After church today, Adam hid the eggs outside and the big girls had a glorious time while Anna took a nap.
And then Raven noticed that a squirrel had stolen an egg. And after that, we had to keep quite the eye on that squirrel. The girls were most concerned that the squirrel had taken their candy.
Checking on that squirrel.
The egg after the squirrel lost interest.
I can still call her that for 1.5 more months.
Anna started crawling on February 18 – just 3 days after she turned 9 months old.
She’s attentive – she watches, listens, and learns. She said her first word round about March 16 – “uh oh!”. It’s clear, distinctive, and repeatable. We *think* “mama” might be second, but she only says it when she’s really upset, so we’re not counting it yet.
Anna is a bit reserved. Sometimes you have to work hard for a smile; sometimes not – yesterday when I took these pictures they came pretty readily, but today for Easter pictures, not so much. She likes to interact with people when she wants to, on her terms. Her demeanor is a cool drink of water, though; I’ve enjoyed all three of my kids through all stages, and have enjoyed the difference in each. Anna calms me; her name suits her so very well.
She certainly knows how to work those eyebrows, though.And her blond, blond hair still gets me – it still strikes me how different her hair makes her look than the other two girls did as babies, but at the same time, I see a lot of Julia in her. And her wisps are finally starting to grow out. There won’t be any hair cuts for a while, though.
At her 9 month checkup, Anna weighed 19 lbs 2 oz, and was 28.75 inches long. She is about 50th percentile for weight and >90th percentile for height. She currently has eight teeth and has shown her preference for “real” food over baby food recently. She went from being a really clean eater to being a really messy eater, and really wants to EXPERIENCE her food, putting it in her mouth, chewing it a bit, bringing it back out, and then shoving it back it, as if she is tasting it again for the first time.
Eww.
Anna loves to dance. She likes to clap her hands, can point her finger, can do “so big!”, crawls, holds her own bottle, laughs at the girls when they do somersaults, gets into her sisters’ stuff, can sit up from any position, gets the concept of putting one thing inside something else, is learning what objects are (button, nose – almost there, daddy!), mimics with her sisters with “ahh” – she is growing and learning so fast!
We love you, Banana!
… surprises us more and more each day.
Last weekend she showed true perseverance – she would NOT give up. We had a large amount of freshly fallen snow, and Julia was determined to make a snowman.
However, we don’t have very wet snow here. We received one snowfall this year that *might* have produced a snowman, but this last weekend’s wasn’t it.
Julia first tried to build a big ball. I shouted outside, “Are you okay?” She responded, “It’s okay, mommy, I’ll just make a baby snowman.” After another 10 minutes of trying to roll miniature balls of snow, she came barreling up to the screen door! “I need a carrot! I need buttons!” I asked her if she had her snowman done and she said, “Well, mommy, today I decided I was making a snowman angel.” She had cleared the snow in the shape of a snowman and “flapped” his arms, and took the carrot and buttons and laid them out. Very proud of her creation, and the girl finally got her snowman.
(Julia found a button today from last week’s creation – we haven’t had snow since Monday or Tuesday. Here’s a picture.)
Yesterday we took Julia to get her ears pierced after months of building up her marble jar. Suffice to say I was nervous the whole way there because I was certain she would scream and we’d have to hold her down to do the second one. However, she was brave and strong, and not only did she not flinch (her pupils changing size was the only indication of discomfort), she never cried – not a single tear. This girl couldn’t be more proud of her new Hello Kitty earrings.
(Our brave girl before and then with her new earrings.)
Both girls – older girls – love their baby sister without any doubt. However, we’ve noticed lately that one loves with a gentleness and tenderness that is at times unexpected. This girl can be flying through the house, only to stop instantly, crouch down, and croon softly in Anna’s face. The way in which this one interacts with Anna has earned Anna’s “respect” – Anna allows this interaction to occur without screaming or twisting to get away, which is often the case when Anna experience up close and personal space with folks.
Do you know who it is?
It’s darling Raven! She is a girl who will never be short on love, on affection, on showing people how much she loves and how much she cares.
We are enjoying a gorgeous Easter day here on the Front Range of Colorado. Happy Easter to our family and friends, both near and far! We love you! We hope you have a wonderful day celebrating the Risen Lord!
These pictures were taken at Majestic View this morning, which was the same park we took pictures of the girls after Anna was first born.
