Anna's 10 month Session

She's 10 and a half months old and getting bigger and learning something new everyday!

Anna seems to look like she'll start walking any day now! (though I'm hoping for at least another month of crawling so I can still catch her for now :) She makes a really good "fish-face" when asked, "what does a fish say"... she sucks in her cheeks! It's so cute! (there's a picture on the family website) She can point to mommy and daddy's nose and mouth when asked to find them, we're working on ears and eyes. And she loves to point to objects and let me tell her what they are... so after she points to the object once, I just make up mulitple sentences to describe the object each time after that. (i.e. point: "Bowl", point: "the bowl is red", point: "the bowl has your applesauce in it", point: "you are eating the applesauce from the bowl"... it gets harder and harder to make up new sentences, but it's fun)

We also use the phrase "touch" when she touches something while pointing. I figure if I'm consistent at telling her "don't touch" with things like the bookshelf, outlet plug covers, the TV stand, power cords, etc, then I should also let her know that there are things that she can touch, and that touching isn't bad, just touching certain objects is a no-no.

Go to our family website to see more of her 10 month session, but here are a few of my favorites:

The Park

We went on a park hunt recently. I've been wanting to find a good, fun, baby approved park in the area for us to go to on my Mondays off or on the weekend. There are 2 parks within a mile of our house, one about 3 miles away, and another about 5 miles away, so all within a nice driving distance, but none of them are safe to walk to with all the traffic around here (we live to close to I-35 for me to consider dodging even neighborhood traffic with a stroller).

Plus, we were really hoping to get to have Anna's 1st birthday party at an area park. (I wouldn't have to clean my house, plenty of room for all our friends and family, free entertainment for the kiddos...) One park close to us has NO shade and no picnic tables by the playground, the other has a playground that's made more for the older kids, another has Zero baby swings, and their playground equipment is really old.

The last one we checked, which is the only other one even remotely close to us, has it all. Swings, LOTS of new playground stuff, a big shaded pavilion and 3 smaller covered picnic tables... and the ground by the little kiddos' play area is soft and rubbery- no gravel or wood chips to get stuck in your shoes, and I don't have to worry about her wanting to pick up the floor and eat it. :)

I called the park to see what it takes to reserve the pavilion, and was surprised that it cost $20/hour! Matt and I talked it over and decided that it would be worth it to go ahead and reserve it for Anna's 1st Birthday party. We're photographing a wedding on August 1st, and have Newcastle Yearbook portraits all day on the weekend before her birthday, so her party will be on August 8th from 2-4pm. I'm going to call them today to schedule it for sure, they still had that weekend available a few weeks ago when I called for the info, but I want to get it on the calendar and set!

Mommy's Not that Interesting

Anna decided that Mommy was just not as interesting as looking to see where we were going while shopping at Target this weekend. She kept insisting on trying to turn around despite my efforts to keep her sitting in the seat correctly. But she was buckled in, so I finally gave in. It's really pretty cute. And everyone we passed in the store said the same thing: What a cute baby!
So I went around to the front of the cart to get a view of what they were seeing, and yep, those little eyes peeking over the side of the basket are just adorable!

Diaper Rash

My mom told me a while back the best way to get rid of a diaper rash is to let it air out. Well, in order to make sure my house didn't get any potty accidents, we aired out outside this afternoon when Anna's slightly pink tushy from yesterday turned into a small rash. We piled a few toys and books into Anna's toy basket, laid out a big blanket, and sat outside for an hour or so. (Sporting nothing but a tshirt and sun hat-Not to mention smothering her with sunscreen, even though we were in the shade)

I was impressed that she only crawled on the blanket the whole time. When we're inside, she makes no boundaries unless they are unmoveable obstacles, i.e. baby gates or baracaded doorways. A layed out blanket means nothing inside, but outside it was the end of the crawl zone! She also stayed hydrated by sipping on her water every few minutes without me reminding her. Good Girl!

Not too Fond of Scissors

Anna's scraggly hair was much in need of a trim. I'd been trying to let it just grow and see if it would naturally start laying flatter, and begin to stay behind her ears, or swoop to the side instead of falling in her eyes. Well, I had to give in for a trim. We decided to go to SnipIts since they specialize in cutting babies and children's hair. And though she did really well, staying mostly still while the nice lady cut her hair, Anna didn't really like the whole hair cut experience. She was partly content for a few seconds watching me blow bubbles, or playing with my keys. But she really just wanted down. The lady was really great. She was patient, didn't get stressed, worked on an occassionally moving head...

And the trim turned out very well. She now has a cute haircut rather than lots of random thick baby hairs.

A little bit of Everything

I've said before that Anna has it in her blood to be a photographer.

Actually, I will honestly be happy with whatever profession she chooses for herself later in her life. As long as she's Happy, then I'll be happy. But it's fun to joke about for now. In this picture you can see that she is literally flipping through a photography magazine. She just sat there and pulled up a few pages and let them flip through her fingers, over and over and over.... Hey, free entertainment! I'll take it!

She's had a knack for putting things in her mouth when she was crawling around. At first it was just her pacifier if it was clipped to her shirt and getting in the way as she crawled. She'd just pull it up, pop it in her mouth, and keep going. Now, she'll be sitting and playing with a toy and then before she starts crawling will put it in her mouth so she can take it with her. Not really sure if she just figured it out on her own, or if she saw Lola carrying around her own dog toys enough that she learned you carry things in your mouth... Whatever the reasoning behind it, it's Too cute!

This teething ring in the pictures is filled with water. When put in the freezer, it obviously freezes into little round ice cubes. Anna Loves it! Her little cheeks turn bright red, and even though there are no signs of more teeth, I think she finds it comforting. Occassionally in the afternoon or evening, she'll get kind of clingy. She just wants to be held. She's not fussy, or crying, just constantly pulling at our legs for us to pick her up. She doesn't want, and won't accept, any toy you give her. But I can hand her this teether and she'll sit on the floor or crawl around with it in her mouth for a half hour or more.

This next one may sound gross, but what can you do? I usually go into her room to check on her while she's asleep before I go to bed myself every night. I'll make sure her pacifier is moved to the side of the crib so she doesn't roll over it and wake herself up, and make sure she's covered with her blanket so she doesn't get cold. I went in to check on her last Saturday night about an hour after she had fallen asleep, and noticed her pajamas looked a little discolored on her back. She was sleeping on her side, so I pulled out my cell phone to use as a flashlight and saw that she had puked some of her dinner in her bed, then rolled in it! It was on her jammies, in her bed, in her hair, all over neck and side... Poor girl :( I just stood there for several minutes debating what to do... Do I get her up and clean her off? She's sleeping so peacefully, do I really want to mess with convincing her to go back to sleep once she's cleaned up. I'd have to change sheets, change her, change her blanket, give her a bath... I was getting up early the next morning to drive to Texas for a photography seminar, so I just told Matt to expect to have to give her a bath in the morning and then I went on to bed. Sure enough, not an hour later, she woke up and apparently realized what she was sleeping in. So Matt got her out of bed and undressed her, but we realized, she definitely needed a picture of that hair! So, Yes, we are gross and disgusting parents for putting her back in the crib to stand there with puke in her hair while we took a picture. She was actually pretty happy and laughing the whole time. I guess she thought it was funny too! Matt gave her a bath and I cleaned the bedding, and it did take a little convincing that she really DID need to go back to sleep, but she eventually gave in to her exhaustion. Just for reference: her hair is really thick now, and it's getting pretty long too, but in the mornings it usually is laying flat on her head, not sticking straight up, and though it does seem to have a little bit of a wave to it, it's usually pretty straight first thing in the morning. So you know there had to be some nasty stuff in it to make it wavy and sticking straight up! Yuck!

10 Months old Today

Can you believe it? She's 10 months old today! My baby is seriously growing up!
She can point to your nose when asked to find it, crawl like crazy, cruise around objects when standing up and holding onto them, and she even dared to let go of the edge my desk the other day when she was holding my keys to just stand there for a few seconds before putting her hand back on the desk to balance. The first video is of her pointing to her Daddy's nose, the second is of her walking while holding onto just one of my hands- she's a little wobbely, but she's definitely figuring out the whole balance thing, and the third is of her crawling. All my recent pictures of her are on another computer right now, so I'll have to upload some of those later.

As Matt mentioned on our Family website, Anna is a crawling Champion! She still puts one foot up every once in a while when crawling, but I've noticed it's only when she's on the hard floor, or when she's changing directions- as if to pivot her body another direction. She's really fast too.
I'll have to be faster at getting her 10 month session done than I was with the 9 month session. It's amazing how much she's changed since the last portrait sesssion, which as you remember was just 2 weeks ago!

A few Fun Videos

Anna likes to laugh. It's adorable! She's started doing a little fake laugh when she hears someone else laughing. (Have you ever watched Channel 4 news in the morning? There's a camera man who laughs in the background occassionally- Anna even laughs when she hears him! I'm on the hunt to get video of her doing that.) This video is of Anna laughing with her Daddy.

Anna has also mastered the Pincher Grasp. She mostly does it with smaller pieces of food (or threads or lint on the carpet) but she has definitely mastered the thought process of using her finger and thumb to pick up smaller items. She picks up the little pieces of bread with her finger and thumb, but then uses her whole hand for the puffs.

It breaks her heart to be told "no". We've been working on what items can and can't go in your mouth. Books are something she has decided she likes to chew on. We usually explain to her why she can't do what we're telling her not do. But I'd done that a few times before I pulled out the video camera already, so in the video I'm down to just saying "No, not in your mouth". To which she responds by raising her eyebrows, making her big blue eyes bigger, and turning down the corners of her mouth in a little frown. She's obedient about it for the most part, but that face is so funny!

And one more: She likes to hold her hands up and out to mimick me when I say "where is it", or "who's here", or "What is that", or "where'd it go"? She's the best!

A few Pictures

Another one of my Sweet finds from a consignment store: this cute little ensemble was purchased for $1.50. Seriously? No holes, no stains, not uncomfortable to wear... $1.50? Oh well, Score another one for me! I actually purchased it a few months ago. The yellow tanktop is actually the same one she's wearing in the bunny pictures with Eva last March. The matching jeans are still a little loose around her belly right now. She's in 12 month onesies still, but shirts and pants are still in the 9 month category.

Plus! Since the consignment stores are trying to get rid of their winter clothes I got a nice thick (and super cute!) winter coat for her for $5! It's actually one of last season's coats that was selling for $35 at Old Navy. I got a much better price since she'll probably only get to wear it for the one season. It's an 18 month size- so unless she really chunks up in the next 6-8 months, it should fit her perfectly through the whole season.

Any ways, Anna crawls everywhere, and potentially gets into EVERYTHING! I blocked off part of my office last week so she could crawl around a little while I was out of the room for a few minutes, and since she couldn't move the blockade I made for her, she decided to try to find ways around it. Under the desk is her favorite way to try to escape the office. She crawls up to the bottom opening and then lays down to try to get under it, only, she can't figure out how to crawl while laying down. She never did the army crawl. So she crawls to the opening lays down, gets back on her hands and knees, leans forward, bonks her head on the desk since she can't fit to crawl under it, lays back down and repeats for several minutes until she gets sidetracked by a toy or something on her side of the baracade. Or gets frustrated enough from bonking her head over and over that she finally just stops. She's so cute!

Anna also has a few books with finger puppets in them. She likes books, but she seems to really find the finger puppet books quite hilarious. I usually keep one in the diaper bag or in the car to play with. (this is just a sock in the picture- if she doesn't have a toy, she'll pull her socks off her feet and play with them while we're in the car)
I was letting her play with the dog f.p. book when we were on our way home last week and she sat back there talking to it non-stop.
So I pulled out the cell phone and recorded her. I just rested my hand on my shoulder and the back of her carseat while we were stopped at a stop light, and then for a few seconds after it changed. The phone only records for a minute, and I was actually pretty surprised it even turned out or was aimed well, since I couldn't see what I was recording. She plays with it for a while, but then it slips out of reach and while trying to kick it to get it back, ends up kicking it over the side of the seat.

Going for a Jog

I really like our jogging stroller. It steers better and glides smoother on a sidewalk or outdoor track than it does in the mall or a store, but for the most part, it's Great! Anna likes it too. We went for jog this morning. And even decided to bring Lola along too. I debated for several minutes on wether or not I wanted to brave taking a baby and dog to the park by myself, but decided I'd give it whirl. Sure it would have been easier with one more person to hold the leash while I got the stroller and Anna in and out of the car, but Lola was actually very obedient the whole time. She'd sit and stay when told, and then jog with us along the side of the

stroller. I like that she's quickly learning that it's my way or no way.

Lola was quite the trooper too. She usually has full range of the back wagon part of the HHR, but the stroller took up half of it, and Lola was stuck pretty much in one spot the whole ride. And since I didn't take my camera with me, I just have these quick snapshots from my camera phone.