Keeping Up with the Gerges': My Anna-nan

My sweet Anna-nan is almost 10 months, and I am in denial. With every little sound that she mutters that has the resemblance of a word, and every inch closer she is to standing on her own, I am reminded that we are staring ONE in the face, and shes not much of a baby anymore. I mean, shes still a baby obviously, but the baby-ness is diminishing as her personality starts to bloom more and more. It really goes SO fast. I realized I hadn't written much about my little nugget in the last few months, so I wanted share what she's up to!

Anna amazes me. She is the complete opposite of M and her spunkiness definitely keeps me on my toes. For general comparison, at this age, Madelyn was just starting to learn to crawl, Anna has been crawling for 3 MONTHS already! Anna is pulling herself up in her crib, crawling out or away from any seated position, doesn't like being restrained in a car seat, high chair or anything alike, and has a screech that could deafen you. I'm not sure I'll have photos to capture 8,9, 10, 11 months, etc because I literally can't get a photo of her that's not blurry from her moving! She's the happiest like girl, she loves to be involved in anything that's going on around her, and she loves to be heard :) She is smart, quick and always wants to explore and learn what's next, loosing interest in most things quickly. I am having so much fun getting to know our little girl and watching her learn and grow. We expected she might be quick to crawl because she's never liked being still, but its amazing to actually watch her explore!

Anna started to crawl at 7 months and 1 week. That exact weekend she also got her first tooth, and the second followed quickly after. She loved trying food and is a good sport about anything new we give her. She especially apples, sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans and she is obsessed with yogurt. This week she also tried chicken, sausage, pasta and mashed potatoes and they all went over well too. We don't give her too much water, because I don't want her to fill up and not drink a bottle, but she loves it! I guess it's good to start that early ;)

At 9 months, Anna started to pull herself up in her crib and at our coffee table. Just a few weeks later and she can stand there barely holding on for minutes, before she gets tired and sits down. Her first real word with intent, was "ut oh" and now she also says Dadda, whenever she sees Brian and she'll repeat 'tank you' whenever she hears someone say, thank you. I think she started waving around 8 months, but by 9 months she was doing it whenever people say hello or goodbye, and without being prompted. She also just started throwing up her hands, when you ask her how big she is. Although, she's not that big. Since birth, she'd been measuring in 75%-90% for weight, and 90% for height, but at 9 months, she was 50% across the board. Maybe we were starving her ;) needless to say, we feed her a little more now, which she seems very happy with!

I don't remember being so overwhelmed with the amount of changes and growth all at once with Madelyn, the way I am with Anna. I'm sure it's not uncommon, and maybe more so for the second child because they're trying hard to keep up with their sibling, but for some reason I feel like I literally blinked my eyes and Anna has grown up in a few weeks! We are heading to Florida in two weeks, which I'm getting nervous about, but also very excited for. I can't wait to take Anna on her first plane ride, trip to the beach and swimming in the pool. Something tells me she will absolutely love it all.

To my sweet Anna-nan - "you are my sunshine, my only sunshine".... I love you so much!!

Here are some pictures of Anna over the last few months:

Christmas Morning