Yes Michigan!

Annabelle and I had a great trip to MI last week. We headed out of here Wednesday afternoon, unfortunately by the time we got to the Johnsons, Annabelle had a fever from those darn teeth. She went to bed after smearing stuff around on the highchair. The Johnsons are well equipped now for baby sleepovers, with the impending arrival of their first grandchild. So Annabelle was able to test things out for little Uriah. Thursday we headed off to the farm, stopping along the way for Tylenol. The weather was amazing the entire time we were there. And we took full advantage. We checked out the chickens and wandered around outside. Thursday evening, Eric, Kate, Hayden and Carter came over for dinner to celebrate Eric's birthday. Eric and Kate were headed off for the weekend, and my dad was headed out on Friday morning to go hunting for the week. So it was good to get everyone together while we could. Annabelle was still a limp little rag with those teeth. Friday Annabelle was doing a bit better. Debbie Marx stopped over and gave Annie her birthday present. She made a gorgeous Raggedy Ann doll for the child. I need to get pics of her with the doll, she did an AWESOME job. Thanks so much Debbie! Then we headed out to a little shop down the road from my parents. Then off to a new park that is right by the farm as well. We wandered around the park for almost 2 hours. It was so nice out, Annabelle fell asleep in the stroller and mom and I didn't want to go inside.
Saturday, Annabelle's tooth had poked through and she felt MUCH better, we went to Lakeside Park and played for a bit at the beach. Annabelle loved the sand and stuck her hands in the water. Then we had lunch at my most favorite place to eat, The Raven. Best Chai Tea ever. We wandered around downtown and got me some ice skates! yay! Sunday we did a bit of shopping and then the girl and I headed back to the Johnsons for the night. Annie was much perkier this time around and played with Mr Bill and random objects she found around the house. I was checking out one of my favorite blogs, Sweet Juniper, the other day. The author lives in Detroit with his family and talks about life in Detroit and the amazing people he meets and how it really can be a good place. His latest entry is about a hardware store not far from him that has been there for forever. The owners are looking for someone to take it over once they retire, and I totally think my dad should buy it. Right? He could sit there and shoot the shit with the customers and talk about hardware store stuff.

11 months

The child is now 11 months old. I can't believe a year is creeping up on us already.

She's supposed to be "relaxing" before bed... We've had some gorgeous weather around here lately. Almost 70 degrees in November in WI? We'll take it. Will make it even harder when the snow flies though. Got some yard work done, cleaned up the gardens and fertilized things.

Helping to rake the leaves
Hopefully get some of the front yard done tomorrow and then things should be set.
Annabelle had her first swim class today. She was super cute in her competition swim suit. She was ready to kick some baby butt.

She already looks like a swimmer, right?The class went well, by the end Annabelle was kicking and splashing.

The class goes til mid December, should be fun. She slept alot afterwords :)
After lunch we got the Burley back out and went for a bike ride around town. Everyone was out playing. Stopped at a park along the way, then off to Dairy Queen. Pumpkin Pie Blizzard!!

The kid is eating a lot of what we are these days. She's decided she is a fool for dairy like her Mommy, so there must be some Josef genes in there somewhere. She eats cheese like crazy, and yogurt is a huge hit. We just tried out cottage cheese the other day, yum! Been shoving green things down her throat lately too, broccoli, and creamed spinach. She tried cranberries recently, in prep for her Thanksgiving dinner :) She's pretty much eating whatever we give her at this point. I think 2 more top teeth will pop through within the next week. She has been gnawing on things and drooling like crazy again.

Debbie Dolly is getting the life squeezed out of herOtherwise, not a whole lot of excitement here. Getting ready for our MI trip this week. Halloween was fun, Annabelle helped pass out candy.

Work is work. Same ol same ol!


Point at the camera!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Somehow a month has already gone by since our VT trip. How in the world did that happen? I believe Brian is going to be posting a few pics. It was a great trip, and we had a blast with Tonia and Trent for a week. The weather could have been a bit better, but we were prepared for rain. We met some amazing people and the guides were awesome.

Last week, my friend Heather and her son Evan flew in from MD to visit. We had an awesome time and the kids did really well. Evan is a relaxed and happy baby, and was happy to go with the flow. Annabelle played well with him, minus a few toys to the head and her tendency to crawl right over him (I think she likes obstacles, we should set up an obstacle course).


On Friday, Heather and Evan were able to come to the Baby and Me class Annie B and I go to on Fridays at the library. Its a fun 20 min of singing and stories. Annabelle is the child that crawls away and sits in the middle of the circle. Leaving me to sing and read stories like an idiot by myself.

We then hit up the outlet mall in Johnson Creek and found some cute stuff for the kids.


Saturday was super nice out, so we went to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison.

Wandered through the fall leaves, then sweat it out in the indoor section of the gardens.

Saturday night we discovered our new favorite takeout place, Deli Roma. I've been wanting to try it since we moved to Sun Prairie, so it was about time. They have some amazing food.


After a summer of weekly open water swims, my workout partner and I are back in the pool. We've been able to squeak out some bike rides still, but I am not looking forward to heading back inside the gym.
We've got the yard pretty cleaned up for the winter, but I still want to cut down the stupid bushes in front of the house.


This past week, I put Jennifer (our daycare person) in charge of taking fall pics of Annabelle. She has way better fall decorations than I ever would! She got some great pictures,

and even made us a few frames to put on the fridge.

We're so lucky we have her, she's awesome.
Annie B will be dressed up a for her first Halloween. She should be pretty darn cute. I'm sure there will be pics after the weekend.
The child and I are off to MI in just over a week! Looking forward to seeing my family and the Johnsons. We'll be stopping there as usual. Bachelor weekend for Brian!

Dear Annabelle

You are now 10 months old. Holy crap. I still can't believe it. It seems just yesterday you were here...

October 14th, 2008

You are now crawling like a champ, cruising from furniture to furniture, saying mama, dada, baba (although you still don't say mama and dada to us). When we ask you what a dog says, you say "woof woof" in your grunty sort of way. You say "Uh oh!", wave bye bye, and love to fake cough and sneeze.

Most pics these days look like this because you never sit still

We left you in the hands of your grandparents for a week while we went on vacation. You did well, kept your grandparents busy. You were ready to see us by the end of the week though. We missed you like crazy and talked about you all the time while we were gone. You officially grew out of your 6 month pants while we were gone, and I think your hair grew a ton in that week.

You're a busy little girl these days since you're now so mobile. Your favorite toys are 1) the remote 2) the Coasters 3) Crazy Baby 4) Debbie Dolly. You sleep with your blankey animals every night that our friend Debbie made for you.

The Coaster!

Crazy Baby and the Coaster!

Yesterday, you had your 9 month check-up one month late. All was well and you are now 18lbs and 27inches long. Which of course means you are perfect. You got one vaccination while we were there and took it like a champ! No crying! Not even a whimper! I was so proud.

And now you have a cold and are miserable. We went to Baby and Me class at the library this morning and you were all snotty and coughing and I'm pretty sure all the other moms thought you had Swine Flu. You did look pretty pathetic.

"I have a cold and have no patience for pictures."

We love you little girl. Quit growing up so fast.

Love,

Mommy

PS- Happy Birthday Baby Boy Vontoux! 5 years old!

Details

Brian and I are starting to get things ready for our big trip. Getting the house ready for our guests, everything situated for Annabelle. I'm excited to head out, but will be nervous leaving the girl behind. Part of me wishes we could put her in the Burley and bring her with. Brian wouldn't mind riding the whole week with her, would he? But I'm also excited to have a week alone with my hubby, enjoying the hills of Vermont and eating a lot of ice cream(we're doing the Ben and Jerry's tour!). Since I'm pumping and dumping for a week (which makes me nervous as well), Tonia and I have planned to get really drunk, drink a ton of caffeine, and perhaps do some cocaine. We've heard it will enhance our cycling performance.

Here are a few pics from the dog park last week. We tried out the garage sale find backpack since it was so hot I didn't want to strap her in the Moby.

Annabelle and I visited a co worker and her little girl, Lizzie. Annabelle had fun poking at Lizzie.

Madison had a big consignment sale, so I headed over there this weekend. Got come cute stuff and a couple fun toys. Here, Annabelle is modeling her Hungry Hippo.

And here she is stealing Vontoux's ball.

Call me crazy, but...

I get really annoyed when friends, family, grandparents, aunts, uncles etc give Annabelle crappy food. Brian and I work very hard to make sure Annie has all the proper foods. And when someone tries to give her a piece of pie or a french fry, they aren't doing it out of the goodness of their heart. They are doing it for their own amusement, "Let's see what she does with a cookie!".

Gee, I wonder.

Exploring...

Now is the time her brain and body are growing and developing at lightning speed. Shouldn't we try our hardest to make sure everything that goes into her has all the right nutrients? I'm a fool about giving Annabelle basically only organic foods at this point. She eats so little, the cost is pretty justifiable. Plus, with the recent studies showing how pesticides are actually in some fruits and veggies, we prefer she not eat those. And a good side effect is that Brian and I are eating healthier, more organic fruits, veggies and dairy.

On the move!

I am fully aware that at some point Annabelle will be eating Lucky Charms and drinking Coke and having a side of fries. But at this point, while we can control it and hopefully set up good eating habits, we will.

Don't get me wrong, if you don't feed your kid organic, we don't judge! Or if you feed your kid pop tarts, gummy worms and sippy cups of Coke, go right ahead! It's not our place to judge. The whole nutritional/child thing is already too judge-y right from the moment you pop the kid out. Breastfed or formula, solids too soon or too late, breastfeeding too long, not long enough, it goes on and on. Basically the only right answer is to do what you think is best.

So we will, and don't be surprised when I bake Annabelle a low sugar, organic birthday cake. :)

9 months

So the word on the street is, that my child is now 9 months old. I'm not sure how that happened.
9 months seems significant to me.

That's the magic number when you're pregnant. There's all this anticipation, wondering, waiting. Answering the question "How many weeks are you", over and over. A husband getting more and more nervous asking if you're ok everytime you get up to pee in the middle of the night. 9 months flew by then, just as it did now.


So we have officially been holding and staring at our little girl for longer than she was in the womb. Amazing.
Annabelle is pretty sad about fall and winter approaching. We've been having lots of fun hanging out outside, riding bikes, and going for walks.

We'll have to extend that for as long as we can. The dogs like to lay on the blanket with her outside. Vontoux has started bringing her toys. He's so helpful. I wish the toys he brought her weren't so muddy and full of dog slobber.
She's just now crawling in the "traditional" way. But she prefers to sit on her butt and scoot with her legs. Kind of like the crab walk. This leaves her hands free to grab onto whatever comes in her path to pull herself up on. She's pulling up on everything now. Coffee table, crib, couches and chairs, my pants. I even saw her cruise from the coffee table to the couch. In Brians words, she's way too mobile.
Her top teeth are bursting through as we speak. The top left is through, the other top one isn't far behind. These haven't caused quite so many issues as the last teeth, but she's been up quite a bit these past few nights. Thank the Lord for Hylands Teething Tablets. Seriously the best thing we've found. They are some type of homeopathic thing, and they work wonders.

Annabelle has had yogurt, her first dairy. She seemed to tolerate it ok. She did get a rash a couple days later around her mouth. So I quit with the dairy for a few days and have just started giving it to her again, to see if that was the issue. I made the yogurt for her (yes! Super easy thanks to the yogurt maker from Karen!), and it turned out super yummy. She's eating pretty much every veggie, still huge on the pears and plums.

I've been adding tofu to most foods now, she loves polenta. I bought some grass-fed beef from the friendly man at the farmers market. We'll finally introduce her to meat. I'll probably make a stew and blend it up for her. The grass fed beef man was very nice. He explained all sorts of stuff to me and told me about tours they have on their farm and such. Hopefully we'll get out there this fall, and buy the "beef sampler pack".

I wouldn't be suprised if Annabelle up and walked soon. I hope the first steps aren't when she's at daycare. If it is, I'll tell Jennifer not to tell us :)