4 months

Today Annabelle had her 4 month appointment. All went well (including two shots... boo). She is 14 pounds 1 oz. and in the 57th percentile for weight. For height, she is 25" and in the 74th! Our little girl is healthy and definitely growing!

I'm proud to say that we are still pumping and Annabelle is still receiving breastmilk. Every day that ticks by I remember that all the work is worth it. We even have a freezer full of milk, so that whenever we decide to stop, there will still be milk for quite awhile. My first goal is still 6 months. We'll see where we are from there.

This weekend we took a trip "up north" to the cottage. Joel bow hunted and we just relaxed in the cottage with Aunt Anna, Amanda, and Brinley. Annabelle was entertaining us all with her giggles and her new trick, blowing raspberries! The second one is funny and yet, not so cute! :)

She also rolled from her back to her front yesterday for the first time!

We're actually home for a few weeks now before the holidays have us travelling again.

so much change

Change is not a word that comes easily to most people. And in some it strikes fear to their very core.

I thought I was good with change.

Until a 4 month old taught me the true meaning of change. As in every day. No two days look alike. She grabs her toes and squirms around in her crib. She eats at different times and sleeps through the night (hurray!). She grows out of new clothes (and diapers) all the time. She loves to sit up and look around and take in the world. She sucks her thumb and pulls out her pacifier (hurray again!).

Her cheeks are rounder and her thighs are ticklish. She responds to touch. She knows what her bottle is and is on the verge of pulling out of my hands.

And she's only 4 months old. The changes are coming quick now and I have to be on my toes.

Some women I know say "I'm so fluid - I mold to anything you put me in." Probably my most important lesson in being a mom. Things always change. Just when you think you have it figured out, she's on to something else.

Thank you, Annabelle.

lazy

Well, not really lazy, but busy. It's amazing how much work it is to keep up with the house, hang out with my girl, and try to get us out once in awhile.





For those of you that aren't in the direct vacinity, you wouldn't know there is another complicating factor. I'm pumping. Exclusively. That means that every 3 hours for 20 minutes, I have to sit on my bed with myself all hooked up.





It has been a hard road. And very emotional. We have received lots of advice on how we could get her to latch, but nothing seemed to work and eating time was not good. And for the most part, pumping is okay. But it does limit the length of time we can leave the house. And complicates travelling - though this weekend we had no problems. I even took the pump to the Country Music Hall of Fame and used their First Aid room to pump.





The hardest thing is knowing that nursing works so easily for some people - and that others work really hard and it eventually works for them. It didn't for us. And to be honest, we're past it. I've been considering this week trying to get her to latch again - and then I see the way she eats even with the bottle and I'm pretty sure that nothing has changed.





So, as much as I've appreciated everyone's advice - this is the direction we're going. I'm able to provide her plenty of milk (and create a huge stock in our freezer - thank God for the deep freezer) and I know she's getting the nutrients she needs.





My goal is to make it to 6 months. And if we go longer, it will be a bonus.





The most gratifying thing: those cheeks and thighs. And the incredibly cute giggle she has decided to bless us with recently! For this, I am proud.

the many faces of AJ

I have been lax in my posting here - sometimes it's hard to make this a priority. So much has happened - short vacations, Annabelle's baptism, and quitting my job! And the big news - yesterday Annabelle rolled from her tummy to her back 4 times. She has yet to do it again today, but I was so stinkin' proud!

If you have not had the pleasure of meeting our little girl, then you wouldn't know that she is a seriously expressive child. She has been making funny faces since she was born and using her eyebrows to her full advantage. Here are a few pictures that I snapped while she was hanging out with Daddy the other day.

I'll keep her!

bye bye galbladder

Yesterday I said goodbye to my galbladder. And as my friend John so correctly articulated, I never liked the galbladder much anyway - good riddance!

But once again I'm recovering from surgery. This one is easier, but still not pretty. I have five incisions - one just below my belly button and four across my right set of ribs. So I now have six incision sites on my abdomen - there were zero there before june 20th! :)

Our biggest challenge - breastfeeding. It has never gone smoothly and now, because of the drugs in my system, my little girl has been taking food from a bottle. As of this morning, the drugs have worn off, but my incisions are so sensitive that I can't figure out any holds that would be comfortable enough to keep her away from my incisions - plus Annabelle is a mover... this morning she gave my belly button incision (the biggest and most painful) a nice elbow! That's when I decided I better pump one more day and give her the bottle.

But otherwise, we have a beautiful angel on our hands. Okay, angel is probably strong, but she is an incredibly sweet little girl. And to everyone's surprise when they meet her, she is a smiler. An intentional smiler.

I'm doing my best to keep up with all her changes, but the last 5 1/2 weeks have flown by. She has been in more doctor's offices for me than you would believe, and has never once screamed through an appointment. She is still trying to decide what she thinks about bath time. She loves to be naked on her changing table/dresser and kick and stretch. And Miss Annabelle has so much personality.

Most of all, she is adored by all her family and friends. Everyday she gets something more in the mail and everything has been so thoughtful and generous.

Check out what I mean about the smiles!

what's in a name

Many people have asked us how we came up with Annabelle Juliette.





Annabelle was a name I had heard before and found it very endearing. Joel and I both felt like it would be a great name for a baby, but also a great name for a woman. That was important to us. We wanted something that was fairly timeless. But I guess only time will truly tell.





Juliette was easy. We debated about using it as a first name, but Annabelle (the name) charmed us early on. Juliette is my maternal Grandmother's first name. As many of you know, my grandmother and I were great friends and she meant (and still means) so much to me in her years, especially the last ones. Though Joel did not have a chance to get to know her well, he knows how influential she was in my life. We hope and pray that our Annabelle inherits her ability to love everyone individually (and many more things). Between my Grandma and Joel's mom, we just might have an artist on our hands, also!

pictures

For those of you who have too much time on your hands or just love cute babies, I'm attempting to upload Annabelle's pictures to our shutterfly site. This would be all the pictures (most of the good ones are on Facebook already).

www.klullo.shutterfly.com