There’s so much to catch up on and so little time! Even though we’re back in the States I still have weekly updates from our time in Paris. I mentioned it last week, but Allison stayed with us this week and Annabelle, Allison, Dusty and I did a lot of walking/strolling! We went to a couple different parks, toured the Louvre, and pretty much walked across Paris!

With all the walking this week I’m happy to say that Annabelle has no problems sleeping in her stroller. In fact, Dusty and I can predict (with some degree of accuracy) when she’ll go down for her nap and we’ll plan our meals out and drinks at a cafe around her naps. She goes to sleep and we find a spot outside at the closest cafe. I know this won’t always be the case, so we’re taking full advantage of the time we have when we can take her with us!

There are so many adorable things (or at least things I find adorable) that Annabelle does that I want to remember. One of them is that Annabelle does this funny thing we like to call “poop shakes”. When she gets done pooping, she’ll give a little shimmy shake and it’s the cutest thing. She’s no longer doing it just when she poops though. She does it when she gets up in the morning or from a nap, after she gets done eating, and after she gets out of the bath.  If you’re wondering what it looks like just watch this video I found on Youtube. Her shimmy shake is adorable!

We tried to celebrate Father’s day but it ended up being a complete mess. By Sunday Annabelle was fed up with our erratic schedule (having friends in town really messed up her schedule) and she was a complete wreck! Dusty and I were both exhausted and Annabelle was too. She cried most of the day and fought all of our attempts to get her to take naps.

My only other Annabelle update is that she tried salmon! She ate it but I can tell it’s not her favorite! And do you see that bruise on her eye and chin! She loves to try and climb on everything!

The weather has been really great while we’ve been in Paris, which means nice outings for Annabelle. The first half of the week was a bit rainy so spent some time in doors but the weekend was beautiful (even a bit warm for Paris at this time of year). We managed to go on lots of walks and check out some more parks.

She’s becoming quite talkative! She jabbers on and on. She’s also getting louder! She’s realizing her voice can carry. No words yet but we’re working on mama and dada. She does give us “smooches” or at least we like to pretend. When you blow a kiss you make what I call a “smooching” sound. Try it. You make a sound, right? Well, she makes that sound to us. She’s really just imitating what we do to her when we kiss her, making that “smooching” sound but it’s so adorable. She looks at one of us, makes the sound and then gives the biggest grin.

Annabelle has officially gotten her sixth tooth, so now she has four on top and two on bottom. This tooth didn’t seem to give her too much of a problem. We’re still working on not biting though! With these new teeth of hers, she likes to munch on everything, including us. I can’t blame the girl, she’s just trying to figure out how those little teeth of hers work but those mighty bites hurt.

Funny thing in the past week or two is that Annabelle’s started “tasting” her food before she eats it. Before, she’d pretty much inhale anything I put into her mouth but now, if I put a spoonful of something in her mouth, she’ll spit it out into her hand, look at it, and then put it back in her mouth, slowly chewing. You can tell she’s trying to taste what she’s eating and deciding if she likes it or not and if she remembers eating it before. After a few tastes she’ll eat everything just fine but it’s fun to watch that little brain of hers as she deciphers what she’s eating.

And we officially have a walking machine on our hands! It’s crazy that just a little over two weeks ago she started to walking and now she’s strolling across the apartment like she’s been doing it for months. Did this child ever crawl? We’re seeing very little crawling and fewer stumbles. When we go to the park I have to chase her around because she loves walking over to our neighbors and try to steal whatever they have laying out (food, bags, etc.).

One of the best things about being a parent, being able to dress your daughter in adorably cute French inspired outfits. I’ve been searching all over Paris (at all of those souvenir stands) and finally found a beret that (almost) fits Annabelle. I’m still trying to get her to wear it long enough that I can take a good picture of her but until then, here she is, my little Parisian!!!!

It’s been way too long since I’ve written an Annabelle weekly update. We’ve been in Paris for over two weeks now and we’re getting into a pretty good routine but that doesn’t include much time for blogging.  We have been taking pictures but I just haven’t gotten the chance to sit down and write anything. So here I am, trying to catch up on the last 3 weeks.

She’s walking even more and she’s getting much better at it.  She’s not going to be winning any races quite yet but she’s falling less and able to take more and more steps every day. I’m taking her to the park as much as possible and she’s getting a lot of practice at walking on the unsteady terrain of the grass. We’ve had lots of other people at the park stop and ask how old Annabelle is and that they’re so amazed at how she’s walking already.

Annabelle’s sleeping like a 9-month old but it’s still an adjust for us, mainly because we want to sleep in since we’re not on a regular 9-5pm work schedule and Annabelle’s not into sleeping late. I mentioned on our last update that we let her cry it out and since then things have resolved themselves for the most part, which is true, but Dusty and I are still adjusting to having a child at home. Annabelle goes to bet at 7pm but has been getting up anywhere between 5 and 7am. She’ll wake up twice in the middle of the night but it’s usually at 2am and 4am.

Sometimes if she wakes up at 5am we can get her back down for a bit longer but there have been quite a few days where Dusty and I are trading off, and getting up with her way too early. We have a system where one of us will get up with her for an hour or so while the other one sleeps and then trade off so that the person who got up with Annabelle can go back to sleep for a bit. And then we both take a nap when she takes her morning nap. It would be okay if we just went to bed earlier but even when we tell ourselves we need to go to bed, it’s still not happening.

We’ve been having a lot of fun at the park. It’s so great because Annabelle is always meeting a new friend or two while we’re there.  It’s awesome to see her play with others her age as they explore together. Since Annabelle is walking we have a few extra reminders for going to the park. One, always have her wear dark pants or jeans. Two, don’t forget snacks! It’s important to give her a snack to hold in each hand so she doesn’t go after the cigarette butts or trash laying around (the parks is pretty darn clean but our little lady can find a needle in a haystack). If she already has her hands full she’s less likely to go after something in the grass. And three, keep her as far away from the rocks/sand as possible because she likes to eat it. Oh, our adventures at the park.

This week we found an awesome babysitter. She’s wonderful! I was a little nervous about finding someone; first, because we really haven’t had anyone, outside of our families, watch Annabelle and second, being in another country makes it even more terrifying.  But after doing some research, including asking friends who live in the city about finding someone, and reading as much as I could on Message (a group who’s goal is to provide support and a network for English-speaking parents living in Paris), we’ve found someone great and I’m excited to have a little time without our lady and go on some much needed dates with my husband!

Annabelle’s transitioning out of pureed food and into bite-sized bits. She really likes eating on her own, especially now that she’s up to five teeth (and the sixth one’s on it’s way–no more fangs). She’s eating steamed carrots, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes as well as eggs, pureed chicken, avocados, bananas peaches, nectarines, pears, and apricots. It’s awesome having an outdoor market right outside our door twice a week to get fresh fruits and veggies for Annabelle.  And as you can see from the picture, she loves having one foot on the “table” as she eats.

Annabelle’s outfit is from Zara. Her hooded sweatshirt dress says “La vie set belle” and means “Life is beautiful”.  It’s a bit big for her but I had to get a picture of her in it while we were still in beautiful Paris!

This week was a momentous week! Annabelle turned 9-months old and then promptly started walking. It’s amazing to me how just one week or even a few days can mark huge changes. Annabelle is developing by leaps and bounds. On Sunday of last week she took just a couple steps on her own and it was really hard for me to say that she was walking on her own but this week, it’s happened for sure and here’s a video to prove it. Love that tongue of hers hanging out!

Our bambino has 5 teeth now (click on the picture below to see her teeth up close).  For the last week or so I could see that she had another tooth getting ready to come in, top and center, but this week it finally broke through. I knew it was coming because she was gnawing on anything she could put her hands on. It’s so crazy (and a bit annoying) how as parents we spend a small fortune on all kinds of baby gear and then what do they do, not use it. Annabelle wants nothing to do with teething rings but would rather be gnawing on one of her socks. And toys, we brought some great toys for her to play with but we’ve found that she’d rather be playing with a plastic Fanta bottle, our laundry and other random things around the apartment.

Oh how I love to hear Annabelle laugh. I think it’s one of the best things; to hear a child laugh and when it’s your own it’s even better. She’s been laughing for a while but in the past month it’s become so much fun to tickle her or toss her in the air and listen to that wonderful sound.

I didn’t mention how Annabelle was sleeping last week just because there were so many factors affecting her sleep; being sick, us waking her up every 4-6 hours for her breathing treatments, and the 7-hour time change. But let’s just say, Dusty and I are exhausted. She goes to bed around 7pm, sleeps until about 11pm (if we’re lucky) and then is waking up every 1.5 to 4 hours and wakes up at 6am. Most nights she’s waking up 4-5 times. This week I’m remembering what it was like when Annabelle was a newborn and we were so sleep deprived. I’m so exhausted that I’ve been taking naps when Annabelle naps and so is Dusty on occasion. I know we should be going to bed when Annabelle goes to bed at 7pm but I’m also trying to adjust to the time change myself so there have been a few nights that I go to bed early and then wake up at midnight wide awake and not able to go back to bed until 3am.

We’ve tried to have her cry it out a time or two but we’re a little hesitant to let her cry at the top of the lungs for long periods of time when we don’t know our neighbors and it’s an old building so I’m sure the walls are thin. (Last year at our old place, a week or so after we arrived there was a note on our door asking that we not stomp around the apartment late at night. It was me, getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, being 7 months pregnant and not so light on my feet).

In addition to this, the apartment is so small and there isn’t a door to our bedroom that when she cries we can really hear her cry. Waiting it out is torturous when I know nursing her for a minute and laying her back down will enable us to go back to sleep. Tonight we’re moving her crib to the wall farthest from any of our neighbors (and farthest from our bedroom) and we’re doing some sleep training because Dusty and I can’t survive this much longer.

A quick note, one night of letting her cry for 30 minutes and then crying again when she woke up a second time has solved all of our problems.  She’s remembered that she can sleep through the night!  In fact, I think she might be sleeping better than she did when we were at home.

And here are some other Annabelle updates that aren’t so cute, she likes biting us, pulling our hair, and climbing on things. Dusty and I have said “no” to Annabelle more this past week than we have since she’s been born. With all of her newfound teeth, she’s biting us, and it hurts! I mentioned a couple weeks ago that she’s working on giving us kisses and now they’ve turned into kisses that end with a bite to the face! And there’s hair pulling. She’s so good at picking things up now that it’s not just toys that she wants to grab.

And then there’s the climbing. Being in a new apartment meant that it took us a couple of days to baby proof everything and even with the baby proofing we still can’t stop her from trying to climb on and then stand up on the coffee table. We can’t decide if the climbing is because there are things in the apartment that are low enough to the ground that she can do it (we don’t have these kinds of things at home–at least not this low to the ground) or if it’s just that time in her life where she’s climbing on everything. I’m quite positive it’s the latter but I wonder if it would have started sooner if we had more things she could climb onto at home. I can tell you there is more baby proofing that will be done when we get back to Omaha now that she can walk and is such a good climber!

Annabelle’s outfit and shoes came from Paris H&M.  It says, “I am a little mouse” in French! And she’s not wearing her shoe because if we didn’t give her something to chew on she wasn’t interested in sitting still for a picture!

I didn’t mention it last week but my sister babysat Annabelle Friday evening while Dusty and I were at Big Omaha and she mentioned to me that she saw Annabelle tugging at her ear a few times (a sign she has an ear infection). Over the weekend I saw her tug at it two more times and was pretty skeptical that this meant she was sick. I know that it is a sign but I was expecting a large amount of tugging and lots of crankiness. Then on Saturday and Sunday she had a small temperature on and off. We’d give her ibuprofen and her temperature would go down. Then later on she’d feel hot again. Otherwise, Annabelle was her pleasant self all weekend.

Well, by Monday, knowing we were leaving on Wednesday, and I not wanting to discover I had a sick child on the plane called the doctor and got an appointment. I didn’t want to be one of those overprotective moms who call the doctor at the smallest sign of illness but I felt traveling overseas was a pretty good excuse. My worry paid off, she ended up having double ear infections. The doctor said the medicine took a couple of days to kick in but that by the time we left on Wednesday she should be getting better (although I sure didn’t see any signs that she wasn’t her normal self). The next couple of days went by fast, Annabelle started to have a bit of a cough but nothing too concerning. Annabelle and I spent the days packing and cleaning our place while Dusty was trying to tie up any loose ends at work.

Wednesday we left for Paris. We flew from Omaha to Newark and had a 6+ hour layover. We planned it this way though.  We’ve been flying enough to know that many, many things can go wrong, and with an 8-month old we wanted to try and prevent as much from going wrong as possible. Our first leg was great.

Dusty had a business meeting in NYC during our layover so Annabelle and I hunkered down for a nice afternoon/evening in the airport. Annabelle played, slept a bit in her stroller and then woke up a bit out of it. I fed her and she was still looking a little off. She felt as though she had a small temperature so I gave her some baby ibuprofen. She wasn’t happy about the medicine and threw up all of the milk I had just fed her. I’m sitting in the airport with Annabelle in the stroller with milk all over her. Annabelle was a trooper. We ended up getting everything all cleaned up (but not before Annabelle was being strolled around the airport with just her diaper on, sitting on gobs of paper towels). I called our doctor just to make sure they thought everything was all right. Dusty got back. Annabelle started to look better. And we got on our flight.

Shortly after our flight began Annabelle started wheezing and was short of breath. She was pretty lethargic and slept almost the entire flight. Needless to say, it was a long 6-hour flight. So, after getting off the flight, getting our luggage and getting to the apartment our first mission was to get her to a doctor.  And while this was all going on there was more throwing up, baby crying, lots of wheezing, and a panicked mom! And below is the first picture we took while in Paris.  At the hospital getting a breathing treatment.

I had some contacts in Paris and with their recommendation was able to get in to see a pediatrician at the American hospital in Paris. Annabelle was diagnosed with bronchiolitis. I had heard my friends talk about it with their kids but had completely forgotten about it until the doctor mentioned it. She had all the symptoms. She had a breathing treatment in the doctor’s office and then we got a prescription for a nebulizer and medicine. It took no time before she was back to her bubbly self. I had done my research and had prepared for taking Annabelle to the doctor in Paris, knowing that we were here for 6-weeks and something might happen but it happening the moment we arrived was a bit of a shock. Thank goodness for an awesome husband who was able to navigate a worried mommy and sick little lady.

So, we’re in Paris for the next 6 weeks! What a momentous start to our journey. We spent the rest of the week and weekend getting settled in to our place as well as resting from the flight and the bronchiolitis. The weather was beautiful, 70s and sunny. Sunday we tried out the bus system for the first time (we’ve always used the metro) and went to the Eiffel Tower for some family time at the park!

Then on Monday Annabelle and I went to Luxembourg gardens to meet an American mommy and her youngest son for a play date in the park. It was so much fun! While preparing for our trip I did some research on expat parents in Paris, knowing I would need some advice navigating the city with an infant. I was also hoping to meet some wonderful mommies and their children that Annabelle and I could get to know.

And here are just a few more updates about Annabelle this week. Being sick hasn’t slowed her down at all. A while ago our little lady figured out how to bend her knees and how to sit after standing but now she’s getting really good at standing from a sitting position without needing to hang onto anything. It’s not Facebook official yet but we almost have a walker. She’s doing a lot of walking while gripping onto our fingers.

Annabelle’s outfit and shoes for this week came from grandma Jane.  She’s our little Parisian baby! And if you can believe it, these pictures were taken on Friday, just 24-hours after getting treated for bronchiolitis.

This week was a bit crazy.  We’re leaving for Paris next week (and I haven’t started packing), I’m finishing up teaching for the semester, Dusty has Big Omaha, it’s Annabelle’s last week at daycare for 2 months, I’m hosting a bachelorette party, attending a baby shower and it’s Mother’s day this weekend.

I know staying at home with your child is supposed to be the ultimate wish for a mother but I really like Annabelle going to daycare.  The people there are great and all the evidence I see from Annabelle shows me that it’s really great for her. So needless to say, I was extremely sad when Friday came around and we had to say goodbye to all of Annabelle’s teachers.  I got a little teary-eyed.  I know Annabelle will have a lot of fun with me this summer but I know she would have had a lot of fun with her friends at daycare as well.

Annabelle has started walking. Okay, not exactly but she is walking with the help of a push toy she has at grandma Jane’s.  Here’s a video from last weekend of her new walking abilities. Just a couple of weeks ago Annabelle and I were at a friend’s house who has two kids and brought out her push toy for Annabelle to try.  It wasn’t a huge success. Annabelle was able to push it but it was too fast for her little feet and she was getting pulled right down.  Now, a few weeks later, she’s maneuvering that machine like it’s nobody’s business.

Our little lady is really cruisin’.  She’s moving from one piece of furniture to the next for support. And on occasion she even lets go and stands without support.  She’s not standing for too long, just a second or two but she’s most definitely getting some strong legs and growing in confidence.  Annabelle’s also doing a lot of squatting in between her cruising. Her current challenge is how to squat, scoop up a toy, stand back up and start to cruise again.

Speaking of walking, I get weekly email updates about how my baby’s growing and what I should be expecting.  In one of the last emails it said that it’s normal for baby’s feet to look flat and turned out and her legs bowed when she starts to take steps.  And that I shouldn’t worry about shoes quite yet, that walking barefoot actually helps strengthen the muscles she needs.  I wasn’t worried about Annabelle’s legs and feet but I have stressed more than once about what kind of shoes she should be wearing or if they were a must for learning to walk.

And how was my first mother’s day? It was like any other day with a child in your life, busy! I slipped away early Sunday morning to visit my grandma and aunt with my sister. Then came home to a beautiful card and gift from my lovely little lady and awesome husband. Annabelle also got me a hat that she painted at daycare that says #1 Mom. It’s adorable! I’ve become one of those moms who love anything that their kid makes, even if it’s ugly. We spent the afternoon at home and then picked up some take-out before heading over to Dusty’s family to celebrate with his mom and grandma.  Last weekend we celebrated Mother’s day with my family.  It’s still a little weird to think that this holiday is for me too.  As the day was approaching and we were getting cards for our moms it actually didn’t even cross my mind (well, not for a while).

And my last but maybe favorite update for the week, she’s working on giving kisses. Annabelle’s kisses involve her opening up her mouth and pressing her face against our lips. And these are the reasons I love our little lady. Her kisses are a bit wet and slobbery but it melts my heart.

It’s fun to watch how just a week can make such a huge difference.  Annabelle has started “walking” from one object to another.  Really, what it is, is Annabelle holding on to one object for as long as she can while walking to the other and then eventually letting go and gracefully falling into the other object to hold on to.  It’s mainly from the coach to the ottoman or from the coach to one of us.  She’s not officially a walker yet but she’s getting more confident and stronger as the days go by.

This week Annabelle had pears and scrambled eggs for the first time.  Now that she definitely has four teeth in that little mouth of hers I’m trying to find more finger foods she can eat on her own.  She most definitely loves eating on her own. She’s become an expert at eating with her hands.  With squishy things like bananas and pears she’ll push the fruit around until she either gets one in the palm of her hand or she pushes them off her tray. Once she gets it into her hand she squeezes it so it moves up the inside of the palm of her hand and it pops up by her thumb and pointer finger. In other words, her piece of banana is sitting on the top of her closed fist.  After a few attempts, she’s ready to get it in her mouth.  Most of the time it ends up in her mouth but there are plenty of times she looks at her hand, sees that it’s gone but can’t figure out where it is because it’s not in her mouth.  It’s often on her chin, cheek or ended up in her lap.

This weekend was the first time Annabelle was without both mommy and daddy!  Dusty and I have each been out of town over night and left Annabelle home with the other but she’s never been without us both or never slept over at someone else’s place over night. So, two firsts for Annabelle. Dusty and I were invited to come to a weekend long Founder’s Retreat, meant for founders of startups and their spouses, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.  I was a little skeptical on what would actually happen but it turned out to be a great weekend of spending time with each other and meeting new people!

Annabelle stayed with Dusty’s mom and I don’t think she missed us at all.  It was a bit hard being away from her for 48 hours but knowing that Dusty and I were spending quality time together and knowing she was in good hands made it just a little easier.

Annabelle did a little painting this week for a present for Mother’s day. And no worries, she didn’t really eat it, even though it might look like it. Our little Picasso.

Annabelle is 8 months old! And our little lady is so mobile! It’s almost as though I blink my eyes and she’s started crawling faster, standing more, and walking along side everything so much more confidently.  Annabelle’s teachers keep telling me that she’s a daredevil and likes to hang out with the “big kids” (you know, the 1-year olds).  I’m starting to realize what they mean; she just has all kind of energy and never wants to stop moving.

This weekend I helped host a BBQ and diaper party for some friends of mine who are having their third child this summer and it’s been the first time we’ve all got together since my friends and I have had babies (and since our little ones are old enough to realize that there are other babies around). It was so much fun to see Annabelle play with some of the kids I hope she grows up around and becomes friends with.  I see lots of play dates coming in the near future.

Although Annabelle is very mobile now, it’s still so much easier to take her places because she’s able to sit on her own and doesn’t need her carrier. Restaurants specifically have become a whole lot easier.  Meeting friends up for dinner or drinks with Annabelle is actually fun.  We’re training Annabelle early to be an awesome restaurant patron.  So this week Annabelle and I met a girlfriend of mine for a little sushi.  Annabelle was great, eating her dinner and smiling at everyone.

Annabelle helped  cheer my sister Jodi on this weekend.  Here’s a picture of the two of them right before Jodi ran her 5K race.  Annabelle loves supporting her family!

Here are a few party pictures of Annabelle and two of her friends, Rowan and Emma.  Rowan wasn’t too happy with Annabelle’s overwhelming personality.  She was all about getting in his personal space and he wasn’t.  I wish I could have gotten a better picture of Emma and Annabelle but there were just too many more exciting things going on than smiling for a picture.

And again, one week later and I’ve seen a fourth tooth getting ready to poke out (I hope this doesn’t continue—at this pace we’ll have a whole set of teeth within the month). We now how two vampire teeth up top and two front and center on the bottom.

And another first to add to our book of Annabelle treasures, she got her first incident report from school. And this also happened to be Annabelle’s first major accident as well. The culprit, a toy horse. Have I mentioned how movable Annabelle is and that’s she’s not only standing up but walking along furniture, walls, people, and anything she can get her hands on. Well, this time around she stood up next to a toy horse with wheels, the horse moved and she toppled over, hitting her face on the horse. It all happened on one of the busiest days for both Dusty and I (isn’t that how it always happens).  I was helping host a conference for more than 50 undergraduate students from around Nebraska and Dusty was heading to South Dakota.

I had just introduced our morning keynote speaker and heading to the back of the room when I noticed that I had just gotten a call from daycare. I called back and they said she had fallen and gotten a cut right below her eye. It had stopped bleeding but they suggested we stop by to take a look at it and make sure we didn’t think it needed any extra attention. Dusty stopped as he was heading out of town and said it looked just fine. By the time I picked her up at the end of the day she was as happy as a lark and you wouldn’t have known anything had happened, if it weren’t for the bruise and cut under her eye. And as you can see from her weekly pictures taken five days later, you can’t even see a thing.  It’s crazy how fast kids heal. Here’s a picture of that darn toy horse. I wanted to get a picture of Annabelle’s bruised face for posterity sake but by the next day you could barely tell there was anything worth talking about.

Our newest treat for Annabelle this week was an avocado.  Loved it!

And of course everyone’s always asking, how’s Annabelle sleeping?  My answer, she’s sleeping! Not through the night but she’s in a good routine.  She wakes up 1-3 times each night/early morning.  Sometimes she wakes up more but most of the time it just takes a minute of snuggling from mom or dad and she falls back to sleep.

Annabelle had spring break at school and got Friday off so I took her to work with me. Here she is helping me restock the paper.

We also celebrated Easter. So much fun! My family throws a huge Easter egg hunt every year and this year we had absolutely beautiful weather!  Her eggs were filled with baby snack foods and cookies.  She loved them! And then Sunday we went to Dusty’s family to celebrate the holiday! Two days filled with family, delicious food, and lots of smiles!

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One week later and we’ve found a second tooth!  This time it’s on the top a bit to the right side.  And as we were trying to feel around in that little mouth of hers it feels as though there’s another one ready to pop out on the upper left side.

Our little cookie monster!  We’ve started to feed Annabelle more.  Instead of just two/three ounces of food at lunch and the same for dinner she’s getting three/four ounces at lunch, another two for her afternoon snack and then at least two ounces for dinner.  We tried pureed broccoli this week. Surprise! She liked it.  I don’t think there’s anything she doesn’t like.  We’ve even started feeding her little bits of banana.

Annabelle had picture day at school this week.  When I first saw the announcement on the quarterly newsletter we get I was a little intrigued.  First, picture day at daycare? Second, how in the heck are they going to take a “school” picture of a 7-month old?  To answer the first question, yes, picture day at daycare.  And to answer the second, in the infant room they only take a group picture of all the kiddos (not sure how it goes with the older kids) so no individual “school” pictures yet.

Of course, I wanted Annabelle to look super cute for her first classroom picture so I gave her a bath in the morning, brushed her hair and proceeded to put on a super cute outfit.  She promptly spit up all over her super cut outfit so we put on her second cutest outfit.

I left for a work trip to Phoenix at the end of the week and I think it might have been even sadder to leave her for just this one night than it was to leave her when she was 3-months old and I left her for 5 days.  I survived and when I returned she was saying dada.  It was something closer to dadadadada-gagaga-nanana with dada in the middle but she’s got the “d” sound down.  No mama or “m” sound yet but I’m sure it’ll come soon enough.  Now just trying to help her understand that when she says dada that she’s referring to the guy that hangs around the house all the time is another story.