Pretty Ballerina

Guess who rolled over this week?!?!?!?!!? Yay for Annabelle! She finally rolled over from her tummy to her back Wednesday morning during StrollerFit. Jacob "helped" her roll from her back to her tummy and just as quick as he did that, she rolled back over on her own. I was shocked! She has rolled several more times since then, but I can never get her to perform on camera. I'm still working on that. I thought it was appropriate that she rolled during StrollerFit. While I was exercising, Annabelle was doing a little exercise of her own. :)

We played dress up the other day and I was happy that her little ballerina skirt finally fits. I couldn't wait for her to wear this! Of course, right after our photo session, she spit up on it, but it'll wash!

Here's a sweet brother/sister moment I caught the other day. Jacob loves to make her smile.

I am anxious to see how much she weighs now. She goes to the doctor for her four month visit March 9. Can you believe it? Four months already!

Annabelle also laughed for the first time this week -- not a very big laugh....just a little giggle, but I was so excited to hear it! Again, I can't seem to capture any of those little laughs on camera, but I will soon, hopefully. She is the most precious baby girl!

Let's Pretend

In the words of Willy Wonka, "...come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination..."

The imagination is a wonderful thing. I think children are just naturally creative and imaginative. No one ever has to teach a child to use his/her imagination. It just happens. I never sat down and explained to Jacob how to be creative or how to pretend or imagine. He learned all on his own or "self" as he would say.

Ever since we moved all Jacob's toys into his room, he doesn't seem to play with them quite as much. He's been discovering other fun things to play with, like a strainer. Yesterday, while I was washing dishes, Jacob went digging through a kitchen cabinet (I forgot to put the child lock back on) and found a strainer. He held it up in the air and said, "Yook Mommy! I playin' tennis ball!" I didn't even know he knew what a tennis racket was. After playing tennis for a while, he switched to baseball and the strainer became a bat. Then he put it on his head and ran around the house yelling, "Oh no! Oh no! Sooooo windy! My hat's fallin' off!!!" I never realized a strainer could be so much fun.


Jacob has also been playing doctor lately. Poor baby monkey has to go to the doctor for ear checks all the time because he gets ear infections. Jacob found one of my headbands and put the ends of it in his ears, wearing it below his chin like a stethoscope. He checks the monkey's ears with pieces of a Thomas train track. After checking him thoroughly, he says, "No problems. No problems, baby monkey. You want a sticker?" It's very funny to watch.

I always hear older people talk about how they only had one or two toys to play with when they were younger. They say kids don't need a lot of toys. They are right. Who needs toys? Jacob is perfectly content playing with a strainer. I am sure a stick would work just fine too...along with a little imagination.

Today, Jacob enjoyed his ravioli...perhaps a little too much. He enjoyed it all the way to the bathtub. After he was finished, he was covered in tomato sauce....and proud of it!

What a Week!

NOTE: I added music. You'll probably want to pause it or turn it off to watch the videos though. Just click on the button on the right side of the page.

It's been an exciting week for the Duncan family -- a birthday, big boy bed, haircut, etc... Lots of fun stuff!

Despite the fact that his birthday was on Friday the 13th, I think Heath had a great day. We threw a huge party at home to celebrate....if you consider heart-shaped pizza from Papa John's and birthday cake a huge party :) .

The heart-shaped pizza was such a clever idea. Good job Papa John's! The pizzas were a little on the small side though, so it's a good thing we ordered two. The other one was topped with mushrooms and olives and I think Jacob could have eaten the whole thing by himself!

Make a wish!

Jacob and Annabelle made Daddy a Coke cake. It turned out really well! We didn't intend to put only two candles on the cake, but I couldn't find anymore and wasn't going to load everyone up in the car and make a grocery store trip just to buy more candles. Would you?

Valentine's Day proved to be an exciting day as well! We got up early and took Jacob to see Mr. Jerry that morning for a haircut. He was waaaaaaay overdue! His hair grows so fast! Jacob still seems to love having his hair cut. In fact, when we pulled into the parking lot, he yelled, "Mr. Jerry!!!!" He sat in the chair with a smile on his face the entire time. Since we didn't eat breakfast before we left home, we headed over to McDonald's afterwards. As Jacob ate his eggs, he looked at me and said, "Mmmmm.....so much good......good egg." Annabelle slept through breakfast.

After doing a little shopping, we decided to come home and get to work on Jacob's and Annabelle's rooms. The rooms still aren't quite finished. We need to paint Jacob's dresser and find a few new pictures to hang on the wall. I've decided to get crafty and paint a tree on Annabelle's wall. I hope to get that accomplished this weekend. Wish me luck!

Since we put the crib in Annabelle's room that day, we had no choice but to set up Jacob's big boy bed. Yikes! Actually, the transition went very well!

Jacob loves his bed and much to my surprise, he stays in it! So far (as far as I know), he hasn't gotten out of his bed even once in the middle of the night! Hooray! Even naptime has gone well. If he does get out of bed, he has a legitimate reason (potty or diaper change). He is such a good boy. :) Every morning now when he wakes up, he comes walking down the hall shouting, "I awake! I awake!" He's so proud that he can get in and out of bed all by himself.

Annabelle has begun to show an interest in her toys. She looks at them as though she is concentrating really hard to figure out what they are and what they do.

If you're wondering what that noise is in the background, Jacob was busy playing with one of his toys too.

You all know how much Jacob loves music. Well, his latest musical interest is Elvis. The other day Heath stayed in the car with the kids while I ran into Target (a trip to Target...imagine that). When I returned, they were listening to the Elvis channel. Heath asked Jacob who was singing and he said, "Elvis!" Then he asked, "And who is Elvis?" to which Jacob responded, "The king of rock 'n roll!" Yesterday, when I changed the radio to another channel, Jacob started crying, "No! Wanna listen to Elvis....king of.....rock 'n roll!!!!!" I found the Elvis station once again, and could only laugh as Jacob sat in his car seat clapping along to Kentucky Rain.....hence, the music added to the blog.

Ok...for those of you who can't get enough video, here's one more. If Annabelle is crying, many times, Jacob will try his best to get her to stop. Other times, he doesn't seem to care at all. On this particular day, he decided to play pat-a-cake with her. It worked for a few seconds, then the crying resumed. Oh well. Nice try!

Singing, Dancing, Sitting in the Bumbo...Oh The Fun We Have!

Isn't it funny how a song can instantly transport you back to a certain point in time? This morning when I got in the car, R.E.M.'s Shiny Happy People was playing on the radio and just like that....I was back in middle school shopping at RAVE (anyone remember that store? Is it even still around?) For some reason, I vividly remember looking through the clothes racks at RAVE while this song was playing. I'm sure I was probably singing too....shiny happy people holding ha-a-a-a-nds.....

Tonight, on the way home from church, we didn't listen to the radio. Instead, we sang -- real songs and made up songs. First we sang the song about Zacchaeus. You know the one: Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he....... Jacob asked me to sing that one over and over and over and over and over again. I was finally able to mix in a few others, but he still asked for the Zacchaeus song. "Sing, Mommy, sing! Key-us!" he says. One of Jacob's favorite things to do is make up songs about objects he sees, so we also sang songs about stop signs, houses, stoplights, trees, cars, etc... It's kinda fun, actually. :)

Heath had already taken Annabelle home with him and a few minutes after we left church, Jacob realized she wasn't in her usual place beside him in the back seat. "Annabelle....in her seat!!! Oh no!! Annabelle in her seat!!!" He was very upset that she wasn't there, but when I explained that she was already at home with Daddy, he calmed down.

He's been pretty protective of her lately. The other day during StrollerFit, another baby (she's a year old) decided she wanted to sit on top of Annabelle. Of course, Annabelle didn't particularly care for this and began to scream. When Jacob saw the other baby sitting on Annabelle, he yelled, "Don't touch her!" I've never heard him say that before. Then, the baby's mom picked her up and said, "superbaby!!" making her "fly" across the room. Jacob, looking disgusted, said, "No! Annabelle's a superbaby! Annabelle's a superbaby!" Heath plays "superbaby" with Annabelle sometimes, so I guess Jacob thinks there can only be one superbaby...and that is his sister.

For the past several days, our afternoon activities have included a dance party...usually to the Imagination Movers music. Jacob loves this CD and asks to listen to it all the time.

Notice the sea of toys behind him in the video. I am happy to say, all those toys have been transferred to their new home in Jacob's room. I was finally able to take back my living room!! Well...almost. There are still a couple toys in there, but one or two are much easier to deal with than one hundred!

We are in the process of redecorating Jacob's new big boy room and decorating Annabelle's room. This is quite a task. As soon as the rooms are finished, I'll post pictures. There are still several things I need to get for Jacob's room. Hopefully, I'll find them this weekend. I keep wondering how Jacob will do in the new big boy bed...or should I say, how I will do with Jacob in his new big boy bed. I think he'll adjust fine. He seems to adapt to change pretty well. I, on the other hand, am not looking forward to him being able to get up and run around the house freely whenever he wants to. I like having some control over when he gets out of bed. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. For now, though, I'm going to enjoy my last few days of "bed control."

Another week has passed and Annabelle still hasn't rolled over. I'm not worried about it. She'll roll when she wants to. She isn't very fond of tummy time either. She is starting to reach for toys and grab things more. Last night when I got home, she was holding onto one of the bassinet slats as she was sleeping.

Annabelle does seem to enjoy the Bumbo seat. She's always been good at holding her head up and she's getting even better at it. She's getting to be such a big girl!

Ok...I better end now. There are errands to be run...trips to Target and Publix, etc...oh yeah, and a birthday cake to be baked. ;) Heath's birthday is Friday the 13th. Ha Ha.

A Nice Trip to Target

If you ever happen to stop by our house on a weekday afternoon and find us not at home, I can almost guarantee you will find us at one of two places: Target or Publix. We go to Target and Publix ALL the time. It seems, everyday, I remember something I should have bought at the store the day before, so back to Target (or Publix) we go. Since these are the two places we visit most often, it shouldn't surprise me that Jacob talks about going to Publix and Target daily.

The other day, Jacob was playing with his airplane. I asked him where the people were going. He said, "On a nice trip." "Oh," I said. "On a nice trip...where?" He looked at me and immediately responded, "Target!" A nice trip indeed. :) Monday morning, as we were leaving StrollerFit, we heard an airplane flying overhead. Jacob spotted it and shouted, "Airplane! Goin' to Target!" He is so funny. All I know is, if I were getting on an airplane, I would want to go somewhere a little more exciting than Target. :)

Jacob is really starting to use his imagination now. I guess he has been for a while, but I'm noticing it more and more. Each stuffed animal is now a real "person." Usually, one of his animals joins us for dinner. He must have his own chair and his own placemat. The other night before he climbed up into his booster seat, Jacob placed his ducky in what is usually Heath's chair. When Heath sat down and moved the duck, Jacob got very upset. "Ducky's chair! Ducky's chair!" He was almost crying. I told Heath that was the ducky's chair to which he said, "Are you kiddin' me? I have to move because he wants the duck to sit here!?!?!?!?" Kinda funny, isn't it? I think so.

I also think it's cute how we'll find Jacob's toys in random places around the house, like this:

I have no idea what this little boy and this rooster were doing here on Annabelle's bassinet. When we found them, Jacob was already in bed.

I know I've posted at least a couple videos of Jacob saying "Cheeeeeeeese" for the camera. We taught him to do this and he does it well! The only bad thing is, he says "cheese" so forcefully, this is the kind of picture we get:

Nostrils flared, mouth open, and a serious face. I guess we need to practice saying "cheese" with a smile! Notice how the strawberries are standing up and the blueberries are together on the side. This wasn't how they were given to him. The berries were mixed together and Jacob wouldn't eat until he finished rearranging them on the plate.

Annabelle still hasn't rolled over. Can you believe it?!? She's soooooo close! She can rotate herself a full 360 degrees though if you lay her on the floor on her back. That's gotta count for something, right? She kicks and rolls back and forth so much, she ends up spinning herself around. Maybe she doesn't roll over because she knows she doesn't have to; not while Jacob is around, anyway. Jacob is always helping her roll over onto her tummy, whether she wants to or not.

She has continued to sleep through the night lately. Hooray! She still wants to eat every three hours during the day, but that's fine with me if the night sleeping continues.

When she is awake, Annabelle is really starting to be fun. She is all smiles, just like Jacob was at her age. She smiles on command at anyone who smiles at her. She loves to "talk" too. We left her in the church nursery for the first time this past Sunday and apparently she did quite a bit of smiling and talking while she was there. She also took a nap....such a good girl! She's very attracted to moving objects and colors too, i.e., the tv. She has actually craned her neck around to see the tv. She also loves to watch Jacob and she'll usually follow him around the room with her eyes.

Time is already flying by with her. I can't believe she's already three months old!