First though... 2 weeks ago (January 5th), Keith predicted that Annabelle would take her first steps "within 2 weeks" after seeing her walkin' all over with her walker. Yesterday (exactly 2 weeks later), Bellee proved him right! She took her official "first step"! She did that a couple of times yesterday, then today she got all of the way up to 3 steps in one shot! We've been trying to get a video of it, but she won't do it on command (of course). Maybe soon! Another big milestone, and I'm sure it's just going to make life change that much more!
Rewind a bit now...
Christmas was great! As usual, we drove up to Alabama to spend the holidays with our families. This year, we got to drive up in luxury in the new minivan! :) It was fun to see the route that "Donna" (the name of our navigation system) suggested and we took her advice every once in a while instead of taking our regular route. We left to go up there on a Friday night at 8pm so that Belle would sleep most of the ride (she's not a great car rider on long trips... and I think 11 hours qualifies as a "long" trip). The plan worked for the most part. Annabelle only woke up a couple of times, usually when we stopped for gas or something. So at 6am... we drug ourselves into Keith's parents' house, got Annabelle back to sleep, and slept for a while. Thank God for grandparents to babysit while we slept! :) Later that day, we had a early Christmas celebration with Keith's family. It was great to spend time with everyone and not have to rush off to get anywhere. Belle enjoyed dinner and opening presents with the family too.
On Christmas day, we went to Keith's grandparents' for the usual Christmas lunch. This was most of Keith's relatives' first chance to meet Annabelle, and of course she charmed the pants off of everyone. They were all impressed with her signing skills. :)
After lunch we headed up to Madison to spend the rest of Christmas and the holidays with my family. After another great Christmas meal, we setup the living room for opening presents. Belle was a bit tired by the time that we started opening presents, but she still had lots of fun. After a little while, I put Annabelle down to sleep while the rest of us finished opening presents, but she ended up coming back down after Keith woke her up when he went into our room and turned on the lights since he forgot that Belle was in there. :) There wasn't too much complaining about Annabelle rejoining us (actually... I think the only complaining was from me... but even that didn't last long). :)
For the ride back to Melbourne, we did our usual overnight stop in Atlanta to hang out with Keith's college friends for New Years. Annabelle did a good job of sleeping through the partying, and did well riding home the next day too. We didn't get headed home until late afternoon, but we quickly discovered that even though Annabelle is still facing backwards in her car seat, she's able to turn her head enough to see the DVD player and thus "Baby MacDonald on the Farm" (her favoritest DVD ever... well, so far)! The video kept her happy for most of the ride when she wasn't sleeping. :)
Since we've been home, Belle has passed the 11 month old mark. I can't believe that she's already nearing a year!!! Everyone says "they grow up so fast", but you definitely don't realize what that REALLY means until they start growing! Wow! Annabelle seems to learn something new every day, whether it's a new spoken word, sign, animal sound, a new physical milestone, obeying a command, or she discovers something that makes us laugh and keeps doing it over and over. Her latest word is "Belle"! Keith taught her to say "Belle" when he asks "What's your name?" So now she can identify everyone in the family: "Dada", "Mama", and "Belle"! It's SOOO cute! And tonight I took her grocery shopping and was giving her cookies while we shopped. At first she was putting the whole cookie in her mouth, but I kept telling her "NO, bite it" and I demonstrated a couple of times. By the time that we reached asile 10, she was taking bites and so proud of herself every time that she did! I know every mom says this, but she's SO amazingly smart!
Little Ms. Manners' newest thing is saying "please". :) She'll ask for something and I say "What do you say?" and she'll sign "please". :) It's so cute! She's starting to do "Thank You" without me having to tell her to say it too. She loves to climb into this adorable wicker toddler-sized rocking chair that she has, and is always so proud of herself when she gets into it and sits down (if her "baby" is in it, she usually kisses it then throws it down). Belle has also been laying on the floor like she's a baby learning to roll over. I don't know if she does it because she's trying to be like the cats and dog or what. We have noticed her eating some of her Cheerios like a dog (no hands), so maybe she's imitating the animals. Either way, it's super cute and she knows that so she keeps doing it!
Aunty Fancy (Jill) has been here visiting for the last couple of weeks, so we've had fun with her. Annabelle adores her, and she's pretty darn good with Bellee too, despite her supposed dislike for babies. :) Although it's much harder to just get up and go now, we've had fun hanging out here watching tons of The Gameshow Network and other new shows that we're both addicted to, taking a trip to Vero for facials and shopping, visiting model homes for inspiration (oh yeah... did I mention we're planning to add on to The Barn soon?), and other fun things. It's great that even after being apart for months, friendships can fall right back into place when you get together again and you can enjoy just doing nothing together! :)
Well... I'm sure I could go on and on! It's been a busy month, and it's been great to have Keith home so much. Aside from a short trip at the very end of December, I've been wherever he's been since Thanksgiving. He leaves for a trip this week, and Jill will be leaving too. It's going to be strange with it just being me and Belle again. Between visitors, having family around over the holidays, and having Keith home, I've gotten so used to having someone around if I need to go somewhere while Belle's sleeping or take a nap while she's awake (she's been teething lately so I have NOT been sleeping well) so I hope I'm able to make it through the next week. :)
1 comment:
"This is se-wious!" Ah, memories of Linney, Tuck, and Ming Ming too! Miss you lots friend! Can't wait to see you in May - and maybe we can do some more nothing together! Meanwhile, I have some "onesie" shopping to do!!
What's gonna work???
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