The Coats Family: Baby Food and Teeth... Well, One Tooth

Ann Maxwell has been extremely busy lately. She is a crawling expert now and is into EVERYTHING! I spend all my time chasing her down and keeping her out of trouble. She's still chasing Little Bit every chance she gets, but she's also interested in exploring every nook and cranny of the house. She doesn't want to be held for very long anymore (sad!) and throws a major tantrum anytime she's strapped into a seat, etc. Instead she wants to be moving every moment. She's even started trying to pull up on things. I'm definitely not ready for walking yet! This crawling business is already wearing me out! I'll try to get a video of this crawling prowess up soon.

In addition to mobility we've also moved into expanding Ann Maxwell's diet. She's still of course nursing and eating cereal, but we've now moved into real baby food. Her favorites so far are actually the green vegetables, particularly sweet peas. Everyone who gave me advice told me to start with the beta-carotenes, like sweet potatoes and carrots, but as you'll see below that was not her favorite. I don't have photos up of the eating of the peas, but they weren't as cute because she ate them without making any faces! Shockingly, she hates applesauce. I didn't know any babies hated applesauce, but true to form, our little one does things her own way. Anyway, more to come as we add more to our menu...

I am not completely happy with this orange goop you call sweet potatoes. I will continue to spit it out until you give me something else!

I am praying that the next spoonful will be something else!

Thank you! My prayers were answered; this is something new, and I get to eat from a big people spoon!

Ok, perhaps I should've been more specific... When I said I wanted something else, I did NOT mean applesauce. I thought we had this discussion last night.

To help with all this new food, Ann Maxwell is finally getting a long-awaited tooth. It's just breaking the surface now, so we've been waking up in the night with the discomfort and biting on things during the day. Poor baby! I've been swearing there's a tooth in there for months (it's almost become a joke for those around me), but this time it's real. I have physical proof a little bottom tooth is coming in!

Marching season is finally winding down, and I'm proud to report the New Albany Band ranked 7th in the state at Grand Championships last week. This was a great success, and I'm so proud of the whole group for such an awesome season. I'll miss going down every week to work with them, especially my drum majors, but I'm sure I'll find some way to work my way into the band hall at some point. Haha!

My mom, Elise, and I took Ann Maxwell to Celebration Village in Tupelo for their annual holiday shopping extravaganza. Shopping with a six month old was a new experience! Ann Maxwell only stayed in her stroller for a short while, so she mainly enjoyed shopping in our arms. She did love seeing all the people and things, though, and eventually tuckered out and fell asleep amid the commotion. I was able to get some Christmas shopping done, and I actually refrained from buying every cute Christmas dress I saw (and there were a lot of them!). There was an educational toy booth where Ann Maxwell fell in love with a colorful "rain stick." She wanted to chew on it mainly, but seeing as how it kept her happy we naturally left with our very own.

Every night when Chris gets home we try to meet him at the door. I'm ready to see another adult by 6:30 p.m., and Ann Maxwell has come to love watching the headlights in the driveway and looking for Daddy. She gets excited when she sees his car. When he comes in she breaks out into the biggest smile, and they have their own little exchange of words that only they share. It's pretty cute!

We've placed our beloved pumpkins on our front porch to welcome the onslaught of trick-or-treaters we receive every year. Ann Maxwell loves going outside to enjoy them. We can't believe we'll have our very own trick-or-treating bumblebee this year! A few houses and lots of photos and we'll be through, but we're excited all the same.