Annie-6 months!

Wow! The first half of Annie's first year has flown by! I cannot believe she is 6 months old. While it makes me sad that she is growing up so fast, I am looking forward to this next phase of her life. The sitting up phase of babyhood is my fave! She's growing and changing everyday. A few highlights from this month are: 

-Starting to get more hair! It's coming in blonde. People are starting to comment on how she looks more like Henry now. Some say she looks like me.

-Starting to sit up assisted. She can sit beside us on the sofa and also sit up in our laps (wobble, and eventually we catch her). She could probably get the hang of sitting up if I gave her more practice. I am usually trying to protect her from big bro, though, so she doesn't get as much time as she needs.

 -She has gotten a second tooth this month. This changes her look quite a bit! She is really starting to look older-no newborn look anymore!

-She still loves her paci and it will usually calm her down and put her in a "trance" for a bit. She has it to go to sleep each nap/night.

-Her sleep patterns are still not exact. She has good nights and bad nights. She is always ready for bed by 7:00-7:30, though, and always wakes at 5:00am for her first feeding. I do not feed her in the night anymore. Sometimes she sleeps all night and sometimes she wakes up once or twice and I just have to give her her paci. Sometimes she has rough nights, but those are explained after the fact (ie-fever, teeth, etc). She has a short morning nap and a long mid-day nap on most days.

-One thing I love about Annie right now is just how HAPPY she is when she wakes up. Henry and I usually both go in to get her in the morning and she cranes her neck around to see us as soon as she hears the door open. She is grinning from ear to ear and wriggling with anticipation! It is just precious. There are times when she is napping and she wakes up. When I go in to give her her paci, she will grin from ear to ear even if she is still suppose to be sleeping. When the paci goes in she closes her eyes and turns her head to the side to go back to sleep.

-I've also noticed that she sleeps with her head cocked upward and to the side. This seems to be her preferred sleep posture. I still swaddle her btw! I was having to re-swaddle her in the night once, but she is back to staying in it for the mean time. I will put her in it as long as I can!

 -At her 6  month check-up she weighed 14lbs, 14 oz (25%) and was 27 1/4 inches long (97%)! She is growing!!

-She loves grabbing for things now and I can't hold something in my hand without her grabbing at it. I love, love, love watching her hold onto stuff. She will have it in one hand looking at it and moving it around, then will moving it to the other hand and do the same thing, then trade back. She is learning before our very eyes!

 -Annie still blows bubbles and talks to us using little squeals and coos. She has a sweet little voice, and we love to talk back to her (all 3 of us)!

-She loves the men in her life and will give big grins to brother and dada. She will "make eyes" at Steven across the room until he looks at her and smiles, then she grins, looks away, then quickly looks back to repeat the process.

-She does have a special love for her mama, though, and even when she is acting happy while being held by someone else, if I walk by she will give little discontented, half-hearted fusses as if to say, "I'd really rather be with you!"

 -One of my favorite things Annie is doing right now is when I pick her up or get her from someone else, she comes in for what feels like a hug with her arms around my neck and her mouth open ready to give a "kiss". She scrunches up her little booty and legs and just hangs on for a little while. Sweetness.

-She is also starting to lay her head down on us when we are holding her which totally wins both of her parents over!:)

-She started baby food the day she turned 6 months old! She seemed to really like it the first few tries (leaning in to the spoon, sucking the food off it without a lot of prompting), but has since regressed. She kind of clamps her mouth and makes concerned faces about it. But at least she doesn't shutter like Henry did!! She's tried carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, pears, and rice cereal so far. She still nurses every 3 hours or so, except at night.

-She has started to anticipate us coming to her to tickle her or blow zerberts and will laugh prior to it actually happening. I love those giggles!

 -We sure do love you, sweet Annie girl!! You are a bright, sweet, fun baby and we can't wait to spend more time with you!

October 2014

Well, good grief! I haven't checked blogs in forever. I found a few minutes today, and realized I never posted my October pics! I've had this done for a long time, but as I look over it I'm realizing there are a few pics missing that I must have been trying to gather still, but oh well! It's too late to wait any longer! Gee wiz.

Our Fall has been fabulous so far! See below for some October highlights.

Sweet girl at her 4 month appt on Oct 1. Had to get a pic of  those leg rolls while she was pant-less!:)

Henry wants to include his sis in everything-put Annie in, Daddy! Just wait until she can sit up!

The first wknd in Oct we met the Bushes and Grandma in Gatlinburg. It was a stormy first night, and we woke up to a chilly day in the Smokies. Right out our porch was this beautiful view-complete with a rainbow!

The kids spent time in the hot tub right away!

We went to the strip for shopping and eating. We have this backdrop family pic from several years now. Had to get one this year, too!

Our little fam-I can't believe we have 2 kids sometimes!

Saturday we hiked to a waterfall. It was a chilly morning, but the brisk weather was invigorating. The had been to Gatlinburg back in Feb when I was 6 mo pregnant and had pneumonia and we made this hike then. Let me just say that it was MUCH easier this time!!

Annie got SO much attention on the hike from passersby because, well, just look at her!

She also wore this outfit around-what a happy little giraffe!

Henry is all about making "cozy nests", and he was very proud of the one he made out of the cabin's furniture. He wanted Annie to get in it with him, and she was happy to oblige!

The boys watched lots of football on Saturday while we girls went to the outlet mall. Henry loves his big cousin Camden!

The Bushes and Grandma went to the Dixie Stampede and Henry got to tag along. He had a blast! Here they are in front of the stables.

While they were there, Steven, Annie, and I went to one of our favorite pizza places on the strip. Annie and Daddy were decked out in TN gear-go Vols!

Henry is such a sweet little prayer and always closes his eyes and is so serious about it. Sometimes he says the prayer, sometimes he just listens while someone else prays, and sometimes he sings the prayer song (God our father, God our father...). Steven and I always nudge each other during prayer to look at him, because it is so cute. I always say we need to get a picture of it somehow, and this time Steven was on it! So sweet.

These are out of order, but before we went to Gburg we went by Grandpa and Peggy's to drop off Maggie. The kids got to visit for a few minutes.

Henry has been more into trains lately. They have a wooden track that he worked hard to put together while there.

Annie has cried several times lately when Grandpa tries to hold her-I keep telling her that is not the way to win over a friend!! This was better with her facing outward and playing with toys.

Next adventure? We fly to Iowa Oct 9-14 to see Steven's extended family!

Luckily we had Diana's help on the flight going. The kids did great overall. Henry had LOTS to keep him entertained, and Annie kept her same basic schedule.

When we arrived we went to the Hickory Park restaurant in Ames where Iowa State is located. Their mascot was out front!

The next morning we drove to Emmetsburg to see the rest of the family. Henry was pumped that Aunt Jeanette had TWO kitties outside at her house. They were good sports as he tried to hold them and run after them all over the place.

We met up with Luke and Lisa and their kids who we had seen in Nashville in July. Henry remembered them and was so excited to play with them. We went to dinner together and he was SUCH a show off. We also got to see Dennis and Sara and they met Annie for the first time.

It had been a year and a half since we had seen Grandma Hough, and she had certainly declined. Even though she did not wake up or know we were there, it was still wonderful to see her. I'm so glad we got pictures of the 2 kids with her.

When we were there last Easter, Kinsleigh and Henry, who are just one week apart, did this exact thing with Jeanette. She rode them around the nursing home in Grandma's walker:) They loved it, of course! Kinsleigh is Steven's cousin's little girl.

Grandma DeWitt is awesome to play with Henry and loved watching him work with their antique tractors and trucks. She would even get down on the ground and play with him. He was thrilled by this!

On Sunday we went to Laurel church. Annie got to meet Joyce (Grandma's sister) along with lots of other church folks.

We also went by to say hi to Richard (Grandma's brother) and Donna. They were happy to see the kids!

We had a wonderful visit there and really enjoyed getting to just relax and not have a stringent schedule. We were able to just enjoy each others' company.

Four generations are represented here!

The last night there, we went to Taylor's Made-Rite. It began in 1928 and is a "diner" type restaurant that sells "made-rites"-sort of like a hamburger but with crumbled beef, onion, and mustard on a bun. We also had to get milkshakes even though it was freezing and rainy out!

Annie's first time at Made-Rite!

That night Annie stayed up after Henry went to bed and Grandma DeWitt held her for a long time while Grandma was busy making her Halloween costume. She was a show-off and was happy to talk, coo, and kick her feet and move her arms (you can tell in the pic she's active!). Her main form of communication, though, was to blow bubbles and this kept her audience laughing. It was so cute!

Back on the home front...we had thought about going to a pumpkin patch, but decided against it due to cost and crowds. Henry had lots of fun just going to the little pumpkin patch by our house (where he goes to school once a wk).

I attempted some photos...look at that cute little pumpkin!

Ah, the sibling photo. Nearly impossible!:)

We also attended a costume party at some church friends' house. I snapped a picture beforehand of our wolf and lil red riding hood. They were awfully cute. Henry asked to wear his wolf costume all week, so he was a pro at putting it on himself and everything. He would say "It's so cozy!" and would howl at the moon while wearing it. :)

During the week, we went to our church's children's Fall Festival. I didn't do a good job of getting pictures, but wanted to document  that we went! It was at the Asbury barn and had lots of fun activities like hay rides, pumpkin painting, cupcake decorating, etc. Henry had a ball!

Sweet girl cuddling with Daddy after nap.

We broke out the exersaucer this month. She is a fan! She looks so little in it, though!

On Sunday 10/26 I went to my folks' house for the day. I had wanted to get pics of the kids in leaves this fall, but they just all seemed kind of drab around us. Mom and Dad had a great Maple with lots of red leaves to try it out in.

It was such a pretty day, we ate lunch outside! We got to see the whole family while there.

Manar had lots of porch swing time with Annie, of course. It is her favorite activity with the kids!

We missed Dad's actual birthday on the 16th, but we brought him a special card that couldn't be mailed anyway! He got a kick out of it and thought I was so clever to come up with something like that:) Shh...we won't tell him I just copied any one of a hundred Pinterest ideas!!

Back at home...here is the girl on a neighborhood walk. Happy and sweet!

While we were in Iowa, we shipped back a grill that Steven's grandpa had actually won and didn't want. We were about to purchase a new cheaper one anyway, and since this one was much nicer, it seemed economical to pay to have it sent to AL. When it arrived, we kept the huge boxes for Henry to play in. He had a ball and used his imagination for them to be all sorts of different things. I was able to snap this sweet pic of him hugging Maggie after he invited her in to his box:)

I'm having trouble adding captions to the 5 pics below, so I will write about them here. Mom came to visit on the 30th and we went to the Gardens. Henry was thrilled to show Manar around. She spent the night and helped me clean the house and visit with the kids the next day. On Friday, Halloween, we had the Busches and Potters over to eat dinner and trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. It was freezing, but we still had fun! Henry was cozy in his wolf outfit and was thrilled to ask for candy by howling, then would enthusiastically say thank you!! Annie was hunkered down in the stroller the whole night in her Red Riding Hood outfit. I put on my cape as well to match my girl for a photo op before heading out! Ethan was dressed as Batman, and the Busches came all decked out-Bennett as the man with the yellow hat, Clayton as a monkey, Ryan as a banana, and Robin as a zoo keeper. They are such good sports!