week 43 HAPPY EASTER

Happy 1st Easter Anna! This was an exciting week.
On Thursday when I was putting Anna into the car she pointed at my shirt that was hanging up and said "blue"! I was so proud of her because the shirt is blue. She is trying so hard to talk, so hard to communicate. Its amazing watching her pick things up.
She also started signing "more" this week. The first time she did it was out of nowhere. It simply amazed me...again! I have been working a little on baby signs with her but honestly I was feeling bad because I didnt think I was doing it enough for her to learn anything.
Thursday we picked Daddy up from the airport. Anna did so good with Daddy. I was scared that she would be scared of him but she wasnt. She spent the weekend loving, hugging and playing with him. She would even call for him by saying "da" or "da-da".
Anna also took her first step this weekend. Well actually her first two steps. We were working on helping her stand by pulling her up and letting go of her hands. Most of the time she would just stand still and fall down a few seconds later. But TWO times she took one step and fell. I can barely keep up with her now...I dont know what I am going to do when she starts walking. Its really going to be time to baby proof the house!

On Saturday we went and saw the Easter bunny. We had to wait in the longest line but Anna was a good girl and waited as patiently as a 10 month old baby could be expected to wait. When we got up there she didnt cry a bit. She smiled and lookup at him. When we took her away she just kept pointing at him. We also dyed Easter eggs on Saturday. Anna tried to help...by trying to eat the eggs and knocking over the dye.

Anna really loved all of her easter baskets. She got one from the Easter bunny, one from Nana and Poppop and one from Grandma and Granpa.

We had such a great weekend. Its soooo sad to see it end. Daddy had to leave today but will be back in a few weeks. It was good to see Anna and Daddy spend time together. Hopefully the next time Daddy comes it will be warmer so we can go somewhere more exciting than Target!

week 42

Anna is such a smart baby. I already see that she is going to be so much smarter than me. She loves her books. Another thing I noticed this week was when she was looking at a book she would see a cat, point to it and say cat. If we closed the book she would reopen it and look for the page with the cat. She also knows where our foster cat hangs out and will look for whenever we go upstairs.
Anna is starting to stand on her own. She cant just stand up but once she pulls herself up using support she can let go and stand there for up to ten seconds. Then she falls on her bottom. She hasnt tried to take a step...but she hasnt tried to take a step when I am holding her hands either. I cant imagine her walking she is going to be a mess to stay up with. Its hard keeping up with her now...I can only imagine.
Anna also loves to be flipped....and I have noticed that she seems to be trying to do it own her own. See sometimes I will pick her up and flip her over and have her land on her feet. I have noticed that when she is sitting she will put her head on the ground and rock like she is trying to tumble/flip!!!! Scary!
This week I think Anna is going thru a growth spurt she is eating so much! She has even woke up during the night a few nights wanting a bottle every two to three hours. Oh Anna loves peas, seafood gumbo and scallops! She is soooooo adorable when she eats something she likes she will say "mmmmmmmmm!" I will admit she says it alot! She is not a picky eater by far!
We are excited. Daddy comes to visit this week! We cant wait to see him!

week 41

Our little Anna is getting so big so quick. This past week she showed that she can say "bye bye" and "hey"! I thought it was amazing that she actually knows who she is saying "bye bye" to. For instance, one day when i picked her up from daycare before we even started walking out I told her to say bye bye. She turned looked directly at her day care provider, waved and said "bye, bye"! It amazed me that she knew who she was saying bye bye to and it proved to me that she knew what bye bye meant.
We are trying to get Anna on a scheduled bed time. Im shooting for 830ish...a couple nights she went down ok...a couple of nights she fought it.
One thing I really need to work with Anna on is not hitting. When she gets excited she swings her arms and hits. I know she isnt doing it to be mean but its still not good. So...I have been taking her hand and rubbing it on my face and saying "soft touch" or when she pets the dog I do the same thing.
Anna is getting way better at pulling herself up on things and scooting around. I have even noticed that she loves to dance! She has this one leap frog music table and when she is standing at it and it is playing music she will shake her hips and legs. Its the cutest little thing.
This past couple weeks Anna officially hit the stage with seperation anxiety. Luckily its not real bad. She will just cry a little when I drop her off at day care, however, by the time I reach the door she has stopped crying.

week 40- 9 month checkup

Anna's vocabulary is constantly growing. We went to the docter for her 9 month checkup and she started to get fussy. The nurse offered to make her a sticker "lollipop". Basically they take a tongue depresser and sticker two stickers together at the top. Anna loved it. She kept saying "duck". However, now that I look back she might be saying "that" in an asking manner. So I kept saying sticker...sticker...sticker. Finally out of the blue she said "sticker". the docters mouth dropped. She seemed to be amazed and said that she could tell that Anna was talked to alot. I was soooooo proud of Anna. At her appointment she weighed 16 lbs .8 ounces(which is in the 10% for her age), she is 27 inches long (25% for her age). You I cant how many people that see her look at her feet and hands and say oh....she is going to be tall. Hmmmmmmmmm.....I do think she has long feet but I dont really think she has big hands.

Anna also say's book alot. She loves to look at her books and be read to. She is also know getting to where she will point to things in the book.Sometimes it sounds like she is saying "that?" and sometimes it sounds like she is saying "duck". Anna is also starting to point to real items. Whether it be in a store, outside or inside the house. Again sometimes it sounds like she is asking "that?" other times it sounds like "duck".


Anna will not eat regular baby food any more for me. Instead I have to feed her the gerber graduates stage. Like the beenie weenies, the fruit, the pasta, the cheese doodle thingys. If I even try to sneak the other baby food (the stage 2 or three) she looks at me like I am crazy! Anna also loves to feed herself. I will put two or three items on her little table top (of the high chair) and she will pick them up and feed herself. I love watching her learn.

Everyday she continues to amaze me. My favorite part of the day, well I guess I have to parts of the day that are my favorite. One is in the morning when she wakes up and when she first sees me the smile on her face. The other is when I pick her up from daycare after work. I love walking in and seeing her playing and the minute she notices I am there her little face lights up and she gets the biggest smile. It makes all the headaches from work just dissappear.

36-39 weeks

Man...I am seriously failing in my goal to write once a week for Anna's blog. I feel horrible. This was suppose to be my way of recording her moments for her to read later and...well lately I havent been able to make the time. Recently I got a promotion at my work. Well not really a promotion essentially i was put into a position of greater responsibilty. The bad thing is right now I am doing my old job and my new job. So not only is it jsut the added work load of the new responsibilities its that plus my old workload. Soon I hope I wont be doing my old job much and once that happens I will have a little more time. Anna and I have been getting home so late. Normally I will go pick her up from daycare at 5 and take her back to work until about 7-8. By the time we get home we spend most of the time getting Anna ready for the evening and getting everything ready for the next day. In the limited time that we have together I have opted to spend it interacting with her instead of getting on the computer.
Anna has had an exciting few weeks. Around week 37 she learned the word duck. I am not sure how she picked this up except that she has a duck she plays with a bath time. Only thing...everything she picks up for a while was "duck"! It was cute because it was like she was asking "duck?" and I would say "no...book" or "no block",etc.
In week 37 Anna had her first big experience with snow. We got about 5 inches. I was so excited that I was going to get to use her snowsuit. So I rushed to put her in it and take pictures. Well poor Anna was a little sleepy and didnt do to well sitting up. She kept falling on her back or own her side. She didnt have a problem falling these ways but when she fell on her face....she looked so pitiful. I had to run her into the house and wipe the snow off and she was still crying. It didnt take long for her to get over it but we didnt venture back out.

Anna also got a bad rash on her face this week. I think it was from being at someone elses house. She was laying and crawling on a blanket. I guess she isnt ready for big people laundry detergent.
In week 38 Anna and I had our first experience rushing to an emergency room. Anna woke up with a temp of 104...so off we went. It all started the night before when she had a 103 temp. I gave her some tylenol and called the doctor. The doctor said to wait an hour and see if her temp went down and call her back. It went down to 99 so the doctor said not to worry just to monitor it and if it hit 104 go immediately to the emergency room. Or if it was 101 or higher and wasnt responding to tylenol. Well we ran to the emergency room where they gave her motrin. She wasnt showing any other symptons of being sick and her temp dropped to 100 so they sent her home. But said that if it went back up to 104 to bring her back because that is the temp that babies start seizing at. Luckily it never went back that high. It would get as high as 102 but would drop once i gave her motrin or tylenol. This only lasted a couple days. I am convinced she had a tooth trying to break thru and that is what caused the temp.
In week 39 Anna learned "uh oh!" It was the cutest thing she would say "uh oh", then I would say spaghetti oh" and she would say "uh oh". She loved this game. This Nana and Poppop Durrette came to visit. Anna got to spend all day and night with them (she slept in their arms). Anna also went on her first big road trip to North Carolina from Kansas with Nana and Poppop. They tell me she did really good. I am so glad that she got to visit all the family in North Carolina!
Anna is eating more and more big people food. She loves pancakes and bread!
I really miss my baby and cant wait till tomorrow afternoon when I pick her and Nana up at the airport. I have been like a lost puppy dog the past few days with out her....

34th and 35th week

Ok...Im a little upset I missed a week. I dont like missing weeks because then I forget about little things I want to mention. I still forget things even when I write every week...for example the other day I remembered something Anna did in like week I think 31. My brother (uncle Adam) sent her a little stuffed husky. I was watching Anna as she was in her playpen and she amazed me at what she did next. She was on one side of her playpen and she has a mirror on the other side. She crawled over to the side with the mirror (towing the puppy). She then sat down in front of the mirror and held the doggy up to the mirror!!!! Then she talked a little. I really think she was showing the doggy itself in the mirror! i thought this was amazing for her age. If she was really doing what I percieved her to be doing! A couple days later I caught her in front of the mirror clapping and smiling.

Week 34...

Anna was a little sick this week. I think it was because the change in weather. She never got congested just had a runny nose. The temps went from the 20's to the high 60's. One day it was so pretty I took her for a walk out by the lake to the see the swans...she didnt seem to interested in them. I think because they were too far away.

Week 35



This was an exciting week for us. Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Shoe and Aunt Carrie and Adyn came to visit. We were excited for everyone to visit but really excited because Daddy's visit was unexpected. Daddy said Anna has gotten so much bigger. He was amazed at how much she is talking and how she is crawling like crazy and loves to pull herself up! it was a great weekend. We had so much fun spending time with family.




Anna got sick this weekend. We took her to the doctor and she has an upper respiratory infection. She was given some meds and banned from daycare for a day.

Nana and Poppop sent Anna this toy. She loves it. She loves to spin the wheel thing in the middle!

33 weeks

Isnt that the most adorable smile! Well actually she was laughing at me! I love her laugh...it sends the warmest feeling thru my body.
Anna is doing great. 8 months have come and gone and it still seems like yesterday I was hearing her cry for the first time.
Im telling you little Ms. Anna keeps me busy. She has gotten in to routine of not wanting to fall asleep until 10 or 11 and by them I am trying my hardest to stay awake. She can usually play by herself for about 30 minutes but after that she wants "mommy time" which I love but it seems like I cant get enough done in that 30 minutes.
Anna is constantly pulling herself up on her baby gate. She hasnt pulled herself up on anything else but hasnt really been given the opportunity. She loves to stand and talk to me and will laugh when I talk back to her.
I swear she really thinks we are carrying on a conversation. I swear sometimes she is asking me a question. You know how someones voice changes when they ask a question...I cant think of the big word for it. But she sounds like that and then she looks at me like she wants a response. I think its so adorable.