Annabel was much more awake during the day yesterday – it’s like she read all these comments and was like, “no one is turning ME upside down!”
The weather here in LA has been absolutely beautiful – borderline hot, even – so we all went on a nice walk. After a while Annie got a little squirmy in her stroller, so I laid her down on a nice patch of grass.
Rigby had fun, too:
Annie is so fun when she’s awake. But, she already is showing major attitude. I will tell her not to do something, and she’ll still do it.
For a few nights in a row Annabel ate at midnight, four am, and eight am. Mike and I were excited because four hour stretches? AWESOME. But we were cautious because we know that these darn babies love to give their parents a glimpse of restful nights before they yank the rug out from under them.
Well, the rug? It has been yanked, people!
She will still sleep for four hour stretches, but she just will NOT go down at night. I am up until wee hours with her, staring into her wiiiiide open eyes. Here is a dramatic re-enactment:
Most nights you will find me singing her the Go To Bed Song. It goes something like this:
Oh, little baaaybeeee,
Mommy’s going craaaaaazeee,
Go to bed! Go to bed!
OH MY GOD! GO TO BED!
It’s a very soothing lullaby.
It’s not that she’s crying, or unhappy, or hungry, or dirty, or any other problem I can fix. She’s started to realize that the squeaks and yelps she hears are coming from her own mouth, and she LOVES to lay in bed and make all these fun new noises. For HOURS. At TWO AM. And oh man, the noises really are so cute, but I have a feeling they’d be even cuter at two PM. But I wouldn’t know, because she is always sleeping at two pm!
I know Maddie had this problem, where she confused days and nights. But I cannot, for the life of me, remember what (if anything) we did to correct the problem. Other than sing the Go To Bed Song.
This last weekend Annie went to her first birthday party. My oldest (since 1981) and bestest friend Tara’s daughter Reilly turned four on the 13th, and to celebrate we all dressed like princesses.
I am the Mommy Fairy Princess, and Annie is the Purple Tutu Princess. They are very famous princesses.
Maddie’s first birthday party was Reilly’s second birthday, and last year she went to her third birthday party, where she dyed her face and fingers with delicious frosting.
Reilly was super excited to meet, as she calls her, Baby Annabel. She asked me if she could hold Baby Annabel, “when I am older.” I told her it could be arranged.
Meeting Baby Annabel is exciting, but nothing compares to holding Tinkerbell’s wand.
Reilly talks to Tara about Baby Maddie almost every day. Whenever I see Reilly she talks to me about her too. It makes me happy to know that Reilly still thinks about Maddie and knows who she is. Most of Maddie’s friends aren’t going to have memories of her, but Reilly does and that means so much to me.
Maddie, Reilly, and Reilly’s brother Georgie in September of 2008
I look forward to the day when Reilly will be able to tell Annie stories about big sister.
I woke up yesterday and I looked at Annabel and I realized she doesn’t look like a newborn anymore. She has fat on her. She’s losing her hair. Her baby acne has come and gone. Her eyes are often open and focused on my face.
She’s seven weeks old and she’s changing rapidly! We weighed her last week and she was eight pounds twelve ounces. She’s probably over nine by now! She’s gained half of her birth weight. It boggles my mind.
Mike’s parents are here from the Bay Area. They hadn’t seen Annie since she was two weeks old and they flipped over how much she’s changed.
I love putting her on her back or tummy and watching her figure things out. She’s finding her voice, and one of these days’s she’s going to accidentally roll over and scare herself.
