Half a year gone

I'm six months old. Owen hides from me when I squeal. Do you see him?


I give you Blue Steel!! (if you haven't see Zoolander, you really should -- otherwise, this joke doesn't make sense).

Look at the cute dress Ma Mere made for me.

Next time you see me, I'll be eating food.

I'm on a boat!

Last weekend, we went to two baby showers! Annabel and I went to the Lynns' shower to welcome baby Sydney, then all three Foxes went to the Lioons' shower to welcome baby Lioon (we don't know the sex yet, much less a name... those dang Lioons, with their love of surprises. Don't they know I hate waiting to find out? The nerve!). Both showers were wonderful, and a good time was had by all Foxes. We can't wait to meet the new babies next month!

This weekend, we went to the lake with our good friends the Williams. We have been very excited about this for some time. I bought Annabel a life jacket about a month ago in preparation, and I left it on the kitchen table to torture myself every time I saw it. (Do you get a feel for how bad I am with anticipation? You should see me at Christmas. I have been known to remove tape and peek at presents. I'm the worst.). So Friday rolled around, and we headed out of the city to lovely Lake Sinclair. After a stop at the slowest Moe's in the world (c'mon Conyers -- you can do better than this), we got to the lake house around 9:30. It was raining and late, so we put the kids to bed and had some grown-up time indoors with the Williams.

Saturday was beautiful -- just overcast enough to not be scorching hot. We took Annabel's first boat ride*. She enjoyed the life jacket a lot more than I expected. She also slept for the majority of the ride. With the nice breeze and motion of the boat, it's easy to see why.


*Annabel actually rode on a boat in utero on Lake Toxaway with Anna & Justin, MoJo, and the Eads. She has told me that she does not remember this, so it doesn't count.

Fox and I also enjoyed the boat ride very much.



Oh no, the wind is in our hair, let us fix it before the photo. There, that's better.



I got a Baby Hut for Annabel that boasts 50+ SPF. I am somewhat neurotic about protecting her sweet skin. She's even in the Baby Hut indoors!


We got two thumbs up on the Baby Hut. Even the Williams' four-year old, Jack, liked hanging out in the Baby Hut. He sat in there with Annabel, and she giggled for a good 15 solid minutes at him. Unfortunately, that was on the deck, and I did not have my camera.

Annabel's buddy Tillie felt like it was time to do something about Annabel's hair, so she took matters into her own hands.



Annabel wanted to return the favor. She felt like maybe Tillie's pants were a little crooked.



There we go -- everybody's looking good.



We had a lovely dinner in downtown Milledgeville at The Brick. I can't get over what a cute town Milledgeville is. It has Georgia College & State University, which has a beautiful campus and gives it a liberal arts feel. It has a historic downtown with restaurants, coffee shops, book stores, and bars. And it has many lovely Antebellum homes. Our favorite of which is Andalusia, Flannery O'Connor's Georgia estate, where she lived as an adolescent and also as adult. It's where she lived when both of her novels and her most famous collection of short stories was published and also where she died. We did not go to Andalusia on this trip (we've been before), but we did drive by it on our way back from dinner and gave it a big wave. It's pretty special to just casually drive by the place where one of your favorite writers lived and died. We told Annabel a little about her.

This week has been pretty momentous, even aside from our lake adventure with the Williams (though of course, that was the highlight -- the Williams are tops in our book.). Annabel has been sitting up unassisted like a champ (if I'm not right there, I still put her in the Bumbo seat though -- I don't want to risk bonking her head). She's been rolling around really well too. She even sleeps on her stomach sometimes by her choice. And, on Wednesday night, a tooth broke through. You can't really see it well, but it is as sharp as the dickens. She's been really happy since that happened. I'll get a photo of the tooth soon. I also took some pictures of her sitting up by herself, but I think we'll wait until next time to post those. Maybe I can even sneak a post in Tuesday night when Sweet Bug turns SIX MONTHS OLD!! Where does the time go? Suddenly I understand every cliched easy listening song. It's weird.

Regardless, come back next week at least for pictures of Annabel Jane eating food!

Food? Yes, please. Nom, nom, nom...

Summerteeth

Happy belated Fourth of July! We had a great time cooking out at a few different friends' houses over the glorious three-day weekend. Fox ran his 7th consecutive Peachtree Road Race (have we really been in Atlanta that long?!). For you non-Atlantans, the Peachtree is the world's largest 10k. I heard that recently a Canadian 10k has claimed that honor, but I refuse to acknowledge it. Regardless, Fox ran it, and Annabel and I met him at the finish line. It was Annabel's first time in the jogging stroller (though we were just walking). She really liked looking at everything -- in her other stroller, she faces backward (looking at me) and is up high. In the jogging stroller, she faces forward and sits down lower. I think she got a better view of all the festivities, and I had an easier time pushing her on grass. She'll be big enough to jog in the stroller soon. I can't believe she's almost six months old. She's definitely looking more like a little girl and less like a newborn these days:

She has almost mastered sitting up on her own, which is exciting for me. I hate having to lay her down all the time -- I always feel like she's mushing her head. However, I recognize that once she sits up well on her own, crawling is just around the corner, and then it will be nonstop chaos for the next six years. There is a certain easiness in knowing she isn't going to go too far when I put her down. She's getting a little squirmier in my arms now too.

She decided to be nonphotogenic for once. Attagirl, be like your mom. Do something awkward when the camera is around. Even awkward is cute on her though.

Annabel is working on getting some teeth these days. None have popped through yet, but she's putting everything in her mouth, drooling some, and not being an awesome sleeper. I feel bad for her. I certainly don't remember what teething is like, but I'm sure it is a painful and confusing endeavor. That is what keeps me calm and friendly when she wakes up and wants to nurse at 1 a.m.... and 4 a.m.

Lately I've gotten excited about making baby food. We're going to start feeding Annabel solids in less than two weeks, and I'm looking forward to steaming and pureeing some veggies. I think she's really going to like eating food. Maybe I'm just saying that because she's putting everything in her mouth these days, but I think she likes trying new things, so hopefully it will be successful. Don't worry -- Fox will be standing by with the camera. I'm sure some fun pictures will ensue.

I'm doing a better job enjoying each stage of Annabel's development without wishing to rush to the next milestone. It's hard because I'm dying to see her crawl and teach her to walk, to hear her voice and see what funny things she says -- but I know once all those things happen, our time with her as a baby is over. So for now, I'm really just enjoying her as a baby with no rush. I am curious to see what she'll look like as a little girl though. Fox looks just like he did as a baby. You could pick him out of a baby line-up with no problem at all. I really don't look much now like I did as a baby, which I've always thought was strange. I'm sure you can guess who's who.

Have a great week everyone!