5 months!

Anya is quickly heading into 5 1/2 months of her life. When I step outside and feel the cold air hit my face and see the leaves scattered on the ground I question what happened to summer. Oh yeah, I had a baby..... that is what happened to summer! Having a late spring baby was nice in most respects. We were able to get outside and go for walks, sit on the lawn in the shade, and enjoy the sailboat a little. However I think I spent more time inside during the summer this year then I ever have in my entire life. Even with our trips to the cabin I was inside most the time. Breastfeeding Anya has been very easy and I'm really glad I chose to do it and stuck with it for so long. BUT- I am tied to her. She is taking a bottle very well now so I have more freedom but in the beginning I definitely needed to be around every 2-3 hours to feed her. I guess I never really realized how much of my time would be spent feeding her. That was a commitment I would make again in a heartbeat but man, it literally sucks the life right out of you! :)

Enough about me! Onto Anya and her latest exploits. She is very active now and enjoys playtime thoroughly. She has her doorway jumper (formally called "johnny jump up") and that provides not only her entertainment but us as well. She mainly spins and jostles back and forth and hasn't really gotten the gist of jumping yet. I'm sure soon enough she will be testing our door frame's strength.





This past weekend she had her Oma and her cousin Chloe up for a slumber party. Myles and I went out with friends Friday night and Anya stayed in. Chloe shared all her toys with Anya and they both seemed to enjoy each others company. Oma of course is a superstar able to take care of both kids at once flawlessly.

We had our PEPS group holiday party this past weekend too. Yes it is early but we all knew how busy the holidays get so we decided to plan it early and have it out of the way. It was fun to see all the babies in their Santa hats. One baby in the group is officially crawling and in the next several months our little parties are going to change a lot with 10 babies crawling around under foot. As you can see she is the life of the party!

Anya has also accompanied me to the gym several times to visit daddy and watch mommy work out- or perhaps to watch daddy torture mommy. Today she tried out her skills at some exercises.

On a somber note: Anya will be attending her first funeral on Friday as her great Uncle Paul as passed away. He was able to meet her briefly when she was first born. Paul was staying at my parents house this past spring while he received treatment for his cancer. It was wonderful to be able to spend that time with him. Even as I increased in size and finally in my over due state, Paul always made me feel beautiful. He never missed a chance to kiss me and tell me how radiant I looked and what a great mom he anticipated me to be. I deeply wish he would have been around longer to play "turkey leg chicken leg" with his grand niece. Sometimes life is not fair and those we love leave us too soon. God bless you Paul.