It's Never Too Early...

To start brushing a baby's "teeth" so last week I picked up this little tooth and gum cleanser set. Today was the first day I used the little gum cleanser with AnnaBeth and she really seems to like it!! She smiles when I start "brushing" her gums, not sure if its because it feels good to her or if it's the squeaky clean sound that it makes on her gums. I have no use for the toothpaste since she has no teeth to use it on but I fully intend to make the gums brushing part of our daily routine.

And I forgot to mention in my earlier post that it seems she has reached the point in her life where pooping doesn't occur everyday. She hasn't had one since Tuesday and while its been nice to not have to change a dirty diaper once or twice a day, I'm left wondering when her next poop will actually be and how big it will be. I guess only time will tell with this one!

From Swing to Crib and More

Since I've been off work this week to stay home with AnnaBeth while Kent's parents are in FL (his dad is attending a homicide seminar), I thought it would be the perfect time to transition her from her swing in our room to her crib in her room for night time sleeping. She's already been taking most of her naps here at home in her crib (and all of her naps in a crib at Nana's) so I was hoping that sleeping in it at night wouldn't be that big of a deal for her. Turns out, I was mostly right. She's actually done surprisingly well with the switch! The first couple of nights, she woke up in the middle of the night wanting to eat but went back to bed right away without much of a fuss. The third night she started to wake both times I got up to pump but putting the bink back in her mouth put her right back to sleep and she woke up half an hour earlier than normal during the week. Last night she got to bed 2 hours late since we went to Wayne and Julie's for dinner but she didn't make a peep until 530am! We've not used the swing since Sunday and I'm pretty happy that our D battery purchases are going to significantly decrease! I may need to move the swing to the living room (as if there isn't already enough big baby things taking up the little space we have) so she can have one more place to be instead of either the exersaucer or activity gym when she's having "independent time."

All week it seems like she's been eating like its going out of style! She's been taking 5oz every 3 hours on the dot. She can sometimes take 5 1/2 oz but that last 1/2 oz seems to sometimes be a bit of a struggle for her. Not only is she taking 5oz a feeding, she's taking the WHOLE 5oz before burping! I sat her on our scale today and it said she's 12.2 pounds which is 2 pounds heavier than her 2 month checkup. She'll be 4 months on the 19th (although I think technically she was 17 weeks yesterday), but she won't have her 4 month checkup until August 1st. Now that I'm back to work, I can't just take her to the doctor any day I please and I wanted a Saturday appointment so Kent can go too (I had to do her 2 month shots by myself and I don't want to have to do it again!). I can't wait to learn how much weight she's gained and how many inches she's grown since her last checkup.

AnnaBeth has also been doing a lot more interacting with the toys that hang from her activity gym. For awhile she was just kicking at the monkey and not doing a whole lot with her arms. Then she started batting at the alligator and penguin but still mostly kicking that poor little monkey. Well now she's grabbing at the alligator or penguin (and sometimes the monkey if she happens to be under him)! The alligator has a little clear, rotating ball in hands that has little fish in it and it rattles when you spin it around. That's what AnnaBeth has been grabbing specifically when she reaches for the alligator. And when she does, she seems to be trying to pull it closer to her face so she can fully inspect what's inside. More and more things are going into her mouth these days (her baby Einstein radio got quite the slobbering earlier this week!). Since she's figuring out how to put things in her mouth, she's also learning how to put her bink back in her mouth after she pulls it out. She's not usually 100% successful, but she tries :) She's also learning how to spin herself in her exersaucer. She still really doesn't try to play with the toys on it but maybe that's because she's still a tad short in it and its probably uncomfortable to get her arms up and over the top of the seat to reach the toys.

She also has quite the strong little legs! She seems to be able to stand on them (with support from us of course) for longer periods of time now before her knees give out and she has to sit down. I let her stand on my lap quite often to help her build the muscles but I'm sure she gets plenty of muscle building with all of the kicking that she does! AnnaBeth has quite the feet of fury so watch out boys, she's probably going to be a good shin kicker :)

Video of AnnaBeth Rolling Over

She was most of the way over by the time I got the camera (she's pretty quick at getting onto her side) but I did manage to get the final oomph of her rolling over for the second time :)

Just A Couple Cute Pics

Ok, so a few more than just a "couple." I can't help it, AnnaBeth has been doing so well with tummy time that I just had to take a bunch of pics of her showing off :)I see something up there....Oh! It's a penguin!Watching the colors flash on her Baby Einstein radioMaking some serious eye contact with the turtleSo let me get this straight, I push this button and music plays?Showing off her long eye lashes and beautiful blue eyesGetting a little love from her brother Bondo (as you can see, he's taking extra care with being gentle)

Making a New Friend and Rolling Over

Today, Jeannette and Madi came over for a visit! It was so good to see Jeannette again (it's been almost 5 years!) and to finally meet her daughter Madison. We had a grand time catching up and Madi was mostly interested in poking at AnnaBeth's eyes, which AnnaBeth wasn't too keen on. But hey, babies are curious about eyes :) The pictures are little fuzzy because Madi is one active 11 month old! And while we were talking, AnnaBeth rolled over for the very first time!!! Yes, I missed it :( She was playing in her activity gym on her back and then I looked over at her and she was on her tummy! I tried to get her to do it again but she was tired and hungry and starting to fuss. Oh well, I'm sure I'll capture it on video soon.Hey Ma! Another baby!

Ooh what pretty eyes you have! May I poke them????

We <3 Laurie Berkner!

If you don't know who Laurie Berkner is, you should totally check her out. I've been a fan ever since watching the DVD while babysitting Casey and Carly (and yes, I still get some of the songs stuck in my head sometimes). I don't really want AnnaBeth watching TV but if I'm going to have the TV on while she's in the room, it might as well be something that's somewhat educational so we've been watching a lot of Noggin. Laurie doesn't have her own show but Noggin will play one of her "music videos" during a little "let's groove to the music" segment and she is also shown during Jack's Big Music Show. AnnaBeth doesn't generally show a lot of interest in the shows unless there is singing and even then, she only sort of pays attention. Every once in awhile, she'll be into the show enough to interact with what's going on. However, if Laurie Berkner is on, she is GLUED to the TV!
I guess I'm going to be buying the DVD in the near future so we can watch Laurie Berkner to our heart's content.

Learning to Read

AnnaBeth is getting a head start on learning how to read. She did quite well with this book and only needed help with a couple of words :)

Needs a little help with the big words like "elephant"

4th of July

Our 4th of July was fairly uneventful as we spent most of the day at home. We did go to Wayne and Julie's for dinner and enjoyed spending time with the family. Matt and Jill even made it back from Vegas before we all went home. Papa took a whole bunch of pictures of AnnaBeth, especially when she was laughing so once I get those, I'll have to post some of them. As you can see, AnnaBeth had two festive outfits for the holiday. Her dress was a tad big since the size was 6 months but she still looked really cute in it. And her other outfit was just for laughs :)

AnnaBeth talking

AnnaBeth has recently found her voice and its just about the cutest thing ever! I tried uploading the videos here on the blog but the files are too big so youtube it is :) Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhGbb2ymbjw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNqcmohSwx0

A Visit From Crystal

On Monday (6/29) my very good friend Crystal whom I've been friends with since kindergarten (yes, that's almost my entire life) was in town visiting from Michigan. She moved there two years ago and this was her first visit back home. We only had a few hours to spend together but we managed to do all of our catching up in that short amount of time. She totally spoiled AnnaBeth with a bunch of outfits, some books and a Curious George band related video :)Here AnnaBeth is wearing an outfit that she received from our good friends Karl and Jessica. She looked ever so pretty in it and as you can see in the picture, she knew she looked quite beautiful!

Daddy's Little "Helper"

Last weekend AnnaBeth "helped" her Daddy while he was working in the garage. She loved being outside!!

Going over her checklist of things to do for the dayWondering who she should call first

"Helping" Daddy