Fun Weekend!

This weekend was a lot of fun! On Thursday night Auntie Mary flew in for a visit. We went to swimming class on Friday morning then pictures in the afternoon. That experience was unpleasent. Annabelle is not a very cooperative toddler when it comes to taking pictures. I think we'll have to wait until she's a little bit older to do professional pictures again. Even though it didn't go smoothly, we actually ended up with some cute pictures. On Saturday, Aunt Jill came to babysit while me, Paul, Mary and Poppy went to a Nationals Game. It was a little delayed because of rain but ended up being a fun game....even thought the Nationals lost. On Sunday we went to brunch then said goodbye to Auntie Mary.

Annabelle is continuing to develop and grow on track. She is VERY interested in potty training. I think we'll get a potty soon. We also have to start thinking about transitioning to a big girl bed. With all of the changes coming up, we'll have to take each one slowly.

Annabelle is full of atitude. She is a sweet and loving girl but definitely has a mind of her own and is very stubbor in the things she wants or doesn't want.

Below area few of the professional pictures we had taken.

Mary and Annabelle:


cutie pie


first school picture

Ultrasound Pics

Just in case you missed the email, here are the ultrasound pictures. We had the ultrasound on March 17th. And no, we don't know the sex yet..probably in about 6 weeks, hopefully!

First Haircut!

Annabelle had her first haircut this week (yes, I've been resisting). She DID NOT like it. She sat on my lap and the cape scared her, hence I got hair all over me. The ladies at the Hair Cuttery couldn't have been nicer or more patient and did better than I ever could in that situation with a crying, squirming baby. She really needed it...as much as I want her hair long, it had never been cut and was a bit scraggly in the back. It is shaped now so I'm thinking it will grow in nicely.

Here is a picture:

Happy Easter (belated!)

Hope everyone had a nice Easter! The weather here was beautiful! We started the day off with church. We came home and I made a big breakfast of crepes and turkey bacon..yum! Later on, Goody and Poppy came over for dinner with the ham. I made carrots and mashed potatos. It was a very tasty dinner! Afterwards, we took a walk and Annabelle had fun at the playground. We have lots of playgrounds near our house which Annabelle just LOVES. Here is a picture of her in her Easter dress outside in the backyard. Speaking of which, she absolutely LOVES going outside. I am so thankful we have a nice backyard for her to play in. Paul put a lot of work into the grass last year and it's coming in really nice now! I will actually venture to say it's lush! We just need to keep a handle on the weeds this summer!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wow....I can't believe it's been a month since we posted. We've been super busy with a few sicknesses in between. I had the flu and Annabelle has had few colds. Ahhh...winter. I am so glad it's spring!

Here are the highlights from the last month....

Annabelle has a few sentences now..."What's that?", "Where's the ...", "All done" and "All Gone." Her vocabulary is really growing. She has a puzzle with letters and is starting to recognize letters. She is also mommy and daddy's little helper. She loves to help put dishes away and clean up her toys. And, like mother like daughter, she'll bring you a coaster for your drink and put her shoes by the door. It's proof to us that children really do watch their parents and copy them.

We went to Kilmarnock, VA this last weekend for a little get away. It was nice to take a little road trip. Annabelle enjoyed the country and especially the water fowl/decoy festival where she enjoyed looking the artfully crafted decoys.

Tonight we went to a little coffee shop with Goody and Poppy to listen to a very good Irish band. Annabelle enjoyed the music and making friends with other children.

Pictures are below!

At the water fowl festival:


Looking out the window in the country:

Happy Valentine's Day

Annabelle shared lots of love yesterday. She's been giving kisses to mom and dad for a long time now, but yesterday she moved on! We had our annual mom's group Valentine's Day party and she gave lots of kisses to her friends...especially John...oh lala.

Annabelle's vocabulary keeps on growing. She is fairly good at expressing what she wants. New words inlcude cup, fork, pizza and peas. She continues to be a picky eater at home, however, she eats everything at daycare. She gets quit a variety there however, when we offer her new things at home she won't eat them. I guess it's the peer pressure at school. Speaking of which , she LOVES school. Even on her days away from school, come about 8:45am she is stir crazy...points outside and says "coat coat coat." She wants to go!

Pinkeye was going around her room at school and after 2 weeks, she finally came down with it, accompanied by her first ear infection. Thus, her first time on antibiotics. Not too bad considering she's almost 2. She's been a very healthy little girl.

She loves her puzzles. She has this fishing, magnetic puzzle thing. I thought it would be harder for her to get the pieces back in because there are no pictures and the fish all look the same, but lo and behold, she has solved it. I was going to save it for a while since it said 3+ for the age, but decided to get it out. She's so smart!

Pictures below!

John and Annabelle lovin!


Solving her fish puzzle:

Happy February!

It's finally February. Is it just me or did January poke along really slowly? I think it was the cold weather. We are hoping we get a really good snow storm this month because Annabelle has the cutest sled that Goody and Poppy gave her last year that she was only able to use once.

Annabelle has added a few new words to her vocabulary. She can say a few body parts...nose and eye. She can also say coat and cookie.

She is definitely no longer a baby...she is a little girl in her own right! She has tons of personality and loves pushing the limit of what she can get away with.

Here is a picture of Annabelle enjoying some spicy creole potatoe chips...she LOVED them, spices and all!

Playgroup!

We had some friends over today...John and Belle. I think they had a good time playing. Belle and Annabelle had a few tiffs over some baby dolls, but other than that, they all got along great. Below are a few pictures.

Annabelle loves to peek out the mail slot in the door to see what's going on outside. She does it when one of us leaves to go somewhere. I finally got a picture of it.

Goofy Girl!

Annabelle is just blossoming! She has a very strong personality and definitely knows what she wants and doesn't want. Her vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds and is now up to a little over 20 words that she can say. Additionally, if you ask her to point to certain things in books she can do that too. She loves to share and wants to include Bailey in anything and everything that is family related. We have family hugs and the three of us will hug and she'll always say "B", "B" (her word for Bailey, which we use with him too). So, Bailey gets to join in the family hugs too. If she shares a cracker with mommy or daddy, she'll give Bailey one too, hence the dog's recent weight gain.

She loves school. According to Paul, who takes her in the morning, as soon as she gets dressed she immediately runs to the coat rack and starts to point at her coat and says "shoes" "shoes." If you ask her if she wants to go to school, she vigoursly shakes her head yes. She is also putting her own clothes in her dirty clothes hamper in her room. We are starting to work on her learning how to put her own toys away.

Her hair is LONG and now it's a game for how long we can go w/o cutting it. She still hasn't had a first haircut and now I am resisting cutting it.

Her words now: B (for bailey), cheese, apple, nana (for banana), Elmo, poo poo, milk, hi, bye bye, book, blocks, bubbles, cracker, night night, football, ball, baby, snacks, shoes, more, and of course, mommy, daddy, and her own name, Annabelle. Currently, we are working on please and thank you. Additionally, she is starting to count....only to 3, but hey, it's a good start!

Another funny thing she this morning. Paul was reading Cindarella to her and on the last page where there is a picture of Cindarella and the Prince, she pointed to the the prince and said "Daddy" and pointed to Cindarella, she said "Mommy." I guess she understands the concept of a couple and or love. I'm thinking that's a good thing.

Here are some recent pictures:

Combing my hair!


Solving a puzzle....

Happy New Year!

The New Year started off with a bang...we went to the Redskins/Cowboys game where, for the second time, Celeste got drenched. Even with the icky weather, we had a good time, especially with the Redskins kicking the cowboy's butts!

With our babysitter out the window, we decided to have a little NYE party. It was a lot of fun and we think even the kiddos had fun. Good food, good friends, and good drinks...what else could you want?

Here are some pictures:

Busy few weeks

Phew...the holidays are finally over. While it was fun, it was also busy...all good stuff, but busy. On Christmas weekend we headed out to Purcellville to stay the night on Saturday. We had an early Christmas celebration with the Kovers. We ate good and laughed a lot so that was a good weekend! Then on Sunday we headed home with Aunt Betty. She stayed with us on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. It was a lot of fun to spend Christmas with her. We cooked our traditional Christmas eve dinner of turkey tortilla soup and then on Christmas morning we had our baked french toast with cream cheese for breakfast, which Annabelle thoroughly enjoyed. Annabelle wasn't too into opening presents but she certainly enjoyed the fruits of mom and dad's labors. We headed over to Goody and Poppy's house for Christmas dinner where we had prime rib and Yorkshire pudding.

Annabelle got spoiled rotten and really loves all of her new toys and books.

Here are some pictures!
Christmas Day:


Julia and Annabelle


new baby stroller....

Fun with Auntie Mary

We had a good time with Auntie Mary last weekend. We think Paul had a good time in Miami, but unfortunately, he can't remember much.

Mary flew in on Friday night. On Saturday, we started off with some tasty lunch at our local Thai restaurant. Then, we headed off to Chevy Chase....Dior, Jimmy Choo, and Saks. Annabelle did pretty well...especially at Dior where the salesladies were oohing and ahhing over her. Can you blame em? HA!

Then on Sunday, Lita our old nanny watched Annabelle while we headed out to the jewelry show. LAter that night, we exchanged gifts where Mary definitely spoiled Annabelle and me too.

Here are some pics from the weekend.......

On our way shopping!


Annabelle loves Auntie Mary's shoes:


Annabelle and her new Eloise doll:

Santaphobia

Last year, Annabelle enjoyed her first Santa experience. This year, not so much. We were standing in line, waiting for our turn, and she seemed to sense what was about to happen. She looked at him and then suddenly clung to Paul for dear life. When it was our turn, we walked up, peeled her off of me and handed her to Santa. She immediately started screaming. An hour later, after dinner, just the mere mention of the word Santa made her cling to Paul. Several hours later at home, same thing. Poor Annabelle....Santa was very scary.


Tomorrow night is my annual ornament exchange with my moms group. Then Paul is off to a bachelor party this weekend in Miami. Mary is flying in to keep me company. Should be a good time!

Bodily Functions

That's right folks, Annabelle is aware of her bodily functions. She thinks burps and farts are funny and even trys to fart on purpose. I'm not lying. I'm partly to blame for this because I encourage her by laughing. She also says "poo poo" when she poos. That is thanks to grandpa who taught her that word while they were visiting for Thanksgiving.

We've had a rough few days with Annabelle...she has been waking up and NOT going back to sleep. Paul actually got up with her Tuesday morning at 4am because she refused to go back to sleep and wanted to play. It's all very strange. I hope it doesn't happen on Thursday night, as Paul and I are headed up to Baltimore for the night for Paul's Company's Christmas party. Goody and Poppy will be staying the night, so I pray for a good night of sleep for them.

We got our Christmas tree and decorated this last weekend. The house looks lovely and Annabelle takes great fun in shaking the tree. Darn those real trees...tehre are needles everywhere already. We did put all of the breakable ornaments towards the top of tree, thank goodness, as she has also taken to taking them off and playing with them. I found an ornament in her shape sorter box today.

We've been a little slow on pictures since Thanksgiving. I promise to take some in the next few days. We just feel like suddenly things have gotten oh so busy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grandma and Grandpa flew in from Portland, OR on Wednesday night. The Thanksgiving weekend started off on a healthy note with Paul running our local Turkey Trot race. It was 5 miles and he did great, running a 9.5 min mile.

We spent all day cooking..turkey, mashed potatoes n gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and cranberry relish. Goody and Poppy came over and brought some yummy sweet potatoes. It was quite a feast. Of course, we finished off with some pumpkin pie. YUMMY!

On Friday we got up and went for a long walk to Old Town. We walked a loooong time...eating some Hard Times Chile for lunch. We went to Christ Church (http://www.historicchristchurch.org/) and Gadsby's Tavern (http://oha.alexandriava.gov/gadsby/) for a little historical sight seeing. George Washington attended chuch at Christ Church and drank ale and attended balls at Gadsby's Tavern.

Daddy Racing


Feast Day

Finally....some pictures!

I finally got my new laptop today...whoo hooooo.....

Here are some recent pictures.

Love my clothes!


Yummy Apple!

Updates with Annabelle

Everything here is pretty quiet. I'm in the process of getting a new laptop, so sorry for the lack of pictures lately. We have alot on the camera, but they need to be downloaded.

This past weekend we went to the church's fall festival. Annabelle had her first pony ride and train ride. She liked the train and wasn't too sure about the pony.

Annabelle continues to amaze us. She makes us laugh everyday! She's big on showing you her tummy and rumor has it that she does it at daycare too...lifts up her shirt and pats her tummy...especially when you remark on how much she has eaten. She also knows her body parts and thinks it's funny to pick her nose...ewwww! Her vocabulary has really grown by leaps and bounds too. Still, her favorite word is "NO!" I think she has gotten the gist of teasing too....if you ask her for a hug or kiss, she'll playfully shake her head no, smiling....then out of nowhere, you'll get the hug or kiss. We think she is the smartest baby in the world! :-)

We are all looking forward to Thanksgiving...my mom and dad are flying in from Portland, OR. Should be a good time with the DeWitts!

Annabelle's New Tricks

Paul and I tried to get away this weekend to Kilmarnock, VA. Alas, it wasn't to be. Paul's Aunt Jill came to watch Annabelle for us while we went away. On Saturday, she came down with a nasty bug...throwing up, etc. It was a rough day for Jill. On Sat night we had to head back home. Sunday was rough...but by night Annabelle was a lot better and slept for nearly 13 hours. Monday and Tuesday were pretty good too and Annabelle is finally better. Phew...that had to be THE sickest I've ever seen her.

Auntie Jill brought over a few new toys for Miss Annabelle....DOLLS!!! Annabelle LOVED them. I didn't think she was ready for them but sure enough, she is. She feeds them bottles and covers them up and says "night night." Another new thing...Annabelle will now grab my finger and bring me to her play area and motion for me to sit down and play with her. It really is quite cute. She loves dancing and is an all around clown! She loves to read and I can't tell you how many times in one day we will read "The Christmas Story," "Barnyard Dance," "Ten Little Monkeys," "Neighborhood Animals," and "Hand Hand Fingers Thumb." I think I have all of them memorized, as does Paul. hand hand finger thumb, one thumb one thumb drumming on a drum, dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum......OOPS! sorry...got lost there for a second

Annabelle is also chomping down on whole apples these days. She loves them..I was surprised when Paul gave her a whole apple and she ate it down to its core! (pictures forthcoming)

Long time, no post!

Sorry about the delay in posting! Things have been busy around here. I got back from my girls weekend in NYC on Sunday the 21st and time has flown by since then. I had a lovely time in NY with my girls...although I did miss Annabelle a ton (and Paul and Bailey too). I oohed and ahhed over every baby I saw while away....almost more ooohhing and ahhhing than I did over shoes! hehehe....speaking of shoes...below is picture of all the shoes we bought over the weekend....my purchases only account for 3 of the pairs. In addition to shopping, we did get some culture in and saw a show...Grease!

Annabelle was a good girl for her daddy and I know she kept him really busy! We got back into our little routine on Monday. On Thursday, we had our annual Halloween Party...pictures below!

On Friday night we spent time with Goody and Poppy. Poppy had a big party to celebrate his 75th birthday. Pictures forthcoming!

Annabelle seems to be doing really well at daycare. Her teachers are impressed with her prowess on the slides!

Finally got the pictures from Virginia Beach off the disposable camera and onto a CD. Some are below!

Halloween Party:

Matching Costumes:

Group Picture:



VA Beach:
Annabelle examining the sand:

Goody and Annabelle:



NYC
The Shoe Haul:

Brushing teeth!

Annabelle loves brushing her own teeth. She won't let us do it AT ALL!!! She also wants to brush everyone else's teeth, including Bailey's.