Mama...finally!

AnnaJo finally said Mama on Friday, August 7!! (10 months old) I was at Pizza Hut at a Jordan Essentials (Country Bunny) party with Amy. I was looking at the catalog and AnnaJo crawled over to get one of her cheese puffs. She came over saying 'ma ma ma' like she's been doing it forever! I was so excited! She didn't say it again for another day, but now it's been added to her regular vocabulary, including her crying it out time in the middle of the night. It's a heart breaker, but I haven't given in to it yet. I know...my time is coming!

She is also standing up in the middle of the floor by herself. Her balance is really coming along and I anticipate some steps in the next few weeks. She loves to stand up, but not nearly as much as she loves falling on her butt. She is so funny!

too cute not to share!

You can barely see it now, but AnnaJo took her first big tumble down a step this weekend. She had quite a scratch on her nose Saturday, but it looked much better on Sunday. Cliff had her out on the front porch and turned his back for a moment. Down the front step she went....face first. It was her second or third time down the step and she did it right the first 2 times. She took it like a champ though and tried to do it again yesterday. She is a little ham...a perfect mix of Hammond and Hill.

10 months old!

I have really got to get better about updating this blog! Let's see...I can't even remember where I left off.

AnnaJo is 10 months old today! I can't believe she is only 2 months away from the one year mark! It has absolutely flown by! She is such a funny little girl. She is always happy, well, usually happy (see below!). She finally has a tooth that I noticed on July 18 (bottom right) and she took her first steps on July 21 at Nana's house. That being said, i have not witnessed it myself, by Mom swears that it happened.

She is still an excellent eater! Can you imagine a Hammond-Hill being any different? :-) She loves to feed herself from the high chair. she's a finger food kind of girl though. I haven't been brave enough to give her control of the spoon. I'm sure that's next. I think she wanted it tonight. Cliff and I were eating dinner about an hour after she ate. She wanted some too and I wasn't operating fast enough. She leaned forward and bit my big toe! I was too startled to be mad. I told her that it's not nice to bite Mama and gave her a mean look. She ended up getting her potato soup!

She is still just saying "da-da-da" and she added something else too, but I"m not sure what it is. I do know that it is NOT ma-ma. I need to be reading to her more - i'm sure she'd be saying a bit more if I'd get on the ball and read every night. It seems like there isn't enough time in the day though! I can't imagine having another one right now!

Pet update: Jersey is living in New Orleans now with Megan and AJ. They are loving her and spoiling her rotten. Monet has gone to live with another family in town too. I'm sure he is being loved as well. So we are down to a 2 pet family and things are a little easier to deal with. We're still willing to part with Mocha, but only to a super loving home. I'm not as concerned about him because he doesn't let AJ too close to him.

Here are some of the latest pics to enjoy...

AnnaJo's first trip to the river over July 4th! Down past Uncle Homer's property in West Plains.

AnnaJo with Aylia and Rogun!

Little Miss Chef!

Did I say that she was happy ALL the time?

AnnaJo with her buddy Monet! (sob, sob)

Update from the Hills

#1 - Jersey has a new home with Megan and AJ (not my AJ, but AJ Armstrong). She is living in Springfield with them and will relocate to New Orleans when they move. They picked her up on Sunday morning and it was a very sad day for Cliff and I.

#2 - AnnaJo is allergic to the cats. We need to find a super loving home for them. I'd love to be able to take Monet back one day, but it will all depend on AJ's reaction to them.

#3 - Cliff and I went to the Cardinals-Royals game in KC on Saturday. AnnaJo stayed with Cliff's cousin, Jo Jo and played with Brenner and the rest of the Hillbrenner crew on Saturday evening. Here are a few pics... Now that we know how close they live to us, we'll be visiting more often!

Crazy day for us! Allergy dr results!

AnnaJo's allergy test today was very insightful. Poor baby had a reaction to quite a bit. We will not know if she has a true allergy to these things until we eliminate them from her diet and/or eliminate her exposure to them and then reintroduce them.

Very intense Reaction to: Oranges, Soybean, Green Peas, Alternaria (mold)

Intense Reaction to: Tomatoes, Codfish, Chicken, Eggs (whole/white/yolk), Banana, Sweet Corn, Dust Mites and Cats.

Mild reaction to: Carrots, Peanuts, Apples, House Dust

No reaction to: wheat, oats, yeast, pork, beef, dairy, goats milk, dogs, and cockroaches.

Plan of action....
1 - Food allergies - avoid these foods for 2 weeks, then reintroduce one at a time to see if allergy symptoms increase. (tomatoes, oranges, codfish, chicken, eggs, peanuts, soybeans, green peas, sweet corn, banana) This means that i avoid them since I'm nursing still and she cannot have them either. This includes food that is made with those items too. No tomato sauce, and no cookies and cakes made with eggs! Eggs and Chicken will be the first thing that is reintroduced to our diets in two weeks. Eggs will be first - that way I can have cake on my birthday! :-)

2 - Environmental allergies -
cats will be finding a new home temporarily until we get her food allergies under control. They might be reintroduced later if their new owner isn't super duper attached.

Mold (the kind that is everywhere) and Dust Mites are a little harder to avoid. We'll be buying new matress covers and pillow cases and having our ducts cleaned for sure!

We are following up in 6 weeks to do another round of environmental allergen testing and to discuss the food elimination results.

3 - medication
We will be giving her nasal spray - Nasalcrom once daily in each nostril. That should be fun!

if her reaction the the environmental allergens is severe in 6 weeks, the dr may recommend allergy shots. I'll be reading up and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm hoping we don't have to!

What a day! I have a long list of food label ingredients to avoid. We'll be keeping a food diary (for both of us). And we'll all need to be very aware of her symptoms. Might be a long summer! Our follow up appt is scheduled for July 30!

So...we need to find a new owner for Jersey, Monet and Mocha. Any takers? they need loving homes where they will be spoiled.

Sad day for the Hill's

Anyone who knows us knows that we LOVE our animals just like members of the family. Priorities have changed a bit though since we brought AnnaJo home. The four-pawed members of the family have all adjusted pretty well to her, but as she becomes more mobile, things are changing a bit. She loves to watch all four of them - both the cats and both dogs. And usually things are fine. She chases them in her walker and squeals as she gets close to them. And if she hits them - watch out! She nearly comes out of the walker, just to claim her prize! Remind me of this around carnival time...she is going to LOVE bumper boats and bumper cars! Anyway, we have decided that Jersey needs to be in a home without babies. She has always done great with my nephews - they are older and a little more deliberate in their actions. She has let them wrestle her all over and just lays their and takes the abuse. However, she is very leary when AnnaJo is around and it makes me nervous to have her in the floor with Jersey at face level. For anyone who hasn't been around her...Jersey is a very loving, devoted friend. She stays off the bed, unless invited up and she likes to sleep at the foot of our bed, on the floor. She loves being around people and will follow Cliff to the end of the earth. She is a great swimmer too...she is a lot of fun to take camping! She is a house dog though...doesn't like being outside without a human being to watch. She prefers to hang out and nap most of the day...watching what happens outside, from the comfort of her own pallet. If you know of anyone who would take extra good care of her, let us know. She is a great dog and we'll want to visit her occasionally, so keep it close, please.

8 months old...big girl!

My little princess is getting big! This picture is from Dad's house on Sunday, May 25...just a few days before her 8 month mark. She woke up in such a great mood! She is such a cutie, but I am certainly biased.

Still no teeth....

She is eating up a storm...anything i put in front of her. She had her first taste of pork chops on Friday night at TJ's. We went to dinner for Terry's graduation from the 8th grade. I took my food mill along and she had pork chops, sweet potato and green beans. Makes me hungry to think about.

On Monday we took her to Donna and Gary's so Cliff and I could get some housework done. She started doing the army crawl there... and then on Tuesday at nana's went from a seated position to her tummy, did the army crawl and sat back up like a big girl! Nana said that she did it twice, but I have yet to witness it.

She went to her first softball game last night too...loved it. She enjoyed the company - Evan was there and Missy brought Rogun too. We'll have to take pictures next week!