1.5 years

Annabella turned 1.5 today. I can't believe it's been so long since the magical day she came into my life. She has gotten so big, and I'm just so proud of her. Every day she does something that makes my heart swell. She follows simple directions. She asks for cheese (chizz). She squeals for her shoes (sooz). She signals for more (and says moh). She climbs the chairs and walks across the table...ok; so this one isn't actually allowed, but watching her learn to climb and take risks still makes me proud.

We've had a pretty busy weekend. Yesterday we took her to an Easter egg hunt/extravaganza. We were 1o minutes late, which means we missed the hunt. But there was a big bunny for her to get pictures with; so we waited in line for him. Well, she HATED the bunny. Would not touch. And then we saw that there was food; so we went and got her a cookie. No surprise here, she LOVED the cookie. While she ate the cookie, we waited in a long line for pony rides. Her reaction to the pony made her reaction to the bunny seem downright heartwarming. She clung to me and wouldn't even get near the pony. She normally likes animals...so we weren't expecting that. I didn't think she'd actually ride the pony. But I thought she'd at least pet the pony. So the highlight of the extravaganza was clearly the cookie. Which means we could have saved ourselves some stress and effort. Oh well.

Later in the day we had an experience that was more traumatizing to Momma than to Annabella. You see, Annabella's hair has been constantly in her face. She refuses to wear bows, and won't sit still for me to tie her hair back. So we took her in for her first haircut.

Here's a before picture that shows why we really needed to get the haircut.

And here's a couple pictures that show that Annabella did NOT like getting her haircut one bit. (Although I still maintain that I am more traumatized, at least long term.)

And here's the best post haircut picture we have right now. I'll try to get some better ones soon.

The woman cut her bangs much shorter than I would have liked, and I'm really not sure I like the haircut at all to be honest. But I'm not sure she could have had a haircut that I would actually like. And they gave us a certificate that says "For meeting all the requirements of a first haircut with courage and bravery". (Yes, the certificate made me tear up. I blame the pregnancy hormones...)

Today a couple of friends watched Annabella for a few hours so that Jason and I could go on a date (gasp!). Our friends have 2 small dogs, and Annabella love love loved the dogs. I think she's going to start asking for a dog as soon as she figures out that it's a possibility. It's always a little nerve-wracking leaving your kid with somebody new, even somebody you trust. But at the end of the day, everybody had a smile on their face. We really should take advantage of our babysitting friends more often. Getting a couple hours out is nice, and I think they spoil Annabella rotten. For instance, where Mommy and Daddy are too mean to chase her up and down the stairs over and over again, the babysitters think it's cute and put up with it for much longer than we do :) So it's really a win-win.

I still can't believe my little girl is 1.5. It seems like just yesterday she was a tiny little ball curled up asleep on my chest, head buried straight into my skin. I remember staring at her for hours just falling more and more in love with her, wondering how this perfect little creature could be mine. I can't imagine loving her more, but my heart just explodes in new ways for her every day. And now my precious, tiny, sweet baby isn't so tiny, and she's not much of a baby anymore. She is still the most precious, sweetest thing I've ever had the pleasure of seeing though. And I love her so much it hurts.