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.

Baby vocalization

Annalise has begun making some interesting noises. She has also begun waking up between 5:45 - 7:00 a.m. and literally screaming (happily, not in anger) to get my attention. Those of you who know both Dave and I know how we feel about early mornings. How did God manage to create an early bird baby using our genes?

Here she is "talking" to her bunny and then to Daddy.

Annalise's Travels

As an update on the life of Annalise, we thought we'd give you a glimpse into the places she goes and the ways she travels.

First of all, an update on the car seat front. As many of you know, Annalise hates the car with a passion. Last week I almost had a breakdown because I had to travel somewhere 25 minutes away and she screamed the whole way there and back. She cried so hard it took 45 minutes to calm her down when we got back. I went straight to Dave and said that I didn't think we'd be able to do our planned vacation in June (involves a 7 hour car trip). So we set out to improve the situation. Our online readings indicated that some babies prefer convertible carseats. So we bought two and put them both in the car so that we could try each out and see which one she prefers. Here she is sleeping in the winner. We've only had it about 4 days, but so far, no screaming-for-the-entire-drive trips. She seems to be able to sleep in it. Of course, we did pick out the cushiest, most plush carseat we could find. That thing is more comfortable than our couch.

This week also marked Annalise's first time happily settling in and sleeping in the backpack carrier. There is nothing happier than a sleeping baby, especially one who has been crying most of the day.

Annalise continues to travel her world wrapped up against me in a wrap. After my back starting hurting carrying her in the k'tan I started researching other ways to carry her. I now belong to this babywearing forum, thebabywearer.com, which contains a wealth of information regarding ways to carry your baby. There is also a used baby carrier sales section where you can get cheap slings/wraps/carriers. Here is one that I just got super cheap (although I'm thinking about selling it back again since I'm not sure Annalise loves it and it's a big too long). Figuring out different ways to wrap her in the fabric is my new obsession! I'm not very good, but I'm working on it.



She adores her main wrap, the orange sleepy wrap. This picture is funny because she's crying and she usually adores this wrap. It's the one she travels around in the most. It's also how she takes naps when we're out on the town.


This weekend we took a trip to a local park that has a small train for people to ride. We were a little worried since she got a big fright when she first heard the train whistle, and we weren't sure she would manage the ride. She seemed to enjoy it, however. We'll see if we can post a video of her experience later. Here are some pictures from our train adventure.

What's going on with our beautiful girl?

So, let's see what's new with our beautiful girl.




She continues to enjoy bathing and now seems to enjoy kicking the water around while she's in there.




She loves daddy playing guitar to her. The other evening when she was fussy, he put her on her blanket and played to her for a while. Then all of a sudden I heard him calling me. She had fallen asleep on her blanket on the ground - the first time she's ever fallen asleep on the floor (or any surface other than us, her swing, and her bed).

She's starting to show an interest in holding things and using her hands. The hand/eye coordination is still not there, but she's able to play a little with her toys in ways she couldn't before. Here she was watching Daddy make dinner and helping pull the ends of the green beans - ok maybe just holding the green bean.

She's potty trained at 3 months! (sort of) She poops almost every time she sits in her bumbo. Since she only goes once a day, we basically know exactly when she'll go. We've stopped allowing her to sit in the bumbo clothed because of all the ruined outfits. She now sits in it in just her diaper for an easy clean up. We think she's very cute in there.

She now has a bedtime routine. Daddy reads her "The going to bed book" and then we sing a couple rounds of "Goodnight sweetheart" and then she eats and goes to bed. Of course, having a bedtime routine does not guarantee that sleep will occur. However, she is improving a little bit. She typically wakes about 2 times a night, and it isn't too bad unless she refuses to go back to sleep after eating. The hardest part for mommy is that somewhere between 7-8 a.m. she wakes up and is ready to face the day. I am definitely NOT a morning person and after waking up numerous times during the night - it feels like an obscenely early time to get up. She's very cute with her morning smiles, though.

We have had beautiful weather lately, and she's had plenty of opportunities to wear her super cute hats that Grammie and Grandpa Oberem brought back from England and France. Doesn't she look like a cute little European baby?

Last weekend she enjoyed a visit from Grandma Fung and Auntie Janice. They got to experience her beautiful smiles as well as her contrasting screams in the car. She seems to hate the car with a passion and will sometimes cry at the top of her lungs for 20 minutes if that is how far we have to drive. I have basically almost given up on going out and try to limit my drives to less than 10 minutes in order to avoid the ensuing misery. Sometimes it takes her a long time to calm down after we get there and I pull her out. If anyone has any wisdom on how to help a baby enjoy the car, or any idea when she might outgrow this, please let me know!

Peekaboo

We couldn't resist showing you our darling girl enjoying peekaboo. She's never displayed much interest in it prior to today. She was such a happy girl this evening, and it was delightful! We have to treasure these moments when we get them.

A girl after her Mommy's heart

As some of you may know, I have a reading addiction problem. I consider myself an obsessive compulsive reader. If I have to choose between food/sleep or finishing a book, the book will win every time. Annalise's arrival has put a serious dent in my reading, however (I think I've only managed about 6 books since her arrival - most of which I read during feedings). This reading obsession of mine is believed to be inherited from my mother. One thing I have often wondered is if it will be passed on to any of my kids.

This past week Annalise showed her first sign of interest in books. Previously she didn't even notice or look at the books I showed her. Here you can see her enjoying a book for the first time.