Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!

So I've been saying "Mama" for a long time, but it seems that now I am really starting to understand its power. Yesterday Mommy had to go to a meeting after school, which meant an exciting new event: Daddy picked me up at the babysitter's house for the first time! Daddy took me home for playtime and supper. To prepare for this event Daddy had been feeding me lots of my solid food meals, and he and I had become a good meal-time team.

But last night when it was FOR REAL, and Daddy set me up with yummy cereal, pears, and carrots...I REFUSED TO EAT! I flailed all over the place and kicked my feet and yelled "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!!!!" Daddy tried and tried but I never would eat for him. A little while later when Mommy got home, I scarfed down my entire (now COLD) supper for her! What a little stinker I am! Today when Mommy told this story to the babysitter, she told Mommy that I have been calling for "Ma-ma-ma-ma" at her house too!

Mommy's Birthday Surprises

Yesterday was Mommy's birthday and it was a day full of wonderful surprises. First, when we got to my fabulous babysitter's house, they had decorated with a Happy Birthday banner and balloons! Next, when Mommy was at school getting ready for her morning kindergarten friends to perform their Pattern Band Show, a knock came at her classroom door...it was a vase full of beautiful flowers from Daddy and me, and Angus and Joe-Joe! After her first class went home, Mommy went to a lunch meeting. The next thing she knew, I came wheeling down the hallway in my stroller with a Happy Birthday balloon around my chubby little wrist. What a great surprise! The fabulous Miss Maryann (babysitter and friend extraordinaire) even brought an ICE CREAM CAKE for Mommy and her teacher friends to eat at their meeting!

Here I am playing with Mommy's birthday balloon today...

But Mommy says the BEST BIRTHDAY SURPRISE of all has been 3 NIGHTS IN A ROW of REALLY GOOD SLEEP! I have slept an hour longer every night: on Wednesday from 7:00 PM - 3:00 AM, on Thursday from 7:00 PM - 4:00 AM, and last night from 7:00 PM - 5:00 AM!!!! Now I sleep so well that Mommy has to keep waking up just to make sure I'm okay!

Love to Mommy from the birthday present you could ever hope for!

Lunch with Mommy

This week we had a special "Thursday edition" of our weekly lunch date. Of course Mommy fed me in her little office first, and then we went out to the big alphabet carpet in her classroom for our playtime and picnic. This is where I usually play with my toys and crawl around while Mommy sits on the floor with me and eats her lunch. But today while Mommy was eating her lunch, I ate her lunch bag! See photos and video below:







Okay, our movie is sideways and Mommy doesn't know how to fix it. So tilt your head as if you were about to take a bite of a taco, and then hit the arrow to play the video!

Sleepy Baby!

Note from a well-rested Mommy:

Annabelle went to bed last night at 7:00 PM (as usual) and never woke up to eat until 3:00 AM!!!! Then she fell back to sleep until 5:30 AM!!!!

Joel and I can't believe some people have babies who sleep like this every night.

Cross your fingers and toes, everybody! Let's hope it wasn't a fluke!

Off to the Races!

My friend Sarah (fabulous daughter of my fabulous babysitter) has invented a new game with me. We crawl around the house having races, and sometimes I even win! Here I am speed-crawling this morning:

My Bathtime Friends

Every night at bath time I love to play with my tubby toys. Here are some movies of me playing in the tub on my 9-month birthday last week:

Jammin' Baby!

Loyal Birdie's Blog fans will remember previous posts about the cool book of "New Baby Songs" that Grammy Katie gave me for Christmas. Well, here is another song from the book that was written just for me:

Daddy Plays Music
from Who's that Baby? by Sharon Creech/David Diaz

My daddy plays me music 'cause he loves me
My daddy plays me music 'cause he loves me.

My daddy is a genius and I love his songs
My daddy is a genius and I love his songs.

I hope he will keep playing even when I cry
I hope he will keep playing when I cry-cry-cry.

My daddy plays me music 'cause he loves me
My daddy plays me music 'cause he loves-loves-loves me.

~~~~
Here I am jamming with my daddy!

No more photos, paparazzi!

9 Months Old!

This week I turned 9 months old and yesterday was my 9-month check up. I was so happy because there were NO SHOTS! I now weigh 22 pounds, 4 ounces and I am 28 1/2 inches tall. I am growing like a weed, or as Mommy says, like a beautiful flower. The doctor said I can start trying to eat cheese and yogurt and other fun things like egg yolks and cheerios. I don't know what anyof that stuff tastes like but I bet it tastes better than the totally nasty Gerber 2nd Foods Beef Dinner Mommy tried to feed me a few days ago! YUCK!

Here I am on my 9 month birthday!

The Creepy Crawly Thing at Our House

Nope, it's not some little bug or critter...it's ME! For the last several weeks I have been "creeping" and crawling backwards. In the past week I decided to go ahead and start crawling forwards. I had considered just learning to walk without bothering to crawl, but I changed my mind. Now I crawl all over the place! And I am fast. Quick as a wink I can be across the living room and on my way to grabbing all kinds of things I shouldn't have!

Book-Loving Baby

I LOVE books! They are one of my favorite things to play with. I love to hold them and turn the pages and pretend I am reading them. One time I was having trouble turning the page in one of my board books, and Mommy turned it for me. WELL! That just wouldn't do! I slammed the book shut and opened it again by myself. I am a really good reader and I love my books. And here's a secret...I love to EAT them! They are really tasty. But don't tell Mommy and Daddy because they always tell me not to eat my books. I don't get it! I eat all of my other toys! Here I am enjoying some of my books:






































For Christmas Grammy Katie sent me a really cool book called Who's That Baby? New Baby Songs by Sharon Creech and David Diaz. This "new baby song" must have been written just for me:

Books

They plop me on their laps
and open up the books
and read-read-read
in up-and-down voices.

I have no idea
what they are saying
but I like the sounds
of their up-and-down voices.

And I love the swirly pictures
which I try to touch
and lick

but they tell me
I should not
eat
the book.

Life is Good!

Just check out how cute I am in my Life is Good outfit, a gift from Mommy's friend Traci. She got it for me when she went on a trip to the Adirondack Mountains. Daddy says that someday he will take me camping there. I can't wait!

Not So Sleepless...

Second night in a row of drifting peacefully off to sleep without a peep ~ and she slept 3 1/2 hours before waking up for a snack! Maybe we're getting somewhere...

Three Steps Forward, One Plop Back

Okay, Mommy, enough boring posts about my sleep habits. Now for some EXCITING NEWS!

Yesterday I started WALKING! Not on my own, of course, but yesterday morning at the babysitter's house, with Mommy holding on under my arms, I took three steps forward and then plopped on my bottom. Then later on at home I took several steps back and forth between Mommy and Daddy! This morning I took more steps with Mommy holding on around my waist. I haven't even mastered crawling forward yet, but I think I'll just skip that and start jogging!

Sleepless in Rochester part 2

From Mommy ~ Okay there have been lots of comments on our sleep habits rant so here is an update:

After her regular bedtime routine of bath, breastfeeding, bedtime stories and lullabies, Annabelle drifted peacefully off to sleep last night without a peep at her usual time of 7:00. She woke up at 10:30 for a snack, then slept until 2:00 when she woke up for another snack. This is just about the exact times of the night before. Lovely! She did have a bit of a blip between 3:15 and 3:45 - NOT crying, but wiggling around and fussing a bit. Her noises were approximately equivalent to the sounds she makes when she is "reading" a book or chewing on a really good tag. So I just listened to her talk and when it started to sound like she was getting upset, I peeked in and rubbed her back for a few minutes. I didn't feed her (my goal is to get her to go at least 3 hours between feedings at night, since she goes at least that long between feedings during the day) and I didn't pick her up. She was able to be soothed by just a few "I love you's" and a little back rub. She was still awake when I went back to bed, but drifted back off to sleep on her own WITHOUT CRYING AT ALL! She slept on until 4:45, ate, and then went back to sleep until 5:45! Hurray!

Also - before people start thinking I am a heartless Mommy, when I say I am letting her cry it out what I mean is I put her in her crib while she is still awake and let her make sleepy noises instead of feeding or holding her until she falls asleep like I used to. If she is actually crying I respond immediately - in spite of reading otherwise in many of the baby sleep books I've studied, I believe that if Annabelle cries it means she needs me and the last thing I want to do is "teach" her that Mommy only comes when she cries during the day. I actually think that letting her cry by herself in her crib is going to give her BAD sleep habits in the long run because she will feel like bed is a sad, lonely place instead of a cozy happy one. Okay, just had to clarify that one. :-)

And finally, to those who have offered lovely lists of advice, in Annabelle's nearly nine months we have tried white noise, no white noise, soothing music, no soothing music, nightlight, no nightlight, co-sleeping, family bed, feeding water instead of milk during the night, etc. etc. Basically everything you can find in a book or a desparately tired Mommy/full-time teacher's brain we have tried. So now we are just trying to stick to a predictable bedtime routine and teach Annabelle to fall asleep happily on her own as much as possible. We'll see how it goes!

Sleepless in Rochester

It's official, I am the worst sleeper in the history of the world. Mommy hasn't had more than 4 hours straight of sleep (and that is on a VERY RARE good night) since I was born 8 and a half months ago. I have had Mommy wrapped around my cute little pudgy finger. I wake up and holler and she comes running to soothe me back to slumber with cozy cuddles and yummy warm milk. I have been getting her to come visit at least 3 or 4 times every night, sometimes every hour! Now Mommy is so tired that she finally got desperate enough to try a horrible evil trick on me. This trick is called LETTING ME CRY IT OUT and it is the meanest thing I have ever heard of in my short little life. She let me cry for 5 whole minutes tonight before I finally gave up and fell asleep. Whoever thought of this crying it out business is a sick meany. Don't worry, I'll be up again in a couple hours, and I'll get her to come visit, just you wait and see!

PS - Note from Mommy - Annabelle's horrible sleep habits are all my fault! I have committed the cardinal sin of new mommyhood - soothing my baby back to sleep with cuddles and milk! UGH! Now I must pay for my crime! Listening to her cry for even one minute feels like someone is gouging out my heart with rusty spoons! I HATE THIS!!!! Last night I told Joel I would rather give birth again than have to let Annabelle cry herself to sleep. HELP!!!!