Swimming!

Well we had a gorgeous Memorial Day down here in Florida! It was breezy and very hot. We woke to a happy baby and ate breakfast as a family. After Annabell's morning nap we went to the local pool. She had so much fun. I have been taking her to the pool on a weekly basis and practicing holding her breath and going to the side of the pool. Well we were in the pool and Brad and I were standing about 3 feet apart. One of the ladies at the pool was admiring how Annabell kicked her legs and push with her arms so well and said ""you should let her go, she's ready to swim." I knew she could hold her breath now with out blowing in her face (I still count to 3 though). So I thought we would try. Well sure enough, at 10 months old, Annabell swam! It wasn't graceful or anything, she went under and swam about 1 foot underwater and then we pulled her up. She did wonderfully and was so excited to keep trying. The only down fall is she likes to drink the pool water, I know, yuck! ha. But no matter how much I say no she still does...so we only stayed for about an 1 1/2 hours. We were so proud of her though, and it gives me a little peace to know that she's progressing so quickly with the water. On another note, I believe she is starting to teeth again, maybe her molers because this time she is super cranky and wants to be held a lot. Her other teeth never hurt her like this but lately she hasn't slept well at all and is constantly chewing on her fingers...so that's the only conclusion I have, anyone else have an idea? Well here is a few random pictures...love y'all!

Fever blues.

Well Annabell just got over her fever from yesterday. She woke her happy self and we were off to the park by 9:30am, we walked with our friends Stefanie and her son Mason, did our 2 miles and then let the kids play together at the park. They really enjoyed it. Annabell likes seeing someone play with her that is a little younger, she was observing him learning and enjoyed trying to show him how to do things. She is going to be a great big sister! She also would put her hand on his head and try to keep him from standing sometimes...she might be a great but tough big sissy. ha. They play really well together, Mason is such a flirt, he kept holding her hand and trying to get near her. She responded okay and then would be interested in something else. After the walk I put her down for her morning nap which she woke from about 20 minutes into it which is unusual for her, then I laid her back down and she went to sleep for about another hour (which is shorter than normal) and woke up crying. I fed her a bottle and food and neither pleased her, she is teething but she's never really been bothered by teeth coming in, so when she started acting tired again I assumed she was still sleepy (around 3:30pm) so I laid her down for another nap. She woke about 1 hours later crying, so I fed her another bottle and she kept fussing. I then noticed she was hot, so I took her temperature and it was only 99 so I didn't worry too much, then an hour later it was 101.4 ugh! She had a fever, I felt so bad for her, she seemed to be in pain. Well We had a long night, She was tired and went to bed at 6:20pm and then up at 8 and then down again and then up at 10pm-12am and then down until 2:30 and then up again at 4:30. Then she stayed asleep until 8am (when the door bell woke her). She is over the fever though and took an early nap to catch up on sleep! So it was a long night for everyone. Well here are some pictures, sorry to ramble on...Hope you like her pig tails! ha. Love y'all!

1000 words...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'll let these speak for themselves...

WALKING!!!!!!!

(her crazy hair after church on Sunday, thought aunt Viva would appreciate the huge curl on top)
Annabell is such an amazing baby to us...she seems like she putters around the idea of doing something new and then BAM all of a sudden she does it! Today she walked quite a bit! She started to think it was a game and would walk back and forth....she was ready for bed and became sleepy after about 5 minutes of hard walking....not continuous of course but consistently for 5 minutes...I hope the video will work, I've been having problems uploading video. Anyways, she did that just when daddy got home so she could show off for him...she is too precious! She also feel and busted her teeth again, I think that may have motivated her to walk too, she crawls too fast for her hands to keep up and boom there goes her mouth into the wood floor. Here is the video (small clips) of her walking, love y'all! Oh and it's so funny because she has lately been protesting using her sign language and any other form of talking (just for the past couple of days) but I wonder if it's because she has been focusing on walking...who knows. Love y'all! P.S. The color is dark because the lighting was bad...sorry.

Big girl pj's and toss

Well Annabell has grown a lot lately...she seems to be getting a lot taller. I take her to the pool weekly and this week when i took her i had her all laid out while I was putting on her swim diaper; the lifeguard walked by and asked where my little girl was. She thought Annabell was another baby since she looked so much taller! My baby girl is growing up. We have moved her into the 12 month pj's...and some very small 18 month pj's. But i can't find the sleepers with the feet and top all attached so she is wearing 2 piece pajamas! When i see her in them I see a young girl and not a baby, I can't believe she is growing so much. When I rock her at night her body covers my entire upper torso and the top of my legs...but the sweet thing is she still loves to cuddle with her mommy at night. She has learned to respond very well to language. I told her NO today and she stopped in her tracks and put her hands in her lap folded nicely, like when a school girl gets caught by the teacher. She is too cute. She plays toss really well but of course i didn't catch it too well on camera...she was distracted by me holding the camera and we didn't make as much eye contact as we usually do when we are playing...but i did get it on tape a little. She also does the "so big" game. Rachel got me started on it and she picked up on it right away. Well here are some pictures of her in her "big girl pj's" and a video which is long, but you get to see her moving around....love y'all! Well I tried to load the video but it won't load...so i'll post it another time.

Mother's Day and Little brother

Today is mothers day and it has been wonderful, I woke to find a card on Annabell's changing table that Annabell made me with the help of her daddy! It was perfect! Well the other day we went to sneak preview with all the family and several friends to find out the sex of the baby, and we found out we are having a BOY! Annabell wore her Yokatta for the event. Ryoko (our Japanese exchange daughter) sent it to Annabell and traditionally it's worn on special occasions or festivals. So we thought the event warrant that. We are so excited for Annabell to be a big sister. She will do wonderfully. She has been around a few small babies lately and just smiles at them and pets them. I am teaching her to pet my belly and I say "ahh baby, and softly". She is starting to understand to be soft with babies when I say that. She is growing so fast...she now points at things and loves to laugh. She is so close to walking permanently. She is becoming more and more adventuress. She climbs up and over things now and loves to try and figure out how to get around something that is in her way. She will hold her breath underwater even if I don't blow in her face first now, which is wonderful, since we want her to swim asap since there is so much water here...it's nerve racking thinking a baby could drown so the sooner the better. Well HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL! Love y'all. Here are the pictures of her in her yokatta and climbing up on stuff! love y'all again.

Steps, words and more!

Annabell has been doing so much lately. Let's see, she took two steps by herself on 5-6-08 and is constantly testing her independence with trying to walk or stand by herself. She learned how to lean in and kiss us, which makes me and her father melt! She started saying "hi" every once in a while. She also says "hey" when we walk into a room...too cute. She is eating all kinds of food...i haven't bought baby food in a while and she's doing great, today she had watermelon for the first time and loved it of course! She is always more interested in what we are eating than what she is though. Even though it's the same food! ha. She was soooo excited to see her daddy this morning. He was gone on a business trip and she hadn't seen him for 3 1/2 days. So when she woke up and he was there she started acting so silly! She loves to get his attention and watches our every move. She saw me kiss brad today and she leaned in to kiss him too! SOOO CUTE! Well Here are some pictures! Love y'all!
P.S. At the beach we had to keep the binki in her mouth so she would stop eating the sand, shells, leaves, and anything else she could get to her mouth! I also recently found 35 cents in her mouth! She is soooo fast at finding money and sticking it in her mouth!