Well if this post hasn’t been a looooooong time coming then I honestly don’t know what is lol Between hosting our first Thanksgiving, planning Annabelle’s 1st birthday, finding out we are pregnant (YAY!) and all that entails when it comes to the 1st trimester (More on that later!) and all the in’s and out’s of the holidays this just kinda fell a little low on the todum pole. Usually this is the place where I retreat. A place where I can unwind and get my thoughts out, whether they actually get published or not, but after the craziness that was our families last 3 months mama pretty much just needed to rest.. a lot. I really just needed to turn off and tune out all the noise and pointless chatter that is social media lately (possibly more on that later as well lol). So that’s what we did to recharge, refocus and reprioritize. Funny how the first of the year is a good time for that… and maybe it was a little bit of the fact that it was Annabelle’s first year birthday too that kinda got us thinking more introspectively and intentionally about what we want this life, our life, to look like. to actually be.
Measurements – Annabelle went from 15 to 16 pounds between her 11th month and her first birthday (woohoo!!) She also is measuring at about 27 inches tall! How do we begin to even express just how proud we are of her! There literally aren’t enough words in the entire world to fit that bill. It’s hard to believe that this time last year she was just a sleepy, cooing, smiley little newborn that captured our hearts the moment we laid eyes on her. And here she is a whole year later healthy and thriving and growing and completely recapturing our hearts even more with each passing day. To think we were smitten then.. it just doesn’t even compare to how smitten we are with her now. We’re just completely taken with this sweet girl God has gifted us.
Best Moment – There is a lot of great things that happened these last couple months but the biggest accomplishment for Annabelle would definitely bet the fact that she is now pulling up to standing all on her own as well as cruising along furniture and with her little Zebra walker. She just pushes that thing all over the house which is really keeping us on our toes these days lol She also has started to just stand up on her own and hold her balance! She seriously just moments away from walking on her own, but we’re not in any hurry for that because we know that once our Annabelle starts going there will be no slowing her down then! Everything in it’s due time, and for now we are just relishing these sweet, fleeting moments with her in the present.
** UPDATE ~ Since I wrote this post literally a couple days later Annabelle just decided one Friday afternoon that she was going to walk to her daddy when he got home from work, and as we predicted she hasn’t stopped since! lol It was definitely a great kick off to a fun weekend and a fun new season in our family! Toddlerhood here we come!
Worst Moment – There really hasn’t been a “worst” moment (that I can remember at least) these past months which is kinda an awesome note to end Annabelle’s first year on! So yeah, life is good right now! 🙂
Favorite Things – Annabelle’s favorite thing to do these days in definitely use her many communication skills. She still loves to give high fives and wave hello and bye bye but now she also likes to give the occasional fist bump and by far our favorite new thing she does that she loves to do is give kisses! She loves giving big open mouthed kisses to her daddy and I and we love it too! She also says “Da-da” specifically to Matt now when she sees him, is talking to him or is calling for him after she’s done nursing in the morning. Annabelle’s always been a daddy’s girl but now hearing her call for him just melts both of our hearts like never before, and to be totally honest in the last month her love for Matt has just exploded to a whole new level! He truly is her favorite person on the face of the earth right now. She just adores him. It’s really as if he hung the moon in her eyes and right now he can do no wrong. To watch their relationship grow has been one of the sweetest things from my perspective too. It really is like a good friend once told me – (totally paraphrasing here but) Little girls are born with a bond to their mama’s, but the love a daughter and daddy have is something that you get to watch grow deeper each day. you get to watch a daughter “fall in love” if you will with who her daddy is and the love he has for her… and there is nothing so precious as getting to witness that. It has truly been one of the highlights of my life.
Highlights – Well there was Annabelle’s first vacation to the beach which was pretty spectacular! She loved sea shelling with her Grandma and Great Gram as well as spending a lot of quality time with her Aunt Kiki and meeting her Great Aunt Patricia, Great Aunt Diane, and Great Uncle Carlos!.. and we loved getting to explore that with her for the first time. I can’t wait to take her back to the ocean when we is older to see her reaction to it’s vastness then, to watch her and Matt play in the water and to build sandcastles with her on the shore line!
Then she got to dress up for her first Halloween! We live in a really great neighborhood that really goes all out for the holidays, so much so that other families from surrounding neighborhoods park and come to our subdivision for events like Halloween. So it was really fun to take her around in her little BB8 Star Wars costume that we hand made for her to see all our neighbors.
She also LOVED feasting at her first Thanksgiving! There was not one food on her plate that she didn’t relish! And too top it all off Annabelle unknowingly matched her cousin Charlie which made for a really cute little photo op!
Then of course there was going to help pick out the Christmas Tree, cut it down, bring it home and decorate it for the first time at Big Tree Plantation with her dad and I! We also visited Santa for the first time while we were there! Annabelle also found out that same weekend that she was going to be getting the best Christmas/Birthday present of all time and get to be a big sister! A sibling really is the “type” of present that truly does just keep on giving and giving! lol 🙂
Then there was celebrating her 2nd Christmas, only she was much more alert for this one then last time when she was only two weeks old lol
And of course to finish it all off there was Annabelle’s 1st Birthday Party! It was really special because we actually got to celebrate her with all our family and a couple of her closest friends on her actual birthday since it fell on a Sunday this year!
Much love & prayer,
Matt & Blair
Pair of Pomeroys: 