Wonderfully Overstimulated....

Although I didn't think it was so wonderful in the moment! Annabelle had a beyond fabulous Christmas. Mommy and daddy were home with her for a long weekend, and there were cookies, and junk food and sparkling apple juice (her FAVORITE!)... it was however a bit overstimulating for her, shoot it was overstimulating for ME, I dunno how any 1.5 yr old kid could handle all that.

Overstimulated much?

Annabelle, being the only baby on either side of the family was absolutely showered with gifts, as were her mommy and daddy. There were multiple times throughout Christmas day when I got misty eye'ed and overwhelmed by the amount of love and support my family has. Although material things were opened Christmas morning we know that behind each item is a loving caring person who genuinely cares for Annabelle and wants her to do her absolute best! What better gift could ANY parent ask for?

And of course as a kid, Annabelle (after getting settled) loved all of her new toys. I was even thrilled when she started to "feed" one of her new baby dolls after she saw me playing.... can anyone say appropriate social development!!!!!

Singin and dancin to the "pum pum pum" song (Little Drummer Boy) over and over again...

And now back to the real world. I'm not sure what we're doing for New Year's yet. The past few years I've watched the "real" east coast ball drop then went to bed, bwahahaha, I'm so cool.  More to come on new year's resolutions and such. No weight loss blah blah blah though ;-)

Merry Christmas!



Christmas Cookie Extravaganza!

Every since the first year Jim and I started dating we do some major Christmas-cooking.  This year we got to add a third and while most of the time she was walking through the dinning room and kitchen bustin' a move to the Christmas music that was on, I think she had a pretty good time! Better than painting pumpkins anyway ;-)

First was helping daddy with the spice cookies. She had a great time "booming" the cookie cutters onto the dough. Then she would sample some dough, of course! Even though we didn't use lefty (I really wanted it to be fun and not hear screaming) we thought it was some great sensory input.

Then Annabelle wanted to do some "stirring" so she sat in her chair with the spatula going "stir stir stir" and imitating mommy...

... With some more pretend "sampling".

Mmmm cookies, Annabelle got some chocolate while mommy ate some rum balls!!! I think our neighbors will be very happy this year.



The Good, The Not So Good (but not bad!) and the AWESOME!

The Good: Annabelle continues to be amazing. She is walking ALL OVER THE HOUSE!!! She also seems to be picking up a ton of new words, although only her daddy and I know what she is saying most of the time, but it will come. And cognitively she gets it. Her current favorite is sitting on our big bed with her animal book "reading". She'll go through it and make the animal noises that go with each page!

 Also good, she is giving out kisses like it's her job, I LOVE this

Also good, half of my xmas shopping is done, although I better get on the rest of it 'cause we need to ship some packages to NY so they get there before xmas. I also just finished our xmas cards this morning (photoshop is not an intuitive program by the way!) aaaand I finished sewing Annabelle's xmas jammie pants... look at me being all crafty and whatnot.

Annabelle met Santa, wasn't thrilled, but didn't melt down, and then 'Ho, ho, ho'ed' at him, way too funny!

We're getting a night splint for lefty leg to keep Annabelle's calf stretched throughout the night. Shouldn't be a big deal b/c she is generally not tight when she is sleeping, and her calf isn't even the "bad one". Her left bicep is.

The Not so Good: We're scheduled for botox injections on Jan 4. Inandof itself it's probably not a 'not so good' thing as it should really help Annabelle with her arm use and developing a more normal gait.  The not good part is the sedation, last time she was put out for eye surgery was the only time I ever felt her fontanelle bulge a bit, so it worries me. It also worries me that the procedure is not until noon and her daddy will be out of town. How am I suppose to keep that child from eating until afternoon all by myself? Totally not looking forward to that part.
I am looking forward to seeing how she does afterwards. I am planning on taking before and after pics of her left foot- I hadn't watched her walk without her braces in a LONG time and didn't realize just how badly she is collapsing her ankle in when she's not in the brace.

The AWESOME: My baby. The end.... just kidding :-) I found out this morning that I passed my board exam so I am officially a board certified pediatrician, YaY!!!!!!!!!! Such a load of stress off my shoulders!!!

Walkin in a Winter Wonderland!