3 Buttons Photography Does it Again!

Amanda from 3 Buttons Photography did another great family photoshoot for us back in August! Despite the fact that Joanna was rashy, fussy and limited in the smile department on the day of our pictures, Amanda was able to get some perfect pictures that captured our family so well! I am in love with the pictures and I can't wait to get them printed to decorate our new home! Here are some of my favorites.

7 Month Beauty

Joanna hit the 7 month mark on September 12th. She is growing and learning new things faster than I can keep track! Here are some exciting new milestones and highlights from the past month:

Movement: 

Traveling around the room (and her crib) by rolling

Gets up on all fours and creeps just a bit

Pulls herself up to stand when pulling on Mama

Walks across the room holding Mama's fingers

Eating:

Still nursing and has gotten pretty darn efficient!

HATES formula and HATES the bottle

Eating in her highchair (thanks Uncle Emmanuel and Auntie Afia!)

Eating lots of fruits and veggies, oatmeal and Cheerios

Drinking water out of a sippy cup with help tipping the cup back

Still no teeth but she sure is chewing and drooling away

Talking:

She's got the DaDa sound down but still has no idea what it means

In attempt to copy Mommy saying MaMa, she is now saying BaBa

Geeeee!!! is a new favorite

Play:

Loves pulling things out of of buckets

Learning how to open and close things

Favorite toys: an old remote control, Sophie the Giraffe, flip books

Sleeping

Finally settling into a daytime nap schedule

Down to 1 (occasionally 2) overnight feedings (Whoohoo!!!)

Has a few nights a week where she sleeps well! (and by well I mean she only wakes up 2 or 3 times. She still has a few nights a week where she wakes up several times and we just let her "cry it out."

Starting to deny the pacifier (one less sleep habit for me to have to break later!!!)

Auntie Kona Rose Pup Klagos

Auntie Kona Rose Pup Klagos. Kona for short. Often referred to as "Da Kona." Can we even call her a dog? On the spectrum of dog to person, I would definitely say she lands much closer to person than dog. Not only does she like to be held like a baby, give people hugs and carry her blankie around the house with her, she finds it necessary to shake people's hands every time she sits down. Kona happens to think Joanna is just about the coolest thing since sliced bread and spends every minute of her time trying to figure out how to get to her so she can awkwardly touch her, climb on her, give her toys or shake her hand.

Here are some pictures from the last time they got together to play. Please excuse the blurriness, between the two of them, there is never a second of stillness. 

Ironman 2013

Last Sunday we had the opportunity to head down to Madison to cheer on my Uncle Kent and cousin Jami in their 1st and 2nd Ironman competitions. An Ironman is an extremely long triathlon that begins early in the morning with a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride and then finishes up with a 26.2 mile run. This event is incredibly challenging and is a feat that not many people in this world can achieve. The entire day is not only exciting and emotional to those competing but for their supporters as well. For those of you who have never been to an Ironman finish line, watching these incredible athletes finish up not only a long day of competing but a long year of training is an indescribable experience. The motivational music is playing, the crowd is cheering, and the athletes are running down this long tunnel as the announcers are saying their name followed by "You are an Ironman!" I don't know how you could be there and not have goosebumps all over your body and a tear in your eye as you see all of these phenomenal athletes' hard work pay off.

Jami has been an inspiration to me throughout the past year in so many ways. She was on my mind all day back in February when I was in labor for 20 hours and pushing for 3. I remember thinking if Jami can compete in a triathlon all day long, I can be in labor all day. And then after I had Joanna and I was trying to lose the baby weight, every time I got in the gym I thought of her for motivation to push through my tough workouts (although compared to her daily workouts, mine were nothing!). In this year's Ironman, she continued to amaze me. This girl was on a mission to beat last year's time and when she has a goal in mind, you better bet she will achieve it. She was going so fast on that bike of hers that we all actually missed her going by at one of our cheering sites because she was about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. And at the end of the run, when most people would have been slowing down from exhaustion, she was speeding up! She ended up crushing her time from last year by almost 45 minutes!

Big smile! We didn't miss her this time around!

Looking great after traveling the distance from Madison to Baraboo 3.5 times by water, bike and foot!

Final time: 12 hours and 26 minutes!

And then there's Kent. All of the odds seemed to be against him. He faced so many obstacles in his journey starting with the fact that he had neck surgery last year. He had to face some fears training for the open swim and really step out of his comfort zone. On top of all that, he was competing with a torn hamstring making it pretty much impossible for him to run the 26.2 miles. But he never gave up. He was determined to compete in this race and nothing was going to stop him. And although he was unable to complete the last 3 miles of the race due to dehydration, he is still an Ironman for making it over all those hurdles and through 137.6 of the 140.6 mile race aka 98%!

He's got a smile on his face!

A little more tired a few hours later but still going strong!

And he managed a thumbs up!

Just off the bike, starting the run. Supporters in pink in the background!

We are so proud of both Kent and Jami for all they have achieved and are grateful to have been able to share in their experience with them. Now, as I am about to face a challenge of my own on Monday, (recovering from hip surgery while trying to be a mom to a sleepless 7 month old) I will keep reminding myself of how they dealt with their challenges and know that just as they can do anything they set their minds to, I can as well. They are both such an inspiration to so many people and I hope they know how important their Ironman journeys were, not only to themselves but to all the people who love them. Congrats to you both on your amazing achievements! Love, The Ankumah-Saikoom Family

The dogs came to cheer too!

Proud Mama!

Proud Grandma!

Sisters!

By the way...Joanna was such a trouper that day! We did not make it to the swim early in the morning but we were out there cheering from 11 am until 8pm! We even managed a smile with Jami after she finished the race!