The ants go marching...

Saturday we spent a beautiful day at Powell Gardens. The garden was hosting a Tomato and Pepper festival with tastings and samples from some local stores. We arrived around 11 a.m. and stayed until about 4 p.m. We grabbed lunch, Anna having a little of everything, and sampled fruits picked fresh from the garden. Anna really liked the fresh cantaloupe and banana melon. The banana melon was good. It taste like a cross between a cantaloupe and a honey dew. John and I tried a Paw paw and agreed it tasted like room temperature brie. Not too appealing in my fruit.
The tomato tasting was fun. We each got a plate and loaded it up with fresh cut heirloom tomatoes, fresh picked basil, fresh bread (Anna loved it), olive oil and homemade salsa. We should have skipped lunch! A local exotic snow cone company had samples of Watermelon/Basil and Pineapple/Serrano Pepper. They were okay, but not my tube of ice. John liked the Pineapple/Serrano Pepper. And there was yet more to taste!
We sampled yummy olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, a locally made salsa and a chef's homemade sauces. John was having a good time sampling! Our favorite thing after the fresh tomatoes and basil was a local chef's homemade ice cream. He had a strawberry/red pepper sorbet which was nice, but John's jalapeno ice cream was excellent. So very creamy and smooth with a nice little burn in your throat. Unfortunately, he only made it for Saturday.
We then wandered the grounds, watched the butterflies, just missed seeing a snake eating a frog, enjoying the weather and just relaxing. Anna took this as a good opportunity to nap.

We enjoyed looking at the giant bug art through out the Gardens made from wood. A lot of twig bending and shaping. They are so much fun and visit every year. It was a great relaxing day, just what we needed.

We have a crawler!

Anna has been getting around on her own by spinning, belly flopping and sitting up. Today we finally have crawling for distance! She was covering a four foot span in one go! Her technique still has a long way to go, but she has the idea and can now cover more ground. Look out cats! Thanks to Pepper for coming over and giving her tips!
If you notice a pooped Fenway in the background it is because he just realized we have fish in the fish tank and has been staring at them ALL day. They have been there since May. Silly cat.

Time to lower the crib!

John and I were just talking the other day about when it would be time to lower the crib to the lowest level. We figured it would correspond with her pulling herself up. Well...guess what she did this weekend? Guess she was listening to our discussion!

Otherwise we had a quiet long weekend. We went to the dog park on Saturday and hiked around and spent the rest of the weekend getting things done around the house the best you can with an 8 and a half month old baby.

Teething, hiking and baby steps!

So moments after this photo Anna decided to scoot off the rocking chair. I gave her my fingers and she stretched until her toes touched the floor then took a few steps towards me! It was walking holding me, but the first time she had decided to do so, how fun!
We tried homemade sweet potato risotto this week. Anna and John really enjoyed it and I found it good, but needing a little something. I will work on it.
We went hiking at the dog park again this week. The weather was great Friday, mid to high seventies and not a cloud. Had to get out. The dogs had fun and we enjoyed the fresh air.

She is still doing uh-oh. It is funny when she is sitting playing by herself and you hear, "uh-oh" as she had dropped something. She still takes tentative crawls, just no distance. She does get all over the living room by kneeling, moving forward a bit, then sitting up.
She is taking good naps with her teething and eating a lot. She likes cold cucumbers to rub on her teeth (there are two there!) and other cold fruit as finger foods. Not too cold however!

Uh oh!

Anna has decided to pick right up on that phrase. I think it is a phrase that corresponds with eating food. Baby drops food and parents say, "Uh oh." Anna thinks it is great. She has been mimicking us for a while. A "hi" here and "all done" there. But with "uh oh" she is doing it on her own. John was changing her this weekend and she had her diaper. She dropped it over the side of the changing table and, "uh oh." She is tending to do it whenever something drops, then she is back to her old, babagaga babadada mumumamama.
And she now has a teeny tiny piece of her lower right tooth sticking up! She is growing so fast. So far she has been handling it well. Just sticking her finger in her mouth a lot.

It was a dark and stormy night...

I am not sure how many people read the old Peanuts comic strip where Snoopy tried to write a novel, but they often started that way, a la novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Well, the weather Friday night was very dark and stormy. Then Saturday John was able to catch the funny shot of Anna playing with a flashlight. Very scary-story face.
Another new thing in her life is the eating of bread. Nom, nom, nom, she says, very good. She really enjoys bread, but she still offered to share with me. How nice of her! I have used my new bread machine and made white bread and today some delicious whole wheat. Yum, yum, yum!

Eight months!

Anna is now eight months! How the time has flown. She is moving around like crazy and climbing some of her toys, but still not crawling. She can stand well and this week has started to wiggle and wave her arms to music. When her music table plays certain songs she looks to us to see if we are singing with it.
She likes to "talk" to us all the time and definitely understands some of her signs and a lot of what we ask. Eat, more, all done, Ally, Milo, kitty (I think that may be her favorite). When I ask her where the kitty is she whips around to find them. When they come into the kitchen and she is eating she cranes her neck to see them and calls them with a loud, "Ah!" She mimics here and there and has started to make sounds she hears on her music table (I heard quacking today).
She enjoys patting the animals and watching them play. She will often try to move around to touch whoever is closer. I figure when she does crawl it will be towards one of them, or the phone.
Anna has been having fun visiting with all the kids we have seen lately. She likes to talk to the babies about her age and watch the older kids to see what they are doing. She really observes them and pays attention to everything going on around her.
We have had some small but neat milestones. She is getting very good at putting food in her mouth and often insists upon it. She enjoys playing peekaboo, pulling up a towel by herself to play (we call it "Where's Anna"). And this week she has figured out how to put a ball into a hole on one of her toys and even retrieve the ball if it gets stuck. Great to see her use her problem solving skills this young!
John and I are having great fun with her. She brings new surprises each day and continues to be a happy baby.