A Fun Day at the Park

Today started out as a dreary, rainy, gray day. Then, around lunchtime, the weather cleared up and turned a bit sunny. The weather was not overly hot, it seemed just perfect for a short trip to the local park. We live in a small town, so our park is small.......but my Annabelle is also small, so it all worked out. Since Annabelle is not walking yet, we were able to go on the swings but not the slides. It won't be long until she makes it to the slides and the little tunnel. For now, though, the swing proved to be exciting enough, especially when there were other children around for Annabelle to watch. She gets so excited when she spies other children around and I always enjoy seeing her interact with them. Since today was a big day (her first time on a park swing!) I couldn't go without my trusty camera in tow. Here are the pictures of Annabelle enjoying her first swing ride:





Hmmmm........Annabelle has just spotted the other children on the swings. I'm not sure I can compete with them for her attention!




What a fun day today was! Next week we are planning to go to the swimming pool with a friend and her three children. That will be exciting!!

Better Than A Straw?

Current Novel: House at Pooh Corner (German version) by A.A. Milne

What could possibly be better than acquiring a new skill and putting that new skill to good use? Well, perhaps taking that new skill and altering it slightly so that it becomes a completely new skill entirely. And that brings us to Annabelle's new antics....unscrewing the top of her sippy cup, dumping out the contents, and then lapping up the water like a dog would. This has got to be one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time! Here she is, demonstrating her competence at making a huge mess:









Oh my goodness......what will she come up with next?

"The Last Straw"

Wow! So much has happened since my last entry, I can hardly believe it! I am slowly starting to get caught up on everything, so hopefully my entries will start getting closer together like they used to be. I enjoy blogging so much but, unfortunately, sometimes life starts to move at warp speed and it takes everything I have just to keep from getting sucked into the vortex of laundry and bills and dinners and carpooling and and and and............well, I think you get the point I'm trying to make here. Despite the busyness of daily living, I wouldn't want my life any other way. Umm, well....I wouldn't mind a maid coming in and doing my laundry and a rich benefactor to step in and pay off all my credit cards.....but other than that, my life is pretty good right now!

My little Annabelle has mastered the straw! Yes, she can suck up water like a professional fish! The only problem we now face is what to do with all that water once it is in her mouth. Annabelle's solution? Smile broadly so it all seeps right back out and onto the front of her clothes! Well, what else *should* she do with it? There will be plenty of time later to learn the swallowing part. Right now, though, it is fun to just let it all run right back out. Mommy likes doing laundry, right?!? Yes, watching Annabelle drink from a straw is one of the greatest pleasures of my day. And once she has her tiny little hands wrapped around her sippy cup, Heaven help me if I try to take it away from her! Sippy cups are her new favorite plaything.

And she waves now! Well, okay, that isn't entirely correct. She KNOWS how to wave, she just chooses not to. I know she can do it.....the first (and only, I might add!) day she waved it was so sweet! She waved to us six times that day, so I know it was a deliberate action on her part, not just a random muscle reflex. Unfortunately, though, she hasn't waved since. I'm not sure what the deal is with that. Now all she will do is put her hand up and then shyly turn her head away. She wants to wave, I can see it, but she chooses not to. That's alright, though, because I know she will. One day. When she's good and ready. I am slowly learning not to get upset when Annabelle doesn't reach her milestones when I feel (or when the doctors say) she should be reaching them. Annabelle is thriving and that is all I am concerned with right now. She is healthy, she is happy and she is thriving. What else could a doting mother hope for?

Even though it is a month and a half early, we are already planning Annabelle's first birthday party. I just can't believe she is going to turn 1 year old next month! Where has the time gone?? After much deliberation, we decided to have Annabelle's first birthday party at Chick-Fil-A. The way I figure it, she *probably* will not be walking by then (but maybe she will, who knows?!) so I didn't want to have her party anyplace where walking would be absolutely necessary for her to enjoy herself, and that ruled out most of the themed places like Fun City or Chuck E. Cheese. And I certainly didn't want a house full of children running around, either. So, I figured Annabelle could at least crawl through the tunnels in the Chick-Fil-A play zone, so that's where we'll be. I think it will be a lot of fun, too. Each of the children will get a kid's meal, a small plush cow, and an ice cream cone. Annabelle will get a large plush cow, PLUS.....the Chick-Fil-A cow will grace us with an appearance! What is the best part of having her party here? Mommy won't have to clean up after everybody!!! Yeah!!! I'm planning on having a cake there, too, even though the kids will each get an ice cream cone with their meals. I simply can't imagine Annabelle's first birthday party with no cake. I'm thinking it will probably be a princess themed cake, but I'm kinda fond of Elmo, too, so I'm torn on this one. I'll give it a bit more thought because, after all, I still have a month and a half.

The Technical Difficulties of Life

Current Novel: "Mr. Popper's Penguins" (German version)
by Richard and Florence Atwater


Once again, I must apologize for my long absence. Chronic computer problems, combined with several new translation projects, combined with the antics of a very active 9 month old, combined with houseguests have made blogging a difficult task these days. I'm hoping that after I finally get caught up with everything again (including the 1000+ emails that I still have yet to read!) I won't have any other such absences, and that I can continue blogging on a regular basis like I have enjoyed doing in the past.

I have had two more parts on my computer replaced. I honestly wonder why I even bother sometimes! It would be a whole lot easier if I just bought a brand new computer! Easier, yes. Cheaper, no. *SIGH* Alas, I guess I'm stuck with this arthritic one for now....or at least until I win the lottery, and since I don't play....well, it might be awhile before I win! :-)

My Annabelle is crawling now! And crawling like a champ, I might add! Now that she is crawling, she no longer voluntarily plays in her play yard anymore. No more confinement for my little angel! This is not necessarily a good thing, since I like to put her in her play yard while I'm cooking dinner or need to accomplish some household task without a baby attached to my hip. Now I either have to learn how to multi-task with the extra hip attachment, or tolerate the blood-curdling screams of one very unhappily confined (but safe!) baby. My choice depends on the mood I'm in at the time!

Annabelle is still not clapping or waving "bye-bye" yet. It looks like she wants to wave bye-bye.....her hand goes up, but she hasn't gotten the actual waving part down pat yet. And we aren't even close with the clapping, but we'll get there! The doctor has expressed some concern about the clapping, and the words "occupational therapy" actually came up at Annabelle's 9 month check-up (occupational therapy for a 9 month old who refuses to clap??!!?!?) My baby was a sitting a week later than the doctor said she should (the doctor told me that Annabelle MUST be sitting by 7 months old, yet my little princess didn't master this difficult task until 7 months, one week old) and now she sits like a pro. I'm not at all concerned about the clapping. She'll get it eventually (when she's ready!) and when she does, she will quickly and easily master it just like she has done with all her other milestones.

I am currently reading "Mr. Poppers Pinguine" (Mr. Popper's Penguins in German) to Annabelle. Now that she is crawling, she's not "stuck" in front of the book like she was before. No, now she just ignores me as she crawls away but that's OK because it's still good quality time I get to spend with my little explorer. I'm confident that the time I spend reading to her is not time wasted!

The following are Annabelle's 9 month portraits:

How'd She Figure That Out?

I am absolutely amazed at how my little girl is growing and changing every day. I love to just sit and watch her play...and it tickles me to see her figure things out on her own. I am, however, a bit surprised at her latest tactic.

Whenever I am doing any sort of "kitchen chore" like dishes or cooking dinner, I put Annabelle in her excersaucer and place her in the kitchen here with me. She can observe me cooking or cleaning from a safe distance and I don't have to worry about her getting hurt or burned. Lately, however, I've noticed that she likes to flail herself around in her excersaucer. She throws her body back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. She has pretty good self control so I was, at first, a bit surprised at her lack of bodily control while in the excersaucer. Then one day while I'm fixing dinner I turned around and nearly tripped over the excersaucer that was directly behind my legs. Hmmmmm, that's not where I set it. So I pushed Annabelle back to where she was before (a safer distance from the hot oven) and continued to cook.

Then it happened again. This time I was setting the table when I hear her flailing around, back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. I turned around and BAM! she's right there. I smile at her, tickle her a bit, then push her back so I can finish setting the table.

Then it happened again. I was fixing dinner again when she started flailing around. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. I didn't realize how close she was to me until I took a step sideways and realized my leg was "caught" on something. I look down and see that my little girl had a firm grip on my pant leg and wasn't letting go. Then it hit me.....she was "walking" over to see her mommy! She wanted to be near me and this was her way of coming over to see me! My heart melted! I still can't believe that she figured this out....that if she throws her body back and forth enough times that the excersaucer will slide right across the tile floor. She really amazes me!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!

I *FINALLY* got my computer back! It is up and running and with all the parts that had to be replaced on it, it is now practically brand new, so I'm not anticipating any new problems in the future! I didn't realize how much I relied on my computer until I found myself suddenly without one. What an enormous inconvenience that was!

Anyway, I'm finally back! YEAH! And my first entry will be about Annabelle's first Christmas.



Christmas was so much fun this year! Annabelle made out like a bandit and got all kinds of toys and clothes. We spent Christmas morning here at our house, then went to my parents' house in the afternoon, where we had a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It's so great having my parents nearby again. I've missed them these past few years.

Some of Annabelle's toys this year included "Dragonstone Castle", "Bon Voyage", "GeoMag" magnetic blocks, several gift cards and lots of clothes and books. She also got several stuffed animals, including an alphabet caterpillar that Annabelle absolutely loves!

My baby girl is now on solid food as well, with squash and carrots being on the current menu. The carrots were a big hit, but the squash took some getting used to. Rice cereal is also eaten from time to time. Sweet potatoes will be the next addition to the menu. I love the following picture...Annabelle eating squash for the first time. It obviously wasn't the best tasting thing my little girl could have eaten but then again, who voluntarily eats squash anyway? :-)

My Apologies

I am so sorry for my sudden disappearance from Blogspot. Unfortunately, my computer is not functioning at the moment and the day after my computer broke down, my husband's computer also broke down. So now I am left with no working computer, unable to check my email and unable to blog. My computer is *supposed* to be back in a few weeks, so I should be able to get back into my normal routine soon (hopefully). I am borrowing a computer for the time being and, unfortunately, only have a few minutes every couple of days to do what normally takes me hours every day to do. Obviously I am VERY far behind on my blogging and my emails, not to mention I am having to turn down translation jobs because of this. It is extremely inconvienent, but hopefully it will work itself out very shortly.

I have over 400 new emails in my inbox that I need to go through, so if anybody has written to me, please give me a little more time to respond. I am desperately trying to get caught up with everything and once I do, I'll be able to keep on top of things like I used to.

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas. I can't wait to blog all about Annabelle's first Christmas, it was so great! Unfortunately I dont have enough time on this computer to do that, so I will have to wait. I am also unable to download any pictures on this computer, so I can't even post a picture of my little angel on her first Christmas. But I will do that soon as well.

I wish everybody a happy and healthy 2008.