update time! anna jae at 7.5 months

yes, our girl gets bigger and bigger every day. i honestly can't get over it. dave and i are talking about her first birthday already -- can you believe that? geez... i wish i could stop time just for a little while. i'm really loving her 7th month of life.

anna is just so incredibly smart. she really looks at things, analyzes them, takes them apart or figures out how to take things off. she can spend an hour just on the floor, sitting or laying there with a toy, an empty water bottle, or a catalog to rip up, and study them. she figured out immediately when we would purposely make her laugh to stick the spoon of food in her mouth, and began to just smile with her mouth closed when she doesn't want it. i played patty-cake with her twice in a row, and she figured out when the tickling part would come, so she starts to laugh at "one-slice, two-slice". it's just so amazing to watch her in action.

as i always love to tell people, anna's funny. she's so funny. she'll sit there and laugh at you just to get you to laugh. she makes funny faces and noises and entertains you. she will play peek-a-boo with you if you give her a cloth to put over her face. she's got a great sense of humor and keeps me smiling (at least for most of the day).

she is not as active as she used to be. she'll jump in her jumper and sit on the floor and play, but she's become a lot more cautious. anna was trying to crawl for a bit, but kept face-planting on the rug. so now, she's started to simply lower herself to the floor from a seated position, and then roll over to what she wants, since she's been a master roller from 3 months old. she's also not pulling herself up on objects, only when someone gives her their hands for her to pull from. she's become a bit of a girly-girl in that way. however, if we put her by an ottoman or the side of a couch, she'll stand there while holding on. i think she just likes to feel safe.

most of anna's energy seems to be going into chattering and yelling! she loves to talk to herself, is imitating adult speech patterns (though everything is in "ba-ba-ba" with a "mama" thrown in here and there), and yells at the top of her lungs for fun. she's actually quite loud. everyone says she gets that from me... i'm starting to get insulted. =)

eating is going better. anna jae didn't start out as the best solids eater in the world. she has texture issues galore. and she's very dramatic when she doesn't like something -- gagging and throwing a fit. but... she's definitely getting better. her foods have caused some constipation issues, but we're fixing that by incorporating LOTS of prunes.

separation anxiety is still an issue, but we're working hard on it. i make her sit by herself during the day as often as i can, assuring her from afar that i'm there and that she's ok. it's helping her cope. putting her to bed at night or down for a nap always brings on a crying fit, but if we just say goodnight and leave the room, that seems to keep it short -- if we stay and try to soothe her it actually makes it worse and lasts longer. it's sad, because she hangs onto our hands and clothes and doesn't want us to leave, but when we stay, she keeps looking up to make sure we're there. so she never goes to sleep. if we kiss her goodnight and leave, she only cries for about 5 minutes and then konks out.

all in all, the 7th month is my favorite so far. i love that anna jae can play games, give kisses and hugs, is learning to wave, laughs and giggles and entertains all of us. i love that she can sleep well at night by herself, and that she talks as much as possible. i love that she looks for her daddy when i mention him, even if he's not there. i love everything about this girl. she's the coolest chick ever.

sleeping success!! no more swaddle!!

i don't have much time, but i just wanted to report that we are no longer using the swaddle for sleep. and after a couple of rough nights, anna jae is sleeping happily and peacefully on her own, for the entire night with no wakes. it's incredible! this time she was ready, and i'm so glad. she sleeps with her toys and on her belly, and she seems to be loving it. so from around 8 or 8:15 at night until around 6:30 in the morning, she's out cold.

go anna!

photos from 7 months (so far) -- the aquarium!

we took anna jae to the aquarium for the first time this past sunday. she was more interested in the other babies than in the fish we think... but she did like to try to catch the fish and loved to watch the walruses and seals swim. it was a really good day.

photos from 7 months (so far) -- anna jae's 7 month birthday!

anna jae and i had fun taking pics in her stroller to mark her 7 month birthday. the outfit she is wearing is from aunt loren's mom and stepfather, phyllis and rich. and her baby flip-flops are from grandma.

photos from six months -- pearl's birthday party

we had a great time celebrating aunt pearl's 94th birthday party!

anna jae surrounded by love -- cousin chris, uncle howie, nana, and aunt joan.

having fun with aunt joan.

uncle howie keeping her entertained.

xiao-bin actually calmed her down...

and made her laugh with his funny faces!

cousin jeff talks a good game, but he looks like a natural.

photos from six months -- taking a walk

photos from 6 months -- eating!

anna in her high chair.

anna's first feeding with rice cereal.

she didn't like it very much at first. =)

when i hurt my back, grandma came over to help for the day...

she got anna jae to eat her green beans!

happy 7 months to our miss anna jae!!

yes, she's 7 months old today. where the HELL is the time going? i'm starting to lose track. we're already talking about her 1st birthday celebration --- whaaaaa????

anna jae is doing great. she really really is. yes, the separation anxiety is still there, and in some ways worse than ever... when we're alone, i really have to battle her to put her down anywhere. she doesn't want to leave me to go down for a nap, to play on the floor, to jump in her jumper. it's rough. and when we're with others, it can swing either way -- she might be great and go right to whomever else is there, or she might cry and need to stay with me. it's a crapshoot at this point. but... she's sleeping way better, with barely any wakes at all anymore. the night light seemed to really do the trick -- the one i originally put in there for her started to fade (batteries were dying), and that night she had a really tough time sleeping. so we bought her a new nightlight the next day, and the problem was licked. yay! mommy and daddy are actually sleeping again.

anna loves her daddy more than ever! she screams and squeals and laughs the minute she sees him. she's even started to look at the door in the evening, expecting him to come through it. while her excitement definitely provides an extra problem in putting her to bed at night, it's also so sweet to see. of course, dave can't get enough of it.

she cracks me up every day. she plays games with me now, and starts to laugh before the end if she knows what's coming. she's realized that i was tricking her to laugh while she ate, and now just smiles at me with her mouth closed if she doesn't want her food. she locks up and won't let me past those lips! too smart for her own good i think... anna also talks to herself all the time now, and is starting to become rather expressive with her conversations. almost as though she's mimicking adult talk. it's really funny to watch.

the eating is going better. we're doing fruit in the morning, veggies or veggies and fruit in the afternoon, and rice cereal in the evening. i'm going to start adding in a veggie or fruit in with the rice cereal at night soon. i'm also going to start making my own food for her now! starting tomorrow, i'm going to begin our baby purees. it's easy, and i am looking forward to it. i'm hoping that it will help to expand what she's willing to eat too. she's not the easiest to feed all the time.

the next thing we have to start doing is getting the swaddle addict out of her swaddle. it begins this weekend. hopefully it goes better than our attempts have in the past. wish us luck!

pics will be posted this weekend. i know i owe everyone TONS of photos.

separation anxiety

well, we've moved onto a new and exciting stage of baby rearing -- separation anxiety.

i hope you note the sarcasm in my writing.

anna jae has been giving us, mostly me, a really rough few weeks. that's why i haven't been on here much lately. i thought that it was teething at first -- she's definitely teething, she has the peaks of two bottom teeth coming through, i know she's in pain sometimes when she won't let me touch her gums. so i just attributed all of her recent actions to the teeth; actions which include screaming when i put her on the floor/in her jumper/in her stroller/anywhere that's not my arms, screaming when i put her down for a nap, and the worst, screaming during the night. the night wakes are the worst -- the cry is gutteral, low, painful almost. she would wake and stay awake, no matter how much i tried to soothe her, for 1-3 hours each time. all of this up and down, soothing and picking up resulted in a serious worsening of my already bad neck, making my back spasm.

for 2 days, when my back was severe, dave woke up for anna at night. he got her back to sleep in 10 minutes or less. that was great, but frustrating -- when i got back to doing it on tuesday night, she was up again for 3 hours! what was going on? i knew it had something to do with not wanting me to leave her, even though she wouldn't sleep while i was with her either. so i looked it up... and came up with spearation anxiety!

yep. separation anxiety. i thought it was too early for it, but apparently it starts at 6-9 months. anna jae is 6.5 months, and it's been going on for weeks, so our little over-achiever started on the early end of it. it explains everything, especially her actions during the day, and the new need to be in my arms when someone else holds her (she's always been a very social baby, so this is very unlike her). apparently it means that she's developed the ability to remember and desire objects and people, which is great, except children learn that people leave before they learn that they come back. sad! so i'm trying to make her feel better about it. i've adopted a new way of dealing with her during the day... i reassure her that i'm there, even if it means she stays where she is and i talk to her from my seat, the bathroom, or the kitchen. i put her down for a nap after i read to her and cuddle with her for a bit. i still enforce that she needs to be by herself sometimes, but i make it more cozy for her.

now, her separation anxiety at night is a different animal -- a different cry (low, gutteral, painful almost), a different reaction to seeing me (she gets worse, she doesn't want me to leave). so it's a tough balance to strike. so we've reset our parameters again. i got her a nightlight so that the dark didn't scare her, and we now let her cry for about 5 whole minutes or so before going in (i say that because in the middle of the night, one minute feels like 10, so i actually watch the clock and wait). most of the time, if she wakes, she'll go back to sleep within 1-5 minutes if we don't intercede. if i have to go in, like last night, i rub her head, calm her down, and then as she starts to drift, i kiss her on the head and let her know i'm leaving again. the key there is that she can feel safe in her own crib, and she knows i'm leaving (that's how i leave every time i put her down in her crib, so she knows what it means). if she wakes to find me gone, it's going to freak her out more than KNOWING that i've gone. this combination seems to have worked, and i only had to go in once out of the last three nights, and she's back to sleeping 10+ hour stretches.

she's still clinging to me a lot during the day and i imagine that will continue for a while. my back is also still a mess, and i have a lot of healing to do. i need to pay more attention to taking care of myself, because if i'm out of commission, no one is here to take care of anna jae. still, i have hope that this stage will now be easier to deal with.

in other news, anna jae is spending most of her time talking gibberish these days. she still hasn't mastered any other words but mama, but she's trying. hard. =) she's actually less physically active than usual, and is clearly putting most of her effort into talking.

the sitting up is going well, and she is attempting to start crawling, though that's going nowhere yet. she's developed a love for certain toys though, which is fun.

and yes, she's still addicted to her swaddle (the next thing to conquer), sesame street, and dr. phil. =D