Getting Started...

So I decided to finally break down and start a blog. I have enjoyed keeping up with the adventures that many of my friends share on their blogs and realized that I need to record my little one as she grows (and oh how quickly she is growing!). Our sweet little daughter Anna was born in May 2009 and for my first post I think that I will reminisce about Anna's first 8 months.

Anna Blair Hale was born May 13th, 2009 at 4:30 pm. I won't give you all of the details, but my pregnancy and Anna's birth were all relatively easy and uncomplicated. Anna came into this world at 6 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches long. We were very proud as well when she received a perfect APGAR score. She slept by our bed in the hospital as we gazed down at our little angel. She had the pinkest skin and the longest little hands and feet.

We brought her home from the hospital on Friday and she adjusted well at home. She fed every three hours for the first two weeks and then every two hours for the next two weeks. She hated to be swaddled, but loved being in a sling up against her mommy. This made for a very tired mommy, but since it started raining on Anna's birthday and didn't stop for two weeks, I had plently of motivation to relax.

By two weeks old, Anna was alert and curious. She also could almost hold her head up. Anna started sleeping for a five hour period at five weeks and then she started smiling at seven weeks. When I took her for her two month shots, Dr. Peltz was amazed by how well she could track him around the room, how she could already smile at him, how strong her little legs were (they pushed him away on his stool!), and that she could roll from her back to her tummy. I was impressed by her too! He told us that we had a very bright and advanced little girl on our hands and that she was going to be very social. She also only cried for about five seconds when she got her four shots (even with a daddy deathly afraid of needles!).

When she was about ten weeks old, she started sleeping from 10:00 PM until 5:00 AM and then 5:30 AM until 8:30 AM. It was wonderful! Anna was already so alert and smiling like crazy. We took our first road trip around this time. We went up to see my family in North Carolina and she proved to be a little trooper.

Of course, little did I know that she would start teething at three months just like her daddy and her uncle Matthew. This made for a fussy baby for a little while. The two bottom middle teeth came in first. Then she quickly got in her top two teeth, which were followed within a month by four more teeth (bottom pair and then top). She had eight teeth by six months!

Before Anna was even four months old, she rolled from her belly to her back and then two days later she rolled all the way across the floor. She started loving her little gymini and she loved reaching for her toys and books. She also babbled constantly. She loved to hear herself and would smile when you talked back. Her first word sound was something that sounded like mama, then dada, and then dog.

Anna slept in her crib for the first time when was five months old. The first night was torture since she cried all night long, but since then she has slept from 8:30 PM until 7:30 AM every night (except for five days at six months that I'm trying to forget about!). I think that she sleeps well because she loves, loves, loves her TinyLove mobile, her cuddly bunny lovie, and now she can put her pacifiers back in her mouth (WaHoo!....that started at seven months). She also ate rice cereal for the first time when she was five months old, which she loved from the beginning. I gave her vegetables for the first time at six months and she still only likes sweet potatoes and squash. Anna loves fruits and would eat those all day long. She's not yet a big fan of bananas, though, but I think it's just a texture thing right now. Anna's first few bites of rice cereal! Anna's first boat ride!

We enjoyed are first Christmas with Anna and were even blessed to have my family here to celebrate with us. Anna received lots of toys, including Elmo Live and a stacker. Her favorite toy was the Fisher Price plastic shape sorter, though, and she also loved her new books.

A week before Christmas, we got a surprise when we were eating breakfast. We turned around and Anna was no where to be found. She had crawled her way into our bedroom! So now we had a crawler on our hands before she even turned eight months old. She started out with an army crawl by using her arms, but today she is up on her hands and knees and moving fast. We had a crawler before she could even sit up very well. Although, within one week, she could sit up in a cushiony cover in a high chair and in a shopping cart.

Anna is now eight months old. Yesterday, I looked in the video monitor when I heard her wake up and she was sitting up looking around. Wow! I can't believe how much she has changed and grown and blossomed in just eight short months. She smiles and talks all day long. She loves to repeat sounds that you make. She giggles and laughs and hums to herself. Yesterday even as I was just driving around town, she was humming with a big smile on her face and just staring out the window with her little blankie in her hands. She loves to read books and touch them. She loves to play and make music. She loves watching Baby Einstein and PBS Kids (she has been enjoying TV since she was only six weeks old). She loves exploring things in the house. She loves her doggies and every time she sees them she smiles and laughs. She loves to follow me around the house on her hands and knees and pull on my pant legs until I pick her up. She loves being outside and taking long walks. She loves to be in the pool or the ocean (we put her in the water for the first time right after her two month shots, which we knew that she'd love because she's never cried in the bathtub). Anna is just a very happy baby!

I am so lucky that I get to be at home with my daughter and enjoy every moment with her. Every time I look into her big blue eyes and hear her giggle, I thank God for this little blessing. Her smile melts my heart and the way that she loves to put her little head on my shoulder and cuddle warms my soul. Our little Anna is an angel and Jason and I love her so very much!