Merry Christmas

We made it through Anabelle's first Christmas! I'm going to miss this time of firsts. I read a line in a baby magazine that tells you what's going on with baby each month and it mentioned that she's almost half way through her first year...I teared up! I can't believe how fast the time is going and how big she is already. I remember when she was born counting out how old she would be at Christmas, 5 months seemed like an eternity away. I couldn't imagine her wearing anything bigger than newborn clothes and now she's starting to wear 6m.



We spent Christmas in Colorado this year at the Ranch. We left NM Wednesday afternoon and came home Sunday. It was rainy and gloomy for the first few days. This is the first year in a long time there wasn't a white Christmas at the Ranch. But the rain finally ceased and the sun came out for Christmas day. It was cold but beautiful.

Before dinner there was some cowboy work to be done so half the group headed out to unload a trailer of hay and seperate calves from the mamas to wean them. I wish I took some pictures but I'm finding its a lot harder to play photographer with a baby in my arms. Not to mention it was too cold to take Anabelle out so we watched from the window.

Truth be told, I'm having a hard time remembering to take any pictures of anything besides Anabelle. I took one token picture of the crowd but it was so blurry I had to delete it.

Trace's mom made a ham and turkey and I made my near famous bacon wrapped smokies (yum!) and we had 16 people for dinner. We had a great time. It was really fun to see everyone and Anabelle got to show off her party dress. Then when the crowds died down we still had 7 of us there for the night and we ended up playing a few rounds of Mexican Train dominoes. Anabelle napped through the 1st half and then decided to join the game. Trace won but we all had fun.

Sunday came and we had some bacon & eggs, cleaned up our party messes, and headed home to Gallup. There's nothing like your own bed. :)

A baby will get you everywhere!!

Just had a funny moment at the grocery store. Anabelle and I were there this morning getting some snacks for our trip to Colorado and some Southern Comfort to go with the eggnog for the non-nursing family members. When we got to the check out the cashier was super nice and talking to Anabelle and so on. When she got to the SoCo she said they don't sell alcohol until after 10:am (it was 9:40). I told her that was a bummer, I had just got done telling her how mornings are so much better for us to shop when it's quiet and Anabelle is awake but that she was ready for a nap, blah blah blah... So she said she would let us buy it this one time since my baby was soooo cute. Aw thanks!! Trace and Uncle Dave say thanks too.

As I was walking out I heard her talking to the next group in line. Two guys, mid-twenties, wanted to buy just a case of beer. Not gonna happen. She put it aside and told them they had to come back at 10.
But that lady just bought alcohol
Yeah but she had other groceries... (then I was too far away to hear them)
They walked by my as I was loading the car.
Sorry Guys, she wouldn't let you buy it, huh...
No, and I'm even active military....

Guess it pays to have a cute baby!!!

Stretch!

One of my favorite things is when Anabelle first wakes up from a nap and I unwrap her from her swaddle and she stretches. She arches her back, arms and feet go up, and she scrunches her nose. Cutest thing ever! I was trying to catch it on video but she was too distracted by my phone to finish her routine. But here she is at 4 1/2 months...

Baby Seat

Here is Anabelle at 3 1/2 months playing in her little chair.

Squaking

When Anabelle first started making talking sounds there was no goo goo gaa gaa, it was more like squaking like a little bird. Here is a short video that catches some of it. This was taken Oct 1, 2010 and she was 10 weeks old.

1 month video

Here is a short video of Anabelle 1 day before 1 month old.

Grammy

My Grandma Shari came to visit us when Anabelle was 2 months old.
She decided her Great Grandma name would be Grammy. And so she is!
She was here for a week and we had a great time. We got pedicures, and had lunch, went to a parade and had a blast. I got to try my sling for the first time at the parade. She slept the whole time. looking back now, I'm pretty amazed at how much we did for her being 2 weeks old. I guess I did a lot right away. People were kinda amazed but it just seemed right at the time. She's a good baby and I didn't see any reason to stay home for 3 months. I didn't let strangers touch her and I kept her warm and safe. We had fun.