Showing off her new wardrobe

Anna has once again grown enough that we got to pull out a whole new set of clothes!

My hands found each other! Two hands taste better than one.

Ready for an evening stroll to meet Dad at the metro.

There's a new third party candidate for President - "I promise there will be more milk for everyone!"

Go Nats!

Anna had a new experience at the Nats game last night - they won! They beat the Diamond Backs 5-0. Anna is sure it was her new lucky onesie that did the trick!

Tummy Time - updated!

You may remember a movie I posted in the middle of June of Anna on her tummy. Since then tummy time had pretty much been looking the same - until today when she just did this:

Whoa! Well, hello there!

I didn't happen to have the camera ready either. She pretty much hung out in this position long enough for me to 1) get incredibly excited 2) think about how cool it would have been if I had the camera ready 3) think about getting the camera in case she stayed like that 4) actually getting the camera and taking a picture!

Left-handed?

Before Anna's last doctor's appointment we started to wonder if she was left-handed. She preferred to look to the left and only sucked on her left hand. The doctor told us it was impossible to tell at this point.

A few weeks later Matt found an article on the internet (part of an article discussing the fact that both Obama and McCain are left-handed) describing a strange correlation with left-handedness: the direction that someone's hair twirls in the back (only possible to determine with short hair cuts). Most people whose hair twirls counterclockwise are left-handed! (This is fascinating from a biological perspective - which causes which or are they both correlated with something else?) On the other hand, it's not a guarantee and some people who are left-handed have hair that twirls the other way. So what does Anna have? Her hair twirls clockwise, but....so does Matt's. So I say that if she got her left-handedness from her father she would also be a clockwise hair-twirling left-hander like him.

So the reason I thought to write this post right now is that Anna is currently laying on the floor under her play gym toys and she has been hitting her rattle with her left hand. Now I've never seen her do this before (and I'm still not convinced it is not just a by product of her arm randomly swinging around), but every time she does it, it is with her left hand!

We'll see - the doctor also told Matt's mom that there was no way she could tell he was left-handed, but she knew - not this early, but earlier than supposedly it was possible.

First Metro Ride

Yesterday Anna had her first metro ride as we took the metro into DC to have lunch with Corinne.  She didn't catch much of it as she slept for 1/2 the ride to DC and the whole ride home, but what she did catch, she liked.  She liked looking at the people and especially liked the fact that her seatmate kept changing.  At lunch Anna sat on my lap & Corinne's lap for 45 minutes and just quietly looked around.  I think we definitely have a people watcher on our hands!

Happy 4th of July!

Mom, Dad, and Anna just got back from a fantastic weekend in Southport, NC with Grandma, Grandpa, and Nana. Anna got lots of hold time with her grandparents and got to experience all sorts of new things at Grandma an Grandpa's house. Mom and Dad got to go on a few dates by themselves and play a lot of golf. Here are some photos, starting with Anna's fourth of July bathing suit, courtesy of Nana:

Ms. Liberty herself...

Looking good for the beach!

Frogging on Nana

First steps in the Atlantic, at high tide no less!

The whole family on on the beach

Mom and Dad had plenty of time to sneak away to the links

Pretty dresses and overstimulation were the rule this weekend!

Grandma gave me sweet holds all weekend, and even got to feed me!

Cousins look like fun!

Last night we took Anna to Neilson's Custard Shop, which we have visited about once a week since Anna has been born, including her 5th day of life! As we sat and ate our custard Matt & I noticed there seemed to be a LOT of kids at Neilson's. We ended up talking to the women sitting at the table next to us with four of those kids. It turns out that all those kids were the Neilson's grandchildren - all 24 of them ranging in age from 4 months to 14 years. The women next to us, daughter-in-law of the Neilson's, explained that there were 6 children and 24 grandchildren all living in the Vienna area who visit Neilson's as a group every once in a while. Wow! I think my favorite quote from the evening is from Mrs. Neilson, "You know the rule, only dishes of ice cream inside - cones OUTSIDE!" Anna was mesmerized watching all the cousins & is looking forward to a cousin of her own in August!