Guess who will be one year old in two weeks???

Anna Started It

What I was hoping to be a quick photo shoot turned into the girls sticking seeded out grass into their mouths.

Oh, and yes, Raven did in fact take the grass from Julia’s mouth and put it in her own.  Ha!

Cheerio

Do you need to see three pictures of a cheerio on Anna’s nose?  Yes, yes, you do, when a baby is this cute.  (Biased?  Maybe.)

Reading Books

One weekend day when we were experiencing a bit of snow recently (very recently, as in, this coming Wednesday), Julia set up the chairs against the bookshelf so that Anna could sit there with her and read.  Very cute, and I couldn’t help snapping a few shots!

Oh, and yes, in case you were wondering, Julia does wear ballet outfits as often as possible.

*grin*

erin

The Beard

After reaching 8.5 inches, Adam decided give the beard a trim.  It’s still bushy and not at all short, but it’s not 8.5 inches long anymore.  Here’s a picture of him measuring it out before he cut it.

Snow Day!

Last Tuesday we all stayed home together while it snowed outside (yes – last Tuesday, which was April 9 – yesterday we got 10 inches!).

Adam stayed home to watch the girls for me so I could work.  At some point in the day, the girls had built themselves a little nest in the corner by the bookshelf, and the three of them read books and played.  So cute, all three of them together!

(Love the headbands!)

Caught in the Act

This is why cleaning the house is futile when an 11-month-old is on the prowl…

The Day the Squirrel Stole the Show at the Egg Hunt

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.

The Baby

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!

This Girl…

… 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.)