15 weeks, and no signs of slowing!

anna jae comes up with something new each and every day. this kid is too much.

first she started rolling over to her right side only. now she's starting to turn onto her left side, so i would imagine that's not far off. and she won't stay on her belly any more than a few minutes, because she flips herself over again.

she started playing with her feet a couple of weeks ago. now she's putting them in her mouth.

she is slowly graduating to sucking on her thumb instead of her whole hand. it's pretty damn cute.

what's not so cute is her affection for screaming and screeching. she does it when she's happy, she does it when she's sad, she does it when she's tired, she does it when she's mad... (i've clearly been reading too much dr. seuss.) the angry screams are the worst -- she hits a decibel that i thought was reserved for animals. it actually hurts your ears, it's so high and loud. i seriously thought that last night i was going to get a knock on my door from the cops, because it sounded like i was beating the kid. ugh, it's awful.

but she makes up for it with her newest laughing game. she loves to laugh, but she doesn't know how to do it on her own yet. so she eggs me on to start laughing so that she can giggle right along with me. it's so damn funny!! we're going to videotape it tomorrow so that everyone can see.

that's all from my end. i'm pretty beat this week. she's really running me ragged. but it's worth it...

she's turning over! 14 weeks...

yesterday, the 20th, anna jae spent a lot of time on her activity mat with me, grandma, and later, daddy. when i was there, anna was pushing herself onto her side a lot, trying to turn over but not quite getting it. well, later that night with daddy, she did it. twice! i missed it -- i was at a charity event for groove with me -- but i was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it this morning. when anna woke up and i let her out of her swaddle for a diaper change, she performed for me. "look what i can do, mom!" and she flipped herself right over, and then looked up at me with the biggest smile.

anna also started her little-girl giggle on sunday night. she's laughed before, but never a full-on giggle. it was awesome.

we're just getting over a nursing strike that went on for a week, so i'm glad to have everything back to normal, happy, and moving forward. =D

this past weekend -- warm weather, day at the park, grams and grand aunt millie

easter and passover pics

yay! pictures!!!

uncle steven babysits!

uncle steven and torr babysitting was fun for everyone! torr sent me the pics from the night.

3 Months! And new firsts!

wow, two weeks seems to be the norm now in catching up this blog. i'm trying to get better, really i am. it's just so hard to find the time to do this with everything else going on. still, i'm working on it.

anna has just turned 3 months yesterday (13 weeks today). she's getting so big -- i'll find out exactly how much she weighs now when we go to our breastfeeding group later today. every day brings something new. she now gives us the raspberry all the time, and will even go back and forth with you on it for a while. she's learning how to react to an action, and vice-versa... for example, if she puts her foot to my face during a changing, i'll make believe that she kicked me and my head gets pushed back. after i react like that and i put my face back by her, she'll gently kick it again to get the same reaction. i love it!

best new thing -- she can put herself to sleep! we started seeing signs of it last week, when she fell asleep by herself in her carseat while we ate dinner. but last night we decided to really get the bedtime ritual down, start earlier, etc., and make sure that she fell to sleep on her own, not because of the bottle. and it worked! dave bathed her at 9:15, then i gave her a little baby massage, then he fed her at 10. once she was done eating, i brought her into her crib, swaddled her up, and then sat by her crib and read to her for a few minutes. then i shut the light, gave her a kiss, and shut the door. she futzed around for a little bit, but fell asleep by 11 -- a mere 15 minutes after i said goodnight. i was so impressed! and she slept until 6 or so this morning. yay!!!

ok, onto other things. two weekends ago (the weekend of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th), we went up to syracuse and rochester to visit nana, uncle noah, and aunt olivia. anna did really really well. she took her usual naps in the car (receiving blanket over the carseat does the trick), and she was entertaining and engaging to all. =) of course, she got knocked a bit off schedule, and had one bad night when we tried to have her sleep in a travel crib (pack and play did much better by her), but overall she did great! we were so impressed with our little girl. it's so nice to know that traveling upstate to see her nana and her aunt and uncle won't be too much for her. it might be harder for us, with all the stuff we have to take with us!! ha! but i think everyone had a great time together, and we were so happy we went.

nana came down to see us a few days later for anna's first passover, which we attend every year at uncle howie and aunt helene's. again, she was nothing but charming -- which was impressive, since she had been difficult all day. but she was held by all new people -- erin, adam, and courtney -- and of course was scooped up by all the relatives that adore her. aunt joan told her secrets, and uncle howie made her laugh. nana gave her tons of kisses. and anna returned the favor to everyone by flirting with adam (not to mention spitting up on him) and squealing during the seder readings. that's my girl!

since our 3rd wedding anniversary was tuesday the 7th, we decided to have a date night on saturday the 11th. uncle steven and victoria came over to babysit. poor anna had a stomach bug or something going on from friday to sunday, so we felt kinda bad leaving her -- for her and for her babysitters. but uncle steven and victoria did an amazing job. not only did they keep our sick daughter happy and entertained, but they also brought her presents and cleaned our kitchen! that the best babysitting service ever. we told them they're welcome to sit anytime. =)

and then of course, sunday was anna's first easter. she wast still sick and cranky since she refused to nap. but god bless that kid, she still does great putting on a show for everyone. grandma and grandpa had bought anna her easter dress to wear, but since anna was sick she didn't wear it until the end of the day, and that was only for about 45 minutes -- to take pictures and go next door to show off to others. all in all, it was a great holiday (thanks for the amazing food steven!), and we can't wait until next year when she can get an easter basket and hunt for easter eggs. yay!

i will post more pictures later today. there are some killer ones this time around.

11 weeks old, and 2 weeks behind

so sorry! i know i haven't been keeping up on the info about our little anna jae. it's been a rough few weeks around here. dave's working a lot. i hurt my tailbone in some mystery way and was in excrutiating pain for about 5 days, and i'm still not 100% ok when sitting for a while. anna has been taken out a bunch and thrown off schedule, which clearly does not agree with her. and i'm trying to get back to work. all in all, it's been good but crazy.

our girl is growing bigger every day. i go to a breastfeeding support group on tuesdays, and you can weigh your baby there. as of yesterday (at 11 weeks old), she weighed 10 lbs., 15 oz... basically 11 lbs. i can't believe it! she's getting so big so fast. i guess it's cause she eats a lot -- anna takes in about 5-5.5 oz. per feeding, 6 feedings a day. crazy! she's almost completely out of her 3 month clothes and moving up into the 3-6 month outfits.

we had some issues with really long nursing sessions recently. anna is not known to be a fast eater, even with a bottle. she likes to take her time -- more like her dad that way than her mom. but our nursing sessions went from a long 45 minutes to a ridiculously long hour-and-a-half. it started out as a growth spurt i think, but sort of resulted in a slow let-down from me, which made me stress about my slow let-down, which made the let down even slower. ugh. vicious cycle. but i've been trying to not think about it too much, and the more distracted i am from the situation, the quicker she finishes up. again, not quick, but we're back to about 45-50 minutes on average, which is normal for her.

anna jae is doing so well otherwise though. she has begun sleeping through the night, without awakening at all, and in her crib! and she started doing this at 2 months old, when i hurt my tailbone and didn't want to bend over the swing or bassinet. i used the crib for naps and bedtime that weekend, and she took to it right away. of course, we still have to swaddle the hell out of her, but it's nice knowing that she'll go for 6.5 or 7 hours straight without needing us to soothe her back to sleep. we bought big muslin blankets over the weekend so that we could do a better swaddle on her (she was getting too big for her receiving blanket swaddle and breaking out of everything). works like a charm. and the best part? when she wakes for her first feeding of the day, she goes right back to sleep after she eats, and sleeps until 10 or 10:30. awesome!

anna is a baby that clearly responds well to scheduling, so she does best on a normal day at home where she can take her regular naps (usually after about 2 hours of being up) and be in her favorite surroundings. not always possible, of course, because real life has to occur and mommy needs to leave the house from time to time -- mostly for my sanity. if i can fit in errands or a walk between feedings, it doesn't disrupt her too much. but if we're out for the whole day, and she's in new places, she's too curious to sleep and then gets uber-cranky. and i pay for it for the next 2 days... but she's getting better. and overall she's a very happy baby.

our little girls is a gabber. she loves to talk to us! she smiles and laughs and then has full-on baby conversations with us. it's fabulous. i think she's going to start talking very early.

grandma (and sometimes grandpa) have been coming by once a week to babysit while i work. it's been a good start for all of us. anna had trouble at first doing her usual tasks, like napping, with anyone other than me. even dave was having trouble getting her to settle down for a nap. but she has adjusted quickly to others, and now gives them only the same amount of trouble she gives me. ::wink:: we'll do this for another week or two at our place so that she can be in her own surroundings, and then we'll start going to grandma and grandpa's. i'll be working out there most of the time so that i don't waste time with the commute (and money over the bridge).

ok, i think i've caught you all up. we are going upstate this weekend to visit nana, uncle noah, and aunt olivia. we're excited, but nervous about the ride up there. wish us luck!