...and roll

well she rolls back to front, but we haven't seen front to back yet. but judging from her tummy time it looks like it will be soon.

shake, rattle

daddy is hilarious

this cracks me up everytime gabe does it. annabel seems to enjoy it too - you can even catch her little laugh on this video:

props to our photographers :)

A blurb with photos from our wedding:

http://www.bridesmaiding.com/wp/2011/02/photo-of-the-day-the-tulum-wow-wedding/

rolling

Annabel has been rolling back to front this past week, but usually it's a grunting, heaving one minute process. But today I put her down to take a picture of her cute outfit:

And then I went three feet away, turned around and did something for about 15 seconds. I turned back around and this is what I saw:

I heard no grunt or roll. She just flipped over easy peasy. I wasn't expecting this milestone so quickly - someone please tell her she does't need to grow up so fast. 

This also makes me realize she is entering the stage of mobility. Which has made me look at this house as full of hazards and claws. Gabe is our official safety inspector and babyproofer. I think he got this job by default, since I burn myself in the kitchen every day and manage to bump or bruise something at least once a week just walking around. 

our 3 month old

Part of me can't believe the growing girl before us, but then again those early days of constant nursing, no sleep, in bed all the time seem soooo far away. I love seeing her personality bloom each day. Here's a silly video we took today to show how she looks about 90 days along in her life's journey:

dude. girl loves her bath time.

another comparison

Annabel at just about 2 weeks old...teeny tiny 6 pound peanut:

Look how much better the hat fits now!

Not a great picture but check out the chubby belly:

comparison

Here is Annabel nearly one month old, and at nearly three months:

our little pooper

whozzit whatzit

I don't have enough pictures to do a proper blog post, but I have to record a couple things because we have yet another new daughter this week. How do they change so quickly??

This past week Annabel started trying to roll over. She went from her back and rolled her chest to the floor but most of her legs were still facing up. She seems to realize she has more control over her body and is constantly moving now. When I nurse her she punches my face and rakes her nails across my chest - not so pleasant. Anytime her legs come into contact with anything she pushes off like a swimmer pushing off the wall. She loves to 'stand' when we hold her. 

The past few days I've been blowing bubbles at her because it cracks her up. All today she's been doing it back - could it be I taught her something? So cool!

Her cries have changed overnight. She went from a baby cry to this cry full of consonants. It is so adorable I laugh everytime which she probably doesn't appreciate. It sounds something like this: 

bing bging ning ning... eh eh ning. ba ba ganing ganing. (pouty lip)

I had a funny moment with her about 5 minutes ago. I picked her up to nurse her and I saw she had scratched her face (despite me filing her nails 3 times today). Oh no, I said, your face! And as I absentmindedly lifted up my shirt at the same time I punched my mouth and bruised my lip. Geez.

I realized recently that I've been using my breast pump for somewhere around 80 days. In the beginning I was pumping 8-10 times a day because she was having issues and I also needed to get my supply up - and eventually got down to 5-6 times a day or so. On Monday while I was drifting off to sleep I started counting how many times I've used that stupid pump. Holy shit. And I realized she's now gaining weight like a champ, and it seemed she was nursing better in general. I thought that perhaps it was just my own anxiety about not having enough for her rather than her not feeding well that was keeping me attached to the stupid thing. So I didn't pump for a couple days except maybe once or twice. She was eating frequently and not too long, and would take really short naps of about 20 minutes. I went back to giving her bottles a couple times yesterday and lo and behold, 100 minute naps. Grrr. And today she fussed and fussed and wouldn't nurse so I pumped a bottle which she drank and promptly fell asleep. So frustrating!  There are also times she fusses and refuses a bottle but will happily nurse. I said I would breastfeed for 6 months at the very least and I'm sticking to that, but man oh man sometimes I feel my whole life revolves around my boobs. 

Gabe randomly set up the camera to take a video of Annabel today.  Folks, we caught on camera a 15-second toot fart (Gabe hates when I say toot). She takes after her great-grandfather apparently. 

my grown up girl

I don't blog for a little while and I have a whole new daughter. She has taken on some big tasks lately. First, she found her hands. From the moment she did they have been in her mouth. She actually is getting a rash from them being wet all the time. (Suggestions?) I'm pretty sure we've got a thumbsucker on our hands. (Ha.)  Also, check out the belly in this pic!

Right after she became aware of her hands she started grabbing things. I noticed this late at night when she was in her co-sleeper, and she would reach out for my hand. It was very surreal: in the darkness a focused, tiny creature reaching out in space to make contact. Think 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This is one of my favorite pictures of her:























And a minute later, her showing off her grasping skills:

In other developments, she loves to stand already. She stands in her tub, when I try to burp her, when I help her sit up. She still hates tummy time so I think her legs are much stronger than her arms. If I had to bet, I'd say she is going to very briefly crawl, if at all, before walking.

Annabel is also nursing much better (as far as I can tell). I no longer must pump before bed, in the middle of the night and in the morning. If I'm at home I can go most of the day without pumping either. I still do to make sure my supply is up and to just test and see if she'll take a bottle after feeding, but compared to any other time in her little life things are a lot easier for her mama as far as feeding goes.

Today Annabel & I went to our first storytime. I know it's early, but they have a baby storytime at the local library, and I believe it's never too early to love books :)  Today there was a special guest duo who sang and played instruments. Annabel spent the first 15 minutes looking around and smiling (especially at the other kids) and then got a bit fussy at the end because she was hungry. I've noticed people ask if she's about 4 months old - I think it's because she's usually so alert around people. We sat next to a 1 month old boy and I was astounded at the difference 1 1/2 months makes. She had a limp, tiny alien creature (I'm painting a poor picture - he was very cute) while Annabel is active, aware, and social infant. It's hard to believe it's only been a couple months since she was that tiny passive always-hungry baby! Here she is now, in all her cuteness:

lucky girl

I'm so lucky. This is what I wake up to each morning. No matter how many times I get up at night or have to soothe an inconsolable baby, this morning scene makes it all alright.











And then this makes it more than alright: