Halloween in (almost) December!

My, oh my, where did the time go? I seriously fell behind on my blogging -- and during my favorite time of year! I'm going to catch you up, but I'm going to take it slowly.

Halloween. Yes, the favorite holiday in the Fox household. So much thought and care goes into this holiday in a normal year -- can you imagine the level I took it to for Annabel's first Halloween? We had to have the perfect costume. This would forever be her First Costume. When she meets people throughout her life, and they ask (as any normal person would) "What were you for your first Halloween?" She will answer and they will judge both her and her parents. HOW CAN I POSSIBLY TAKE THIS PRESSURE??

So it had to be a group costume, because we are a group, The Foxes Three (Four if you count Banjo, and he normally does partake of our Halloween costumes [I cite his Splinter costume from 2009 when we went as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]). After much deliberation, we decided to be Star Wars characters.

I worked really hard on my R2D2 costume. As is my tendency, it was made of cardboard. I have a long history of making costumes out of cardboard. Last year, I was a stove. The year before, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Raphael, my favorite). Then I took a year off from cardboard and was Jesus from the Big Lebowski (it was the 1o year anniversary). The year before Fox and I were both in cardboard again as a "cheap date" -- I was a box of Franzia (that actually dispensed wine, thanks to a Camelbak) and Fox was a DVD of The Notebook. Anyway, all this is to say that I love to make costumes from boxes and such. HOWEVER, next year, I will fight this urge. In my R2D2 costume, it was impossible to hold my baby. This drove me crazy.

We had our annual Fox-o-ween celebration. I made my yearly funfetti cake.

I was so excited because my number one homie from home came to visit. Page (Miss Poppins) now lives in Charleston, and she brought her rad boyfriend Bert, ahem, I mean Daniel.

As I mentioned, I was very distracted by the fact that I could not hold my baby. This prevented me from taking many pictures. I seriously did not know what to do with myself. We started the party at 7 so Annabel could visit for an hour before her bedtime. I wasn't really sure what to expect from her, but she was fantastic. At 8, I put her to bed, and she slept through the entire party.

Let me now showcase some of the fantastic costumes.We had Occupiers of Wall Street...

Occupiers of another famous street...




And the occupant of Halloween's most famous street.


We had some meddling kids with their own kid.

If you ever wondered what it looked like when R2D2 held a baby Scooby, here you go:


And here's the Queen of Homemade Costumes, herself (check out Jenny's sweet Olive Oyl costume -- she also made the vest of a certain Han Solo).



Miss Oyl with her handsome beau in the yellow hat

And the Orkin Man with his lovely bug bride...

Moira, the scariest maid

The all-American space family

We also had an appearance by a couple of Keith Stones handing out Keystone Lights. He was so popular that even though we had a keg of delicious Hop Czar beer, our costumed guests found themselves imbibing in Keystone Light. Go figure.

Annabel's school, The Treehouse, had a Halloween parade on actual Halloween. We left work early to get ready. We thought that the parents also dressed up. They don't. But we did.

Then we went trick or treating with the Williamses. When else will we be able to eat ALL Annabel's candy?

I promise to get this blog up to speed. But not tonight. Stay tuned for the rest of November, including the excitement of me getting a new camera! There are more and better quality photos in your future. The camera's so big I even bought a new purse for it!

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.