proud mama

anabelle surely wasn’t interested in my belly for our maternity shoot in may, but she has started to take a liking to it lately. 
i get hugs, kisses, she’s pretty entertained by my belly button (or lack there of) and she requests to ‘listen’ when we go to my check-ups.

i actually had a check-up the morning of her birthday.  as soon as we got in the exam room she was signing and saying ‘listen’.  then she wanted up on the table.  i sat her up there and right away she lay down, lifted her shirt, patted her belly, and said ‘listen’.  funny girl!

new carseat and new shades.
  this is what i saw in the rear view mirror driving home from swim class on friday.

posing for the weekly belly shot.

37 weeks!  my midwife says baby is still head down (hooray!), that i’m technically full term now, that i’d better get my bag packed, and not to wait too long once labor starts.  whoa, this is right around the corner!

hmm . . . wonder what time of day this will all go down. 
i guess i’m curious what day too!

see you soon, emilymae!  you can take your time, no rush.  finish all of your perfect special little details and we’ll see you when you are ready.

this one is the first shot and my new favorite.  anabelle saw me get my dress then took me to the wall, pointed for me to take down the poster that usually hangs there and then to back up and say ‘cheese’!

and a few poses the next day just for fun.

                     

proud papa

one day when I was out playing with a friend, chris took anabelle to bevmo to pick up some beer and proudly taught her what all those dark colored bottles were called.  she was pretty excited to bring him a nice cold one yesterday at 8:30am when I was fixing breakfast.  he said it would have been bad fathering if he didn’t accept it, ha!

just being cool

a little baby toss at her request

some awesome giggles

and of course a little flying (also at her request)

2 years old!

our little anabelle is now a big awesome two year old!

ok, not so big – she just weighed in at the dr at a whopping 24 pounds!

chris was out of town for her birthday so before he left we went to our favorite breakfast spot (again!) where anabelle got her own fun face pancake and her very first chocolate milk.  they pretty much made it into a chocolate milk sundae with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.  she took a few sips, shook her head after each one and then later ask to have some milk.

      

we got her new carseat installed too! 
she was pretty darn excited at all she could see.

trying out her new art easel with papa.

      

here she is on actual birthday day.  man, what an incredible year we have had and i know it’s not slowing down anytime soon.  i surely still have a huge crush on this sweet girl and can’t believe that in just a couple weeks i’ll be blessed with a second sweet girl who will also steal my heart.

we love you jellybean.

happy birthday!

xoxo

at the fair

at the end of last month chris got tickets to take anabelle to the fair while i was having a slumber party at a girlfriend’s (it was his first overnight alone with anabelle & we all did great).  well, they ended up meeting his brother at legoland instead.  so, sunday evening we figured what the heck, let’s go!

do photo booth pics ever really come out right?!

watching little piglets snuggle up for some momma milk

and the grande finale – an elephant ride with papa

this month?

so, this is our month . . maybe.

my ‘due date’ is july 30th.  i think ‘due season’ is a better term.  if only more mommies knew and believed that babies come when they are ready, but you have to have all the doctors on board for that to really work.

come on docs, this is a normal process!  this is what our bodies are designed to do.  you are smart and training in lots of life-saving techniques.  the trick is, most of the time our babies don’t need them so please cut back on the scare tactics, making decisions just to cover your own bum, and instead help women embrace the experience, trust in their bodies, and let their babies do their thing!

i am SO excited to have the chance to welcome emilymae into this world at a birth center and to feel so much more in control of her birth, hooray!  i know it’s getting a little cramped in there, e, but just keep wiggling around and growing.  we’ll see you soon!

counting on one hand

only five weeks left.!

we are completely amazed lately at how much anabelle seems to have been observing and learning.  she’s understanding all sorts of things and figuring out little challenges on her own.  it’s awesome!

this week when i went to my closet to get my striped dress for the weekly belly shot, anabelle ran into the kitchen (that’s where the green wall is) saying ‘cheese!’.  we thought maybe she was still hungry and wanted a snack before bath but when we both got to the kitchen we saw her standing there against the wall ready for chris to take our picture.  hilarious!
(anabelle had chosen to try on one of my belts right before all of this)

after we got the belly shot and i went back to our room to change, i heard anabelle’s little pitter-patter back and forth saying ‘i see’ and then ‘cheese!’  she wanted to check out the pictures and then pose for another.  here are a few of her solo shots:

 

 

check out this sweet post from anabelle’s buddy mason
and his mommy, my sorority sister, alisha.

big girl

 

new carseat and boots (yah for ebay) in the same day.

anabelle was stoked!