What a beautiful day we had here yesterday. It was mid 60's or so last evening when I arrived home from work. After Kris left to go to work, I loaded Annika into her stroller and we took a 30 minute walk. It was so nice! Annika loved it too. She didn't even need any toys to play with until we were almost home. She was content to just take in all that was going on. It's going to be beautiful today too, until this afternoon when the thunderstorms roll in. I told Kris he should take a walk with Annika before it rains.

Tonight, Auntie Krystle is coming over so she and I can do some scrapbooking. I'm working on a scrapbook of my pregnancy and another of Annika's infancy. I've only done two pages so far and they're okay, I guess. I'm so thankful I've kept this blog this whole time. I don't have to try and remember what happened at each stage because I have it all chronicled here!

Annika had a big week! It's as if she turned a cornerstone when she learned to crawl. This past week, along with crawling, she has learned how to stand up (pull herself up) from a sitting position, has started eating lots (2 baby food jars at time!) and has learned that her Exersaucer can bounce. She is a girl on the move, that is for sure. She has also started some stranger anxiety.

And she's definitely a momma's girl. When I come home from work at night, she wants me right away. If I got into another room to put something away, she cries. My wittle girl wuvs me. :) She's also a bit leary about other people now. She actually cried at Mary last Tuesday night but let Amanda come and pick her up. It must be that Mary has blonde hair and Amanda has brown hair like Mommy. She eventually warmed up to Mary and all was fine.

I uploaded 24 new pictures. They are in the Annika #3 album. And I uploaded her 6 month pictures taken at Sadies at the Mall of America on March 6th.

Annika had a fun Easter weekend, getting to see all the grandparents and most of the aunts and uncles. We miss you Aunt Carrie and Uncle Adam! Yesterday we went to Grandpa Dan's and Grandma Pat's houses. There was lots of cuddling, picture taking and spoiling. :) Today, we went to Great Grandparent Berg's house. Once again, there was lots of cuddling, picture taking and spoiling. That's pretty much how it is with the grandparents, isn't it?

Our house is animal free. Boo-hoo. Tigger went to live with Grandpa Dan yesterday. And Mara went to live with Grandma Lona and Grandpa Dale today. This is just temporary while our house in on the market. It sure does seem lonely though with just the three of us here. There is no dog following me from room to room. I miss them already! Our house goes on the market Friday. Anyone need a townhome in the north metro? :)

You know what's difficult? Taking pictures of a baby that moves. I got out the camera last night and Annika thought it was toy for her to play with. She started crawling towards me to get it. I kept backing up, she'd crawl, I'd back up, etc. until I was at the other end of the house from where I started! Silly girl.

Annika has added peas to her lists of foods. The first time I gave them to her (Tuesday), she did not like them. She had two spoons full and then cried and shook her head back and forth. OK, let's move on to peaches then. (Annika usually has one vegetable and one fruit at each meal.) She likes peaches. Yesterday, we tried peas again and she actually ate half the container! She then gobbled up a bunch of peaches too. Whew! Maybe she'll eat her veggies after all!

Annika crawled last night! She figured out that both hands move and she crawled! I was so excited that I cried. Yes, I'm a big baby. OK, I'll set the stage for you. Annika, Kris and I were in the bedroom cleaning up from painting it this weekend. Kris moved all the furniture back into place and were taking the tape down and generally picking up. Kris ran downstairs to do something and I sat on the bed to rest for a moment. Annika was sitting on the floor playing with toys but saw my foot hanging off the side of the bed. She, being the weird little girl that she is, really likes toes. So, she set off to come after my toes. She got up on her hands and knees, like she always does, except this time, she slowly moved both knees and then both hands and then got the hang of it and crawled a couple steps. I yelled for Kris to come back up, which, of course, broke Annika's concentration so she started playing with her toys again. When Kris came up, I told him what happened. He sat on the bed and Mara (the dog) sat by Kris. Well, Annika absolutely loves the dog, so she got back up on her hands and knees and crawled over to the dog! I was so excited that I picked her up and moved her back, just so I could see her do it again. That made her angry and after she fussed for a second, she got back down and crawled back over to the dog. Mean mommie that I am, then I called the dog over to me and made Annika crawl over to me and dog again. I finally stopped picking on her and just let her love on the dog.

She crawled!

OK, the screaming has subsided a bit. Annika has her first cold. Her runny nose and sinus congestion is making eating and sleeping not very pleasant. Fortunately, the Tylenol Cold for infants is helping.

Annika has a new car seat! Her Britax Marathon in the Colonial Blue pattern arrived via UPS on Wednesday. That was fast service considering I only ordered it online last Friday! And I got free shipping! I'm impressed. Now, I need to make an appointment to have it installed and inspected. Once that's done, it's good-bye to the infant carrier seat. This new car seat is one that stays in the vehicle. Annika will only be riding in the Blazer from now on.

Yesterday was Saint Patrick's Day (duh!). And since Annika and I are part Irish, Annike wore her St. Patty's Day pajamas (actually from Ireland, courtesy of Grandma Pat!) last night. Kris took pictures and I'll try to post those soon. Annika is just barely Irish (like 1/8th Irish). She's actually more German than anything but she is quite the mix. I'm 3/4 German, 3/16 Irish and 1/16 Dutch. Kris is 1/2 Norwegian and 1/2 Swedish with a little bit of English and Dutch(?) thrown in for good measure. Annika has most of Europe covered! :)

Annika could really care less to eat solids. She'd much prefer to just nurse or eat from a bottle. So far, she's tried green beans, peaches and sweet potatoes. Today, I brought out more green beans and some applesauce for her to try. So far, she hasn't been too impressed. She never really liked her cereal either. I hope she's not going to be a picky eater!

Edited because my math is bad. :)

There is screaming.

Either Annika is teething or she hates us.

The last two nights, Annika has slept for only an hour or two at a time and when she wakes up, she wakes up screaming. No, I'm not exaggerating. She screams. I don't know if it's because she's a little congested and can't breathe through her nose as well as she'd like or if her mouth is hurting her. I tried suctioning her out last night and of course, she screamed. Tonight, if there is screaming, I think I'll give her a shot of baby Tylenol. Yesterday, I was tired but functional. Today, I'm just tired. My eyes are even burning I'm so tired.

At least there has been no screaming by Kris and I, right? :)

We had our pre-construction meeting on the house last night. The builder is off getting permits now and they may break ground in as little as 3 weeks!

Monday already!?!

I think Annika might be working on some more teeth. She's been drooling a whole bunch again. And her cheeks are mighty rosy. And last week, Monday, she was up almost every hour trying to chew on my fingers. And she's been congested ever since she cut her first teeth but it's been worse the past week. The congestion as of late may be a cold and not related to teeth though. I've had a cold since Monday of last week but am on the upswing now. Last night Annika was up fairly often and when she would try to nurse, she would have a hard time because she couldn't breathe very well through her nose.

The green beans Annika had on Thursday weren't such a big hit. When I tried to give her some on Friday, she cried. That was the end of green beans, at least for now. Yesterday we tried peaches. Peaches, apparently, are okay. Annika's not excited by peaches, but she'll at least eat some. Annika doesn't seem too thrilled about any solid foods in general. She was never a big fan of cereal, hated green beans and is on the fence with peaches. At least she's still growing, but I wonder if this is a sign of things to come? Am I going to have the world's pickiest eater? I imagine dark days ahead if that's the case.

Annika received a gift on Saturday. Auntie Krystle came over to babysit during the day so Kris and I could work on the townhome. All the rooms/closets are cleaned out. Now, we're going to work on touching up some paint here and painting some rooms there. The house should be ready for the market by April 1st. Anyway, that evening, Granpda Dan, Marcia and Pierce came over and we played Domino's after Annika went to sleep. Grandpa Dan and Marcia brought Annika a new walker! Now Annika can travel around the main level getting in all sorts of trouble! She's going to love it, especially since our main level has all hard floors. She'll be able to run around with no problems. Also, we don't have stairs to worry about down there.

Tonight, we have our pre-construction meeting for the new house. Annika's going to cruise the mall with Grandma Pat while Kris and I are at the meeting. Should be fun for all! :)

The StarTribune newspaper ran a story today about baby blogs. (link here) I publish this blog so family and friends near and far can keep up with Annika. I also keep it as a record for me. I can go back to any month of her life and see what she was doing. If anyone else reads, cool. If not, whatever. I haven't read any of the blogs mentioned in the article except Heather at Dooce.com. I absolutely love her, she's hysterical. I've pointed Kris to her blog several times to read what she's wrote and he never has. Oh well. If anyone else wants to check her out, I recommend it! :)

Hold on tight! I have lots of news to report!

Why no update in a week? Because we were on a mini family vacation! We went up north to Brainerd for a long weekend with Kris's parents. We all had a great time. We didn't do much which was nice. We just relaxed. I think Annika was happy to be home though and back to familiar surroundings. Wednesday night when we went upstairs and started getting ready for bed, she realized we were back to our regular routine and she turned, grabbed my face and planted two big kisses (or at least kisses to Annika) right on my cheek. That baby girl is too funny!

Last Sunday, 3/6/05, we had professional portraits taken of Annika for the 1st time. It was, of course, in honor of her 6 month birthday. I'll upload those pictures in a week or so. And yes, it's legal to do as I have the copyright on all of them. The pictures turned out super cute. You're all going to love them!

Monday was Annika's 6 month birthday. I took more pictures with our digital camera. My baby is getting so big! 6 months old already! Happy birthday beautiful girl!

She had her 6 month well baby check up yesterday. Our baby girl is up to 17 pounds 10 ounces! And she's 28 1/8 inches long! She's huge! We most definitely have to buy a new car seat now. Her current car seat goes up to 22 pounds and 29 inches. We'll be maxing those inches before the weight, but safety is safety. I'll have to do some more research. I think I can order the one I want (the Britax Marathon) online cheaper than I can buy it in stores. No more infant bucket seat for Annika!

Annika is getting close to crawling. As it is, she can scoot wherever she wants to go. She has figured out that her knees and right hand can move. Her left hand is still planted firmly. It's kind of funny because then she kind of pivots on that left hand.

Last night, Annika had her first taste of something other than cereal. She had green beans. Annika is not a big fan of green beans, at least at first taste. She had green beans all over her face from spitting them out! Yes, I took pictures. :) We'll give her some more the next couple days before we start any other foods. I stocked up last night though. We have squash and sweet potatoes and applesauce and peas and lots and lots of other food choices for her. A whole new world is opening up for Annika.

I still have lots of pictures to upload. I'll try to do that tonight but don't know if I'll have time. There's just so much going on right now with getting our townhome ready to sell and construction of the new house. Fun times!

Kris took a hand and foot print of Annika today. It's for a wall-hanging in her room. We were supposed to do this when she was an infant but never got around to it. So, we did it today. Her hands and feet are still pretty small, you know. :)

Sunday, the day before Annika's 6 month birthday, I'm having professional portraits done of my little princess. I hope they turn out! I have a pretty purple dress for her to wear. However, Michelle, Robyn and I are going shopping Friday night so if I find something I like better, the purple dress is out! Annika will probably still wear that purple dress for Easter. I think it's adorable!

Robyn has an obsession with children's clothing and the buying of it. To help with her addiction, she's started buying clearance clothing or second hand clothing to sell on ebay at a bit of a profit. She's letting us, her friends, have first dibs though. I bought Annika (well, I will after I give Robyn the money tomorrow anyway) a brand new Ralph Lauren dress that was originally $55 (tags still on it) for $6.50! It's a cute sailor type dress. It's white with navy blue borders. Annika will look adorable in it.

I have a bunch of pictures on my camera. I intend to download those tonight or tomorrow night so I can upload some here. Be on the look out!

Michelle has password protected Brianna's site. She was uncomfortable not knowing who was all looking at it. I try to be careful with personal information on the web. I might look into what it would take to password protect this blog too though. If I do, you can e-mail me for a password.