seven, eight, nine months

Anna turned 9 months old on the 2nd of January, so it's time to give you an update.

She weighs a very healthy 9.1kg, is 74cm in length and still has a massive head (46cm circumference).

She eats everything except tomato, and loves grapes, sweet potato and carrots in particular.

She can now stand (today she stood on her own!!! EEEK!), walk with assistance, commando crawl and crawl normally, pull herself to standing and walk around holding onto chairs, tables, doors, walls, ovens, fridges. You name it.

She babbles incessantly, her favourite sounds being "oooooh" and "ah!" which is why we can rarely capture a picture of her smiling now as her mouth is always puckered. She also says "mamma" "dadda" and "hi" (unless you want to capture it on video, of course).

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old

And here are some of the many, many blooper shots now that Anna is old enough to mess with her parents.

anna's first christmas

Christmas this year took place over the course of three days as we had lots of people to visit/visiting. It was meant to be a quiet Christmas, but those of you who know Anna know that she is anything but quiet. It was three days in a row for us that Anna woke at 5am and insisted on playing and screeching and shrieking from the very moment we picked her up out of her cot.

Christmas Eve we met up with Anna's godmother, Danielle, for breakfast in Parramatta and then a quick run through the fountains outside the Town Hall. We then visited some family friends and spent the rest of the time cooking, cooking, cooking. And making my traditional gingerbread house (although this year most time was spent trying to stop Anna from breaking it than anything else). And then Anna crashed early in the night from all the excitement of opening her Christmas Eve box so Luke and I went Christmas-light-looking on our own.

Christmas Day started at the bloody crack of dawn. 4:45am. Thanks Anna.

So we were [not so] bright and early to morning mass at our local church where Anna was the only little baby and she charmed the pants off all the old Italian ladies and gentlemen. Even the man seated in front of us whom she continually poked. We then had a light breakfast and opened presents from under our tree. The tally went like this:
Ally - 2 presents
Luke - 2 presents
Anna - 19457347793095 presents

As per usual in our household we had a great big late lunch and then had family visit for some dessert at night. As per usual the weather was stinking hot so thankfully Anna's dress (made by her Nonnina) was made of super-thin cotton. And as per usual we all ate too much so we rolled into bed to get prepared for Boxing Day with Nanna and Anna's uncles and aunt.

This is Anna's face when food or drink gets taken away from her. In this case we took her sippy cup away to refill it...

Boxing Day was spent at Nanna Sam's place, as it had been decided the year prior. The boy played outdoor cricket (badly), the ladies chatted, and Anna revelled in the new toys that had been purchased for her by her lovely Nanna. No less than a crawl tunnel, a ball pit, a paddling pool, a cubby house and a tent. And, of course, a super-early introduction to Peter Kay.

From the bottom of our hearts, we hope you all had a lovely Christmas xxx