Annabelle at 6 months

Our biggest blessing is six months old today.  Love love love you, Bean!

An Awful Phone Picture of a Beautiful Memory

Every year since we've been together (that's 10 years, btw), Shannon and I go to look at the Christmas lights in a neighborhood called Winterhaven in Tucson.  It's one of our very favorite holiday traditions - getting bundled up, eating dive Chinese first, singing carols and waving to passersby from the back of the hayride.  In fact, that's where Shanni gave me my ring and asked me to spend forever loving her.  Like I'd say anything but yes...

But anyway, I took this picture with my phone just this past Christmas.  Little did we know our baby would be born just about a week or so later.  So *this* is a picture of our last trip to Winterhaven as a couple.  This year, we'll go as a family.

Pretty as a Picture

We took these pictures last week to showcase Annabelle's DOC band.  They are creating a calendar featuring babies wearing their bands, and we totally think our little bean deserves to be a model, no? :)

On another note, circles are so not my thing.  I know they are a design staple, and artists like Jamie Warren can work them like no one's business.  I can't, but I adore this Studio Calico paper that came with my Lawn Party kit a few months back and I was determined to use it. I really like how this turned out.

  

Lastly, I just want to say how grateful I am for joyful distractions like my baby and scrapbooking her beautiful face.  My mother, after spending the weekend at St. Joe's, is back at the nursing home *still* awaiting the kidney procedure.  If I think about it too long, I'll scream or cry or most likely both.  I spent all day Friday and most of Sunday with her, and spent all morning today calling doctors.  This afternoon, I needed to play with Annabelle and pretty paper and all the things that bring me joy. 

Red

Yeah that's right, I'm posting again.  Why?  Because now it's *afternoon* naptime and I hid in the craftroom again to make THIS.  My heart has been calling out for red lately, and when I printed these big black & whites of Annabelle in her baby pool, I saw my chance!

A wee tag with our wee one :)

Baby's asleep.  Time is limited, but I'm feeling crafty.  How about a tag?!  It's a miniature layout that takes 15 minutes, but you can still jam it full of cuteness.  I love making them, but I'm never sure what to do with them when they're done.... Oh well.  Still precious.

Who wants to lick a messy baby?

Gotta love Homer Simpson.  Anyway, these are beautiful, simple days of summer.  Annabelle is rolling over, working on sitting up, frolicking in her Lil Squirt Pool (she/we LOVE this thing!), and eating solid food!  So far we've discovered she adores plain rice cereal, she's ok with sweet potatoes, hates peas, LOATHES bananas, and enjoys a bit of squash in said cereal.  Not the most complex palette, but we're working on it.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I jumped up to make a quick layout documenting her first experience eating food off a spoon. :)  I mean really, it just doesn't get any cuter than this!

Also, a few shots of her playing in her pool.  Warning:  you may see wee naked baby parts :)

Me & U

Just a layout share today.  I *finally* got myself on a page :)

Wordless Wednesday: Mom

Look what I did

First, I made it out of Michael's for 16 dollars.  Me.  Michael's. Under $20.  This may be the first sign of the rapture...

Second, I made it out of Target for 23 dollars.... including baby stuff. That's right, I went to the baby section and *still* only spent that much.  I swear I could drop a quarter of a million dollars per visit to that place.  But today I was a budget rockstar.  Two outfits, baby food, a set of baby bowls on clearance, and a Father's Day card.  Woot!

Third, I did a bunch of research here and here about starting Annabelle on solid foods. She's been eating rice cereal with us at dinner time for about a week now, so today I bought squash, peas, bananas, and sweet potatoes.  I'm so glad I read about trying only 1 food at a time, for 3 or so days, to watch for allergic reactions.  I never would have thought of that.  Can't wait to see what she thinks of her expanding menu!

Next, I read Kayla's post today.  That girl cracks me up, but today I was particularly tickled. :)

Last, I made this with those precious swim pictures.  I'm so glad our girl takes loooong afternoon naps - that's Mama's playtime. :)

Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday morning. Close enough.)

Firsts

Annabelle is 5 months and 8 days old today, and I marvel every day at how she's growing and learning.  I was reflecting last night on all the new skills and experiences she's had in just the past two weeks or so.  She's now sleeping in her own room, her head shape is responding so well to her DOC band, she's rolling over in both directions, she's starting to sit up for longer stretches of time unassisted, she's getting rice cereal in her bedtime bottle, and she's going swimming for the first time tomorrow at Auntie SMF's.  So much, so fast.

I've decided I really like this stage.  Her smiles, her vocalizing, her interactions with people or toys - it's all so wondrous.  Every single time I look at her, I feel my heart swell to bursting in my chest and my breath catch for just a second.  I love her with all of my whole heart, yet somehow I manage to love her even more each day.  This motherhood stuff?  Miraculous.

Good Morning Sunshine

I *finally* had a chance to get into my scraproom and play late last night.  I kept it real simple and just celebrated that precious smile. There's nothing quite as inspirational as the Bean's sweet face. 

Our Bathroom Looks Something Like This

Remember this scene in E.T.?  Yeah, our master bath looks exactly like this, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.  What we thought was an easy-to-fix leaky wax ring under our toilet turned out to be 6 square feet of flooring saturated with sewer water caused by that damn leaky wax ring. Our tiny water closet is now jammed up with fan, a dehumidifier, and something called an air scrubber (I think), which takes the potential mold and microbes out of the air.  The toilet is in the bathtub! And it'll be like this for the next 5 days, until everything is dry, the flooring is replaced, and the toilet is back where it belongs.

So we are camping out in the living room for a while, and we just moved all our toiletries into the lovely guest bath. (We had a lovely guest room, until we had an even lovelier baby girl.)  And Annabelle, who rolled over for the first time today, is also spending her first night in her own room.  It's turning into quite the adventure for everybody.  Here's hoping everything gets put to rights ASAP.