Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Annabelle had her one year pictures taken last Friday and I couldn't be happier with the results. Take a look! Check them out HERE!

She was loving the camera that day -- all smiles. And the fact that she kept the flower headband on for most of the pictures is amazing in itself. :)

New Baby In The House

Mornings are a little different at our house now, as we have welcomed in a new baby. Some friends of ours had their first baby back in July and I have started watching him for a few hours in the morning while his mom is at work. This is day four of having three children under my care. So far, so good! Jacob has taken a special interest in caring for baby Jack and is especially interested in introducing him to "his music." He asked me the other day, "Does baby Jack want to listen to Baby Einstein music?" I said, "I bet he would like that." Jacob replied, "Mmmm...I bet. Can he listen to my music, too?" By, "his" music, he means anything from his cd collection which consists of Imagination Movers, Veggie Tales and a couple Disney collections. Jacob loves his music. Besides listening to his music, he also enjoying singing.

Annabelle can't keep her hands off Jack's toys. She thinks they are all for her. I mean, she is still a baby too, right? Why shouldn't the baby toys be for her? One of the first days Jack was here, Annabelle grabbed his pacifier and immediately put it in her mouth. I think that may have been the first time she ever had a pacifier, but she knew exactly what to do with it. I, then, tried to sanitize it in a microwavable steamer bag, and ended up melting it...just a little. Oops. I guess with three children in the house, if a pacifier is our only casualty, that's not so bad. :)

Another funny pacifier story: The word "pacifier" doesn't get used much at our house since both Jacob and Annabelle began sucking their thumbs soon after they were born. When Jack spit out his pacifier the other day, Jacob tried to give it back to him, saying, "Here you go baby Jack. Here is your ampwifier." Amplifer. Ha! Now that is funny!

Where Do I Begin?

Wow...where do I begin? We've been so busy lately and I haven't had one free second to post an update. Now I have all these pictures and events to blog about and can't decide which one to talk about first. Ok, here goes.....

We headed out to the fair a couple weekends ago for some fun and deep fried deliciousness. I love the fair, mostly for the food. Granted, I usually leave the fair feeling like I've just eaten a pot of grease, but boy, is that "pot of grease" ever good. I was on the hunt for deep fried Oreos, but alas, this fair had none. So, french fries had to suffice. Can you believe that's all I ate? I even passed on the funnel cake....only because we were going to Macaroni Grill for dinner and I really wanted a piece of their chocolate cake. Otherwise, the funnel cake would have been mine. Anyway, we had a great time.

Jacob's favorite part of the fair was seeing and petting the animals. He especially liked the baby chicks. I knew he would. Out of all his little farm animals that he plays with, he likes his baby chicks the best. He was so excited to see real baby chicks and he even got to hold one in his hand. Very fun. Unfortunately, I hadn't charged my camera battery before we left, so I don't have any pictures.

He fed the animals in the petting zoo and I was a little grossed out. He fed goats, ponies, and camels. Those animals don't just eat the food out of your hands, they slobber all over you. Yuck. The petting zoo also had animals we were not allowed to feed (or pet for that matter) -- a baby tiger, panther, lion, and several monkeys.

Jacob rode a couple rides -- a caterpillar roller coaster and a circus train. He'll be quick to tell you that he had fun on the caterpillar, but he bumped his head on it somehow. While on the rides, for the most part, he sat there emotionless, as usual. I was able to get a few smiles out of him...just not on camera. As we stood in line for him to ride the train, he sang "Choo-Choo Boogie," a song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He's so funny. When the train ride ended, I had to walk over and pull him out of his seat. He loved it and was determined to ride a second time.

I used to ride fair rides. Not anymore. It's not that I am afraid of them. I just don't want to throw up. I look at some of these crazy rides and think, "I can't believe I actually got on something like that. What was I thinking?" I remember, years ago, my best friend and I waiting in this extremely long line to ride "The Wipeout." We should have known better than to ride that thing. The reason it took so long to get on was because people kept getting sick and it had to be hosed down and dried off (and I hope, sprayed heavilly with clorox) each time the ride was over. How disgusting is that?

Anyone remember this one? The Gravitron. It isn't called The Gravitron anymore, but it's the same ride. You know the one -- it spins you around so fast that your body sticks to the wall and your cheeks are stretched back so far that they touch your ears. Yeah. My days of riding The Gravitron are definitely over. Sounds fun, huh Jacob?

One of the funniest things we saw at the fair was a pig race. I had never seen a pig race before, so I had no idea what to expect. The first group of pigs came out running pretty fast. The announcer kept saying, "If you think these pigs are fast, just wait until you see the third group." The second group of pigs came out and they were a little faster. Again, the announcer warned us that we hadn't seen anything yet. As the third group of pigs was about to be let out, we were told to make sure all small children were behind the ropes because these pigs were going to tear through there like nothing we had ever seen. The joke was on us.

These pigs were so fat, they could barely move. It took them FOREVER to even get down one side of the track, much less around the whole thing.

Annabelle hung out in the stroller most of the afternoon and did a lot of people watching. The fair is always a great place for people watching. :) She begged us for a corn dog, but happily settled for Cheerios.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

At Annabelle's one year well visit last Monday, we found out she weighs 17 pounds, 15 ounces and measures just a little over 27 inches. Those stats put her in the 5th - 10th percentile. She is a perfectly healthy (except for that annoying cold), petite baby girl. Good things come in small packages, right? :)

We're still waiting for that first step. She walks all over the place with her new walk behind toy and walks down the length of the couch and various other pieces of furniture, but just hasn't taken that first step alone. It will happen soon enough, I know. Believe me, I'm not pushing her. Annabelle, there is no need to rush.

Annabelle is definitely into everything these days. She especially loves to aggravate her brother by playing with his toys and attempting to eat his puzzle pieces (among other things). Her drama queen status has reached new heights lately as I am constantly removing said items from her mouth and her tiny, little hands. She screams like you wouldn't believe. Today, after I snatched a half-eaten piece of paper from her hands, she gave me her best angry look and yelled, "Duh!!!!" (When she gets mad, she makes the "d" sound. I'm not really sure how to spell the "d" sound.) She then threw herself back onto the floor in protest, crying like I had ruined her life.

Don't even think about messing with my balloon.

The other night while I was giving Jacob a bath, Heath and Annabelle were spending some quality time together playing with her new birthday toys. All of a sudden, I heard Annabelle begin to cry. This wasn't just an ordinary cry. It sounded like the "I'm hurt" cry. After several seconds, the crying stopped and Heath walked her back to the bathroom to explain what had happened. Judging from the cry, I expected to see a bump on her head or maybe a red mark. Perhaps she had closed her fingers in a drawer -- something she's done a couple times lately. No. No bump. No red marks. No pinched fingers. No injury whatsoever. That pitiful cry was all over a baby doll. Heath picked Annabelle up and walked across the living room. She spotted a doll on the couch that she wanted. When he didn't stop to get it for her, she turned on the waterworks and began to wail. As soon as Heath gave her the doll, she stopped crying and flipped on the happy switch. She is something else, I tell ya.

They Really Do Love Each Other

I realize, if you've ever been on the phone with me and heard the whining and screaming resounding loudly in the background, you might beg to differ, but Jacob and Annabelle actually do get along for the most part.

Although Annabelle does enjoy taste testing her brother's toys, she and Jacob are playing together more and more. One of their favorite things to do is chase each other around the house in Jacob's own version of hide and seek. He runs to another room in the house and yells her name until she crawls in and finds him. As soon as she peeks her head around the corner, he cracks up and that makes her laugh too. I love watching them play together.

And then there are those other brother /sister moments like yesterday morning when I got Annabelle out of bed and Jacob looked at her, smiled, and said, "Good morning, Poopypants!" I think, in this case, "Poopypants" was meant as a term of endearment. :)

Birthday Girl

One year old. Annabelle is one year old and I can hardly believe it. Where does the time go?

When Annabelle woke up Friday morning (at 11:00!!!!!!), Jacob and I went in to sing Happy Birthday. After we sang, Jacob got right in her face and yelled, as loud as he could, "HAPPY BIRT-DAAAAAYYYY!!!" He did this randomly throughout the day. I guess he didn't want her to forget that it was her special day. Annabelle didn't seem to mind...all that much.

Her birthday was a day filled with all kinds of fun events. Ok...not really. I had a lot of last minute errands to run since her party was the next day. So, I loaded everyone up in the car and headed out for a few hours.

Even though I procrastinated and didn't do a few things until the last minute, I was proud of myself for getting an early start on the cake. I was determined to go to bed at a decent hour the night before the party. No more of that 3:00 AM stuff. I baked the cake Thursday afternoon and Erika and I started decorating later that night. However, even though the cake was finished long before 3:00 AM Saturday morning, I still didn't make it to bed until 3:00 AM. Oh well.

About the cake: When I was little, my mom made me a cute green dress with a doll to match. I always made fun of this doll because I thought it looked funny, but my mom made it and I loved it. When I was decorating Annabelle's room, I found this doll and sat it on a shelf on the wall. Several months ago, Annabelle spotted this funny looking doll when I got her out of bed one morning. She smiled the biggest smile ever and reached out for it. I walked her over to the doll and she became so excited, I thought she was going to hyperventilate. When I handed her the doll, Annabelle grabbed it and held it close to her like she was giving it a big hug. She smiled the entire time, clutching it as tightly as she could. I couldn't believe she didn't try to eat the doll's hair. She didn't bite its arms or legs. She never even put it in her mouth. Annabelle puts everything in her mouth, so this was definitely interesting. I don't know why, but she LOVES that doll. I decided at that moment, for her birthday, Annabelle would have a baby doll cake.

As much as she loves that little doll, Annabelle loved the cake even more.

Here, Daddy. You taste it.

Annabelle was a little more interested in eating cake than opening presents, so Jacob helped her out with that part. He opened most of her gifts and has actually been playing with them ever since. You'd think it was his birthday.

Annabelle loves her new toys too.

The party was so much fun. It was a wonderful day, full of presents, cake, friends and family. I know Annabelle enjoyed herself. She's already been asking me when we can do it again. :) Hold on Annabelle! Birthdays only come once a year and I'm praying time will creep ever so slowly toward that next one. Can't you just stay one forever?? :)

Is the party over?

Tickle, tickle!

I'm so glad you came to my party!