First bites and First Colts game!

Tonight as I rocked little Annie to sleep, my eyes welled up with tears even after five months of doing the same thing every night. I just can't get over it! I wonder if a mother ever can. I am just overwhelmed with the love I have for her. Who could possibly know that it would be this deep!

On to the lighter and more mundane: Annie tried out rice cereal this week. The pediatrician recommends introducing it between 4 and 6 months, others say after 6 months. I didn't know what to do, so I went in the middle and tried it at 5 months! She has been watching longingly as Michael and I eat our meals, shoving her fingers in her mouth as she tries to mimic us. So I felt like maybe it was time. Michael grabbed the video camera and I fed her with my left hand while shooting pictures with my right. (I am sure if we have another, that child will feel totally ripped off because I won't be taking 8 pictures of him/her sucking toes or blowing raspberries) She was very curious, but I would not say she loved it. As you can see by her face, most of it ended up on her chin. I am not sure when I'll try rice-cereal-attempt number two, but I'm really in no hurry. She's perfectly happy with the milk factory for now.

Our little football fan had another "first" recently too: her first colts game! (On TV of course)She dressed for the occasion with her favorite blue bow and her Colts Onesie. Annie was very disappointed that Bob Sanders wasn't playing, but she says that she thinks the defense can handle it. And she knows he'll be feeling better in no time. :o)

I snuck a photo of Cubbie with Annie in here. These are becoming harder and harder to capture, as Cubbie has been hiding in our bedroom behind the bed on a regular basis during Annie's active awake times. She's a smart dog-- I am pretty sure I am missing a quarter of my rapidly-disappearing hair compliments of Annie's iron grip.

This teething thing is for the birds. I am hoping that horrid tooth will pop through her gums soon just so that she starts having some relief! The poor thing is waking up several times at night chewing on her fingers (and anything else she can get in her mouth). She's also been feeding poorly because of it. Poor baby!

I can't believe she is 5 months old. This goes by WAY too fast!

Teething already?

Well I spoke too soon about the sleeping going well. I think Annie must be teething. She has woken up at least 4 times both last night and the night before, crying and gnawing on her little fingers. I don't feel anything coming up under her gums but she seems to really like it when I rub the lower gums with my finger. I am not ready for teeth!! The really frustrating thing is that I cannot find a single book that will tell me how to stop it. (Just kidding)

We have also had some feeding issues lately. I think this is my own fault... when we were trying desperately to get her on some kind of sleep schedule, if she fell asleep while I was feeding her I just laid her down in her crib. Then, she started looking for something to suck on when she was going to bed, so, thinking she might be hungry, I fed her right before bed(secretly hoping this would also help her sleep longer). That has morphed into a terrible beast. Now, she refuses to eat until naptimes and is waking up often at night to eat. She is a sleep fighter and associates my feeding her with my putting her down for a nap! I am not sure how I'm going to get out of this one... I am thinking of pumping and feeding her bottles right after she wakes up until she gets rid of that association but I don't know if it will work!

We finally got a really good camera so look for a million pictures to come! I just got it working last night and I have already taken like 40 pictures. RIDICULOUS. But SO fun!! I was getting frustrated with my other camera(s) because they wouldn't take the picture at the speed I wanted. I would always see an adorable smile and want to capture it, but instead I'd get some pre-sneeze-looking face with eyes half shut. It has this really neat feature on it that I can't wait to try out: it will take 6 or 7 pictures in a row very quickly on the sports button so that you can capture a whole motion! I can't wait to get Cubbie catching her frisbee... Especially if I could get Annie's face in the foreground because she thinks Cubbie is hysterical when she plays frisbee.

Man I am so blessed, what a wondeful life! Sleep or no sleep, it is a good day when I have my sweet girl with me. I feel so fortunate to get to work part-time so I can be with her more. I think my heart couldn't handle it if I had it any other way! I know a lot of people who are ready to head back to work when the time comes and they don't feel any less a part of their kids lives. I just don't fit that bill! I used to feel like I was made to be an OB nurse. Now, I feel like I was made to be a mother. This is just the best job in the whole world!

Happy Girl!

We are rapidly approaching 20 weeks (Tuesday the 10th) and Annie is doing all kinds of new tricks. Last week, Annie started sitting up solo. She just can't stand to not see what is going on so she learned how to make herself a little bit taller. :o) At first, I was like, woah this is awesome! Then, my troubled mind drifted to what comes after sitting up: TROUBLE! I am fairly certain I will have to limit her to the hallway the day she becomes mobile. Annie is VERY active, kicking and grabbing everything in her reach. As I imagine broken lamps, falling bookcases, and cabinets full of cleaning agents, I realize I have a lot of work to do. On the bright side, Annie is in LOVE with Cubbie. Cubbie, on the other hand, is slowly learning that Annie is something she needs to run away from. So I figure we have a win-win here. The two can chase each other around and wear each other out and BOTH take naps!

We celebrated Michael's birthday this week and Annie was all too eager to help me "wrap" the presents. I am shocked at how quickly her hand-eye coordination has gone from lucky swipes to purposeful and calculated grabbing! I had her in a front-carrier while I was putting Michael's gifts in bags and boxes (which was my first mistake) and we'll just say I had a lot of re-wrapping to do. Turns out Annie loooves wrapping paper. And bows. And ripping things. Uh oh. (Stop laughing mom! I know I deserve it!) Annie also likes to try and pick the flowers off of the fabric on her boppy pillow, which is a very frustrating (and hilarious) task for her. She cannot figure out why those darned flowers won't come off! On a sad note, Annie has also learned how to grab hair. My hair, your hair, and her own hair! She has a couple of thin spots on the side of her head where got a fistful, gave a yank, and then cried because someone super mean just pulled on her hair!

She continues to be delighted with the mystery baby in the mirror. I'm not sure if she has figured out yet how there are two mommies: one speaking behind me and one looking at me from the front.

The sleeping situation is going AWESOME! She finally goes to bed around 7:30, wakes up around 7am, and takes three regular naps. We went through some very difficult periods of time where we had to lay her down, let her cry it out, and fall asleep on her own. I felt SO mean and it just didn't feel right. I ended up doing a combination of getting her most of the way asleep by rocking her and then laying her down that went much more smoothly and still gave us the same result. YAY for sleep!

I continue to just eat up every second I get with her. She is a joy and a blessing and makes our lives SO full and rich! It is amazing to me how little I care about money or things. As long as we have Annie, Michael and I are pretty well entertained and busy! I can't imagine life any other way, this is wonderful!! More to come...