Pumpkin Patch Kid

We did the oh so traditional take your baby to a pumpkin patch this past weekend. To beat the rain we left early on Sunday morning. It was FREEZING! We had Anya wrapped up in a blanket but Myles and I were not dressed appropriately. Note to self- when visiting a farm after torrential downpours wear boots and drive the Subaru! (Sorry mom- I know this is disappointing to you, I obviously don't have any of your 'farming roots' in my soul) We bought our pumpkins and squash and took the pictures of our darling daughter among the thousands of pumpkins. Her little nose turned red and we decided it was time to go.

Anya also visited her aunt and uncle last weekend. On Saturday night we went to Scott and Natalie's for a wonderful dinner. It was nice to see them, but for Anya, Tess was the real star of the evening. Anya is used to Boone and loves to watch him run around the house and be crazy but she doesn't laugh at him all that much. Tess on the other hand, was very interested in Anya and kept crawling up on the window seat to lick her face. Apparently this is hilarious because Anya was gut laughing every time she would do this. Tess must just be a whole lot funnier than Boone!

Scott let me play with his digital SLR and I am hooked. It took such great photos I have to have one now. MYLES- HINT HINT- good idea for a Christmas present...... I digress

When we are home it is a fabulous thing to have child that loves to go to bed at 6:30. However, this really cuts into our ability to do anything at night outside our home. She did well on Saturday night and took a nap while we ate dinner and we had her home and in bed by 9 but she was a little cranky the following day.

We went to Hales Ales and met some friends for their free pumpkin carving and all night happy hour- kids welcome. There are two phrases you don't commonly see together- so we had to partake. Again up past bedtime and she let us know it the entire time we were at the brewery. She doesn't scream- thank god- but she is fussy and generally tired so it makes us feel bad. We want her to be adaptable but try to keep her on a schedule as much as possible. There will just be times when she is up past her bedtime and that's life!

Big plans for Halloween! Anya will most likely be in bed by the time the trick or treaters come by so Myles and I will hand out candy. That's it- we used to get dressed up in elaborate costumes and party it up. I mean Halloween is on a Saturday this year for god's sake- but we have a nearly 5 month old baby so life changes. In all honesty, Myles and I are looking forward to a quiet Halloween at home- man we are getting old.

We have been successfully feeding Anya rice cereal mixed with breast milk and applesauce. It has taken her a few tries to figure out how to transfer the food on her tongue to swallow, but now she has the hang of it! She is starting to gobble it down every evening. I'm not gonna lie though- it is a MESSY process. She can get rice cereal on her hair, my hair, the table, the floor, basically anything in a 2 foot radius from where she sits.

Rain rain go away

Anya is rapidly approaching 5 months. The time from now until she is 18 months old is what our pediatrician refers to as the "golden age". Babies are through the newborn stage and spend their time soaking up the world like a sponge.

She is laughing at us now and can mimic our silly faces. She loves to be tickled and kissed. When she wakes up she is happy, smiley and so excited to see you. I feel as if every day she gets cuter and cuter. I shamelessly attach photos of her to almost all email correspondence, claiming myself to be the ambassador of her cuteness. Her smile lights up our life.

She has been swimming every week and gets excited when we enter the pool area now. Myles was able to take her in the pool twice and has a blast with her too.

She is totally aware of Boone and loves to pet him (pull his fur). He licks her and looks at me with pleading eyes to please remove her death grip from his hair. She inevitably has some black hair stuck in her fist but Boone seems totally unaware of her fur filching. He is still the first one to let me know when she is upset or if she simply has woken up from her nap. I couldn't have asked for a better dog to welcome our daughter into his pack. They are going to be buddies.

The rain has put a damper on our outdoor activities. Gone are the days of sitting in the shade on the grass in the back yard exploring the great outdoors. If the rain stops or lets up a bit we plan to go to a pumpkin patch this weekend. Myles is not wild about the idea- he suggests we put her in the pumpkin bins at Safeway and take pictures of her there..... not quite the same.

Anya is loving her exercauser. I have posted this video to share. She can spend a lot of time discovering all the features the toy has to offer. The bonus is that she stands up- which is her favorite position. I question whether she will walk before she crawls simply because she prefers to be standing on your lap than sitting.

We visited with Ashley and Fred Northup's new bundle of joy this week- Zola. She was 12 days old when we took dinner over. I can't believe that 4 months ago Anya was that small. It is totally amazing how fast they grow and change. Zola was a perfect, beautiful little newborn. She slept and ate. Anya on the other hand, was distracted and didn't eat much and was whining at the dinner table. Granted it was her bed time 6:30- so she had reason to be a bit of a pest.

Happy Halloween

Wow, we have had a lot transpire since the last blog entry. We have been swimming 3 times now with several moms and have a blast. Anya starts kicking her legs as we enter the pool area, she is ready to go.
This past Sunday we had our PEPS group Halloween Party. We dressed all our babies up in their costumes and took pictures. It was hilarious and adorable. I have a few pics, but the video is very funny. All the babies started crying and really were not that happy in their get-ups!
If you can't tell, Anya is a dalmatian.


We had her four month appointment yesterday. She is 12 lbs 12 oz and 23 3/4 inches tall. She is in the 25% in weight and 45% in height. I had Myles go this time for moral support more for me than her because she HATED her shots last time. Sure enough she put on her tough face and didn't even wince when they jabbed her. Not a single tear, she is a tough little girl.



We gave Anya her first bit of rice cereal tonight. Needless to say most of it came right back out again but the process was fun and messy. This eating thing is going to be quite a process!


Sleeping has mellowed out a bit. She is returning to her once nightly wake up between 12-2am and then sleeps until 6 or 7 am. We started putting her to bed a lot earlier, around 6:30 or 7 pm and that has seemed to help. She is getting a solid 11-12 hours at night.
She is definitely teething! The doctor took a look and said he could see the swollen spots where her teeth are getting ready to cut through.

Oma came up this weekend and babysat for us Saturday night. Anya was an angel for her and ended up drinking more milk from the bottle then she ever had before. Oma must have the magic touch with bottle feeding her!

Mermaid baby

I couldn't wait to get Anya in a pool. I held off until she was 4 months old but couldn't handle the excitement any longer. Both in baths and showers she is happy and totally content with water over her face and head. So I assumed she would be fabulous in the pool.

She did not disappoint! We started going to the Bellevue Aquatic Center this past Tuesday. We go with another mom and baby from my PEPS class and swim in the 91 degree therapy pool. Basically it feels like a big bathtub and the babies couldn't be happier. Both Linnea and Anya thoroughly enjoyed their first "swim lesson".

The other Mom- Alana, and I plan to do this weekly for the girls. I have taught mommy swim classes in the past so I am very comfortable with Anya in the pool and help Alana with some important steps (like baby going under and pool safety lessons). Myles was able to come and watch so he took some great pictures and video.

Anya was happy floating on her back or tummy and kicked her little legs like a pro. She even went under the water once and came up smiling. This was the first time I felt like I was bonding with my child over something other then mommy stuff (feeding, sleeping, changing- etc). It was so fun to experience this with her I can't wait to go every week.

Myles was home this past weekend and got to spend some quality time with his daughter. He has a calming presence that helps her nap... if only he were home all the time.

We have struggled with her sleeping yet again. This week we decided to stop swaddling her at night. The first night with no swaddle Myles and I got about 3 hours of sleep! It was a nightmare! HOWEVER- night two went much better and we have had two good nights of sleep now. She is learning how to soothe herself with her hands since she doesn't like the binky very much. I still get up to feed her once or twice a night but if she wakes up on her own and isn't hungry she is able to put herself back to sleep. What a relief!

Four months this week

Anya has survived four months in our care...... or perhaps I should say we have survived four months of parenting!

We are officially out of the newborn phase now. Anya is awake often during the day and we are attempting to get her onto some semblance of a napping pattern. Today I put her down and listened to her 'cry it out" for longer then I could handle. I went to soothe her on multiple occasions but her crying was like little daggers in my heart. You might think that is a bit over the top but until you have had to endure your own sweet baby cry herself/himself to sleep you can't imagine the emotional pain it causes the mother! So here I sit updating the blog when I should be meeting with my weekly moms group but Anya eventually fell asleep and is still napping. I couldn't possibly wake her up after I made her fall asleep. Ah, the trials and tribulations of parenting. So I figured I would make good use of my time and update the blog.

Anya and I have been going it alone the past two weekends. Myles was in Spokane last weekend for a work conference and on a three day bachelor trip this past weekend. It was rough being a single parent, I'm not gonna lie. We are happy to have him home now for a while.

Anya is sitting up in her Bumbo chair like a champ. She is liking it more and more. Last week I put together her exersaucer (round play station with a seat in the middle). She loves to stand and I thought this would be a great way for her to practice without having to physically hold her ourselves. Well it was a well thought out plan until I placed her in it and her legs were no where near the bottom. So we jury-rigged it and have an exerdisc (dynadisc-round disc filled with air used for balance training exercises) on top of the bouncy platform so her feet can touch. It scoots around a little but she is getting the hang of standing on it. Of course our daughter with be working her core while she practices chewing on her toys!

We had the Piskels come and stay Thursday night at our house with their daughter Lucy. Anya and Lucy loved to look at each other and grab each others hands and faces. In the picture to the right Anya is in her exercauser and Lucy is laying on her playmat. They both have a million toys to look at but they choose to stare at each other! Too funny!

We are starting swimming lessons this week. I am taking Anya to the Bellevue Aquatic Center and using their therapy pool- 91 degrees! We have another mom from my group joining us with her daughter who is 6 months old. It is going to be so much fun. Anya loves her baths so I'm sure the pool will be a hoot!

I purchased a Halloween costume for Anya last week. She is going to be a dalmatian- it really doesn't get any cuter!

This video is Myles making his daughter laugh and giggle while he bounces her around calling her a jumping bean.

Baby in the corner

This has been a bit of a rough week in terms of sleep for us. Anya slept very well in her crib last week but has recently decided to wake every 2-3 hours again causing her mother to slip back in to sleep deprivation mode. Just when I thought we had the sleeping thing nailed, she throws a monkey wrench in my happy world. I guess it is true what they say, "the only thing you can count on with a baby is change." Ain't that the truth.

I am trying a technique a mom from my cycle class shared with me. She said that when babies are used to being in a confined space (bassinet) it is helpful to move them from the middle of the crib to the corner to emulate that same safe space. So we are literally "putting baby in the corner."

Appropriately following this new sleep disturbance is a new found temper and crankiness. Our once good sleeping, sweet natured child is finding herself and letting it be known. She is a doll in the morning and takes several naps through out the day. Right around 5-6 at night she starts getting tired and cranky making our dinner meal a real joy.

It isn't all doom and gloom though. She is delightful when she is happy and well rested. She smiles when you enter a room and laughs when you tickle her belly. She is becoming more aware of her surroundings and her eyes follow Boone around the room especially when he is playing with his toys. She is very interested in her toys and knows the difference between new toys and older ones.

Over Labor Day Weekend Anya met her newest friend Lucy Piskel. Lucy is about one month older then Anya and they were absolutely adorable together.

Oma and Opa (Susie and Karl) got back into town and got to spend some quality time with her. She was a good girl and loved seeing her other grandparents again.

During the week, when I teach my T/Th spin class my dad and mom come over to take care of Anya. They take Anya and Boone for a walk and explore our neighborhood. On Thursdays Grandpa takes care of her all by himself. When he entered the house yesterday she gave him a heart melting smile and I watched my Dad turn to mush. It was adorable!

For the next two weekends Anya and I are on our own. Daddy is going to Spokane for a work conference this weekend and up to the Hood Canal cabin for a boys weekend the next. It will be interesting to be a single parent for two weekends in a row. I'm up for the challenge but poor Daddy is really sad about being gone and missing time with his girls.

Anya has taken to her Bumbo chair this week. I have included a short video showing her playing with her toys in her new seat. Not very exciting to watch but cute none the less. (Those are Myles' hairy legs with the black socks by the way.....not mine!)

We have started a bedtime routine which includes showering with Dad at 8pm, feeding, reading a book and having Daddy rock her to sleep or putting her down drowsy but awake sometimes. She LOVES her showers. All smiles!

Firsts and professional pics

We have taken a large step and Anya is now sleeping in her own room all night in her crib. She has gotten too big for her bassinet and it was time to move her to her crib so last night she spent her first night in her room. All went well with her first wake up at 12am and then no peep until 6:45am.

What are frists you might wonder? Well, that is endearing term I made up for Anya's wrists/forearms. I decided her cubby little wrists needed a special name and thought to combine the two very similar to cankles (calf/ankles). So since she has cubby wrists we lovingly refer to them as her "frists" at this point in her life she does not have cankles.

We got Anya's pictures back that we had professionally taken when she was 6 weeks old. They are precious. She has changed so much since then it is amazing. We will FINALLY send out announcements in keeping with tradition (even though it seems odd to me to announce our child's birth that happened over 3 months ago- whatever!)