Lots of sounds

Annabelle has become adept at creating all kinds of new and interesting sounds. Below is a link to a video of Belle that exhibits several of those wonderful new sounds. Also the video will demonstrate her keen ability to put just about anything into her mouth!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-936889837949525625&pr=goog-sl

She has been doing something that I have failed to post about. She now reaches out to one of us to hold her. I swear it is the cutest thing. Additionally, she is DYING to crawl...poor thing. You can just tell she is sooooo annoyed at just sitting in one place. She's trying really hard to get moving.

Test!

Hi everyone...

We are testing the video! Click on the link below to see if you can see Annabelle. Paul got a new toy from his mom for christmas. It is the coolest mini camcorder. SO easy to use even I can do it!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1575273971105184998&pr=goog-sl

Where the heck are those teeth?

Well, Annabelle is in full throttle for teething. It's been drool city here lately....even getting the front of her jammies wet. I hope they pop out soon...it feels like this has been going on forever, well off and on for the last 3 months. I hear that sometimes teething causes diarrhea and symptoms of colds. Well, that must be true. I don't believe she is sick but she sure is congested a wee bit and has had a few messier than normal diapers. We'll see! She has also been a bit fussy at night and has been waking up in the middle of the night.

Tonight mom and dad are getting to go see a movie and go out to eat. Goody and Poppy will watch our girl. We like having family so close by. I don't know how people w/o family nearby do it.

We finally have all of Annabelle's new toys out of their boxes and ready to be played with. We got a few that are 2+ so she will have to wait a year or so to play with them. One of daddie's new gifts (from goody) was a tiny camcorder. This thing is way cool. We've been playing with it a bit and will be sharing videos ASAP!

Merry Christmas!

Hello Everyone!

Hope you had as wonderful a Christmas as we did. On Christmas eve we had Goody and Poppy over for dinner. I made a turkey tortilla soup (recipe from Mom!). It was TASTY! I think that will be our new traditional Christmas Eve dinner. The next morning we woke up and had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast (baked french toast with cream cheese).

Annabelle had many a gifts to "open." It was fun opening them for her and she really enjoyed the wrapping paper and bows. Then we went over to Goody and Poppy's house to open gifts and eat dinner. Dinner was superb, as always. Here are some pics from the day.

The next week or so will be fairly quiet and laid back. In January Gymboree starts again and mom will also be taking Annabelle to swim lessons. Mom is NOT looking forward to finding a bathing suit. Other than that, we are just hanging out. Mom MAY go back to work part time but that all hinges on finding part time child care. We'll see!

Annabelle's new dolls

We've been getting a decent amount of gifts for Annabelle, as you can probably imagine. One of the gifts so far (they are too big to be wrapped, so we could see em early!) were these handmade Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. They were made by Grandpa Jack's wife Susie (we still need to come up with a good name for her for Annabelle to call her). They were done in pink and green clothes to match her bedroom. Here is a picture of Annabelle with them:
Mom is considering going back to work part time. We interviewed a nice nanny today. We'll see how it all works out.

Dinner with friends

Lately Annabelle has been a very difficult baby during diaper changes. We have this huge mirror above the changing table in the living room. We will try to change her diaper and she'll want to twist and turn to touch it.

Tonight Paul and I had dinner with some friends of ours, Carey and Eric. They have a daughter 1 month older than Annabelle. Her name is Cailey. Here is a picture of them playing together.

Another busy week

Annabelle has not been into the solids as much as we had hoped. Yesterday I gave her sweet potatoes. For the first time, she actually opened her mouth for them and squealed in delight! It was most funny. Also, lately she has been trying to hold her own bottle. She pretty much grabs it out of my hands and feeds herself. She can almost do it w/o any help at all. She takes it in and out of her mouth...testing her abilities, I'm guessing. It almost seems like she's trying to be independent about the whole thing..is this a sign of things to come?

Happy with sweet potatoes:

Another night away!

On Saturday nigh, Goody and Poppy kept Annabelle overnight while mom and dad went to Annapolis for the night. They went out to dinner with some friends and then to a few bars. Mom realized she's too old for that...she was pooped by 10pm. It was nice to sleep in, however. Here are a few pics from Annapolis. It's a very nice city...one of Maryland's finest.

Playgroup

Today we went over to Annabelle's friend John's house. Here are some pics of Annabelle and her friends.

Annabelle is REALLY trying to learn how to crawl. Here are a couple of pictures of her. She'll start off on her playmat then get all the way across the other side of the room by scooting and rolling. Also, she is starting to get on all fours and kind of rock back and forth. Here are some pictures:

Busy Week

Phew...sorry for the lack of posts! It's been a busy week! We have been out of the house a lot this week. Yesterday we had lunch with Annabelle's Godfather, Mike. It was nice to see him as it's been a while. Here is a picture:
Today we need to finish up some Christmas shopping. Then we are meeting some of moms friends out for moms coffee.

Trip to Homstead Gardens

Today we went to Homstead Gardens (http://www.homesteadgardens.com/) with Goody and Poppy. It is a really neat nursery in Maryland that has lots of Christmas stuff. Annabelle was enthralled with the toy trains. They had a lot of them up. Unfortunately, the camera battery died after just one picture.

Annabelle is starting to do a lot of bouncing when sitting on the knee. It's pretty funny...she really gets into it and laughs at herself. She is also getting to be much more interested in Bailey. They start to look for each other now. When Bailey comes inside after a walk or going to the bathroom, he immediately looks for Annabelle. Likewise, she often looks for him and gets a BIG smile on her face when she sees him. She loves "petting" him and Bailey is a good sport when she pulls on his beard, showering her with lots of kisses.

Playgroup

Yesterday Annabelle hosted playgroup. It's always pretty funny to get several babies around the same age in the room all at once. Also for the first time, Annabelle go on her knees and hands and wobbled back and forth as if she wanted to crawl. Guess we better get the house babyproofed as quickly as possible. She will be crawling very soon. Here is a picture of Annabelle and Allie playing together. They are only 9 days apart:
Today we went over to her friend Megan's house. They sat together and played at this neat toy. They were also looking at each other and babbling. I can just see it now...Megan"Oh, Annabelle, I just LOVE those white robeez with the bows! And that skirt, oh my!" Annabelle: "Thanks! My godmommy got me this outfit. I just love all those bows your mommy puts in your hair! I wish my mommy would do that!" Megan's mommy Emily took a picture, hopefully I can get a copy. This was the one day I forgot to put the camera in the purse!

Sippy Cup!

We were inspired by our friends Emily and Megan to try the sippy cup. Megan liked hers so much that Annabelle wanted to give it a go. She really liked it! We're not sure if she understands she can get liquid out when she suck at the top, but at least it kept her entertained. In fact, it's the only thing so far that if you take it away, she cries.

Annabelle with the sippy cup:

Annabelle without her sippy cup:

OK! Finally...here are some pictures from this weekend. These are some pictures of Annabelle decorating her first tree. I think she had fun.

Here is a picture of her eating carrots for the first time:

A new first!

Hi everyone!
I REALLY need to get the rest of the pictures downloaded. We will, I promise. Paul likes to do it and do some photoshop editing. He has been in training for his new job, so I'm gonna ask him to do it tonight!
However, we had a first last night! We went up to Balitmore for Paul's company's Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. We left Annabelle overnight for the first time. She stayed with Goody and Poppy and it seemed to all work out pretty good.
Anyway, check back tonight or tomorrow morning. I'll have some pictures up from Mary's visit.

Busy Weekend!

This weekend Auntie Mary came for a visit. She arrived on Thursday night. On Friday we went shopping and ran errands. That night we went to go get Annabelle's First Christmas tree. On Saturday, the girls went shopping while Dad decorated the outside of the house and got lights on the tree. Annabelle had her first trip to Jimmy Choo and Dior! That night, we decorated the tree. We have a lot of pictures and still need to download most of them, but here are some pictures of Annabelle on her first trip to get a Christmas tree! Come back later tonight for more pics!