Christmas Highlights

While the photo of Anna trying to see over her cheeks to examine her shoes was cute, it didn't make the final Christmas photo cut. After taking about 117 pictures, this is the one we sent out in most people's Christmas cards.
Though Anna was in the dark about most Christmas specifics this year, she still managed to get herself completely wired on holiday energy. Between the excitment at Granddad & Mom-Mom Kulp's on Christmas Eve and the sea of presents at Grandpop & Grandmom Heebner's on Christmas morning, Anna knew something was up. We also managed to make it to Aunt Ellen & Uncle Richard's house on Christmas Day where 31 extended family members gathered for dinner.

Anna was in all her glory with the huge crowd. She is definitely her father's daughter when it comes to socializing and otherwise putting on a big show. Despite extensive efforts by four family members, there was no afternoon nap to be had. We thought she'd be toast by the time we got back to the Heebner's at the end of the night, but she was still all geared up and happily floated around the extended Heebner/Turner crowd for another hour. Amazingly, she managed to calm herself down enough to go to sleep at 8:30.

One huge Christmas highlight for Anna was Ben's dog Scooter. Anna's head would whip around every time Scooter went by, so we decided to finally let her snuggle up with the dog. (For the record, Anna's fascination with Scooter does not bring me any closer to granting Josh's request for a dog!)

"Seriously mom, shoes? I can't even walk."

Cheerios Are Exciting

Anna always strikes this pose as we're trying to slip her into her highchair, like, "Hey, feed me, don't feed me, whatever." But as the following video reveals, she's actually pretty excited about eating... especially her new found love -- Cheerios.

It's Beginning To Look A Little Like Christmas

With only 12 days left until Christmas, Josh and I finally got our butts in gear and put up some Christmas decorations. A big thanks to Nan and Danny who sent us a wreath for our front door! Unfortunately, it feels like the outside is still lacking something... like maybe a new paint job. Seriously, who paints siding and shutters gray? Talk about bleak. Historically, Heebners have been known for 1) being adamantly opposed to fake Christmas trees and 2) vastly overestimating the height of their ceilings. You can imagine my shock when Josh suggested we get a fake tree this year. We didn't depart from tradition entirely, however, making sure that the tree we bought was entirely too tall for the room. Yes, despite measurements being printed right on the box, we still managed to get it wrong. Josh was "absolutely certain" that our living room could house a 9 ft tree. Turns out, we have a regular 8 foot ceiling in the living room. Thanks to Josh's fun factory of tools, that was "no problem." He just went and sawed a foot off the bottom. Well, that solved one issue and left us with two new problems 1) the presents have to go around the tree as opposed to under the tree because the lowest branches brush the floor, and 2) without that extra foot of support on the bottom, the tree lists dangerously to one side, as pictured. Sigh.

SNEAKS for CHEEKS

Given the cold weather, it didn't seem right to keep carrying Anna around in just her socks, so we bought the kiddo her first pair of New Balance sneakers. Turns out they're as much toy as they are functional accessory in her world.

Anna's Week End Highlights

This week, Anna started making a cute clicking noise with her tongue. (Possibly one that only a mother thinks is blog-worthy?) Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to edit video clips, so you'll have to wade through a full minute and a half of video in order to get the show!

Anna got to spend some time with her buddy Talia this week. Lori & I think there's definite friendship potential here... as opposed to one of those awkward situations where the moms are friends and they force they're children to be friends too! If Talia looks worried in this picture, it's probably with good reason. Lori was worried about Talia hurting Anna, but as it turns out, it's my child who has NO IDEA what you mean when you tell her to be gentle!

...and speaking of friends, this is long overdue, but I'm finally getting around to posting a photo of Anna with her other buddies, Nicholas and Matthew who she got to hang out with way back in October. Just two more men in the giant pool of friends' baby boys that I'll allow her to chose from when the time comes!!

Anna's New Best Friend

Thanksgiving in Rhode Island

This year we experimented with having both of our families up for Thanksgiving and merging two well established dinner menus. Thanks to massive help from the more experienced folk, dinner turned out great.

On Friday we drove up to Boston for the day and went to Fenway Park, wandered around Quincy Market & Boston Common, and, of course, had to take a picture in front of the Cheers sign.

Anna didn't get to indulge in turkey, cranberries, and stuffing like everyone else, but she seemed perfectly happy with her mashed peas... and a couple tiny tastes of mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.
She also faired pretty well in Boston despite some nippy weather. Thank goodness for that ridiculous hat!

From Bad To Worse

I'm pretty sure this has been the worst week ever for team Anna & Laura. The badness began brewing on Tuesday when Anna started to sound a little congested. I hoped that maybe it was allergies. After all, I had just cleaned my house for the first time since renovations on the front room commenced some six weeks ago. Perhaps I stirred up a little too much dust? Of course not. By Wednesday it was confirmed -- Anna had her first cold. It just so happens that was the same day I was scheduled to have the dermatologist slice & dice a couple spots on my body thanks to too many summers in the sun. That my mom had come to help out for a couple days was great, but by Thursday at 3 p.m. she was long gone and I was left to juggle a very unhappy baby around two equally unhappy (and inconveniently placed) incisions. I made it 24 hours post-mom-departure without incident, but Friday afternoon, I slapped the icing on Anna's miserable cake. While I was balancing the crying blob of snot on my non-dominant hip (other hip victim of slice & dice) and stirring the contents of the crock pot, Anna lurched forward and touched the ceramic rim, which, of course, was scalding hot. Thinking she had only touched it for a second, I figured she was crying scared tears, not pain tears, so I calmed her down and never even looked at the finger. (How stupid can I get?) It wasn't until the next morning -- after the burn had blistered, burst, and apparently been sucked on all night -- that I finally saw it. As though the situation couldn't get any worse, shortly after bandaging Anna's impossible little index finger, I looked in the mirror for the first time in two days and saw that I clearly had pink eye. Wonderful. So I spent a lovely part of my wild Saturday night hanging out at CVS with a bunch of hacking freaks from shady East Providence, waiting for my eye drops and Anna's over-priced antibiotic cream. When I got home, Josh and I had big fun (read: no fun) pinning Anna down so we could wrap up her entire hand as instructed by the pediatrician. Lucky us, this full hand wrap incapacitated the magic "put myself back to sleep" thumb (left thumb only, right thumb just won't do) resulting in three nighttime wakings. Will we wrap the hand again tonight? I think not. Sleep is probably in everyone's best interest at this point since Josh has to leave for yet another business trip on Monday and I'll be on my own with Anna for the entire week. Here's to hoping the bad run is over so I can survive!

So Much More Fun Than Sunday Football

SITTING UP! She's still a little wobbly, but she has the basic idea!

Dressed up for church... the black Mary Jane shoes got lost somewhere along the way.

Fulfilling the "Cute Fall Baby Photos" Quota

While we were in Philly this weekend for (Great) Grandmom & Granddad Kulp's birthday party we found some time to get over to Merrymead farm with Grandmom & Grandpop Heebner. I couldn't resist dressing Anna in her pumpkin outfit. Dad wasn't too happy with this gratuitous display of cuteness, but I think everyone else enjoyed our chubby little girl in her costume... plus, it kept her nice and warm! Yes, it's FINALLY cold in the Northeast!

I'll Have What He's Having

...another alternative hat by Josh

Day of Rest

Every Sunday, Anna ditches her morning nap in favor of partying in the church nursery with her buddies Lloyd, Jeffery (a.k.a. The Hulk), Tyler, and "the other Anna". She then promptly passes out in the car on the way home.

Upset Tummy

Last night poor Anna had an upset stomach. I found her asleep in her crib, covered in green bean and carrot vomit (extra gross). At first I thought she had choked (Josh will attest to my scream) but she opened her eyes a moment later and smiled up at me like, "What's your problem!?" This, despite having puke all over her face, in her ears, up the back of her head... basically in every conceivable crack and crevice. The only solution was a late night bath administered by good old Dad. Anna loved every second of it. Of course, she earned it. Poor little girl.

Anna The World Traveler

This week Anna & I traveled to VA to see Nan, Danny, and Gabriel. Anna now has ten states under her belt! She was a hit with the other passengers on the plane... everybody likes a chubby baby that doesn't cry much! So, we're thinking Anna & Gabriel (8 months) make a pretty cute couple! Of course, among the Grove City roommates, there are five boys now, so he's really gonna have to work his stuff if he plans on beating out Jack, Alex, Grant, and Grady!

Just Another Weekend...

I'm not really sure where Josh gets these ideas. Yes, those are paper towels on her head.

Photo1: Apparently, someone still thinks Tom Cruise is hot...

Photo 2: Anna & Emma finally meet!

Anna Likes Her New Rug!!

Caveman TV

Last night Jake stopped by on his way to Maine to meet back up with some of the people he met while hiking 1801 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Since Jake was in town, we celebrated Josh's birthday a couple days early in front of the caveman TV (the new outdoor fireplace I got him). It was just like old times in Lansdale. Anna gave Jake a really warm welcome... so to speak.

Some Guy Called My Kid Husky...

The guy who came to deliver our firewood last week called Anna husky. I prefer to think of her as healthy. Josh, however, insists on referring to her as "corn fed".

Miss Independent

Anna had her 4 month appointment yesterday and got a nasty round of shots again. Watching her face crumple into tears and then degrade into all out hysteria was horrible! Otherwise, the appointment was great. Anna weighs 14 lbs, 4 ounces and is 25.5 inches long now. We were thinking of delaying solids for a while, but the doctor seemed to think she was ready so we tried out rice cereal this afternoon. As messy as the first attempt was, Anna seemed thrilled with the new entertainment. She's definitely our kid. She ate like a champ (dad's appetite) and insisted on trying to control the spoon herself (that's mom all the way).

Ask and You Shall Receive

One of our biggest concerns when we relocated to RI was finding new friends! How amazing is it that there are EIGHT other couples our age at the church we found? What a gift! We had everyone over on Sunday to watch football and enjoy the mild fall weather. Trying to get all the kids together on the couch for a photo was challenging to say the least. Anna's buddy there is "the other Anna". They were born 1 week apart... talk about causing confusion in the nursery.

Work Day

This may seems like a strange thing to blog about (and certainly it's not as cute as blogs about Anna) but we're really excited about these new glass doors we put on the fireplace! Anna took FOUR naps yesterday, so we were able to get all kinds of "winter prep" projects done. We ended the day with a glass of wine, a pizza from Via Via (our new Providence favorite), and the right to fall asleep on the couch at 8:30 p.m.

Wiggle Worm

Anna's finally starting to wiggle forward on her belly a little bit. Her dog (named Roy or Lloyd depending on who you ask) is the best crawl motivator we've found.