New Pictures!

Beef. It's what's for dinner. Annie loves to chew on "bath cow," but gets very angry when he floats around and she can't pick him up. Thanks to Amanda and Jody for her favorite tub toy!
Anne's first try with the sippy cup AND the booster seat. No high chair in this house.
Annie samples a dill pickle slice. We never got a great picture of the face she kept making, but it was hilarious.
Shorts! It was finally warm enough yesterday for Annie to bare her legs. Even though the Wild are out of the playoffs, Anne is still loyal. Thanks to her uncle Ben for the great outfit.

6 Month Check-Up

Anne visited the good ol' doctor yesterday and was given a clean bill of health. She's growing just right and doing all of the things a baby her age should be doing. She babbles and sits, which are the big things for 6 months. This week she started with the "d-d-d-d" sound, which is pretty funny. She does it when she's mad and half-crying.

Anne now weighs 15 lbs, 10 oz and is 26 1/2 inches long. Not exactly doubling her birth weight, but she's been steady at 1 lb a month since birth. Besides, no 6 month-old baby needs to weigh 19 lbs (double her original weight of 9 and a half lbs). If she was that big she'd almost be out of her infant seat.

Opa discovered that Annie laughs when you pretend to sneeze. Sam can get her going pretty well--and she has an adorable little chuckle! I think it is amazing that babies have a sense of humor at all. Really, it means she knows that we are doing something out of the ordinary, which means she has the memory to know what "ordinary" is.

Up next for Anne: finger food! As soon as she figures out that pincer grasp, we will shower her with Cheerios, bits of cheese, banana bites, and those Gerber puffs that melt in your mouth (and are yummy for moms and dads, too). She is also practicing with her sippy cup and getting really good with her spoon. With the doctor's permission we are going to try some stage-2 food this week, as well as baby oatmeal. As you may recall, Anne cried at just the thought of rice cereal, so we'll see if oats go over better. New flavors await for baby!

Annie and Dad

Here's our little papoose on our hike a few weeks ago. She loved the backpack (though she's pretty amenable to anything we throw at her) I wore her up the bluff, and Sam wore her back down.

If you are lame like me...

You might want to try this game. You are the librarian, and you must lead the patrons to a computer terminal before they all descend on you at once. You must also pick up stray books. Don't worry, you can step out for a coffee break if the patrons get too close!

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/aboutus/game/

I'm currently terrible, but getting slightly better.

Best Dinner Ever!

I don't know if it was really the best dinner ever, but it was pretty dang good. Try it tonight!

You need:
jar of spaghetti sauce (we like Classico "Sweet Basil" variety--sweet and cheap)
bag of frozen ravioli (meat or cheese, we used meat)
10 oz. block of frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed out)
mozzarella cheese (8 oz bag) and parmesan cheese (half a cup)

Spoon a thin layer of sauce into 9x13 pan. Add a layer of frozen (not thawed) ravioli. Layer spinach on top of ravioli. Add half of mozzarella. Repeat with a layer of ravioli, then sauce, then mozzarella, and top it off with the parmesan. Bake covered at 375 for 25 minutes, then uncovered for 5-10 minutes more. This is the world's easiest lasagna and tastes amazing! Even Sam, lasagna conessieur that he is, gave it rave reviews. Leftovers heated up well, also.

Class of 2026

I don't know why, but I am fascinated with the names people give their children. I always like to know what combinations they've chosen and why. Family name? Positive association? So as we meet people with babies Annie's age, I try to file their names away in my head. Here's a list of who we know so far, either in real life or in the blog world. Middle names are included when known. There seems to be a trend toward more old-fashioned, classic names. There's not a Hailey or McKenzie in the bunch!

Girls:
Anna Ngoto
Anne Meredith
Anya Joy
Avy Kay
Carmen
Cecelia
Charlie (yes, a girl)
Elizabeth Katherine
Lillian Annmarie
Lillian Louise
Natalie
Sophia Elaine
Sophia Grace
Torrin

Boys:
Brendan Marcel
Calvin
Eric
Maximus Murphy
Seth Walker
Tate

It is also fun to know what babies would have been named had they been born the opposite gender. Annie would have been Benjamin Samuel, though we talked about Sean Avery for a while (Sam is the 4th generation with the initials SAW). What was your baby going to be?

Pictures

Anne multi-tasks by reading and jumping at the same time.

Oh, beloved oatmeal can!

Like my little Levis?

New Friend!

Be sure to check out Sarah and Pat's new baby girl Lillian at http://thethuentefamily.blogspot.com. Right after Annie was born I had a conversation with my grandma, whose name is Lillian, about how that name is coming back into style. Now we have Lillian Annmarie and a Lillian Louise at our church. Choosing a name for your child is a difficult thing. I know Sam is not looking forward to doing it for any future kids.

With our weird MN weather, we have had Annie out for a hike, using her swingset, and then back in the house for an April blizzard. We left school at noon on Monday and then didn't have school at all on Tuesday, so I got some extra time with her. She sits like a dream now; she can even bend over to pick up a toy, then sit back up to play with it. Amazing for someone who will be 6 months old tomorrow. Her favorite thing right now is an old oatmeal canister I dug out. I put a toy in it and shake it, then she grabs the canister. She mostly likes the lid--good for holding and chewing. We play a similar game in the tub with a big plastic cup and her floating turtles. This is the only thing those souveneir cups from baseball/hockey games are good for--bathtime fun! She's seeming less and less interested in her bottle these days and more and more excited about "chew food" and a spoon. Sam is anxious for her to get to the bigger size baby food, as it comes in more flavors and varieties. She is growing up so fast.

We have new pictures to post, but dead camera batteries, so they will have to come another time. We also have a super-cute picture of Sam wearing the baby backpack on our hike, but it is trapped on his cell phone. When we have an uninterupted half-hour (ha!) we will try and free it to share with you.

Enjoy your weekend of warm weather. Randy and Karen, if you lived in MN, you could be taking the girls to The Doodlebops live at the Xcel...too bad for you :(