11 Months

Baby girl turned 11 months old on 7/31 while we were in Kauai (more on that in a later post)! I can't believe we will have a one year old at the end of this month! The picture above was taken at Queen's Bath in Kauai.  I looked at several little stores and markets for a dress for her. I finally found this one at the Wal Mart in Lihue. 

I repurposed my shirt (below) into a little dress for Annika. It is so fun to see it on her. She is a cutie. 

It seems that Annika can hardly hold still these days.  She is so squirmy! especially at church. She still crawls over and lays her head on my chest often.  I love that. She is a precious baby.  I really think she has an extra special spirit.  Maybe everyone thinks that about their babies.  But, I think there is something different about her.  I think she was handpicked to come when she did.  She brings such incredible joy to our family. Her two-toothed grin and scrunched up nose makes us all smile.

Annika is sleeping great! She sleeps from 8 to 6 or 6:30 every day and then goes back to sleep after I feed her until 8 or 8:30. I am still nursing her in the morning and before bed.  She finally started taking bottles a few weeks ago, which has been great.  She has two bottles during the day. She is becoming more and more interested in eating what we're having instead of her bland baby food.  I am honestly impressed that she has liked baby food this long. She has loved cantaloupe, raspberries, and cherries this summer!

Annika has recently fallen in love with bath time.  She has even cried when I took her out several times this week. We added bath time to her night routine a few weeks ago. We used to do morning baths. She was sick (we think with roseola) a few weeks ago and we just started doing a bath every night to cool her down and hopefully relax her for the night.  It just stuck and we both like it. She loves to splash, suck on the ducks bill, and scoot her little bum all around the tub.  It's pretty cute to watch. It makes us laugh. 

Annika is a pro at crawling and pulling herself up onto everything.  When she really wants something, she makes a panting noise while she is crawling to it. She is getting better at cruising along furniture.  And her balance is definitely improving.  She has tried standing without holding on to anything a few times. She learns so much every day.  A few days ago she discovered that she can clap her feet together herself. She loves to do that while I sing pat-a-cake. She also plays peek-a-boo by putting her hand anywhere on her face/head.  It is so cute to watch and hear her laugh at these little games. She also can give high five and head butts. And she knows where her head is when we ask.  She gives OPEN mouth kisses on my cheek when I pull her close and ask for kisses. She also has mimicked us several times when we cough.  Her little fake cough is pretty adorable.  Last week she started coughing like grandpa Beus during the Sacrament.

She loves dogs (we're working on "what does a dog say?"), grandpa Scott's glasses (it's the first thing she goes for when he picks her up), drinking water from a sippy cup, dancing in the mirror (never gets old), crawling away when I'm changing her on the floor, reading board books (she loves to turn the pages.  She has a ABC book with real life pictures that she could look at for 15 minutes by herself- great for church), cheerios, goldfish crackers, cheese, crawling all over mom and dad on the floor, going for walks, playing the piano, dancing to music (she will bounce up and down and shake her bum when she is standing up next to something. she really likes "go Annika, it's your birthday, we're gonna party like it's your birthday." and she dances with her hands when she is sitting or being held. cutest thing ever.), watching dad mow the lawn through the window, yelling "dada" (a new favorite), putting her hand in momma's glass of water, walking around while we hold her hands, pulling things off shelves and out of baskets (she found the kleenex box for the first time a few days ago), crawling to what she wants, swinging at Pam's Playground.

This girl is loved!