Part Two: A Perfect 10 :)

Miss Anna's been so busy the past two months, it was too much goodness for one post!  So, to pick up where we left off...she's been crawling like crazy!  And all day long, she is constantly picking stuff up off the floor and eating it.  CONSTANTLY.  We've even taken to calling her the "Crumb Bum" and have all but given up fishing each thing out of her mouth, poor baby!

Anna usually crawls on her knees, but she likes to crab crawl like this when she's wearing a dress so it doesn't get tangled in her knees!

Anna's Surprised Face!

She absolutely adores Ben, and wants to be near him all the time.  He is really good at making her laugh by saying something silly like, "Shookie!!" or just jumping up and down or twirling around.  She belly laughs!

Adores big brother!

Anna has really been practicing pulling up and is getting stronger by the day.  She hasn't tried to do any furniture cruising, yet, but I bet it will be any day now!

We've had fun times at the pool in this 100° weather ~ whew!  All smiles with Mama, lounging in a piece of shade...

....an hour later - all tuckered out!

Mimi came to visit and Anna loved seeing her!

And finally, Anna has started babbling a bit.  Her favorite thing to say is ma ma ma ma.  We're not really sure if she's saying "more" or "mama", but either way, I love to hear it!

Our Pretty Girl! Love her!

Anna ~ 8 Months

Slow down, baby girl!  You are growing up way too fast!  In the past month, Anna has gone from just rolling around everywhere and doing her favorite pose ALLLLLLL day....to crawling like a pro.



To the left...



...To the right!  I bet Anna has struck this post 1,000 times!

Here she is doing the pose again, but, *ahem* "somebody" jumped in the picture with his own insta-pose, ha!!

Then she did the army crawl everywhere for a week or two.  Somewhere in there, she learned to push herself up into the sitting position and now she can sit up so tall and strong all day without me worrying she'll fall over.

In a matter of days, she was then crawling like a pro and I can hardly keep up with her now!  Baby gates are going up this weekend! 

In her 7th month, we had a bit of sleep regression and now Anna's waking up to eat around 3:30 or 4 a.m. each night.  She's also napping exclusively in her swing because for some reason, her naps just fell apart and wouldn't last more than 20-30 minutes in the crib.  I thought maybe she was getting a tooth, possibly disrupting her sleep, but as far as I can tell, no chompers are coming through yet.

The more mobile she becomes, the more she chases her brother Ben.  She is absolutely crazy about him! Here's a game they play at night sometimes before bed:  Ben jumps off the chair, lands and rolls into a flip and runs over to kiss Anna.  Anna HEE HAWS :)  Now that I look at the picture below of Ben jumping, it is pretty funny!

Baseball season is upon us, and Anna has been to several games already.  She looks pretty pumped about it, huh?

Finally, we're still getting the hang of this eating business.  She's not that into eating the solids lately, and that means lots of spitting it out, grabbing the bowl and spoon, and rubbing the dirty face.  Unless it's bananas on the menu - this little girl will eat anything as long as I cover it up with bananas :)  So, she ends up looking like this a lot of the time!

Bring Back the Sunshine!

Right when I was getting used to that bea-U-tiful weather we were having....Bam! A week of rain and thunderstorms :( And COLD, too! I'm so glad Ben and I took advantage of the sunshine while we had it ~ a few weeks ago, we went to Warrior's Path park and spent such special time together picnicking and laughing. I'll never forget what a sweet day that was!


This was one of those distorted mirrors that makes you look funny-shaped!This was Ben's first time on a swing! He giggled and laughed the whole time. He didn't want to stop swinging to get our picture taken ~ look at that face! Ha ha!Cutie-pie on the playground!!

How About This Weather?!

Haven't these sunny days been just wonderful?! Ben and I have been thoroughly enjoying them...getting out every day to take a ride in his "new car", blow bubbles, or just hang out on a blanket in the yard. I mentioned in my last post that Ben doesn't like the grass too much, so for ONCE, he will actually stay put if I put him on a blanket, in order not to touch the icky grass (that is, unless he decides to eat the clover like he did a few days ago)! He will not, though, keep his sunglasses on...they stayed on for about 5 minutes the first time and haven't ever since ~ ha!

His absolute favorite thing to do lately is to take a "car ride". My friend Lisa gave him this push car and he's crazy about it! I can't get over how cute he is holding onto the steering wheel like he's really driving :) Here's his first ride:

Soooooommmmmeeebody knows they're CUTE!Well, I think he's right!! (And I promise, I didn't pose him like this, either! He's such a ham!!)

Tales from the Cell Phone Cam

Every now and then, there's just not time to grab the big camera to catch those sweet little things you don't want to forget :) Here are a few shots from my cell phone camera...

Here's my little monkey in his Johnny Jump-Up. Apparently it's not fun enough just to jump; it's better to swing back and forth until you reach another toy and then climb up on it to eat the plastic parrot-on-a-spring on top :)

Sometimes in the car, the mirror back there gets knocked sideways and I can't see Ben. So, if I'm wondering if he's asleep or not, or just OK because he's been quiet for a while, I stick my phone over the seat and click a picture. Precious!!Ben's found a great new toy. His brother's baseball cup. HA! He's discovered that it spins nicely on the hardwood floor, so he probably spent a good ten minutes throwing it around. Oh well. I guess there are worse things to play with!Hangin' at the mall, smiling for his big brothers :)

These are pictures of the video monitor on three random days. For some reason, after a nap if I don't get up there right away, he looks into the camera like, "Hey MOM! I'm awake, you know!! Where are you?" Of course, he can't comprehend that I see what the camera sees, but it's WEIRD how he always looks right into it, as if he KNOWS!!Finally, my favorite lately....his first ride in the shopping cart like a big boy!! I wiped that thing down better than I scrub our toilets ~ ha!! He did pretty well, and it was much easier than hoisting the car seat into the buggy (leaving no room for groceries!).

Eight Month Little Man

I feel like I haven't blogged much lately, but we've been so busy ~ Ben's 7th month has flown by :( He's rapidly gone from mastering sitting up and crawling to now pulling up on everything in sight and trying to cruise around a little bit. In just a week's time, he's gotten very good at standing assisted, and I don't have to chase around behind him to keep him from bonking his face on things now that he's figured out how to "land" when he wants down. He's also mastered handling the paci - yay!! Now he can just find one and pop it in his mouth whenever he wants....ahhhhh, so nice!

I'm so glad I take TONS of pictures, because looking back, so many little things come and go so quickly. Ben used to do the cutest thing before he could crawl ~ I called it his yoga "Downward Dog" pose :) Already, though, he's left that move behind for something new!

It's so fun to see him being such a big boy...even though this means I have less and less time to do things around the house, such as take a shower, chores, etc. The ONLY thing that can safely "contain" him now is the pack-n-play or crib. Unfortunately, he figured out how to escape the Exersaucer a few weeks ago!!

Who me? I wouldn't do that!!

Last month, Ben also got more teeth! One of his top ones broke though, and the other top one is on its way. The top ones are much worse than the bottom ones for him. So, we've had several nights with lots of waking and crying, but it really hasn't been too bad.

Ben also got dedicated at church a few weeks ago. He looked so handsome in his little khakis and sweater!

Ben's main objective each day is to pull up and explore everything in sight. This is the first time he pulled up in the Pack n Play....doesn't he look so happy with himself?!