Smartest Baby in the World!

She can read!!! OK...I'm exaggerating....We have the cutest book that she loves called "The Little Pea." She is now pointing to the peas in the book and says "pea!"

We toured Annabelle's future daycare on Saturday last weekend. It was a beautiful facility. Annabelle wanted to immediately get down and start playing. She LOVED it there...cried when we left. The teachers were really sweet. I think it's going to work out great!!!

We had some more visitors this week. My buddy from college, Jennifer, and her mom Ginny came in for a few days Monday-Wednesday. On Monday we went into Old Town for a bit of shopping. On Tuesday we went into Georgetown for some lovely walking around. We had some great pizza for lunch and did a wee bit of shopping...yes, that's all us ladies ever do. Annabelle didn't get anything these trips, but mommy did! I got a cute H&M jacket and a necklace (on sale! whoo hoo)at Banana Republic. Jennifer got a lovely dress and Ginny got some framed prints. Between Mary and Jennifer's visit, I'm done shopping for a while.

Group Pic:

Another busy week!

Phew! It's been a busy busy week.

So far, working part time is going great. Annabelle seems to really enjoy spending time with the nanny and other baby.

On Thursday, Auntie Mary flew in for a fun filled visit. Thursday we did some shopping at Tysons Corner. Annabelle got out of there with 2 new pairs of sketcher shoes. She actually did a little jig in the store...like daughter, like mom? We'll see...Paul is worried about the checking account! On Saturday, dad watched Annabelle while Mary and I shopped again (shocker!). That night we all went to the Redskins preseason game. It was a very wet experience. It started pouring, along wiht lightening, about an hour before the game was supposed to start. The game was delayed so we hung out in the car...not so fun. We finally got into the stadium and started enjoying the game. At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, it again began to storm with lightening. We decided it was finally time to head home and got DRENCHED on the walk back to the car. On Sunday we went to brunch at our favorite little mexican restaurant. All in all, a fun weekend.

Annabelle...oh, Annabelle...where do I start with her. Her new favorite activity is climbing on the furniture and her new favorite word is "NO!." I kid you not...she is saying no. I was sitting with her in the backseat and was resting my arm on the carseat and she pushed it off and said no. I couldn't believe it. She is saying it a lot now. Additionally, I can no longer leave her alone in the living room as she has discovered how to climb the furniture. Not good, I tell you!

Here are some pictures from Mary's visit.

Mary reading to Annabelle:

Fun Weekend!

We had a very fun weekend! On Saturday we had Annabelle's first real trip to the zoo! She seemed to REALLY love the animals...smiling, laughing, pointing and clapping when she saw them. Her favorites seemed to be the birds and the prarie dogs. She also seemed pretty interested in the small mammal exihibit. Another thing she REALLY loved was the petting zoo. She actually chased the goats, etc. around. She loved patting them. She even cried when we left it.

On Sunday we went to the park and played in the swings and slides. Then we went to Goody and Poppy's house for dinner. She loved the swings!

Annabelle can now say the number 2 and "more." The nanny told us she could say it b I didn't believe until we heard it. If you say "1" Annabelle will follow with "2." She is also saying more. Her vocabulary is certainly growing. We have this toy...it's a magnet fishing pole with magnetized fish. It takes some major hand and eye coordination for a child to use it the proper way. Well, she picked that up this week. She loves "fishing" with her pole. She is very good at it.

Here are some pictures from the last few days....

Zoo Pictures:

Annabelle excited about the prarie dogs:



Petting the animals:


Pointing at the small mammal exhibit:

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Busy Busy Busy

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. It's been a combination of being busy and my computer power cord dying AGAIN. I am still awaiting a part so I'm on Paul's computer right now (he's going through computer withdrawls as we speak). I don't have any of my pictures on his computer, so those will have to wait.

Last week we went to Stephanie and Belle's place for a lovely playgroup. The weekend was busy getting ready for going back to work.

I started working this week! So far, so good. I feel a little guilty that I'm enjoying it. So far, Annabelle enjoys the nanny. She will start going to daycare in October sometime. Until then, we have a nanny.

On Tuesday night Aunt Christina paid a short visit to the DC area. We had a nice dinner with her and Goody. Today I was off so I went on a long walk with some friends. I'm back to work one day tomorrow then off for the weekend.

I think working part time will be just the right mix for me.

Annabelle is really goofy. She is now putting on her shoes and brushing her hair (pictures forthcoming). She loves yelling into the phone, pretending that she's talking. She is also loving to look through books and turn pages on her own. She points to things and babbles, like she is trying to read. She has several solid words now, including mama, dada, ball, doggie, and touchdown (don't ask!). She'll also say "hello" into the phone and "uh oh" at the appropriate time, usually when she drops something.
She absolutely adores Bailey and tries to feed him her snacks and give him his toys. He is very patient with her.

New Stuffed Chair!

We ordered Annabelle a big stuffed dog chair. It finally came today and Annabelle was happy to see it! Her friend had one and Annabelle really took to it. So, we decided to get her one. Here are some pictures of it.

Annabelle and her stuffed dog:



Bailey checks it out:

Nice Week

We've had a pleasent week in the Crutchfield household! On Monday we went and (finally!!!) had Annabelle's one year pictures taken. We tried a new studio called Kiddie Kandids at Babies R Us. They had a large assortment of backgrounds and props, but the customer service stunk. I think I'll stick with the Picture People.

On Tuesday daddy took us out to lunch. It was a lot of fun...we need to do it more often. We went to Whitlow's on Wilson in Clarendon (cute neighborhood in Arlington). Later that night, Paul and I had a date while Goody babysat. We went to dinner and then to see Hairspray. On Thursday we went for a nice long walk with Carolyn and her little man, Parker. Today I hosted a mom's coffee...13 moms and 13 babies made for quite a morning. All the kiddos got a lot of playing in. It is so funny to see all of them walking and interacting with each other (including fighting over toys!). It seems like just yesterday they laid on blankets waving their little arms and legs in the air. Time is going by way too quickly.

On the working front, it looks like I'm back to work 3 days a week starting August 13th. I'm a little scared and nervous and feel a bit guilty, but at the same time I'm excited and looking forward to it. I think that it will be the perfect combination for me. If it's not, then I can just quit!

Here are a few pics from this week:

Annabelle loves her pet poodle from Auntie Betty:


Out to lunch with daddy:

Talkin on the phone...

Annabelle has figured out the phone. We play with the phone with her sometimes and pretend we are talking to someone then give her the phone. Well, she's finally picked up on it. She'll put up to her ear (backwards, mind you) and will start "talking" into it. She will practically yell into it "ba ba ba" really loud. Here are some pics...

Good view of backwards phone:


Annabelle yelling into the phone:

Bed Head

Annabelle is really starting to get a full head of hair. This also means she is starting to get to major bed head. Below is a picture of her this mornig. It's pretty funny.

It seems her nose is runny. She doesn't have any cold symptoms so I'm thinking it's just the teeth. We were supposed to go over to a friends house today and now I'm not sure if we will. I wouldn't want to pass along any germs unnecessarily. She also seems to react poorly to mosquito bites. They get big and swollen and will eventually ooze (eww, I know). So, I gave her some Children's benedryl to see if that would help. I guess it can either make kids super drowsy or excitable...she is majorly conked out right now so I guess it makes her drowsy (whoo hoo!)....

Smartest Baby in the World!

Ok...so we are biased. Annabelle has really grown these last few weeks. She now has 2 more official words...doggy and ball. She'll point to Bailey and other dogs and say "doggy doggy doggy" and will point to a ball and say "ball." This morning she picked up Bailey's leash and chased him with it, knowing that the least goes with the dog. She also loves to say "uh oh," which is pretty darn cute!

A lot of her toys make music and she knows exactly which buttons to push to get the song she wants. Once the music plays she dances along with it. She has also been pointing to things she wants. She knows exactly where her snacks are in the pantry and she'll squeal and point at them when she wants some. If I ask her if she's ready for breakfast or lunch she'll do a little feet pounding and walk over to her highchair, ready to eat.

She is getting her "one year molars" in. That's what they're called. I don't know why...talking with other moms, those molars start coming in AFTER they turn one. She was a bit of a pill yesterday due to the pain of those molars. She officially has 9 teeth now.

Annabelle has been off of bottles now for about 3 weeks. We have a small bit of formula left over so we have been giving her a bottle of that a couple times a week just to get rid of it. She loves her straw cup.

Here is a pic of Annabelle enjoying her morning bananas...

Good Times.....

This week has been fun. We went to Belle's playgroup on Wednesday. Annabelle played well with everyone. Her friend, the other Annabelle, or Belle as we are calling her, hung out! Allie, Leah and Thomas were there too! Today we went shopping at an outlet center called Potomac Mills. Annabelle rode her first merry go round! I think she liked it. Here are some pics.

The gang at Belle's playing in Belle's tent:


Annabelle and Allie on the Merry Go Round:

Family Visits

This weekend we visited with Auntie Betty and Auntie Jill. They are Paul's aunts, making them Annabelle's great aunts. On Friday Aunt Betty came in from NYC. We all went out to dinner then came back to our place to hang out. In the morning, Aunt Betty woke up with Annabelle, allowing us to sleep in...what a treat! Later that day we took a walk around Del Ray, stopping at the farmers market. We picked up some tasty peaches, cantaloupe, and squash from some local farmers. Aunt Betty chopped up some peaches and cantaloupe...it was SO good. We need to remember to get fruit there more often. I usually buy squash and fresh cheese.

Later that night, we joined Aunt Jill and Aunt Betty along with Goody for dinner. Goody cooked crab cakes (I got a steak!). I made a blueberry pie. I'm trying to perfect my pie crust. It was good but I still have more practice ahead of me. My mom used to make the best flaky pie crusts when I was little.

Annabelle...well, she is definitely miss personality. I used to be able to spend the morning watching her and playing with a little bit of computer time for myself. Not anymore...If I'm on my computer longer than about 10 min she pitches a fit and wants me to play with her. She really loves Bailey. She knows exactly which toys are hers and what are Bailey's. She'll actually bring Bailey's stuffed possum to him to try to play. It really is quite cute. I never wanted to have a child who was afraid of dogs. That's not a good thing, in my book anyway. I'm so happy that they seem to really like each other and even play together sometimes. Bailey is a good dog and I don't give him enough credit sometimes.

She is loving to point at things now. I say "where is the light?" and she points at it. I ask here where Bailey is and she points at him. She'll also point upstairs if I ask her where daddy is because that's where he works everyday. She's a lucky girl...gets to see her daddy a lot! She loves playing with her little farmhouse. Below is a pic of her and daddy playing.

We are working on getting a video of her blowing kisses. When we get it, we'll post it.

Daddy playing with Annabelle and her Farm


Out on a walk


Playing around

Brushing teeth...finally!

We've been meaning to do this as the dentist recently told us to start. So, we brushed Annabelle's 7 teeth. She really seemed to enjoy it, actually. Here are some pictures.
She has been doing a few new things lately. When she hears music, she likes to bop along. Today I asked her where her milk was and she pointed to her sippy cup. On one occasion when she couldn't see it she actually looked for it and found it. She is still loving to blow kisses and twirl in a circle when you ask her to dance.

Opressively Hot Week!!!!!!!

AKKK! I hate this weather. It is tooooooooooo hot. When it gets this hot the city issues a Code Orange air alert. ICK!!!

So, Annabelle is a major goofball. We have taught her to "blow kisses." This consists of her putting her hand in her mouth and then making the blow kiss gesture with a little bit of sound. She loves doing it and has been doing it ALL day. We need to capture it on video. She is also starting to learn how to show affection. What I mean by that is that she'll go over to Bailey and nuzzle against him waiting for him to give her a kiss, or lick. She is very fond of Bailey. Another thing she is doing lately is mimicking. I have noticed her trying to mimick things that we say. I swear she said "wha dat" while I was putting blueberries on her tray. She's got all the motor skills down...I guess the next big thing will be being a little chatterbox. If her babbling is any indication, she will be chatty.

Here are some pictures of Annabelle with my sunglasses, which she will demand to have if she sees them.

Slow Week...

With Annabelle getting over the virus, we haven't done much. We stayed in on Thursday and Friday.

I think this is the first time (not including the holidays or travel) that we went a whole week without seeing any buddies. There were no playgroups this week and swimming and Gymboree is over. We'll have to spice things up a bit next week!

Did I ever say how hard it is losing baby weight? I won't disclose actual weights here, but suffice it to say, I've lost around 25 lbs and still have about 10-15 more to go. I have a 5 lb weight range that I would be happy in. New lesson...eat healthy while pregnant, work out while pregnant, eat healthy while nursing, and start workign out as soon as you can after having the baby. I never realized how hard it was to lose weight. Pregnancy is not a license to eat!!!

On the work front, still waiting for daycare to open. As soon as they say they'll be open, I give the word to work and they get me back on the payroll as a part-timer. I'm actually looking forward to it. Annabelle is SO SO SO busy these days that I actually think I bore her.

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

We hope everyone had a nice holiday! Annabelle woke up and her fever was gone and stayed gone the entire day. Whoo hoo! The day started off with a neighborhood party. Then we went with Goody and Poppy to Washington Golf and Country club where they are members. The club always puts out a good feast and a fireworks display that could rival a city's...it was very impressive. Annabelle seemed to enjoy them after a bit of fright in the beginning. She was a hit at the club, getting many oooohhhs and ahhhhhssss...especially with her little fourth of July outfit on! There was a tall man walking around on stilts which really captured her interest!

Here are some pictures:

Annabelle and the tall man:


Annabelle loves watermelon!

Busy few days...

Sorry for the delay in posts but we've been pretty busy here. Last week we had Gymboree and playgroup on Thursday. On Friday we had another birthday playgroup. The babies in our group have birthdays from December through July. We have one more birthday playgroup and then that's it until December.

On Saturday we went to dinner with some friends. Then on Sunday, Annabelle developed a fever. It seems she is fighting a virus. So, we've canceled a few get togethers. All we can do is give her baby motrin and baby tylenol and try to get liquids in her. Poor little thing. I just hope Paul and I don't come down with anything. I was getting a little stir crazy and decided to take her on a long walk to old town. I took the GPS watch with me and we ended up walking 5.7 miles. Whoo hoo! Makes up for the fact I didn't get to the gym Monday morning since we were up all night with a sick baby.

As for miss Annabelle...she is really running now. I call it running...she moves QUICK!!! She is also trying to crawl onto the couch...she is so short (like mom and dad), though, so I think it will be a while before she can do it. That is a good thing because right now I can leave her gated in the living room area with plenty of room for her to run around in. It will be a whole other ballgame once she starts climbing the furniture.

Here are some pictures from Thomas's birthday playgroup on Friday.




Here is a pic from today with her Tot Tower. She got that for her birthday but I only got it out of the box yesterday.

Another Hot Week!

Well, it's gonna be a hot one this week which means Annabelle and I will be staying in doors. Boo hoo hoo. We do have Gymboree on Wednesday and birthday playgroups on Thursday and Friday to look forward to!

It's time to move Annabelle up in carseats. Our infant seat goes up to 22lbs and 30 inches. She is coming close to the 30 inch limit. We are debating between the evenflo and the Britax. Not sure which one we will go with. The Evenflo is cheaper and gets better safety ratings, but we hear it is a pain to install and use in the rear facing position. Britax still gets great safety ratings, though. Poundage wise, Annabelle is now around 20lbs.

Annabelle was a bit of a stinker today. A little grumpy and whiny. Threw a couple of temper tantrums. You wouldn't think that a 1 year old would be capable of that...but they are! The only person she would calm down for and have a smile for was daddy. When you stay at home all day with a baby, that can be very frustrating...let me just tell you!

I asked Annabelle where her cow was today. She walked right over to her Little People farmhouse and started rumaging around. It's obvious that she understood the cow was over there, but I don't think she could pick it out of a lineup. We are working on that along with animal sounds. I'm sure she will get it soon as she IS the smartest baby in the world. hehehe.......Other things we are working on...blowing kisses and dancing.

Fun with Family

We had a nice weekend full of visitors. On Saturday we took a nice long walk and had breakfast out. Later that day Carey, Eric, and Cailey came over. Cailey and Annabelle had a fun time playing together and swapping sippy cups. On Sunday, Cousins Todd, Blanka, and Julia came over. We cooked a lovely lunch of salad, summer tart with Arugula, Prosciutto, and carmelized onions. Todd made a tasty angel food cake for desert. Yummy Food! We ate so much that we didn't need dinner.

Annabelle is Miss Piggy these days. She is eating a TON!!! I think she is going through a growth spurt as a lot of her clothes that fit last week no longer fit. Time for another trip up to the attic to store some more clothes. There are already 4 HUGE boxes of clothes up there. Where does the time go? My baby isn't a baby anymore...she's definitely a toddler. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....she's growing too fast.

Holding Hands...


Cousins...


Group Pic...

Father's Day and other things........

We had a lovely Father's Day. Goody and Poppy came over for dinner. We had steak, crabcakes, corn pudding, and coleslaw, with cheesecake for dessert. Paul got a micro brew kit which he started on right away. As we speak, there is a batch of lager in the basement fermenting. Yum!

It's been HOT here...YUCK!!! Today we went to lunch with Uncle Mike then proceeded to a birthday playgroup.

Annabelle has a new trick. It's quite cute, actually. If you tell her to "dance" she spins around in a circle. She is now using a straw-type sippy cup. We have purchased at least 5 different sippy cups and we finally found a winner. Additionally, we are starting to transition her to whole milk...something that isn't as easy as it sounds.

Here are some pictures from Father's Day:

Week with Sally

We just got home from our trip to Centralia, Wa (near Seattle) to see my sister Sally and her two kids, Abby and Jesse.

On Monday, we flew! Our flight was at 7pm. Annabelle didn't do too great. There was some crying and overall fussiness. I think it was the time of day that we were flying. It was a 5 hour flight (direct) and she managed to sleep about 3.5 hours of it. That was good...it just wasn't good what she was doing the other 1.5 hours of it! We arrived safely and Sally picked us up.

The next day we went to old town Tacoma and had lunch. We did a little walking around too. On Wednesday we went to Seattle and went to Pike's Place Market (home of the original Starbucks, among other things) and did the Space Needle. On Thursday we went back to Tacoma and had pictures of the cousins taken together. On Friday we went for Indian food then pretty much hung out at Sally's pad. I had to pack, too! That night at 11pm we took off for home. Annabelle did much better on this flight. I think that the red eye was great for this. She had been up most of the day so she conked out while in the terminal waiting to board. She slept the whole flight and even slept through the noise and banging around while exiting the plane. In fact, she really didn't wake up fully until we were home! We spent the day sleeping and recuperating from the flight.

On to normal business!!!