A few more pictures of "Chiquita" (Anna-Banana), or "Turnip" as Doug calls her! Poor thing! She also gets called Jo-Jo about half the time. Anyway, here she is snacking on her toes and sleeping in the very relaxed skydiver position! She's so much fun!

Turning One

Anna's birthday was on July 10th, and she celebrated in style, with a huge ice cream cone, and a little jammin' on the guitar with Daddy. An All-American birthday, I'd say! She is walking abiut 5 steps at a time now, standing up from a squat in the middle of the room, and so very, very proud of herself! Her personality continues to blossom. She loves music, and likes to dance to it, or just rock back and forth and "sing" if it is a gentle tune.

I caught her last night playing peek-a-boo with Gizmo, our dog. He was behind the gate in the kitchen, and she would duck down and "hide" behind the gate, and then pop up and babble at Gizmo. He, of course went crazy trying to get out to play with her! I'll try to catch it on film next time.

A few more pics...

A few more pictures from Hurricane Ridge. Definitely one of my favorite places on Earth.

Anna Jo's first snow!

A few pictures from Hurricane Ridge on the 4th of July. It was a gorgeous day, and we packed a lunch and headed out early. Anna got to see several deer, and her first snow! The deer are very tame and didn't seem to mind us approaching for a few pictures. There were a few patches of melting snow left, and of course Anna wanted to put it straight in her mouth. She just giggled at it when we let her reach down to touch it.

A few more pictures

Settling in....

Well, we are finally settling in here at home with Anna Jo. It took us a while to adjust everyone's body clocks, but I think we are all on Pacific coast time now, and Anna has settled into some more normal sleep patterns--hooray! For a while there, I thought I'd have to use toothpicks to hold my eyelids open.

As you can see, my girl is a happy baby. She uses this goofy smile often. She has really amazed us at how quickly she has adjusted and just fit herself into the family. She especially loves Megan, and just lights up for her. She is very affectionate with all of us, and has just won our hearts over from the start. She is a joy.

Anna had her first check-up today, and the poor thing spent about 4 hours at the hospital waiting for blood work and immunizations to be done. She wasn't happy with the procedures of course, but otherwise was a real trooper. The pediatrician heard a slight soft heart murmur, but said she was not at all worried, and would just monitor her for now. Otherwise, Anna Jo is in excellent health, and right on cue for growth and development. Yay! Yesterday, she stood for the first time from a squat in the middle of the room (no furniture to pull up on).

We are having a lot of fun getting to know each other. She loves music, and is eating just about anything we try. She had been getting only formula with rice cereal, and congee (a sort of rice porridge) before we got her. She is eating table food now, with some baby food, and a few less bottles a day. She loves to be outside and when we tried the swing the other day, she just giggled and squealed!

More later,
Gretchen

"Red Couch" photos

It's a tradition with adoption groups to take pictures of all the kids on one of the hotel's red couches, so here are a few of ours. Doug is holding Anna Jo and our friend Laura's baby Emma on the bus.

As you can see, all of the babies were screaming excet for Anna. She was just as happy as could be, even after doing a nose dive off the front of the couch!

Well, we're off to the airport in the am, so probably no more posts till we are home. Hurray! No more Chinese food for a while! :)

Talk to you all soon!
Gretchen