Pops, pumpkins, & plenty o' pictures

Whew! We've had a lot of excitement lately. First off, here are some pictures from the baby shower we helped host last weekend taken by my very talented friend Jessica Arnold. These aren't even the serious "let's take some pictures" pictures. Yes, she will do those type pictures for you, and they will be fantastic. If you need her contact info (and trust me, you do), just ask me.

Probably the highlight of the weekend was meeting Brent and Josh, a.k.a. The Fabulous Beekman Boys, at their book signing at Williams-Sonoma. While I was on maternity leave, I discovered their show on Planet Green. It is about them giving up their lives in New York to try to "make it" on a farm they bought in Sharon Springs, New York known as the Beekman Estate. The farm is gorgeous -- with a house (mansion, really) built in 1802 -- and lots of goats and farminess. Brent is a doctor and was Vice-President of Martha Stewart's Healthy Living. Josh is an advertising executive. They started with goat's milk soap, moved on to goat cheese, and now have tons of Beekman 1802 products, one of which is an heirloom cookbook.

So while Annabel would nap in my arms in those early weeks of her life, I would follow the exploits of the city boys turned gentlemen farmers. Of course I was going to see them at Williams-Sonoma -- I could feel the soft stillness of my napping newborn just thinking about it. When we got there, I was grinning ear-to-ear. I felt like I knew these guys. And they were just as sweet in person. Josh said Annabel has my eyes, and she reached out to him, so he held her for some pictures. I had them sign a cookbook for her. It has to be weird to have people who have never met you feel like they know you and grin like idiots at you, but the guys were really gracious. Now, if only I could find time to cook their delicious recipes...

Let's see... what else... I took Annabel to the park. She loves the swing. I love to push her, so it works out well.

I traded out Annabel's infant carrier car seat for her big girl (but still rear-facing) convertible car seat. The weight limit on the carrier is 22 pounds, and since Annabel is one ounce over 20, I didn't want to push it. I'm really sad to be done with the carrier. It was so nice to let her continue to sleep by removing the carrier from the car, and my arms were getting pretty ripped from carrying 8 pounds of carrier and 20 pounds of baby. Now when she falls asleep in the car, I have to take her out of the car seat and carry her inside. It's going to take some getting used to.

Then we went to the third annual Grant Cove Cornhole Tournament, which for some reason, I failed to take pictures of. However, it was lots of fun. We were joking, as we watched nearly as many toddlers as adults wander around, how our parties have changed. We still have a good time, but we have to be home by 8!

And today, we had a lovely brunch at Manuel's. I ordered food for the first time ever for Annabel. She had a ball making a crazy mess with her biscuit. Then we went to the King of Pops Field Day. The King of Pops is a guy who got laid off from AIG and started a handcrafted popsicle business. He had a little push-cart and sold on the corner of North Avenue and Highland. Now he has locations in Atlanta, Asheville, and Charleston. His flavors are off the hook. For example, at the Field Day, you got three free tickets, which could be redeemed for pops or games. Fox and I are no suckers -- we went straight for pops. Fox had grapefruit hibiscus, banana pudding, and cookies and cream. I had chocolate peppermint, pear vanilla, and key lime pie. They were amazing. Annabel mostly slept in the stroller. We did make time for some silly photos.

Then, we went to a pumpkin patch and went crazy with photos. October, I wish you would never end.

Tune in next time to find out if I was able to clean the house and pull the costumes together for Fox-O-Ween V: Electric Boo-galoo.

It's fall, y'all

October is here, and boy do I love it. October says, "Summer is over -- fall is in full swing." Everything is pumpkin flavored, the oppressive heat is gone, football is everywhere, and scary movies pervade television. I start thinking about costumes with panic. The holidays seem just around the corner. I spend more time outside. And we always head to Knoxville.


We forewent our season tickets this year in light of a.) Annabel and b.) the lack-luster home schedule. The SEC has a rule that everyone, regardless of age, must have a ticket. This puts a damper (or maybe more accurately, a price tag) on bringing an infant to games. However, we couldn't make it a season without at least one game. So we chose the Georgia game.



We had a blast taking Annabel around campus. We took numerous pictures in front of the Torchbearer. We showed her Humanities Plaza. We showed her several Tailgates. We took her to the University Center. I ate my favorite Knoxville treat, a Petro, in front of her.


Unfortunately, the game was a night game. So, Fox went to the game with a friend, and I took Annabel to my Aunt Ann's house for dinner and sleeping. My aunt had not gotten to see Annabel since she was two months old, so she was in for a major treat. I haven't told you yet, but three days after my last blog post, Annabel took off crawling. She was just sitting on the floor with her toys, Owen walked by, and she took off after him. I don't know who was most surprised (I know who was most terrified -- Owen). She's been all over the place ever since. She's superfast, and she giggles the entire time she crawls. So needless to say, she is really fun to play with now, and my aunt was amazed at how much she's grown and changed in seven short months.




We also got to see our good friends the Mortons. Auntie Ann graciously watched Annabel (during NAP time even!) so we could all go have a nice grown-up brunch together at Sunspot. The Mortons then got their Annabel on. She showed Keith all her toys and even displayed her cat-chasing skills on Ann's cat Babette. One day she is going to catch a cat and have no idea what to do with it.

Last weekend, Annabel and I went to a swell pumpkin-carving party. Let me tell you, it is way harder to carve a pumpkin with a baby. Though it was done hurriedly and distractedly, I'm still pretty proud of my creepy coffin creation.

Annabel is showing lots of interest in being outside, and I'm encouraging it as much as I can. We're really enjoying Aunt Jordan's sweet castle swing set (even Banjo gets in on the action). Bless her heart though, she got my irresistible-to-mosquitoes gene. Every time we are outside, she gets at least one giant bite (on the plus side, I'm getting bitten less -- I feel mean for even saying that, but it's true). Ahem.. changing the subject. Speaking of Banjo, four years ago today we adopted him from the Humane Society. Yay! Please adopt pets.

So, there you have it. Tomorrow, Annabel will be nine months old. NINE MONTHS. Three fourths of a year. The last single digit month birthday. Boom!

So many teeth, so little time

Hi, everybody! Welcome back!

If I'm not careful, the entire month of September is going to get away from me with nary a blog post. And September isn't just any month -- it's my blogaversary month. So it really would be a shame to give it no little blog babies (which is a term I've just now created to refer to posts). Now, where were we?

At the end of August, our dear friends Jeanette and Dawn came over for a proper August birthday luncheon. Annabel was more than happy to entertain with her piano playing and highchair tray drumming. Then September came, and brought with it a holiday! The months without holidays are cruel. Yes, I'm looking at you, February, March, April, June, and August (October gets a pass because even though it has no holidays that close work, it has Halloween, which is a Fox Family Favorite). This is a round-about way of saying that Labor Day was fun.

Annabel and I headed to Gulf Shores, where Uncle Bill had gotten a condo. Fox had already planned a hiking outing with his dad before Bill had his stroke of genius. Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Lee also headed to Gulf Shores. We had a great time anyway, and I saw more rain and wind than I knew existed.

This little gangsta loves the wind.

However, I thought my hair might blow right off my head.

With Uncle Bill during my first UT football game, which was not on t.v.

It was a little hard to take Annabel to the beach because even during the ten minutes it didn't rain, the wind was blowing the sand so hard it was like getting a free microdermabrasion (which has its benefits). I was scared we were going to get sand in Little Bug's eye though. She took advantage of crawling practice on the king-size bed.

How do I get a king-size crib?

So yes, Annabel is mobile now. She doesn't often do the traditional crawl, though she can. She likes to do more of a stanky-leg crawl where she keeps one leg straight and drags the foot, as a sort of feeler or kick-stand, perhaps. It doesn't have to be pretty -- it gets her where she wants to go. She can get from laying down to sitting up now, and she even tries to pull up, mostly on her crib. I had to lower it some, which really felt like a big-girl step and made me a little sad. The days of her rolled up as an immobile, but snuggly burrito are gone, and they were so short! I've been back at work longer than I was off, and she's almost been out in the world as long as she was on the inside. Before I wax too nostalgic, let me move on...

Fox and the band hit up Athens for a weekend during the middle of the month to start recording their album. I've heard some roughs, and they are boss. Major ups to our buddy Frankie for serving as the Bellwether Station hotel (and for sending me British chocolate). I'm not sure when the next recording weekend is, but I can't wait to have a finished album. Annabel and I had a nice girls' weekend and accomplished lots of errands.

Also, about two weeks ago, I realized out of nowhere that Annabel had two top teeth! She now has FOUR TEETH!! They snuck in like ninjas (and are equally dangerous). She had a fever a few days before, which of course scared me to death. Luckily our pediatrician's answering service is very patient. The fever went away with some Tylenol and did not return. I chalked it up to some weird bug from school, but then a few days later there were two new teeth almost halfway out (I mean, I assume they won't just keep getting longer. They are about half the length of a normal baby tooth. How scary would it be if they just kept growing, like sabertooth tiger teeth? That would certainly be the end of nursing.). I have tried to photograph the teeth, with very limited success.

The bottom teeth I can photograph, the top two like to hide out.

Let's see... what else? Atlanta's weather has gotten awesome. I'm so excited it's fall. We've been watching lots of football, and fall food and beverages are the best. If Annabel ever doubts my love for her, I will tell her that I sat out an entire season of pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin beer for her when she was on the inside. I have recently been able to enjoy some of both (in major moderation) and can't believe that it's been almost two years since the last time I had them. Note to self, avoid pregnancy in October if possible.

Though not related to the Foxes Three, it is worth mentioning that R.E.M. broke up. I'm really sad about this. R.E.M. was my first "real" concert (sorry Aunt Ann -- James Taylor was awesome, but everyone sat down the whole time, so it was like a warm-up concert [but thank you so much for taking me because I do love sweet baby James]). It was the 1995 Monster tour with Radiohead opening -- September 11, to be exact, long before that date held its sad significance. It was a school night, it was all the way in Nashville, and I'm so glad my folks knew it was really important to me. Fox and I saw them together twice in law school -- once in Atlanta with Bill and once at the Ryman. Then, in 2006, R.E.M. was being inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Some other awesome artists were playing a tribute show at the 40 Watt in Athens, but we had a hot tip that R.E.M. was going to show up and play as well (thanks, Fonze -- we will love you forever for many reasons, but this is certainly among them). It was true, and we were rewarded with "So. Central Rain" and "Begin the Begin." Good times... such good times. I hope there are good bands to get excited about when Annabel is a teenager.

Right now, I really just want to play with my feet.

And now we march on into October. I will strive to blog more, since it is such a fun month. I know we will have lots of adventures.

Summer Babe

August is almost over, and I only blogged once the entire month. And honestly, that post was pretty slapdash (oh man, that word just popped into my head, and I'm about to start overusing it in daily life. Get ready, friends.) So back to the blog... SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!!

Let's see... we are still eating new foods. Annabel eats a new food twice a day for three days. Here's the rundown in order of consumption:

Green beans, sugar snap peas, avocado, rice cereal, banana, spaghetti squash (from the garden!), pears, collard greens (from the garden!), sweet potatoes, chick peas, yellow squash, carrots, and apples.

Get in my belly, pear.

I'm having way too much fun making baby food. I've probably mentioned this before, but Fox's firm generously gifted us with a Beaba Babycook. It steams and purees -- one container to wash. After a long day of work, only washing one thing when you make baby food is key. Now that I've used it a dozen or some times, I can say with confidence that the French are geniuses, at least in the baby food appliance department (which is probably the most important department, really).

Annabel has loved all the foods, but none as much as the collards from our garden. My heart bursts with pride (and honestly a lot of surprise) to report this. Collards are my favorite too, so maybe she remembers them from her time on the inside. Observe her enjoying this treat from the Fox garden:



Our philosophy: if you aren't making a mess, you aren't doing it right (or having enough fun).

Annabel has now figured out how eating works. At first, I never thought she would get it. She could not be convinced that her hands were not a part of the transaction. She wanted the spoon. She thought she knew how to use it. WRONG. Exhibit A:

To be fair, sometimes she did pretty much get it right.

But now, she opens her mouth in an appropriate fashion, swallows at the right time, and all around understands how to be fed with a spoon. It really is amazing to watch someone learn how to do everything from scratch. She's ready for finger foods, but I'm so scared of her choking. We'll get there eventually. I can spoon feed her into her teens, right?

In addition to eating food, we've had some great visitors. Our good buddy Karl came to visit. He helped keep Annabel out past her bedtime on her 6 month birthday. He's really good for things like that.

Our dear, dear Libby came to visit as she moved her sister from New York to Houston. Annabel crashed a family cookout for these Koch sisters and giggled the whole time. The Kochs were also witnesses to Annabel's second foray into solid food. She was much happier eating with a cheering audience.

Fox's parents came to visit. Annabel loved playing games with GranDeb. They also kept her for a few hours while we went to see Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings at Variety Playhouse. It was fantastic -- thank you, thank you Foxes!

While we're talking about good music, Fox's band played a really great show in Marietta at the Strand Theater's rooftop deck. It started at 6, so Annabel and I were able to go for part of it, pre-bedtime. She likes to seize any opportunity to wear her Bellwether Station onesie.




The weather was great, and we had so much fun. Annabel even started dancing side to side, which was a new level of cute.

We went to visit my folks in Columbia, and they had not seen Annabel since before we went to California on May 13. They could not believe how much she'd grown and changed. On the trip there, we reached another milestone -- Annabel sat in her first restaurant high chair! We like to stop at sketchy Mexican restaurants when we travel, and we found a good candidate in Monteagle, Tennessee with Mi Casa. It was pretty good. Check out this high chair pro:

So it's entirely possible that we got carried away in Mi Casa. But as crunk as the pictures appear, we were not loud. Annabel is a baby ambassador. She goes places where people don't like babies (such as restaurants, airplanes, movies, and San Francisco [okay, she's been to one movie and she was asleep the whole time -- we aren't getting carried away here {how many different parentheticals can I use? I'm not even certain these are correct any more. When I close all these parentheticals, it is going to look like a ridiculous emoticon, but really it is just punctuation.}]), and she behaves. It's glorious. People say with amazement as Annabel Jane smiles sweetly at them, "What a good baby." And I think to myself smugly, "Yes, I'm sure you were a grumpy, rotten baby, and now you sit in judgement of all babies." Ugh, sorry -- the babyhaters have been getting to me lately. It's one thing to dislike ill-behaved babies and too-permissive parents, but another thing entirely to dislike someone because they are a parent or a baby. We were all babies at some point, people. It's disturbing, but true. You can't Benjamin Button your way out of this one, grumpypants.



Annabel has also started to enjoy water, which is fun. Look at her in the Best Float Ever:





Oh also, she has Two Teeth (forgive the seemingly errant capitalization. I have been reading a lot of Winnie the Pooh to Annabel, and I love how A.A. Milne capitalizes certain words to give them Special Meaning. I'm trying it out.). The Two Teeth are adorable. I love them even though they are crazy sharp. Behold:


She is really digging the Jenny Jump Up too.




So there you have it -- a pretty good rundown of the last half of our summer. If you are Facebook friends with me, you may be disappointed that most of these are the same pictures I recently posted in an album of the same name. However, they are really fun pictures (and a really apt title [and a swell Pavement song to boot {here I go with the parentheticals again}]).


I'm going to bed before this punctuation situation gets any further out of control.

Food Fight!

I really should not be blogging. Work is exploding everywhere, and I should be reviewing advertisements or doing legal research. That's what I was doing a few minutes ago, and that's what I'll be doing in a few more. But for now, I'm going to share some pictures of my sweet baby eating food.

Weekend before last (July 23), we gave Annabel her first "solid" food. I sent Fox to Whole Foods to get some organic green beans for me to steam and puree. His firm generously gave us a Beaba Babycook when Annabel was born, and it is fantastic. I had been dying to use it, but the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until 6 months to start solid foods, so I've been patient. The Beaba steams and purees -- and you only have one thing to wash! It's super easy.

So, I steamed. I pureed. I tasted. It was delicious. I decided long ago not to feed Annabel any food that I wouldn't eat (unless it was made with breastmilk, because that's where I draw the line). So I got the adorable, colorful soft spoons out. Fox got the cameras. Annabel knew something exciting was about to happen. She was more than happy to grab the spoon and guide it into her mouth.



Then I got this face.

Oh. No. She hates it. She won't have healthy eating habits. She'll never learn to eat solid food. This is a disaster. All paranoid mother thoughts flood my brain at once. But, I try another bite, and she is willing. It's better, right? Nope, I get this face.





I love that as a six-month-old, she can register complete disgust on her face already. I don't have a poker face either, Annabel -- put all those emotions out there for everyone to see. I also love that she can make that face, and then be willing to keep trying more. Every time I presented her with the spoon, she would try more. She ate the entire amount that I'd prepared. By the end of the feeding, she was having a blast.

We had green beans for three days. On day two, she was scarfing it down. After our green beans, she moved on to sugar snap peas. On day one, I got unhappy faces. On day two, she was all in. Then we moved on to avocado. Same thing, day one she was a skeptic. Day two, a believer. Then we moved to rice cereal. This weekend, we're going bananas -- her first fruit. I know I'm excited.

I think her reaction was mainly due to the foreign texture of the food. Imagine if all you'd ever had was milk. How weird would purees seem? I think we're off to a good start. It has been hard to feed her foods every morning before we head to work/school. I was just starting to master our schedule and get out of the house at a decent hour. Now I have to add the solid food feeding, which is a good 25 minutes. I'm really not sure how people get everything done. I sure don't feel like I am. Everytime I get something mastered, she moves on to something else. However, we've had lots of fun events lately. Check back after the weekend for a run down of them (hopefully).

P.S. How fun is the vintage Hello Kitty shirt? It was mine back in 1980 or so. It makes a great sleep shirt for Baby Bug.

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.