A New Christmas Tradition

Today we went to Tea with the Legendary Santa. This is the same Santa (duh) and traditions that Wes loved when he was little. Santa cam down the chimney, drank his milk and jingled his belt, gave out Rudolph Cakes, introduced the Snow Queen and Elf, and had a singalong and read a story. Annie absolutely loved the singing and meeting people. She was so pretty in her Christmas dress! Santa gives Annie and Daddy Rudolph Cakes
Annie LOVED the Elf! Santa's Elf lead the singalong and the dance party to Reindeer Boogie (the Hokey Pokey).

Annie tells Santa she's been a good girl (she left out the part about crying at 3:30am - her new trick - and teething on her crib!)

Annie meets the Snow Queen and waits patiently to see the Legendary Santa

Santaaaaaaaa!

HAPPY AMERICANS!

While Nana has been here babysitting, she has designated Tuesdays as "Toy Tuesday."  So, every Tuesday we head over to Toys R Us and Annie gets to pick out a new toy.  This is a picture of our last trip on Toy Tuesday.  Annie was hysterical laughing with the woman at the checkout behind me while I took this picture.  No doubt that shopper was thinking, "Check out these Happy Americans?!"  

Extra Credit to anyone who knows where the term "Happy Americans" came from ... 

Six Months!

It is really hard to believe that Annie is 6 months old now!  We have had so much fun seeing her grow, learning and exploring new things, and just having her in our life.  Six months is a really fun milestone - a whole new aisle of toys in the toy store especially for 6 mos. old, sitting on our own, and trying solid foods (of course we try ALL solids - edible or otherwise - since anything in her grasp goes straight in the mouth)!  Here are some of the things we love about being 6 months old ... 

Wearing shoes for the first time!

Sitting up on our own

Sitting with our new 6mo. toys

Eating sweet potatoes...mmmmmm

A Friend for Annie

On July 31st, Annie was very excited to hear that her new friend, Cate, had arrived! Congratulations to our friends Rhett and Sarah ... we look forward to lots of playdates!

Cate's parents, Rhett and Sarah (at far right), celebrated Annie's Baptism with us. Cate attended in-utero!

A Bob Between Two Annes

A few weekends ago our friends Anne and Bob came for a visit.  We got to hangout, the boys played xbox, we ate Paul's ... but mostly it was important for Anne to meet The Little Namesake, Annie.  We had a great time catching up with our Wmbg friends!  

Baptism Day - July, 12, 2009

On Sunday July 12th Annie was Baptized! Godparents, Uncle Matt and Aunt Jessie, did an outstanding job! We also had lots of friends and family there to celebrate ...

Mom and Dad and Annie before the Ceremony.

Godparents, Uncle Matt and Aunt Jessie.

Friends after the Ceremony

Ashley and Connor came to visit too!

This Weekend ...

We had a great visit in NoVA. This visit's highlight was meeting Julie and Tom for the first time. We had a great time BBQing, drinking wine (for mom and Julie :)), catching up and getting to know Tom. We can't wait to hang out again! And maybe one day we could even meet Tom's family, especially his mom ... the pediatrician (shame on you, Julie, for not sharing that earlier. Although, I am certain the good Dr. would appreciate that Mommy doesn't have access to all that free pediatric advice!)

Julie tells Annie all the latest celebrity gossip!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all our daddy friends and family! We started the day right ... with prezzies and a steak biscuit from Hardee's! MMMM ... daddy's favorite!

Daddy and his first baby, Dixie, enjoy prezzies and a steak biscuit!

Daddy and Annie chillin' on Father's Day.

Adventures in Parenting: The Bumper Controversy

When you first learn you're pregnant, you read all the books, attend all the classes, search the internet & read the websites, and take in any and all information about anything related to babies and parenting that you can get your hands on (or at least that's what I did when I found out we were pregnant!). One topic that draws a lot of varying opinions is baby bumpers for the crib.

When we were planning the nursery I thought, "of course we'll have bumpers on the crib! They are so cute and I want only the cutest things for my baby!" Then in a baby class the pediatrician mentioned not using bumpers ... then I read an article about them in a magazine ... then I looked it up on the internet and found LOTS of controversy over the bumpers. After researching the subject thoroughly, we decided that we would use the bumpers until the kid got big enough to roll around and possibly risk getting caught up in them.

Knowing this was our plan, I was disappointed the other day to find her eating the bumper! I didnt think we would have to take them off so soon! She had pulled down one side and was chewing on it - much like she eats her clothes lately! So, I consulted Daddy and we agreed that it was time to take the bumpers off the crib. Cute is only cute until the kid suffocates herself while eating the bedding! So we took off the bumpers, left her in her crib for 5 minutes while mommy made something in the kitchen and daddy was shaving in the bathroom and this is what we came back to when we checked on her ...





So the bumpers are back on, but just tied down REALLY tight. We also removed them from the back of the crib where she would pull them and eat them. Let's see how this works out!

Last Weekend ... Road Trip!

Last weekend we loaded up and went for a visit in Norfolk with Auntie Sarah and Uncle John. They were so nice to take us to their pool and treat us to lunch and drinks! This was A's first trip to the pool. She had sunblock, a hat, her new bathing suit, sunglasses, swimmy diapers ... she was set for a day in the sun! Luckily, the pool had lots of shady pergola's where we stayed and napped most of the day!

Annie and Mom show off their shades

Daddy bundles up the little swimmer.

Daddy and the bathing beauty

Congrats Grads!

On May 15th Uncle Danny and Aunt Kate graduated! Aunt Kate got her Master of Science in Nursing from the School of Nursing at VCU, and Uncle Danny got his Doctorate of Medicine from the Medical College of Virginia at VCU. Our families had a great time celebrating with the graduates and having a nice visit together. Uncle Matt came down from Boston, the Robinsons from MN, the Tasca's from PA, friends from all over, and Gram Pam, Uncle T, and Aunt Jessie were all here to celebrate!

Enlarge the picture to see how much A loves graduations! (in the words of her Nana, not at all!)

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of our Mommy friends and family!

What We've Been Up To ...

Since we last posted, mommy went back to work, A has had two daycare babysitters (okay, one was Nana), and there have been lots of photo ops. Take a look at what we've been up to...

Laughing at Dixie.

Trying out new hairstyles ...
Piggytails ...

And the Faux-hawk.

Reading ...

Playing xbox ... (A thinks it's funny how serious daddy is when he plays his video games! Hope he doesn't have a Nintendo fit while he's watching A!!)

And going to Uncle T's baseball games.

Phew! All this activity really tires out a 2month old!

Happy Easter!

Today was Annie's first Easter and her first Easter parade!  She loved the colorful Easter bonnets, the dogs, and revelers out for the spring day.  We had a great time at the parade and then came back to the house for ham, potato salad, and baked beans.  Uncle Danny and Aunt Kate made a delicious dessert from Ina's cookbook, brownie pudding!  Of course, little A had milk.  Happy Easter everyone!

Road Trip!

This past weekend was Annie's first trip to Northern VA! She had a great time going out for pizza (cried the whole time, thank goodness for the rowdy soccer team seated next to us!) and visiting with NoVA family including Aunt Sammer, Great Grandfather, Opa, and Great Aunt Mimi and Great Uncle Pat! Samantha checks out her neice!

Great Grandpa, Opa visits with Annie and Mom

Baby's First Match Day

Today was Uncle Danny's Match Day to find out where he goes for his residency. We are so excited that he got his #1 choice, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN! We will miss him a lot but are so proud of him and his accomplishments. We are really looking forward to visiting and seeing Aunt Kate's home turf. Congratulations and bundle up, Uncle Danny!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Thank You, Nicola, for making sure I had appropriate attire for my first St. Patrick's Day!

Last Weekend

We had lots of visitors and made a special visit ourselves. Ashley and Connor came up from the YC. Nicole came over too and we all enjoyed lunch! Here's Annie's first meeting with her boyfriend, Connor. He is quite handsome and I am sure she is only resisting because daddy says she can't date till she's 35!

Connor comforts an emotional Annie

After their visit, we went to Annie's great grandparents' house for a special birthday dinner for Gaga.

Annie and Grandma

Annie and Gaga

Happy Birthday ...

Over the weekend we celebrated Uncle Matt and Uncle Danny's 26th birthdays. Yesterday, we celebrated 1 month old for Annie! Today was the 1 month check up - she weighs 8 lbs. 14 oz. now and her height is 21.75 inches! Doing great - smiling and "watching" now. Still has lots of hair and is just beautiful!

Checking out the ballons with Daddy

Blowing out the candles with Uncle Matt and Uncle Danny