 13.2lbs, and is in the 50% percentile for head size, length, and weight. The doctor checked her and said she's looking good and healthy. He slightly raised her medicine dose for her reflux, and he also said that we could start giving her just a little rice cereal and that it would possibly help her reflux as well. Typically people start solids at 6 months, although it is permitted between 4 - 6 months. She'll be starting very early, but we're all hopeful that it will help her feel better.

She also received her shots, which was very traumatic - for Dave and I :) She seemed to recover fairly quickly. When she receives shots she holds her breath from the shock of it and then she turns the color of a tomato. When we think she can't possibly hold her breath any longer, she keeps holding it and then eventually she lets forth with an almighty yell. It's really sad and cute at the same time.

As an general update for her life at home, she has improved dramatically in regards to number of hours spent crying. She seems much happier, and allows me to put her down for short periods of time, which is extremely helpful. She is also more interested in her toys and environment, which has translated into being less interested in napping (it's impossible to get her to nap!). She is also putting everything in her mouth. She especially loves putting blankets and clothing and her bunny into her mouth, but will also taste her plastic toys and then pull a face. On the sleep front things seem to be improving. She'll go down around 8-9 and wake up for a feed between 1-3 and then wake up again around 5:00. That's the feed when we pray she'll eat and go back to sleep, although that rarely happens. Our early bird usually breaks into happy screams which make it impossible for any of us to sleep. Talk about waking with the dawn!

Here is a video of her enjoying watching Dave eat his dinner. We love making her smile, and nobody can make her smile like Daddy.