33 Weeks!

Getting closer and closer to a year old. I'm not sure how I feel about that, I am excited for all the things she has yet to do or experience but sad that she is no longer my little baby; that becomes more and more apparent each day. Last night she just looked so long and tall, like her baby fat was disappearing. I guess because she is crawling so much she is going through some calories pretty fast. She was burning as many rolling around though I think. I was going through her clothes last night and she has SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MANY! many of them she has outgrown and I feel sad that I have to put them away. I hope so much that my next baby is also a girl. Annabelle has such pretty clothes that it is such a waste to never use them again. If I do not have another girl maybe my sister will and she will be able to use them.

Speaking of clothes, we have been trying to gather stuff up for a yard sale. Jason and I have too many clothes as well. If I could get back half the money we have spent on money we would be doing well. Since finding out we were pregnant Jason & I have both stopped buying as many clothes or wasting as much money period. I just wish that we would have done that sooner. We have so much stuff that it doesn't fit into our drawers. We have also been folding all the clothes on the couches in the basement. They haven't been completely folded since mom did it when I had my wisdom teeth out. We worked for a few hours today and only got one cushion of clothing done. Its pretty much a disaster in the basement.

Annabelle is babbling more and more each day. She still doesn't have any teeth which is no big deal to me. When she gets the teeth that will be just one more reminder of how big she is getting and that she is growing up. She is loving her daddy more and more these days. Sundays are daddy days and mommy doesn't get hold her that much on Sundays. She will soon be 8 months old and it blows my mind. We visited the Arboretum at UK Sunday afternoon. Annabelle loved it, she loves to watch butterflies, birds, squirrels and just walk around and see everything. She takes it all in and barely makes a sound. This weekend we are going to see John Chandler play in the Bluegrass Games. We are looking foward to that and hope that they win this weekend.

My Little Miss Chatterbox

Last night we went to eat, looked around Michaels and then went to Target. Jason and Annabelle went looking for something in one direction and me and mom went another. We could hear that baby talking from a mile away. She loves to babble and talk. Jason used to call my little cousin Chatty Cathy but looks like he has his own Chatty Cathy now! It is too adorable

32 Weeks!

Annabelle is not a little baby anymore, makes me so sad! She is so sweet, I love her more than anything. She has developed and learned to do so many new things in the past couple weeks that its unbelievable. She grows more and more everyday, she crawls, she babbles, she talks, she wants to walk. She just is the best. She loves to be sung too but I try to read to her as well. Most of the time she doesn't like that. She does love to hear your voice and to be talked too, she also likes to take the books and eat them. We need to get some more of the board ones that allow her to eat on them without ruining them. She is cute and adorable and loves her momma and daddy. There is nothing more precious than her face and her little personality. If anytime she is feeling sad or whiny all you have to do is put her on your shoulders and she will immediately start laughing. I am so thankful to be able to have these memories with her. She has made my life so much better and she teaches me new things on a daily basis. She says daddadadad a lot now, we are working no momma, but I am in no rush. She has already gotten bigger and been able to do things faster than I ever imagined. She loves to play and I love to see the smiles on her face while she does it. She always smiles :) She has now started eating peas. It took a couple tries just like all the books say but she is doing it. She actually enjoys them and will eat the entire container.
She had her first trip to the waterpark last Friday with granny and pap. They met Chandler and Connor and had a good time. I need to post the pictures. She got to go to her first wedding this weekend also. She screamed (the banchee happy scream not the upset screaming) so I had to miss most of the ceremony and keep her occupied with the leaves. She is so stubborn lol. She heard some live music and she LOVES music. Hopefully she will be more musically inclined than either her dad or I. Jason listens to MTV jams so she was trying to dance Tuesday evening. She would lay on her side and kick her leg up in the air. She is so silly! Her great personality gets better and better with each passing day. We love her so!

31 Weeks!

Annie can now say dahdahdahdahdah if she really wants too. Her daddy bought her a backpack that says Little Miss Chatterbox for her to take to "school" - I don't know why he calls the sitters house that but he does. Annabelle has always loved to be on the move but now since she is crawling that love of movement has increased ten fold. She does not like to sit down, she fidgets wanting down until you stand up with her. If you sit her on her butt she can get in the crawl position, sometimes it takes a minute but she will get there. She has started to cry for Jason in the past week and that is something that she has never done, usually it was for me or granny. It seems that if she doesn't think Jason gave her enough attention and walked out of the room she would start to cry for him. Not a big cry cause she doesn't really do that but a little whine. We get asked a lot if she ever cries and the truth is she doesn't. We really feel we are in trouble when we have our second child. She is just so perfect! but that one will be too. She is getting too big, she isn't our little baby anymore. I love to see her learning new things though, everything is new to her and because of her I see everything in an all new way too. We have still been signing to her and we don't expect her to be able to sign back right now but she will have a good start.

She is going to have a new playmate in March. Amy is due March 8th!

Who Knew?

Yesterday I ordered Annie a new carseat - It has shipped! I am so excited for her to get this. If someone would have told me a year ago that I ordering a car seat would have made me this happy I'd never believed it. Just one of the great things that happens when you have a child. You no longer worry or even want much for yourself. It is all about your baby. Now we will be able to leave a car seat in granny's car. I think she is just going to be so much more comfortable in her new seat. I can't wait to take pictures of her sitting in it.

Here is her new seat -

My Girl!

Is getting too big. Sometimes I look at her and how big she is getting and get so sad. This morning she was patting the bed for me to sit and just smiling! I love her little face and her personality. She isn't supposed to be able to do those things!

We started teaching her to sign yesterday, we think she is ready. Jason's friend has a little boy who was over yesterday and can do it very well and he isn't even a year old. He kept signing Annabelle as a monkey, it was funny and cute. Jason just has to see the sign once and he can remember it so he was signing a lot to her last night. I was afraid that he wouldn't really try working with her and signing but he has impressed me in just the half day we were doing it. ASL is something I wish I would have taken more classes in during college. I really enjoyed it.

My Silly Husband

7 Months!

To my beautiful girl on your seventh month of life,
Wow! I can not believe that you are seven months old today. You are able to do so many things. You are a crawler now! Sometimes you don't pull your cute belly all the way off the ground and we can hear it sliding. It is adorable. Everything about you is adorable and sweet. We just went to the beach last week and you loved it! You had so much fun playing in the pool, playing in the ocean and playing in the sand. Daddy is already planning on taking you ever summer because you liked it so well. Daddy is not normally a beach person because his skin burns a little easier than ours does but he is willing to sacrifice for his girl :) I am still lucky enough to be nursing you. I enjoy our special time together. During the past month you have started to hug mommy when I pick you up at the sitters house. Daddy has taught you a new word. You enjoy saying the word "boom." For whatever reason you refuse to say dah again or to even attempt momma. I just know that when I hear the word momma come from your mouth I will melt just like I did the first time you smiled at me. You and daddy have screaming matches now, I think dad enjoys them more than you do. You also think that daddy is the funniest person around and laugh at all of his jokes and his silly faces. Anytime he fakes sneezes you just laugh and laugh. When momma sneezes you just look at me like I'm silly. You still have an absolutely fabulous personality. You smile ALL the time and at EVERYBODY. The only person that you have not smiled at was a waitress at Hooters while we were in Myrtle Beach. You just kept looking at her like she was stupid. This is your normal MO but following the look you usually smile; not this time though. It was pretty funny. Sometimes I can not bare to be away from you and I miss you so much when I am. I love to wake up and see your smiling face and to hear you laugh. There is nothing better! As you are getting older you seem to need your sleep and get a little grumpy (sometimes) with daddy when he wakes you up. You love to sleep actually. How special are we that our baby is the one baby the loves sleeping during the night and now you even nap for us! When you were small you didn't like to nap at all. Mommy has started planning your first ever birthday party. It is early I know but I like to plan - daddy doesn't but he will for you. Daddy makes lots of exceptions for you, his little girl. Daddy is a great daddy and you love him very much. You love to see him walk through the door when he comes home every day after work. We have finally been able to get you to eat a whole thing of baby food at one sitting. You tried a pickle for the first time a couple days ago and you really thought the juice was good. You make the same face each time you taste something new, it is the "this is icky" face but then you continue to eat it and like it.
You don't do raspberries much anymore, now you just hiss. I think you learned that from when I tickled you and I make a funny sound. Your belly is very ticklish by the way. Granny finally agrees with me that you are teething. We thought they would be through the gums last week but that didn't happen. Luckily we have not had a bad time with your teeth. Sometimes you get a fever and you chew on your fingers a lot but you rarely get fussy over it and you haven't had diarrhea or any other symptoms. You are just too good of a baby! Please stay this way. You are growing so fast. You are my sweet and silly girl and I love you more than anything!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!
-MOMMA!

Good News!

My best bud Amy is pregnant! She will be six weeks on Tuesday. I am very very happy for her, her husband and for Seth! He does not know what fun is in store for him when his SISTER gets here. I will have someone to share my knowledge of breast feeding with. Amy helped me so much while I was pregnant with Annabelle and has been such a great friend. She is so knowledgable about pregnancy and childcare. I am lucky to know her and feel like it was fate that brought us together. I know that sounds silly but we have shared similar struggles getting pregnant. She has been there for me since Jason & I began our journey over two years ago. I honestly do not know what I would have done without having her there. I am very grateful for the support she gave me during all of that time. I just hope that I can help her with her pregnancy and breast feeding (like she needs it) and that I have been as good of a friend to her as she has been to me.

Hoping for a very happy and healthy nine months for Amy and baby girl!

--I don't really hope you get morning sickness for months like I did but it is very fun to give you a hard time :)

Love

50% Momma - 50% Dadda -- 100% Perfect!

I love these two more than they will ever know

30 Weeks!

In 2 days my baby will be seven months old. Only five more months and she will be 1. I can't believe it. She is able to do so many things. Jason calls her a ninja because she can roll and be out of site in no time. She rolls over the cats without them even knowing it. She is grinning the entire time. Over the past couple weeks Annabelle & Kate have bonded - Kate has stopped trying to jump on us all the time and now just licks Annies toes. Annabelle is still toothless but it is so cute. I think her little mouth is just so perfect. I hope her teeth do not change the way that she looks very much. I will miss that toothless crooked smile of hers. Her daddy looks at her and always has the same reply. Thank goodness your nose isn't crooked like your moms. He is such a sweetheart lol. He now plays volleyball two nights a week so sometimes Annabelle doesn't get to see him for long on those evenings. She misses him, they are silly together and she loves that. She laughs out loud so loud now. I love to hear them have screaming matches or have Jason fake sneeze. She just cracks up at that like it is the funniest thing in the world. She doesn't think real sneezes are very funny though. She has her daddys personality which is good and bad. She is very laid back which I like and I hope that continues. She was crawling on the bed the other night for a little distance. She may just go straight into walking, she likes to pull herself up on anything she can. She just loves water and hopefully in the near future we will be going swimming. I'd like to take her to a water park and see how she likes going down little slides with her daddy. That may just wait until next summer though. I am very thankful for my little family. I love them both very much.

The Guilt is Back

I have been feeling extremely guilty about being a working mother. After spending an entire week with her I just felt so bad on Sunday about having to go back to work. I know that she LOVES the baby sitters house and that she has a wonderful time there. I just want to be able to take her to do fun things in the summer and hang out with her and just be the one to take care of her. It is wonderful that she is getting to socialize with other children at the sitters but I may have a plan that will allow me to stay home. I have been thinking a lot about this over the past few days and I think it is what gave me a migraine yesterday. I just keep beating myself up for going back after my masters degree. At the time it was what I really wanted and I did very well in graduate school. Having my baby has changed my priorities but if I had not went back I wouldn't have student loan debt and I would be able to stay home with my baby and live comfortably on Jason's salary. I ran my plan by Jason this morning and he is thinking it over. He didn't really have a comment about it this morning. I forget that he too gets sad about leaving her everyday. Being a stay at home mom would be great I think but on the other hand I am a little terrified about it. If given the chance would I really do it? I think about what would happen if Jason wasn't able to work or something happened to him. I wouldn't have any retirement or any social security. The way things are going now in this economy I may not have either of these things if I keep working either though. There are just a lot of things to think about. We are also still contemplating moving closer to our families. That is scary too, Jason has had his job for years now he is good at it and makes good money. Who is to say if he finds another job he likes it or that the salary will be comparable. AGH! I am fortunate to have a husband who loves me and have such an absolute great and wonderful child. I am also fortunate that we have two incomes and I do not want to seem ungrateful.

Diapers

Why is it so hard to find Pampers Swaddlers size 2-3. I looked at two Walmarts in Lexington and one in Myrtle Beach. Still no swaddlers 2-3. We LOVE swaddlers so much, she has almost outgrown them. They do not go past this size and the size ends at 22 lbs. She is cutting it close right now. I dont really care for Huggies at all, none of the types we tried kept anything in. The Pampers cruisers are alright, we like them okay. We were running low so bought some in Myrtle Beach and they didnt have Cruisers or Swaddlers! We got some other type of Pampers and they obsorb like no one's business. If anyone has any coupons for Pampers please send them our way! I have plenty of Huggies coupons if anyone would like those or wants to trade.

JOY

I love my girl....she is the most amazing child you could ask for. AND my best bud is pregnant. I will blog more about that later. Jason told me not to get any ideas but mom wants me to have another soon. Crazy lady! It will be at least 12-18 months before we try again which means it will be about 2 or more years before we have another (fingers crossed for no issues next time) I will never have another child as good as my Annie!

Beach Bums

We are back from seven fabulous nights in Garden City. Annabelle loved the ocean, she loved the sand and she loved the pool. She did such a great job riding in the car for 8 hours. She is just the greatest baby ever, we are so thankful to have one like her. Getting to spend a week with her again without working was wonderful in itself but being able to get a tan while doing it was nice too. I didn’t want to come back to work today, it’s always hard to leave her but especially after we have been together for so long. I always forget that it is hard on daddy too. I don’t mean to be selfish but I just don’t think about him missing her like I miss her. She got to spend quality time with her granny, pap, mother, and aunt veronica while at the beach. She got to fish, pet a shark that Veronica caught, play with different types of seaweed that granny brought to her, look at crabs, watch dolphins (although I don’t think she could see them). She even got a sun tan! You can see the creases in her arms that are still white. She was adorable in her bathing suits and sunglasses. She played in the sand and liked to pick up the wet sand and put it on her legs. All the fun in the sun wore her out and she napped about four times a day, sometimes for as long as three hours. She slept all night and into most of the morning. We were actually able to leave her on the bed asleep by herself. I guess that means it’s getting time to move her into her own bed or at least the bassinet. She crawled for the first time while we were there no one believes it because only Veronica and I saw it. She did, I promise. If there is a remote control, a cell phone or anything electronic she will get to it if it’s by crawling or by rolling. She smiled at all the kids in the pool or on the beach, she smiled at all the adults and everyone thought she was just so cute. The only person she didn’t really care for was the waitress at Hooter’s which was really weird since she smiles at EVERYONE. She is so friendly and loveable. The only bad parts about the trip were that our cousins didn’t get to make it and we had to leave. We are already planning for next summer. Hoping to rent a house with a pool, I think having a pool at this condo has ruined us. We won’t know what to do if we go back and don’t have one. We are planning to get Annie one for our house. She really enjoyed playing in the water. We have a small one for her now but she can’t get her float in it. I want an underground but a very nice above ground will work. I want to be able to stay home with my baby so I don’t think buying a below ground pool is going to speed up that dream. I can not describe how great it felt to take my baby to the ocean and see her reactions. She will never again have that same reaction to it. She was not afraid of anything. Seeing the look on her face during any new experience just makes me so happy. We have other things planned for her this year and I am excited for each of them.

29 weeks!

I have been on vacation this week and have neglected my blog. I will post when I get home and rested. Having a baby at the beach WEARS ME OUT!