Finger Lickin' Good... Y'all

Piggybacking on the previous post, we've begun routinely feeding Anna solid food, but here was her first Sweet Potato experience - caught on film!  

Enjoy:

Anna tries sweet potatoes

As Anna continues to get ever bigger, we realize it's time for her to start eating 'solid' food... for her first try we went with Sweet Potatoes (or at least the baby food version). At first, it's the surprise of something sweet:

As we continue on, she warms up to the idea... notice we've moved on to the nose area. Things are fairly smooth at this point:
Next, we start to get weird looks like, "wait a minute, this is not milk in orange puree form... it is something different and I am skeptical:"
But in the end, she realizes that it ain't so bad.... in fact it's finger-licking good!

J & J lookin' out for out little ones

I love The Onion.


In a recent article by alert Onion reporters, we learn that Johnson & Johnson has developed a new product to aid parents in the arduous endeavour of preparing our little ones for the realities of the road ahead.

Favorite lines from the article, though I highly recommend you read the whole thing for maximum side-splitting:

• Available in an easy-to-find-and-open bottle, the new shampoo is also guaranteed to give children a "healthy dose of reality."


• After rigorous product testing at the company's research headquarters in New Jersey, the new "Nothing But Tears" shampoo was found to give newborns up to three times greater resilience than the leading competitor, as well as a stronger grasp on the crushing disappointment that is life. In addition, when combined with Johnson & Johnson's new line of bleach-based conditioners, the shampoo resulted in noticeably thicker skin after only six uses.


• In recent years, a growing number of parents have begun looking for ways to raise more adequately jaded toddlers, and Johnson & Johnson is not the first company to respond to the rising demand. In 2003, Fisher-Price unveiled a new adventure play set containing 85 easy-to-choke-on pieces, and in 2006, the Walt Disney Company introduced an interactive DVD entitled Baby's First Brush With A Cruel And Unforgiving World.

Because we're such givers

Just thought we'd share a little cuteness, since we seem to have plenty to go around.

Miss Violet is here giving Anna a few pointers on acheiving maximum cuteness.

Smile for the birdie!
Uh, remember when she couldn't reach these?

Anna and GrampAllen!

Just wanted to share a couple of moments of Anna and her GrampAllen!

Oh, Brother Part II

As a follow up to the post on Thomas & Elizabeth's blog, I thought I would share a story.  

As I'm in the process of transferring my video footage over to my computer, I stumble upon a quick few seconds of my brother making an independent film of his face.  "Surely they'll never notice it," thinks Thomas as he covertly 'borrows' the camera when no one is around.  He proceeds to shoot this critically acclaimed masterpiece:

So at this point, he begins to think, "Actually, I can't wait for them to find it... what a hoot!"

Well, we found it... and we've taken this small independent film and made it a ridiculously huge summer blockbuster extravaganza.  Ladies and gentlemen, This Is My Brother!

Now, that's a hoot.

Omi vs. Dada

As Anna was coming into her own as a living, breathing and speaking human, Angie (Omi) and I (Dada) unknowingly began a bit of a rivalry to see whose name Anna would say first... again, this was a couple of months ago, but thought I'd share.

Enjoy!  (more video on the way in the next few days).

Video!

So, Allen and Angie got me a video camera for my birthday and I have been shooting video here and there for the past 4 months or so... I have some videos to post, as it as taken me a while to transfer, edit and post them, so expect Video Fever happening over the next few posts.

For our first installment, which is the most recent, ironically, we attempted our hand at spoon-feeding Anna some cereal... the video speaks for itself, so here you go:

beach week!

Since my mom and Allen were off to the Keys for the week, we took the opportunity to take over the house for Elizabeth's big THREE-OH!!! We headed down to Pensies on Wednesday night so that we were ready to hit the beach first thing Thursday morning. Neil came over from NOLA to meet Miss Anna for the first time, and brought her boyfriends, Sully and Jack (that's Jack-Jack, spoken very quickly ala The Incredibles). I must admit that I am now realizing that I was HORRIBLY IRRESPONSIBLE about taking pictures, so I'm hoping between the ones Eli has sent and the ones Neil has taken, we can consider the trip relatively well documented.

Too cool for school

Carter and Sully
Eli having a "crack" at snow crab
Anna, Carter, Sully and Jack Jack take a chaperoned dip....notice every adult is holding a child. It was a 4:5 for the week. Times have certainly changed!
As cute as the come

It's BPA free!

OK. So most of you remember my story from Desiree about the Afghani moms. No? Ah, well, my boss in Malawi is a former volunteer for Doctors without Borders. In ~1986 she joined a team of ~15 doctors with the intention of conducting mass polio vaccination campaigns across Afghanistan. When the team arrived in Afghanistan, they were immediated kidnapped by the Mujahideen. The whole event is one of the most fascinating tales I have ever heard - they didn't manage to escape for a YEAR. They were basically stolen to become military doctors, but this still included administering care to all the children. So the moms would bring their babies to the doctors for examinations, etc. forming a long line while waiting. Well, Desiree noticed, off and on, the mothers leaning over their babies' faces, but couldn't tell what they were doing. Whispering in their ear perhaps? Some prayer, maybe?

Not exactly. Finally, one of the moms closer to the front of the line cleared things up..........literally. Apparently, in countries where it's difficult to find nasal suction bulbs, moms administer such care by mouth. Now THAT'S love.

What's even better, is that you, yes YOU, can now care for your baby in much the same way!! Alert mom and inventor, Kaisa, has invented a super snot sucker that has been heralded as the 2007 European Baby Product of the Year. The Nosefrida is doctor recommended and easy to use! I'm updating my Amazon Wish List RIGHT NOW.

Yuuuuuuuuuuummy

Thanks again to Abby for finding this little pearl for me to share.

Sweet manna from heaven!

So, every Friday, my pal Abby sends out an email choc-full of workday time wasters that she has found whilst perusing the interwebs. There's always good stuff and at least a belly laugh a week in there, but never have I been so totally compeled to make sure that EVERYONE received one of those links......until now:

#1 on the Slashfood Ate (8): Cooking with Coffee

Doughnuts and Coffee Cupcakes

ACTUAL RECIPE

new sleeping position

Bo-nanner has found a new sleeping position that has made it to the top of the 'list of cute things Anna has done lately'. It's a long list.

Waking mommy and daddy at 12:30am and again at 4:30am are not on that list.

Piece de resistance

Daddy at the Braves game.

Anna's First Braves Game....

.... but certainly not her last!! We headed out to the Braves game last week with Cart Cart, Uncle T and Aunt Eli, and had a great time, although the home team couldn't quite pull out the victory. Nevertheless, Anna had a great time and loved wearing her Braves gear!

The 3 Musketeers!

Modeling the pink Braves hat.

With Aunt Eli, showing off the whole ensemble.

Although she couldn't have a hot dog, nothing beats ballpark milk from the bottle.

Anna and Uncle T discuss how to pitch to, and then ultimately defense Chase Utley, considering he already had a hit and the Braves were down. Anna felt a shift was in order, but Uncle T brought up the fact that in Utley's previous at-bat, he struggled catching up to the fastball on the outer edge, which obviously meant play him straight up as he might go the other way. He ended up striking out, so it was moot, but the debate was riveting... it segued into the DH rule.

Anna with Chipper coming up... she gets excited when Chip, Chip CHIPPER!! comes to bat.

What's really funny is that she has no idea how much the Braves will be a part of her life!!

Tubby time

Bathing Miss Anna has not always been so easy. Our initial attempts in the bathtub were fine, so long as you were wearing ear plugs. We finally figured out that the kitchen sink was much preferred and have been having fun tubbies ever since, though Nanner is still not totally convinced that this is a necessary part of her day.

Hhhmmm. Looking a little uncertain of this large amount of moisture.

Utterly confused about the presence of an unknown yet pleasantly fragrant and squishy substance being rubbed around.
Downright ornery.
Explaining to mommy that, while she is now cozy, this was not exactly her idea of fun.