Puppy Love

 

Little Voter!

I was pretty excited to take Annika with me to vote on Tuesday. My parents talked about voting a lot when I was young. I remember them voting in 1984 and refusing to tell each other who they voted for, which made voting seem secretive and fun. Scott and I -- and much of NYC -- have similar political beliefs, which can make voting feel less exciting, but it's important to me nonetheless. 

On Tuesday, Annika and I went from work/daycare to our polling place. This year NYC had scanned ballots for the first time. Here's Annika lying down in the privacy booth where I filled out the ballot.

Scott met us there, too!

Afterwards we went out to dinner to celebrate Scott's birthday. Annika is getting much easier to have at restaurants now that she can sit on our laps. Unfortunately, she can also grab glasses, knives, plates, etc., so we have to keep an eye on her...

 Not sure how restaurants feel about us using their napkins as burp rags.

 I love these pictures -- I think they show how much these two adore each other.

Ready for Halloween!

A few weeks ago we realized that we should get Annika a costume for her first Halloween! Because we are lazy busy, we ordered some online so that we wouldn't have to deal with shopping. What do you think she should be? (Full disclosure: we actually already decided, but let us know what you think anyway!)

Giant hot dog costume

Too-big bumblebee

Annika Banannika

 Sweet Pea

 We also got her a pumpkin at the farmers' market yesterday. She seems pretty curious about it, and laughs hysterically when I throw it in the air and catch it.

Annika's Favorite Song

Annika and I spend a lot of time together in the car going to and from work/daycare and home. She's a pretty good traveler, but sometimes she cries and/or screams when we're in stop-and-go traffic. There's usually not much I can do about it except keep going, so I just turn up the music a bit to drown out the noise. It seems that she might have a favorite song -- this one almost always stops her crying:



I'm so glad my kid has good taste in music. 


(Random side note: you can create a personalized music video using your address. I tried it with my childhood address, 919 N. Hill Blvd., Layton UT, and it was pretty cool.)


Someone gave me the advice to keep listening to my music for as long as possible, since at some point I'll have to venture into the somewhat frightening world of children's music and then try to keep my sanity. I'm sure at some point the soundtrack to my life will consist of Raffi tunes, and I don't need that day to come any too soon. 


While we haven't exposed Annika to a lot of kids' music, I have created cheesy songs lyrics to familiar tunes. We sing these to her (it's a real treat -- if you've ever heard Scott or me sing, you'll know what I mean):


(to the tune of Frere Jacques)
Noodleriffic, Noodleriffic, 
Noodle Nu, Noodle Nu.
You are so fantastic, you are so amazing
I love you, I love you.


(to the tune of 99 bottles of beer on the wall)
Annika Annika Joan
Annika Annika Joan
We love you so much
You're the best of the bunch
You're our dear sweet Annika Joan
(for variety's sake, and to keep her ego in check, I sometimes substitute her cousin's name, Ha Jyn Son)


(to the tune of some random song I sang in church as a child)
Mommy (Daddy/Lucky/Grandma/Dee Dee/etc.) loves her fussy-bus
You're the best of all of us
It's ok, cry if you must
'Cause mommy loves you fussy bus.


I also tried "my baby's too Noodle-licious" instead of Beyonce's "my body's too bootylicious," but I'm proud to say I didn't know that one well enough to make a whole song.

Story Time

Annika and her father have begun a nightly story time. 

She is captivated by her dad's reading.

They're reading Hop on Pop, a book I used to read with my dad.

Score One for Daddy!

Since before Annika was born, Scott had hoped his baby would have blonde hair. 

I, on the other hand, was hoping for something a bit darker.

When she was born, I thought I'd won. Her hair was dark brown.

I heard all of the stories about newborn babies' hair falling out and/or getting lighter. About a month later, her hair had lightened a bit, but was still brown.

However, I now must concede defeat. 

Nearly four months later, our daughter is definitely a blondie.

She also now insists on being held outward so she can observe the world.

More "talking"...

...and a big smile!

Three months!

Annika turned three months old last weekend!

I remember waking up in the hospital on the day we took her home and thinking that this was the beginning of the second chapter of my life. I then laughed at the ridiculousness of that thought, since chapter one would therefore include my own birth, growing up, coming to New York, graduating college, starting a school, getting married, etc. I have to say, though, that so far it has felt like a totally new chapter. Sometimes it's hard for Scott and me to remember much about our pre-Annika lives. While it does seem like she's growing fast, it's also mind-boggling that we've only had her in our lives for three months.

At three months, she is now old enough to sit on the couch in the nude.

We put her in her "home from the hospital" outfit -- I'm guessing this is the last month it will fit -- and went to a picnic in the park.

One of my favorite developments over the last month is Annika's "talking." She has become quite noisy, although she seems to quiet down anytime we try to catch it on camera. Here are two recent attempts:

The Namesake

We've been very happy with the name we chose for our daughter. We liked it because it reminds us of many of important people in our lives. Annika has now met all of the people she was named after!

Annika Joan, Catherine Joan

(This is near where I grew up in Utah. Isn't it beautiful?)

Annika Joan, Granny Joan (who, despite her youth, insists on being called Granny)

Carlyannika!

Jennifer Ann, Annika

Anne, Annika

BianCA, AnniKA

Some Fun and Not-So-Fun Firsts

Annika's had a lot of new experiences over the past two weeks!

First, the not-so-fun. Annika got sick a couple of weeks ago. I came home from a work meeting and found her sleeping. Within a few minutes she awoke, started throwing up and continued to do so several times over the next hour. Ultimately the pediatrician advised us to take her to the emergency room. Here she is lying on the emergency room bed.

 We ended up being in the hospital all night while they ran tests to rule out some serious things. Here's a tired dad with his tired baby.

 Annika endured many uncomfortable firsts, including the first (and hopefully last) tube shoved down her nose and into her stomach.

Fortunately, all serious possibilities were ruled out and Annika improved nearly as quickly as she had become ill. We were scheduled to go to Utah later that afternoon, but we were nervous about flying with her so we postponed the trip for a day. 

She did great on her first plane flights to and from Utah and slept almost the entire time. The Utah trip deserves a post of its own, but here are some pictures of her on the plane trip home.

She appeared intrigued by the sound of the baggage carousel.

Once we returned to New York I had to return to work and Annika started daycare. Here she is in the car, ready for her first day.

So far it is going well. I like the woman who runs the daycare a lot and she has been very flexible and allowed us to ease into it. I picked up Annika on the first day and took her to work with me for a lunch break.

Annika also had her first entire evening home alone without her parents. Scott and I went to wedding while Aunt Haha (aka Carly) and Uncle Justin babysat. 
Annika had a great time.

She really let loose (sorry guys!)

We hadn't been out that late in a long time and were pretty tired the next day. Luckily Annika enjoyed sleeping in with her dad, so it wasn't too painful.

The most exciting of the firsts came this morning. We have struggled to get in enough tummy time because Annika hates being on her stomach. We laid her on the floor playing on her tummy while we were both getting ready for work. Suddenly Scott said "look!" and we watched Annika roll herself over to her back. While she has rolled off a pillow a couple of times and has had a few daddy-assisted rollovers, this was her first totally on her own. She immediately started screaming -- guess her world was literally turned upside down!

Tonight I had to go to another work meeting so Scott stayed home with her. He put her on her tummy and she rolled over repeatedly. This is one way to get out of tummy time!

Annika and her Father

Annika loves spending time with her pops!

Annika and her mother

I'm experimenting with embedding slideshows. Clicking on the pictures will show the captions, I think. Look for "Annika and her Father" coming soon!