A new week, one long night and a new toy :)

Tyson and I have been talking about getting AnnMarie a doorway jumper. After a eventful Monday evening where I was sick so we didn't really share responsibilities with her, (She stayed up all night for Tyson) we decided to go get one and give our arms a break. We thought the bouncer would give her a little more support than her chair without one of us having to hold her the whole time. Tyson came back with this monster toy. We put her in backwards the first time and she banged her head, but she seems to like it. She sat in it for 20 mins, and then spent another 30 or so looking at the lights and toys while being held. Although it was little more than we thought and it is spacious, I think it will help her develop her muscles so she isn’t so frustrated.

AnnMarie starting to get discontented with just sitting there...she is ready to go!My new toy!
My feet don't reach the floor yet, so we had to use a pillow
Chopper is always curious about AnnMarie and helping how he can, so we weren’t surprised when he was right next to her in the new toy. What surprised me was when she was out and he was still laying by it whining. We decided that the rubber mats on the bottom were getting his attention because they smelled like a ball. When he wouldn’t stop I walked over to lift it up and let him sniff the mats. To my surprise, his ball rolled out from under the leg. Shows you how much I know.

This one is just cute...the first time she really held her bottle, and it was for about 10 mins. Dad snapped the picture!

She is so strong!

AnnMarie is getting so strong. Each day she surprises me. She can go from laying down to almost sitting up, and can keep herself there for short periods of time.

She has no interest in the swing or bouncer that we have been using up until now. She wants to be sitting or standing up all the time. Unfortunately she has maintained the stubborn streak she showed before she was born and since she can’t do these things on her own, she insists on being held. We can put her down and let her scream, and I swear she wouldn’t stop…ever. We got a little chair for her, but she is still unsteady sitting by herself, so our arm muscles continue to grow.

AnnMarie in her chair frustrated that she can't just do what she wants...sit up steady and play with the toys.

Halloween

AnnMarie planned to spend Halloween with Grandma and Grandpa, but it just didn't work out. She had to stay home with boring Mom and Dad. We did make a quick stop over at Grandma Stewarts for her first trick-or-treat. We had a whopping total of 2 trick-or-treaters come visit, Riley and Lily. Lily was a beautiful fairy princess, but I wasn't smart enough to snap a pictureAnnMarie allowed us to put her ladybug costume (hoodless) on one more time as long as she was outside where it wasn't too hot. As you can see, she still wasn't too happy about it.
Although we didn't get to see Jenson, he was so cute!! My Mom said he didn't even put the hood down all night. What a doll. :)

Halloween Eve

AnnMarie tried on her costume last night and did not like it at all. She screamed until it was off and she was sure it was staying off. She was planning to be a very cute ladybug, but we may have lost all photo opps. Instead this morning she was so excited and woke up at 4:30 (ugh) just to make sure she didn't miss the Friday festivities.
She was a little concerned that I didn't get her out of her PJ's right away, but was o.k. when she was being fed first instead.

At first she wasn't sure about her Halloween outfit Lily gave her...but I wasn't about to try the costume again when it wasn't even officially Halloween.
As always, Chopper supervised to make sure that I was not going to hurt her. He was very excited when I showed him the Spider onsie and the jack-o-lantern socks. Of course she is just happy to hang out with him as long as he keeps his tongue mostly away from her face.
I think she knows that there are better things out there than milk, especially at Halloween. Although she dreams, she will have to wait till next year.

My first day of daycare went good for me, not so good for Mom.
First off, Mom tried really hard to be organized in the morning, but when she went to put Chopper in the backyard he wouldn't hear of it. He ran inside before she could shut the door, jumped on the bed and backed into the corner. Mom scolded him, then yelled, then got on the bed and tried to drag him off, but nothing phased him, he just laid there. Finally Mom said "you win" and out the door we went 10 minutes later than planned.

Second thing, Mom got lost. When we went to meet Tammy we drove the back way and Mom tried to pay attention, but just didn't quite make it. And guess what...that's right, no one wrote down the address and Mom didn't even have the phone number. Finally she called Dad and he helped us find it. By this time I decided crying wasn't helping so I went to sleep.

I loved Tammy. She is so nice and her house is so comfortable I slept until almost noon.
When Mom came to pick me up I was happy to see her, but then I remembered that she left me so I wouldn't look at her and cried when she held me. To make matters worse when we got home, Mom didn't have a key to the house, and just as she tried to call Grandpa her phone died so we had to wait for Dad to get home. By then I really didn't want Mom holding me, only Dad.

I feel very lucky to have Tammy, she is great, I love her. This is Dad playing with me once he came home. Mom and I will work it out later. :)

Getting ready for the day can be so taxing, it's hard to know just how I feel. Here is a sequence of feeling happy/sad/mad...I'm just not sure. But I sure am cute!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Talkative Baby

Three weeks after the last clip of her moving around, we add sound. Only once again with the camera she is much more mellow as you can see when she notices the camera. I took this from the side hoping she wouldn't see it. She loves to talk to her animals on the wall in her room, to the light fixtures, to her favorite game (http://www.crayola.com/gamesFun/games/console.cfm?game=fireworks&ok=true) where she can watch a fireworks show and of course to mom and dad especially as we change her diaper.

Active Baby

AnnMarie is a very active baby. This was three weeks ago as she was playing with the zebra on her mobile, and it was mellow for her. I should have been more prepared after she never stopped before she was born...never. :)

AnnMarie

I have been very bad at getting anything posted, but i just moved our internet connection so it won't take so long.
AnnMarie is beautiful. she was born august 5th. 8lbs 2oz. and 10 inches long. We love her so much. She is learning so much and it is so fun to see. She babbles away non-stop now. She is trying to figure out rolling over, but once she is there she can scoot herself around a little.
We put a border of jungle animals in her room and she loves to get her diaper changed so she can look at them and tell them about her day. The lion is by far her favorite followed by the zebra.
She is so fun to watch wake up. She stretches and grunts and takes her time and then she looks for her Dad and just grins.
These were taken when she was 2 weeks old. she is now 10.6 lbs 23 1/4 inches long.

Baby Update

It has been a while and a lot has happened so here is a condensed update:
AnnMarie is doing well and continuing to grow.
She also is continuing to show her stubborn side already:

• Last week when the doctor tried to check her head position she kicked him so hard even he jumped. He called it an 8.2 on the richter scale.
  
• Today at the doctor she wouldn't turn so we could hear her heart beat. (It did get my heart beat racing just for a minute though)
  
• Also, she refuses to move for anyone, including me most of the time, except for her Dad. You can poke, rub, or even wap (as Grandpa Fry tried the other day), but unless Tyson is talking or touching her she won't budge. I think I'm in trouble...I'll always be outvoted on everything by Ty and our Daddy's girl. :)

June 15th I called my doctor to check up on a potential infection I thought my be dangerous to AnnMarie and was told I was in labor and to go to the hospital. Even though I doubted, I went and sure enough. Luckily we were able to stop the labor and I am taking pills every 4 hours to keep it at bay. As long as I take them on time and stay hydrated they work great, the contractions don't come very strong and she can continue to develop until week 37 (July 21st) when I'll come off the medication and we will just see what happens from there.
Until then we just are continuing to try to put the house together and baby ready. We are learning all about pregnancy during the hot months and taking it one day at a time. We are very excited to meet our daughter though!