.

Anabel's cheeks are too big for her own good. It's really funny. She is like a chipmunk or something. Food or anything she finds and puts in her mouth usually get caught in her big cheeks and she doesn't realize it's there. I'll find food or pieces of paper just camping out in her cheeks as though she is saving it for later, it's far too funny. I just found wads of paper in both her cheeks and she didn't act like she even knew they were there.

I also love how she just sits so well now. She will crawl to a toy, grab it and sit down and start playing with it like a big girl. I think it's so adorable, it just makes me smile. She is still so little and really short I think, but so big at the same time. We laid her down next to our friends 4 month old and he was almost as tall as her. I'm hoping that means she is going to be more like me and be really short and small. Although they say I'm not that short now, pretty average, but I didn't get that way until I was in my 20's I think. I've always been uber small and I thought I was really short as well. So we shall see how she turns out. I wouldn't mind all my girl to favor my in size, then all the boy favor their daddy.


Anabel loves playing on the bed. She is so cute. I love to watch her play.

Anabel is getting so big, it just blows me away how much she does and how little she still is.


She sits up on her own and gets in a sitting position on her, you know when she is crawling or rolling around. I believe she is learning the meaning of the words 'mama' and 'dada' that she says all the time. Like yesterday morning (and the recent mornings) she wakes up looks at daddy and whispers with a big smile on her face 'dada, dada'. And Bobby opens his eyes and yes 'yes Anabel, did you call daddy?' and she gets so happy. I think she knows what she was saying and saying it on purpose.

Ok this whole 'standing' thing is going to give me a heart attack! Seriously!
Just a minute ago she crawled to her walker, grabbed a hold of the back part and used it to help get a hold of the coffee table so she could stand there and get into all my stuff i had on it. She even fell once, straight back (thank goodness a stuffed animal cushioned her) I'm so afraid she is going to get hurt.

Oh and lately she has all been about 'getting mad' and screaming when she can't do something she wants too. Like right not she is screaming because she has a hold of the leg of the pack'n'play and can't pull it. If she drops her toys, she screams... she screams so much now. Before it was all for fun, now she is serious. It's crazy. She just started do this this last couple of days too.

What toddlerhood going to be like? LOL

She is getting another tooth on the top this time. It's not through the gums yet but i think it's close. She has been wanting to sleep and cuddle alot. Which would be fine sept she throws tantrums because even though she is sleepy she usually doesn't want to actually go to sleep. She still is nursing like crazy, and i've just been letting her... It's getting better (on my part) which is a relief.

Things Anabel can do:

• Say 'mama' and 'dada'
• Half crawl/lunge (she gets around pretty well)
• Pull herself up into a standing position
• Pick things up with her thumb and index finger
• Switches toys from one hand to the other
• Babbles
• Blows bubbles
• Stick her pacifier back in her mouth by herself (she's been able to do that a long time)

Things Anabel likes:

• HAIR!

She loves hair in her face. Loves me shaking my hair across her face. Love touching, pulling, chewing on hair. Laughs if daddy shakes his head on her stomach :) And she likes grabbing her own hair and messing with it with her fingers.

• Her ears played with
• CD's (one of her favorite toys, hehe)
• Baths
• Being read to
• Watching TV (loves it)
• Watching Mommy dance, hehe
• Balls
• Biscuit the dog
• Paper, cords and shoes (things i try to keep her from, lol)
• Peek-a-boo
• Mommy laughing
• Going to the store because mommy lets her touch everything (in less I'm in a hurry of course)
• Pressing buttons on the keyboard

Favorite way to fall asleep:

• Starring up at me (we have to look eye to eye) while i kiss all over her hands / or / her playing with my lips.

Other:

• Anabel has learned to swing in her Johnny Jumper. She has a rhythm. She hops forward, lets herself swing backward, the hops forward, and repeats. She is very fast at it. Boy is it funny!
• She recently got back into sticking her tongue out all the time.
• Also she crinkles her nose, squints her eye and bats her eyelashes, to make a very cute face. Sometimes she has the tongue sticking out with it too. I love it!

Today i noticed Anabel actually watching were she dropped her toys off the side of her walker. It was so cute. She would drop them and she stand tall, extending her long neck as far as is could. Her arms would stretch out wide as she peired over the edge trying to see were the toy went.

She is getting to big... and very clingy. These days she doesn't want to be in her johnny jumper, on the floor or walker but a few mintutes, then her arms come out asking to be picked up and she fusses... boy does she fuss!

I don't know what to do with her most of the time because she fusses in my arms too... it's like nothing makes her happy.

I wonder if she is cutting more teeth... *el'sigh*

A few days ago i measured and weighted Anabel. She clocked in at:

19lb.
26in. long

According to this program i downloaded, it said she is in the 97th percentile, don't know if that is true or not though.

We tried the Johnny Jumper again today. I think she really liked it.

If you can see ^^^^^^ Her nails are painted white XD I did that last night. Her fingers turned out the best because i didn’t do them until she fell asleep in my arms… for some reason i was stupid and tried to do her toes while she was awake… and they didn’t turn out so great.

Here are my big toes: ( got a Spa Pedicure this morning… el’wootness!)

I was hoping for a really bright neon green… but didn’t really turn out like that… oh well, i still like it!

:D

XOXOXOXOX

My beautiful:

She is crazy about the roses that hang over her changing table. Every time i go to change her she looks for the flowers and acts so excited to see them. She will lay there for the longest time for kicking, talk and starring at those flowers!

I finally got a picture oh her sucking/chewing on her thumb. Forget the red eye, I don’t have a program on this laptop that really works good on that >_<

Isn’t she cute? Hehe…

Hey… i don’t like how fast my little baby is growing up! Everyday it seems she learns something new and grows! Just this morning i had to dress her in the next size bigger… :(

She is learning to roll over… she loves to grab! And now she is into sucking on her thumb. I try not to let her suck on it, like Daddy says, you can take the pacifier away but not the thumb. Every time i see her stick it in i pull it out and sometime i give her the pacifier if she won’t stop. It’s hard not to just let her suck on it cause it is so darn CUTE!

Also she is really getting good at grabbing toys and now she likes her pack’n’play a lot. She spends a lot more time in there playing with her toys, just talking and blowing bubbles.

Lately she has been waiting to spend 99% of her time sleeping. She sleeps almost all day and all night. She wants to wake up long enough to get her diaper changed and then get nursed back to sleep. I think she may be going through a growth spurt or something.

She will be 14wks old this coming Tuesday on the 21st. 3.5 months… isn’t it crazy?

She has is learning to scoot all over the place. I use to be able to put her (unbuckled) in her car seat, in the kitchen with me when I'm cooking. Now she scoots down dangerously, so i have to buckle her in (which she complains about terribly).

This is the first time i caught her doing it… and it was a good thing i happened to look over at her right then, because by the time i got to her she was about to scoot all the way out and onto the floor…. silly girl! (it about gave me a heart attack!!!) 

Oh she scoots in a circle too. When i put her in the pack’n’play she just goes in circles grabbing and kicking all of her little toys. It’s so funny to watch.

Today we are feeling tons better! This morning when Bob was gone to school Mom and Dad Risch stopped by to visit for a few minutes while they were in town.

Last night after we went out with one of Bob’s friends from the Air Force who was in town we didn’t get home till after midnight. Anabel had fallen asleep during the movie at about 10:15pm. She only barely woke up when we got home. I quickly fed her and she was asleep again. Well this little once decided she wanted so sleep for a loooong time. At about 11am i thought I should wake her up. I mean she had awoken in the night just enough to let me know that she wanted to eat but that was it. I figure she had basically been asleep for 12 hours because when i feed her at night she doesn’t really wake up.

Poor girl didn’t want me to wake her up. I tried to be nice about it but she started crying even with her eyes closed. She got so worked up and her eyes were still closed! I fed her and decided that if she was getting that worked up about it, i would just let her sleep, maybe she was still fighting off our sickness. Well when i went to lay her down she woke up and stayed up. That made me feel better.

~~~~

Well earlier today i got out a toy she really had never played with before and she really seemed to like it.

And here is when she was watching me play on the computer:

Now she is asleep in my arms. She is to darling :D

Starting Monday night me and Bob started feeling sick. We ended up getting worse and worse and Bob ended up coming home early from work. Well our sickness lasted until the next night (Tuesday). Our little Anabel was amazing. Thank God she hasn’t seemed to have gotten sick from us.

I think Anabel is either going through a growth spurts because i hear babies go through a growth spurt around 3 months and she is close to that. Or she was just simply trying to fight off the sickness going around. Anyways she basically slept all of Monday and Tuesday. Which it was good for us because i don’t know how we would have had strength to take care of her. She is an angel! I thanked her so so much because it was a blessing. Even when she was awake she was just all smiles and calm… i don’t remember her crying once or really fussing at all. I thank God too.

Now we are better and she is back to normal for the most part, but she still once to sleep more then usual. I’m letting her sleep too, because she might need it.

Ok Monday night the night me and Bob started feeling bad… well this was before i felt bad. I had spent some time i found some music i really liked on Playlist.com. Then when i went into the kitchen to make Bob his supper, i turned on the music and started dancing around the kitchen as i cooked. I was crazy of course, just like my style.

I had set Anabel up in her car seat with her butterfly toy where she could see me if she wanted. Well this time she wasn’t interested in the butterfly. She was watching me the whole time, dancing goofy. It was sooo cute! The funny faces she was making was priceless. I can’t wait until she is old enough to dance with me. We are going to have so much fun!

Although when i went to take a picture of those faces she just kinda looked at me blankly:

She was cute!

Anyway i had found a new recipe online which i thought Bob would really like.

It was basically chicken cooked in garlic and oil, with bacon and cheese topping it, then baked. I served mashed potatoes with it.

Well when Bob walked in, he looked horrid and told me he couldn’t eat, that he felt to bad. My poor baby! So i ate it. I was bummed because i had made it just for him, but oh well. It was really good though.

Taking off where the last post stopped.... Anabel woke up, sat in my lap and i noticed her watching me doing things on the laptop... sooo i turned on 'Happy Feet' on netflix to see if she would like watching that better then me typing. She loves music so the movie really got her attention. She watched in my lap for the longest time, then ended up falling asleep.

After she woke i went to change her diaper and she pee'd once i got the diaper off. I thought i had caught it before it went everywhere but i was wrong... it was all over her in the back, all the way up to her hair SO i decided she needed a bath.

So far she has only taken baths with me in the tub with her, holding her in my arms, but today i didn't want to go threw all that and decided to give her a bath in the bathroom sink.

She loved it! It was a very short bath but while she was in there i did oil her up with baby oil. Once I got her out i laid her out on the bed. She loves being naked...but come on... what baby doesn't right?
I turned her over on her belly and it was so cute! She lifted her head some at first but she was more concentrated on her legs, which were going crazy! She was bringing her knees under like in a crawling position and then would push out.... she just let her head and arms lay on the bed. But she was working so hard with her little legs! She had her cute butt sticking up so high! It was funny.

If i put my arm behind her feet so when she pushed out she actually had something to push against, she would scoot across the bed. I think she will learn how to do her legs quite easily (when it comes to crawling) but she didn't seem that interested in pushing her head and shoulders up... i guess that will come with time.

Daddy came home and started playing with her on the bed. I still hadn't diapered her because she really seemed to enjoy it.

(4am) Anabel started to fuss last night when we were sleeping which woke me up, i went to put her pacifier back in her mouth thinking that that was why she was crying. Then she let a scream. Freaked me out, i picked her up to comfort her and she screamed again. Bob was up by then, asking what was wrong. Which i had no clue. I had just fed her not over an hour before (i always look at the time) And it wasn't like her to cry to be fed, she usually just fusses. Anyways i knew she had dirty diaper but at this point i knew she would scream if i set her down.

I put her to nurse and she did right away then let out some major toots. Poor thing... that was probably the reason. I have been giving her the gas relief drops but not quite every two yours like they say you could give it... my poor little Anabel!

After nursing she was pretty much back to sleep but there was that dirty diaper i didn't want to leave on her. After changing her (which i did right where she was laying, in hopes it would be easier to get her back to sleep) she was bright awake.

She stayed up maybe 45minutes then went back to sleep. She woke up again at 7:30am and pooped. After i changed her she laid on the bed just playing and smiling. I was glad she didn't seem to act like gas was bothering her. I'm going to try and be better at getting the drops in her every two hours.

So i went and got some pillows to prop me up and also grabbed the laptop so i had something to do. I played with Anabel some, then let her play some on her own while i was on the computer. Usually Anabel wants my full attention so when she is ok on own, i usually let her, at least for a little while.

Whell anyways a few minutes ago she got so tired out by playing that she just fell asleep on her own. I love it when she falls asleep on her own without me having to do anything.

I probably shouldn't stay on the computer for to long, Bob would scold me, hehehe... maybe, maybe not.

Yesterday Anabel was super good. I had to get up early to make crab Rangoon and egg rolls for the 'Asian' meal after church today (Sunday). And i needed to get it done before 1pm because Mom Risch was picking us up to go shopping in the city with her. Bob decided to help me so we set up the car seat on a chair in the kitchen and Anabel sat in that staring at the hanging butterfly attached to her seat for over an hour... which is so not like her.

Anable usually gets really upset if i put her on her belly, i even has this baby blanket designed for belly time with little mirrors and animals to look at, but she still gets mad. In this video you can see how i set up the pillows on the couch... she likes this alot better. I think it's cause she can actually see things that are going on around her, and boy can she pick up that head of hers. I figure it's working her musculs the same way as if she was flat on her belly, and get her use to being in the position, then i'll work her onto just her belly. She likes kicking the arm of the couch and pushing herself up by doing it.

Bobby found this video so funny because at the end i say she is going to start crying, and a split second later she does start crying.

So here is a little recap of things that have happened since my long absence online:

Some of you might have known how i was determined not to let Anabel have a pacifier. I had in the past broken down and would try to give the pacifier to Anabel but she wouldn't take it at all. Well while after Anabel was up for almost 24 hours with only one short nap one day, Daddy decided to try giving her the pacifier again and this time it worked. After that everything got a lot easier.

She hadn't let me lay her down hardly at all when she was sleeping but with the pacifier i am now able to lay her down for naps and things. And boy night time is waaaay easier!

Our typical routine:

Anabel likes falling asleep around 9pm in my arms in the rocking chair... i usually watch TV or play a game on the laptop while holding her until 10pm or a little later. Then i go in the bedroom, turn the music on, turn on the fan and turn the lights off all but a night light. If she wakes up any during this time including if i need to change her diaper, i then nurse her and with in seconds she is back to sleep again
Now the heavenly part! She then won't stay still in less i lay her down with the pacifier... which i don't mind because holding her with me laying flat on my back since she was born had been killing my back! Now i lay her down, cuddle her a little bit (she has a certain way she wants to be cuddled at night) and then i can turn anyway i want and I've been sleeping sooo much better. I still don't sleep all night because i still wake up and check on her, and have to put her pacifier back in several times a night but she sleeps great. I've learned her body movement pretty well... i usually can tell what means she only wants the pacifier back in her mouth and what means 'I'm hungry'. So it's been working out pretty good....all but her wanting to wake up at 5am to play like the last few nights LOL

All in all she is a wonderful baby!

Currently she fell asleep on her own on our bed (next to me) she likes to sleep on her back, both arms stretched out , her legs drawn up with her knees falling to either side of her... it's really cute. Sleeping babies are just so darling to look at.

Oh yes and she has started drooling and wanting to chew on things. I never really looked inside a babies mouth before Anabel so i don't know if this is normal or not... but you can see like all of Anabel's teeth upper and lower, from one side the other, and looks like it's just under the surface of her gums. I find this very weird and odd but then again, like i said i don't know if this is normal or not. I'm hoping it means that it will be faster for her teeth to come in, anything to cut the teething time down a little would be great, or like Grandma Risch said 'maybe all the teeth will come in at once' which would be sweet as well.

Anabel laughed for the first time ever yesterday because of Daddys tickles. It was so cute! Daddy had her laying on the bed and he was blowing raspberries on her legs and feet and she was enjoying so much... then all of a sudden she laughed... twice. I was so glad we both where there to hear it. It's the sweetest sound ever isn't moms?

My baby is getting more and more fun!

After she laughed i jumped up and grabbed the camera. I tried to keep it out of her sight cause if she sees the light on the camer she lately has just been freezing and staring at it. But of course she didn't laugh again for me... one of these days i'll caught it and put the video on here. Can't wait till she laughs again!

Ok this morning I finally got up at around 7:10am because Anabel didn't want to be asleep anymore. So I took her out into the living room so she could play and talk and not wake daddy up. I swear it was only like 10min into playing when she rolled over on her own! I had her laying on her back on the couch and I was next to her talking to her. She turned onto her side towards me, then slowly started to work her way towards her belly. She started getting upset because her arms was sticking out under her and getting in her way to roll completely over on her belly but I didn't touch her I wanted to see if she would actually make it all the way to her belly. After a little work she got the arm out of her way and rolled completely over to her belly, lifted her big head and started looking around.

I was amazed! She's only 2 months and 1 day old! Isn't that to soon to be rolling over?
After that she quickly got upset because she hasn't learned to like being on her belly yet. So I rolled her back over to see if she would do it again. This time though she could sight of me and just wanted to lay there and talk to me, not roll over.

After awhile I decided to help her out for one more turn. I put her on her side and immediately she started rolling over, just like she did before, her arm got in the way but she worked and finally was on her belly again.

We are going to keep practicing this because I'm so excited, LOL
I think she will learn to crawl easily because of how she works her legs and kicks constantly!

Life as a Mom is wonderful yet difficult. Anabel is starting to get use to the swing, thank goodness! I love holding her but I can’t get anything done when I am.

Last Sunday was my first real mother’s day. Last year Bob got me a card for mother’s day because of loosing poor Ducky but this year I actually have a little one in my arms.

It was a good mother’s day. We had Anabel's dedication that morning at church. Heidi, all my boys, and my mom came down to see it. Then we went to the zoo park and had a cook out. After that we went and met bob’s parents in Kansas City at this really good Italian restaurant for dinner. Anabel had a hard time on the way home, she cried almost all the way so it was nice to get home and get her settled down. I think she had been too stimulated by the last couple of days and just needed to be home.

My sister Heidi got me a great framed picture; it was a collage of pictures from Anabel’s birth. I loved it. Bob got me a picture frame for our family photo (once we get one). Mom and Dad Risch got me an awesome Asian plant, which I hope I can keep alive, lol. Bob and Jess went in together and got me a day of beauty. I had mentioned that after Anabel was born that I wish I could have a day of beauty but it was just wishful thinking, I never thought I would actually get it! They got me a manicure, pedicure, facial and massage! I can’t wait to actually go and get it done!

Today it will have been 1 year since I miscarried my first little Angel. That day/week was a nightmare literally.

Bobby surprised me with a delivered gift. He had to go in this morning and observe some classes for his schooling and while he was gone I got a knock on the door. It took me awhile to get to the door because I was still in my sleep shirt but once I got there it was a lady with flower in hand: For those of you that don't know, a duck was the first and only stuffed animal that Bob bought for the baby. He wanted it to be the baby's theme. Dad Risch came up with the nick-name 'Ducky' and that is what we have called our little one all along. Bob ended up getting a tattoo of the duck he had bought, with the date Ducky passed away '4-9-08' underneath. The tattoo is on Bob's upper inside arm. Bob said he wanted it because he never wanted to forget our first baby.

Bob remembers everything and is so thoughtful! I don’t know how I got a man so sweet as him! And he acts like his acts of kindness are just natural, no big deal… but of course they are to me! His gift did make me totally cry though and then when he got back home he just held me and let me cry a little more. And though he wouldn’t admit it to just everyone, he cried too. It really touches me deeply when he is open with his emotions like that.

I’ve got the best guy there is ladies, sorry to inform you of that LOL

Today we had another check up today. All they really did was a non-stress test on the baby. She was sleeping at the time and they really wanted her awake and moving, so I drank juice and did a bit of poking to get her awake. Poor Anabel!

I made a stronger batch of Red Raspberry Tea tonight because I want her to come! It’s been storming tonight and she’s been giving me some contractions but nothing to get excited over.

My Mom is coming down for the weekend. She should be here in the morning. I’m hoping Anabel will come so my Mom doesn’t end up having to make another trip later. It would be so convenient if she just decided to come in the next couple of days! Oh well, there is no use trying to depict when she will come because she has a mind of her own!

Here is a picture of the painting Bob recently did:
It was his first ever painting using oil paints, and he did a great job, if I do say so myself!
What do you think? Isn’t it nice? I’m totally hanging this up in our living room!

Also…

Here is a picture of a new baby gift we got from Aunt Jessica and Grandma Risch:

YAYS! This will be great once Anabel starts eating solids or if I just need a place to put her while I’m working in the kitchen. It goes up until they are a toddler and becomes a booster seat for them, so it’s something you can keep on using. I love it! Thank you Aunt Jessica and Grandma Risch!