memory overload... gotta unload some.

soooooooooo i'm officially the mom with a notepad! yep. started carrying around a notepad everywhere i go because annabelle is a freakin genius! haha! no, really. she's doing wayyyyy too much and i can't keep up with her. and she's acting all grown up and she's not even 5 months old. after opie started traveling so much she started doing everything all at once. it was like she knew my poor little brain couldn't handle it all by myself and she thought it would be funny to make me cry on a daily basis at just how fast she's growing. well, it worked.

first off, i'm very slowly weening annabelle off the breast. my goal was to breastfeed for 6 months, but my milk has been on the decline again and this time it's not replinishing the way it did before. so, i'm trying to make it through 5 months with the breastmilk. i'm just not making enough anymore. so, i've started to introduce the bottle more. she still gets breastmilk a few times a day, but also gets more formula now and rice cereal. i usually hold her to feed her the bottle if we're anywhere except for home. but, at home i sit her in her boppy and sit next to her and hold it for her so she will begin to learn some independence about eating. well, i'd say the second time i did this, she took the bottle in her hands, as she has done before and held on. i thought she'd drop it like usual, but nope. she fed herself a 4 ounce bottle! she even turned it up at the end until she got every drop out. i was so proud, but so sad because she didn't even need me. i mean before she needed me every single time she ate. we were attached at the boob. literally. haha! i crack myself up!!! but, now she was feeding herself?!? wow! too much to take in for a mommy! a lot of babies don't feed themselves bottles until 6 to 8 months of age, so this was huge for me. she's a genius. and pretty much feeding herself every single bottle now, unless she's too lazy and then i feed her.

same day as the bottle incident, she was playing in the floor rolling around trying to play with her toys and being a little fussy (as it was almost naptime)... and i look down and she had found her pacifier. she reached for it, picked it up off the floor and put it in her mouth! just like a big girl! i mean seriously. doesn't need me for that anymore either! she just self-soothes now or what? her hand/eye coordination is amazing already.

i already blogged about her first experience with rice cereal. so, all that has happened this month too! and here's a pic of the first time with rice cereal. --------->

the little stinker has rolled over from front to back and back to front. she did this probably a month or so ago. but, if you're a mommy you know they may do this a couple times and then not do it for a while. they just forget about it. well, last week she started desparately trying to roll over again from back to front. and she did a couple times. i was so happy for her! thought i'd seen the most i'd see for a while, but no. she's still just been going to town with the rolling over! all over the place. just today she did it earlier and kept going and going and going. i would flip her back over because she was having trouble getting back onto her back and then she'd roll right back over to her front again! she's too funny!!!

she's been trying to sit up longer than she's been trying to roll over. i've had picture after picture of her trying to sit and actually sitting with a little help from the boppy. this past week, i worked with her a lot one day because she was just trying so hard to pull up and sit. so, i'd help her up and sit with her and let go (with supporting arms surrounding her, of course) and she actually started to learn to catch herself as she falls off balance to tilt one way or the other. she's starting to form that connection in her pretty little head! it's like i can see the wheels turning in her head as she's doing it. so, she should be sitting alone in no time at all!

annabelle's always been a very vocal baby (i wonder why). she loves to laugh out loud, make lots of babbles and squeal a lot!!!!!!! she loves to squeal! especially at the fan, the t.v. or myself when i'm being silly. yesterday i noticed her making a new sound with her mouth. she's figured out how to make the funny spit noise with her mouth. you know, the motorboat sound? it's hilarious! she'll just look at me and blow her lips together and it sounds like she's doing the motorboat. also, she does it with her tongue sticking out sometimes too! so adorable! so much fun!

she loves to dance with me! i was dancing in the living room the other day and i noticed she was starting to sway back and forth, so i picked her up and we danced together! forever! we had such a blast and she just laughed and laughed and couldn't get enough. at least i know she'll love to sing and dance just like me!!!

her smiles have gone beyond sweet, innocent smiley grins. they are now smirks or "haha mommy, look what i'm doing" with the raised eyebrow thing. just such grown up looks all the time and just looks at me like such a big girl. oh, and she loves to give all the men the flirty, eye-bat. she's too much!

she's gotten so strong on her tummy and can hold herself up well! she also LOVES her exersaucer and is learning so much everyday. she just jumps all around in that thing! she is having a blast! --->

WHAT A MONTH IT HAS BEEN!!!!!!! can't wait to see what new, fun stuff she has in store for us next month. she'll be 5 months old next week and it seems like just yesterday she was a brand new baby that only slept, ate and cried. not anymore. she is forming the sweetest, most beautiful little personality. so proud of my little stinker!