Who's that girl?

Do you even remember this baby? When she had even less hair than she does now? When her clothes were always too big? She was a very wobbly sitter? And she was almost always quiet?!?!

These pictures were taken when Nathan and I took our New England vacation last fall. Anna was about 6 months old and she looks so different to us! In the first photo, she had just woken up and she was sitting in her hippo seat that was hooked onto a coffee table in our Rhode Island hotel room. She looks so small to me! I love her little red chapped cheeks, even though I did NOT love them at the time. Her forehead is red from sleeping in her little helmet all night (remember that?!) and she's wearing one of her snuggly fleece sleepers that she has long outgrown.

When we went to Massachusetts, we stopped at a local farm so that we could take pictures of Anna with pumpkins and animals. It was cold so she had to wear her snowsuit which made it feel like we were carrying around a big teddy bear. She was very cooperative and she let us sit her on all types of gourds and hay bales without even one complaint.

When we got back to our hotel in Boston, we let Anna play with her little pumpkin. She liked it and of course she needed to know whether or not it might be tasty.

Mmmmm, pumpkin stem.....

Ewww, pumpkin stem!

Blaechhh!

Thanks for letting us share some old pictures. We just transferred these and many more off of Nathan's laptop this weekend, so they're like new to us!

I give up!

I think there were about 5 minutes in Anna's life when she looked just like her mommy. When she was first born everyone commented on how much she looked like Nathan and I could see it too. I had a small glimmer of hope that maybe her eyes would turn green and she could at least have that part of me. But no, they are blue blue blue. Sometimes I think I see a little bit of me (angry arms? wild monkey screaming?) but then she makes a face and it's Nathan all over again. This picture especially made me see the resemblance...and not just because she is reading car magazines!

This weekend we were out in the yard and our neighbors came over to chat. They hadn't really seen Anna since she was tiny and they just kept going on and on about how much she looked like her daddy. Of course he was on cloud 9. I happen to think that Nathan is pretty cute, so I don't mind either. Before she was born I used to say that it would be cute if we had boys that looked like me and girls that looked like him. So far we are going with that plan!

A note to my side of the family....As I send this message I am fully expecting the phone to ring and for you to start demanding that No! She looks just like you! I'll take that too ;)

Messy Munchie

Feeding Anna has become quite an adventure in the last few weeks. If it's soft food, she wants to grab the spoon. If she can't get the spoon then she just waits until the food is in her mouth and either a) spits it out and draws with it on her high chair tray, or b) sticks her fingers in her mouth and then puts them in her hair. If it's food that she can pick up, then you better take shelter because it may come flying at your head. She loves to drop things off of her tray and then watch Ruby eat them too. Ruby is a smart doggie and now she walks in and takes her place under the high chair for every meal.

The other day Anna had spaghetti for lunch. It started out nice and clean but a few spoon grabs later I just gave up. I kept trying to wipe her off and I finally decided that I should just let her go crazy and deal with it once the food was gone (to her tummy or the dining room walls). When she finished eating I got a washcloth to wash her off. But I soon discovered that all of the spaghetti had dried onto her skin and our only hope was a full on scrub down in the bathtub. Here are some before and after photos:

Messy girl

Clean girl

Some days I wonder what happened to my sweet little girl who would sit with her hands in her lap and eat whatever I offered. But I try to remember that opinions, preferences, and a strong will are all good things for her to have. One thing's for sure, I don't have to worry about her not standing up for what she wants!

Little Tooth 007

Anna's tooth is top secret. No one is allowed to see the tooth unless she wants them to see it. If you try to sneak a peek, she catches on quick and clamps her mouth closed. So yesterday I figured that I needed a picture of her with just the one tooth, since the second one is coming in fast.

First the pictures were too dark:

Then she got very interested in the camera:

After this many pictures, she was getting mad (complete with angry arms):

So we decided that it was time for a nap, and when she woke up she was all smiles. Lucky for us, the smiles were big enough that we were finally able to capture the Secret Agent Tooth on film! The very last picture shows the second one starting to come through on the left. The first one is still so small and just barely showing. Can you see them?

Wait...what was that?

This morning Anna and I were playing in the family room floor like we always do. She had already eaten breakfast, written a message with her refrigerator magnets, and made a tower out of peek-a-blocks. She started to play with Ruby in this new funny way where she reaches out to touch her, but when she is about an inch away she dives into my leg or shoulder and jumps up and down laughing. I think just the idea of Ruby licking her is enough to drive her bonkers!

So she's giggling and crawling and climbing on me as usual when all of a sudden.....she is standing next to me BY HERSELF!!!! Not holding onto anything! It was only for about 5 seconds but whoa! When did she learn to do that? So of course I responded in my usual way. I started to cry (but only for a minute;). Then I tried to recreate the scene and she wasn't at all interested.

She is growing up so fast now. She's just been on warp speed since her birthday and I know she won't be slowing down anytime soon. Last week we finally finished weaning and she got the tooth right before that. Now another tooth is peeking out and she's standing?! *Sigh* Soon she'll be toddling away from us and asking for the car keys.

We're Back!

Thanks for your patience over the last week while our internet was down. Thanks also to those of you who sent violent emails demanding that the "Sprout Spot should be updated NOW!". You know who you are ;)

Anna is working on another tooth and has been quite the little grumpy girl lately. Last night she didn't want to go to sleep until we got her up and fed her some pears and some crackers shaped like Elmo heads. She's been having a lot of fun this week playing with Ruby, her newest obsession. She has always loved Ruby, but now whenever she sees her she makes a dive in her direction and collapses into a pile of giggles on the floor. Well, actually, she usually falls into a pile after her dive is unsuccessful. But she still thinks it's hilarious and she's willing to risk a few bumps and bruises just to get close to her doggie.

I don't have any good Ruby and Anna pictures (and Blogger is being difficult) so I'll try to come back later and add some for you guys!

Shop Girl

Tuesday morning Anna and I went to the grocery to get some food for my book club meeting that we were hosting at our house later that night. I could probably count on one hand the number of times that I have taken Anna out before her morning nap. I always feel that she has a much better day if she gets that first nap down, so we always head out after that. But we were short on time and we had a lot to do that day, so off we went to Kroger.


Anna got into her seat and I had her all buckled in as usual. She had fun charming all of the workers and smiling at the other shoppers. Lately she has become very interested in whatever goes into the back of the cart and she twists and turns trying to grab anything that she can get her little hands on. So I sometimes give her something small (and not breakable!) to carry. Of course, part of the fun is launching it at some poor unsuspecting person nearby and then hanging over the edge of the cart looking for it while mommy apologizes and scrambles to grab the flying food. All very entertaining. She did pretty good with the whole thing but by the time we left she was super sleepy and ready for that nap! She had been fighting sleep, but for the last few days she has been going down without a fight :)

Another Wild Adventure

Last Friday Anna went back to the zoo, but this time she took her cousin Sam along for the ride. They had a great time smiling at each other in their strollers and Sam enjoyed reaching over to touch her arm and say "hee hee...baby Anna" over and over. Just like last time, they couldn't see a lot of the animals because of the high fences, but they had just as much fun rolling around and seeing all the other kids.

Before we went home we took a train ride. I thought Anna would be afraid since she cried when she first heard the train's whistle. But this time it didn't seem to bother her and she didn't even mind the long wait as long as she could play with her sunglasses. Once on the train, she was a little frightened by the way too loud announcer guy but she never cried. She just clung to me for dear life and peeked over my shoulder to see the scenery. Sam was a little apprehensive too but he smiled and laughed while he held onto his mommy's finger for reassurance. So cute. Here he is looking at the little model train:

When the train ride was over, Sam wanted to ride the carousel. Anna loved this one! We sat on one of the little bench seats and she waved her arms and squealed. Plus there was a big mirror in the center, so she had a great time looking at her favorite baby ;) The weather was perfect and both kids did great even though it was a long day. We can't wait to go back this summer! (I have more pictures but Blogger is being weird so...maybe later!)