Annika's latest trick? Getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. Yep - you read that right. She usually only does this when she gets mad though. It's a mini-tantrum for her. She'll be laying on her stomach, playing with toys and if they all get out of her reach, then she bucks and kicks and ends up on her hands and knees. I think she's starting to learn that she can just do it though without the getting mad part. Kris and I are in trouble very shortly if she's going to start that mobile thing soon. We need to invest in gates, I think.

She can also scoot backwards a bit too. She does that by getting up on her hands and tip-toes (think push-ups) and then pushing herself backwards and flopping on her tummy. She did this Wednesday night when she was mad that all her toys were out of her reach and she ended up even farther away from them! I was sitting right there next to her and kept saying, "Annika, where are you going? Come back over here! Come here!" Of course, she had no idea what I was saying, but the dog thought I was calling her and kept coming over. Silly puppy.

My poor baby is definitely teething now. She's had the rosy cheeks and a significant drooling problem for at least a month. Now, when she grabs your fingers and shoves them into her mouth, it's to run them across her bottom gums. She doesn't seem to be in pain yet and although her gums are hard, there are no white spots. It may be a little while yet before one pokes through, but they are definitely on their way.

Not a lot happened last week. It was just a normal week of me working days and Kris working nights. Except for Friday night I guess. We had a snow storm on Friday resulting in about 5-7 inches of snow. And, of course, it all came down during Friday afternoon and into the evening. Afternoon rush hour was horrible. It took me an hour to drive my 15 mile commute. I even took the back roads which are usually faster than the interstates. Kris didn't go into work that evening. He already had his 20 hours in and it just didn't make sense to probably spend as much time on the roads as he would have at work. It was really nice having him home with us. And the snow was so beautiful coming down.

By Saturday morning though, the streets were pretty clear. I had a Pampered Chef party that afternoon at Krystle's house. Annika came with me because Auntie Krystle had made a special Annika visit request. :) The show went really well. Annika was a little fussy - but then she usually is in the evenings when she gets tired. Some cuddling with Mommy and she was just fine. Yesterday we traveled to southern Minnesota to visit Kris's grandparents. They hadn't seen Annika since her baptism in October. Our schedule conflicted with theirs at Christmas so we made a special trip down to see them. It was a nice afternoon. Annika got lots of cuddling in with her grandma's and aunts. Both her and I slept most of the way home so she went to bed a little later last night (8pm instead of 7pm) but it didn't seem to affect her sleeping last night so all's well.

You know what the greatest thing in the world is? When Annika's playing with her toys and I say Annika! and she looks at me and gives me a great big grin. My baby wuvs me! :)

3 things:

1 - I uploaded 20 pictures last night. They're really cute!

2 - Annika is starting to sit up on her own! She still needs someone right there so when she topples over, she doesn't get hurt. And she still leans pretty far forward in order to get her balance. But she can sit and play with toys in front of her all on her own! My big girl!! There's a couple pictures of her playing with her Leapfrog Learning Table. She loves that thing. She still just basically hits it indiscriminately. But she loves it when it makes noise. I laid her down on the floor by it the other day so I could change her clothes and when I picked her up to do something else, she cried! So I put her back down and sure enough, she wanted to play with it some more. Silly girl!

3 - Annika had her first taste of cereal last night! At her pediatrician appointment last Monday, the doctor said we could start solids any time. Annika has good head control, can sit up almost unassisted, watches us eat and tries to grab our food if she can - all signs that she's ready for solid foods. The face she made last night was priceless! She definitely did not like this new experience. I don't know if it was the rice cereal or the spoon but she wasn't too impressed. She didn't cry or anything, she just made the goofiest faces! You can see them a little bit in the pictures I posted. We'll keep trying a little bit each day (breakfast with Kris and dinner with me) and hopefully she'll get the hang of the spoon and swallowing and stuff. Right now the cereal is so soupy, of course, that she just needs to get the hang of the spoon. Then we can start thickening it up a little bit at a time.

Lots of news to share!!

First, Annika had her 4 month well baby check up yesterday. She weighed in at a whopping 15 pounds, 7 ounces. I had to actually check the scale myself because I couldn't believe it. Wow - she's big! She's also 25 1/2 inches tall. That puts her in about the 70% category for both. She had her 5 vaccinations (in 3 shots). She was most unhappy about that. She didn't seem to be affected by the shots last evening though. There was no tenderness in her legs, she wasn't running a fever and she laughed and played like normal. However, whenever I laid her down to change her diaper or clothes, she would start to fuss and cry. She had to lay down (with me holding her there - yuck!) while she was getting her shots. Hopefully she'll forget that today. My poor baby. The doctor kept saying how advanced Annika was. Ah, words every mother loves to hear! She was impressed that Annika can roll both ways (front to back and back to front). She said a lot of babies these days can't roll from tummy to back at 4 months because they're always laid on their backs to sleep now. She was also impressed with Annika's head and body control and by how alert she was. She gave us the okay to start cereal when we're ready and gave us a pamphlet on foods, how to start them and when. She also gave us more information on sleeping.

More milestones! Last night, when putting Annika to bed, her pacifier fell out of her mouth as it usually does when she's falling asleep. Usually, when she fusses for it, I just put it back in her mouth. Last night, I put it in her hand instead. She immediately put it back in her mouth herself! Yay baby girl! Maybe now she can learn to find it herself too and put it back in. That would be key in her staying in her crib all night and learning to put herself back to sleep without me there helping her.

Also, Annika fell asleep in her crib for the first time last night. Usually she sleeps with me so of course she falls asleep with me next to her. Or, if I'm putting her in her crib, she would fall asleep while I was nursing or rocking her. Last night, I nursed her, rocked her a little bit and then when she was drowsy, put her in her crib. Of course, her eyes poppoed wide open then, but she settled back down and fell asleep. Yeah, she had a hold of my hand and wouldn't let go but she did fall asleep in her crib. She didn't stay asleep for long (1o minutes maybe) but then I soothed her and she fell asleep again in her crib. I didn't want to leave the room until she was good and out so I sat down in the rocking chair in her room and promptly fell asleep myself. An hour later, when she woke up, I did too and we both ended up going to bed together. Maybe this weekend (like Friday night) I can get her to sleep in her crib the whole night, even if that means repeatedly going to her room (every hour if needed) to soothe her back to sleep, teach her to soothe herself, and give up my sleep in the process. Since I don't have to get up early for anything Saturday and Sunday, I think those nights will be the best time to start this process. Monday, Tuesday and maybe all of next week, I might be a walking zombie but I do have to teach her to sleep in her crib and to soothe herself. The doctor said now is the perfect time to do it. That before 6 months of age is the perfect time to teach good sleeping habits. So, teach and not sleep, I will! :)

We had a great family weekend. Saturday morning started a bit early when I had to take Krystle and Pierce to the airport. That wasn't so bad though since I was able to come back home and snuggle some more in bed with both my sweeties. Then we got up, ate breakfast and played together. I had to run a couple errands and left when Annika went down for her morning nap. When I got back home though, I found her and Kris snuggled in bed together, sleeping again! So, I joined them and we slept until noon! (I left the house at 9:45 or so.) Then we got up again and while Kris made lunch, Annika and I played and did some chores. At 2pm, a lady from the church and the Elizabeth circle, came over with cookies to welcome Annika into the church. What a nice thing to do! After she left, so did we, as we had some shopping we needed to do. When we got home, we started making dinner together while Annika played in her kick 'n play. What a great time she was having when she figured out how to scoot down in it so she could kick the toys and play with them with her hands. I have pictures I'll post of this soon. What a fabulous dinner we had. We had Alaskan King crab legs with garlic mashed potaties, green beans, biscuits and champagne! Kris had bought a bottle of champagne for New Year's Eve 2003 and then we found out we were pregnant so, of course, it was never used! I had one glass and Kris drank the rest on Saturday night! Ooh, was that good! :) Sunday morning, after sleeping in (ahh, heaven!), we went to church, where they were having a baptismal event. Every baby that was baptized last year was invited to the front and given a memorial medallion. Then they were welcomed to the church again and applauded. After church, we met Dale and Lona (Grandpa and Grandma) for some lunch and shopping. It was a nice, albeit short, visit. Then we headed to Dean's house (Amanda's boyfriend) for the Vikings-Packers game. We had a great time and it was fun to see our Vikings pound Amanda's Packers. :) Then we went home, put the girl to bed and now it's Monday morning already! Weekends go way too fast.

I'll post again tomorrow morning with her 4 month well baby checkup information. I'm sure tonight will be busy taking care of the girl. Hopefully her shots wont' give her too bad of a time.

Happy 4 month birthday Annika May!!! I'm so proud of you, my little one.

Annika has her 4 month well baby check up with the doctor on Monday afternoon. She'll have to get 3 more shots of immunizations. I can't wait to see how much she's grown "officially."

Last night, I set Annika on our dog, Mara's back so she could ride Mara like a horse. The dog, of course, didn't know what the heck was going on and tried to walk away. After getting the dog to stay still, I held Annika on there for a while. Every time I'd put her on Mara, she's laugh and smile a whole bunch. She loved it! It was so fun and I was yelling for Kris to listen. He could hear her from another room. Oh my God, it was so cute!

Happy New Year everyone!

I added 10 new pictures. As per usual, click the bunny above to see them.

Kris and I have been attempting to put Annika to sleep in her crib at night instead of with us. I would love her to sleep cuddled up to me forever, but Kris says that's not reasonable. Whatever! :) Anyway, I say attempting because she usually doesn't sleep there long. The last two nights it was an hour each time before she woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep there. Tonight, it was a no go after 40 minutes of trying. She slept for almost 2 hours in my arms downstairs as I was finishing a book about (oh, the irony) sleep and when I went to put her down, she wouldn't stay in her crib. I don't blame her. Hmm, Mommy's arms or this hard crib mattress. But now that I've finished the book, I'll start introducing some of the ideas in it. I've introduced a "lovey" - a toy that she gets only when it sleepy time. And we're starting a bedtime routine. And we're going to make bedtime a set time (or about a set time - we have to be a little flexible) so that each day she knows when these certain things happen at this certain time, it's time to sleep. She seems to be a baby that needs to go to bed early, like around 7pm, so that's when we're going to have to be home from now on so she can get to bed. Hopefully a few weeks (or a month or two) of this and we won't have to be so rigid about bedtime at this certain hour. We're also going to have Annika "play" in her crib. Basically, put her in there a couple times a day with toys while we're also in the room doing other things (like laundry, etc.) so that her crib is not associated with "bad things" like being away from mommy and daddy. The theory behind this is that if she wakes in the middle of the night, she won't necessarily need mommy or daddy because her crib is not a "bad" place and she can go back to sleep. The other thing I'm going to do is introduce some sound as sleep cues. I'm going to find a relaxing CD to play during our bedtime ritual so that she can relax and fall asleep to it. Then, you gradually lower the volume over time until it eventually is completely off and the baby doesn't need it to fall asleep. I think these are all great ideas. I don't expect Annika to sleep through the night until she's ready. And if she truly hates sleeping in her crib, then she can sleep with us longer. But I like these gentle ways to help her sleep through the night and to sleep in her crib. I do not believe in the cry-it-out method and Kris and I will not be trying that. Over 50% of toddlers don't sleep through the night so why should my (almost) 4 month old. By the way, I got all these ideas from Elizabeth Pantley's "the no-cry sleep solution" which was recommended to me by a whole bunch of different people.