A few random images

Annabelle decided to make her way behind one of her toys. She wasn't too happy about it. Until...she started trying to use it as a stepping stool to climb the wall! I wish I had a picture, but I was too nervous to not have both hands available for a fall!



Annabelle can walk behind her push toy, but doesn't really like to. Here's a rare moment...


On one of the beautiful days we've had recently, Kris made it home from work while there was still sunshine, so we went outside. He took a great picture of us with her new ball!

9 Months Old

Annabelle turned 9 months old on Sunday! We had her Dr's appointment yesterday and found out she is 27 inches (25th percentile) and 15 pounds 5 ounces (back on the chart at the 3rd percentile). We're so happy she's healthy and growing.

Eating - Annabelle eats four bottles a day, about 5-7 ounces each and two bottles at night (much tot he chagrin of her mommy and daddy). She usually eats about 1/2 a container of baby food twice a day as well. Her pediatrician encouraged us to up the solids and not worry if her formula intake decreases a bit. So, we started eating breakfast this morning. Mangoes and a little baby oatmeal.

Talking - Annabelle "says" lots of things...we just don't know what she's saying. Some of the sounds she makes are blah, dah, mah, bah, lah, th, nah, eh...along with grunts, squeals and other indescribable remarks.

Playing - Annabelle is constantly finding new things to explore. The other day I caught her pulling the heater vent out of the floor! She is one STRONG little girl. She also likes to take things out of boxes, bags, baskets, etc. Although she has recently started putting things back in as well. Some of her favorite things to play with right now are blocks and links. She also loves books and will listen quietly to a story before naptime or bedtime (as long as she's not too too tired).

Moving - Annabelle loves to move! She is an expert crawler and cruiser. People keep commenting that they think she sill be standing and walking. She will stand holding on with one hand and will walk while holding on to our fingers. She can also walk behind her push toy, but doesn't really seem to like it very much. So, we're hoping that means we have at least a few more months!

"What's over here?"


"Is there anything behind the chair?"


"Okay, mom, I'll sit pretty for the picture"

Our Little Monkey

Annabelle just LOVES to climb! At home, she climbs on her exersaucer, on the couch cushions (I put them on the floor), on her toys and on US! The other day, she almost climbed out of her exersaucer. While we've had all this beautiful weather, I've been taking her to the park as much as possible so she can climb to her heart's content. This weekend we were lucky enough to get one more beautiful day and Kris and I were BOTH able to see how much fun she has at the park. Her favorite thing this time was to climb through a hole in a rock wall. She did it over and over...trying to chase the leaves that were blowing around on the ground.

Happy Valentine's Day

oooo....Annabelle wishes everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day.

She's a Scientist!

Ask a Question: Do toys make noise when skaken?
Background Research: I shake the balls from my cement mixer and they make noise.
Hypothesis: All toys make noise when shaken.
Test Your Hypothesis: Take toys out of bin one by one and shake.
Analyze Data and Draw a Conclusion: Lots of toys made some sort of noise when shaken, but not all of them.
Communicate Your Results: I like to shake things!!!



PS - Yes, I know her onesie is inside-out, but she hates having things pulled over her head so much, I decided to leave it that way :)

Finally...a little bit of chunk

She's still quite small, but you can see just a little chunk :)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody! This morning, Annabelle bid farewell to the year of the tiger and welcomed the year of the rabbit :)

I'm going to take a cue from my friend Kate and take this chance to introduce Annabelle's Chinese name. As a little background, we'll start with Kris' name. The first character in his name is Ying (obviously, the family name). Because Kris is part of the 36th generation of Ying's the last character of his name (pronounced yan) means carrying far. His brother, cousin and he all have the same character in their names. The middle character (pronounced sing) means voice.




So, now on to Annabelle's name. The first character, again, is Ying. the second character was chosen by Kris' uncle because his son had the first daughter in the 37th generation of Ying's. It is pronounced kie and means fair. The last character was chosen by Kris' mom. It is pronounced fown and means phoenix. She chose this name because she has always really like this character. Here's Annabelle's Chinese name in her grandma's beautiful handwriting...