In Between

Since Halloween, we've been in a busy transition phase between the holidays and gearing up for the next big one - Christmas. Robert's been busy at work preparing for the Baseball Winter Meetings, which he is currently attending in Orlando for a week and a half.  

This will be the first year, I have not attended with him, it's just been Annabelle and myself at home spending lots of time together. 

Speaking of Annabelle, I cannot believe how much she's changed over the last few months. 

She's currently 10 months old.

 

My baby grew up and is ready to explore her surroundings, which is keeping me very busy.   

She loves to babble, take baths, tear apart the house in a furry of discovery, climb up on the couch and sit up on it like a big girl then run away and hide in the pillows when she sees you coming, knock towers over, welcome Daddy home, and kick her legs in the air when you pick her up. 

When she talks, she likes to point her finger. 

We've started to enjoy family bike rides together.

 She's not a big fan of her helmet, but she eventually forgets about it and falls asleep. 

We also try to get out to the park as much as we can, it's harder now that the sun goes down so early.

 We're starting to explore more options, other than the swing, at the park.

 She's discovered grass and does not mind sitting in it.

She's been eating adult food for a little while now and has begun to develop preferences for what she does and does not want to eat.

Speaking of food, she has 8 chompers (i.e. teeth - 4 on top and 4 on bottom) and brushes them all by herself like a big girl.

 Her new thing is that she crosses her ankles. So proper. :)

It is not uncommon to find her walking around the house clinking her blocks together.

 She's silly.

Climbing, not a problem.

Don't worry, she does slow down every now and then and will crash right on the floor.

More fun facts about Annabelle are:

She loves to play with and watch little kids in church or at the park, she's very social with children. She still sucks her thumb when she's tired and began walking in November (her new preferred method of getting around). She loves to pull all of Robert's belts down from the closet and sometimes even goes after them while he's still wearing one. The main three things people say about Annabelle is how beautiful her eyes are, what long fingers she has, and how little hair she has on her head. Just when I think her hair is starting to grow, I realize later that not much progress was actually made. She will just have a little boy cut for awhile, which continues to aid her in getting mistaken for a boy often in the elevator regardless if she's wearing pink. :)

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with Robert's family at his Grandma and Grandpa's home.

 I made my Grandmother's rolls as tradition in my family.

Annabelle's first Thanksgiving.

 Dinner was finger licking good. 

 The group:

 Happy Thanksgiving from the Fountains!

Happy Haunts!

This Halloween season was a fun one as we welcomed old traditions and new ones as we're now a growing family. 

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. We took Annabelle out to a pumpkin patch where we like to find just the right pumpkin with some character. Annabelle even got her own little pumpkin to take home. One day, she'll get to pick it out on her own. 

 In order to not run into the stem breaking issue we encountered last year, we made sure we took all the necessary precautions. You can never be too careful. ;)

 I spent most of the month dressing Annabelle up in festive wear and making our costumes for Halloween night. When the time came to prepare for Halloween, we went over to our friend's John and Kristin's house for dinner and carved our pumpkins with a fun group of people. Here's our work:

 We tested out our first costume with Annabelle that Mama T gave her and took her to the event as a pumpkin. They said she won the cutest pumpkin award, even if she was protesting the idea.

 The next night, we carved Annabelle's pumpkin and sat them out on our balcony for all to see. 

All month, I've been anxiously awaiting Halloween night (ever since the tickets were purchased) and I think Annabelle finally caught the Disney fever on Halloween Eve.

Then the day came!

We made our way to Orlando for a long overdue visit to Disney World where we attended Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party with Robert's parents.

Here is our little black cat on the ferry ride to see Cinderella's castle for the first time.

We made it!

I was a witch, Robert was a count, and Annabelle was my little black cat. A witch is not complete without her cat. It was a perfect night, Annabelle did great, the weather was nice, and the park was not crowded at all. The longest we waited for any ride was 15 minutes, which is perfect with a baby. Here's a photo reel of some of our adventures from the night:

Her first ride was It's a Small World:

Buzz Lightyear!

Even with a baby, Robert doesn't lose his game face. Although, Grandma was the top scorer of the night.

Annabelle enjoyed the carousel ride a lot, so we rode it twice.

Grandpa tried hogging Annabelle from Grandma all night, but she ended up with mom most of the night. She really handled everything well and never cried on a ride as long as she was in my arms.

We were pals

The space man outside his ride:

Robert's parents were a great help taking turns watching Annabelle, so Robert and I could go ride a few rides by ourselves.

The parade was really fun and made the Halloween festivities really come alive.

Halloween firework spectacular.

Last ride of the night.

 Happy Halloween! We're so glad we did Disney for Halloween! We had a wonderful night and enjoyed seeing all the people dressed up in costume, as well as dressing up ourselves.

 She was such a trooper and made it all the way until 11:30 before crashing. She was asleep for the entire last ride we rode - the Haunted Mansion (probably better that way).

The loot (minus some pieces that were already devoured while at the park):

 We could have gotten more candy, but since Annabelle really doesn't eat candy yet we didn't worry too much about making it to all of the trick-or-treat stations.

Until next time my pretties...