It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everwhere you go. Unless you step outside where you'll wonder why you aren't wearing short sleeves. Strange weather.
Well, it looks like we'll hold off starting Anna on solids until probably mid to end January. I've been eating more and Anna did great this weekend so I think she's getting plenty of nourishment. Chris on the other hand- he realized on Saturday that he had only eaten leftover Pizza Hut the entire day- breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What kind of wife does that guy have? Looks like another Gourmet Week coming up...
Anna seems to mature every day. She spins the rattles on her infant seat and grabs the toys hanging from her playmat. She is starting to entertain herself for longer periods of time, but she still prefers Dad and Mom to at least be watching her if not playing with her.

Earlier this week we had Eleanor over to play. We read books and Eleanor wiped Anna's chin every time she started to drool- that kept both of them busy.


We don't let Anna watch TV- read that somewhere- but the other night we looked over and saw her living it up:

4 Month Check-up
Anna and I just returned home from her appt. Her stats: Height just above 75th% and weight 33rd%. So, not a porker. The doc says she's fine, but he would like to see her put on some weight. My options as mom are 1) Eat Ice Cream Every Day, 2) Supplement with formula, or 3) Start Anna on rice cereal. Option number one is dandy fine to me, but that is kind of a paraphrase of the doctor's exact wording. I had planned to wait until Anna was 6 months before starting solids, but today the doctor said that starting at 4-5 months helps the baby develop feeding skills better. I don't know.
Also, to increase Anna's calories, the doctor recommended some sort of feng shui tea- it sounded like feng shui; I don't remember the precise name. And he also recommended, and was half serious, a beer a day, for me, to drink. No thanks, I'm not a Lager girl. He said that beer drinkers recommend that option. Righto.
Immunizations today- not so bad. They gave her four shots, which is better than five, and she stopped crying the moment I picked her up. She did better than the little boy in the next patient room- I put my hands over Anna's ears so she wouldn't hear his screams. =( After it was over, he kept howling "I hate when people shot me."
So, that's the story on Anna's check-up.

Anna's looking at the pendulum of our clock.

That little outfit she's in is so soft and cuddly. Thanks, Grandmom!

Here's a little video of Chris making Anna laugh.

Saturday morning post.

Christmas Present Dwarfs Recipient!-











Child Unsure of New Toy; Dad Comes to Rescue.
















Sitting Independently: Benefits of the Bumbo Seat.

Infant Grows Up Overnight- Parents Weep!

Anna looks so much older in this picture. She looks like a little girl instead of a baby. Then also, she tries to eat both of her hands and reassures us that she is indeed a little baby still.

The rest of the story.

Flew back into Baltimore the day after Thanksgiving to spend a little time with the Schwartzes. Chris and his dad had things to do Saturday morning so we girls hit the mall for some Anna shopping. Grandmom found some darling outfits for Anna and here she is in one:


Anna met Dad's longtime friend Jonny.
We drove home Saturday night, had a relaxing Sunday and started back at it. Anna and I drove Chris down to Delaware Monday morning to pick up his repaired Jeep. BTW-there was a tearful goodbye at Enterprise before we went to GA.
This past week, Anna seems to have grown up so much. She holds her hands midline and has better control over them. She started to grasp toys and bring them to her mouth.

She also started talking at her toys. Yesterday, she noticed her hand was her's for the first time and was fascinated. Our favorite development is her laughing! It is so sweet! We have some giggles on video but it's on the camcorder and I am not sure if I can post that. I'll work on that.
Today, we went out and cut our Christmas tree. The weather was cold and Anna's nose was a little cherry, but we found a tree and it is now in our living room. Anna likes the lights, a lot.

More pictures of Georgia folks.


These two cuties helped set the table and Jenny was in charge of the little gold leaves. For hot turkey's sake, we had to help her place them because she was laying each confetti piece down one at a time.
These are my family's dogs- Hunter, insisting he fits on Katie's lap, and D.W. being normal.

This is right after Thanksgiving dinner, just hanging around and on Chris.

As you can see it was a pretty relaxing time. It was great for Chris to get a break from work and I know he really enjoyed his time.

"I'd change her, hon, but the HUNS are INVADING!"

This was the last day there; Anna with Katie and Jon.

This is Uncle Rob. He carried Anna around the house with him all day. He normally spends his free time on the computer, but Chris pulled rank and took over the quest to rule the empire or civilization age of kings whatever.

More sleeping on Hannah.

We rocked in the rocker, Just Grandma and Me.

Seeing Great-Grandpa again. The picture is a little blurry, because they were rocking, like a west coast party...
Aunt Katie held Anna for several hours of naps.

Little Jenny "reading" to Anna. Jenny would ask my mom what the page said then would recite it to Anna. Pretty cute.

Here's Grandpa- he was lifting Anna up and down and she came close to giggling.

I'll post this now before it deletes itself.

It's been two weeks so lots of pictures to post. I'll be here all night. We went down to Georgia for the week of Thanksgiving to spend time with all the Moultons. Here's Anna reading 1776 with Dad before her first flight.

We had fun taking Anna on the plane. She actually slept most of the way. She did have one dirty diaper, of which Dad did the honors in the tiny lavatory, but thankfully no blowouts above the clouds.

Here are Grandma, Aunts Hannah and Jenny, and Anna reading books Monday morning. Introducing scales to the girl who has yet to earn her ABC's.
Naptime in Aunt Hannah's arms.

Bath time with Jenny! Aren't they cute? Just five years between aunt and niece.

Okay- I started this post Sunday night and now it has turned Wednesday and it still isn't finished. I realize that grandparents are checking this daily at least, so there has been disappointments all around. My apologies- however, I will say that I have been trying- this post refused to upload pictures for awhile. I finally wheedled the site to take some, but even those took a long time with several tries and lots of coaxing. Now the site flat out refuses to have anymore pics loaded. It's like feeding peas to a baby, or worse still, to Chris. So that is my defense. I'll go ahead and put this up and work on a new post.

Anna went down for her nap last Monday afternoon and she usually cries for a minute and then whimpers for a minute and then is asleep. This time, she cried for a minute and then silence. I sprang to her crib, to discover this:





A closer look confirms, her thumb's in there.
So maybe the NUK pacifier is a good thing- you can always throw that away. Her thumb is attached.

We went down to MD this weekend to spend some time with Chris' folks. Here's Anna enjoying her great-Grandmom.

We took Anna to her first theatrical play there, The Miracle Worker. She stared at some lights most of the time and saw about as much of the play as Helen... Okay, bad joke. Really though, she behaved very well and made it through the whole play with just one diaper intermission.
This past Monday morning, Chris had another run-in with a truck and trailer. The guy pulling the trailer was parked next to Chris and as he pulled away, he took the front door of Chris' Jeep with him. Bummer is right. Deja vu? (Chris had his foot run over and broken by a truck pulling a trailer in February...) Chris is taking it okay. In fact, if you see him driving by in the rented (keyword) brand new Silverado, extended cab and everything cool, you probably would think he's pretty happy.
Here are some pictures I took while getting Anna dressed one day.

Anna has her first cold. It isn't fun when your kid has the sniffles. Mom has had a cold since Tuesday and short of autoclaving herself has tried to keep Anna from getting it. Just when we thought we were home free, Anna woke up congested on Saturday. She's doing pretty well though. Getting her nose suctioned is the pits, but being sick isn't all bad- here she is enjoying being in Daddy and Mama's bed.
While not feeling well, Anna just wants to be held all the time.

Earlier this week, I took Anna out for probably the last warm, sunny day for awhile. It was short lived though- her little nose met her fist on an unfortunate nose-dive while playing on her stomach. She's got a set of lungs so we came back inside pronto.