Five Months
As of yesterday, Anna has been out in the world for five months. In celebration, tonight she is enjoying her first fire, in our fireplace; no, we do not let our five month old play with matches… yet. She is completely mesmerized by the flames. She hasn’t made a peep or looked anywhere else for over five minutes.
And now for the updated photo:
- One month old – still an adorable picture!
- Five months old, hanging out in her onesie.
Anna Laughs
This hasn’t failed to keep the Sweetest Pea laughing: John dancing with her, headbanging a little, and singing the chorus to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Aeroplane”. We’ll let you figure out who’s the bigger dork.
Daddy’s Home!
Anna missed her daddy while he was in Guatemala on a service trip for ten days. (I missed him, too.) He’s very happy to be back home, and I’m happy I have someone to share the dirty diaper changing with! Since John has been back, Anna has been talking almost non-stop, which makes us laugh quite a bit. She’s definitely a daddy’s girl!
Under the Spell of Harry Potter
John and I were in Harry Potter mode for a few weeks, reading all the books and watching all the movies in order. It concluded with a night out to see The Deathly Hallows: Part I. We didn’t really have a wand for Anna to play with, so a pen took it’s place. We had no end of fun making Anna say spells, such as “Expelliarmus” and “Wingardium Leviosa.”
- “Accio Bottle!”
I am determined to see the midnight showing of Part II when it comes out. Anyone willing to join me?
New Year, New Food
January 1st marked Anna’s first encounter with rice cereal. I haven’t been too consistent with giving it to her yet, but she usually eats it all and doesn’t seem to mind it much. She definitely likes to chew (gnaw?) on the spoon and hasn’t really made any funny faces yet, but we expect that to start once the flavors start in a month or two.
- First bite! She’s on my lap since we didn’t have the highchair set up yet.
- Gnawing on the spoon
- “I ate it all!” Finally in the highchair.
- Asleep in her Jumperoo. All that eating tired her out!
Christmas
I LOVE Christmastime. The lights, the smells, the sounds, all of it! The whopping 33.4 inches of snow we had received by December 24 this year (well… last year… this post is a bit delayed in making its appearance) definitely didn’t hurt either, although I don’t think everyone would agree with me on that.
I’ve also decided that adding a baby to the mix only makes things more enjoyable. Anna isn’t old enough to thoroughly appreciate the beauty of the season, but she had a good time nonetheless.
The three days leading up to Christmas day were spent with my family in Eyota, which meant lots of dog barking, beer drinking, and soda cracker cookie eating. We enjoyed a delicious dinner with some friends from high school (thanks, Bankers!) and games and drinks with my “second family,” the Kramers (always so fun!). Anna looked beautiful in her Christmas dress borrowed from the Shurts family, and the Christmas Eve Children’s Mass was movie-worthy: how often do you get to see a donkey dragging another donkey by the tail down the church aisle? Hysterical!
- Anna all dressed up for Christmas Eve Mass (Thanks for the dress, Jess!)
Anna slept through her daddy reading The First Christmas to her, but we are sure she loved it. Christmas morning she also slept through most of the gift opening, including the new pair of glasses she received from Auntie Traci.
- Sleeping as her gifts are opened
She had received the Jumperoo from Grandpa Jim and Grandma Sherry on Wednesday night and LOVED it!
She also got The Night Before Christmas in Hawaiian from Auntie Beth and (soon-to-be) Uncle Jeff, which we are sure will inspire her to someday move to Hawaii and bring her wonderful parents along.
Christmas Part II was celebrated with John’s family in Golden Valley. We had a great time and I am happy to say that I am now down to only 2 books remaining until I own the entire Harry Potter series (John and I were on a HP kick for awhile… more on that in another post). Anna got lots of cute clothes and toys, including an awesome “play Bible” from her Godparents , and John got (surprise!) another board game. We also enjoyed lots of yummy food, such as Kay’s scotch eggs, zelnicky, and chicken wild rice soup.
- Anna’s new hat
- Auntie Hallie holds an excited Anna next to some pretty new clothes.
- Anna is intrigued by Uncle Mike’s IPad.
We had a beautiful time celebrating Christ’s birth, and we hope you all did, too. May we always be thankful for the gifts God has given!
