She's All About It

Annabelle turned 5 months old yesterday.  She's working on rolling over, had rice cereal in her bottle for the first time tonight, and is the smiley-est, sweetest little bundle of love that ever was. Her faves right now:

1. Crunchy puppy.  A crinkly, fuzzy, teether-pawed dog and she loves everything about him.

2. The Cube.  It's covered in all kinds of textures, it jingles, it has a few dangling bumpy teethers, and one side is mirrored.  To the Bean, that's perfection.

3. The xylopiano.  A Little Tikes classic that brings a grin to her face no matter what makes the music - mommy, mama, her own fingers or her own toes.

4. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  It's a singable book with bold bright letters (lowercase, thank you very much!) that teaches the alphabet, rhyme, repetition, colors, you name it.  She's riveted every time we read it, which is often multiple times a day.

5. Her bouncer.  I call it the jungle gym, Shannon calls it the Cirque du Soleil bouncer, but Fisher Price calls it the Luv U Zoo Jumperoo.  An ok name, I guess. It sings, it bounces, it flashes and spins and jingles.  An all-round good time, at least in short bursts.

I am so lucky to be able to spend the next two months at home with her.  I simply adore every minute I get to spend watching her play and learn and grow.  We love you, baby girl.

Photoless

I've been fascinated by this idea of scrapping without photos.  It was even a challenge recently on one of the paper company blogs I follow. Until recently, I haven't understood it.  As a scrapbooker, I take photos of everything, choose the events and moments that matter most, and combine my pictures with pretty paper and cutesie things to celebrate the memory.  But last night I made this.

Lately, beyond our precious baby girl, life hasn't been giving me too many things to celebrate.  However, as I reflect on and worry about and pray for and sometimes avoid the ugly things mucking up my world right now, I realize that my thoughts and feelings are worth documenting and remembering too, even if they're photoless.  They may not be pretty, but they matter. And if I can learn from them, grow because of them, look back at them in the future and see what I've overcome, maybe they'll be worth celebrating some day. 

Thoughts on Mother's Day

I can't help thinking, on this day that celebrates the most important job a woman can have, that we are so blessed to have such incredible women in our lives. 

Karen.  More than an aunt, more than a friend.  She loves and supports Shannon unconditionally, and in return trusts Shannon with more of her heart than anyone else.  And she absolutely adores our baby girl.

Mom.  My heart breaks to know she is spending this special day still in the hospital, just as she spent Easter and Mackenzie's 10th birthday.  Doctors and nurses assure us that she is healing, that her body and brain will recover. That woman made me the person I am today.  I owe all the best parts of me to her and my dad, and I pray every day that she'll be back to herself soon.

Rosie.  My closest, most amazing SMF.  She is my beloved confidant, inspiring mentor, and favorite partner in crime. She treated us to brunch today along with her beautiful daughter Ashton.  Thank you.

Annabelle. Our sweet, smiling Bean with the most charming disposition and precious face.  I never imagined my heart existing outside of my body, but it does.  She owns it all.

So many other sweet friends, like Jennifer, Kristen, Deb, Marybeth, Gracie.  Wonderful women and mothers who make our lives richer, fuller, better, and who love us, our families, and our Annie B. 

We love you all back very much.  I made two projects to celebrate our mothers loving our daughter.  It doesn't get any more special than this. Happy Mother's Day.

Grandma and Annabelle

Grandma-ish (Aunt Karen) and Annabelle

4 Months

Our girl turned 4 months old yesterday.  Don't ask me how that's even possible.  It's been 120 or so days of love and cuddles and smiles.  She is the easiest, happiest, most loving little girl who ever was, and we are so overjoyed and so very thankful she's ours.

She marked her big weekend with a few important milestones.  First, she moved to size two in diapers.  We've been having these volcano-like poop eruptions up the back of her diapers for about a week now.  When we consulted some of our mom friends, they pretty much unanimously said go up a size. So we did.  Oddly, we had another Vesuvius episode tonight in her size 2s, so we're switching brands next.

Also, she took her first big girl bath today.  We've been bathing her on the bathroom counter, her bath chair on top of a towel, with a small bucket full of warm soapy water.  But tonight, we put her chair in the bathtub and poured water on her, even let her sit directly in the water for a bit - a real bath.  She wasn't too keen at first, but we're pretty sure she liked it in the end.

And lastly, she wore shoes for the first time.  We thought her feet were HUGE when she was born.  They just looked so big on her tiny little body, but it turns out they are really quite small.  We've been waiting for those tootsies to be big enough to fit into the smallest shoes you can buy, and today was the day. And how perfect are these cuties?? Almost as perfect as the sweet girl wearing them.

Happy 4 months, Beanie!  Love you like mad, baby girl.