Six Months: Annabelle

Half of a year. How is that possible?! Six whole months have FLOWN by since Annabelle was born, and we have loved (almost) every single minute of it! 

She is such a happy baby, and she sleeps and eats SO well. The girl loves her some food... or breast milk. We are officially six months in with mom's milk, and exclusively pumping is going well. We have our routine figured out, and while it's not ideal and not at all what I imagined while pregnant, it's a system that's working for us, so I'll take that as a victory. 

Annabelle is learning and growing each and every day, and it has been so much fun to watch her and help her. I know this stage will continue on for some time, and I am so thankful for that.

She's got the goofiest little personality, and she mimics the sounds we make, which is always a lot of fun. Her laugh is my absolute favorite sound in the entire world, and it's something I'll never grow tired of. I have captured it in a few videos of her playing with her daddy, but I need to be proactive about getting some more videos soon.

Annabelle's two favorite times of the day seem to be: 1) when she first wakes up in the morning and I go rescue her from the prison that is her crib. I walk in, turn off her sound machine (it plays a thunderstorm noise), open her curtains and blinds, and say, "good morning, sunshine!" She smiles so big at me and starts babbling away. She LOVES mornings and 2) when Lieutenant Lovemuffin, AKA Daddy, comes home from work. When he walks in the door, he always says, "what's up girlie?" and kisses her nose. She smiles wide and giggles for him every single day. It's awesome to watch.

This is her last monthly update from our home in Ohio... the second half of her first year will be spent in Texas! Hopefully I don't lose her month sticker during the big move and all the craziness! 

And now let's take a look at how Annabelle has grown month by month, starting with one of her newborn pictures... I can't even believe it. 

Five Months: Annabelle

Five months... seriously? That's almost half of a year (and this post is two weeks late, though the monthly photo was taken on time), so we're even closer to sweet little Annabelle's half birthday now.

Wow. It blows me away thinking back over the past five months. Our tiny girl has grown so much. She had doubled her birth weight by last month, so that was a big victory! Now, we're just putting on the fat. Except not really, because although she is gaining weight, she is growing even more in length. We have a long, skinny stringbean... unlike either of her parents. (Dan and I are both tall... just not skinny!) 

Annabelle is the light of our lives, and we are absolutely enjoying this season of watching her grow and learn new things every single day. It amazes us how smart and how strong she already is, and we could just watch her for hours. 

She's still SUPER hungry all the time (going through another growth spurt right now, actually - she has upped her average daily intake by 4-8 ounces a day, depending on the day, so I'm anxious to weigh her again soon). 

She still is the queen of nicknames, but the most frequent ones these days are: Baldylocks, Crazybelle, Stinkerbelle, and Annie. I'm not super keen on the name Annie... I much prefer Anna. But Annie just seems to fit her sassiness right now, so that's what's coming out of my mouth more often than not. I do still hope she will go by Annabelle, though.

Annabelle is almost entirely out of her 0-3 month clothes because of her length. If she weren't so tall, she'd still be comfortable in most of them. She wears 3 month clothes comfortably now, but some of her pants that came in outfits are starting to become capris on her... so I bought a pair of 3-6 month pants at Target on a whim, and they fit her SO much better... but they don't match any of her outfits. 6 month clothing is still WAY too big on her, so I need to find some more 3-6 month outfits soon. I checked Once Upon a Child and only came home with two outfits, so I'm planning on checking the other local location soon before shelling out more money than I should.

This stage of babyhood is so much fun. She is grabbing things, and her social smiles are THE BEST. She's still napping well, but some days, her naps are shorter than normal. I guess she just wants to be awake more with her awesome mama. 

Since she's five months old, I decided to make a comparison collage - 5 months on the inside, and 5 months on the outside!

Some people get jewelry as a push present. My husband knows me so well that he ordered this shirt for me and surprised me with it during labor! I LOVE it, and I'm so glad Annabelle has so many dinosaur outfits so I can keep wearing it with her! :)

    

One Month: Annabelle

Yesterday, something crazy happened. My sweet baby girl turned one whole month old. Already.

It seems like I was just announcing my pregnancy and then her arrival on the blog. And now I've already spent one glorious, beautiful month with Annabelle. 

I can’t even believe it, but sweet little Annabelle is already one month old! She has a sassy personality so far, and we love her to pieces. 

She is so strong and eats like a beast. She’s a great sleeper, too, and she has amassed many nicknames: Anna Banana, A-Belle, Hungry Hungry Hippo, Miss Piggy, Chunky Monkey, Snorty, Annabellina, Stinkerbelle, and my personal favorite, Waaannabelle (when she’s crying). 

Annabelle still looks a lot like her daddy, but she definitely makes some of her mommy’s expressions too. She is constantly followed around by her fur-sister, Stormy, who has taken over the protector role. 

Annabelle is still wearing neworn clothes and diapers – and she likely won’t be out of them anytime soon! People always comment on how good and easy of a baby she is, and we know we are truly lucky. 

While it seems like she was born just yesterday, we also can’t even fathom our lives before Annabelle was born.