Big news from a big girl!

Annabel went pee pee on the potty today, for the very first time! And, as if that were not excitement enough, she followed it up by singing her ABC's all the way to the letter T. My little girl is getting so big, I can hardly believe it.

My funny little valentine....

With a valentine like this, how could the day not be happy?

Happy belated Valentine's Day!! We had a good one.... Sunday was a very low key day at home, which was just fine with us. Saturday Nate and I went out for a rare night out, and it was great! We tried this cute little place called Richard's Kitchen, in Franklin, IN. If you've never been to Franklin, I'll just tell you that if you were passing through it you would NEVER think you'd find a place like this. If you live in the Indy area and enjoy delicious food at non-chain restaurants, I definitely recommend it. It's worth the drive.

Anywho, thankfully the weekend passed quietly compared to our last week.... I hadn't blogged about it because honestly I think I was still a bit too freaked out, but last week we had to take Annabel to the dentist for an emergency visit. To skip to the end, she is fine. To rewind, we were getting dressed on Thursday morning and Annabel started to throw a tantrum about who knows what.... she was being a real turd, so I walked out of the room and let her cry on the bed. I didn't worry about her being on the bed because she's very good at getting down now and we leave her up there often while she's watching tv. Anyway, from the next room I heard this terrible crash - it was such an awful loud noise that I didn't even think it could be her - I thought she threw something. And she was screaming before the loud noise (tantrum) and screaming after, so it didn't actually register that something was wrong at first. Well, turns out it was her, and on the way down her teeth took a chunk out of our nightstand. I have thought about it a lot since it happened, and every time it still makes my stomach turn. My poor baby was crumpled in a ball on the floor when I got there! Anyway, I just held her while she cried for a long time.... it was very pitiful and absolutely broke my heart. After some time I thought she was ok - checked her teeth and they didn't feel lose, and although she was bleeding a little bit she seemed alright so we trudged to work and day care. I no sooner got to work and day care called to say her mouth was still bleeding (it had been 2 hours by this point) and they thought we should take her to see someone. Nate was a hero and was able to get away from work to take her to a pediatric dentist.... I had been out of the office for two days for snow, and REALLY needed to be at work, so I was very torn. On one hand I knew with certainty that Nate could handle it and she would be just fine, but on the other hand it was TERRIBLE not being there! I just wanted so badly to hold her hand while she went through that frightening ordeal. :( Nate said she did really well..... was not a fan of the x-rays, but otherwise held it together. What a brave little girl! She was placed on a soft food diet for 2 days, and they said her front teeth were a little loose but that should fix itself. She's fine now, though every now and then we can tell her teeth are still a little sensitive. I'm glad it's all behind us, and I think next time she throws a tantrum I'll put her on the floor before I walk away.

In other, happier news, I have to report that Annabel has grown up so much in the past month or so! Believe it or not she's going to be moving to the 2yr-old room before the end of the month! Most of the time I think that can't possibly be true, but then I go into her current room and it's clear that she is so ready to join the big kids. She is talking constantly and is getting really good at communicating with us. She is putting together sentences, and surprises me with something new every single day. She tells me that Daddy is at work when he's not home, she shrieks with joy when we drive past Target... today she asked me to turn the light on when she wanted to play in the living room. Tonight after work we went to the grocery store, and she had to hold everything that I picked up... she would shout "it's COLD" when the food was frozen, and other times she would say "I hold it" and "don't drop it!" We had so much fun.... I remember when she was an infant holding on tight and wishing she would never get older and now I find myself doing it even more, and wishing even more furiously that time would slow down. We hold hands watching movies, and we have family hugs at her request. God, I'm almost tearing up just writing all of this..... ah, what a great age this is! I hope that even though she won't stay the same size, that she stays this sweet forever and we can always be buddies like we are today.

Well, sorry about the gush-fest. I realized that I hadn't given much information in my posts lately, and you all might be interested in knowing all the fun things Annabel has learned. And now that that's done, here are some more pictures of her in her Valentine's Day photo shoot. Her Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jerry sent her this adorable outfit, and so I just had to take abotu 20 pictures of it!

She's a moving target these days..... you've gotta be fast to get a picture!

Go Colts!

Even though our team was not victorious, that didn't keep us from having a great time at our Super Bowl party! Annabel's friends Brooklyn (aka "Book'in") and Drew were two of our guests, and Annabel was SO HAPPY to see them both! Brooklyn came over early, and for the first 30 minutes they just ran laps around the house and stopped every once in a while to squeal with excitement before running some more. It's so fun to watch. Here are some pictures from Annabel's second Super Bowl:

The cutest little cheerleaders you'll ever see!

Drew and Annabel - I'm already planning their wedding.... don't you think they'd have the cutest little blue eyed babies?

Brooklyn brought over this great game, which kept them busy during the real game. These little butterflies come out of the elephant's trunk and you're supposed to catch them in the net. But Annabel just squealed and jumped up and down. At least she had fun!

That's not how you catch butterflies!

Watching these two just makes me smile..... watch this, and you'll see why!

Super fun weekend in Chicago!

This weekend we packed up the car and headed up north to see our friends Leah and Bob, and their kids, Maggie and Rylan. Maggie is about 6 months older than Annabel, so it was really fun to watch them play and also to see what Annabel is going to be like in about 6 months! And Rylan is only a month old, so that was fun for Mommy to get to squeeze an itty bitty baby again. We only had one jealous episode from Annabel, which was about what I expected. She threw a big fit at first when she saw me holding him, but once she saw that it wasn't going to change anything it passed pretty quickly. He was such a sweetie, I just couldn't put him down!

Maggie and Annabel played pretty well for the most part - they had their moments of course where they fought over the same toy or chair, but all in all it was a success. It makes me excited to get together again soon, to watch how they change.

Here are some pics from our visit:

Annabel "helped" Maggie ride her tricycle. Sorry about the scuff marks on the wall, Leah! :) My little girl is getting so big!

So I know when we go to the pediatrician I will have to fill out a card where I mark 'yes' or 'no' next to various development skills. You stop at 3 'no's', and then that supposedly gives the doctor an idea of where she is compared to other kids her age. One of the ones that has always been a 'no' so far is "eats with a spoon and fork without making a big mess." I was hoping we would master that before she turned 2, but I only have 2 months to go.... so what do you think? (really, she normally does much better than this)

Sweet little baby!!!

Maggie and Annabel had fun at bath time! Nice hair, ladies.... :)

Maggie and Annabel had matching pajamas - how fun!

Thanks for hosting a great weekend, Leah and Bob! Although I didn't get any pictures of the adults, we all had a lot of fun, too. :)

On the way home, we stopped at my parents' house to watch the Colt's game. My mom decided to play dress up with Annabel, so she spent the afternoon in a tu-tu. So cute!

This was at snack time. She's playing peek-a-boo with Grandpa

This face cracks me up for some reason

Annabel got a little stir crazy, so we went out for a walk during the game. It was a little colder than we thought, so it was a short one. The tu-tu went, too!

Annabel watching the game - Go Colts!!!

Dancing Queen

And this, is what we do on Sundays.....




....And for those of you who might be wondering, Elmo is wearing whitey-tighties. You can direct any questions or concerns to my husband.

A typical Friday night at our house....

I remember what Friday nights used to be like.... getting home from work, dressing up to go out to dinner, maybe a bar or a movie. Usually some drinks, and bed late. Now when I get home from work I get a big hug from Annabel, we have dinner, and then we play. Bed around 9:30. This last Friday night the first game of choice was hide and seek. Annabel will hide behind something and then you'll hear "Ah-bel, Ah-bel" - that is your cue that you should be looking for her. I think this game will become a little bit more fun when she figures out how to expand her number of hiding places beyond the current 2. :)

After she got tired of hide and seek, we gave her a "new" toy that we got from Nate's sister, Gretchen, that her kids have outgrown. Since Annabel is obsessed with our camera and taking pictures, we knew she would just love the fisher price digital camera. She doesn't get the concept of aiming yet, and because of where the button is to snap the picture, she always holds it facing her. So she just ran around snapping pictures of her own face from about 4 inches away. You'd think the flash would bother her, but not at all! Instead, she laughed hysterically every single time. At the end of the night it was hard to get her to part with it - we had to "put the camera to bed" in order for there to be a peaceful goodnight.

So that's how I spend Friday nights now..... And I've got to say, I wouldn't have it any other way! Looking forward to the next one!

Hide and seek!

I found you!

This was Annabel's reaction when she first got the camera - I don't know if I've ever caught such pure joy from her on camera.

Check out my new camera, mommy!

I think this face came as a result of a flash in the eye

Maybe she's not doing this quite right....

Thanks for the great camera, Aunt Gretchen!!!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

My birthday was last Saturday, and I got exactly what I wanted and needed - a nice quiet day at home with Nate and Annabel! The best part of the whole day by far was when I woke up and walked into the living room to be greeted by Annabel, who said, "Happy birthday, Mommy!" She was so proud of herself, especially when she saw how happy it made me. She proceeded to say it throughout the day, just to see if she would get the same reaction. Nate was also very proud, because I guess they had been working on it before I got up, and she managed to say it all by herself. :) Thanks for the sweet present, Nate!

That night my friend Helen came over to babysit for us, and Nate and I headed out for a nice dinner. All in all, it was a really great day!

Here are some other pictures from our weekend:

While Mommy wanted to stay home all day on Saturday, Annabel got a little bored. So she had to play dress up to entertain herself.

On Sunday we went up to Merrilville to meet Nate's aunts, sister and nieces for lunch. We had a great time, took up a lot of space, and left a big mess (and a good tip, I hope!).

Annabel borrowed Hannah's hat, and showed her how she should wear it if she wants to be "cool" at day care.