twelfth month slideshow

sorry this slideshow is a little late, but annabel is keeping us busy! between chasing her around the house, and taking her to the park, science center & play dates, we just haven't had the time to put it together. but alas, here it is!

it is hard to believe that she is already one. we are so thankful that we decided to put together a monthly slideshow for her first year so we can see how much she has changed. we hope you have enjoyed watching them as much as we have!




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happy birthday annabel

we survived our first year as parents! andrew and i can't believe how fast the year went by, and yet at the same time her birth seems like so long ago.

we had a birthday party for annabel the weekend before she turned 1 and had tons of friends and family here to help us celebrate. annabel's grandma & grandpa drove in from new jersey and her aunt cindy, uncle jeff, and cousin kaelyn made the trip from pennsylvania. lulu & pop flew up from texas along with aunt colleen - who made annabel's awesome cake! thank you so much to everyone who made it to the party or sent their well wishes. it was wonderful having so many people around to celebrate annabel's birthday. the party was a lot of fun and we are counting it as an overall success - despite annabel burning her hand on the candle and then refusing to eat the cake. we have learned our lesson for the next time around. :)

on thursday, september 9, andrew and i woke up at 5:29am and peeked in at annabel sleeping and sang (very quietly) happy birthday. after some more sleep and breakfast we took cupcakes to the nurses in the special care unit at the hospital that took such good care of annabel one year ago. we will be forever thankful for those women for all that they did to care for our baby - and us. after visiting with them and looking back on the last year, we headed to the park to have a picnic. we watched as annabel ran around and giggled, and i remembered the days when times like this seemed so far away - watching our healthy, happy little girl playing on her own. later, we had breakfast for dinner and then tried our luck at cake attempt #3. while not as catastrophic as the first two, it was still not the cake eating experience i expected. andrew keeps telling me it's a good thing that she like vegetables better than cake, and i keep telling him that i just don't understand how MY child doesn't like cake! :)

we wanted to share the experience with everyone (especially those who couldn't be here) so in pure "aggies in ohio" fashion - here's a slideshow!



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eleventh month slideshow

we had another super busy but super fun month with our little monkey. we had visits from lulu & pop, grandma & grandpa, and even aunt erin. annabel has been busy crawling around the house and getting into everything! she has discovered our spice drawers and they have quickly become her go to form of entertainment. she is getting so big and learning new things every day. this past month she learned the sign for "more" (and uses it constantly), she started saying "baby" when grandma & grandpa bought her a baby doll, and has been cruising along our furniture getting ready for her first steps. enjoy!



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four new videos of the babe...whoa!

we keep saying that annabel is walking, talking, laughing, eating, signing, etc, etc. even though cheryl and i are totally believable people, we still get requests all the time for proof. i'm not sure how to take that but we decided to give the people what they want. here are a few more videos from the past month or two. enjoy...

video 1: the little giggler...



or click here to view "giggler" video on youtube

video 2: how big is annabel?



or click here to view "so big" video on youtube

video 3: where you going?



or click here to view "walking" video on youtube

video 4: who you talking to?



or click here to view "talking" video on youtube

i saw the sign...

in the words of ace of base...i saw the sign. not really but that is certainly a blast from the past.

watching a baby grow and learn has really turned into one of the most fascinating activities that i have ever been part of. talking with a friend the other day about how babies go from not being able to do virtually anything to being walking, talking functioning people really made me think. so not only is there an immense amount of physical development going on, but at a pace quite possibly faster, annabel's brain is growing and maturing too. some days it is even more obvious than others. this short little video is a testament to that. watching her engage in such a simple gesture was really quite amazing. and our pride in seeing our daughter make such a huge leap is rivaled only by the pride that she shows in knowing that she's the one that actually pulled it off. enjoy the video...



or click here to view the video on youtube

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ten month slideshow

ten months sounds like such a long time and at the same time such a drop in the bucket. this month's slideshow features photos of our monkey posing in her aggie gear; traveling to jersey; kicking it with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins (terrorizing her cousin kaelyn is probably a better way to put it); cheering at the fourth of july parade; standing; crawling; and lots and lots of smiling! annabel truly is the joy of our life and we love watching her grow up. enjoy...



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babies love to give kisses...

i don't know where she learned to kiss like that, but it sure is funny...



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cutest dang aggie. ever.

if you have ever seen a cuter aggie, then you must be crazy! :) for my father's day gift, cheryl found a tiny jersey, tiny football and tiny helmet and took annabel in for a tiny photo shoot. and even though there were about 80 adorable photos, she showed great restraint and only bought these two. i would say that she they both did an awesome job! gig 'em annabel!

ninth month slideshow

nine months. three quarters of a year. wow. it is hard to believe that it was nine months ago that our little nugget was born and became our little annabel. where has the time gone? months keep passing, but it doesn't seem like any time has gone by. i feel like we say this every month, but it seems like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital, but so long ago at the same time. she has changed and grown so much in last nine months. she went from a still, quiet baby to a crawling, babbling little girl with so much personality. every day she impresses us with a new skill she has mastered and makes us laugh with her silly faces.



or click here to view video on youtube

sitting, crawling, standing, going...

i remember a day when annabel would just lay there and look pretty. she might blink her eyes. maybe scrunch her nose. and if you catch her on a good day, she would wave a hand. well, those days are long gone. here's a brief timeline of her achievements in mobility:

1. october 9: rolled over
2. february 17: sat up on her own
3. april 10: got her roll figured out
   
4. may 3: moved to her hands and knees
5. may 8: crawled for the first time
6. may 19: sat up by herself
7. may 22: pulled herself up to standing
8. any day now: walking, running, driving, going...
   

as you can see, when she learns how to do something, she doesn't waste any time getting good at it. and now that she can stand up, nothing is off limits. as scary as it is every time she does it, it is tons of fun to watch her grab the couch, table, tv cabinet, crib rail, pant leg, etc, etc, and stand up on her two tiny little feet and her two wobbly legs. its probably most exciting because it is obvious looking at her that she is so proud of herself and just ready to take another step. and as easy as it used to be, and as much as we miss those days when she just laid there and looked pretty, as parents we get to be the ones to hold her hands until she is ready to let go. and as we know, it will be here before we know it.

here is a video of annabel showing off all her new tricks. she has since perfected her crawling, sitting herself up, standing up.... and terradactyl impersonation.


or here to view video on youtube

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where have we been?

so its been a long time since we did any real blogging. part of that is due to a pretty busy schedule lately. part of it is due to a far more mobile baby that we always seem to chasing here or there. and part of it is due to just plain ol' laziness. whatever the reasons, it is time to get some new photos, videos and stories up on the blog. this week will be a series of updates from the past few weeks. enjoy.

eight month slideshow

our little annabel is one month older. and it has been a busy month. she got her first - and second - tooth, went to a dairy farm, played in a pool and learned to crawl! before we know it she will be flashing all her pearly whites as she walks across the stage at her graduation. enjoy...



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cutest kid? i think so.

annabel made the cut to be a reader's choice finalist for a photo on the cover of parents magazine! click here to vote for her once a day until may 16.

happy mother's day!

while it may not be made of macaroni, glitter or glue, here is annabel's first mother's day gift to her mommy. and i would like to take this opportunity to say how incredibly proud i am of annabel's mom. "amazed" barely scratches the surface of how i feel about her. happy mother's day cheryl...



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its official, she has figured it out...

yep, its official, she has figured it out. its a good thing that grace is not an indicator of achievement. she still has a few elements to figure out, such as style and efficiency, but you cannot argue the fact that our baby is now a crawler. its both incredibly exciting and terrifying at the same time. watch the video below to see our mobile baby in action. enjoy...



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she's going for it...

things are starting to change in the robison house. while annabel still is not really crawling yet, we are definitely beyond being able to sit her down and trust that she will remain there until we pick her up. she can now go from sitting up to her hands and knees without much hesitation and as you have seen before, once she is on her tummy she is on the move. i guess it is officially time to start child-proofing the house. eek!



or click here to view video on youtube

here comes the tooth fairy...

last week annabel hit a pretty big milestone... her first tooth broke through!

at annabel's four month check-up the doctor said she had a tooth coming up, so like most first time parents we were excited and started checking her mouth every day. and every day there was nothing.... she turned five months and there was nothing. then six months and still nothing. seven months and nothing. the excitement wore off at some point and we stopped checking so often. then last tuesday i (cheryl) decided i would check out the progress and there was her first pearly white!

the tip is just above the surface of her gums, so it is still pretty small and very hard to photograph. :) i have been trying for a week to get a picture and today i was successful. not only did i get a decent photo - i also was able to shoot some video.

take a long look at her "toothless" smile - beacause it won't look like that much longer.



or click here to view video on youtube

yea! fun at the park!

guess where mom and dad took me last weekend? to the park! i've never been to this park before. they told me that they took me when i was younger and it was cold but i don't remember it. they even told me that i went down a slide with mommy. i especially don't remember doing that. but this trip to the new park was so much fun. the first thing that we did when we got there was go swinging. that was kind of scary at first but turned out to be really fun. there were some silly boys throwing sand next to me but they didn't scare me. daddy was there watching them so they stopped. after we went swinging, mommy helped me do some chin-ups. i really need to work out more. for some reason though she wouldn't let me chew on the chin-up bar. oh well. next thing we did was go down a slide. mommy even let me slide down on my back all by myself (i think that this was one of daddy's ideas). it was a short slide and daddy was at the bottom to catch me but it was still so much fun. after that we went over to a different part of the park and played on some bigger swings and slides. it was all so much fun. i hope that we get to go back again soon. and there were lots of other kids playing too. maybe i'll play with them when we go back. well, it's time to eat now. i think that i'm having green beans. yum! you can watch a video of me on the swing if you want. love you. xoxo banannabel







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what a silly girl...

we've got a giggler. enjoy...



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http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

seventh month slideshow

that sweet child o' ours turned seven months old last week! and what a busy month it was. two trips to the columbus conservatory, two visits from the grandparents, easter, a trip to the zoo and everything in between. but we still can't believe how fast it is all going and how big she is getting. it seems like just yesterday (and so long ago at the same time) that we had to carefully cradle her head and wrap her up tight to sleep. now she is throwing herself around on the floor and puts herself to sleep on her tummy. the last seven months have been amazing and we are excited about all the months to come.



or click here to view video on youtube

on the move...

i think the fun is about to begin. annabel is not crawling yet, but she is definitely passed the "where you put me, i will stay" stage. she has become quite the roller and is pretty good at scooting too. the photo shows where she ended up in just a few seconds after we put her down on the blanket on her floor to enjoy some "naked time." and the video... well, the video speaks for itself...


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fever with a side of butt rash...

annabel got sick this week for the first time. yeah, i know. she made it 7 months without any problems but it had to happen sometime. now i suppose that i need to go back and be a little more accurate. since she spent her first five days in the special care unit at the hospital and we spent her first month of life going back and forth to the doctors office, i guess the more accurate statement would be, annabel got sick this week for the first time since october. although, technically all those trips to the doctor were for non-illness related reasons - eye problems and weight issues...wow. all these words and you're still wondering what the heck is wrong with her this week. jeepers. sorry. tuesday evening cheryl noticed what looked like a rash on both of annabel's arms. kind of strange. wednesday morning when annabel woke up she felt warm. cheryl checked her temperature to find out that she was running a fever of about 101.3. not bad but something to keep an eye on. annabel's whole bottom was also rashy wednesday morning. cheryl made a number of calls to the doctor's office but the triage nurse kept telling her to keep an eye on it but it didnt sound like a problem. when she woke up on thursday her fever was gone but the rash seemed worse on her arms and her bottom. again, calls to the nurse told cheryl it was probably nothing to worry about. none of this really seemed to be bothering annabel but it was bothering us. so friday morning when the rash was still there and had spread to her chest and legs, cheryl made an appointment and took the baby in to get looked at. turns out that she's got a case of roseola. its a viral illness that is somewhat common in small children ages 6 months - 2 years. since it is viral and the fever has passed, there is nothing really to do other than wait for the rash to clear up, which should take 2-5 days. we also don't know where she picked this up. in the last week she has played with our neighbor's baby, gone to church, gone to the grocery store and gone to the zoo. the good news is that this is really no big thing and doesn't seem to bother her at all. so if you happen to be a fan of big illness, this would be kind of a let down. but for the rest of us, we'll be happy when its all gone.

to the zoo and back again...

well, on monday we made our first official trip to the zoo with annabel (not like we had an unofficial one but you know what i mean). i had the day off and the weather looked promising so we thought that a trip to the park would be fun. then our friends with zoo passes (who also have an infant girl) threw us a bone and suggested that we be their free zoo guests for the day. well, it took us about a half a second to jump on that train. so monday afternoon came around, we packed the baby, stroller, diaper bag, extra bottle, baby sunscreen (you can see where this is going) and headed off to the columbus zoo. for all you zoo buffs out there, did you know that in 2009 the columbus zoo was ranked the number one zoo in the country by usa travel guide? it was. and it is a pretty cool zoo. it has manatees, elephants, tigers, gorillas, kangaroos and i heard that we'll be getting a couple of polar bears this summer. cheryl and i have been to the zoo three times now and its definitely a good one. anywho, this trip was far different than our previous two trips. first difference was the amount of stuff. all the items listed above plus more made us realize that life has definitely changed. it was not all that bad though because pretty much everything went in our little stroller which also carried the water bottles and pistachios. not a bad deal. second difference was how much more pointing that we did. and to be honest, it was all pretty point"less". ha. "annabel, annabel. look over here. look at that. look at this. annabel..." when she did look it was either at our face or our hands. she has yet to grasp the "follow the direction of the finger" concept. no big deal though. it was fun. and when animals don't move, to a baby i am pretty sure that they look just like everything else. the one exception was the fish. she really liked the fish. they have an enormous tank for two manatees and tons of fish and stingrays. it is pretty cool. and the fact that she could get up close and personal to the fishes swimming right in front of her made it very exciting. in addition to that tank they also have a large reef tank with lots of smaller but more colorful fish. and who doesnt love colorful fish? the third difference was the diaper change/bottle break after about 2.5 hours. the previous two "babyless" times we didn't want to stop even for a short break because we wanted to see more. this time, the babies made sure that we did not skimp on the break. but after they got a fresh set of drawers and a full belly, both girls were ready for a few more animals. unfortunately, the zoo was ready for us to leave. so we sprinted over to asia to see the tiger, bear, elephants and the rhino. all of which were up and about so that made it worth it. and then it was home again, home again. so after close to three hours at the zoo, we piled back in the car and headed home. pretty sure that annabel was asleep before we hit the highway. she was exhausted. but it was a good day and one that we will be sure to repeat many more times in the coming months and years.

our little model...

annabel had her first professional photo shoot this past week and the pictures turned out great! she loves having her picture taken and is such a little ham - she even smiles when you count to three - so we knew we would end up with some great shots.

click on any of the photos to see more pictures from the day (they start on page 3 of the album) and this past month.

fun on the floor...

annabel has mastered a new skill! well... maybe not quite mastered, but pretty close :) she can now sit on her own (with an occasional fall) and is so proud of herself - and of course we couldn't be happier.

tonight i was able able to draw out the rare and elusive annabel giggle while she was enjoying her new found vertical positioning. don't get me wrong, she is a very, very happy baby. she just prefers to show her excitement with a squeal instead of laughter. but tonight i was victorious.

(after watching the video back i realize how annoying my noises are to anyone but a 6 month old baby - i apologize)



or click here to view the video on youtube

sixth month slideshow

annabel has been a part of this world for half of a year! we can not believe how quickly the past 6 months have gone by and how big she has gotten. she is changing every day, learning new tricks constantly and is certainly developing her own personality...



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learning the basics

i remember back when i was gearing up to take the graduate record examination, or the gre, and ordered the "gre for dummies" book online. as i was going through it i realized that i have learned a lot of stuff in my life that i successfully managed to purge from all but the deepest crevasses of my mind. the pythagorean theorum sounded familiar but for all i knew it could have been a recipe for hummus. prefixes, suffixes and roots seemed like hazy word bubbles flitting here and here as if in a dream. and don't even try to remind me how to calculate the total volume of a heptahedron. my point is that i have learned many things in my life that haven't really stuck with me through thick and thin. compare this with my six-month-old who is learning lessons hand over foot (and sometimes foot in mouth) every waking moment. and almost every one of these concepts are permanently forming her into a real live person. sure, i know that annabel is a person. she has been since her mother and i split a bottle of wine and...nevermind. i know that she's a person. but there is a far cry from an infant with the mental capacity to choose between screaming or smiling and a rhodes scholar calculating how many organic compounds and cellular organelles are involved in protein synthesis. one of the key differences is that most rhode scholars don't need a boppy pillow to help them sit up. but as i watch our daughter learn and develop every day i am constantly amazed by a very simple concept, what she just learned she will never unlearn. think about it. currently she's working really hard to sit up by herself. once she masters that she will ALWAYS be able to sit up. she learned how to roll over a few months ago. she now rolls all the time. she finally figured out how to get the food from the spoon into her mouth (okay sure, she still manages to get half of it on her pants) and i am fairly confident that that's a lesson that will stick. now, i know that there are many things that she won't remember learning yet and quite frankly that's not always a bad thing. she still constantly reaches too far for a toy when she's sitting on the floor and inevitably face plants. and then she does it again. but its all part of the process. one day it will click in her head and years from now when she's reaching for the grape that rolled behind the couch, she will be fully aware that if she crosses a point in the lean-over she will instantly be reminded of what floor tastes like. i am amazed when i think about all of this. the amount of learning that she is experiencing every minute is so much more than her mother and i are undergoing, and it is very fun to watch.

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to swaddle or not to swaddle...

our little angel is getting so big! she is almost 6 months old - where has the time gone? we decided last week that it was time to stop swaddling her when we put her to bed at night so she could have a little more freedom. we were nervous that she may not sleep through the night without her "straight jacket" but she did fine. what we severely underestimated was her ability and desire to move about the crib. we put her in her crib on her back with her lower half tucked under the quilt...

(you may need to turn up your volume - we had to whisper)


click here to watch on youtube

ps - i realize the last 3 post have been about annabel sleeping... what can i say... the girl loves her sleep :)

mommy and daddy are here...

imagine the sound of a infant screaming. a sweet, innocent little child crying out as loud as her tiny lungs will allow. imagine this scream coming from the room down the hall. piercing the air and igniting your heart. imagine its the middle of the night. and imagine that she's your baby. yeah. its the worst. the first time that we heard that sound it was about a month ago and we had just settled in for the night. annabel had been sleeping for about two hours, cheryl and i had brushed our teeth, finished our prayers and just turned off the light. and then it happened. it started with what sounded like a little gasp or cough. then a quiet little cry. then another. and then all of a sudden a blood-curdling, mind-blowing, gut-wrenching wail of a scream to wake the dead. in the blink of an eye cheryl was out of bed, over the dogs, down the hall and holding our precious little baby in her arms. "its okay sweetie. you're okay. mommy's here. you're okay baby." and as quickly as it started, the screaming was gone. and all we had left was a tiny, peaceful angel of a baby with tears down her cheeks in the arms of her scared and sweaty mama. we had just experienced annabel's first nightmare. can you imagine?

according to many sources, babies begin dreaming when they are just a few weeks old. "REM sleep waves have been found at as early as 28 weeks of gestation, and REM sleep waves accompanied by the eye movements of dreams by 30 weeks of gestation." (Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine in the Child, WB Saunders, 1995) that's kind of crazy. the thought of a baby dreaming while still in the womb is a little mind-boggling. what do they dream about? what thought processes, images or ideas have they even formed enough to dream about? weird.

so maybe babies can dream. surely they are happy dreams, right? "We know from older children that nightmares commonly follow surgery, tooth extraction, and motor vehicle accidents. Why wouldn't they follow childbirth? We don't want to believe that our little ones experience anything unpleasant. Knowing how much young babies dream and cry (and wake up crying), it seems absurd to me to believe that all of their dreams are happy ones. Birth is a wonderful and terrible experience. There is much to be happy about and much to learn about in the weeks that follow. Babies' dreams must incorporate and address those things that bring them pleasure and those that make them cry. In all likelihood, the peak age of crying, the first six weeks, is also the peak age of nightmares. These nightmares are not unsuccessful dreams. Far from it! They help babies learn and grow; nightmares may even be an important reason that crying diminishes after six weeks." (The Truth About Dreams, Nightmares, and Night Terrors, Alan Greene MD, FAAP, 2001)

whatever the reason, some of our scariest and most painful moments have come when we have heard annabel screaming. it hurts us both so deeply to know that she has something going on inside her head that is terrorizing her enough to cry out. being a parent has taught us fairly quickly that no matter how diligently we guard and protect our child, we can't keep her safe from everything. but i'll be damned if we won't be there each and every time to pick her up, hold her tight and tell her that everything is okay...mommy and daddy are here.

the sweetest thing

since she was born, i have typically been the one to put annabel down to sleep for the night. especially after i went back to work and cheryl got to be with her, taking care of her all day, i had to seize the opportunities whenever they were there. we've used lots of things when its bedtime to calm her down and get her to fall asleep. ever since the beginning though, we have always sung to her. at first i think that i sang songs like hush little baby and rock-a-bye-baby. being that all things were pretty fuzzy early on though, that really is just a guess. not too long after she was born though, cheryl taught me a song that both her dad and grampy would sing to her, the irish lullaby. you know the one, "toorah loorah loorah. toorah loorah lye..." well, after she taught me the words i would sing that to annabel every night (i'll never sing it as well as cheryl does though). sometimes for 30 straight minutes. and i only know one verse and the chorus so you can do the math about how many "toorah loorahs" i would repeat in that time. well, i decided that i needed to add another song to my repertoire so i learned the verses for amazing grace. three of the verses. there are about 20 actual verses i think so i had to cut it off somewhere. while learning the lyrics i stumbled across an a capella version sung by leann rimes on youtube. certainly the most beautiful version that i have ever heard. and not only did i love hearing it, so did annabel. some days when nothing else seemed to be calming her down, i would find it on youtube, hit play and watch my little angel drift off to the sweet sound of leann. it was pretty amazing :) all of this is going somewhere, i promise. about a month ago i heard the song hallelujah on tv i think. the jeff buckley version made popular on the first shrek movie and then jason castro on american idol. i love that song. so i thought it seemed totally appropriate to learn the words and start singing that to annabel. i can still remember the first time that i sang it to her. i had found the video sung by rufus wainwright (who sang it on shrek) on youtube with the lyrics so i decided to go with that. i was standing in our office, lights off, baby cuddled up in my arm reading the lyrics and singing along with rufus. as i write this i can still see her staring up at me with the most beautiful eyes and the sweetest smile (clear as if it was 10 minutes ago). it was one of those moments that i know will remain etched in my memory until the day i die. people talk about having spiritual experiences from a mountaintop, when they see a waterfall or after a near-death experience. well, i can tell you that i have had all those experiences but none of them can hold a candle to that night standing in our upstairs office with rufus wainwright playing on our computer. this baby has changed both mine and cheryl's lives in so many ways in just a few short months. i knew that she would do that. and i knew that she would change how i see the world and live my life. i just had not ever considered though that she would so clearly show me what the face of god truly looked like...

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flying around with the greatest of ease

here's a video of annabel flying through the house. she seems to enjoy soaring around with her dad. enjoy...



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aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

sitting up like a big girl or "hey, who took my bumbo!"

she's still a little ways away from sitting up on her own long enough to enjoy it, but she's getting there. and we figured that the softest spot in our house for her to learn is our bed. so not only is she learning to sit up, but she's learning how to fall down...both important skills to master (take it from the guy who's fallen down a time or two in his life). enjoy...



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awakening the buckeyes

i know that i'm a little behind on posting but i've got a few posts that i'm currently working on. getting them finished and posted is another matter. to prove that i've been busy with all sorts of other things, here is the transcript from a presentation that i gave last weekend about our work at the newman center here at ohio state university. keep in mind that the audience was a catholic men's group but i think it gives you a little glimpse into what we're doing here in ohio. enjoy...

"Howdy. My name is Andrew Robison and as John mentioned, I am the director of development at the St. Thomas More Newman Center. Usually when I say that I’m a fundraiser, I see people’s hands instantly go to guard their wallets…but don’t worry, I am just here to talk with you about some things going on in campus ministry and why you should be excited about the future of our Church. Well, first let me tell you just a little bit about myself. I grew up in Houston, Texas as the third of four children (but the only boy). My dad was a deacon at our church so I basically grew up in the sacristy of the church. Altar serving, donuts after Mass, name it and I was there. When I was in the sixth grade, my parents pulled me out of public school and enrolled me in the nearby Christian school (the Catholic schools were great but really expensive and on the other side of Houston). I received a great education but was one of about three Catholics in my high school. Let’s just say that many of my particular Catholic beliefs were not always supported or encouraged. After graduating, I spent two years at a junior college, a year and a half in the mountains of Colorado “finding myself” and then transferred to Texas A&M in January 2003. During my time in Colorado I “took some time off of church.” But when I started at A&M I knew that I needed to get back in the pews. The friends that I made however were all very involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. I genuinely think that they got extra credit for inviting Catholics to their programs so I got to do all sorts of fun things with them. But I still made it to St. Mary’s (the Catholic campus ministry at A&M) every now and then. My older sisters are both graduates of A&M and both went on this retreat called Aggie Awakening. So when they announced signups one Sunday at Mass, I thought that I better sign up. Well, I did, I made it on the list and attended AA #67. It was one of the most amazing experiences and certainly changed the course of my life in many significant ways. Fast forward a few years and here I am living in Columbus, Ohio, working for the church and helping my wife raise our beautiful new baby girl. I very much learned that when you open your life up to God, sometimes he gives you a whole new one to work with.

So what are college students doing these days? First of all, where are they? There are approximately 4,300 public colleges and universities in the US and 1,600 private ones (of which only 200 are Catholic). This means that at least 90% of Catholics attending college do so at a non-Catholic school. What are they doing? Hopefully, they are studying. Take Ohio State University for example. Ohio State offers over 12,000 courses and 160 different undergraduate degrees. Students come from all over the world to earn a degree from OSU and it takes dedication and hard work to succeed. What else? They are connecting. Football games, student government, clubs (OSU has over 900 different student groups to join). In fact one student was just telling me about the Tri Bacon club where the members gather regularly to cook and eat bacon. Wow. But they are not just doing this connecting in person. Social media is huge. Take Facebook for example. About 90% of all college students have a Facebook profile and 75% check it at least once a day. Virtually every student has a cell phone and if any of you have a teenager, you know what they primarily do with those phones – text. This week my barber was telling me that his teenage granddaughter sent or received 3,500 texts last month! This younger generation is becoming increasingly more comfortable communicating digitally and increasingly less willing to communicate in person. But however they are doing it, they all hunger to be part of something. They all crave community. I was walking my dogs last week and looked up to see a single goose flying above me. I instantly thought about how bizarre that seemed. Geese belong with their flock – especially when its 20 degrees and snowing outside. They need the rest of their flock for warmth in the cold, security from predators, direction on their journey and overall companionship. Not unlike humans. And not only do geese need a flock, but they need to be with other geese. How much would it have helped that goose to be cruising around with a bunch of pigeons? Our job at the Newman Center is to be there to address all of these issues. To offer catechesis (or teaching) of the Catholic faith. To offer groups and organizations where students can learn valuable leadership skills, proficiency in interpersonal communication (or talking and interacting with each other), what it means to serve God and their fellow man, and in between how to have a good time in safe and responsible ways. And ultimately, to build a community of Catholic college students that will educate, support and nurture the gifts and blessings that God grants to each one of us (and each one of them).

so how are we doing this at the Newman Center? Well, many ways. We just sent 18 students to New York over winter break for a week of service. Over Spring Break we’ll be taking another 30 to Memphis where they will have a chance to learn about the civil rights struggles of 50 years ago from people who marched with Dr. King. And last October we launched our very first Buckeye Awakening. You remember that I mentioned how Aggie Awakening changed my life? Well, we took a group of students all the way down to Texas last summer (during the hottest week of the year of course) so that they could experience Aggie Awakening for themselves. And they did and it was amazing. I have a story of one of their experiences that I think sums up the trip. “After the first night we gathered all the students together to discuss where they were (mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc). They all were beaming and excited to see what the next two days would hold for them – all except for one. This student pulled me aside after we broke up that night to tell me he was still a bit unsure where this was all going. He was trying to hear God but was confused about why his experience was not quite at the level of the others in the group yet. His problem reminded me of the story of Elijah who was alone in the wilderness trying to get away from God. When God decided that Elijah was ready, he spoke to him. But Elijah didn’t hear God's voice in the storm, the earthquake or the fire. It wasn’t until it got quiet and he heard a still, small voice that he realized what God's was trying to tell him. By the end of our weekend (and our two day drive back to Ohio…), this student had heard God and couldn’t be more thrilled about the manner in which he heard it. This story shows that listening for God can be tedious and frustrating sometimes, but he knows exactly when to talk to us and call us forward." Oh yeah, our drive back to ohio was pretty awesome too. you would think that driving through texas, oklahoma, missouri, illinois, indiana and ohio would be lame, but it was not. We got to see the world’s largest peanut, the world’s largest fork and a giant fire-breathing dragon. Very cool stuff.

Buckeye Awakening #1 was the beginning of a very exciting new chapter in ministry at Ohio State. It has been incredible watching the student leaders throw themselves into this project with such enthusiasm simply because they want to offer the same transformational experience to their friends and classmates. It is encouraging to see these young men and women show up on Friday not knowing anybody and leave on Sunday with lifelong friends and supporters. And even though we’ve only done one Buckeye Awakening, it is so exciting to see that light come on in so many college students who know there’s a God who loves them but truly sees and understands it (in some cases for the first time ever) in the faces of those praying for them, crying with them and stumbling through this thing called life right alongside them.

another way that we are hoping to serve OSU is through a potential major redevelopment of our property. Nothing is set in stone yet and we’re still actively working out what exactly this project will look like, but our hope is that in the next 2-3 years, the Newman Center will be able to offer students attending OSU a faith-based residential experience. A catholic dorm. Well, sort of but much more. As a parent, how great would it be to know that your son or daughter was going to have the option to pursue a degree from a world-class university like OSU but be able to live in a community that was actively supporting their faith development? Our hope is to partner with the University Baptist Church next door to the Newman Center and build a faith-based residence hall which would be free of many of the shenanigans that happen in so many off-campus residences and full of opportunities for students to study, grow and live their faith. And working with the Baptists gives us a tremendous opportunity to show an ecumenical partnership in action. We are still working out many of the major details that must be in place to go forward but already we have the support of OSU President Gordon Gee, his administration and Bishop Campbell. I don’t want to go into too much more detail at this time because I know that I’m running out of time and many of our plans are preliminary. I’ll be around after if you would like to ask more questions but right now I want to leave you with a thought. John Henry Cardinal Newman, the patron of Catholic campus ministry, believed in a university setting in which a student’s intellect was formed and his soul was nurtured. I believe in my heart that campus ministry is where the future of the Catholic Church is. For many young men and women, it is when they leave home and venture to college that they are first presented with the need to make some pretty major decisions. They may not even realize that they have to make these decisions but they are at a fork. At the Newman Center we are busy putting up those road signs that will hopefully be recognized and used as these college students journey down the road of their life."

she's five months old...and has a new slideshow!

annabel just celebrated the five-month anniversary of her birth which means that we've got a new slideshow. its pretty obvious when you watch the video that she is teething...either that or her fingers perpetually taste like candy canes. enjoy the new photos...



or click here to view the video on youtube

warm and sunny...not in the forecast

one thing that ohio is not known for is its warm, sunny februaries. 2010 is no different. this weekend we got the biggest snowstorm of the winter so far. nothing compared to the 30+ inches of snow that fell in places like pennsylvania, new jersey and d.c. our measly little 8 inches seems like a heavy morning dew compared to that but its what we got and we're enjoying it. well, the parts that don't involve shovels and slippery roads. its so much fun to take the dogs out and let them run amok on the fresh powder of the golf course. and it was so much fun to take annabel out and see what she thought of the giant, frozen flakes softly caressing her cheeks and lashes. i think that she was too far out of her element to be able to process everything. but i am sure that as she becomes more aware of her surroundings and gets more opportunities to see the white stuff falling from the sky, the more she will develop feelings and attitudes about whether she likes it. personally i love the snow. i love waking up in the morning to see a fresh coat on the yard and i love crunching my way through the deep stuff after a big snowfall. cheryl could probably go the rest of her life and be happy to only see snow on tv. i think that she likes to see it when its really fresh but once the brain switches to thinking about the cold that it takes to make snow, the novelty is short lived. so who knows what annabel will think. she would have to be crazy to not appreciate how much fun the puppies think that it is but whether she'll want to join in the revelry with them, only time will tell.

rolly polly annabolly

if you are a follower of this blog, you may remember about three months ago when annabel celebrated her first month anniversary by rolling over from her tummy to her back. well, as the doctor warned us at that time, these skills sometimes come and go. she was right. our little nugget rolled over somewhat consistently for a few weeks and then just stopped. young babies are often so stiff that some can do things like roll with little effort. as their muscles grow and they un-stiffen themselves it takes more coordination to do the things they used to be able to do. well, this time its no fluke. annabel has figured out how to roll. this time its from her back to her tummy. we would love for her to figure out how to get back over though because she will only stand a few minutes on her tummy before she's fed up. all in good time though. notice how proud mama is and then notice how proud annabel is. its cute. without further ado, here is our rolly polly annabolly. enjoy...


or click here to view the video on youtube

one lucky son of a gun...

i don't normally post news articles but this one is hard not to share. god bless us and the young men and women who risk so much to keep us safe.

foot on bomb, marine defies a taliban trap

By C. J. CHIVERS
The New York Times

Published: January 23, 2010

SHOSHARAK, Afghanistan — If luck is the battlefield’s final arbiter — the wild card that can trump fitness, training, teamwork, equipment, character and skill — then Lance Cpl. Ryan T. Mathison experienced its purest and most welcome form.

On a Marine foot patrol here through the predawn chill of Friday morning, he stepped on a pressure-plate rigged to roughly 25 pounds of explosives. The device, enough to destroy a pickup truck or tear apart several men, was buried beneath him in the dusty soil.

...read more

what's this stuff on the spoon?

yesterday was annabel's introduction to solid foods (if you can call that drippy white stuff solid). you can watch the video for yourself to see how she liked it. sorry the sound is a little low. turn up your volume to get the full experience. enjoy...



or click here to view the video on youtube

frequently asked questions

cheryl and i get a lot of questions from all sorts of people about annabel. this post is a compilations of some of the most popular. whether you think you know her like the back of your hand or you're a newbie to the world of annabel, we hope you'll enjoy the recap.

q - how old is annabel now?
a - well, she was born on september 9, 2009 at 5:29 am, so right now she is 4 months, 2 weeks, 15 hours and 27 minutes old.

q - why did you name her annabel helen?
a - the short answer is that we really liked the name annabel and helen is a close family friend who we recently lost to cancer. you can read the whole story by clicking here.

q - is she still rolling over?
a - not so much. dang. she can roll pretty well from side to side but thats where she gets stuck. it appears that the problem is her arms. she isnt really so sure what to do with them so they just go where they want which is often right in the way. eventually gravity will win and she'll get over that hump. but as of now she's at the mercy of her parents when she's had enough tummy time.

q - how big is she now?
a - at her last check up she weighed 14 lbs 5 oz and was 25 inches long. those numbers put her in the 70th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. and amazingly she still looks quite dainty.

q - is she still sleeping through the night?
a - yes (knock on wood). her sleep schedule is one that makes her parents very happy. every night after her 900pm bottle we swaddle her, rock her, kiss her, and tuck her in for the night. most nights she's ready and goes to sleep pretty quickly. other nights she's not quite as ready but usually doesn't resist for too long. she's getting really good at "putting herself to sleep" also. by that i mean that she's not out when we're done rocking but lays in her bed until she falls asleep. some of those times she's quiet but some nights she sings herself to sleep. :)

q - is she eating solids yet?
a - umm...no. today was her first attempt at eating solid foods (if you can call cereal paste on a spoon a solid food) and her second attempt will probably not be tomorrow. she did fairly well but it seems like she needs a few more days to figure out a) what her tongue is for and b) that she needs to open her mouth before the spoon gets to it. but once she's ready we're confident that she'll make a dang good eater.

q - does she like the puppies?
a - i guess so. not real sure that she has an opinion of them yet. she watches them and doesn't freak out when they lick her. so i guess that means that she likes them. we'll see.

q - do the puppies like her?
a - i guess so. they were uber-interested in her when she first came home from the hospital but their interest has kind of waned over the past four months. they don't jump up and run over every time she squeaks anymore and this morning she was sitting on the floor with me and they just laid there watching. we're hoping that once annabel starts pulling and poking they still like her the same. in fact, i think that i'm going to start riding harvey around the house now to get him used to it.













q - is she laughing?
a - laughing is a tricky thing. she does a lot more squealing than laughing at this time. every now and then when the planets align and the tides are in the right quadrant (...) we get a giggle. very cute. and we know that she'll get it one day so we're happy with what we can get.

q - how is her eye doing?
a - good. her follow up appointment with the eye doctor went better than we could have expected. short story is that the scar does not look like it will affect her vision and early indications are that she will not need glasses. you can read the long version by clicking here.

q - has she made any friends yet?
a - i think so. you know kids...every day i ask how her day was and she says "fine." jeepers. how the heck and i supposed to know anything? but seriously, she has hung out with aidan, my coworkers son, a few times but they've both just sat and stared the times we've gone over. and i don't think that its because they're so awestruck with the other. her other friend is grace who lives a few houses down. grace is 6 months old now so they are a little more fun together. their first slumber party (bedtime upstairs while their mommies and daddies played cards) was broken up since they just wanted to stay up and talk to each other. girls...














q - does she travel well?
a - better than i do really. thanksgiving she went on her first road trip and made it something like 22 hours in the car (round trip) with nary a peep. we also took a mini-trip last week up to marion ohio which is about an hour from our house. she was either staring out the back window or sleeping the whole time. who could ask for anything more? and she's good on a plane too. when we flew to houston over christmas, the ladies in front of us turned around as we were deboarding and said, "we had no idea there was a baby on the plane." attagirl annabel.

q - what color are her eyes?
a - something in between brown, hazel and green. and the left is slightly different than the right. go figure.

q - what color is her hair?
a - today its kind of blonde. tomorrow it may be brown again. not real sure yet. the jury is still out but it may not matter since it will probably change once we figure something out. so right now its either a dark blonde or a blondy brown. but it is starting to get pretty long in some spots. she is still showing off her wild side by sporting the "fuzz hawk" as i like to call it. keep it up annabel.

q - does she have any favorite songs? nursery rhymes?
a - depends on the time of the day. when its time to have fun she likes the "wheels on the bus" and recently "bingo" (or any song that we just make up on the spot). when its bedtime its definitely either the "irish lullaby" (you know, tura lura lura) or "amazing grace." cheryl and i each could probably sing the three verses of amazing grace in our sleep we've done it so many times. just wish i could learn the other verses. cheryl has also recently begun teaching her barney songs and her favorite recording artist is definitely leann rimes. as far as nursery rhymes, not so much. we read her berenstein bears books all the time but i'm not sure that she's picked a favorite yet.

q - does she like getting a bath?
a - much more than she used to. she was a screamer every time she touched the water for the first few months but she's really calmed down quite a bit recently. she also outgrew her first tub so we've moved onto a bigger model. it seems to be working though. next step i think is the actual bathtub. whoa!

q - has she chosen a college yet?
a - annabel has not chosen a college yet but early signs point to texas a&m. i mean, she's always wearing maroon onesies and hats and bibs with "howdy" and "whoop" on them, but then we caught her the other day trying on some buckeye gear. thankfully we've got some time to decide. :)

so that's the run down of the faq's that we get. if you have any other questions you are wondering about, post a comment or email one of us. we'd love to hear what you're interested in knowing.