Anne Young Nodianos: some cute little updates

Every morning when I wake up Anne looks like she got bigger! She is doing so much more these days! She is awake and playful longer and has been napping for longer periods of time, as well. Her schedule had been: nap 30 minutes, awake 1 hour, nap 30 minutes, awake 1 hour, etc....now it's more like: nap 45-60 minutes, awake for a couple hours. She is enjoying her individual playtime so I can still get things done when she is awake! Nightime sleep has been getting much better! We transitioned her back into the pack and play next to our bed, sleeping on her sleep wedge. The first few nights was rough...up every 2-3 hours, but now....we are at 5-6 hour stretches! I've also been putting her there for nap time and taking the monitor with me so I can watch her. I've been getting more comfortable with walking away from her when she is sleeping.

My parents came over to visit on Tuesday. They came over to give me a break.....

It looks like they took a break themselves!!! I went up to take a shower and when I came back downstairs...I found the three of them passed out like this! I took these pictures and they didn't even wake up!

So...we discovered that Anne doesn't like one of my favorite foods! ...MI YUK GOOK. It's soooo good. But...after a day of intense SCREAMING, and some nasty diapers, I had to give up breast feeding for almost 2 days. All I could do was pump and dump...and then thaw frozen milk from the fridge. She is much better now...but she was rather unhappy a couple days ago! YIKES! What kind of 1/4 Korean baby doesn't like this AWESOME soup? :( oh well...

So...I got some new toys for her! She has been so active and needs a lot of diversity during play time...so we got bunches of cool things!
3 way activity mat: can use it on her back, tummy, and as a crawl tunnel!
Activity bar that attaches to her car seat, and any seat she is in!

And a bunch of light up toys and books!

We have discovered that she loves loves LOVES this random slideshow we have on our laptop as a screen saver. It's all her pictures from the PORTRAIT INNOVATIONS appointment. She will just stare at it for a long time! It's one of our "go to" strategies when she is really upset. The other thing she has come to love (and we love it too) is this GloWork that Teri got for her. As soon as we turn it on, she calms down and falls asleep! It's, as my mom puts it, "Magic".

I think she is days away from sitting up on her own. When we put her in our laps in a sitting position, she can hold herself there. When we recline her, in that same position, she can sit up. In the Ship's bouncer, she can sit up from that recline position! When I prop her up on pillows on the bed, she can hold herself in the sitting position! We've also found that sitting calms her down. She is sooo curious...and sometimes when she gets upset, all she wants is to sit and watch what's going on! And of course, she has been using her Bumbo! She also can hold her head and chest up very well. She loves "flying" on daddy!

She found her feet! During one of her sitting sessions, she spotted them and grabbed them. Now, whenever she sits up, she bends completely over and just stares at them! Sometimes she grabs them. It's sooo cute! She is also days away from rolling from her back to tummy...in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she does it today! She is soooo close! She is so determined! She has also started "pre crawling". When she is on her tummy, she can pull herself forward (a little) with her arms. She has discovered that her knees and legs are also helpful in this endeavor, so she's been trying to get them involved! I think she is going to be crawling soon!!!! Click HERE to see videos!

Anne gave daddy a special gift! :) ...it's only fair after he gave her a new nickname....Al Bundy (from Married with Children). She keeps sticking her hand in her diaper during changes! :)