Sweet Pea

My little Sweet Pea, Anniston

If you are looking for a similar post to Hutch's I'm afraid you won't find that here. The only thing these babies share is a Mommy, Daddy and birthday!

My baby girl was the second to be born, weighing in at 3lbs, 8.25 ounces. She came out screaming her head off and not much has changed since! I got to see her in the OR almost immediately. She was breathing on her own and doing great, but since she was under 4lbs she had to go to the NICU and stay there for 13 days, which is when she hit the 4lb mark. They literally called me at midnight, when NICU nurses weigh the babies, and told me she was 4lbs and to be there 1st thing in the morning. She never had to have an IV, oxygen, or any typical NICU gear. Just a little heat. She was feisty from the get go. I remember visiting her when she was a few days old. She would tuck one leg under her in the incubator until it turned blue. This of course bothered me so I straightened the leg out. A loud and unexpected scream occured instantly, followed by moving her leg right back where it had been. She let me know immediately that she runs the show and I am NOT in charge. If you have a copy of the Strong Willed Child please let me borrow it. I'm gonna need it!

Anniston was a good eater the first few weeks but this quickly changed. A few days after we brought her home she began to show signs of colic and reflux. Sounds pretty benign, right? NOT!! This was a VERY hard time in all of our lives. This sweet baby girl screamed every time she swallowed and did not enjoy eating at all. We went to quite a few doctors and visited the VCH ER a couple times too. As it turned out she had a milk protein allergy as well as colic and reflux. After lots of Prevacid, probiotics, and specialized amino acid formula, she was a happy baby, but the first few months were hard on her, and us! She is now off of all medicine and on soy milk. We are awaiting blood test results to find out if she is allergic to milk. The skin test was negative, but she did not tolerate whole milk so we had to do the blood test. Worst case, she is allergic to milk. Best case, she is lactose intolerant like her Momma, Aunt Kimmy, and Gigi. We should find out soon. Other than these issues Anniston has been a very healthy little girl. At 12 months she was 18lbs, 6oz and 28.75 inches.

She now enjoys eating, especially crunchy things, such as cheerios, dried peas and corn, crackers, etc. She will eat what I consider the healthy stuff, but not much. When she is done with whatever "healthy" stuff I have given her she yells and hits her hi-chair, which means "give me the good stuff!" I have about 10 seconds before a temper tantrum begins! She has 8 teeth and knows how to use them. She occasionally enjoys biting a chunk out of her momma's shoulder or arm! She is off the bottle but not the pacifier. Oh how I dread taking it away! Weaning will begin on their due date, January 30th. If you see a 26 year old mother running in circles pulling her hair out in south Nashville you will know that the weaning of the pacifier has begun in the Weaver household.

For such a little "runt", which is really what she was, Anniston has accomplished all of her milestones at the time or before she was "supposed" to. She has done everything before Hutch except for clap. He did that one first. She will take about 10 steps and will be a steady walker before long. Her words are mama, dada, bubba, ba, duck, and baby. She loves to climb and pulls open the oven on her kitchen and stands on it. Or climbs into her shopping cart. She is fearless. She enjoys clapping, waving and being held. Her favorite toys are push toys, keys, push and pop toy, and anything that makes noise. She does not care a thing about books. Whenever I try to read to her she closes the book and makes a little hmmphh noise which I know means, "Mom, I already know all of this. Don't waste your time."

Anniston's nickname is Drama Queen, or DQ (or baby girl or pretty girl). She must be the center of attention at all times. When we are out in public she will stare each person down in the room until everyone has looked at her. She has a goofy little cheesy grin that will melt your heart and at the same time make you laugh out loud. She's gonna take after Aunt Kimmy, I am sure. She is also a good sleeper like Aunt Kimmy. She will go to sleep around 7:30pm and sleep until about 6:30am without waking up. She even sleeps through her brother waking up every night!

Anniston is such a beautiful, sweet, silly and adorable little angel. I am so proud to be called her mother. I never imagined I'd have such a beautiful little daughter, but am so thankful I do. She's gonna give me a run for my money, but I'm ready for the ride! We love our little Sweet pea!!