Annie has a tooth! Just a little one poking though on the bottom right… but it is a sharp little pearly white tooth.

She also is now pulling herself up to standing on whatever she can get ahold of. Crib rails at Nana’s ( She doesn’t sleep in a crib at home) Mommy and Mama, the dog. Anything she can grip is fair game. She pulls herself up to standing then bounces. Oh how my girl loves to bounce!

She is just growing up so fast. When Scoop got home today and I told her we had a tooth she looked at her and frowned and said ” she isn’t a baby anymore”…. :sigh:

I just want time to slow down a little bit so I can keep my cuddly little baby a baby for a bit more.

I love my daughter… totally and competely.

But why is it since she came I feel like I no longer exist. Noone ever asks me how I am… only how is the baby.

Friends and family ask when they will get to see Annie next…. never asking when we can talk or get together.

I love getting to stay home with Annie during the day so she doesn’t have to go to daycare and I can share in her life, but sometimes I would like to have a conversation with someone who can talk back. A conversation about something other than Annie.

I know this sounds very selfish, but I just want to be acknowleged as a person and not just as Annies mom.  Sometimes I miss being me.

First let me tell you that I have had two horrible nights at work. The workload has been busy but bearable, it is my coworkers and management that have me minutes from telling them where they can stick their job.

Annie has been awful about me leaving for work , crying when I leave making me feel bad enough. Then add in a bad night and no sleep and I am at my wits end.

Then I come home to a baby who doesn’t want to sleep, cries whenever I put her down or walk out of the room, fights me with every diaper change or clothing change and mommy is falling apart. Today I took her down to Carol’s aunts for a couple of hours until Nana gets off work and picks her up there for the evening. I am going to go to bed very soon here hoping the extra couple of hours will make a difference in tomorrow.  I needed a little time to be me and not Mommy. And then I called my Mom for a little mommying of my own. I can’t wait to go home in January. I miss my family terribly.

Here is hoping for a saner day tomorrow.

We have entered yet another phase in Annie’s life. She has outgrown her baby car seat. We went to put her in it yesterday in a sweater and jeans and it wouldn’t buckle around her with the straps at their longest. We installed the convertible seats in both cars. Makes me sad in a way, I am not ready to give up my baby yet. Just today I was noticing as she was napping in my arms that with her head in the crook of my elbow my hand just comes under her little bum. Where did these long hanging legs come from???  She used to fit her whole body in that same space.

She has been a little needy of mommy lately. I am not allowed to leave her sight for more than 2 seconds without there being a breakdown. Big sobs and tears. Last night was awful when I went to work. Annie did not want me to go. She cried when I handed her to Scoopy. I have never wanted to be a stay at home mommy so badly as I did last night. sometimes though it gets to be a bit much. I think I would just like two minutes to go to the bathroom by myself. Then when she is sleeping in my arms I forget my frustration and try to remember it won’t always be like this. Someday she will not want me around and I have to remember to enjoy this time while I have it.

She is growing too fast.

We went to the mall last night to see Santa. It was a nice mostly peaceful adventure for our little family.

We started at Friendlys ( the only restaurant in the mall) for dinner. Annie did pretty well with her dinner. She had a little cheese, some turkey, some bread, a half a french fry and some peppermint ice cream. Oooh the ice cream. She LOVED it. Every spoon of it she felt should be going into her mouth. She would dive for the spoon mouth open like a hungry baby bird.  Funny as you could get.

The bad part about dinner was Annie’s reaction to another baby. She was at the end of the table in a high chair. About halfway though dinner another family was sat at the next table with a 7 month old baby boy. Annie looked down at him and started to fuss. We distracted her and she was happy for a bit until the baby made noise. Then she looked at him wide eyed…another noise brought whines and tears. She did not like that little guy. Made me worry that we spend too much time around adults and need to find more kids for her to play with. 

Then on to Santa. I was a little worried about how she would react since she is getting a bit leary of strangers and a stranger with a beard might be a little much, but she was a pro. She sat on his lap and stared at him in wonder. Then she looked at me and Carol and smiled a big grin and we got a cute picture. ( I will have to hook up my scanner and share it late)

Today she is being all cute and giggly. Every time I look at her I get a smile and a little head tilt… it is the perfect “see how cute I am?” look for her.

I love this baby.

Annie has her first full on cold. Sneezing, coughing and buggery nose. For all you mommas out there who haven’t tried boogie wipes…. they are worth it! They dissolve crusties much better than anything else.

Despite being sick Annie has been a pretty happy baby. Last night while I was getting ready for work, Annie was sitting on Scoops lap in the recliner. Scoop was making snorting pig noises at her and Annie was laughing so hard. Not her little giggle that I am used to , but a full on big belly laugh. It was the sweetest sound! She loves her Mama so much. She has special smiles that only Mama gets that I am , to be honest, a little jealous of. I am so lucky to have a wonderful wife who lets that little girl run her world. They have such an amazing bond.

Here are the loves of my life from Thanksgiving…

Love those cheeks

dancing with Mama to Christmas music

the two I am most Thankful for

So much to be thankful for this year.  Most importantly the little girl cuddled in my wifes arms across the room. Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.

We had Annie’s 6 month checkup today. She is now 17 lb 8 oz ( 80th %) and 26 inches long ( 75th %) Big healthy girl. The doc was asking us if she makes and consonant sounds yet and we told her she says “ma” ( not in any context just mamamamamama) She was surprised at that since “m” is hard for babies to say… then laughed and said I suppose with two moms thats what she hears all the time. Yup. See…. our relationship is pushing our daughter to develop new skills already. )

She got her shots today too. I am pro- vac but today made me question a lot of things. My little sweet pea got 6 shots today. Yup. Six. And the more I dwell on it the worse I feel. I feel like I let her down as a mom today by not sticking up for what I really wanted and delaying some shots. The fever she developed made me feel even worse. And even though I pretty much like our practice, I think I more and more want to find someone else to treat her. I feel like I have to lie about too much with my ped. ( like bedsharing and baby led weaning) I want someone who isn’t going to question why I take my baby to the chiropractor even though he kept her from having to be put in a harness for a year. I need someone I don’t feel bullied by so I have to feel guilt about it later.

I feel like a bad mommy today.

I can’t believe my little Annie Grace is already 6 months old. Time is flying so fast.

How did we get from here….

to here????

Everyday she does something new. It is a miracle how much changes in these first 6 months. She doesn’t seem so helpless any more. She is mobile ( to some extent) and able to show you what she likes and doesn’t like. She is still a little cuddlebug though. I think I will miss that the most when she outgrows it.

I can’t imagine life without her. I feel like I was put here to be Scoopys wife and Annies mom. I have my purpose. And it is a great one.

On non-Annie news , I have an infection in my jawbone. It has made things really not fun for the past week and a half. I am on two different antibiotics and 3 pain killers/ antinflamitories. Hopefully it will heal  up fast because I am looking forward to Turkey day. I have so much to be thankful for this year. I am looking forward to getting home from work on Thanksgiving  day and grabbing Annie to watch the Macys Parade on TV with me. It is something from my childhood that I will never outgrow. Maybe one day I will brave actually going into the city for it. Many moons from now when Miss A is much bigger.

Happy half year SweetPea. Your mommies love you.

I can’t believe how fast time flies by with Annie out here in the world. I can’t believe she is 5 1/2 months old. She is such a little person. We have moved on to eating now. Our little girl loves food! She sees the spoon coming and opens her mouth and leans over to get at it faster. We have also been doing some baby led weaning. Pretty much she gets to try whatever we are eating. She loves chicken and bread and pancakes. Baked potatoes are good… any other way not so much. Green beans were good, carrots not quite as good. We have also done pureed sweet potato, she ate it but not with as much enthusiasm as her cereal. So far she has been willing to try anything put in front of her and I hope that is a good sign and she continues to enjoy food.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Annie had two costumes ( and three other themed outfits – have I mentioned I go a little nuts dressing this kid?) One was a pea pod. Scoopy has called her sweat pea since the day she was born, so it was fitting. The other was a giraffe. This one was a hand me down that I loved. By the end of two days of dressing up Annie was very happy to see halloween come and go.

out at the pumpkin patch

unhappy little giraffe who just wants to go home and put on comfy jammies

Mommy... can we be done with pictures now?