Beach Blanket Baby!

Last week was incredible!
Steve and I are both huge beach bums. We truly love everything about it, the sand, the sun, the water, everything! We had been a bit nervous (but excited) to take Annabelle for the first time, but as it turns out, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! She is truly a little beach baby!

She was a total angel on the plane, sleeping nearly the whole time for both flights. I'm really hoping that she will always be such a good little flyer!

Sitting in Mommy's seat

Daddy Kisses!

The first time her little toes touched the sand she grinned and although it did take a little while for her to figure out she could move around, she started playing immediately and loved it all week, even letting us bury her a bit! Such a sweetheart!

First little toes in the sand!

What shall I do first?

Our routine quickly became breakfast, sunscreen (she got so excited when we started putting it on her), play in the shade for a while, play in the sun at the sea, float in the sea until she fell asleep then nap on the beach. Not too shabby. One day she slept for nearly 3 hours under the umbrella on the beach. By the time she woke up, we were absolutely starving and so ready to go in for lunch! In the late afternoon we usually hit the pool which, shockingly, she totally loved, too. The pool was zero entry so she felt like such a big girl being able to "walk" in the pool in her little float. Basically every little thing she did this week was just the cutest thing any baby has ever done...at least in our opinion! She even stood on her own, in the sand!

First Family Beach Pic

Beach Blanket Baby!

We were a bit unsure of how she would feel about going out to dinner every night, but just like everything else, she seemed to love it. She is so friendly and smiley that she just seems to attract people. Nearly every night somebody came to the table and played with her basically our whole dinner. I guess she's just a tiny little people person!

Shark Bite!

There's so much I could tell about our great week at the beach, but the pics are just so much more fun!

Happy Girl

So that was our very first trip to the beach with sweet Annabelle! We both agree that it just might be one of the best vacations we've ever had...maybe THE best! Now to try and top this one...

Can't Keep Up!Mother's Day, Father's Day, NINE MONTHS OLD!

Nine Months Old!

I thought I would be pretty good at keeping up with everything going on with sweet Annabelle and all the new and exciting aspects of our lives together. Apparently, I am not!

Since my last post, Annabelle is basically not the same baby at all! She now says "Dada" much more often than "mama". She crawls faster than I ever thought anyone could. She cruises along the furniture, chases poor Macy dog both on foot and on tummy. She loves her finger foods and cannot get enough of yogurt smoothies! She's still in love with bathtime and requires so much sleep it cracks me up. (Yes, she gets that from mommy) Her norm is anywhere from 11-13 hours a night, occasionally she will even sleep 14 hours AND naps! We've been "swimming" lately and can't wait for our first little beach trip! I'm sure there are so so many things I've totally left out, but if I can think of them, I'll update!

We celebrated our first Mother's Day, which was just maybe the best day I've ever had! As has become our routine, sweet Steve popped up at 4 am to give me my gift and Annabelle was just an angel all day! We spent time with my family at church and lunch then had a nice late afternoon meal at the Hermitage Hotel like we did on Easter except this time just Steve, Annabelle and me. It was lovely!

Another big day I've had was my "2nd annual 29th Birthday"! I couldn't decide if I was excited or dreading it. On one hand, this has been the best year I've ever had and it just keeps getting better. On the other hand, 30 is still 30! But when the day came it was really wonderful. I spent the whole day playing with sweet Annabelle and planned to go to dinner at one of my favs, Cabana, with my family. Dinner time rolled around, Steve, Annabelle and I made it to Cabana a few minute late and when we were shown to our table it was actually several tables and about 30 of my friends and family! What a wonderful surprise! Steve and Mom really did a great job of surprising me and planning the most wonderful party. By far the best birthday ever. I have decided that if turning 30 is that great, I'll do that every year rather than 29!!

To keep the birthday festivities rolling, the next day was Steve's birthday! We had nice dinner out, just the 3 of us and celebrated with the rest of the family that weekend. Once upon a time I was able to stretch my birthday out over several days, but he has really put a wrench in that one for me! That's ok though, I guess he's worth it!

Last Friday Annabelle celebrated her 9 month mark! How crazy. We celebrated at The Puffy Muffin with her Nana and a great lunch. Makes me a bit panicky because I suddenly don't have all that long to plan her first birthday party!

And finally, on Sunday we celebrated Father's Day! Of course Steve has celebrated many Father's Days before, but this was the first with Annabelle so we tried to make as special as possible. I think we succeeded!

I've been so far behind with all this business that I'm just going to stop trying to type it all out and get on with the photos! They're more fun than reading, anyway.
They are in no reasonable order, so I'll explain as we go along!

My First Mother's Day flowers!

Annabelle wearing a little dress MawMaw Fisher made for me!

Her usual smiley self!

First Memorial Day

First time in the pool!

Happy Birthday to me!

FABULOUS French Confection Birthday Cake!

So sweet!

Just a lil fam time!

They play so well!

Baby likes to shop!

Loves her Daddy

Giving Daddy a Father's Day gift

Mother's Day

Mother's Day @Hermitage Hotel

First Carousel Ride

@Miel for Steve's Birthday

Father's Day

@Puffy Muffin-9 months old!

Sweet Big Blues!

With the bear her Daddy sent to the hospital 9 months earlier!

So this is what we've been doing the last month or so! That sweet smile is on her face nearly every minute of her waking time. I knew that Annabelle would be absolutely incredible before I ever met her, but I had no idea just how much happiness one tiny little person could bring to the world or how much I could love. We are truly thankful each and every second for the little gift that is Annabelle!