Toothers.

Our cutie's first tooth popped out; the bottom front. The other bottom one plus the two top are ready to burst on the scene shortly. Another milestone for our Annalee! She's finally getting into eating baby food now, at least figured out how to get her mouth to do what it needs to get the food past her tongue. I hope to make her some homemade baby food once we get into our house. For now, she's stuck with Gerber. She has gotten into mum-mums lately, too. She has about half-formula these days and seems to take it with the same urgency as breastmilk. If she is hungry you will hear her exclaim loudly until the second that bottle hits her mouth. AAAAAGGGGGHHHH umph nom nom nom. Almost like she is saying "Give me this bottle right this instant!!!! I don't want to wait!!!! Ok!" Annalee also still takes a pacifier but not as often and with not as much vigor.

This girl is also moving so fast. You blink and she's across the room. She's a determined kid. She is really into toys and will work hard to get one. I can't believe how quickly she figured out the crawling thing. Especially since she's so short. She can roll over to her tummy from either side, which she usually will do after being put down. She goes right to tummy-crawling mode and has insanely strong abs. I swear she planks like an aerobics instructor. She sleeps on her stomach as well... rarely do we find her on her back. Annalee can sit up by herself too, at least for a few minutes before tumbling over. And I've also seen her pull up onto the toy box.

I got her to giggle this last week so loudly that it made my mama-heart soar. Those moments have been a little less with Annalee so I treasure them even more. I had her in the Ergo carrier and was bouncing while walking and she thought it was a hoot. If I had to guess, her brother is going to be the one to make her laugh because now he really makes her smile. She lights up when she sees him (and her daddy and grandpa and sometimes now grandma too). This girl is delightful when she smiles at you. She wants to really be IN the know about what's going on, watching the movement and action. She seems to be quite social.

Other Annalee-isms: She's still not a stellar sleeper. She sucks on her lip or her tongue often. And it's normal to see her little tongue out and to the side. Like a puppy out the window. But a cute puppy.

I just compared my daughter to a dog. I better stop before she reads this in fifteen years and gets mad.

-Heather

From our trip to SC... wearing a sweet flower headband my friend Cindy made (you can order them from her, let me know) and Maelee's outfit (we got from Greg's co-worker) that we had displayed on her dresser for a long time. Such redemption for me to put my child in it.