Big girl talking!

So this weekend was a little busy. Saturday we checked out a ice cream festival, but I decided we should wait until Anna was older. We then spent some time organizing this and doing some house tidying. We then headed to the neighborhood block party (lots of babies!)for a little bit before going to a belated birthday party for Travis next door. Anna's first birthday party! Sunday we did some planting and yard work. Hopefully my fig survives!
Today Anna decided she is feeling quite chatty. She has had occasional, very short, talking bursts, but tonight she went crazy. Ba, da, ga, blah blah. And her voice sounds older too. Pretty funny! John was able to record it. She really moves her jaw a lot. She will keep going if you blah blah back. Need to work on her responding to us talking normal now!

Photo baby

Anna and I did an at home photo shoot. I found some things we had around the house and set her up. Unfortunately, she was sleepy and it was hard to make her laugh and take the shot. I even held Fenway with one hand and snapped photos with the other. You would think that would warrant a laugh...
So, here are some of our shots, even a few "glamor" shots with pearls Meme gave me and Anna's tutu from Easter. The tutu is great for make believe down the road.































The funny thing is the rest of the day she hung out in her diaper, beat up on her mobile and roll, roll, rolled. Did I mention she likes to roll. Left and right. Spin a little, watch the cats, think about going straight, roll. Then there is the deep darkness under the chair-and-a-half that is calling her name. Spelunking in her future?

Sweet Potato

So it has been hot here and Anna, the dogs and I are all getting a little stir crazy. Hard to convince myself to get up early to go walking. We will see.
Have some funny pictures from today eating sweet potatoes. The first I was feeding her and thought it looked too funny and had to take a picture before I wiped her mouth. The second photo was how dirty she was eating supper with Dad. Such a serious face! Keep cool everyone!

Happy Father's Day!

Today was our first Father's Day. It went well with presents in bed, breakfast at Planet Sub (which John loves) and a day out running some errands. At Whole Foods, John answered a kids club question (for Anna) and got her first balloon!

She found it fascinating and liked to laugh at it and shake it around. I did not remember that balloons were so funny! It was fun to take photos of her playing with it.
She spent a good time rolling around and seemed to find getting to the hardwood floors interesting. Wood floors make a lot of noise when banged. So fun to have everything new and interesting. We took some fun photos outside and watched the lightning bugs come out. A nice day overall.

Peas

So today we went to the farmers market for some fresh peas. We came home and shelled them. We had a small amount, but they were nice and fresh. This evening we steamed them and strained them. And look at the face we got for all that work! So, we shall keep trying them till this runs out, then maybe we will hold off until she has learned more textures. Making yourself spit up to get rid of the flavor? Not good.

Six months!

So today she is six months old. We went to the Zoo this morning. Saw the cheetahs prowling after the plains animals, Black Footed Cat kittens and an orangutan with a giant ice cube. We went to the library then came home for a nap. The afternoon was spent moving around, taking photos and visiting with our neighbors. Not bad for a 6 month birthday! We celebrated with a meal of carrots and pears. Sweet.

Rolling

Here she is debuting (finally) on her blog. The video is of Anna rolling yesterday across the living room. Sorry it is dark, it was late.
She is a big girl now, 6 months! Eating sweet potatoes, apples, carrots, banana and rice cereal. Thinking about crawling, can sit up supported and sometimes alone. Still a happy girl and she loves her toes:) She is working on some teeth, sleeps 3-6 hours, is about 16.7 pounds and 26 inches long. She is a big snuggler (everyone tells us that when they hold her). She had her first play time at a friend's house this week. Thank you to Leslie and William for keeping an eye on her while John and I cleaned the damp basement.
She has had many adventures already. She likes to visit Dad at Hallmark to get lots of attention. She enjoys trips to the Zoo to take long naps as I walk through Africa. She has had a host of visitors, all her aunts and uncles, plus several visits by Grandma and Meme and Bapa. We took our first long road trip to Minnesota the other day and she did well. There she got to meet Aunt MaryAnn and Uncle Harold along with Great Gran. She enjoyed Matthew's 5 year-olds soccer game, Megan's dance recital and hanging out with Andrew. On our way out of town we had a nice visit with our friends Ginny and Gordy. A busy but fulfilling trip.
Lots to come. Swinging on the neighbors swing, crawling, patting the cat (that was big today, Fenway wanted love) and moving around. Time to clean the floors! She was fascinated with her embroidered pants today. I covered them up trying to get her to eat and she just moved the towel to stare at the some more. Shows good cause and effect rationale! Will try to keep this up!