Babyproofing

Well, Paul finally got one gate up...only 3 more to go. I wish we would have done this sooner. We should have babyproofed months ago then we wouldn't have to be worrying about it now. It just crept on us sooner than we thought.

Here is Paul putting in gate.


Also, Annabelle is doing something a little funny. It's a prelude to walking, I think. It looks like she is trying to stand up on all fours but then she starts crawling that way. It's weird...here's a picture.

Object Permanence

Object permanence is a baby's ability to realize something still exists even though they can't see it. This on average happens at around 9 months. Annabelle has been demonstrating this for some time. However, today, it was really strong. She likes keys..likes to chew on them. She managed to get a hold of Paul's keys. I thought it was gross for her to be chewing on it. I took them away and she had her first temper tantrum. You would have thought she was writhing in pain by the way she was crying for those keys. Usually, if I take something away, I hide it or move her out of the room. That didn't work this time. She knew those keys were around somewhere and darn it, she wanted them. Wow...that was some crying fit!

Funny Girl

Annabelle is such a cutie. Yes, I know I'm biased. But you should see her get around. I just laugh and laugh as she gets around. It's funny to see such a tiny girl moving around the way she does. Here are some great pics from today. She's crawling all over place getting into everything. I went to Babies R Us today and bought 4 gates, electric outlet plugs and some magnet things to keep her from opening up the cabinets. She is already starting to get into them.

Annabelle knows a good thing when she sees it:




Here is a link to the most recent video. You may need to cut and paste:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4330934155693316855&pr=goog-sl

Tomorrow we are meeting some friends out for coffee.

Busy few days....

Sorry to have not posted in a few days....

Wednesday we had Gymboree class. This class is a workout for mom. Lots of lifting, swinging, etc of Annabelle. But, I think she is really enjoying it. Thursday was a blah day. Mom wasn't feeling all that great so we stayed in and took a nap! It ended up being a very peaceful, quiet day. Today we had swimming lessons. I think Annabelle really enjoys the water. The water was a bit cool today...but Annabelle was warm in her mini wetsuit. Some of the other babies were a bit cold.

Mom and Dad went out to dinner tonight while Goody and Poppy babysat. It's so nice that they are here. I don't know what we would do without them.

I took a good video today of Annabelle...be on the lookout for it tomorrow.

Homemade Baby Food

Today I made Annabelle some homemade baby food. I made her some lentils and some butternut squash. It's very easy...just cook the food, puree it and then put it in ice cube trays and freeze. When it's frozen, put into ziplock bags and voila! You are done. You can defrost them one at a time for a quick, healthy, and all natural baby meal!

We also went to our friend Shannon and Allie's house. We had a lot of fun playing with John, Zoe, Lily, Allie, Belle, Urban, and David. Here are some pictures from today. Annabelle is sporting yet another fashionable ensemble from her Auntie Mary.

Getting out...

Annabelle and I had to get out of the house today. We have been cooped up too long. So, we did some simple errand running and grocery shopping. Nothing too exciting. We did venture to the new Harris Teeter store. It's really nice...like a cross between Giant and Whole Foods.

Here are some pictures of Annabelle from today. You can see how well she is standing. That girl is CONSTANTLY on the move. Chasing Bailey is one of her new pasttimes. Bailey fights back by licking her face over and over again. She is so busy during the day that at night she really goes down like a bag of rocks. We are enjoying her new early bedtime of 7pm!

Snowing....Finally!

Well, it's snowing today! It's been snowing steadily since about 12pm. It is actually starting to accumulate, too. We are planning on going outside for some pictures with Annabelle for her first snow! Update...here are the pictures.

Belle and Dad


Bailey enjoying the snow too

On Friday we had our second swimming class. We had a ton of fun. Annabelle slept very well after that. She was very active in the water with kicking her legs and chasing after rubber duckies. Our little stinker is very very mobile now. I've been reading a book about things you can do to stimulate your baby. According to the book, babies that do things early tend be very bright babies. I guess Annabelle is a bright baby! She is doing lots of things early. Plus her head just keeps getting bigger! hehehe...gotta keep stimulating that brain. The book also says that brains grow with activity. I know you can't take everything in every book word for word...ther are just too many differing opinions out there. BUT, I'll believe our baby is bright!

Here is a recent video. You may have to cut and paste the link.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-101890179469305494

What to do about the dog food.

Ok, so now that she's crawling, Annabelle is obsessed with Bailey's food dishes. I turned my back for 1 second and she had a piece of his food in her hand, about 2 inches from her mouth. Yikes!


Today she pulled herself to a stand for the first time. That's scary too. We put her in a sleepsack while in the crib, and she even managed to stand in that. Yesterday we had Gymboree and as always it was loads of fun. Today we stayed in...the weather was gloomy and mom didn't feel like going anywhere. We did a nice long walk today, though. Tomorrow is swimming! Wahooooo

Time to Babyproof

Annabelle is getting around way too easily these days. We think it's time to babyproof. Here are some pictures of her getting into the entertainment center. We have a large open space in it where there is a large vase. She is very interested in this vase. Babyproofing is #1 on the priority list.

Busy weekend....

Paul and I spent the whole weekend cleaning out our basement. Very exciting, I know. It was a mess...I am quite the packrat. We also borrowed a shopvac and did a huge cleanup. That kept us really busy.

I think we can say that Annabelle is officially crawling. She got about 3 feet today. Here is a video of her crawling a little bit. She is doing really well and transitions well from sitting to crawling back to sitting. You may need to cut and paste the link.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=620246930253461513&pr=goog-sl

Picture of crawling:



I fed Annabelle some of the homemade baby food. It was a carrot apple puree with brown rice. I don't think she likes the brown rice very much...probably just the texture. I kept her in the highchair a bit so I could straighten up the kitchen. The next thing I knew, I turned around and she was asleep. She has never fallen asleep in anything other than the carseat, the pack n play, and the crib.

Cooking class

Last night I took a cooking class to teach us how to make nutrious and all natural baby food and toddler meals. It was a lot of fun...we turned it into a mom's night out. Here is a website for more information: www.meals4munchkins.com

We finally had to lower the crib ALL the way down to the bottom. Annabelle was getting way too good at pulling herself up. In fact, she has pulled herself up to a full stand. This has only happened in the crib, though. On the crawling front I would lean towards saying she took her first "crawls" today...but, I won't. She only got about 3 or 4 inches before she plopped down.

Swim Time!

We started swimming lessons today. They start at 10am. Unfortunately, that's right in the middle of Annabelle's morning nap. That's the only nap I can count on her taking during the day. Well, she wasn't too pleased with getting up early. However, once we drove to the pool and got in the water, she had a good time. Here is a picture of her in her wetsuit. Uncle Jack and Aunt Christina gave her a swimsuit, however, it was too big so we'll have to save it for next year.



The swimming was a lot of fun and didn't present the logisitical challenge I was expecting. We did lots of fun things in the pool. Annabelle instinctively knew to kick when I pulled her along in the water. We both enjoyed it very much.

Almost crawling and almost first tooth!

Well, I think Annabelle will be crawling any day now. She is very good at getting on all fours and rocking back and forth. She has figured out how to move her hands and feet to move forward but will only do it for a second before plopping down. She is very good at the "combat crawl" which consists of scooting along her tummy. She really gets around well this way.

Almost Crawling:


Also, her first tooth is just about out. You can see the teeth...they are about half way thru. She's actually been pretty good natured during the whole teething affair. By the way, I'm a little annoyed by the whole process...she's been teething for about 3 months now. It takes FOREVER.

Tomorrow we have our first swimming lesson. I bought her a mini wetsuit to keep her warm. We heard the pool wasn't all that warm. Should be interesting to say the least.

Playtime!

On Tuesday Annabelle and I went over to Heather's house. We had a blast playing with John, Lily, and Belle. Here is a picture from yesterday. Annabelle is playing with John.


Today we had our 2nd Gymboree class. Here is a video from the class. I think Annabelle is getting more out of this class than she did from the 0-6 month class. This class is 6-10 months. She'll turn 10 months at the end of March. We may move into the 10-16 month class after that. We'll see. Here is a video from last week from the birthday playgroup. After a few minutes, there is video from today's gymboree. You may have to copy and paste the link.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3927183295099119659&pr=goog-sl

Rainy Day

Annabelle and I were going to run some errands today. However, it's been raining all morning so I don't know if we will end up doing that. We have a post office, grocery store and CVS (drugstore) all within walking distance to our house. One of my favorite things to do is to get Annabelle in the stroller and take a nice long walk and take care of small errands at the same time. I was planning on doing that today too. Oh well...darn rain. Mondays are errand running or cleaning days (yes, I know..my life is so exciting! :-)). Tuesdays and Thursdays are moms coffees (I usually go to at least one), Wednesdays we have Gymboree and Fridays are full: mornings are swimming lessons and afternoons are playgroups. Swimming lessons only run for 8 weeks starting this Friday. I HAVE to stay busy or else I go insane.


Annabelle has this funny habit of "doing her hair" while she is taking a bottle. She will hold her own bottle about half the time, but when she doesn't, she does her hair. She'll rub her hands back and forth on her head, smoothing out her hair then pulling it then smoothing it out again. It's pretty funny. Blanka got a picture of it this weekend:

Busy Friday and Saturday

In my mom's group we have a wide variety of ages. We all met at the new moms group at the hospital and quickly became friends. The babies range from birthdays in Dec 05 to July 06. Thus, we are starting to celebrate 1st birthdays...where in the world does the time go? On Friday we went to Harpers first birthday playgroup/party. It really is funny how crazy things get when babies start to crawl and walk. We have one walker and a bunch of crawlers. The party was pure chaos, but so much fun. Here is a video from the party:

On Saturday we went to stay the night with Todd, Blanka, and Julia. Aunt Jill and Cousin Scott along with Craig were there too. These are some pictures that Blanka took. We also got some fantastic pictures, but unfortunately they were all wiped when the memory card was removed to download the pics at Todd's house. Annabelle was quite funny when put next to Julia. She tried to hold her hand and touched her face....she came dangerously close to poking Julia's eye out too. Yikes!
Julia and Annabelle:


Todd and Paul (holding Julia)


Tonight we had to lower the crib. Annabelle ALMOST pulled herself into a stand and it scared mom to death. SO, down the mattress went. We just can't believe how quickly our little girl is growing. It goes by so quickly.

Gymboree Again

Yesterday we started Gymboree again. Annabelle is now in the 6-10 month class. It was a great class and really wore her out...it also wore me out a bit as it required a bit more physical activity than the 0-6 month class did. It will be every Wednesday from now until April. Next week we start swimming lessons.

Annabelle is starting to get such a little personality. We just love it. She is definitely a girl who knows what she likes! As for her teeth, I am starting to see two white buds pop thru on the bottom. They are almost out, thank God.

Today we had coffee with some other moms. Annabelle and Allie played together a while...I took a video. I'll have it posted tomorrow night. Not only do you get my mommy voice, you get the voice of several other moms!

Here are a few pics from the last few days...

Post Bath Mohawk...

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve! Ours was low key...just the way we like it! Our friends Tim and Sheila came over. We made fondue...we started with a swiss cheese fondue, then did a coq au vin (broth) fondue with meats and dipping sauces. Then we played a little bit of Taboo. Paul and I don't own any board games...it was a lot of fun. I think we need to get a few. Then about 1/2 hour before midnight we fired up the chocolate fondue, complete with cheesecake, marshmellow, and various fruits for dipping. Annabelle was a doll the whole night, sleeping away in her crib.

Miss Belle is very active these days. She is easily bored and needs to be constantly stimulated. This afternoon after mom and Annabelle both had a nap, we tried to have a family snuggle, but Annabelle wouldn't hear of it. She needed to be doing SOMETHING! She got a couple of pianos for Christmas. Below is a link to a new video...it's a combination of a few different video from the last few days.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3729224788618210950&pr=goog-sl
She is also starting to perfect her pincer grasp. She sees tiny things on the carpet and tries to pick them up. I guess that's a reminder to me to vacuum on a daily basis.

We just can't get over how much she changes everyday and how she is truly the joy of our life.