New Camera!

Our new family camera arrived today from Grandaddy. A Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 and it is wonderful! It shoots great video as well as photos, so we're in for a new memory-capturing experience.

Here are some recent milestones:

today you pointed to our uncarved and surprisingly solid, overturned halloween pumpkin and said "pumpkin! us-ide down"! which i think is a pretty big sentence for someone so little.

we got HD cable a couple weeks ago and you like to watch the pajanimals "La-La-Lullabye" song. On Jan 31st you went from singing just one line of a song (until now you would just repeat "Frossssty", or "Lal'bye" over and over) to singing the next lines too. And now if we prompt you with "La-la-lullaby" you'll finish and say "sing, sing sing m'self/lal'bye".

Along the same lines you love the Yo Gabba Gabba "Wiggle" song. you run around the livingroom singing "Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle STOP" (at which point you freeze), then "Hold STILL....!" we can prompt you to finish this song, too.

We had a great two weeks with visits from Joe & Kelly, Don, Aunt Heather and John Miller! Thank you lovely guests, you are very missed.

new camera! from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

Uncle Justin's Visit

Last night while I put Christmas lights on the tree, Ryan and Justin made Pecan Pie with some of the delicious pecans sent to us from Grandma Erwin & Pop. Justin sat down on the couch to eat his slice, and Sylvie leveraged a cushion on the floor, wiggling and pulling herself all the way onto the couch and into Justin's lap. The following is a transcript of her pie-related opinions:

my

my

my

pah [pie]

pah

pah

pah

pah

num

num

nummy

nummy

yummy

yum

yum

up

up

up

up

up

down?

down?

She ends most "ups" with "down?", it's a siren-y sing-song, reminding me of those long car alarm spiels. Oh and yes, Justin shared his pie.

Time

In honor of the Minorcan show that was too cold for us to attend, Sylvie and I ate homade sugar cookies tonight on the kitchen rug. When she smooshed the last cookie half into her mouth she stood up with a (crumb-filled) devilish grin, said "bye-bye" and waved to me as she walked into the livingroom, obviously through with the whole "special daughter-mom cookie moment." I laughed uncontrollably for a good minute and hoped she wasn't getting into the tree.

Snow Day

We had a few snowflakes yesterday afternoon and I caught this picture of Sylvie with my cellphone camera. She loved it! On a side note, Justin arrived in Austin last night to stay with us for a week, we're going to have so much fun! While he and Ryan were talking last night, Sylvie walked to me, hugged my knee and said "Love" with a smile. So sweet :)

New Express Train From Austin to the North Pole in 1.25 Hours!

I'm not sure how they do it, but all that Christmas Magic is pretty cool. After a wonderful visit from Warren and Diana, Ryan, Pancake and I boarded the North Pole Flyer Train with our friends Heather, Andy and Silas on Saturday night. We had a great time eating gingerbread men, drinking cocoa and watching the scenery go by out the open window of our vintage train car. Our car was the last to be visited by Santa with typical "baby on santa's lap" results... but in the video below you can see how patiently and politely Pancake was awaiting his arrival. She and little Silas were absolutely adorable, and I think they both had a fun time. Sylvie liked "chugga-chugga-ing" and Silas was all about pulling the imaginary engine whistle. Sylvie started to loose it at the end, but Silas maintained his composure the whole time! You can see from the pictures he is interested, but a little concerned by Sylvie's well-meaning sentiments towards him. It was a fun time for us parents too, you can get caught up on a lot of conversation en route to the North Pole.

Thank you Heather and Andy for the pictures!!! There are a few more on the flickr site, here : FLICKR

VIDEO

pancake tired but excited to see santa on our train ride to the north pole from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

Grandaddy and Di-Di Visit for Thanksgiving :)

We had a great time with family and friends this Thanksgiving. We introduced Warren and Diana to the movie Elf, and the four of us survived Central Market on Thanksgiving Eve while Ryan was at work. Paula and Ronnie came for the big bird meal and we couldn't have asked for a nicer time. We feel very lucky to have such great family and friends!

Kisses from Grandaddy!

Really happy to see Di-Di again

A beautiful hand-made gift from Aunt DJ and Grandaddy!

Table

First Pie - Paula's Family Chocolate Pie MMMMM

Reading Golden Books in the kitchen with Paula After dinner

Playing with my old doll and saying Sock and Hug

playing with her inherited doll, sarah. she says hug & sock really well towards the end from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

World's First Ever Camera-Shy Baby

Ok, maybe not the first EVER, but in these two videos you can hear faintly what she often says with conviction!

chair talk after lunch rush from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

Here I'm mainly trying to get her to say her new word, Soap.

night talk from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

Guilt post; pretty pictures

I have no time to write, so instead I'll post some photo fun! I've been messing around with photoshop actions and these are some from http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/. More soon, I hope!

First Steps of a Little Lady.

Third "first steps" caught on video from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

walks to dad from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

Libration

Pancake, you love your birthday wagon from Grammie, it's been very freeing for you. You're able to ride along with us while sitting straight up and eating snacks. Since you're so big on the upright thing, it's really been a godsend for walks. Yay!

On a side note, you stood for Dad on Monday in the garage, and tonight you stood for me too! You wobble for a second, then kind of settle into an upper leg bounce.

We had a very busy day today, we met with playgroup and "toured" the Amy's Ice Cream factory, you napped and then we got up for a doctor's appt. We then ran a couple errands and ended up at the grocery store. People in the store were especially sweet to you today and you smiled a lot. You're still very reserved at playgroup... you concentrate very hard and seem to intensely take-in all the kids and all the cool things they are able to do. It's strange to me that one day that will change, that you will be accustomed to being around other kids and not bat an eyelash. Even though we're nowhere near having another child I've been thinking a lot about whether we'll want to give you a sibling one of these days. It seems like an inconceivable decision to make, but I watch the other children with their siblings and wonder how things will turn out for you and us, brother or sister-wise.

Today I encountered one of i'm sure millions to come of moral parenting issues. You and I came to a stop at an intersection that like most intersections in Austin, was the pan-handling territory of a particularly nice looking gentleman. I smiled at him, because it felt appropriate. I never quite know how to handle eye-contact with people who are panhandling, which I'm sure is how everyone, including the panhandler, feels. I act on a case-by-case basis. Anyway, I smiled at this particular guy. He moved on, standing just behind my car seat. I could see you in the baby mirror, you were watching him intently but I'm not sure if he had seen you. I said "You can say HI sylvie", and waited to see how you would react. You scrunched your little face a bit and then held out your (currently) coveted Golden Book. It was innocent, I'm not claiming it was an act of blind social equality, but it was beautiful all the same. I know that as you grow older we'll have to teach you to be cautious and to stay away from strangers... BUT I really enjoyed this one moment, knowing you were safe and being proud for you to offer your book to this completely strange man. Chance encounters have always seemed to me to be the lifeblood of humanity... but thats a little too much to get into on a baby blog! SPEAKING of chance encounters...

I'd like to end this post with a story told to me last week in the grocery store that I haven't been able to shake from my brain. You and I were in the produce section, and a very pretty woman in her late 60's approached me and complimented you on your beauty and bird observation skills (a small brown bird was loose inside the grocery store and you were following it's every move). her hair was shoulder length and wavy grey-ish brown, and I now feel like it was held back with a scarf but she may have just been that type of woman. After chatting for a minute she told me that your hair was just a shade darker than her youngest son's when he was your age, and how he, too loved nature. Anyway, her story:

This woman and her three sons lived in Iraq during her husband's military service in the Middle East. Apparently it was a very cold first winter in Iraq, and her two-year-old son had been hearing stories of Massachusetts snow from his two older brothers, but had never seen it himself. The woman awoke one morning to falling snow covering the sand, and knew she had to pick and choose her words to the boys carefully. She woke them up, and said, "before I tell you what I'm about to tell you, you must put on your warm pants and shoes." They began to comply until the youngest, with his shoes half on realized "SNOW!" and tore down the stairs, loosing his shoes along the way. The two older boys did as they'd been told, and when they and the woman got downstairs she saw her two-year old son standing in the doorway, illuminated by the reflections of sand and snow, still in his PJs, with his arms and face raised to the sky. She told us this story, and explained that it was her very favorite memory and how beautiful the moment had been. She also mentioned that she'd always wished she were an artist and could paint that moment... but personally, I think it may be perfect kept just the way it is :)

still no camera...

but this sketch should fill you in on our life the past two days! i call it "Not Quite Walking"!

Tardy

Well Pancake, I'm behind on your one-year-old post. It is slowly being composed in my head, and I suspect will make it's debut soon. Today was a busy day for you. Not because it was filled to the brim with activities, but because you spent the day busying your mind and body.

From the start this morning, there was a difference in you, a tendency toward trying to walk instead of crawl. Ever since receiving the Fisher Price Learning Home you've clung to it like a monkey. It is the first place you like to be in the morning, and your home-base for the rest of the day; it has already paid for itself ten-fold. This morning, while hanging off it's side, you decided to go after another toy. Your little mind was going a mile a minute, and you hesitated where normally you would just drop down to your knees and crawl. with one hand firmly on the Learning Home you took a step away and reached toward your toy for several seconds. This isn't a monumental move, but it was mentally a big change for you. You looked at me to help, and I happily took your little hand and we "walked" to the desired toy.

The rest of the day was more of the same, you wanted to "walk", assisted, to everything. It was your first reaction, which I've never seen before. When I wasn't immediately available you actually threw your first temper tantrum, you got down on your belly with arms and legs stiff at your side the way you would before you could crawl, and screamed until i distracted you.

Yesterday was your year check up, and all is well. You've gained weight and height. Your pediatrician pointed out another tooth about to pop, right next to the front right tooth that has been slowly but surely making it's way. Your teeth take forever! You have three top teeth poking through right now, and it was another big factor in your mental busy-ness today, the pain is really getting to you. We took a break today to go to the drug store for highland teething tablets. I can't tell that they work any, but they distract you from the pain when I pop em in your mouth and that's probably half the battle. After the drug store we stopped by the library where you had fun playing with a family of older kids, specifically a boy who I would guess was 11. He had two little sisters and was obviously very practiced at baby entertaining, it was really cute. He tried to coax you into walking across the library's big soft rug with his little sister's stuffed frog and toy car, you had a great time.

Last night you became very vocal about your love for the Dora the Explorer backpack Grandma gave you. When you see it, or think about seeing it, you yell "DORRRA!" In an adorably stilted way that I could never capture in type. It's closest to saying "Toro" to a bull. You accidentally roll your R's giving it the perfect spanish pronunciation.

Our friend Adam came over to practice music with your Dad tonight, you danced in your highchair to what you could hear coming from the garage. You were fascinated when you saw them play.

It was a really great day with you, and I enjoyed holding your hand to help you build those muscles by walking. You hardly put any weight on me, I can tell that soon you will physically be able to walk yourself if you decide to. I've looked forward to that moment, but today was the first time I caught a glimpse of how I will feel...

I have misplaced the camera charger and have not taken any pictures since your birthday, crazy! I'll remedy that soon.

Baby loves Dolly

Pancake is Dolly Parton's littlest fan. I'm not quite sure whats-up with the "Arm Dance", it kind of looks like a broken Sprinkler move :)

baby loves dolly from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

Baby Vs. Battery Operated Dog

We picked this classic toy up at a Cracker Barrel in a desperate attempt to entertain the baby the last day of our road trip. We didn't have a screwdriver on the road, so it finally came to life Tuesday night. I love it when both of her feet get twirling :)

baby vs battery operated dog from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

we're here! we made it!

The family has officially been home for a week and one day. We are adjusting as well as expected considering we left a storybook local filled with loving family and nights as cool as 55 degrees... and came back to 102 degrees+ temperatures, no family and work. All that aside, it really is great to be back to the life we've made for ourselves, great friends and Interior Mexican tacos. Hattie-Dog took it the hardest, at GG and Pop's house in Waynesville she had her own pond in the mountains and was surrounded by some of the dog-lovingest people you could meet. She honestly moped for three days and hardly touched her food.

There were so many great moments during our almost 3 week long trip to Jacksonville, FL and up through NC, I'm really at a loss of where to begin, blog-wise. For the most part I think I'm going to have to refer to the "Sylvie's First Trip Photo Album" I really hope to make soon, so Sylvie, if one day you're reading this entry, check that out for details. If you can't find it, I may never have gotten around to making a physical copy, so go ahead and check the Flickr page, I'm sure I'll manage to get pictures there soon!

I'm putting up one picture tonight, but the thoughts on my mind tonight are of little Pancake herself, and how absolutely amazing she has become. At 11.25 months she is truly becoming a little person. Her eyebrows express a range of emotion as varied as a rainbow. The other day I caught her watching as I rubbed lotion on my hands. She copied my hand movements so precisely! I gave her a little dab of lotion and she promptly rubbed in into her own palm using every direction, just like I do. She is showing more and more of a tendency towards standing alone and walking, which is fascinating to watch. She just had a check-up at the doctor, and is on the small side - 25% in weight and 25% percent in height but 75% in head size! She has her daddy's smart noggin.

Today we did our grocery shopping at Central Market (always a madhouse on Sundays, but still fun). She was very tired after playing on CM's playground and shopping. I was so excited at the playground to see that Pancake remembered her lesson from Granddad Jeff - she turned around backwards to go down the jungle gym steps! We played for a while and then went for groceries... by the time Dad got his luncheon meat she had almost lost all composure. I took her to the bathroom to nurse (still BF, hooray!), and when we came out and found Dad, she wrapped her little arm around my neck, which she has never done before! I made funny little sounds in her ear, and she hugged my neck harder and giggled into my face! I was able to keep this interaction going for at least 15 minutes, it was absolutely wonderful and completely out of the ordinary. She would laugh out loud and kick her legs and hug me harder - so much fun! That much fun apparently comes at a high cost... shortly after all the kicking and cuddling and laughing she threw up all over herself. Editor's Note: For any concerned folk out there, she is fine now and had a great evening playing with Dad.

I'll add more as I think of it, but she is just the sweetest most amazing little girl. Here's a quick video from Thursday, I made Alsatian Onion Pie and we had a rainshower. Rain is so rare here I stopped the baking, threw open the kitchen window and we enjoyed the sound! FYI, she's rubbing avocado into her hands like she does lotion. uh oh.

do cloth flowers on a bib smell as sweet?

Video from around the house- Dad comes home for lunch at the end.

other people's babies fall asleep on, say, the couch sometimes.

you however pancake, do not. from day one, you wanted to spread your limbs and get around all on your own, you didn't cuddle much and never fell asleep unless it was absolutely necessary. now that you can crawl (or push your wagon) to where you'd like, you are much happier! i sense more peace in you than before. sometimes now, if i'm holding you while you're munching on a piece of banana or holding your dolly, you'll lean into me and cuddle a bit. those brief seconds are some of my all-time favorite life moments!

other great moments lately have been between you and dad, he has finally stopped being "second in command" in your eyes. you and he have had some good time to bond lately, and it has made all the difference. when i tell you we're going home to see dad or when he walks in the front door -- your eyes get big, your mouth goes agape and then you laugh out loud. these past few days your speech almost exclusively alternates between "duck duck duck" and "dad dad dad". oh - and "het het het" (hattie).

these are the words you can say and understand:
mama
dog
dada (lately dad)
light
hattie
duck
cat
hattie-dog (she's said "attie-doc" three times, i think that counts
book
nana
dolly
hi
hey
yeah
wawa
lilla (which is "little gorilla", one of her favorite books)

you also do a swell imitation of one of hattie's resounding barks.

you quickly became a mad woman with your push-wagon, and love speed walking with it. you love trying to climb things you shouldn't, and often we find you playing at aunt dj's keyboard, standing on one leg with the other extended out in the air. yesterday you clapped, officially, and you have done so off and on today as well. it's really cute and you become very proud of yourself. i can only imagine how exciting it is to pull your duck's string to get the "quack quack" noise, get proud of yourself for doing so, clap with pride, and then get even MORE proud of yourself for clapping! big stuff here.

checking for sodium lauryl sulfate


guess it's ok

New Push Wagon!

Grandma sent pancake this adorable wagon off her wish list - i knew she was VERY ready for this type of toy! She has been pushing the keyboard Aunt DJ sent all around the house (on her knees, while she plays, it's cute) for the past week. I figured she could push itthe wagon on her knees until she was comfortable enough to stand at it - well check this out! this is in three parts, you can see Pancake explore her new toy for the first time :)

baby yanks chain

ryan taught her to pull the string :) she says duck, too. ducks (both real and toy) are her current favorite thing.

events

Pancake, you have had a busy day. When you woke up from your first nap, you actually sat pleasantly in your highchair and ate a whole package of peas! towards the end of the meal, you looked up at Hattie-Dog standing at the side door, and said (loudly, I might add) "ATTIE... ... DOC!" Now, the other day you said "Hattie" which I thought was cool, but this is TWO whole words! Together! And you came pretty darn close to saying Hattie-Dog perfectly so GOOD JOB!

Tonight we had our first enjoyable meal as a family around the table. Dad and I ate our meals with your highchair in-between us, and I fed you bite size finger food which you ate ALL of. Most importantly, you stayed entertained our whole meal (normally you cry the whole time we eat and one of us ends up holding you) while feeding yourself. I am pretty sure baby food is just about out the window, its too much of a hassle! Next time your Dad and I are going to try to remember what it is like to eat sloooowwwwllly and maybe not scarf everything down in 5 seconds. Wouldn't that be fun? Here was tonight's menu:

A small handful of organic blueberries, cut into half so you could taste them immediately.
Two large banana chunks which you eat like candybars.
Bits of vegetarian "Quorn" chicken patties
Half a piece of toast torn into bite-size pieces
Cubes of organic Monterey Jack Cheese - your absolute favorite!

I was especially proud that you returned for more blueberries after you had cheese. Good girl.



On a sad note, A music icon from my generation died today. Michael Jackson was a very talented man who worked with some of the very best industry people to make just about the best recordings of my early childhood. He was a strange man who no one will ever fully understand, but he left behind some terrific tunes that undoubtedly you will hear throughout your lifetime. I had this memory earlier:

I was three and hanging out with the next door neighbor, Kimberly who was five. She asked me if I had any crushes, I shook my head no. "you don't have a crush on Michael Jackson?" she asked. A vague memory of a man illuminated in foggy darkness came to mind. "no..." I said. She then made me follow her from her front steps to her livingroom where she momentarily fiddled with the tape player, and I heard the opening beats of Billie Jean for the very first time. We listened to the song all the way through once, and then quietly we rewound the cassette and listened to it again and again and again.

Tornado! Pox!

Ok, it really wasn't all that dramatic, and the "Pox" was really Roseola which is a common infant virus. But the two combined made for an interesting night!

About two weeks ago, after a fun video chat with Pancake's family, I took her to the pediatrician for her scheduled vaccination appointment. I knew she was running a low fever which I thought was from teething, but I was very surprised when they took her fever seriously and turned her down for the vaccination. Home we went, where Pancake proceeded to get fussier and more and more HOT. I took her temp around 7pm and it was 103.5! We phoned the on-call nurse, was told us to wait it out and apply tylenol, and we did what we could to make little P more comfortable.

We had been watching a storm roll in on the news, but were very surprise when they issued a tornado warning for central austin - which NEVER gets the tornado action of it's surrounding towns. Sure enough, after a few minutes, someone had spotted a funnel just a few streets past our neighborhood! Ryan, sick Pancake, Hattie-dog and I all holed up in the master bathroom and put our mattress over the door... now that baby is here I've found that I almost always weigh on the side of precaution. We stood in the bathroom (dog on leash - quiet, sick baby in arm - amazingly quiet) for an hour until the storm passed (two other twister sightings, all around us). We put the bed back together and put P down for the night with a little dose of tylenol.

The next day, her fever was back so away we went to the pediatrician! They did a foot prick blood test and a nose swab which both came back a little unusual, and since she didn't have any symptoms other than high fever, we all began to get worried. They ended up taking blood big-girl style :( and then took a urine sample with a CATHETER while I held her down, poor baby! It was rough on everyone involved. Afterwards I said "well, at least she'll nap well today" and the nurse said "yeah, I need to go home early and take a nap myself!" She received one more shot - a dose of antibiotics in case she had a bacterial infection, and two straight hours of attention after she arrived, we went home. NOT a fun day for Mom.

So, long story short, Pancake had the fever for two more days, we got the results back of the blood and urine tests (negative), and on the fourth day she broke out in a rash all over her torso. I don't have an official diagnosis but it was textbook Roseola rash and nothing else makes sense so that's what I'm going with. She cheered right up and had several days of recovery before her Grammie and Uncle Justin arrived, horray!

Here are a few quick photos to tide you over...

But still to come, stories detailing Aunt Grace's Visit, Pancake's recent bout with Roseola, and Roxann & Justin's visit.

Last month's shopping trip to Ikea:


She loved playing on the floor models :)


Two sleeping pictures. The first is the only time she has fallen asleep in her stroller! Her sun hat only LOOKS like a bonnet.


Asleep in her crib. Sherri - Pancake and Ariel have the same doll!

Banner Weekend

Well, my first attempt at a yeast bread is hopefully rising in the kitchen, which should conclude two great days. Saturday Ryan saw "Up" while Sylvie, Hattie-dog and I slept in. Once he was home, we took Hattie swimming at the park and picked up a Pizza on the way home. FYI - if you live in Austin and are near a Saccone's Pizza - the "Uncle Tom" is so so so good; Sliced sausage, onions, green pepper and fresh basil on thin crust with GREAT cheese... I digress.

We're on the 6th season of West Wing on DVD, so we rounded out Saturday night with a little White House fun. I fell asleep early, slept for an hour and subsequently didn't get back to sleep until 4am. However, Sylvie went to sleep at 9pm and woke up at 7am! I think I couldn't sleep because I was expecting her middle of the night feeding. Hopefully this begins a trend of 10 consecutive hours of sleep.

Yesterday I noticed a tiny crater in Sylvie's lower gum - with what looks like tiny bits of white sticking out - so she may be cutting her first tooth. She has been extra cranky during her already difficult down times, ie in the highchair, in the exersaucer, being held, etc. If she's crawling or standing, she's still pretty darn happy.

Today we woke up, had a good morning, and met up with our friends Kimberly, Colby, and their terrific kids. They showed us a section of the San Gabriel River we hadn't seen before; a nice hike along the mostly dry rocky riverbed to some scenic waterholes. This area of the river is most well known for the University of Texas' excavation of Dinosaur Footprints! You can watch someone else's video footage of the same prints here: Acrocanthosaurus Dinosaur Footprints .

The waterholes were the main attraction for us, it was great to find a secluded swimming/wading spot. Kimberly and Colby's kids are the sweetest ever, they had a lot of fun with Hattie who loved all the attention. Early on, I was talking to Kimberly while holding Sylvie as she sat in the water. Syl took in all the sights from under her large brimmed sun hat, and was being very still. Suddenly though, something triggered my developing Mom radar. I picked Sylvie up to look at her mouth, which had little specks of watery-dirt around it. "Sylvie did you just EAT A ROCK?!" I fished my finger in her mouth and out popped 3 large pebbles! Neither Kimberly or I had noticed a thing. Sylvie just smiled smugly.



In addition to rock lovin, Sylvie adored and was fearless in the water. When I waded out with her, she became very vocal, giggly, and smiley. I held her in the water, up to her shoulders and "swam" her around while she kicked her arms and legs, squealing with happiness! Even after Sylvie had tired, she determinedly continued to flap her appendages while huffing and puffing... really trying to savor every empowering moment of such fluid mobility. Must be great after 8 months of feeling trapped in your own body!

On our hike back to the car, Ryan carried Sylvie in the AWESOME Ergo Carrier Warren & Diana got us. She was so tired she actually fell asleep snuggled up next to him for the first time! She has only done that once with me, so it was a great moment. I forgot the camera, but luckily Kimberley took some great photographs while we were there. Sylvie likes K a lot and gives smiles freely:) Thanks Kimberly, for the pictures!

"UNC Temp of the Month" Umbrella Courtesy of Aunt Grace

Well, its 1am and I just took two piping hot doughy lumps out of the oven. Must have overheated the yeast. I'll try again tomorrow :)

Pancake Inside the Movie Theater

Yesterday Pancake saw her first film in the theater - Pixar's UP! We went to the Alamo Drafthouse Theater's Baby Day (Tuesdays, the 12pm showing), and I really had no idea what to expect from her. I couldn't remember if I'd ever held her for a straight hour and a half! It was apparently a busy Baby Day because the Alamo Staff was scrambling around and the theater was pretty full. Pancake hadn't taken a nap yet, so I assumed I could nurse her to sleep and was crossing my fingers she'd be able to stay that way. That idea went quickly out the window because once we sat down was only interested in eagle-eyeing all the other babies. She watched the movie a little bit, but mainly she spent her time using me as a human office chair, whirling around to face whatever direction a baby had made a noise. This pretty much kept her busy for the full length of the movie, so score 1 for inquisitive babies!

Pancake loved the trailer for Ice Age 3 and squealed at many of the close-ups of UP's main character. She LOVED the dogs, and said "Doc" (can't quite get that "g" sound) several times. She also loved the balloons, of course! She almost became upset during the thunder/lightening sequence, but I was able to talk her out of it. I hope I'm not giving too much away when I say that she seemed to pick up on the uplifting atmosphere at the end of the film - the last 15 or so minutes she spent giving me kisses (translation, putting her mouth over my cheek or nose and drooling) and outright laughing. It was super adorable and she was by far the best behaved and happiest baby there... I'm just saying is all.

Around 7pm we went for a family walk and caught the light at the most beautiful time. Ryan stopped to adjust the baby and I made him let me take their picture with the Iphone:

"hi!"

Today has been a great day.I've been rearranging Pancake's room to accommodate the new bookcase we got her, and everything is coming together wonderfully! This afternoon, as I was buckling P into her carseat, I looked up and noticed (finally) my missing cellphone stuck behind the right rear seat's headrest. THEN we had a great lunch at Thundercloud with Dad, and Pancake looked adorable in purple overalls from Roxann's friend kind friend Tina. All of those events are good, but what happened next is even better!

On the way home I stopped to pump gas (ech) and rolled the windows down for Pancake. as I approached the car with the pump in my hand, I looked at her through the window, and her hand was extended towards me. Then I looked at her little fingers, and noticed they were OPENING AND CLOSING. AT me! Pancake was WAVING TO ME! I quickly started babbling like an idiot - "HI! THAT IS SO GOOD BABY!" and waving back. The whole time my gas tank was filling up, I would wave, and she would wave her little fingers back at me. It was wonderful, so exciting, and it caused me to buy 10 more dollars of gas than I wanted.

I'll take a picture of her once she wakes from her nap to add to this entry, just to commemorate the event :)
Better yet - click the arrow button below to play a video. Please forgive my embarrassing overexcitement.

her first time attending a birthday party!

Sylvie attended her adorable friend Silas' first birthday back on 5/4, and had a great time! The theme of the party was "The Point", a recording and movie by Harry Nilsson, quite possibly the best birthday theme ever. Silas' adults had made some great decorations! We all had a fun time.

baby decides cupcakes are just fine

at "hey cupcake" in north central austin, on a rainy sunday. thats me with sticker shock over the cupcakes prices! you can tell when ryan has taken a phono with his iphone, he gets all fancy with an old-fashioned filter.

mother's day!

I had a great day, myself, ryan and sylvie really treated me right. I'll write more about that later, but here is a video we made for GRANDMOTHERS! sylvie is blessed to have some of the best family ever, and if you're looking at grandmothers hers really do take the cake.

Happy Mother's Day to the best Grandmother ever! from jennifer anderson on Vimeo.

calm photo of otherwise raucous baby!

ya know that previous video where it takes over 30 seconds for sylvie to pull herself to a stand in her crib? HA! that lasted about, well one night. ever since that night she ONLY stands in her crib, she stands and screams when she should be snuggling and sleeping! it takes her at least an hour to go down for her naps. bedtime is a little better, but gee whiz. its amazing how it works, they figure out a new trick and never look back! she could care less about crawling (altho yesterday she began crawling for real - with her stomach off the ground), crawling is simply a device to get from one piece of furniture to another so she can pull herself into a stand. i'm amazed at how long she'll stand while holding onto the bars of her "cage" (play yard), she'll stand for over 20 minutes no problem, and she can move up and down the bars of the play yard and her crib!

on an easier note sylvie and i went to a demo music class last week at heartsong music. it was really fun and definitely something we'll sign up for after our trip back east. she LOVED the teacher and watched in awe as the teacher played guitar in a circle around the room. after a while she got comfortable and even crawled out to the center of the circle of people! she played sticks, bells and a drum, and the process of hitting something to make a sound definitely permeated her little brain, she's tried to mimic it at home since.

here's a little home video of pancake at the piano:

Lil' jailbird standing up and saying Da-Da!

I can't believe how rapidly she is changing, everyday is a new development. Check out the video! 7 months 3 weeks.

once ryan came home from work, we shot her pulling to a stand in her crib

new things this week

it's only wednesday, but you've already had some cool milestones this week, sylvie!

on sunday night you were playing in your excersaucer (not under it, this time), when we noticed you were actually playing - as in pretending, with your little toys! you had the blue flower in one hand and a little fabric ball with a jingle bell in the other hand, and you were having a little conversation between them! 

monday you began LOOKING at your books, not just wanting to eat them. this has been happening slowly over the last week or so (i think aunt grace's visit and the books she brought had a lot to do with it) but it is really catching on now. you even seemed to be talking to your dr. suess alphabet book, either that or else reading it to yourself while playing on the floor.

you say dada all the time now, part of the time you are trying to say "dog" (which comes out more like "deh!") and part of the time you are saying dad. when we ask you "sylvie, where is the dog?" you look at hattie! i just bought a baby sign language book and am still figuring that out.

this past month you have been noticing all the decorative elements of your nursery. you smile and jump at the sight of your lanterns, the green stripes on your wall, the butterfly wall hooks and the ribbons that hang from your shelf! this is not something i expected to happen so it has a big pay off, i can't believe all our ideas and hard work (thanks again roxann and jeff for the stripes) have impressed you!

i don't actually know if this is a milestone or i've just been lucky, but it seems like your new involvement in playing must be giving you confidence or distracting you. yesterday and today you haven't minded when i walked out of your sight! this is a big deal for me because it means i can do things like refill my coffee cup (or make coffee, for that matter) without breaking your little heart. hooray!

also not a milestone, but you still respond to music. this morning we are decidedly NOT watching ellen and instead we are listening to beethoven. you are facinated by music coming from our wooden crosley record player/cd player. you love touching the fabric covered speakers and you can't stop smiling! any time someone sings or plays an instrument on television you stop what you're doing to watch and smile... and i'll let aunt grace tell you about your favorite jam...

monday

we had a productive day today, your dad and i settled everything with the insurance company regaurding our hail-totaled car, and you helped me pick out a bird house! you smiled big a this one, which is a birdhouse within a birdhouse. are you a white-picket-fence kinda girl?

Dad

Aunt Grace has been visiting, Sylvie, and you have begun to chatter up a storm! Last night we strung lights around the picnic table and your dad carried you up and down the chord, showing you all the sparkles. You must have thought it was pretty cool, because this morning at your changing table, you pulled yourself up to the windowsill, looked at the lights (I forgot and left them plugged in all night), and said "Da-da!"

April is a Month Packed with a Punch.

This is something you are going to recognize as you get older, Sylvie. Amongst other April traditions like easter, this month also houses the birthday of your Father, Granddaddy, Aunt Heather, Aunt DJ, Great-Grandma-Mamaw, Auntie Sarah, and it was the birthday of your Great Grandfather David Ernest Bayer. In addition to all those wonderful Birthday celebrations, your Father and I chose to get married on April 24th, 2004. 

Tomorrow will be your Father and I's fifth year wedding anniversary. He and I always knew we wanted children, and I always secretly hoped to have at least one daughter, but creating you and having you in our lives is a bigger gift than either of us could have imagined. These past seven months have been unlike anything I've ever experienced - our initial infatuation with you and the shock of taking care of a whole little being, getting settled in as a family while trying to balance your care and work from home, and watching and helping as you happily reach each amazing milestone - life with Sylvie Wren has been non-stop and full of beauty. 

I have tried my best to document many of those beautiful moments through photographs for all your family and friends who live far away. This April will have brought you two great visits - your Grammie and Grandpop just left (you had SO much fun! It broke my heart that you can't have their entertainment every day, but you always have their love), and tomorrow Aunt Grace gets to meet you for the first time! She is very excited to see you and hopes that you like her as much as she loves you... uh yeah! As good as I have been about putting your photos online for all your family to see, I have been equally bad about posting here on your blog. I have started keeping notes of all my favorite moments with you these past months, and I hope to now write about some of them while adding entries about new experiences. We'll see!

Last year, at the beginning of April 2008, I took you (in my belly, of course) to Naples Florida to visit your Grandad, Aunt Amanda, Aunt Angelina and your Great Grandma Mamalu. As I'm sure you know by the time you read this, your Dad can worry a great deal about you and this trip was no exception; it was hard for him to let his little Pancake travel. He knew how important it was for me to go, and that trip turned out to be your only visit with Mamalu, which I will always treasure. Your Grandad had heated up his pool for our visit, and one afternoon you and I swam and floated around, talking sincerely about family with Mamalu while she sat on a patio chair. It was the type of quiet chat she and I always shared when we were together, and I look forward to sharing moments like that with you.

This April you got what you wanted most and became mobile. You first crawled for real on April 10th in my office while I was working. It was beautiful! In the video I am so excited that my laugh sounds choke-y from trying to maintain my composure; I thought I might explode with pride! Yesterday while I was working at my computer I watched you crawl off your play-rug, which is what you often do to reach the cables under my desk. You had something else in mind this time, because instead of heading under my feet you moved to the doorway. You waited there a while, and then I watched as my little girl started her first trip down the hallway. It didn't take you long, you bravely conquered the hallway and made your way to the livingroom. You were headed into the diningroom when you looked back and somehow found eye contact with me; your face lit up with it's famous infectious grin and you decided to head back and see your ol' Mom! Once you made it to my feet and shared a few laughs, you noticed Hattie-dog and once again traversed the hallway to the livingroom, at which point I had to call your Grandma and let her know just how silly and amazing you are. You crack me up! I wish everyone we love could see these special moments as I see them. April 2009 has been wonderful, and it isn't even over!

Anyway, Thank you, Thank you Sylvie for being the most awe-inspiring and beautiful creature. I knew I would love you, but had no idea how much I would LOVE being a Mom to you. I look forward to the day when those words hit home with you, when my little girl gets to experience the love of being a Mother. I am so grateful your Dad and I are here to help you along the way.  :)

 

happy new year!

Ryan, Sylvie and I had a nice get together at the house this evening. We were able to catch up with friends and ryan tried out his new smoker - he even smoked chocolate! Pete and Mary brought their dog Kubrick so Hattie had some company as well. 

Sylvie's new years eve celebration was marked by the second day of concerning behavior (she simply won't nap and doesn't want to be put down), a quick trip to the doctor (apparently everything is fine, so this may be some sort of phase) and a beautiful night of 12 hours of sleep (waking up twice to be fed). We're keeping an eye on the situation.

When Sylvie isn't being a grumpy-guss she is getting more cute by the second. She uses her hands much more now and sometimes laughs out loud at our lame jokes! The activity Gym Grandma Terri got her has already gone a long way to assist in mobility, she is getting better at tummy-time and rolls onto her side. I'll need to commit to a bumper soon (I haven't found one I like yet) because she has begun to scoot her body until her head hits the bars of her crib! 

I'll post some pics or video tomorrow morning, in the meantime I better take advantage of the sleeping baby to sleep myself! Night 2009!

Phew!

Well, the turkey is in the oven and it is time for the traditional "turkey cookin'" Thanksgiving day lull. Time to get the kitchen straightend up, take our showers and finish any last minute cleaning. Following the national dog show this year is Miracle on 34th street, which I can't wait to share with Sylvie when she's old enough.

I'm trying last year's turkey for the second time, The stuffing is extra special - white & cornbread, chorizo sausage, garnet yams, plantains, tomatillos... I concocted it thinking I would enter a Turkey recipe contest but never got around to submitting it! The recipe sounds very tex-mex, but it ends up with a very traditional flavor and extra goodness :)

On this special day my landlord deserves a shout out - I tried to put the turkey in earlier, but imagine my surprise to find our oven not working! Mr. W. came right over, did a little tinkering, and patiently waited for the Turkey Gods to work their magic and fix the oven. Right when he was apologizing and hoping we didn't have a lot of guests for dinner, it kicked back on! He said it's time to replace it, and the prospect of a new oven is VERY exciting. Thanks Mr. Landlord, for the speedy arrival - crisis averted! Here's a pic of the "Caloric" Oven mid Thanksgiving prep-panic:

As promised in my email, here are the outtakes from Sylvie's Thanksgiving Day photo shoot. It was hard to pick just one, and some of these are pretty silly. Enjoy!

PS - Leyla - if you read this, I want pregnancy pics!

OK, that first one was really more "sweet" than silly... she is very precious.

Reason #10 to Have a Dog Before a Baby:

Clipping a newborn  baby's fingernails for the first time can feel VERY intimidating. Luckily, if you've already been responsible for clipping, or at least trying to trim a grown dog's nails, it turns out that infant nail clipping is a walk in the park! Hah hah walk in the park.

SHE'S HERE!

Sylvie Wren Anderson arrived two weeks early on September 21st, 2008 at 6:46 Am. She weighed 7 lbs, 15 oz and is ceaselessly amazing. Here's a quick picture, but I will be putting up more soon. Thank you all for all your great thoughts, we appreciate every one!

baby furniture!

The stuffed woodchuck on the left was a baby shower gift from my coworker Megan! More pics to come from that one. 

This Saturday we assembled Pancake's crib. It is beautiful and so classic! I thought we'd go with a traditional Jenny-Lind crib, but couldn't resist this one by Young America when Ryan's mom offered to help us during USA Baby's 50% off sale. It is made incredibly well and I love the old-school spindles :) We don't have a crib mattress yet, but I tried to lay out the sheets to see how they'd look.

This is one of the few pictures I can stand of myself at 37 weeks pregnant. 

We finally found the right fabric to make Pancake's curtains -  it's from a great store in South Austin called Craft-O-Rama. 

Last week we had a great mail day - Onesies I'd ordered from Mini Boden arrived and we also had a surprise package from Ryan's Aunt! She sent two parenting books I can't wait to read. I've about had it with pregnancy books and can't wait to move onto child-raisin'.  Speaking of, I think I had my first Braxton Hicks contractions today - very exciting. 

If you want to see more photos, including an exasperated photo of me from the dog park today, check out my Flickr account. It's crazy to look back at earlier photos where I thought I looked pregnant - ha!

At the Powerhouse Studio Shower on Saturday, my boss, Frank came up with this little gem via Photoshop. A preview of what the Bayer/Anderson Genes will look like!

Long Day

Today was my 36 week check-up. I was hoping to have an internal exam where the doc said "WOW! you're much further along than we thought! you're going to have this baby very soon!"

But it appears I don't get a cervical exam until 38 weeks. She was, however, very concerned about the manatee that has become my right foot and sent me to a radiology clinic right away - for an ultrasound to make sure there were no blood clots. Slightly irritating to me, since the contrast of swollen left foot to INSANELY swollen right foot is something I've mentioned at my last 3 appointments. Turns out there is no clot. The other option she gave me is that my uterus is pushed more to one side preventing normal blood flow. I have been relatively free of mood swings during my pregnancy, but today came close to getting to me. The past two months of weird nerve damage to my diaphram and subsequent back spasms have made sitting and working at the studio very hard. I'd like the baby out, now! I keep reminding myself that I need to at least wait until we buy our carseat and until after the baby shower my office rescheduled for this weekend. Hm. Saturday is also when we might get that tropical storm...

I have some cute pictures of baby things I want to post here later tonight - I'll do that soon! Oh and on a great note, our crib and dresser are being delivered on Friday! I'm so excited.

One month to go!

Stats:

Weeks pregnant: 35.5

Mobility: 65%

Overall Mental Stamina: 70%

Basic Attention Span: 12%

Percentage of Remaining Ankles: -36%

MAJOR Baby-Having Requirements That Still Need to be Taken Care of: 5

Confusion Level of Family Dog: 2% (Dad has done a great job, she has no idea the changes about to take place!)

Ability to manage weird un-managable upper back and rib pain & numbness: 85% - I'm pretty proud!

So yes, my ankles, especially the right one, are the size of sausages and puff out around the places where my foot bends. Its VERY pretty. I'm chalking it up to the Texas August heat, but to be honest, even if I lie with my feet above my heart for hours in the air conditioning, it's not any better.

We still need to find our pediatrician, write out the birth plan, pack the hospital bag, assemble the crib, and buy (and have installed) our car seat. Everything else that needs to be done can be moved to the back-burner. Luckily my best friend's lovely mother sent us a beautiful bassinet, so we have a place to store the wee-one until we finish off the nursery. I'm guessing we'll keep her in our room, in the bassinet, for the first couple months. Once she's sleeping in the crib, we'll be able to move the bassinet to the livingroom and other housey areas too, during the day.

On a lighter note, Tuesday I made these terrific chocolate chip cookies from Martha Stewart. The only alterations I made were using light brown sugar, adding an additional 2 teaspoons of chocolate extract to the batter, and using Ghiradelli's 60% Cacao Bittersweet Baking Chips. After the first two trays came out burnt, I moved my oven rack back to the middle and just baked one tray at a time instead of doing the top/bottom rack alternations. That probably works if you have a fabulous oven but mine is called the "Caloric" circa 1978 and I still haven't replaced my broken timer... simple is just better in this instance. The cookies did everything they promised - they are thin, crunchy and slightly chewy like caramel, just the way I like 'em! I forgot to take a picture until this morning and snapped a cameraphone image before the last 1.25 dissapeared.

More to come!