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
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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
foot on bomb, marine defies a taliban trap
By C. J. CHIVERS
The New York Times
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.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
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
or click here to view the video on youtube
Saturday, January 23, 2010
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.
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.
new photos...
click here to view some new photos from annabel's fifth month. jeepers. fifth month sounds so old...
Friday, January 22, 2010
tongues are so much fun...
looks (and sounds) like annabel figured out a new trick. she seems to be having a good time. :) you may want to turn your volume up. enjoy...
or click here to view the video on youtube
or click here to view the video on youtube
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
the incredible growing baby...
when we left for the doctor this morning, we had a feeling that it would probably be a pretty straight forward, easy check-up (well, not including the second round of shots she was scheduled to get). and we had a feeling that she would get a pretty good report since she has been eating well and performing like the books say that a four-month-old should be. we also had a pretty good guess at what annabel's weight would be since we created a profile for her on the wii (even though on the wii she's a cute little puppy with brown ears). so overall we thought that we were pretty prepared for this check-up. which is why it was so weird that we were both totally shocked and amazed! let me tell you why.
the appointment started out the same way they all do. we get there, wait in the waiting room, go back to the little exam room, strip the baby down to her diaper, walk back down the hall to the scale, weigh her, go back to the room, and the wait for the doctor to come do her exam. it was somewhere between steps 7 and 8 that the shock appeared. annabel weighed in at 14 lbs 5 oz which is great. that was not the shock. annabel is now in the 70th percentile for weight. that was the shock! when she was writing in annabel's chart, the nurse actually asked us whether these number could be correct because her last official weigh-in was at two months when she was in the seventh percentile. now she is in the sevenTIEth! what a difference a couple months can make. we have obviously gotten those pesky eating issues out of the way. wow! below are two photos, the one on the left from month two and the one on the right from month four. see if you can notice a difference.
other significant notes: annabel has her first tooth coming in and we'll be taking our first attempt at feeding her solid foods this week. some babies at this age are ready for solid foods and some need a few more weeks. but we won't know until we try. so baby cereal, here we come! plus, in addition to being in the 70th percentile for weight, she is in the 95th percentile for height! she's a tall one. in fact, cheryl went to the store last night and bought her some new clothes since she's outgrowing everything as we're dressing her. she had to buy nine month clothes since the ones that she is outgrowing are all six month sizes...and she's only four months old! inconceivable! and finally, we also got our official report back from the appointment with the occupational therapist back in december and got high marks then too. in fact, the report said that based on the bayley scales of infant development, her cognition composite score is high average, her language composite score is high average and her motor composite score is SUPERIOR! whoa! pretty much, she is awesome!
the appointment started out the same way they all do. we get there, wait in the waiting room, go back to the little exam room, strip the baby down to her diaper, walk back down the hall to the scale, weigh her, go back to the room, and the wait for the doctor to come do her exam. it was somewhere between steps 7 and 8 that the shock appeared. annabel weighed in at 14 lbs 5 oz which is great. that was not the shock. annabel is now in the 70th percentile for weight. that was the shock! when she was writing in annabel's chart, the nurse actually asked us whether these number could be correct because her last official weigh-in was at two months when she was in the seventh percentile. now she is in the sevenTIEth! what a difference a couple months can make. we have obviously gotten those pesky eating issues out of the way. wow! below are two photos, the one on the left from month two and the one on the right from month four. see if you can notice a difference.
other significant notes: annabel has her first tooth coming in and we'll be taking our first attempt at feeding her solid foods this week. some babies at this age are ready for solid foods and some need a few more weeks. but we won't know until we try. so baby cereal, here we come! plus, in addition to being in the 70th percentile for weight, she is in the 95th percentile for height! she's a tall one. in fact, cheryl went to the store last night and bought her some new clothes since she's outgrowing everything as we're dressing her. she had to buy nine month clothes since the ones that she is outgrowing are all six month sizes...and she's only four months old! inconceivable! and finally, we also got our official report back from the appointment with the occupational therapist back in december and got high marks then too. in fact, the report said that based on the bayley scales of infant development, her cognition composite score is high average, her language composite score is high average and her motor composite score is SUPERIOR! whoa! pretty much, she is awesome!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
the dogs and the great white...fairway
here is some video of me and the puppies out in the snow. we live right next to a golf course and traffic on the links generally slows down this time of year. but its really nice for us because we can take the dogs out and let them run around without worrying about them taking off. occasionally there will be a flock of canadian geese that will park themselves on the course but fortunately they weren't out this day. enjoy...
or click here to view the video on youtube
or click here to view the video on youtube
Friday, January 15, 2010
snowy snowy ohio...
here are some photos from ohio. these were actually taken during the first real snow which happened around new years. we've got a video to post from a few days after this when it snowed even more. from the end of december until earlier this week it snowed every day. 17 days straight! now it wasn't blizzards every day but the fact is that it snowed every single day for over two weeks. and it never got above freezing that whole time either so we were definitely bundling up every time we left the house...who am i kidding, every time we got out of bed! it was cold. but the puppies like the snow, i kind of like it as long as i'm not shoveling it and cheryl...well, cheryl hates it. no way around that. actually she doesn't mind the snow so much as the cold weather that comes hand in hand with it. if you've ever seen cheryl you know that she doesn't have much insulation to keep her warm so when its cold, she's cold. i'm not quite sure how annabel feels about the snow yet. but if she keeps growing like she is, she'll be able to tell us herself before winter is over. so that's columbus in january. but stay tuned because the coldest month of the year is still yet to come. i'm only saying that because the average high temp in february is 22 degrees. downright balmy...
Sunday, January 10, 2010
newest slideshow
annabel turned four months old on saturday. and you know what they say about four-month-olds...well, i don't know what they say about them. but we like to say that ours is a pretty happy girl. :)
or click here to view video on youtube
or click here to view video on youtube
Friday, January 1, 2010
2009...what a year!
flipping the calendar over on two thousand and nine gives us a good opportunity to reflect on what this year has meant for all of us. its been a crazy one for the ohio robisons for sure.
by month:
top five phrases:
by month:
- january: finding out we were pregnant was quite enough for the month
- february: this month was pretty slow so we'll just say settling into our house and adjusting to trimester number one
- march: much busier month. we had our first out-of-town guests stay with us. erin came up for a few days and david and april came right after. we went to the zoo, ate german food, saw the giant picnic basket and went to an ice hockey game. i also got to go to detroit for a spring break service trip with some students from the newman center and cheryl made it out to new jersey for a few days. overall it was a month to recover from :)
- april: we spent most of the month recovering from march and preparing for may. cheryl made it through trimester number one with only a few minor bumps and bruises and started to really enjoy this pregnancy thing. easter was also in april which provided fixings for ham sandwiches for the rest of the month. and to top it off, we found out that nugget would be a nugg-ette :)
- may: we took our first trip for the year and went to st. louis for cheryl's cousin betsy's wedding. all the dales were there and the two mamas-to-be were the hit of the week (aside from the bride and groom of course). while in st. louis we got to take in a few of the sites, including ted drewes frozen custard, the zoo, ted drewes frozen custard, the arch, ted drewes frozen custard and the old house on murdoch avenue.
- june: baby showers! in june we went all the way to texas for two showers, one in college station and one in houston. baby furniture, burp cloths, and tons of baby clothes made the trip well worth it. :) cheryl & lil nugget kept on growing and cheryl's belly finally "popped" (meaning it finally looked like she was pregnant).
- july: was another busy month. it was nice to spend our first july in a long time in a state where it never got hotter than 95 degrees. that being said, this was the month that i and five students from the newman center took a trip back to texas for aggie awakening #86.
the trip was amazing and we got to see lots of fun things on the roadtrip back home (including 101 on the thermometer). we also went to new jersey for another baby shower at grandma and grandpa dale's house. and we got our first glimpse of our little nugget in 3D! so cute. - august: we didn't travel anywhere in august (because cheryl was about to really pop!) but we did have visitors come see us in columbus. our friends david & aspen celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in style (and by "in style" i mean in ohio) and we spent a week hanging out and taking in the columbus sites. a few days later my parents came to columbus for the first time since they lived here 36 years ago. we also finished up our baby preparations with some fun classes and furniture assembly.
- september: hmm, september... i don't think much happened this month. :) oh right, our lives as we knew them were completely and forever changed.
little nugget became annabel helen on september 9, 2009 in the most dramatic of ways. the rest of the month is honestly a complete blur but i think that i remember some doctors appointments, bottles and diapers. oy vey. - october: baby, baby, baby. she rolled over for the first time, starting sleeping through the night, went to more eye doctor appointments and smiled a lot. non-baby events included our three-year anniversary, finishing my very first marathon and launching buckeye awakening #1 at the newman center.
- november: we started the month off by baptizing our little girl. not only did we celebrate the baptism but we got to do it with both sets of grandparents and her new godmother and godfather. then a few short weeks later we loaded
up and drove to jersey for thanksgiving. the trip was a great one and gave annabel a chance to meet lots of her cousins (including her newest cousin, kaelyn). - december: a great month to end a great year. we took pictures with santa, flew to texas and celebrated annabel's first christmas ever.
top five phrases:
- it won't be like this for long
- these precious and fleeting moments
- the baby mama
- oy vey
- this too shall pass
- honorable mention: buzz, buzz, buzzzzzzz
- first steps, first words, first bites of real (pureed) food, and having more fun with annabel than we can possibly imagine
- aunt kimmy's graduation, david and april's wedding and going to texas to celebrate both
- seeing more of the ohio countryside (and probably some more giant things and bizarre sites)
- making more friends and spending more time with the ones that we've got
- a few vacations, a few staycations and enjoying a full year of family living...
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