Wow – just one week away from celebrating Annabelle’s first birthday! It has gone by so fast, but it’s hard to imagine what our days were like without her.

Annabelle is really flourishing at school. She has changed so much since she’s moved to her new class just a few weeks ago. She is really active – she crawls so fast now, pulls up on everything, and walks so quickly when she’s holding someone’s hand or has her walker/car. She is still our little dancer and can find the beat in anything…music, commercials, her toys, beeps from the microwave, etc. Sometimes we don’t even know what gets her going she’ll just start rockin’. She must have music in her head. As she has learned new skills some of our old favorites have fallen to the waste-side. Much to her dad’s dismay she doesn’t do her “oooh’s” as much or her “oh dear” pose. She enjoys her books and babydolls and anything that makes noise that she can dance to (which I’m sure will thill my sister, Becky!).

She has started eating quite the variety of table foods. At her daycare, they cut up the school lunch for her (very small bites) so she gets to try so many new things. She loves muffin day! The most interesting was the chili dog and goulash they gave her last week. I wasn’t so sure about that but they said she loved it. She is not interested in baby food anymore because she likes to be able to feed herself. She’s turning into such a big girl…no longer our little baby.

Jess organized a golf outing for the dads on Father’s Day and B had a blast. He was up at 5:00 a.m. for his 6:30 tee time. It’s truly amazing. I’ve never seen him get up with such energy during the work week! 🙂 Annabelle and I hung out and when she went down for her nap I started painting the ladybug border in the baby’s room. It’s a really slow process and a bit frustrating. Because we have textured walls the lines of the lady bugs are not quite as “perfect” as I would have liked. When I get over my perfectionist ways and step back and look at the room I think the border is really cute and the room is going to turn out great. I got about half-way through the border before Annabelle woke up from her nap so the rest will have to wait until next week. After golf, B swung by and picked us up and we went for a cook-out at the Lemek’s house. The guys were in great spirits from golfing and it was really fun to hang out with everyone and their kids. It’s hard to believe how much has changed in the last year. The group has definitely grown with all these new kiddos!

Sarah made my day! For an early birthday gift she got us tickets to see a taping of E-town at the Boulder Theatre. The Barenaked Ladies recently made a childrens album so they played some of their new songs from the CD but also played some old favorites. Miss Annabelle will love their new children’s album! I’ve been so grumpy lately – with my ever-expanding belly and limited diet, but Sarah really threw out all the stops and took me out for a great time. We had dinner at Aji, which is a latin restaurant in Boulder. It was very tasty! http://www.ajirestaurant.com/ They had a great cocktail & appetizer menu so Sarah and I have vowed to return once the baby arrives and I can induldge.

I’ve never been to a taping of a radio show before but Sarah summed it up best when she said it was like watching the radio scene from Annie. It wasn’t quite as chaotic as they showed it in the movie, but it was a blast and the live music was so good! Thanks again, Sarah! I’m not sure when the taping will actually air but I’ll be checking the schedule often. http://www.etown.org/listen.schedule.php

My goodness – where does the time go? I can’t believe we are quickly approaching Annabelle’s 1st birthday. We went for a walk last night and then came home and had dinner. She was in a great mood. She was crawling all around and dancing! B made up a song about her favorite meal which happens to be cheerios and cheese and she loved it. She laughed so hard when he sang it and even offered to share her meal with him. She’s so much fun! I can’t wait for her sister to arrive so we can see what kind of trouble these girls get into together.

I went to see the endocronolgist (sp?) today and unfortunately I have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. It’s pretty late in the game considering I’ll be 33 weeks on Friday, but better to correct it now than never. The doctor I met was very nice and he said that my weight gain has been on pace for the pregnancy so not to feel bad or worry that I did anything to bring this on myself. He requested I start on a high protein, low carb diet and add a little more walking to my exercise routine to avoid having to use insulin. I’m sad to give up the ice cream and fruit but I’m not too upset since it’s for the good of the baby.

We had a really nice visit with YaYa! She spoiled Miss Annabelle and helped me get all my errands run. We picked up a lot of stuff for the baby’s room and BJ even got the room painted while she was here. Since there are no Schlotzsky’s in Chicago anymore we hit the one off Colorado Blvd and had lunch. YUM! It really hit the spot. We ran more errands, got Annabelle’s new car seat installed in the car and then had to head to the airport. We had a great visit and we’re looking forward to seeing her in just 2 weeks for Ananbelle’s birthday!

Jamie and Noelia met at our house and we drove down to Highlands Ranch for the baby shower together. My mom entertained them with stories about what an evil little kid I was. Luckily Miss Annabelle has not followed in my footsteps – yet. Jen hosted a gathering at her house for a few people, mostly for the gals who couldn’t at the shower for Annabelle in Chicago. It was a small, relaxing brunch and a great excuse for my mom to visit. Jamie was in town from San Diego and it was great to catch up with her. She’s moving to Dallas so we’ll be planning a trip to visit her, my uncle, and Hal & Ticey once the girls are ready to travel….well, I guess it’s more like when we’re ready to travel with them.

YaYa came out from Chicago to spend the weekend with us. We are having such a fun visit. I had to work in the morning but I got to come home in time for lunch. Miss Annabelle got lots of new clothes and her first pair of real tennis shoes. They are little white Nike’s and so cute! They really help with her walking because they keep her ankles stiff but she has some trouble crawling with them. They kind of get in her way but I’m sure she’ll get use to them.

Another ailment! Hand, foot, and mouth disease is circulating around Annabelle’s school and sure enough she caught it. It’s a rash that is highly contagious among little kids. She is no longer contagious but the rash takes about 5 days to go away. The early stages are commonly misdiagnosed as an ear infection which would explain why the doctor gave us antibiotics last week for inflamed ears but why they didn’t seem to help while we were in Arizona.

Annabelle is trying all kinds of new foods in her new class at daycare. She had potato soup, corn and breadsticks for lunch yesterday! Since she is getting more adventurous at school we’re letting her try new things at home too. For dinner she had tortellini and breadsticks. She’s transitioning to table food really well.

My test results came back high for the one hour glucose test so I had to go in for the 3 hours test. Starting at 10:00 p.m. the night before I had to begin fasting and couldn’t eat anything until after the test concluded. This is a lot to ask of a pregnant woman. I could only sip on water so it was especially painful for my kidneys. I went in to the lab and sat for 3 hours feeling very very ill. I spent the rest of the day working from home. I should get my results back tomorrow but from how I was feeling while the test was run I doubt they are going to be very good.