Milestone After Milestone After Milestone.....

As women, I think we all (at one time or another) aspire to be the perfect wife and mother. We have visions of a neat, sparkling clean house, an amazing and delicious dinner on the table every night, and perfectly behaved angel children. Those visions continue for a little while, then reality sets in. The house is semi-clean (or a complete disaster, depending on the day) and there's always some task (or several) begging to be done. Dinner is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because you spent all afternoon driving around so your kids would sleep. And when you pick up your child from the gym nursery, your kid's the one screaming and picking his nose.

It's been an exciting week -- lots of new things.
I started going to StrollerFit when Jacob was 8 weeks old. It's been great, but I decided to try something new over the summer -- Mommy Bootcamp. I have one word to describe this class -- whoa. It is tough...but tough is good, right? If this class doesn't whip me back into shape, nothing will. While I am being tortured...I mean...working out, Jacob and Annabelle get to play in the indoor playground (it's the place where Jacob had his birthday party last year). Jacob loves it and from what I hear, he's been very protective of his baby sister. Apparently, he won't let Annabelle out of his sight and if anyone tries to mess with her, he is ready to fight. I guess that's good...and bad.

Jacob and Annabelle have actually been playing together a lot this week. Maybe they're feeling sorry for each other since they both have ear infections. I took Annabelle to the doctor last Friday because I could tell she didn't feel well. We found out she had a double ear infection -- her first one. She's been on Amoxicillin for a week now, so I hope that infection is gone by now. I told the doctor I would be back in to see him on Monday with Jacob....just speaking from experience. Sure enough, we ended up going on Tuesday. He has a double ear infection as well. More Amoxicillin. One good thing did come from this, though. I learned about the free prescriptions at Publix. Publix has eight prescription drugs that are absolutely FREE and Amoxicillin is one of those eight. I am very excited about this. I only wish I knew about it sooner!

Ooh...she's heavy!

I have to watch him now. Jacob will pick her up off the floor and carry her around. Scary!

I'm gonna get you big brother!

Annabelle: Must....get....that....microphone!!

Enough With This Baby Stuff. I'm on the Fast Track to Adulthood!

Yet another eating picture. It's the easiest way to get good pictures of her!

Annabelle may be only seven months old, but she thinks she is two. Last night, she pulled herself up and stood for the first time. She and Heath were playing in her room when I heard, "Paula!!!! Get in here!!!!" I walked in and there was little, tiny Annabelle, standing up, holding on to the Drop 'n Roar Dinosaur! I couldn't believe it! We sat her back down and she stood up at least two more times before playtime was over. Wow. I am soooooooo not ready for this. She's growing up waaaaaay too fast for my liking. The other day, I went to get her out of the crib after her nap and she was sitting up holding on to the bumper. I knew we would have to lower her mattress soon, but I didn't think we would be doing it last night!!!

Annabelle also has more exciting news. She has a tooth! Her bottom, front tooth on the right side finally decided to make an appearance on Monday. So far, it is a loner. Its other friends are still in hiding, but I suspect they'll be making their grand entrance soon.

Although she isn't crawling yet, she's very, VERY close. She'll get up on her hands and knees, move one knee forward, then sit back down. She can scoot herself around pretty well. If she sees something she wants, she'll find a way to get her hands on it. She's a very determined little girl. A few more tries and I bet she'll be crawling all over the place. Watch out Jacob! You better start picking up your toys!!