It's Offical! She is a Thumb Sucker!

Notice the pacifier right next to her face. Sometimes we check on her and she has the pacifer and thumb in her mouth.

Good thing she is so adorable!

Laughing

Here is the long awaited video of Annalise laughing. It accomplishes two purposes: first, it shows how adorable Annalise looks and sounds when she is laughing; second, it shows that Troy is a great dad and very cute with her.

Stages

"Treasure every moment, because children grow up so quickly" is a piece of advice a new parent hears many times. I have only been a parent for four months, but I am already appreciating the advice. She has changed so much in such a short amount of time. I read an article in a magazine that said everything is a stage. Sometimes the stages are sweet and you wish they would last forever; and sometimes the stages are awful, so they feel like they last forever.

I'm hoping this blog will help me remember the sweet stages, and look back to laugh at the hard stages. Annalise has already out grown some things that I miss. For example, she used to just mold to whoever was holding her. She was happiest sleeping on someone and listening to their heart beat. Now she is too busy looking around to cuddle; and getting her to sleep anywhere but her crib is difficult.

Currently, she is at a very fun stage. She is more alert and interactive. She is grabbing toys and trying to cram them in her mouth. Then when they don't fit in a satisfactory way she gets very frustrated, which I find delightfully funny (although I do help her, eventually).

Annalise loves to chomp on her toes. Here it is for those of you who have not seen it already on Facebook.

Annalise can keep herself occupied for long periods of time just blowing raspberries. Who knew that as parents we would glow with pride because our child is a world class bubble blower?

She has this adorable smile. My favorite is when she does this open mouth grin. Often she is so excited that she lunges forward with her mouth open in a wide smile. It is so cute. We haven't been very successful catching it on camera, but here is a half smile.

I love when she laughs hysterically. Troy and I will do just about anything if it will set her off laughing. We never know what will tickle her funny bone and no stunt works twice, but when she laughs she does it with gusto. It is happening more and more often, so we can only hope that this stage will continue for a long time. I will post a video of it soon.