7 months/Halloween

This last month has been kind of insane for AnnaBeth! She is just turning into a big girl by leaps and bounds! For starters, her new foods are broccoli, peas, blueberries, and chicken. She's not too fond of the broccoli and I think it gives her gas bubbles so she doesn't eat that very often. Chicken and peas are so-so but she'll eat them if we mix them together with carrots or sweet potatoes. Blueberries are a definite favorite though and they always make a huge mess on her face when I mix them in her oatmeal. She is also now feeding herself puffs, cheerios, and fruit pieces.

Not only is she eating lots of solids and doing well with them, she's also advancing physically. She now crawls with her tummy off the floor, and quite quickly I might add! She also pulls herself into a standing position with pretty much everything...couch, TV stand, crib, diaper box, etc. And speaking of the diaper box, she uses it as a walker around the living room. She usually stays on her knees as she pushes it around but has gotten on her feet a couple of times. AnnaBeth has also successfully held onto my hands and walked part way across the room a few times! At this rate, it feels like she will be walking at 9 months! She can now click her tongue (and LOVES it when we do it back to her) and voluntarily smiles for the camera now. As soon as she hears the little sounds that it makes when its focusing, she gets a HUGE grin on her face! And she gets super excited to see pictures of herself on my phone :) Last week she started giving me open mouthed kisses, or at least that what I think she's doing.

The week before Halloween, we took AnnaBeth to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin (and mostly for me to take a million pictures). She was completely fascinated with the stems of the pumpkins and we managed to get quite a few good pictures despite the fact that she was insanely tired. That weekend we also went to the harvest festival at Kent's parents church. AnnaBeth was dressed as a turtle and everyone thought she was the cutest thing! There wasn't much for her to do but she did play in the sand and yes, she put some in her mouth. Twice. We carved our pumpkin that weekend as well and I kept it the fridge all week so it wouldn't start to rot (I coated the flesh of the carved parts with vegetable oil to help slow the rotting process). On Halloween night, we took AnnaBeth trick or treating with her cousin Jacob and his cousins who live across the road from us. One lady thought she had the most adorable costume and asked if she could take her picture. Since she enjoys being outside so much, she didn't fuss even though it was WAY past her bedtime. When we got home, we sat her on the floor and dumped her candy in front of her so she could check it out. She enjoys the crinkle of the wrappers more than anything. And while she was checking out her stash, she decided that she didn't want Bondo to feel left out so she turned behind her, patted him on the head a couple of times and then went back to her candy :)

I have a TON of pictures for this month so once again, I've done a slideshow.

Demonstrating her crawling in her Halloween outfit.

Camping and 6 Months Pictures

I'm am SOOO terribly, incredibly far behind in my blogging (and reading blogs as well)! Its been nearly 2 months since my last post and lots has gone on! Well, kind of, I guess :)

In September we went on a Porter family cabin camping trip near Show Low. We celebrated the September and October birthdays in the family, did some fishing and just enjoyed being together in the cool, high 70s weather (compared to the 100s down in the Valley). There were tons of pictures taken by me and Kent's dad so I just did a slide show with some of them.

AnnaBeth spent her 6th month pulling herself around using her modified army with an added butt shimy crawl. She also saw the eye specialist due to her doctor noticing a slight lag in her eye tracking. The doctor noticed it as well and dilated her eyes (she was such a trooper..didn't even cry from the drops!) to check them further. During that exam, he said that for her age, her eyes are aligned properly and the near/farsightedness is right on target. He did say that given my family history, he would like to see her in a year to check her eyes again. Bath time became a real treat for her and she learned how to splash in the water! Enjoy the pictures and video!! (I have better video but its too long to upload).

6 Months

AnnaBeth had her 6 month appointment on Friday 9/25. She is 15.4 lbs (25%) and 26 inches (50%). While the doctor was using the light to check her eye tracking, she noticed that her right eye was slightly lagging behind the left so she referred us to a pediatric opthamologist. We have an appointment on October 9th. Other than that, she's a healthy and happy baby! Her doctor was impressed that she's already crawling and already has two teeth. She also said we can start meats at 7 months. AnnaBeth goes back to the doctor in about a month to get her other flu shot and then no more doctor checkups until she's 9 months.

Calling and Crawling

First Diamondbacks Game

Last night AnnaBeth went to her first Dbacks game. We went with my family like we do once every year. She did fairly well at the game...walked with Grampy, ate, fell asleep in Daddy's arms, woke up from the cheering after Stephen Drew got a triple, jumped in Grampy's lap, and made it on the jumbo tron. Yes, that's right, our baby girl was on the big screen and everyone at the ball park got to see her! I wish had been able to take a picture but she was only on for a few seconds. Here's a few pics from the game.

Growing oh so fast!

AnnaBeth has been doing things at the speed of light the last couple of weeks. She is really enjoying her solids now. Oatmeal mixed with apples is a morning favorite and in addition to the carrots she's been eating for awhile, she now eats pears and spinach. She tried sweet potatoes today and I think she liked them but didn't eat much-I think she was full from her spinach. I made peaches and spaghetti squash for her this weekend so I'm sure she'll try both by the week's end.

She had a 2nd tooth come through this last week. I can't believe she's not even 6 months and has 2 teeth! Both are on the bottom and it doesn't feel like the top ones are coming yet but I could be wrong. AnnaBeth has also been diligently working on her mobility. She's gotten quite good at pulling herself to toys that are out of reach and just today, Daddy saw her do 2 real crawls! Not only is she on the move now, she's also been working at pushing herself into a sitting position. I went in her room yesterday morning to find her nearly sitting up in her crib! AnnaBeth also does fairly well at sitting unassisted but I haven't let her practice often since I'm usually getting things done while she's playing on the floor.

The jumperoo is still a big favorite and I had to adjust it to the 3rd position out of 4 today. Yesterday when it was still at the lower position, she was jumping so hard it looked like she was going to launch herself right out of the thing! She gets a big kick out of jumping and often squeals (or screams depending on her mood) with delight! She learned to blow raspberries this week and thinks its appropriate to do so while eating....often right after she's just taken a bit of something...and the something is usually spinach which is quite the messy food!

Here's a few pics from the last few days.

Jumperoo

AnnaBeth has discovered a new way to have fun-the jumperoo (or at Nana and Papa's house-the Johnny Jumper)!! I think she enjoys the Johnny Jumper a little more than the jumperoo because she's able to spin around in it since it hangs from the door way. Either way, jumping occupies her about 10 minutes or so and then she's ready for something else. It seems that no matter what activity she's doing, she's done after about 10 minutes and wants to move on to something new. Active baby means active mind I guess =)