Anna seems to be going through a developmental growth spurt.  She’s learning new things so fast!  Every day it’s something new!  Just a week or 2 ago she learned to pull up on things…but she’d only get up on her knees.  It didn’t take too long before she learned to get up on her feet.  Now she’s really fast at that.  She hasn’t started crusing yet (walking around the furniture while holding on), but I don’t imagine it’ll be much longer.  I watched her yesterday as she stood holding on to the coffee table eyeing the exersaucer that was a foot or 2 away.  She wanted to get over there so bad!  I could see the wheels turning in her little head.  She hasn’t quite gotten it together yet, but walking is clearly not far behind.  She’s figured out how to get upright and now she wants to move!

Saturday morning she somehow climbed out of her crib.  It about gave me a heart attack.  Mark and I were outside (with the baby monitor) when it apparently happened.  It’s not unusual for her to cry when she’s ready to get out of bed, so I went to get her only to find her crawling out of her room towards me.  Thankfully there is a baby gate there and she can’t get out into the rest of the house!  And thankfully she seems to be perfectly fine after her crib-escape stunt, but it did really scare me (and I think her too).  This kid needs to SLOW DOWN!!

For the record…the crib mattress has been lowered as far as it will go.  I wonder how much longer that will be enough?

Last week was an interesting week.  Anna has been cranky (teething again I’m pretty sure).  She’s not eaten or slept well and therefore I haven’t slept well either.  Going back to work after a long weekend is no fun anyway, and the lack of sleep didn’t help.  I didn’t have to deal with daycare last week though and that was good.  Mark stayed home with Anna.  I think it made for a much happier mama and baby.  Back to daycare for Anna today though…although I think we’re going to make this her last week…at least at this daycare.

That 45 minute commute each morning and afternoon gives me lots of time to think.  I guess I’ve been in an unusually pensive mood anyway this past week.  The Friday before last I got my rental fetal doppler.  I’ve listened to the new baby’s heartbeat several times since then.  I think after dealing with infertility for so long before Anna, that extra reassurance just means so much to me.  I know some people think it’s silly, but I’d challenge you to walk a mile in my (formerly infertile) shoes.  It helps my anxiety level so much to know that the baby is in there with a nice, strong heartbeat…which means that my body is doing things exactly as it should be doing things.  After feeling like my body was failing me (by failing to get pregnant), it’s nice to know it CAN work properly.

I was thinking during one of my commutes last week about something my cousins wife (Patti) said in a blog comment either when I was pregnant with Anna or just after I had her.  I don’t remember the exact words, but the gist of it…she was talking about she and my cousin (her husband) seeing eachother as parents and the way that affected their marriage after their first child was born.  Yeah.  I think at the time she left that comment I wasn’t at a place where I knew how that would be for Mark and me.  Now our daughter is almost a year old.  I guess to some degree I thought I knew about what kind of father Mark would be.  I was certainly on track with how I thought it would be, but maybe this is just one of those things that you can’t see the depth of until you get to a certain point (and I’m sure this will continue to change).  Mark started out being pretty hands-on.  I had a c-section and watched from the hospital bed as he changed Anna’s first few diapers, he never complained about it, he just did it.  He was never particularly tentative with Anna either.  He’d never been around infants much, if at all, but he just stepped in and learned as he went and, with very few hiccups, did perfectly well.  I don’t guess it ever occurred to me at the time to be impressed.  I had too much on my own plate.  I am impressed, though, thinking back now.  I’m not saying we didn’t have our disagreements with how things should be done.  We still do and I’m sure that’ll continue.  I’ve watched him grow into his role as a father and it’s really a remarkable thing to watch…especially when it’s the father of your own child.  Watching them interact sometimes makes me want to cry…and I mean that in a good way.  The way he is silly with her…the way he makes her laugh.  It’s the best thing in the world to see.  It’s interesting to see how it affects the way I feel about Mark.  It really has added a whole new dimension to our relationship.  I’m not sure why that’s surprising, but I didn’t expect it.  It’s like I get to share a bit of the love that Anna has for him, and it’s so, so special.