Mark, Annelise, and I are currently attending my old church in Urbandale. Much of the community there feels like family, and we're hoping to get involved with some more outreach programs.
The first visit to church we had Annelise in the sanctuary for the main service. She did surprisingly well, Pastor Jeff showed her off right at the beginning, and Pastor Weaver tried to make her dance to his singing like she had done the previous Friday during Kelsey's vocal solos at her senior recital. It was either Pastor's singing or Annelise's fear at being held by somebody she didn't know yet, but she wasn't very dancy that morning. You can make your decision as to which you think caused the non-dancing. :)
So since we're going to New Hope again, we generally hang out with my family for the afternoon until they leave for church orchestra. Actually, to be more accurate, after church is out, we need to get her to a napping spot ASAP, because her regularly scheduled nap time is about 10:30am... right when church is starting. However, she seems to really love going to the nursery. We've been to church 3 times since being back (two weekends we've been out of town with Mark's family), and 2 of those times Annelise has hung out with the cool kids in the nursery. Every time we go to pick her up, she seems really happy! But it's funny, because once she's back in our hands, it seems like the real world has just invaded her brain and she's either hungry or sleepy all of a sudden.
[This is where the draft post ends. I forgot to finish it way back when, and I'm posting it Jan 29, 2013, but marking the date for when this was written, May, 22, 2012.]
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Walking already?
Annelise is 34 weeks old, so thebump.com tells me. I just know she's older than 7.5 months, but not quite 8. But she's getting so big! It's funny, she's still so small, but Mark and I frequently say how we miss our tiny little newborn. :)
We just recently lowered her crib to the second lowest setting because she's becoming way too strong for her own good. It's a bittersweet accomplishment, with more sweet than bitter. After her naps, Annelise would usually be on her tummy pushing her head way up to see what is happening outside the crib world. So whenever Mark or I would come in to get her, she'd hear that door open and immediately push her head up to see who it was! Makes me giggle every time I see that wobbly little head. Sometimes her daddy will go in very quietly, sneak around to open her bathroom door to let in the light, then go over to the main window in her room and slowly pull back the curtain and then open the blinds to let the most light through. The entire time Annelise is kicking and sounding so excited... almost giggling... then Daddy will sneak right up next to her crib, and pop up to surprise her!! She loves it!
So now she's on the next lower setting of the crib. Because she's figured out how to pull herself up! Her most favorite thing to do right now is to grab onto our thumbs or fingers and pull herself up to stand. Doesn't matter if she's laying down or sitting, she pulls herself all the way up! It's amazing, because it seems like just yesterday she was barely able to pull herself up to a seated position (just before we moved she could barely sit up on her own... just over a month ago!), and now she standing up! She's goofy wobbly, though; it's hilarious watching her try to steady herself. She's to the point where if somebody is around to pull her up to stand, that's what she wants to do. Just plain ol' sitting is so boring now, apparently.
Along with her new found love for standing up, she's getting really good at putting one foot in front of the other. She holds onto our hands super tight, and we start walking backwards facing her, slightly pulling her along and she's figuring out how to make steps happen to get her closer to where she wants to go! She's so amazing.
One thing I'm kind of sad about is that if she figures out how to walk, she may bypass the crawling stage altogether. She doesn't particularly enjoy being on her tummy, and would much rather just be sitting while playing. It's cool though, walking seems to be an easier mode of transportation, though the falls might be a little more intense than falling from crawling. But basically, I'm just going to encourage whatever she wants to do to explore her little world! Speaking of which... I really need to get on top of baby-proofing this place!
We just recently lowered her crib to the second lowest setting because she's becoming way too strong for her own good. It's a bittersweet accomplishment, with more sweet than bitter. After her naps, Annelise would usually be on her tummy pushing her head way up to see what is happening outside the crib world. So whenever Mark or I would come in to get her, she'd hear that door open and immediately push her head up to see who it was! Makes me giggle every time I see that wobbly little head. Sometimes her daddy will go in very quietly, sneak around to open her bathroom door to let in the light, then go over to the main window in her room and slowly pull back the curtain and then open the blinds to let the most light through. The entire time Annelise is kicking and sounding so excited... almost giggling... then Daddy will sneak right up next to her crib, and pop up to surprise her!! She loves it!
So now she's on the next lower setting of the crib. Because she's figured out how to pull herself up! Her most favorite thing to do right now is to grab onto our thumbs or fingers and pull herself up to stand. Doesn't matter if she's laying down or sitting, she pulls herself all the way up! It's amazing, because it seems like just yesterday she was barely able to pull herself up to a seated position (just before we moved she could barely sit up on her own... just over a month ago!), and now she standing up! She's goofy wobbly, though; it's hilarious watching her try to steady herself. She's to the point where if somebody is around to pull her up to stand, that's what she wants to do. Just plain ol' sitting is so boring now, apparently.
Along with her new found love for standing up, she's getting really good at putting one foot in front of the other. She holds onto our hands super tight, and we start walking backwards facing her, slightly pulling her along and she's figuring out how to make steps happen to get her closer to where she wants to go! She's so amazing.
One thing I'm kind of sad about is that if she figures out how to walk, she may bypass the crawling stage altogether. She doesn't particularly enjoy being on her tummy, and would much rather just be sitting while playing. It's cool though, walking seems to be an easier mode of transportation, though the falls might be a little more intense than falling from crawling. But basically, I'm just going to encourage whatever she wants to do to explore her little world! Speaking of which... I really need to get on top of baby-proofing this place!
Saturday, May 5, 2012
We Moved!
So it's been quite awhile since I posted here, but I've got a reasonable excuse... the three of us recently moved from Houston, back home to Iowa so we could be closer to family! We really love being back here, but we also really miss our Houston family!
Lately Annelise has been a pro at sitting up. When we were last in Houston, around mid-April, she was just barely able to sit up on her own for a couple seconds before tipping over. But now she's pretty confident on her own, and even I'm okay with letting her sit in the middle of the floor by herself while I go get a quick something from the kitchen or wherever (within eyesight of her!). There have been a couple topples where she landed wrong and bumped her head a little too hard, but she's resilient, and with a quick cuddle from mommy or daddy, she's good to go again!
One funny thing she does all the time, is twirl her feet around. It's most noticeable while she's sitting up, but she's been doing it since she realized she had feet. She'd do it in her bouncy seat, while laying on the floor, and now while sitting up! I don't know if it's a common thing for babies to do or not, but it's funny!
We gave her a bath in her inflatable ducky tab for the first time today! Let me tell you, using that thing is waaaaaay way way way easier than laying her in the regular tub and balancing and juggling, trying to keep her from sliding around and bonking her head. And she had fun in the tub, too! She'd poke at the bubbles the washcloth made as it dripped water into the tub. She also tried to grab at the washcloth a few times, but realized it wasn't really as fun to play with as mommy made it seem. :)
She's been doing really well with eating food. Just yesterday I bought her some sweet potato puff cereal to try out. She had a few of them, but gave me a really confused look when I stuck them in her mouth. I laid a few out for her to try to pick up and eat on her own, too. She would grab one at a time, but then it'd get stuck inside her tightly clamped fist. Her fist would go in her mouth, but the food wouldn't get out! That confused her for a bit until I just took the puff out for her and stuck it in her mouth. She's still super confused by them, though! We'll keep trying those gradually.
She had baby strawberry yogurt for the first time today. She pretty much loved it! We're still introducing solid food sparingly though, about one 3-4oz of food per day to go along with her milk meals. The below picture is a surprisingly good one of Annelise in her high chair in our fancy new kitchen, taken by Daddy!! (It's hard to get non-blurry pictures of her because she's so wiggly!)
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Hm, let's see... what else? Her new room in the new house is massive. And so is her closet. Not sure what she needs all that room for, but I guess she can use it to practice rolling around! She's definitely become awesome at rolling. Occasionally her arm will get stuck weirdly beneath her as she rolls, but most of the time she's figured out just how to wiggle and roll to get where her brain wants her to go. She hasn't figured out crawling. I'm not sure she'll learn that before she decides to just up and walk though. We'll see!
That'll round out this edition. :) Hopefully I'll be back to posting more regularly!
Lately Annelise has been a pro at sitting up. When we were last in Houston, around mid-April, she was just barely able to sit up on her own for a couple seconds before tipping over. But now she's pretty confident on her own, and even I'm okay with letting her sit in the middle of the floor by herself while I go get a quick something from the kitchen or wherever (within eyesight of her!). There have been a couple topples where she landed wrong and bumped her head a little too hard, but she's resilient, and with a quick cuddle from mommy or daddy, she's good to go again!
One funny thing she does all the time, is twirl her feet around. It's most noticeable while she's sitting up, but she's been doing it since she realized she had feet. She'd do it in her bouncy seat, while laying on the floor, and now while sitting up! I don't know if it's a common thing for babies to do or not, but it's funny!
We gave her a bath in her inflatable ducky tab for the first time today! Let me tell you, using that thing is waaaaaay way way way easier than laying her in the regular tub and balancing and juggling, trying to keep her from sliding around and bonking her head. And she had fun in the tub, too! She'd poke at the bubbles the washcloth made as it dripped water into the tub. She also tried to grab at the washcloth a few times, but realized it wasn't really as fun to play with as mommy made it seem. :)
She's been doing really well with eating food. Just yesterday I bought her some sweet potato puff cereal to try out. She had a few of them, but gave me a really confused look when I stuck them in her mouth. I laid a few out for her to try to pick up and eat on her own, too. She would grab one at a time, but then it'd get stuck inside her tightly clamped fist. Her fist would go in her mouth, but the food wouldn't get out! That confused her for a bit until I just took the puff out for her and stuck it in her mouth. She's still super confused by them, though! We'll keep trying those gradually.
She had baby strawberry yogurt for the first time today. She pretty much loved it! We're still introducing solid food sparingly though, about one 3-4oz of food per day to go along with her milk meals. The below picture is a surprisingly good one of Annelise in her high chair in our fancy new kitchen, taken by Daddy!! (It's hard to get non-blurry pictures of her because she's so wiggly!)
.jpg)
Hm, let's see... what else? Her new room in the new house is massive. And so is her closet. Not sure what she needs all that room for, but I guess she can use it to practice rolling around! She's definitely become awesome at rolling. Occasionally her arm will get stuck weirdly beneath her as she rolls, but most of the time she's figured out just how to wiggle and roll to get where her brain wants her to go. She hasn't figured out crawling. I'm not sure she'll learn that before she decides to just up and walk though. We'll see!
That'll round out this edition. :) Hopefully I'll be back to posting more regularly!
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