First Snow

Annabelle's first snow!

We actually made it outside while it was still snowing this morning. She stuck her tongue out if we faced toward the wind, but otherwise didn't seem too interested in the falling snow.



She really checked out her surroundings and you could just see her thinking "what is all this white stuff." I picked some snow up for her to touch. Didn't try...

New Accomplishments

No pictures, but here are a few things Annabelle has been working on.

The other day she "threw" on of her toys into her Bumbo seat. She was able to push herself up onto the seat with her left arm, grab the toy with her right hand, and then use her left arm to push herself out again still holding onto the toy with her right hand.

She's been trying bananas, sweet potatoes, and rice cereal...but spits them all out...maybe she's not ready for solids yet?

I put a cheerio on her high chair tray this morning for her to try to pick up. After about 3 minutes of trying, she succeeded! But, she picked it up using her pointer and middle finger?!? And, of course, since it's food, as soon as she put it in her mouth, she made a face and spit it out :)

She's learning to fall asleep without mom or dad rocking her to sleep and then sneaking her into bed. It took her 15 minutes (with checks) to fall asleep last night and 2 minutes to fall asleep before each nap today. Now, if only I can get those naps to last longer than 30 minutes!

Last, but not least, she can pull herself up onto her knees using the edge of her exersaucer. I think our couches are too high for her to use (or she's too short!)

Christmas Portrait Outtakes

We decided to take Annabelle's Christmas pictures at home instead of fighting the crowds and taking our chances at JCPenny or Sears or what-have-you. We ended up with some great pictures, but today I'm going to share some of the funnier moments.

She was very interested in her shiny shoes...


She's great at sitting and can do so for quite a while, but sometimes it's just too much work...


The Santa hat was cute...when we could get her to keep it on her head!



"I'm done!"

Annabelle on the Move

Well, Annabelle's at it again.
Now she's taking a few "real" crawling steps at a time...

Annabelle's First Meal

We attempted to feed Annabelle her first meal on Tuesday at dinner time. I say attempted because she doesn't seem to enjoy the rice cereal so far. All in all I think she swallowed about a tablespoon. Yesterday night, not quite as much. A play-by-play of her first meal...

The first bite seemed to be going well....


Hm...maybe not...
This is the face we got a lot!


She decides that maybe she'll try another bite, but she wants to be in control this time.


Then, she blows a raspberry spraying rice cereal everywhere...including the tip of her nose!

Happy Turkey Day!

After looking through our pictures from our Thanksgiving trip I'm realizing that we will certainly need to be sure to take more of Annabelle with her all her family members at Christmastime.

Annabelle was sure to help out any way should could (forget the toy laying on the floor...there's a suitcase here!) Also an example of how she's pulling up onto her knees now...


Annabelle hadn't seen her Uncle Paul since she was 7 weeks old, but no one could have guessed. She LOVED spending time with him...just look at the fun they had!


Annabelle got to "try" mashed potatoes...mostly just smoosh them around. Not sure exactly what she though of them or if she even knew they were food.


Next up? Christmas! Grandma just had to get her this Christmas sweater when she saw it. For those of you who don't know my mom, she has been making elaborately decorated gingerbread people for years.

6 Months Old

Annabelle turned 6 months while we were in KY visiting my family. We celebrated with half a birthday cake (hard to tell in the picture, but I promise there's only half there). She seems pretty happy about it even though she didn't get to eat any (mom and grandma certainly enjoyed it though).

At 6 months she is now 25 1/4 inches (25th percentile) and 13 pounds, 2 ounces (5th percentile).
She's doing quite well with getting around. She isn't crawling in the traditional sense, but she can get wherever she wants to go (it just takes her a little longer). She's also started pulling up onto her knees any time she can find something the right height to help her. Her favorite pastimes include tipping over her toy bins and pulling out the toys (and laying on some), playing peek-a-boo, and crinkling paper. She still puts everything into her mouth, but no teeth.

Most of the pictures of her with the Lorax turned out like this.


But, we got one good one in...

Our Puppy Part Two

What is that under her toy mirror?


Oh! It's a Peter Rabbit rattle!

Our Little Puppy

Annabelle has always put things in her mouth. It's most definitely her favorite pasttime. But, now she's been putting things in her mouth and then using her hands to reach for more things. Here's an example... I was getting her changed and gave her a sock to play with. This is what she did with it...

Crawling Update

Here's her crawling progress as of Friday. Even since then she's been getting faster and better at staying straight.

Mine! All Mine!

Annabelle is on her way!
She crawled/inched over to her toy bins and over went the first one...



Apparently, that wasn't enough. Over went the second one...

Happy Halloween

Annabelle is having an event-filled Halloween weekend!

On Friday, we went to the Union Halloween Bash where she won first place in the 0-11 month division of the costume contest. Here's the little froggy with her stuffed fly...


Today, we carved pumpkins. She was more interested in the newspaper.


And, I don't think she liked the feel of the pumpkin.


I leave you some pics of our little punkin. One with daddy...


And, one with mommy...

5 Months Old Today

Today is Annabelle's 5 month "birthday". She seems to be changing every single day.

A little over a week ago, she was diagnosed with a milk protein allergy/intolerance (not lactose intolerance). So, she is now on some EXPENSIVE formula, but it seems to be making things a little better. She's now drinking about 5 ounces 6 times per day...no solids yet...we have to give her little tummy a rest for a while and time to heal. Thanks to Dad for his research in developing this formula. Little did he know his granddaughter would be using it many years later! :)
Her favorite games is peek-a-boo.

She loves music. Some of her favorites are "Bibidi Bobidi Boo" and a knee-bouncing song we learned at story time.
She still puts everything she can get her hands on into her mouth and drools like a maniac. So far, no sign of teeth.


A few weeks ago, I posted a picture of her first attempts at sitting. Now, she gets some sitting time every day and she's getting better and better. She does the best when she has something in front of her to play with.


Yesterday, I posted a video of her trying to crawl. At the end of the video, you can see how she gets her butt waaaay up in the air, but her face on the ground. She's been doing this a LOT. Later last night, she actually got up onto all fours...except all four in her case was her hands and toes. She promptly did a belly flop. She's still hard at work on her attempts to crawl and is definitely able to move around a bit.

Just as I am writing this, she got up on her knees and hands, but she got off balance and fell on her side...yikes!

She loves her daddy. Every day when he comes home, she gets a huge grin on her face! He likes to play silly tricks with her. This is what I found when I asked him to pick out a bow to match her outfit yesterday.


Time to practice some more!

Trying to Crawl

Annabelle so badly wants to crawl. She's getting closer, but hasn't figured out that she needs to pick her face up off the floor. Here's a good try...just missed the beginning...
Oh...and, yes, I know a cell phone is not a good baby toy...but it is a good motivator :)

At the Park with Cousin Noah

We had some AWESOME visitors this past week.
Kris brother, Steve, and his wife, Sharon, trekked 18 hours each way with their 14 month old son, Noah to visit with us! We are so, so, so lucky!
Everyone had a great time and it was wonderful for Noah and Annabelle to get a chance to meet one another. One day, we took them to the park. Noah just wanted to run around as much as possible...into the parking lot...into the field... And, Annabelle still doesn't seem to get why the playground is so much fun. Doesn't mean we won't keep trying!

Annabelle testing out the swing. She really just wanted to get it in her mouth...oh dear...


We went down the slide together. Notice that I'm sitting at the top and my feet reach the bottom! Actually a great play area for little ones....just not quite this little.

I love this picture. Told Kris so and he happily pointed out the HUGE drip of drool on Annabelle's lower lip. Oh well...


And, one of cousin Noah being tossed in the air. He had a great time, but I think Sharon and I were about ready to collapse from fright!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch today and Annabelle had a great time with the pumpkins.
First, we went into the actual patch. At this farm, you can't pick them from the patch, but you can get a cute pumpkin picture!


Then, she was overwhelmed by the huge pumpkins...bigger than her!


She made a decision as to which one we should bring home. Maybe the stem looked interesting?


Ok...I'm ready to go!

Poor Sleep Means New Tricks

Annabelle has been having a lot of trouble sleeping at night recently. She's been up every hour or two for at least half the night... Some say this happens when babies start to do something new. Could be...here's what she did today! Her record so far is 10 seconds...

The Funny Things Kids...I Mean, Husbands...Do

The other day, Kris was sitting the back seat of the car to keep Annabelle entertained while I drove on on way home from St Louis. About 20 minutes from home, he tells me she has pulled her socks off and is chewing on them. Not unusual...anything that touches her hands goes into her mouth. When we got home, I carried in some bags while Kris carried in the car seat (with Annabelle in it). Once inside, I set down the bags and went to take Annabelle out of her seat. This is what I saw...Kris said, "What? I was just making it easier for her..." :)

4 Months Old

Annabelle turned four months on September 27th!
She is growing and changing soooo fast!
She is now 24 1/4 inches and 11 lbs 12 1/2 ounces. On the small side, but that's to be expected!

Here's the best we could do for her four month picture with the Lorax...


Why did we have so much trouble? Because all she wanted to do was this...


What are her new talents now that she is four months old?

She is much better at holding her toys and she spends a good amount of her day gumming whatever we put in her reach.

She still likes to be swaddled when she sleeps because she flings her arms and legs about willy nilly. So, for now, we'll keep her all wrapped up.

She currently has her first cold. A stuffy nose and a little cough. It's tough to see her uncomfortable, but she's not too upset about it so we're doing okay.

She can sometimes hold her bottle, but not very well.


About a week ago, she started being able to keep her balance more and more while in a sitting position. Now she can sit like this for a few minutes!


I'll add more pictures as I get them loaded...

"I MUST move!"

Annabelle loves to be on the move. While, on her tummy, she's been using her arms to turn herself towards toys (slowly, slowly...). But, now, she just began something new...




She is soooo close...yet so far away.
Time to babyproof!

New Trick

What's so great about this?


This!


Annabelle and I went to a playgroup on Friday and I found out that she can hold herself up on things if they are the right height. Who knew? Now she can get a better view of the fish tank that's behind the couch (for now...that will have to go when she's able to reach it!)
And, yes, I realize she's sporting the slouchy pants look. Apparently she's not quite ready for the 3-6 month size pants :)

Look Who's Talking

Annabelle has been quite the little chatterbox recently. She talks to us and to her toys (more often) what seems like constantly. Here is an example of her "talking"



This will go on for up to half an hour. I think she just likes to hear her voice. She has also started to make some new noises such as squeals (of anger or delight) and long, drawn out moans (usually when she's just about to fall asleep).

She continues to turn over a lot, but it seems to be changing constantly. Now, she turns on to her stomach almost every time I put her on her back (including trying to while on the changing table!), but she's not as interested in turning from her stomach on to her back. I think she's still trying to figure out how to put this new-found skill to good use. She hasn't quite got down the task of rolling to get to something she wants. She usually ends up on top of it and that just makes her mad! :)

3 Months Old

Annabelle is three months and 5 days old!
She is about 23 inches long and 11 lbs 3 1/2 oz. Petite, but powerful.

Her biggest accomplishment...turning over!
She turned from her back to her side on Aug 12th; her back to her side to her stomach on the
17th; and her stomach to her back on the 19th. She turns onto her side quite often, but rolls from stomach to back only a few times a week. I'm guessing she hasn't quite figured out what the advantage of doing so is yet, so she's not inclined to do it as often.

She can grasp toys (or anything put in front of her, like hair) by bringing her hands together.
She's pretty good at holding on to toys, but it helps if they have a tag or a small circumference. However, she gets VERY frustrated when she can't turn a toy just right so that it fits into her mouth.

Speaking of, she wants to put everything in her mouth. Not just toys...her hands, her bumbo seat, our hands and arms...


Pretty sure she would have put this plant in her mouth if I had let her get close enough...


Also in the picture above, you can see one of her favorite things: the Baby Bjorn. She doesn't like riding in the stroller as much any more because she can't see everything. But, put her in the Baby Bjorn and we can take her anywhere. When we take it off there's always a huge wet circle from her chewing on the top.

Here's a three month picture with the Lorax...

Another Giggle

We couldn't resist making another video of Annabelle's giggles. This time the sound is better, but the camerawoman is a bit shaky :)

Annabelle Laughing

Annabelle laughed for the first time on Thursday. This morning, while Katie, Jake, Kris and I were eating breakfast she laughed a bit more. Then, just after Katie and Jake left we were able to catch a few giggles on camera. Unfortunately, the cameraman had his finger over the microphone to hide the red light on the camera, so you'll have to turn your volume waaaaaaaay up :)

Crafty Week

I've been feeling crafty this week and have actually completed TWO projects during Annabelle's naps.

First, a Dr Suess growth chart. I need to buy a dowel still, so it's not yet on the wall.


And a tutu for Annabelle. Kris and I have been eying similar things at kids' clothing stores in the mall, but they are ridiculously over-priced. So, here's my homemade version...
I made it big enough that it should fit for a year or more.