Happy 15 Months Annie!

Even though you still look little, every day you are showing us that there really is a 15 month old in that little body of yours.

 

You are a very engaging talkative girl. You don't have a ton of words that we recognize, but you chat all day long, and are very serious about some of the things you say. One day when I went to get you out of your crib, you babbled something very specific at me, and then immediately repeated it. I have no idea what you were saying, but you certainly knew!

Speaking of getting you out of your crib, you are so fun to get up! As long as you aren't crying, your happiness bubbles forth when we come to get you. You grin and wave your arms around, and sometimes clap. You love to throw your puppy and giraffe out of your bed while you wait for us.

You have a great laugh (and always have!). You laugh is infectious and precious at the same time. You laugh easily, and I love how genuine your laugh is. You think so many different things are funny, and it is fun to see what you will laugh at next.

 

For the most part during the day you are a happy baby, and you are generally content to play by yourself. However, as soon as I start trying to cook dinner you become whiney and fussy and usually come crying to me while I'm at the stove. I have no idea what it is about me cooking that you don't like, but you really, really don't like it when I cook dinner. It is both funny and annoying at the same time.

You have become such a quick walker. I look up and you've darted across the room (or into the playroom if someone forgot to shut the baby gate!). You have a little "prance" in the way you walk, and it is pretty cute. I think the prance is really a product of your little stature combined with good walking skills, but it is funny nonetheless.

I was able to teach your cradle roll class for a few weeks as a fill-in and the first week you taught, you reminded me so much of Luke! Luke has an amazing ability (thank you Trent!) to keep a straight face even if he is perfectly fine. (Ella, Troy, and myself do not have this ability, ha!). You kept a straight face the entire class period the first week I taught, no matter what I did. And, speaking of Bible class, you now "grow" when we sing "Read Your Bible and Pray Everyday." You also do a pretty good job putting your hands together (consistently) when we pray at meals. Other times of prayer aren't quite as consistent.

You still hang onto your bottle, but are doing a great job drinking regular milk. And, although you love your bottle, the reason we've really held onto it this long has more to do with us and less to do with you (lots of things on the schedule that kept us from completely breaking free of it!). You are a fairly picky eater, but you love chicken (and meat in general) which is so funny to me! Your brothers and sisters were not good meat eaters at this age.

Signs you do: more, finished

Words you say: hi, bye, "uck" (yuck), eh-ah (Ella, although you haven't said it lately), mama, daddy, ba-a (bottle), "ished" (finished), something that sounds like "Maddux" (one of our dogs)

Animal noises you make: duck

Favorite foods: chicken, cheese, peanut butter crackers

Favorite activities: walking everywhere exploring, trying to escape to the playroom, playing with the dogs, putting things in things, looking at books, singing songs

Happy 1st Birthday Annie!

I'm ashamed to say that I am just now writing this post . . . almost a month and a half after you turned one. I could blame it on a lot of things, but ultimately, it just got lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I'm sorry that its late. Because it is so late, I likely won't remember the details the way that I would like. My speculation about that you'll be walking soon won't hold much water, because the reality is that I know you started walking at 12 1/2 months old. But, I will write now and not delay any longer.

The difference a year can make! We are so blessed to have you as part of our lives and family. We are thankful that you've entered our lives and cannot wait to continue to love you and grow with you.


You are still tiny, although I'm unsure how much you weigh. In your cradle roll class, there are a few babies who are younger than you (some by several months) and you are even tiny compare to them. And, as you can see in the pictures, you still haven't seemed to figure out how to grow hair. ;) You will keep a bow or headband on your head though, so that helps out strangers who might mistake you for a boy because of your bald head.



People constantly comment that you are such a happy baby, and how you always seems to have a smile on your face. You are generally a happy baby, but I think sometimes people's perception of your happiness is false. You are usually happy if someone is holding you or giving you attention. However, if you aren't getting the attention you think you need, you can become quite sad. For the most part though, you are easy to calm down as long as someone gives you attention.



You still use the crazy one-legged, half-sitting up crawl. You are soooo fast using that method of crawling, and you crack us up when we watch you fly across the floor. You also like to crawl with the bottle in your mouth, which is equally entertaining. Your cruising skills have continued to improve, and you'll also cruise with the bottle i your mouth. You seem to be very steady, and we kept thinking that if you actually tried to walk you probably could. You never really attempted it though before you were one year old; you'd rather drop to the floor and scoot away.

You continue to be very attached to the bottle which is very ironic to me since getting you to take the bottle in the first place was such a battle the first six months of your life. You've been eating some table food, but you never seem to eat that much as once. You are pretty open to tying new foods, but if it goes in your mouth and you don't like you, you have no problem pulling it back out. You are also quite the sorter when it comes to food. If you don't like/want something that's on your tray you start dropping all of it on the floor. If it isn't something you want, it will not stay on your tray or spot! Sometimes if you don't want us to give you a bite you purse your lips together and close them tight. It is pretty funny! You weren't too sure about your cake on your birthday. You ended up eating some, and I think you liked it, but at the same time I don't think you were overly excited about it either. I've posted the video, but overall it is pretty uneventful. :)


You continue to be an extremely vocal baby. You make all sorts of funny noises, and yell at us in lots of different ways. Overall you don't seem very interested in signing, although you have signed more and finished. You'd rather yell at us than sign to us. You also find yourself quite funny at times, and we love to hear you laugh. In the video below I was telling you "no" and you thought it was hilarious that I told you no. I'm not sure what that means for the future! ;)


Signs you do: more, finished - you much prefer to yell at us though to communicate
Words you say: Mama, Daddy, Ella, Maddux (something that sounded like Maddux anyway), bye-bye, hi/hey, "uck" (for yuck)
Favorite foods: cheese, nutrigrain bars
Favorite activities: chasing the dogs around, chasing your siblings around, putting things in things

Happy 11 Months Annie!

I admit that 11 months snuck up on me. I feel like when people have asked how old you are I barely had time to tell them that you were 10 months old. But it doesn't matter if I feel like a month has passed or not, it has, and you are now only one month away from being a year old.

 

Although you are still tiny in stature, you show off all the time how big you really are. Just days after turning 10 months old (and not long at all after you'd started pulling up), you starting cruising around our furniture with ease. We've created a barricade in our living room for you and you can easily make it around the room without any issue whether you are crawling or cruising. You continue to crawl crookedly with one leg underneath you in almost a sitting up position, but despite your non-traditional crawling form, you are a fast crawler! I admit that when you started crawling I thought your crooked crawl was just a stepping stone to crawling in a regular manner, but now that you are SO fast crawling crooked, I doubt you'll ever crawl regularly. I will NOT predict when I think you will walk because I have been burned by all your siblings with my predictions. However, there have been a few times where you act like you might take a step . . . but once again, I don't know! You have no problem standing up only using one hand to hold onto something and you can even pull up against a wall. One day you started acting like you were going to climb onto our ottoman bench!

This month you learned how to high five! You can give a high five with each of your hands, and you love to play giving high-fives. You've been waving for a couple of months now, but I think you have progressed to doing it more unprompted by us and at the appropriate time. Just a few days ago we were walking around Target, and Troy yelled "bye-bye Annie" as he went with Trent to a different part of the store. You promptly waved and said "bye-bye" back. I loved it! It was the first time I'd heard you say "bye-bye."

You are definitely a vocal baby, not only saying a few words (mama, daddy, eh-a (Ella), bye-bye, and maybe a couple more), but also by the noises you make. Although you've signed "more" a few times, you much prefer to grunt or yell at us to tell us that you are ready for more. For many months now I've been able to hear you yelling happily in your Bible class when I'm in a different area of the church building. You also had us all laughing one night with not only the noise you were making in the video below, but also because you were so straight-faced the whole time!



I admit that I'm writing this post really late (like two months late. .  .) and it is possible that I will get some details wrong, BUT I think when you turned 11 months old your four front teeth on top had come in for a total of six teeth. Your two bottom teeth continue to be just SO cute though! I don't know exactly what it is about them, but your toothy grin is great! You also continue to do funny things with your tongue! I'm amazed at how you are able to twist it all over the place.



You were an elephant for your first Halloween, and you tolerated your costume well even though we had warm weather. I think you enjoyed the pumpkin patch as well.

Annie @ 10 months

Luke @ 11 months

Troy @ 11 months

(I didn’t start writing these monthly posts for Ella until she was 17 months old)

Happy 8 Months Annie!

I feel like so many things have changed this month! With every passing month you grow and change, but some months record more changes than others and this was definitely one of those months.

At the beginning of the month the entire family went to the Peach Valley AIM camp. The camp was a great experience, and you did SO well while we were at camp (with the exception of sleeping well at night, but that was nothing new!). You were good-natured and happy, and did much better than we could have asked! You loved being held by different members of the staff, and often fell asleep in their arms. One of the most exciting things about camp was the fact that it provided another opportunity for us to try the bottle, and you finally (kinda!) actually ate from it without acting like it was the worst thing we could stick in your mouth.


And, after camp, we continued to try the bottle, and I can happily say that you now easily take the bottle! You can even hold it if you want to, although you generally prefer for someone to hold it for you. You continue to be a great eater, and are doing a great job letting us know when you want more food (you've figured out how to yell at us to tell us you want more). You can be quite vocal when you want more food! You are also very coordinated; more coordinated than I remember your siblings being at this age, but then again it all blends together. You do really well grabbing your bites of food and putting them in your mouth. There are usually very few puffs on the floor or in your highchair when you finish eating. You have two little teeth trying SO hard to poke through, but they haven't quite come through yet!

For a couple of months now you have been fairly stable when you sit, but this month you officially graduated to full-on unsupported sitting. It provides you great freedom, and I think you really enjoy being able to sit up on your own. You still are not crawling, and generally hate being put on your tummy (which is ironic since you sleep on your belly!).

Your personality continues to blossom, and while you have been charming us with your smile and laugh for a few months now, you really began interacting and reacting to us in a whole new way this month. Your facial expressions have multiplied, and our favorite is when you scrunch your nose in happiness (just like your brothers and sisters).

Over the past couple of weeks you've been generally sleeping better: longer stretches and more consistently. You still have the occasional night where you are up frequently, but those nights are becoming fewer and fewer (thankfully!).


Annie @ 7 months
Luke @ 8 months
Troy @ 8 months
(I didn’t start writing these monthly posts for Ella until she was 17 months old)

Happy 7 Months Annie!

Once again, I'm behind writing this post. . . we've been slightly busy, and I've barely even opened my computer this summer. And, once again, I wasn't able to take a photo with your monthly sticker. :( I painted the living room, and in the process managed to misplace your monthly stickers. Good news, though, I found them, so I'll be able to take your 8 month photo! And . . . I'm way behind editing personal photos, but hopefully I'll come back and fill photos into this post later.

But, enough about me, and onto you!

Seven months! Wow, more than halfway to one year old (your siblings like to remind us often how close you are getting to one year old). You even said your first word this month (mama!) as I either walked into or out of the room. Sadly, I missed it, but daddy heard it! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you'd say "mama" first because you truly are a mama's girl.

Although I haven't weighed you lately, I know you are still tiny. People still often guess you are younger than you are based on your size. However, if someone really observes you, it is easy to see that you are closer to one than a newborn! From your strength and stability to your interactions and smile, you show us everyday how big you really are getting!

Ella has been loving holding you and carrying you around lately. I though as you got bigger, she might shy away more because you weighed more, but it has been quite the opposite. She asks to hold you many times a day, and she does a great job toting
you around. The boys also ask at times to hold you, and when they do, they love it! I wish I had been able to capture to huge grin Luke gets on his face when you get in his lap.

You still haven't been sleeping very well at night, although the few days right before you turned 7 months old you slept well (so maybe you are starting to turn the corner). I know the amount of traveling we've been doing probably isn't good for helping you get into a good sleep pattern. Not only are you not in your bed (and I think you pretty much hate the pack n' play), but your schedule has been completely out of sorts. You have generally been doing better napping, but if you have to sleep in your pack n' play for naptime, you usually don't sleep as well.

You continue to love solid food, and have become an expert "puff" eater. It has been really nice that you can enjoy your puffs during a meal because it makes things easier on us (you stay distracted while we eat!). And, despite the fact that I've thought your teeth would pop through at any moment over the past couple of months, they still haven't broken through!

You finally really figured out your jumperoo this month, and your jumping is pretty great. You like to jump as long as we don't leave you alone . . . it seems the moment we walk out of the room to do something while you are in your jumperoo you immediately start fussing and won't be happy until we get you out. Since you have figured out your jumperoo, your legs have been kicking it into overdrive! You often kick/bounce when we hold you, and are quite the wiggle worm!

Your giggles have brought us (and many others) much joy this past month. It is easy to make you smile and laugh, and baby giggles are the best! Ella loves to try to get you to laugh (and she's good at it!). I'm amazed at all the things that you find so funny that you giggle. I've included just a few videos of your giggles this past month.



Annie @ 6 months
Luke @ 7 months
Troy @ 7 months
(I didn’t start writing these monthly posts for Ella until she was 17 months old)