Happy Birthday, Baby!

These are a little bit late, but better late than never, right? I still cannot believe that my little baby is one year old.... seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home! Such a little girl has become such a big part of our life... it amazes me (she amazes me) nearly every single day. I LOVE this age, and all the things she can do these days!

Annabel's birthday party was a really great time, shared with many close friends and family. Annabel walked all around and socialized with everyone - she was the star of the day! Here are some of my favorite pictures:

So we all know from her 1-year pictures that this girl loves cupcakes. Here she is with round 2!

Our friends Lisa and Andy came in for the party. Lisa is about 20 weeks pregnant here - she looks great, doesn't she?

Annabel had some friends at the party - the picture below includes my co-worker Beth, her daughter Stefani, and Maddy, whose mom Lori is also a friend from work.

This is Jen, my friend from KPMG, and her son Will. What a cute pair!

Here's Will giving Annabel a big hug goodbye

By the end of the party, Annabel was POOPED!

Here's a picture of me and my mom

Annabel's friend Brooklyn was happy to play with the big kids. (She really has no idea that she's only 1 herself) Here she is with Annabel's cousins, Abby and Hannah.

Here's Annabel playing with some of the party balloons at home later that night

Cheesin' for the camera

Reading with Daddy

The day after her birthday, I turned around Annabel's car seat for the first time. She loves facing forward! And I love that I can look over my shoulder and see her smiling back at me.

Where have the Saxes gone?

It's been awhile! The past week has been absolutely nuts..... To sum up in one picture, here it is:

In the span of 5 days we sold our old house, shopped for a new one, won a bidding war with another buyer for the house shown above, and threw our baby a party for her first birthday - baby no more! Pictures will come later - probably early next week, because Annabel and I are leaving tomorrow for San Francisco to see our friends Ski, Marc & Riley! While I used to never leave home without the old laptop, I don't know how I could possibly bring it with me in addition to all the things I will need to bring for Annabel. So, blogging will be on hold til we get back.

We move May 10, which is the day after we return from our vacation... which is right after my business trip to Brazil. Can you say crazy? I will be before this is all done!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Annabel celebrated the day with a new green outfit (of course!) and tipping back a pint of some green milk... she really got into the spirit of the holiday. :)

Nearly ONE!

We are two weeks from Annabel's first birthday.... can't hardly believe it.... where has my baby gone? Today we went to get her one year pictures taken, and it was so much fun. It's harder now, because she's walking and she's EVERYWHERE (I probably forgot to mention that Friday night she just decided she could walk - and never looked back). So it was tiring but fun, and I think they turned out great. There are a bunch here... you'll be glad to know I did not buy all of them, or Nate would have killed me. And that would be sad for Annabel on her birthday. But we got the disk, so I'm sharing all of my favorites. Enjoy!

This was far and away her favorite part. She LOVES cupcakes!

They printed this one in sepia for me, but I can't do it on my computer... I like that way better, but the picture is still cute.

That's all, folks!

Spring is in the air...

Hi everybody! Sorry for the lag between posts... now that Annabel is on the move, there's not a lot of time for blogging! She's no expert yet, but she's getting braver every day, and it's our job to always be there when she falls. Just this weekend she's figured out that she can go anywhere she wants (not just from person to person), and so she'll just take off in a direction, and we've got to be ready. She hasn't exactly figured out how to stop without falling yet. :)

In other developmental news, Annabel is a hill-billy no more! This week her middle two teeth finally broke through on the top. I'm sure that it will be a while before they are very visible, but it's a start.

Besides that, we had a great weekend... got to enjoy the weather a little bit, and also went to a friend's first birthday party. When we took Annabel for a walk, I couldn't help but remember how little she was in her stroller last spring.... how the time flies! She'll be one year old in 3 weeks... unbelievable!

I'm so glad Annabel got her daddy's big blue eyes....

Annabel's morning cup of joe


The tongue is back!! It's out all the time... not sure I get it!

First walk of the spring

go speed racer go!

It's party time! Annabel made some new friends this weekend - Cameron is the birthday boy (dark curly hair) and Will (blonde). Their moms, Trisha and Angie, are Nate's friends from work. We had a lot of fun, and hope we can get together again soon!

Annabel and Cameron

I just loved this picture - if one went, they all went!