February '10-23 months

Anna Grace got a very special gift this month-a new baby brother! This officially makes her a big sister and the cute middle child. This month she surprised us by counting to ten on her own and to twenty with little help! She can sing her ABC's but is still working on recognizing more letters. No successes on the potty yet. She likes sitting on it like a big girl, but there's no action. Her obessession this month has been The Little Mermaid. If we've watched it once we've watched it a hundred times. She loves to sing like Ariel and ALL her dolls are have officially been made "mermaids".

January '10-22 months

Anna is still a very vibrant toddler. She has been "using" the potty at home and school. And by using we mean sitting on it and giggling-no real action yet! She longs to be a big girl like her sister Emma, so maybe she will start to pick up on it soon. Anna is learning her colors and she knows yellow, pink and purple. She can pick the letters A and B out of a line up and she is getting really good at working puzzles on her own. She continues to love music and dancing. Her favorite tunes are Hickory, Dickory Dock and Wee Willie Winkie. She has also become a big fan of Kenny Chesney's greatest hits-thanks to her Daddy!

December '09-21 months old

This has been a very exciting month for Anna Grace. She started sleeping in her big girl twin bunk beds with Emma around December 7. After just a few nights she was sleeping all night without waking! We think this is a pretty big deal because she is so young and are SO proud of her! Her vocabulary has really taken off! She knows words to Jingle Bells, Holly Jolly Christmas and lots of other Christmas tunes. In fact, she was one of the only young toddlers in her class that made an effort to learn the words to the songs for her school Christmas program! Some words new to her vocabulary are open, swimming (she has new clown fish in her aquarium ), Santa, cookie, "I want more", "I want to play" and so much more! We have been blessed with a super little girl!

November '09-20 months old

Anna is talking up a storm! She continues to repeat everything we say, including what Emma says and some of it is sticking! Some new words are jacket, coat, shoe, sock, blankie, and cup. She says so much more including lots of new sentences and phrases. She knows some of her basic shapes like star, circle and square and she is working on learning her colors too. She can count to five on her own and to ten with a little help! Her favorite things to play are pretend animals with Emma. They like to be puppies, cats, and lions. It is so cute to see them play together and make animal sounds . She continues to LOVE Elmo and Dora. Their new favorite movie to watch in the car is Dora's Christmas Carol.

19 months old: Anna has really started talking this month! She is staying phrases like "want to play" and "I need that". She has also added a lot of new words to her vocabulary: gabba (for the show Yo Gabba Gabba), that, tissue, butterfly, teeth, fish, and a few others. She loves to get a ton of tissues out of the box and say "blow your nose". We have wasted many tissues this month! We had another bout of bronchitis, but she rebounded pretty quickly, thank goodness. She has learned to love her nebulizer and now will put on her mask even when it isn't on and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", which is what I sing with her when we do her treatments. She is one cutie patootie!

At 18 months old, Anna is finally saying more words! New to her vocabulary this month are yucky, dor-da (dora), elmo, nemo, go, eyes, nose, Anna, Emma, and she still repeats quite a bit, but it takes a while for a new word to stick. She also loves to wag her finger and tell you "no, no". Anna's favorite characters are Dora and Elmo. She loves Elmo 10 times more than Emma did. Her favorite foods continue to be mostly anyting, but especially mac n cheese, green beans, carrots, and spaghetti. She is coming around to pizza but isn't a big fan yet! She had a rough month, battling croup and she is still working on getting better. Hopefully, that will be her only big sickness, but I have a feeling the winter will not be kind to us!

16 and 17 months: Time has flown by and summer is over. I noticed I have been a little bit behind! Anna Grace is still our sweet little girl. She has really started to "fight" back when Emma tries to snatch toys away from her! We are glad to see her holding her own. Her new words are "eat" and "hi". She is definitely not the word-girl that Emma was, but every child is different right? She loves to sing along with nursery rhymes. Her favorite is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She also says her ABC's up to the letter G and counts to three (only if you do it with her). She started school this month and has adjusted nicely. Her favorite things to do at school mimic her fav's at home-dancing and singing. She was spotted with a pair of marracas in her hands when Bob picked her up one day last week.

At 15 months old, Anna is finally a full time walker! She started walking last month, but still relied on crawling. Now, she walks everywhere! Her new favorite this say "muh" and give kisses, most of the time with her mouth open . It is a little slobbery, but so very cute! Her newest words are doggie, yeah, no, and of course still, her all time favorite, daddy. She uses yes and no the right way, most of the time. She loves dancing with Emma, watching Dora, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Elmo, pushing the baby doll stroller, and "eating" all the pretend food we have! She also likes to read with Emma, play peek-a-boo with her favorite blanket, and toss the Dora ball and then chase it. She is a big fan of coloring but hasn't learned the crayons are for marking on the paper and not to eat as a snack. Her appetite is still great! She loves eating lasagna and her favorite snacks are cheese and teddy grahams, all accompanied by many glasses of milk throughout the day!

14 months old: Anna Grace is in on her way to walking. She took two ensy, weensy steps on her own Saturday, May 23 and we haven't seen anything esle since! I guess it was a teaser and there will be more to her show in the coming weeks :). I am sure I am just asking for it, wanting her to walk already, but by this time last year Emma was a pro. Even though she can't walk, she still manages to keep up with Emma in everyway, crawling after her and eating her crayons. She is doing her best to repeat every word you say. Her favorite song is the Isty, Bitsy Spider and she loves doing the spider motions with her hands. She is all giggles unless she is too tired or hungry. We are down to one nap and sippy cups full time! She also has 12 teeth! She is a great eater and does not turn her nose up anything so far! We are lucky she is not a fussy baby, excuse me TODDLER (tear).

At 13 months old, Anna has three new teeth! She seems to be in MAJOR teething mode, chewing on everything and cranky here and there. The ear tubes have worked wonders and her ears are completely clear of all fluid! This seems to be a miracle for her (and mommy and daddy too). She uses her ear plugs in the tub and does not pull them out! We are so very thankful that her little ears are on the mend. We have not been on an antibiotic since the beginning of March, so that is a big deal! She is saying "uh-oh" and "Buh-buh" (bye bye). The one thing we can not get her to do consistently is drink from a cup. She throws it, squirts the milk out of it, and screams most times she is offered a cup instead of a bottle. She seems to have a little cold/allergies so her pediatrician suggested giving her a bottle in the morning and at bedtime to make sure she is getting some fluids and staying hydrated. I am waiting for the day she decides to chug from a cup! She is not a big fan of juice yet either. She is still cruising on all the furninture and toys. She will stand unassisted for a few seconds at a time, but no walking independently yet. I have a feeling we are not far off!

Anna Grace had a big 10th month, full of milestones! FINALLY she is clapping, crawling, AND pulling up onto her knees and even onto her feet sometimes! She started crawling around mid January and it only took her about two days to realize that rolling was for the birds and crawling got her around much faster. She went from slow to fast very quickly. She knows how to get around! It seems like she is teething again, but still just has 8 teeth (4 on top and 4 on the bottom). She is all smiles and shrieking with joy all the time! We can't believe that she will be ONE so soon!

 Anna is getting so big! She weighs over 22 lbs. She has gotten two new teeth and some more are poking through. Soon she will have a mouth full! Anna has become a big fan of biter biscuits and vanilla wafers. She actually does really well taking bites off and chewing. Because of this, we have started her on 3rd foods. They are more chunky and she has been loving all the different dinner options :). Since she already does so well feeding her bottles to herself, I think in the next few days I am going to try a sippy cup and see how she does. We'll see what happens!

Anna had a busy 8th month! She got two more teeth-one on the top and one on the bottom. That makes three on the bottom now and only one on top. We have been calling her snaggletooth! Poor thing is still drooling 24/7, so hopefully the rest of these teeth will come sooner than later. She has been a little more cranky lately, so I think teething is getting the best of her. She also learned to sit up completely unasissted and she can feed her bottle to herself all on her own! This is a big deal considering Mommy is one busy lady :)! Anna also discovered the Jumperoo and LOVES it. She has a ball jumping and giggling. Emma likes to give her some help by shaking her around for a little extra fun! Anna just erupts in laughter when Emma plays with her. I hope this is a sign that they will be best friends in the years to come!

 Anna is now 7 months old and 21 lbs. She is growing so very quickly and is outgrowing some of her baby contraptions. So far, the papsan swing and bouncer chair have been put in the closet. She is so long that she no longer fits in either. Right now, Anna is still holding strong with only two teeth, but she is drooling like crazy and has become more fussy than usual so we are sure some more teeth are coming soon. Anna is full swing into solids and has also started finger foods. She has only tried biter biscuits and puffs and likes them both as long as she can remember to pick them up and actually get them to her mouth. There is no crawling action yet...She is rocking on her knees and scooting backwards. She also rolls all over the place to get toys that she wants.

 Anna is half a year old! At 20 lbs., our chunky little girl is getting into all kinds of things! She loves to sleep and play on her belly, has two teeth, and has started solids. I think her favorite food so far is squash. Anna Grace is so easily entertained. She loves playing in her exersaucer or watching her big sister play. Incidently, she has already become a big fan of, you guessed it, Elmo! She loves to chew on Emma's Elmo. This makes Emma upset sometimes but she is learning to share very quickly. I think an Elmo for Anna will be in order soon! Currently, poor Anna is teething so badly for her two upper teeth. It is drool city. Luckily, if Anna is upset, you can bet Emma will make her smile and laugh. Of course her babbling has turned into to her first word...DADA. Figures! Bob is in 7th heaven over it and I am just as disappointed as I was with Emma, ha! Anna Grace has also almost mastered sitting up on her own and scoots backwards on while on her belly. Will she crawl sooner than Emma did? We'll see!

 Anna is five months old! Where has the time gone? Anna can roll from her back to her belly and she has one tooth! She is also sitting up pretty well, but still needs some support. She loves playing with toys that make noise and light up. Anna Grace is all smiles and giggles. We could not ask for a better baby!

At four months old, Anna is 17 lbs. 3oz. and over 25 inches long! She has learned how to giggle and loves laughing at her big sister. She also enjoys kicking and swatting at toys in her playgym. Anna can hold things now and is figuring out how to chew things. She has not rolled from her back to her belly, but she is trying hard. She can make it onto her side for now. Anna also can lift herself up when she is laying on her back! While she has only done this a few times, it is progress! Unfortunately, since Emma is so into Elmo and TV shows, Anna is exposed to more TV than most babies her age. She is becoming a fan of cartoons too and likes smiling and the bright colors and happy characters. She even giggles at Elmo too!

 Anna is three months old! We are not sure how much she weighs because her next visit isn't until the end of July, but she has outgrown her size 1-2 diapers and in some 6-9 month clothing, so I am sure she is over 15 pounds. We can not believe how quickly she is growing! She likes to sit up, but still needs a lot of assistance. She is also holding her head up for longer periods of time. Anna is definitely a talker and loves talking "baby talk" to everyone! She is swatting and kicking at toys and she is also sleeping thru the night (7 pm-6 am, for now!).

Little Anna does not seem so little anymore. She is two months old, 13 lbs. 4 oz. and 24 inches long--Whew! She has successfully landed in the 95th-100th percentlie once again. We can not complain, she is a very good baby. She naps very well during the day and sleeps 5-7 hours during each of her nighttime stretches. She only wakes once a night (yay Anna!). This month Anna learned to smile. She smiles all day long it seems. She also has begun to make all those little baby coos, oohs, and aahs.

 Anna is one month old already! Time has flown by. She is growing so much everyday. She weighs 10 lbs. 7 oz. and is 22 inches long! She is in the 95th percentile for her height, weight, and head circumference. She still is sleeping a lot during the day, but does not wake much at night, so it is okay. Right now, Anna enjoys sleeping, warm baths, car rides, and her swing.

Anna is here! She arrived at 10:51 a.m. on Thursday, March 27, 2008 and weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz. She has a head full of dark brown hair! There are pictures uploaded on her Peek-A-Boo page...Take a look!