Backlogged

I haven't been posting much, so here's a quick summary of the last couple of weeks:

It snowed:




Mabes got a haircut (Except she doesn't call it a haircut. It's a TRIM! Daddy gets haircuts, and she doesn't want to look like a boy.) and now looks like a real kid.


And now she's commuting to uptown...

(cue Sheena Easton's "Morning Train")


What happened to my cute little toddler?

It snowed again


and Dave and Mabes had a snowball fight and built a (small) snowman.


Annabelle is cuter than ever. She's starting to get fussier in the evenings, but it's not bad at all. Kind of reassuring that she's a normal baby, as I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with her. And, like her sister, it's nothing a little Kanye (specifically, "Golddigger") can't take care of.

Ridiculous

There are a few things that are so good it's kind of ridiculous. Bacon. 24. Chocolate chip cookies. My last batch of cinnamon rolls. Annabelle. (Should I be embarrassed that most of those are food? Probably, but I'm not.) Seriously folks, Mabes wasn't a particularly difficult baby, she just didn't like to sleep. I'm not sure why I'm so shocked by Annabelle, or why I go on and on about how great she is. Perhaps I had prepared myself for the worst? I know things can and will change. So once again, I'm taking the opportunity to write down how good things are now, so I can remember when things may not be as good.


Annabelle was blessed yesterday at church, and Dave's mom was able to be here for it. She came Saturday and babysat Mabes so Dave and I could go to a Valentine's party. Since Annabelle isn't taking a bottle yet, we took her. She tends to get fussy in the evenings, but if she's being held, she's perfectly happy looking around, so I figured she'd be okay. Annabelle slept the first hour or so in her carseat, then woke up and fussed for a minute until I put her in the sling. Though she didn't go back to sleep, she spent the rest of the evening watching what was going on--she didn't even mind my eating dip and dropping the occasional brownie crumb on her. Dave and I had a great time with friends, and even though we had Annabelle, it felt like we were out alone. Honestly, it was easier with her than had I been 8 months pregnant!


Sunday was our first time getting our family of four ready for church, and I'm very grateful church is now at 10:30 instead of 8:30! We managed to get there early, despite car issues and the zipper jamming on the only skirt that fits right now. Boo! I don't appreciate being mocked by my clothes. Annabelle didn't like getting dressed, but then slept through everything. The blessing was beautiful. I went a little overboard taking pictures--here's a sampling:




And a couple more. I'm sure my mom will get mad and say there are more flattering pictures of her, but I think they're cute. It's what I see holding her. And why I've been spending so much time sitting on the couch, just holding her. I could do something productive, but why? I'll just enjoy this instead.

One month!

Sunday marked one whole month of Annabelle. She celebrated this milestone by having her first blowout in her last newborn diaper. I'll go ahead and admit that I almost cried when I realized she was outgrowing her newborn diapers--she still seems so tiny (then again, Mabes outgrew them after a week or so). She continues to be the sweetest baby. She's starting to get a little fussy at times, but it's only because she wants to be held and then she's fine. I can handle that. For the most part, she spends her time eating, sleeping, looking around, not crying, and cuddling. And I know most people would say it's too early for social smiles, but I swear she's smiling. It's different than smiles in her sleep. She's making eye contact with us, and Dave gets smiles more often than Mabes or I do. Annabelle seems to be recognizing our voices, though, and seems happy when she hears us, even if she isn't saying, "Oh, look, it's my big stister Mabes! I just love my big stister!", which is what Mabes thinks she's thinking.



I feel like I mostly know who reads my blog. Family, friends, the occasional blog-hopper from friends of friends... But I'm amused when I hear about people that I may not know as well (or not at all) who enjoy my blog. I mean, really--my life is not exciting. So I was quite flattered when Laura told me about her friend who loved kids and loved reading Sarah's and my blogs. I sent Rachel a Christmas card last year (still working on this year's...maybe we'll do Valentines?), and get updates on her from Laura.

And then Monday, Mabes and Annabelle received packages in the mail. Mabes was elated to see this:
"It's...it's...an ELEPHANT! Wif a shirt! I have a shirt like dat! From Aunt Laura! It says, 'I love da York!' Oh, I LOVE dis elephant! Wasn't it nice of Aunt Laura's Rachel to send me dis elephant?"

Rachel had kindly removed the sound box that apparently made a loud elephant noise when squeezed--she's obviously spent time around kids and kid toys. Elephant doesn't have a name yet, though Mabes is taking suggestions. He has joined Ricecake, Charlie, and Sharkie in the elite group of Mabes' toys, known as her kids. They get most of her attention and play time, naturally. I mean, they are her kids.

Everybody ought to have a Moom

I'm thinking I might make all my post titles references to musicals. Props to whoever gets this one, unless you're in my immediate family. Of course you get it.

So my mom was here for 10 glorious days. In that time, she did the grocery shopping, went to Target and Costco a couple of times, cooked dinner, made me take lots of naps, took Annabelle all night every night (except for nursing, but Annabelle is a much faster eater than Mabes, so I wasn't up much at night), cleaned, played with Mabes, and held Annabelle a lot (she's a very cuddly baby). And though she brought a book and her laptop to work on her Orlando scrapbook when she had downtime, apparently it wasn't enough, so she bought curtains and rods and replaced the lovely 80s-style curtains that came with the house. (I was going to, but since I was 35 weeks pregnant when we moved, I hadn't had a chance yet.) Dave laughed when I told him her plans and didn't want her to feel like she had too much to do. I just said, "yeah, but I talked her out of repainting--she was planning accent walls!" My mom loves projects.


My mom, pushing Mabes in the laundry basket. After a while, she got tired and Mabes didn't understand...
...so my mom hopped in and had Mabes pushed her.

Reading with Grandma

When it was time to take my mom to the airport, of course I cried. I couldn't blame it on being tired, but post-partum hormones certainly don't help when you just want your mom around and you have to send her home. Thankfully, Mabes put her arm around me and said, "I know you love your mom and you will miss her. It's okay..." Thanks, Mabes.

And the next day, Laura flew in. Sarah had warned her of of hormonal craziness, so Laura was prepared to cook, play with Mabes, and let me do my thing. Since I was now doing the night shift (come back, Moom!), Laura would get up with Mabes so I could sleep in. Very nice.

Playing Mario Cart (it's spelled with a K, right? Stupid intentional misspelling...) with Auntie Bora. Mabes was always Princess Peach, Laura was always Toadstool. Mabes now calls Toadstool "Aunt Laura."

Reading with Aunt Laura

Laura even let Mabes play with her camera. This opened a whole new world for Mabes. She took pictures of everything, exclaiming that it was the most beautiful picture ever (Laura! The TV! Her bike! The chair!). I'm waiting for Laura to post Mabes' photos...

Mabes taking pictures wearing the hat Aunt Laura brought her

Between Christmas, Annabelle's birth, and visitors, it's been a busy few weeks. But we're slowly settling into our new routine. Mabes continues to be a great big sister and is very helpful--she gets really happy when there's a diaper for her to throw away. Annabelle is a fantastic baby (keep it up, little girl!). A few times, Mabes has said, "our little girl cries a lot!" Um, no, kid. She barely cries at all. I realize this will probably change, so for now, I'm just enjoying it!

Oh, and I told a few people that when Annabelle was born, a couple of nurses commented that she might have some strawberry blonde or red in her hair. I looked over and just thought, "No, ladies, she doesn't have red hair. I know redheads, and that most certainly isn't a redhead." Kind of like when people tell my sisters that they (the random brunette my sister may be talking to) are redheads, too. Really? Because if you have to tell someone you're looking at that you have red hair, you don't actually have red hair. So I wasn't going to be that mom--"Well, it looks blondish brown, but in the right light, it's sort of red. Can you see it? Really, it's there!" I've just been telling people it's light brown, but since mine and Mabes' hair was brownish, fell out, and came in light blond, we'll just have to wait and see what Annabelle's hair does. So we will. But in the meantime...
This is totally unretouched. In certain lights, there seems to be some red there. Can you see it? Zoom in. Call me crazy--I'm already laughing at myself.

Oh, hello there...

I haven't posted in a while. But it's been a little busy. And by busy, I mean I've spent any free time gazing at this gorgeous (or stunned, in this picture) little girl. I consider it time well spent.

I am my own worst enemy

And my mom is a dangerous accomplice. Last week, she bought me this. With the accompanying cake mix. And I had to make it the next day, I mean, it would be rude not to, right?
It was delicious, but I've got ideas on ways to make it better. Oh, and if you do get the pans, don't follow Williams-Sonoma's instructions of buttering the pans and lightly flouring them. They probably say that because it sounds fancier than "douse the pan with Pam." But Pam works way better. The buttered/floured side is face down on the plate because it fell apart.

And then after enjoying the cake, I just happened to see my Facebook profile picture that hasn't changed in nearly 2 years (yeah, I'm on Facebook a lot). Oh, flat stomach--how I miss you. Someday we'll be reunited. I hope. For now, I have cake to eat.

Laura gets here tonight. There's a lot of great TV to watch (24! Golden Globes! Other stuff I'm forgetting!) and food to eat, so we've really got our work cut out for us. So the diet will have to wait. Besides, you're not supposed to limit calories when you start breastfeeding because you don't want it to lower supply, right? So no dieting for what, a year? I think the same goes for exercising...

And a picture of Annabelle, just because:
She's totally worth not being able to fit in any pants.

One more thing...

Annabelle has a dimple. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. My mom will be posting more pictures later.
And I've decided that the best words in the English language are "You should go take a nap now." Okay, maybe it would be tied with "You need to eat ice cream now," but I haven't heard that one. Yet. I love having my mom here.

Sorry, that was two things.