Binkies

The hospital where Annika was born is a "baby friendly" hospital. One of the things that distinguishes a "baby friendly" hospital is the fact that they do not encourage the use of pacifiers. I spent the first night in the hospital nursing Annika every hour on the hour. (I did not have one of those docile little newborns that just sleeps and sleeps and sleeps...AJ came out ready to take on the world.) By the morning I was so tired I had Eric bring in a pacifier so that my body and I could get some rest. I remember the postpartum nurse coming in and seeing Annika with the pacifier in the morning and lecturing me about Annika's feeding cues and how babies shouldn't use pacifiers for at least the first 2 weeks because it just masks their hunger cues(By the way, our 8 month old weighs about 23 pounds so I'm pretty sure we didn't miss too many hunger cues). I tried to explain to her that Annika had been eating ALL NIGHT and she just looked at me with her judging eyes and said, "well that's what they do..." (mind you, she herself did not have any children) I just wanted to cry and Eric wanted to punch her.

Well we successfully got AJ hooked on the pacifier and 8 months later it still calms her down. I now only give it to her during naps and bedtime. She has 4 or 5 of them in bed with her and all I have to do is lean her over her bed and show her her "binkies" and she lunges for the bed and settles down to sleep. In the picture above she has a binkie in each hand and one in her mouth...hey whatever works!

Lately

Hey guys check me out! I'm finally crawling. I've been working on this for a LONG time and I finally took off last week. Mom is going to post a video soon so you can see me moving...watch out, I'm pretty fast! In fact I have finally proven to mom and dad that they do in fact need to do some baby proofing. I like to get into everything. They would appreciate any tips on how to keep me away from the things I'm not supposed to touch WITHOUT saying NO NO NO all day long:)
Don't even think about trying to take this spoon away from me! I need to learn how to use it don't I?
My daddy tries to keep me nice and clean when I eat; until now he has managed to train me to keep my hands away from the spoon, but I'm ready to get a little more involved in dinner time.
Daddy watched me for a couple of nights while my mama went up to Fresno for her friend Jill's bachelorette party. We had SOOO much fun together. Daddy let me sit in his big work chair and he took me to breakfast with my friend Harper and her daddy and for a walk in Balboa Park...it was great. I'm pretty sure mama was more sad than I was to leave me for a couple of days, but when she came back she said she had a blast. I know I'm a lucky girl to have such a great daddy.
During the week I help mama with her chores around the house. We do laundry together and clean and cook...I'll be such a good little helper someday!
Every day mama and I play the piano together for a while. I love it! I also love to sing when we're driving in the car. I especially love Jason Mraz' music...I always get happy when I hear it.

One more thing...its my Nana's (mom's mom) birthday today. Happy birthday Nana. We love you!

Thats it for now guys...

Miss Personality

This is just a little glimpse of the many laughs our little Annika brings to our world every day. I decided to grind up some of the chicken we were eating for dinner and give it Annika. This was the second time she tasted it...the first reaction was just as strong, and yet she came back for more...

Our little girl can be a bit dramatic sometimes...she must get it from her daddy...

p.s. I did taste the chicken and it was quite unsavory to put it lightly...sorry baby!

Eric was in charge of Annika one day while I got my ACLS certification. I told him not to put her down until 9 am so that he'd get a good 2 hour morning nap out of her, so he was trying to stretch her in her jumper...she just couldn't wait for her bed and fell right asleep.

Annika L.O.V.E.S. her "rainforest jumparoo," I highly recommend it...we've used it since she was just over 2 months old and it still buys eric and me some good hands free time every day. We put her in the jumper and she tires herself right out.

friends

These are our friends April and Kiyo Brown. Eric and April work out with us at the Crossfit gym we attend and Kiyo comes with them every day. Annika gets so excited when she sees Kiyo...those two are little buddies. It works really well for us parents too as they keep each other quite entertained! By the way, if you are looking for an excellent and fun workout check out crossfit.com and find a gym near you...its awesome. If you live in San Diego check out crossfitflood.com...

more summer fun

Look at the cute new swimsuit I got from Grandmama Jung. Its hot hot hot down here so we've been spending lots of time at the beach or in the pool. I still love the water and laugh when the waves come up to get me!