Annabella Updates

Annabella is 10 months old! I can NOT believe it!! My mom already mentioned planning for her first birthday. This year has FLOWN by! Unbelievable. I thought I'd record a few of her milestones here in the past few months as there have been MANY (I hope I can remember them all):

1. 8.5 months - Started crawling forward but only toward something on which she could pull herself up to a standing position

2. 8 - 8.5 months - Started cruising (walking while holding onto furniture) around on anything she could pull herself up on (people included)

3. 9 months - Started crawling forward not just to get to something to pull herself up but also to get all over the place! She discovered there IS life beyond the couch. :-)

4. 9 months - Her first 2 teeth FINALLY broke through the surface! She's currently working on another one but no evidence of it yet.

5. 9 months - Decided she liked some solid food and now gets 3 "meals" where she mostly plays with her food, and feeds Asher, but if she likes it enough she'll eat a fair amount. Her favorites (green beans :-), raisins, chicken, buffalo, carrotts, sweet potato, avacado, spinach, and blueberries). She doesn't really like much fruit much except for blueberries. :-) And momma's milk is still by far her choice meal.

6. 9.5 months - Started standing unassisted for a few seconds.

7. 10 months - Can now stand unassisted for up to minute! When she really wants to ;-)... she doesn't do it very often.

8. 10 months - Started "walking" with mommy and daddy while holding onto our pant legs and peeking through our legs (it's pretty dang cute)

9. 10 months - Started clapping her hands!!!!! THE C-U-T-E-S-T!!!

10. 8 - 10 months - Says LOTS and LOTS of things that I don't quite understand yet. But she definitely understands a lot! Like, "no", "don't touch," "all done?," and a few others. She hasn't said any clear word yet, but she definitely communicates with us and makes her points clear! :-)

11. 9.5 - Started taking 2 naps instead of 3. Some times I think she's tired enough for a 3rd nap, but she refuses to take it. Most days she does great on 2!

Oh, and this isn't really a milestone by any means but it's adorable! She and Asher play together..... constantly! I really feel like I have two kids sometimes. They "fight" over toys! Bella totally knows which toys are Asher's and which ones are hers. When she gets one of Asher's she'll grab it and start crawling or cruising away as FAST as she possible can all the while LAUGHING hysterically trying to get away. Then Asher will come and gently pull it out of her hand and run away with it (at a MUCH slower pace than he ever does with us) so Bella (all the while laughing mind you) can crawl after him to them pull it out of his mouth! It's pretty darn cute to watch! Some times it's not so jovial, as Asher can pull it out of her hand a little too hard or Bella just doesn't want to play is grouchy about it.... but for the most part, those two are two peas in a pod! SOOO glad they love each other!

And one final fun thing, we took her to the zoo for the first time last weekend! It was a lot of fun, though she just looked a little wide-eyed at all the animals! It'll be a lot of fun to watch her when she's older. She got to hear the elephants drink up water (they were inside). VERY interesting sound!!! And she also got to watch her daddy feed a giraffe! First time for both of them. :-) It was fun. And we ran into some friends while were there! Josh, Lindsey and Cassie. Fun, fun day!