Ansley's Anslers

{nearing 19 weeks}

1 toy rocking horse, a pint-sized barstool, 1 jumper (well.. more like a "twister" at this point), several trips to target and countless cute outfits later: christmas = done. whew. 

since everyone kept telling us this was the year to save money, we more or less let you sleep through the festivities. sorry about that, but i promise to make it up to you in christmases to come which i'm sure will find you spoiled out of your mind and high on candy canes and cocoa (that or eating wrapping paper and playing with boxes).

most of your items probably won't be used until you're a tad older anyway (see above list), so as aunt heidi says "you'll be alright."

now, for the all about ansley section:

1. you have fans. i get requests on a regular basis for more pics of you (and not just from the grandparents). i don't know what i was thinking trying to keep up "the daily ansley." it has now turned into "the occasional ansley" and i fear the masses may riot if i don't give them more you with a quickness.

2. you are one flexible little noodle. it's not really a surprise when you grab your feet these days, but last week daddy caught you putting one in your mouth. that can't be sanitary but we'll allow it. and if we sit you up, you slump over almost in half like a little gorilla. it's quite cute. 

3. you still like to stand. unless you're sleeping or eating, it's your preferred position. i think you enjoy being up at our level, but it makes for a very tired mommy. if i even attempt to put you on your stomach, you "fake cry" (then real cry) or push up and roll right over onto your back (it's your newest trick ;)  which i'm sure you think is pretty clever. at this rate, you may just bypass the crawling thing altogether and go right to standing. yikes. if standing is not an option, you demand that we walk you around in an outward-facing fashion. it's kind of like you're riding around in the crook of our arms. you even cross your feet (and thus wiggle off any of those pesky sock-things we keep trying to apply). 

4. you put everything in your mouth. apparently this is absolutely normal for a child your age, but it's still funny. if we lay you down on your back and hover over you, your current instinct is to grab for the face and try to fit it in your little mouth (which you open as wide as possible in a birdlike manner). there is lots of drool involved, but i consider it a baby kiss and therefore love every minute of it.

(daddy demonstrating the "baby kiss")

5. you've thrown your first tantrum. whether it was teething or sleepiness or just not feeling like yourself, i don't know, but right before your 4-month checkup you started refusing to eat (or stopping in the middle of eating) and screaming loudly and angrily like a wounded dinosaur. it sounded painful (to both of us), so we as new parents obviously freaked out and rushed you to the doctor - who basically told us that you seemed fine and if you got hungry enough, you'd eat. 

...he was right... 

6. you're starting to show preferential treatment to mommy and daddy. though i secretly feel honored, i also don't want you to ignore others and am poised to discourage this behavior should it get out of hand. there are too many people who love you for us to keep you all to ourselves all the time.

7. my darling, i fear we may eventually need a paci (nuk, bink, pipe, dummy) intervention. when you are upset, it is about the only thing that calms you. so of course we have a plethora of them in a wide selection of brands and colors. we are trying to teach you to manually reinsert them yourself. i'll let you know how it goes. it is helpful to attach them to a leash, since you take pleasure in spitting one out and then whining about its disappearance. 

8. your current favorite toys are soft things with texture - one in particular that i have dubbed porcupuppy, since it looks kind of like a gummy cross between the two species. daddy asked its name the other day and since porcupuppy was all i could come up with, has taken to calling it "pp" for short. he finds this most amusing and enjoys referring to you "playing with your pp." unfortunately, after mommy sterilized porcupuppy aka pp, his spikes seems irreversibly sad and damaged. but no worries - mimi and your hero daddy won you a replacement in the movie theater claw game!  except that this one doesn't have a face, so it just looks like a hairy blue ball. 

oh crap...

9. you coo and babble like its your job. sometimes you emit strange gurgling noises. and sometimes i swear you've formulated a word (like "hi!" or "hannah"). i'm pretty sure your first phrase will be "HANNAH NO!" or "no, ma'am." the most recent casualty at her paws was one of your favorite pacis. 

10. you love hannah. she fascinates you, and you live for the rare moments when we actually let her come up and lick your hands (after which we promptly sanitize them). i think the feeling is mutual. bo, on the other hand, treats you like you have baby-cooties and will not linger within 3 feet of you for more than 30 seconds at a time. if we set you down next to him when he's lounging, he promptly (or as promptly as an old arthritic man can muster) gathers himself up, does a 180 and saunters off. jerk. (don't worry i'm sure he'll realize he loves you soon enough).

11. you are becoming my mini-me... in an i'm-so-picky-i-only-drink-my-milk-at-a-certain-temperature way. dangit. 

you prefer your milk warm, and goodness help us minions if it's not prepared to your liking. heads will roll (or eardrums burst). and of course you sleep best when swaddled (i'm sure because it's most like being cradled in our loving arms. how annoyingly sweet). but seriously, you conk right out as soon as we wrap you up and put in the plug. daddy likes to tell you "you will go to sleep, or i will put you to sleep (a la ben stiller in happy gilmore)" and then do so.

Pig & Berries

{almost 16 weeks}

it's been raining and nasty quite a bit in recent days, but this past saturday we ventured out to get the vaccine for the dreaded H1N1 virus (aka swine flu). mommy's boss forwarded us the top secret announcement that the guilford county department of public health was holding a free clinic on saturday morning, so we packed you up as proof that we were in one of the "risk groups" and headed to the high point location. things went surprisingly smoothly and the people there were very pleasant - even when daddy (much to mommy's disbelief) responded to their questioning at the entrance with "oh we're here for the safe surrender." he was joking, of course, but for a split second you should have seen the horrified looks on everyone's faces. i know. let's hope you get mommy's sense of humor... but after the initial shock, we all had a good laugh and daddy and i proceeded merrily through to get checked in (so merrily in fact that daddy banged your carrier against at least 2 walls. but it's ok he just calls out "new parent!" and people pretend not to notice).

you're still pretty good when we go places, though recently you've started refusing to eat out and we have to return home to give you a bottle. you had your first taste of formula last week since mommy just isn't making enough food for you right now. hopefully the fenugreek will reduce the need for that. i spilled about 3 ounces of precious milk trying to make you a bottle while you squirmed in my arms yesterday and was beside myself. there were tears. (yes, i was literally crying over spilled milk).

then on sunday we stopped at costco and daddy had the brilliant idea to buy them out of strawberries in order to save money and make jam as christmas gifts. unfortunately, you do not save money when you purchase an entire pallet (24 2-quart cartons), get it home, cut and crush 50 pounds of strawberries, work deep into the night canning them and then realize that your calculations are incorrect and the recipe calls for about 1/4 what you thought. basically, instead of prepping only enough strawberries for the 48 jars of jam we thought we'd make, we prepared enough for about 200. whoever said measure twice, cut once was a smart man. and was clearly not related to either of us. at least our delirious laughter at the realization was kinda fun. you slept through the whole thing. apologies if i am only able to hold you in 15-minute increments for the next few days until my triceps stop burning.

yeah, i'm not sure why daddy's smiling either. (just kidding).

Giving Thanks

{15 weeks}
new developments in your world include an overwhelming urge to grab your own feet. you prefer they be bare (and are quickly becoming accustomed to preferring everything bare... a-hem let's try to get that out of your system before you're running pantsless around the house at 5 please). oh who am i kidding kids heart nekkid time.

you are on the verge of completely rolling over, but can only get 3/4 of the way by yourself. you like to pull your legs up and use them as leverage to fall onto your side; then grunt and struggle to get over onto your belly. though i'm not sure why, as you still hate being on your stomach and really only like to stand or be held in a seated position. wiggleworm.

mommy has formulated about 50 nicknames for you. they include butterbean, peanut, naughty monkey, bug, droolopotamus, little dickens (that came from mimi), cooey monster, my precious, little pumpkin, dollbaby, my boo, a-bomb and minime. i also read on babycenter that the more words a baby hears in her first year of life, the more intelligent she can become, so if mommy slips a few SAT words into our regular conversation, don't be alarmed. feel free to memorize and use them in a sentence.

we must tell you we love you 20 times an hour, and i'm convinced your first phrase will be "you're so pretty," because we say it so much. but it's true. i have never seen a more beautiful baby. i don't care that i'm biased and every mom thinks that about her child. you enjoy looking at yourself as well, but mommy can't tell if you know it's you smiling back. strange how once you have a baby, you really don't look at yourself in the mirror anymore. :)

thinking you may start "cutting teeth" soon (that's a weird phrase, btw..), since you're drooling something fierce. i can't tell for certain yet, but you enjoy chewing on things, and i have recently caught you sticking your fingers down your throat and choking yourself. this is not good, baby.

we had thanksgiving feast at your aunt jenna and uncle ryan's new house, and they did a fantastic job hosting. there were tons of people there and you were the best baby ever. slept the whole way to sanford and back, hung out and let everyone hold you and even allowed us to eat while you napped. it was awesome. we were trying to get you to "talk" to everyone, but apparently you like to save that for mommy & daddy solely on the weekends. i think that's currently my favorite time. i get you up on saturday or sunday and you eat breakfast, then we sit in bed and you coo and babble at us for a good hour. it's when you're the most talkative. i think you're filling us in on your week.

(you in all your Thanksgiving cuteness)

A Joyful Noise (Giggles & Pups)

{coming up on week 13}

your new fav activity has become sucking on your fists. i swear you're trying to get a whole one in there. it scares me. 

you're also much more opinionated these days, and will let us know that you do NOT enjoy sitting in the swing at certain times and require us to hold you instead. dangit you may be figuring us out.. 

you do like the bjorn, though. it's about the only way mommy & daddy can get anything accomplished. so we like it, too. 

(Erica and Grace, modeling the Bjorn)

sadly, mommy's venture back to work has become a bit problematic as your meal supply has decreased considerably. i've been doing all i can to get it back to normal, but it requires a 2-hour schedule and has not been a fun process. it has also caused you to return to a 3-hour feeding schedule at night (which last night prompted daddy to declare "we're giving her rice cereal tomorrow i don't care if she's not old enough"). grrrr... 

you're definitely getting more and more vocal. and last night (cue trumpets) you bestowed upon us a most magnificent giggle. it is now my favorite sound... ever. it only happened twice, but holy crap if i don't get that on tape at some point it will be a loss to humanity.  ;)  mimi sally brought it forth, so she may have to come over and work her magic again. you were just watching her make faces and noises at you, and all of a sudden emitted a little scream. so mimi imitated you and you screamed back at her. then came the laugh. it's so fabulous i feel like we could bottle up a bunch of baby giggles and transmit them around the world and it might bring peace to the nations. ok so maybe that's taking it a little far, but you get the picture.

this past weekend we took you and your furry brother and sister to country park and played at the "bark park." you watched the pups for a bit and then promptly fell asleep, but it was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed it. we got to meet nick's new lady - a chocolate lab named emmi. only had a couple minor incidents getting there (mommy forgot her phone and will NEVER do that again) and sitting on the bench when a tiny little dog jumped up to check you out. you should have seen how fast your daddy left nick hanging mid-sentence and sprinted to get to you. hehehe. fast johnny comes in kinda handy! he gets extra daddy points for that maneuver.

Let's Face It

{just about 2 months}

your many faces:

(excited. and doing the jersey shore fist pump)

(still excited. more fist pump action)

(and now she's disgusted. 

"mommy, i am sooo much cooler than that")

("I grow tired of your endless compliments. 

But keep them coming..")

("Alright now it's just annoying. 

Less paparazzi; more parent please.")

The Daily Ansley

{almost 12 weeks}

yikes 4 weeks. shameful. mommy needs to get on the ball and write in your journal more often! sorry babydoll. well a lot's been going down the past month, so you'll have to excuse my tardiness with this entry. you've logged a record number of hours with the grandparents lately, as daddy and i have taken on the task of painting the entire downstairs and upstairs hallway. they love it, though, and even request more time with their precious ansley. thank heaven for grandparents. seriously.

in other news, you've started producing more drool than your mouth can contain. this is alternated with spitup, and you are now soaking through at least 2 bibs a day. speaking of which, mommy made the big leap and started back to work 4 days a week when you were exactly 10 weeks old. it was sooo hard for me to leave you the first few times, but i was brave and only cried a little bit. miss darlene watches you from 8:30 to 5:30 tuesday through friday. she says you're good but "only take 30-minute naps." mwahahahaha we've totally spoiled you letting you sleep on us during the day. oopsie. i can't help it - it's the best feeling in the world. a baby sleeping on your chest is just the sweetest. someday you'll see. 

(gee what a lovely drool bib you have!..either that or you've been doing some serious working out)

the grandparents have gone a little crazy with the outfits, but you are moving into some seriously cute ones, which will require me to change and take a picture of you pretty much at 30-minute intervals throughout the day. oh well! unfortunately, you now have less hair than the day you were born so i especially love putting you in headbands (my little blair waldorf), as your hair is currently falling out faster than it's coming in. and man, oh, man, we cannot get enough of those smiles. how i love your beautiful smiles. especially when you get so excited that you squeeze your fists and wiggle around. it's literally the cutest thing. can you even imagine how in love with you we are? it boggles the mind. 

we had a breakthrough the other day when daddy held up an object and you reached out and grabbed it. you solely practice this trick with your left hand (woot! go lefties!!! secretly hoping you're left-handed), but we'll take what we can get. it's quite entertaining. still not so much loving the books, but you will sit and watch daddy play video games like a champ (yes, i'm sure call of duty: world at war is incredibly mind-enriching for our little one daddy...).

(You're trying to eat your Zaboomafoo. I think your eyes are the same size in this picture!)

you're also making some pretty awesome noises at the moment. little short screams and assorted coos. we have some great conversations with your incoherent babbling little self. 

halloween was our first big holiday, and we did it up right with no less than 3 costume changes. you were asleep most of the night, but woke up in good spirits and loving your hula costume!! pretty sure you preferred it to the lion that i made into a lioness with the use of a pink ribbon, but you were so cute in both. 

we just found out the other day that marisa and marc are having a girl AND that aunt jennifer is pregnant!! mommy came home and told daddy who proudly trumpeted that "he'd started it." jaclyn and chad had baby jake just a few weeks ago, and we are way too excited for you to have more little "cousins" to play with! and i'm calling it right now, somebody's kids are gonna get married to somebody else's from our group. it's like, inevitable. just do the math.   :)

You Are My Sunshine

{not quite 2 months}
The smiles have begun and they are glorious! They started at just about 6 weeks, and now they are getting more frequent and somehow even more beautiful. You enjoy withholding them, though, and making complete fools out of mommy & daddy, who will do anything for even a slight smirk. But the gummy grins are the best.

Daddy taught you a new trick the other day - sticking out his tongue and willing you to do the same. It's cute so I don't resist too much.. Although when he let you lick his lollipop the other day I saw a glimpse of years to come and am preemptively exhausted (and fearful). I'm sure we have a few AFV entries in our future. As long as they don't involve injuries I'll be ok. 

You woke up with a startling cry the other day and I was scared out of my mind. It hurt my heart! Not sure I'll be able to handle any real pain, so you'll just have to leave the house in football pads until you're 18, k?

nobody move! alright, it's ok. i'm ok.

You are eating well from the bottle, but mommy made the mistake of starting up her medicine again and it decreased the supply, so we've promptly icksnayed that and are trying to get back on track. Though there's a slight chance you'll end up with a little brother or sister more quickly than planned..


Starting to work on your hand-eye coordination. You'll reach up and grab things and bat at daddy's face, and your fav action is pulling the paci from your own mouth. Silly girl. 


Daddy is still able to change your diapers (yes even the dirty ones!) because they currently smell kind of like buttered popcorn. Which is a little weird, but we'll take it. However, he is no longer going to be allowed to pick out your clothes, since I discovered when I went to wash your Halloween costume that you may be able to wear it NEXT year, as it is the 6-12 month size. 


But the biggest news to date? The past 3 nights you've slept "through the night" - meaning at least 6 hours in a row. Woot! What what my baby is awesome. 

"seriously? swaddling is bad now?"

my little glowworm.

My Boo

{5 weeks}
Your main form of communication right now is by grunt, which momy & daddy take to mean you're having tummy issues and are unable to go potty. Poor baby! We asked the doctor about this and of course he says it's normal and there's not much we can do. That led us to try several OTC and natural remedies. My favorite is the "Colic Calm," which has a lovely tar-like color that totally turns your mouth black so you look rather goth when we administer it. And if some dribbles out, you look like super-zombie-baby. (Don't worry, we took pictures).  :)

You don't like us to get anything done (preferring instead to feign sleeping for 15 minutes and then call for us - wide awake). You heart your paci and have a hard time calming down without it. You still love walking outside, which we try to do as often as possible with the fall weather being so nice right now. You're eating well - sometimes even from the bottle (yey!) and actually even started on the 2-hole nip (something we discovered after a couple 40-minute feeding sessions with the single-hole one).


You're not so much into us reading for you just yet, but we try to do it anyway. Oh and sadly, you do have the baby acne.


Milestones in the past couple weeks:
• You keep your own head up pretty darn well, and can follow objects we move in front of you.
• Daddy is convinced that you're partial to Journey because you watch his phone when it plays (don't tell him, but you watch it for Britney, too).
• You flail your arms wildly about when you're surprised or scared. It's pretty cute.
• You definitely recognize mommy and daddy's voices.


Daddy has been coming home for lunch to see you, and we've already attended our first party together (Aunt Loryn's birthday in Winston). That was at 4 weeks! You did pretty good - daddy fed you, Aunt Jaclyn rocked you to sleep, and you stayed asleep most of the rest of the time.


This past weekend, mommy & daddy went solo at Uncle Jay's 30th birthday party while you stayed with Granny Mac. She said you did great. But I have a confession: that wasn't the first time we left you with the grandparents! Mommy & daddy did get out for a 1-hour date when you were 2 weeks old, and you stayed with Mimi Sally & Zade Adam when we celebrated Aunt Jenna's first home purchase when you were 3 weeks.


Got you 2 princess dresses & a bunch more books (though I don't know why... haha) at our neighborhood garage sale this weekend. Love you so much. Still waiting on that smile...  :)

Keeping Up

{week 3}
Tomorrow marks 3 weeks for you. Holy crap time does fly! At this point, you are entranced by the fan (even when it's not moving). And you have a favorite window in the den that you constantly stare at. Your umbilical stump came off at 16 days, and we promptly gave you a real bath - which I think you actually kind of enjoyed (yey!!). The whale tub works great, though you seem to like spitting up as soon as we finish. You have been doing so more often lately, but the grandmas tell me this is normal. However, you're also straining like you have to poo but can't whenever you're awake and in the middle of the night - which is likely compounded when you're on your back.  ... so we just hold you most of the time. I'm sure this would be frowned upon in most every parenting book and behavioral guide, but we just cannot stand to see you upset. Sue me. 

Where did I put those instructions?

{13 days old}
I am watching you right now in your carseat panting and grunting - obviously trying to expel something from your hind end.. You stay asleep though (thank you for that) so mommy will still get her shower in this morning. It's the small victories. 

You have currently taken to imitating animals, as we often hear little dog-like whimpers or the occasional cat hiss emanating from your tiny sleeping frame. Daddy is very good at soothing you; when he was home with us for the first week I would peek into the nursery during your "wake"time and see him reading to you with tears running down his cheeks. And every now and then I catch a few notes of him singing you a song. Now normally mommy is not the biggest fan of daddy's vocals, but he sings to you so sweetly it melts my heart. 

I think you view mommy as more of a feeding trough. But nursing is a comfort to you as well. We're attempting to implement the principles of Babywise and get you on a schedule, but I fear we're failing miserably. You have already displayed resistance to self-soothing (preferring to be held in order to fall asleep), and I'm pretty sure you've begun to snack-feed. Not good. But we're trying. I just want to give you "the gift of nighttime sleep" here babygirl. Work with me.  :)

Fast Forward on Life

{peas porridge hot; peas porridge cold; little baby ansley-bop 9 days old!}


So you've been in our lives now for just over a week and it's gone by so fast. I can understand why everybody we see tells us to enjoy it because you'll grow up quickly. I find myself taking tons of pictures and staring at you while you sleep or eat because I just don't want to miss anything. Speaking of pictures, we have your very first photo shoot tomorrow with an old friend of mine from high school who is a very talented photographer. I'm sure she'll capture you sleeping - as that is presently your fav activity, but maybe we'll get an awake shot or two.


You love to put your hands on your ears and up by your face when you lay on my lap it's the cutest thing. You really are just so incredibly beautiful. The biggest gift I've ever gotten. I love you little one.


[The results; courtesy of Lindsey Turner Photography]:
You are SO beautiful!!!  :)

And.. ok. Since I started this blog with a nursery rhyme of sorts, I think now may be a good time to mention that daddy and I have recently learned that we for real do not know the correct words to.. like.. ANY.. nursery rhymes or songs. While I like to substitute "doo do do doo do do doo doo doo," daddy is far more adventurous and will make up his own lyrics to finish them off. This is uniquely humorous when it's a well-known rhyme. My favorite has been "Three blind mice, see how they run, they all ran after the farmer's wife, she cut off their tails with a BUTCHER's knife, did you ever see such a HORRIBLE sight as three blind mice." 

Poor little mice never did anything to anybody. Plus they were blind. Why is that so horrible daddy? Why are you hating on those handicapable little meeces? What did they ever do to you? Wow, that went too far...

The other day, daddy was singing along with the radio and "blinded by the light" happened to be playing. It was stuck in his head for a while, so he would bust it out at random intervals to serenade you pretty much all week. However, as I listened a bit more closely to his trilling, I realized he was singing to you "bliinded by the liiight; wrapped up like a douche... another rumor in the night." 

Ummm, no. Those are not the correct words to that verse. In fact, douche is not a good word at all, baby. Please do not use it in a sentence. Mommy was pretty sure that the band did not intend for it to even sound like that. But to make matters worse, when I confronted your father about his inappropriate lyrics, he insisted that they were correct and continued singing them to you the remainder of the week.

(After which, with the help of google, I shed some light on the correct adaptation of the song).

Who writes the line "revved up like a deuce" in a song though, really? 

Douche.

[Just kidding. Really don't utter that word, despite mommy & daddy's excessive usage...please?]