Annabelle is 11 months old!

Well, I should hurry up and get this written before the child turns 1 on us! Annabelle at 11 months old is so much fun. She has such a sweet disposition - full of joy and so social. She talks and smiles to everyone she sees, even strangers, and they love to chat back with her. She is still super independent but loves to snuggle and will happily ride around on your hip for hours. She's my little buddy and it's so much fun watching her explore new things. She really loves to look at books and anything big sister likes, she likes it too. 

She's getting really close to walking - she pulls up on things immediately and walks around with one hand holding on. She's taken a couple of steps, but just from things short distances apart. She refuses to do it unless she's started the process on her own. If she stands up herself and decides to walk from the table to the couch, it's all good. But if mommy or daddy try to stand her up and get her to walk to the other one, all of a sudden she's got jelly legs and refuses to stand up. Such a stinker! 

She's starting to eat more and more table foods and less purées - she's got a thing about textures (so does mommy) and if something doesn't feel right in her mouth, she's quick to just take it right back out - and usually throw it on the floor :). Veggies are still her favorites by far and she also loves crackers - any kind will usually do but her favorites to munch on are ritz and graham crackers. 

She's staring to chatter to us even more and besides mama and dada, we've heard "hey!" And "hello!" You can tell she hears those pretty often. Once I got her to say "hi mama!" But it hasn't happened since. Here's the big, almost-one-year-old girl!

Luau Day

This was Lily's last Luau Day at HCP and it was put on in style, as usual. Lily got to play games, eat Kona ice and a Hawaiian themed snack all while listening to some tropical music. It really made me want to go to the beach! Annabelle also got to go and hang out with some of her preschool buddies.

Lily and Mommy days

It was really important for me to have some mommy and Lily time this summer before she went to school in the fall. Once she starts school, her schedule becomes a lot less flexible and I wanted to take advantage of the flexibility we have now. Plus, it had been a while since we were able to spend a good amount of quality time together. So we scheduled some fun days :) Our first day was spending the morning at Pullen Park. We played on the playground, rode the rides and ate a tasty lunch while we were there.

Our next fun adventure was an overnight trip! I booked us a hotel, just the two of us, in RTP and we headed out for the night. We went and had a girls lunch, saw a movie (Inside Out - amazing!) and then hit up a candy store for some tasty treats. Then we headed back to our hotel to take in some pool time and dinner, before hitting the sack to snuggle and watch a movie. We both ended up falling asleep while watching the movie! Then we woke up to eat breakfast together and hang out a bit more before leaving to come home to daddy and Annabelle. It was so nice to reconnect with my big girl and spend some time just focusing on her.

My 1st Race Back

The first weekend in June, Richard, Cara, Phillip and I all signed up to do a 10k at North Hills here in Raleigh. I set this goal mainly so that I would have a proof of time race for our half in November, but also to give myself a date to focus on so that I would have the motivation to get back in the running habit. It turned out to be a great race! The course was so hilly, but also so pretty - part of it was on the greenway and it was beautiful. And it was a lot of fun to run with this crew -we're gonna have a great time in November :) And I had my best race time yet!

Annabelle is 10 months old!

Oh my goodness, we're 2 months away from Annabelle turning a year old! The time is just flying by and we are busy enjoying our little girl and our big girl (who just started kindergarten, woah).

Annabelle has not slowed down a bit - she's busy pulling up everywhere wine cruising around. She's not quite ready to take some steps but practices every day. We've been working on getting her to stand without holding on to anything, but honestly she only likes to stand on her own when she does it herself - not with mommy and daddy helping! So independent. 

She's also been busy trying new foods and is getting to be a pro at picking up things to go in her mouth. We're going to try some pasta this month so soon she'll have her first spaghetti night and be introduced to her childhood staple - mac n cheese 😉. 

Annabelle just loves to follow after her big sister and I love to watch them play together. Lily is such a great big sister and always wants to play and take care of her little sis. Annabelle's favorite game right now is chase. She thinks it's hilarious for you to crawl after her while she "runs" away. And hiding behind things before popping out to say hi while you're playing her game pretty much always gives you a belly laugh! 

Here's some pics of our big 10 month old girl!

Lily's Graduation

Lily graduated from preschool in June. Her school had a special program called "Shine Bright" for graduation and the kids did an amazing job. I, of course, bawled like a baby but came prepared with tissues!

It was so good to see Lily celebrate her accomplishment of graduating preschool. This school has been amazing for her and is like an extension of our family. We're going to be so sad for her to leave them but they have done a great job in preparing her for her next adventure in Kindergarten.

End of the Year Picnic

Lily and Annabelle's preschool does an end of the year picnic for parents and kids in the 3 to 4 year old preschool class each year. It's at Pullen Park and the kids always have a great time - they get to play on the playground, ride the train and carousel and have a picnic lunch. This year, AnnaB got to come along too!