Yummm...toes!

Anabelle had her 6 month wellness visit to Dr Andy yesterday and she is doing great. My weight prediction was right on, she weighed in at 17.5 lbs which is in the 75%, I was a little off on height she is 26.5 inches long which is in the 50%. We had a lot of questions about Anabelle's eating and drinking routine and got them all answered and it sounds like she will be getting a little more excitement into her diet in the months to come. We also had some questions about summer activities like swimming, sunscreen, and enjoying the great outdoors. Armed with all of our info we are ready for some warm weather. Anabelle also got a few vaccinations and that was it. She goes back in 3 months for another wellness checkup.

Today we are in for some big excitement as we fly to Texas to visit Grandma Sue, Grandpa Ken and meet Great Great Auntie Tish for the first time. We will also see Uncle Mike, Aunt Mary and cousins Dante, Taylor, Gianna, and Dominick. It should be a very fun week. Hopefully the weather will be beautiful! Anabelle and I had a little chat this morning about her behavior on the flight, we'll see if she cooperates =)

Is it too early for music classes?

Anabelle is doing great, she has her 6 month wellness checkup on Thursday. I am anxious to see how much she weighs, I'm gonna guess 17.5 lbs and I think she is getting much taller so I'm gonna go with 27 inches. We'll see if I'm right.

We are also seeing signs of a first tooth. Last week Anabelle was quite a bit out of sorts; lots of cuddling, thumb sucking, and extra crankiness. I thought either she's getting sick or she's getting a tooth. Well a few days ago she was biting on my finger and a little "tooth bud" bit me. I was surprised -it hurts! You can't really see it yet but it's there and growing right in the middle on the bottom.

On the eating front she is moving right along with solids, having tried a lot of fruits and veggies now. Her favorite is definetly bananas, and she will make a "mmmm" sound while eating them-cute! Her least favorite food is green beans as evident by her gagging sounds, we're working on it.

Anabelle is also getting much better at sitting up, still supported by her Boppy pillow, but she is doing well. She is also becoming more focused and when she wants something you know it, she either tries hard to get it, or screams at you till you figure out what she wants. She is very aware of the kitties, she stops and stares at them when they walk by and has even tried to pet Morgan. He does not seem to care yet.

This week we are preparing for our trip to Texas, we fly out on Friday and get to stay a little over a week. Anabelle and John and I are looking forward to seeing family and enjoying some warm Houston weather!

I have been pretty bad about posting video lately, sorry. Here are a couple from last week.

May the luck of the Irish be with you

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today our baby girl is 6 months old. How awesome that our little Irish lady will always have her half birthday on St. Patty's Day. The last 6 months have flown by, yet the days before Anabelle was in our lives seems like a lifetime ago. In the last 6 months we have been introduced to the world of babies and parenting, and the learning curve has been steep. I can't remember if I read this, or if a friend told us the following bit of wisdom but I feel it is true to our situation; While I wouldn't say that we know what we are doing yet, I would say that the days have become more predictable.

Now that's not to say that they are mundane or routine in any way, Anabelle is always keeping us on our toes and throwing in a crazy day just to shake up our world. Not to mention just when you get used to the way things are Belle learns a new skill and we must adjust.

While we have made it through the last 6 months with just a few bumps along the way, the next 6 are sure to be filled with even more excitement and adjustments as Anabelle grows. Here is a look at the last 6 months. Can't wait to see what the future brings!

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

Lots of visiting and road tripping

This past weekend was a pretty busy one for me. It all started on Thursday when my Aunt Kathy flew in from Nebraska to visit. Anabelle and I had a great day with Aunt Kathy just chatting, and spending time together. Belle and I made sure she got her first taste of Chicago style pizza and we also stopped to showed her the sites of Chicago.

At Giordano's for pizza

Anabelle was not happy to stop and see the Bean

It was way too cold to get Belle out of her car seat cocoon to take a proper picture.

Anabelle got to spend some additional time with Aunt Kathy while staying at Grandma and Grandpa's for the weekend. I had already made plans to take a trip with some friends, so I had to be on my way. Leaving Anabelle for the first time for 3 days to take a road trip with Becky and Kate to visit our friend Amanda in Pittsburgh. Amanda has been working on a fellowship as part of her training to be a pathologist and has been in Pittsburgh away from friends and family for about 8 months now. She gets to come home in July =) Having never been to Pittsburgh, we thought why not take a trip. It is a 7.5 hour drive from Chicago, we left early Friday morning and arrived Friday evening. Amanda has a great apartment right in the heart of down town Pittsburgh. We decided to kick off the weekend by grabbing some dinner at a great little restaurant around the corner from her place, Six Penn Kitchen. After dinner we tried out a little bar called Olive or Twist, which had a huge menu of crazy martini flavors. A very cute place, that was not too crowded where we could catch up on all that Amanda has been up to. Then we decided to walk back to Amanda's and try the bar across the street from her called Bossa Nova. A fun place where we were the youngest people around, definitely a lot of cougars there. It was great to people watch. It was a late night for us, but we had a blast. Here we are at dinner.

The next day we set out to have a great brunch at Pamela's, apparently a Pittsburgh must. Oh My Goodness, this place was so tasty! If ever in Pittsburgh, go there and have the strawberry hotcakes and hash browns, very popular and very yummy!! After brunch Amanda gave us a great little tour of Pittsburgh. We saw some cute shopping areas and I realized that Pittsburgh is a lot bigger and cuter than I had previously known. To get a view of the whole city we decided to ride the Monongahela Incline, a little train that travels vertically up a hill 635 feet. Once at the top we grabbed some coffee and checked out the views.

The view from the bottom

The view from inside the train looking up

Amanda and Kate on the train

Me and Becky on the train

The girls at the top

In the pic above you can see 3 different rivers, and PNC park where the Pirates play baseball

Downtown Pittsburgh

Because there are 3 rivers in Pittsburgh, there are a lot of bridges.

Time to go back down.

It was time to go back to Amanda's and get a little rest before heading out for dinner at a fun Tapas restaurant called Tasca's and then to a club called Elixer to do a little dancing. In a little change of pace from the night before we were now the oldest people in the bar. Upon finding out the price to do bottle service wasn't too outrageous, we decided to go ahead and do it. It was very nice to have our own space, be able to spread out, sit down and chat comfortably. The DJ was great and we had a fun night-just the girls.

Me and Becky lounging

After a fun night, it was time to head home and get some rest before the drive back home the next day. Sunday morning came all too soon and before we knew we were hugging Amanda goodbye and hopping on the road. Amanda was a great hostess and Pittsburgh was too, we had a fun time. Thanks Amanda, can't wait till you are back home!

After 7.5 hours driving home I arrived to a peacefully sleeping Anabelle who spent a lovely weekend with her Aunt Kathy and Grandma and Grandpa. Poor John had gotten a cold and so he only got to spend Sunday with Belle, but he did say that she was in great spirits for him and very smiley. I couldn't resist sneaking in to hug my little one, I think it'll be a while before I leave her again. After a few days of resting everyone is feeling better around here. John from his cold and me from a nasty sore throat I had not been able to get rid of. Belle was just worn out from all the attention.

Tomorrow Anabelle and I are off to Indiana to visit my good friend from high school Jess, we can't wait. She has yet to meet Anabelle. Here's hoping for a safe and fun trip!