aggies in ohio

another highlight video...

2011-02-22T20:54:00.002-05:00

here are some highlights from november and december 2010. part of the robison family (lulu, pop, erin & colleen - we missed shannon & kevin) joined us for thanksgiving this year instead of us traveling to texas. annabel continued to grow in both strength and personality and even began feed herself with a spoon. the first two months of winter brought cold & snow for us to play in.

or click here to watch video on youtube

we're still here...

2011-02-02T20:38:00.004-05:00

we know it has been a while, but the rumors of us discontinuing our blog aren't true. we have just been super busy. annabel is growing up so fast and we are trying to enjoy these times while we still can. we have decided to put together some "highlight reels" of the past couple months since we have done such an awful job of keeping you all informed. here is what kept us so busy in september and october...

or view video on youtube

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

twelfth month slideshow

2010-09-28T12:15:00.002-04:00

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!

or click here to view video on youtube

happy birthday annabel

2010-09-28T12:12:00.002-04:00

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!

or click here to view video on youtube

eleventh month slideshow

2010-08-14T12:58:00.002-04:00

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!

or click here to view video on youtube

four new videos of the babe...whoa!

2010-07-29T14:59:00.003-04:00

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...

2010-07-15T18:17:00.003-04:00

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

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

ten month slideshow

2010-07-13T16:08:00.005-04:00

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...

or click here to view video on youtube

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

babies love to give kisses...

2010-07-07T11:43:00.004-04:00

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

or click here to view video on youtube

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

cutest dang aggie. ever.

2010-06-28T20:58:00.007-04:00

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

2010-06-09T20:31:00.003-04:00

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...

2010-06-06T22:23:00.009-04:00

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:

october 9: rolled over
february 17: sat up on her own
april 10: got her roll figured out
may 3: moved to her hands and knees
may 8: crawled for the first time
may 19: sat up by herself
may 22: pulled herself up to standing
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

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

where have we been?

2010-06-06T21:59:00.003-04:00

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

2010-05-10T18:19:00.004-04:00

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...

or click here to view video on youtube

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

cutest kid? i think so.

2010-05-10T16:35:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-05-09T10:26:00.006-04:00

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...

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

its official, she has figured it out...

2010-05-09T09:08:00.002-04:00

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...

or click here to view video on youtube

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

she's going for it...

2010-05-03T12:52:00.004-04:00

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...

2010-04-26T18:16:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-04-23T13:28:00.017-04:00

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

or click here to view the video on youtube

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

what a silly girl...

2010-04-22T09:47:00.003-04:00

we've got a giggler. enjoy...

or click here to view video on youtube

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

seventh month slideshow

2010-04-12T20:30:00.004-04:00

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...

2010-04-12T10:17:00.009-04:00

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...

or click here to view the video on youtube

fever with a side of butt rash...

2010-04-09T18:53:00.005-04:00

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...

2010-04-07T23:01:00.001-04:00

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...

2010-04-03T15:33:00.011-04:00

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...

2010-03-13T22:07:00.007-05:00

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

2010-03-11T06:59:00.000-05:00

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...

or click here to view the video on youtube

learning the basics

2010-03-08T15:12:00.008-05:00

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.

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

to swaddle or not to swaddle...

2010-03-01T08:22:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-02-24T22:14:00.000-05:00

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

2010-02-21T14:36:00.005-05:00

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...

http://aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

flying around with the greatest of ease

2010-02-18T09:52:00.002-05:00

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

or click here to view the video on youtube

aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

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

2010-02-18T07:54:00.004-05:00

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...

or click here to view the video on youtube

aggiesinohio.blogspot.com

awakening the buckeyes

2010-02-17T15:38:00.010-05:00

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!

2010-02-11T07:54:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-06T22:02:00.006-05:00

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

2010-01-30T17:02:00.005-05:00

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...

2010-01-27T07:56:00.003-05:00

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.

what's this stuff on the spoon?

2010-01-24T11:19:00.003-05:00

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

2010-01-23T20:56:00.014-05:00

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.

new photos...

2010-01-23T10:17:00.009-05:00

click here to view some new photos from annabel's fifth month. jeepers. fifth month sounds so old...

tongues are so much fun...

2010-01-22T12:24:00.004-05:00

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

the incredible growing baby...

2010-01-20T23:19:00.009-05:00

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 dogs and the great white...fairway

2010-01-19T21:53:00.003-05:00

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

snowy snowy ohio...

2010-01-15T23:11:00.002-05:00

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...

newest slideshow

2010-01-10T16:12:00.004-05:00

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

2009...what a year!

2010-01-01T01:34:00.027-05:00

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:

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 detr oit 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.

so there are our highlights from 2009. it was a fantastic year and full of plenty of surprises. we're hoping that 2010 will be another wonderful one and we're looking forward to it with great anticipation. as a bonus we've listed our top phrases from the past year and some things that we're already looking forward to in 2010. god bless and happy new year!

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

things that we're looking forward to in 2010:

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...

nine months...said the eye doctor to the baby

2009-12-30T16:14:00.009-05:00

what?!? no more eye doctors for nine months?!? thats right. we took annabel for her follow up eye visit to see how the whole corneal abrasion/flipped eye lid/hazy scar issue was affecting her vision. they pulled out the dilation drops, bright lights, eye scopes and special lenses and she came out winking and smiling on the other end. the doctor said that both eyes look exactly like they should for a four-month-old with good vision. that was pretty awesome news. now, there is still a hazy scar on her left eye but it is below her pupil and shouldn't offer her any problems. i asked when it would go away and he told me probably never. whoa. apparently a baby's eyes are so fragile and impressionable that a trauma such as the one that she had so early in her life will leave a mark that will be with her forever. it will be interesting years from now when she is aware of something different in one eye. i guess then she can't acuse us of making all of this up. :)

in the picture below, her left eye has a cloud on it. that is the scar.

learning to laugh...

2009-12-28T00:36:00.005-05:00

annabel is learning all sorts of new tricks these days. it seems like every time we turn around she's mastered something else. today we were treated to a pretty fun surprise. she's still sorting her way through all the sounds and noises that she can make but in this video she's managed to get some dang cute ones in there (especially the 47 second mark). enjoy...

or click here to view video on youtube

first christmas

2009-12-26T01:04:00.002-05:00

being that annabel was just born in september, this year was her official first christmas. technically she was in existence in 2008 but i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that she probably doesn't remember much from then (not that she'll remember this one much more but at least she's in the photos). christmas this year was a robison one, meaning that we went to texas and spent the holiday with grandma lulu and poppy and annabel's aunts erin, shannon and colleen and uncle kevin. and as a special treat, her grant mary braved the christmas storm of 09 to come down from kansas city (as my aunt she is annabel's great-aunt; it was just easier to go with "grant"; but i don't think that "gruncle" steve is going to stick as well...). so all of us were together for most of the week and we had tons of fun cooking, baking, eating, playing wii, shopping, napping, opening presents, watching movies, and playing with the baby. as was to be expected, we spent a lot of time searching for our baby since she somehow ended up in a different aunt or grandparent's arms every time we turned around. they all really got a kick out of her and got to spend some nice quality time together.
christmas morning was pretty typical for the robisons. we woke up late, came downstairs and stood around waiting for the last person to wander down (aunt erin i do believe), and then meandered into the front room to see what santa had delivered in the wee hours of the night. and boy did he deliver. there was plenty of stuff for everyone to go around. we took turns pulling all of our loot out of the stockings (and overflow bags) and showing it off. and there was even a tiny little stocking for annabel - of course piled with the most stuff. she got some clothes, toys, ornaments, blankets and the cutest little baby crocs that you've ever seen. cheryl and i got our fair share of goodies as well. clothes, ornaments, blankets (no toys or crocs...) and all sorts of other fun things. once we had gone through our stockings we started the line over and opened gifts that we bought for each other. christmas is fun because we get all sorts of fun things, but even more so because we get to see the joy in our family members when they open up their presents. its a fun time all around. the rest of the day was filled with lounging around and eating. wow. what more could we ask for.
christmas is a wonderful time every year. it was a little more special for us this time around since it was our first with our new little baby. we got all sorts of cool stuff but nothing could top the best gift that we could ever ask for...the joy and privilege of being annabel's parents. :)

jingle all the way...

2009-12-23T23:22:00.001-05:00

sorry, the elf video is no longer available...

the spirit of aggieland...

2009-12-23T12:30:00.010-05:00

on sunday we got back to our old stomping grounds (and possibly annabel's in about 18 years). after breakfast in houston we loaded up the car and drove the two hours to good ole college station, home of the fightin' texas aggies. whoop! in addition to introducing annabel to texas a&m, we had a full schedule of friends and family members to visit. first on the list was aunt kim. this was the first time that they had met each other and they immediately hit it off. annabel was talking about her car ride and kim was remembering all her notes from the early childhood development class she took and placing annabel on the timeline of growth. it was fun. after all the introductions were made we headed over to get some tasty texas barbeque. a few plates of brisket, sausage, green beans and cornbread later we were stuffed to the max. so we said our goodbyes and went to go meet up with cheryl's old boss and his family. it was good to see him and catch up on what's been going on around town. cheryl is godmother to their oldest boy and its good to see him every now and then. he grows so dadgum fast that i feel like if you don't it would get real tough to recognize him at all. but we couldn't stay too long because their house was about to become bunco central and there was still lots to do to prepare. so again we said our goodbyes and headed out. next was the speedy britches reunion and christmas party. this was the name of our city league softball team from a few years back and a great group of people. its always tons of fun to get together and our christmas parties are a blast. annabel was getting a bit cranky about the time we arrived but she took a short nap, ate dinner and then was a huge hit making her rounds. after dinner we had our yankee swap gift exchange. snuggies, coconut bras, nerf guns and softballs were just some of the gifts this year. we wrapped up the night talking babies with the newly expectant kristin and dirac. it was a fun night with good friends.
monday morning we were able to sleep in a little bit before meeting aunt kim for breakfast. next we made a trip to hearne to see all of cheryl's old coworkers and townie friends. last stop of the trip was to st. mary's catholic center where i used to work. we got to see my old boss, angie, lucy, mike, glenn and another friend, kimmy. after some catching up and oogling the baby, we piled back in the car and returned to houston. all in all it was a super busy two days (and there were even some more people who we wanted to see but just couldn't work it in) but totally worth it to see old friends and show off our new little baby. thanks and gig 'em!

headin' back to texas...

2009-12-22T23:25:00.001-05:00

we made it back to texas! can you believe it? well, only for a week or so. but we'll take what we can get. this past saturday cheryl, annabel and i boarded a jet plane and headed off to the lone star state for christmas. this trip was special for a few reasons. one, it was to be the first plane ride for miss annabel. not knowing how she would react to that, we were pretty excited and nervous. and second, if texas ever leaves the union, we're hoping this will help her chances when she wants to apply for texas citizenship. not sure but it can't hurt. :)

cheryl worked for about two straight days getting ready for the trip. washing clothes, gathering bottles, shopping for diapers and packing suitcases. it was a lot of work! she told me friday night as we were watching the snow come down and wondering if our flight would still happen, that this trip had better happen if for no other reason then that she spent so much time preparing for it. it was funny. so we went to bed friday night with our bags packed, our christmas presents wrapped, our boarding passes printed and hoping for decent enough weather that the big day would still happen. and then we woke up saturday morning to nothing but white everywhere our eyes could see. whoa. actually it wasn't that bad. columbus got about 2-3 inches of snow but the temps were hovering around the freezing mark so the roads were clearing up pretty quickly and new snow was slowing down quite a bit. so we loaded up the car and headed to the airport. when we got to the counter to check our bags the attendant asked where we were going. we told him houston so he let us continue. the woman next to us showed up and said that she was going to new york. his response was, "then your flight has been canceled." ugh. then the next guy said that he was going to philadelphia and they told him that he had already been rebooked on a new flight the next day. apparently the 22.5 inches of snow that philadelphia got was an all-time record and nobody was getting in or out for a while. so we were pretty happy that we were coming to houston. worked out well for us. after that we made our way through security (much more complicated with a baby, a stroller and bottles of food for annabel) and on to our gate. annabel had been napping pretty well and she was just relaxing in her stroller. and once on the plane nothing much changed. we had heard that giving a baby a bottle to suck on during take off and landing would help their ears to pop. so we did and it worked. at least annabel showed no signs that she was anything but thrilled to be eating. and then she settled in for a nice two hour nap. when we were de-boarding, the ladies in the row in front of us noticed annabel and commented that they had no idea we even had a baby on board. if they did they probably would have been turned around talking to her the whole time. so we were fine with nobody knowing. :)

all in all annabel travels well. this is a good thing because being in ohio, we'll probably have more than a few trips over the years to texas, new jersey and all sorts of other places. i will say however that her bag was only three pounds lighter than mine (and i had the christmas gifts)...amazing. :)

parks, puppies and playgrounds...

2009-12-13T21:15:00.009-05:00

we've got a new photo album up. click here to see the photos.

well, the weekend flew by as it too often does...but it was a good weekend still. the highlight was definitely our trip to the park with the puppies. last week temps dropped down into the teens and it was freezing. but saturday the sun came out and "pretty pleasant" actually appeared for a day. still cold but it was just too darn nice to stay in the house. so we loaded up the baby, the dogs and the camera and went to the park. now, this "park" that we go to is not really a park but a school playground and field. it's really pretty perfect because it is totally enclosed so we don't have to worry about the dogs running off. it also has a pretty decent playground with swings, slides and jungle gyms. and there isn't ever anybody else there. except for this one time some guy walked over with his little boy and two dogs. everything was fine until his little dog wandered way over to the gate and left...without the guy even noticing. the guy lived a few blocks away so odds are the dog was just ready to get home and was tired of waiting for his owner to take him. all in all it was pretty comical. (now that i read it back that story seemed pretty dang pointless. oh well :) but anyway, this park is perfect because theres tons of room for the dogs to run and chase the ball and there are things for us to do or at least places to sit if we feel like it. and when she's big enough, annabel will have a great place to swing and take on the big slide on her own. :)

third month slideshow

2009-12-11T07:15:00.000-05:00

in keeping with tradition, here is a slideshow from annabel's third month with us. enjoy...

or click here to view online

here's to three months...

2009-12-09T21:49:00.009-05:00

our little monkey is officially three months old today. its hard to believe that three months ago today we were in the hospital meeting annabel and taking our first step into this new adventure called parenthood. some days its hard to figure out if its flying by or if the days are slower than molasses. but every day is an adventure and we're loving it.

so i would like to propose a toast to the last month. here's to being parents. here's to annabel. here's to happy bath times. here's to morning smiles...and afternoon smiles...and nighttime smiles. :) here's to gaining weight. here's to surviving her first shots. here's to no trips to the eye doctor. here's to napping. here's to snow suits. here's to tummy time, play mats and bumbos. here's to blowing bubbles and talking up a storm. here's to road trips. here's to thanksgiving. here's to grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins and friends. here's to new family traditions. here's to 131,040 minutes, 2,184 hours, 91 days, 12 weeks, and three months. and here's to our family.

first snow in columbus...

2009-12-09T21:40:00.003-05:00

we've been a little heavy on the videos recently but they are just so dang cute. here's another one that i think you'll enjoy...

or click here to view video on youtube

road trip video

2009-12-06T10:35:00.002-05:00

here's a short video of us returning from new jersey over thanksgiving. enjoy...

or click here to view video on youtube

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

2009-12-05T21:14:00.007-05:00

today was a special day for us. and tons of fun. this week we've been dragging all of our christmas decorations out of the basement and piling them in the front room in preparation for the weekend. we started off the day with "breakfast with santa" at st. brendans. it was a fun morning full of flying pancakes, sausage and photos with good old saint nick. on the way home we headed over to the hallmark store to get annabel her very first christmas ornament. a pair of tiny little booties. they are almost as cute as she is. :) by the time we actually made it home, she was huuuungry. so we fed her and put her in her swing for a nap. (on a side note, her swing was something that we kept trying to use but every time we put her in it she got even fussier than before. couldn't figure it out for the longest time and then one day we turned up the speed. and it worked! apparently the slow swing just bored and irritated her and she's a baby that needs to live in the fast lane...) anywho, while she was sleeping we took advantage of the time and got to decorating. we worked together to assemble our tree and then cheryl focused on the nativity while i put the lights on. cheryl gives me this job because messing with the lights "irritates the heck" out of her. she is determined that if we get a new tree it will be a prelit one. but then i'm not sure what i would do...this would probably force me to take over the supervisory role. :)

so with the lights on the tree, the nativity set up and our stockings hung with care (all done with the little drummer boy playing in the background on the radio), it was now time to hang the ornaments. our main tree has a very simple look to it. we've got a few boxes of red and silver balls that go up and that's it besides the angel topper. fortunately we bought a short tree a few years ago when we lived in the duplex so that will probably become our "ornament tree" for all the items that we've collected or been given and that our kids will begin mass producing once they can operate the bottle of glue and the elbow macaroni. once we finished the tree we hung up the mistletoe and officially completed our day of decorating (with a smooch to test it out of course - it worked...).

after our day of decorating the house we realized that we had made no plans for dinner. so another christmas tradition was born...chinese food! and how appropriate that cheryl's fortune (which was not really a fortune at all but still appropriate) was "happiness makes a home." it's not the tree, ornaments, stockings or mistletoe that fill our home with joy. its the time that we can spend together and our love that makes this a happy home...(awww).

waking a sleepy baby...

2009-12-04T11:03:00.003-05:00

the other night annabel fell asleep on the couch with cheryl. she was there for about an hour and a half but it was getting late and she still needed to have her bedtime meal. oy. they say never to wake a sleeping baby but sometimes you have to. and sometimes its downright tough to do. :) enjoy...

or click here to view video on youtube

annabel showing off...

2009-12-02T22:36:00.002-05:00

in this video annabel is just hanging out on the play mat at grandma and grandpa's house. she was totally into the hanging toys with the bells and the mirror. it was fun to watch her enjoying herself so much...

or click here to view video on youtube

a jersey thanksgiving...

2009-12-02T20:13:00.006-05:00

this year we went to new jersey for thanksgiving. how fun is that?!? well, a bunch of fun... wednesday morning before the sun came up we bundled up the baby and drove 11.5 hours across ohio, west virginia, pennsylvania and new jersey to spend the holidays with grandma and grandpa dale, cindy and jeff, their new baby kaelyn, and about 45 of cheryl's cousins. we ate good, we played good and we slept good. it was a good thanksgiving holiday. annabel spent lots of time playing on her mat and made some big strides in her development. she got way better at holding her head up in just a few short days. and with all the grandparents, aunts and cousins playing with her all the time she probably set a record for number of smiles in a single week. and then after three full days of hanging out in jersey we packed back up the baby and all our stuff and drove back to ohio. the weather was much better on that trip and we actually cut an hour and a half off the trip time. on the way back we even got to stop and see a giant quarter on the lincoln heritage highway in everett, pa. we drove by a giant ice cream sundae building but between you and me, it was pretty lame. you won't be seeing any photos of that. :)

we put up a bunch of new photos from the week so click here (or the photos) to see the album.

more fun to come...

2009-11-29T23:16:00.002-05:00

this past week and weekend was filled with lots of fun times for all. check back later for photos, videos and stories of things like annabel meeting her cousin kaelyn, first thanksgiving photos and stories from the road trip back to ohio...

first road trip...

2009-11-25T23:30:00.007-05:00

on wednesday annabel went on her first road trip with her parents. and by the photos, you can tell that she did it robison style. :) we left columbus around 730am on wednesday morning after annabel her breakfast. we loaded her up and started driving. we were a little nervous about how she would travel but not too nervous. she is such a pleasant baby in general and she has done such a good job on the car trips that she's taken around town that we figured that she would probably be happy or asleep pretty much the whole way. and she was. she slept all the way through ohio and west virginia (interstate 70 goes through west virginia for about 20 minutes...it was kind of a surprise for us the first time we made the trip...). it takes a good six hours to get through pennsylvania though. but it was pretty cool that she went to sleep and woke up two states away from where she started. wow. our first stop of the day was in bentleyville, pa where we pulled off to take a photo with big jim, a twenty foot tall metal cowboy. it was outside of a best western hotel so after we snapped the shot we headed inside and fed annabel in the hotel lobby. it worked really well. next stop was in bedford, pa where we went in search of the giant coffee pot outside of the bedford county fairgrounds. we did not have a real address though so as we were driving along trying to decide if we wanted to keep looking...bam...there's a giant coffee pot. it was pretty funny. so we shot some photos, fed her and kept driving. the rest of the drive was wet and uneventful. after about 10.5 hours annabel decided that she was bored in the back seat. so cheryl climbed back there with her and they talked up a storm the last 45 minutes. so there you have it, there it is. annabel's first road trip. we leave on sunday to drive back to ohio and as long as the weather cooperates we have a few photo ops for that trip too. a giant quarter and a huge ice cream sundae. sounds like fun doesn't it? :)

rip catherine elizabeth simmons...

2009-11-24T23:33:00.008-05:00

our friends josh and elizabeth from college station are very special people. in a world that offers us so much happiness and joy, tonight they are undoubtedly suffering as no one should ever have to suffer. on november 15 they gave birth to catherine elizabeth, their fourth child. today this sweet, innocent baby girl was lost to this world. she was born with spina bifida and during a surgery to address the resulting hydrocephalus, she passed away. we don't know any more details but we do know that our hearts ache for them and their loss. please pray for them in a very special way today...

josh, elizabeth and catherine - we love you...

saint ann, pray for us.
_______________________________

from their caring bridge journal...

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:00 PM, CST Dear friends,

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that Catherine did not make it through her surgery. We are all in shock, including the surgeons who were wth her during surgery. They even said they had never seen it happen before.

I know this is God's will, and we don't understand it. We are thankful for the nine days that we got to spend with her, and especially for the times we got to hold her and watch her flash her "sleepy smiles" at us.

No words can express the pain we have right now. We thank you for all your support during this journey. We will be retruning home tomorrow as a family, for the first time in 3 weeks. We just wish that the littlest one was coming with us.

We will post funeral arrangement

s on here. We love you and God bless you and your families.

Love,
Elizabeth and Josh

Baby Catherine, pray for us!

double digit baby...

2009-11-24T06:53:00.000-05:00

yesterday our little monkey tipped the scales in the double digits for the first time ever! she weighed in at 10.0 lbs! whoa! we did not have a doctors appointment but since september 9 you may remember that we've kind of been waging a pretty epic battle with that scale...and especially since two weeks ago when she lost a bit of weight. because of all the past issues and concerns, cheryl will be taking annabel by the doctor every now and then for an official weight check. she doesnt need an appointment and they actually let cheryl do all the work, but it sets our minds at ease and its a good way for the doctor to track how she is gaining weight. anyway, 10.0 lbs is very exciting. its like when you're learning how to play the violin and after weeks and weeks of excruciatingly painful practice when all you can manage is the same awful screech over and over again, but then one time you tweak your wrist just a fraction and out comes the sweet melody of those strings that inspired you buy a violin on ebay in the first place...its kind of like that. 10.0 lbs was sweet music to our ears. and we'll keep doing what we need to make sure the song keeps playing. :)

give me a tiny little hand...

2009-11-21T22:34:00.011-05:00

each day we wake up, get dressed, brush our teeth, and go say good morning to our little baby girl. from day to day we have no idea that she's getting bigger and older. she just looks like our little annabel. but she is getting bigger. you can tell because you see the photos. you watch the videos. even we "check our blog" every day. its such a blessing to be able to go back and read about what she was doing three weeks ago. what we were scared of last week. yesterday's big celebration. how different she is now compared to when she was born. its fun to watch her grow. to be there to experience all of her "firsts" with her. to smile, talk and laugh with her. but even though she gets a little bigger every day, she is still our tiny little girl. with tiny little ears, tiny little feet and tiny little hands. and no matter how old or how big she gets, she will forever be our little girl...

second month of photos

2009-11-19T07:46:00.001-05:00

here's a slideshow of some photos from annabel's second month. she'll always be just a little girl to me...

or click here to view the video on youtube

what a bumbo...

2009-11-18T23:04:00.005-05:00

what is a bumbo? a bumbo is a hard foam seat for babies that helps them develop the muscles in their back and neck. and as we found out tonight, helps them look amazingly cute. annabel is probably still a little too weak in her neck for us to leave her in the chair for very long but a few minutes here and there will help her bulk up. and she got a chance to get up close and personal with our puppies. the closest that she's been without one of us holding her was in her bouncy chair. but it was pretty funny to set her in the bumbo tonight and watch the dogs investigate. its just the start of a lifelong friendship between the three of them. :)

scales and shots...

2009-11-17T22:21:00.007-05:00

today was annabel's follow up appointment with the pediatrician. i would call it a good appointment. last thursday she weighed 8 lb 13 oz. last friday she weighed 9 lb 2oz. today she weighed 9 lb 12 oz! something that we're doing is working i guess. this is very good news because it shows that there is are no major medical issues that caused her to lose the weight. she just needs more food. if this hadn't worked then our next step would have been slathering her pacifier with cupcake icing a couple times a day... :)

after giving us a good weight report dr. g told us she didn't want to see us or annabel until her four month checkup. i said, "good, i don't want to see you either." we agreed that if we saw each other in the grocery store that was okay though. :) we concluded our appointment in a much less pleasant fashion though. shots! oy. annabel was set to get her first round of immunizations last week but with the weight issues we all decided it would be best to wait. so today was the big day. we started with the oral vaccine and she handled that very well. then came the big boys. she got three shots in her legs. cheryl was holding her hand and afterward she told me that when the nurse stuck her the very first time it didn't seem like annabel was going to mind it. yeah, that lasted for oh...half a second. then she minded very much. it was pretty crummy to hear her screaming but after her shots it took about three minutes of cuddling with mama to calm her down. she was a champ. the nurse said that in her experience babies act three different ways the day after a shot. some are grumpy, cranky or generally quite unpleasant. some sleep for hours and hours. and some you would never know anything ever happened. annabel fit in the third category. she has been fine all day. we're crossing our fingers and praying that this continues and that she doesn't have any adverse reactions because some babies will come down with a fever. we feel like we would be fine without that...

so that was our day at the pediatrician. annabel is gaining weight. cheryl is working with a lactation consultant this week to figure out if we can continue to make that happen without the formula. and our baby is vaccinated against all sorts of horrible diseases. just another robison day. :)

she is getting to be quite the talker...

2009-11-17T07:25:00.000-05:00

here's a fun video of annabel having a nice conversation with her mama and papa. she's still working on enunciating her syllables but she's off to a pretty good start. :)

or click here to view video on youtube

bath time gets a little help...

2009-11-15T23:36:00.007-05:00

today we gave annabel a bath and had a brand new tub to use. well, maybe not technically brand new. our neighbors used this tub for their new baby but she recently outgrew it. so we got to give it a try. it was ahhhhhhh-mazing! it still took a minute or two to get her situated and comfortable but once she was in it she was happy as a clam. we're not sure exactly what made the biggest difference but this one was a little smaller, she was sitting up instead of laying down and she was in the kitchen sink... whatever it was it seemed to work. it made her happy and made us happy. sounds like a win-win-win... :)

between bath time, going to mass this morning and having a bunch of people over tonight to play board games, annabel had a busy day. maybe that's why she was in bed by 930pm instead of her usual 1130pm. i guess we'll know this morning around 400am whether this was a good idea but it was nice to put her to bed and have a little while all to ourselves to unwind and relax. but now its bedtime for annabel's parents...so good night. :)

decisions to make...

2009-11-15T23:06:00.004-05:00

the past few days have been pretty rough. trying to determine the best course of action for our precious little girl and our family has not been easy. but as we said on september 9, 2009, the best things in life are never easy. we want to say thank you though for all the kind messages and support from everyone. it has been nice to know that there are so many people that care about us and annabel. thank you.

good morning. good morning. time to rise and shine...

2009-11-14T22:31:00.003-05:00

every morning we make our way into annabel's room and wake her up. some mornings when we wander in she's laying there looking around and talking to herself. some mornings she's fast asleep and we get to wake her up. now i can't imagine that this will last forever but its really fun when we get to wake her up because she's so so dang cute and happy in the morning. here's a video so that you can see what i mean. enjoy...

or click here to view video on youtube

and the saga continues...

2009-11-13T23:18:00.011-05:00

well, yesterday we made another trip to the hospital. dr. g sent us to children's hospital to get an ultrasound of annabel's brain. yes, her brain. we thought it was weird too. when a delivery includes a placental abruption though, one thing that the doctors worry about is bleeding in the brain. not that dr. g thought that annabel really had any bleeding but she just figured that there was no harm in getting it checked...except that it worried the heckfire out of her poor parents. but in the end it came back fine. she does indeed have a brain and it was not bleeding. :)

so after getting a good report from the ultrasound we headed back to our pediatrician's office to hop back on that awful, awful scale. now you may remember that on thursday she weighed 8 lb 13 oz. friday after 24 hours of nursing and supplementing with formula we put her back on the scale and it read...9 lb 2 oz! in a day she added 5 ounces to her bottom line (and i guess her bottom...)! wow! both of us, the nurse and dr. g saw that and blew a huge collective sigh of relief.

so what does this mean? well, it means that annabel was most likely "calorie deficient" this last week. we do not know if its a quantity issue or a quality issue, but bottom line is that she just needed a boost of calories. so giving her some high-calorie formula did the trick. cheryl will be going in this week to get her milk tested and see how fatty it is and will probably work with some good lactation people to see what else we might be able to do. this whole thing has been pretty tough to work through but it seems more and more like annabel is just a lousy nurser. now i would never tell her that to her face...but the signs all point to it. she's really good at lots of other things. smiling, sleeping, burping, winking, riding in cars, being ridiculously cute, and so on and so on. but being a breastfeeder just does not seem to be one of her strengths. whatever we end up doing in the end though, you can guarantee that this girl will get her three squares a day for as long as she's under our roof. that much we know. somehow, some way, she will be fed.

so that's the long and the short of it. we go back to the pediatrician on tuesday for another weight check. surprise surprise...what would a week be without a trip to the doctor. we are plenty happy that this did not end up being a major medical emergency but its still something that we're working through day by day.

i saw a joke the other day and it seemed pretty appropriate for us.

doctor, doctor, i think i'm suffering from deja vu.
i know. i treated you yesterday...

some days that how it feels in the robison house. :) st. ann, pray for us.

the rollercoaster of parenthood...

2009-11-12T23:03:00.006-05:00

just when we thought that we were done with the emotional ups and downs of raising this little girl we got hit with some more bad news. ugh. at today's doctor's appointment annabel weighed in at around 10 ounces less than she weighed at last's week's visit. and only about 5 ounces above her weight from a month ago. you don't have to know a whole lot about a baby's development to know that they really should not be losing weight. so this is not good. dr. g told us to go home and feed annabel as normal but then give her a bottle of formula after each nursing. we will then go back in tomorrow for another weight check. depending on what the scale says at that time we will then move on to the next step. if dr. g thinks that there's something going on then we may need to have some bloodwork drawn and have some other tests run. unfortunately this may include being checked into the hospital for 24 hours. ugh again. so say some prayers at 250pm friday afternoon that we'll have a good follow up and figure out what the problem is.

so what could be the issues? well, it could be that annabel is just not eating as much as she needs? she eats every 2 hours during the day but sleeps all night. maybe cheryl's milk supply needs a boost and after that annabel will get the volume that her tiny little body needs. another possibility could be that cheryl's milk is not high enough in calories. nothing about cheryl is fatty so maybe her milk is not fatty enough for the baby. if this is the case then we would most likely be stuck supplementing with formula for the next few months. another possibility is that annabel has something medically wrong. an infection. a bug that she caught. or something else. who knows? she has not been acting differently the past week so that would be weird but its possible. and finally, maybe the doctor's scale is busted. if that is the case you will bet that this new papa will raise some holy hell for the worry and anxiety of the past day but then we would have an answer. whatever it is we hope we can figure it out soon and quit all this conjecturing and hypothesizing...

the part that makes this whole thing suck so much is that we were finally thinking that we had a handle on all of this. so many people kept telling us, "it gets easier..." well, today i wanted to punch all those people in the head. if this is easier then i don't know what to expect later on. but as has been the case many times already, "this too shall pass." we've figured out everything else so we'll get this taken care of too. just really hoping for the scale option. :)

no longer a heathen baby...

2009-11-09T10:03:00.008-05:00

yesterday annabel was baptized! it was a very nice ceremony and everything was really beautiful. deacon gill from st. brendan's church and deacon robbie (my dad) performed the baptism. and they did a wonderful job. my sister erin and our friend tom linbeck were the godparents and both were able to be here for the big day. after the ceremony we all went to lunch at cap city fine diner in grandview. overall, a very joyous occasion. :)

baptism has six primary effects, which are all supernatural graces:

the removal of the guilt of both original sin (the sin imparted to all mankind by the fall of adam and eve in the garden of eden) and personal sin (the sins that we have committed ourselves).
the remission of all punishment that we owe because of sin, both temporal (in this world and in purgatory) and eternal (the punishment that we would suffer in hell).
the infusion of grace in the form of sanctifying grace (the life of god within us); the seven gifts of the holy spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the lord); and the three theological virtues (faith, hope and charity).
becoming a part of christ.
becoming a part of the church, which is the mystical body of christ on earth.
enabling participation in the sacraments, the priesthood of all believers, and the growth in grace.

our role as parents has always been to raise our baby to be happy, healthy and wise. now that annabel has been officially "infused" and welcomed into the church, it really hammers home our responsibility for educating her in the faith. our faith has been strengthened through the experience of bringing annabel into this world and we look forward to sharing that faith with her.

click here (or photos above) for more photos

visitors to columbus...

2009-11-07T22:20:00.001-05:00

yesterday grandma and grandpa dale got to come out and see their granddaughter again. they made the drive from new jersey for annabel's baptism. its been a few weeks since they last saw her (especially grandpa) and they both were quite amazed with how much she has grown since they last saw her. its true. she's bigger now. not BIG yet but bigGER. so that was yesterday that they got here. today erin arrived from dallas and got to see her niece for the first time ever. annabel decided that it was time to cry as erin was walking through the door but she calmed down soon enough and i got the feeling that erin kinda liked her :)

we've got some photos below as well as a fun video with the grandparentals. enjoy.

or click here to view the video on youtube

click here (or the photos) for even more photos

video of a happy baby...

2009-11-05T22:02:00.004-05:00

annabel is doing very well these days. she went to the pediatrician today and dr. g is pleased as punch about her progress. she's gained another pound to come up to 9.5 lbs. she's still sleeping through the night. still has good amounts of fluids going in and coming out. overall she's doing very well. she is also starting to smile more often and be more engaged when you're with her. all in all she is a very cute, very happy, very sweet 8-week-old. we even have a new video to prove it. enjoy.

or click here to view on youtube

just call her giggles...

2009-11-01T19:51:00.010-05:00

friday afternoon annabel gave us her first laugh. and i know that she wasn't laughing at me because i wasn't even home. cheryl texted me right away and told me that annabel had laughed her first laugh. later on i tried everything i could to get her to do it again but she just didn't think i was that funny. surprise surprise.

so that was friday. the thursday night before that annabel decided that she wanted to get dressed up for beggar's night. you might ask what the heck is beggar's night? we did too. apparently in columbus when halloween falls on a weekend, they move up trick-or-treating to the thursday night before. and call it beggar's night. really strange. i suppose that the reason that they do this is for safety sake. more people are out in their cars on the weekends and nobody wants a dinosaur to lose its tail or pippy longstocking to lose her braids. so they send out the little ghosts and ghouls on thursday night. they even set times for trick-or-treating: 6-8pm. kind of funny if you ask me. and who is this they? no idea. i assume that its somehow supported and "regulated" by city officials with coordination by the school districts. but what if i wanted to take annabel trick-or-treating on the real halloween? would they throw our little angel in the slammer? i digress. we dressed up annabel on thursday night and had neighborhood kids come by and ask for candy. it was fun but a little bizarre.

other than that annabel is just sort of hanging out and getting big. did we tell you that she is going to be tall and skinny? at her last appointment after the nurse got her measurements she plugged her into the chart and told us where she fell. at 8 lb 8 oz she was in the 25th percentile. that means out of 100 kids her age 75 would be heavier than she is. but at 22 inches she is in the 85th percentile. whoa. tall and skinny. imagine that. no telling where she gets that from...:)

buckeye awakening is here!

2009-10-29T23:40:00.003-04:00

buckeye awakening is finally here! i cannot believe it. technically it starts friday around 400pm but who's counting. so for those who don't remember, back in july i drug five students from the newman center and one other staff member along for a trip to texas with me. we all went to attend aggie awakening #86 (whoop!) for a couple of reasons. one, because it changed my life and i think all college students should know what awakening is. two, who wouldn't want to visit college station, texas? three, i wanted the students to experience aggie awakening so they could determine whether we should begin buckeye awakening. so for all those reasons we went to texas in the middle of july. the trip was ahhhhh-mazing and we all made it back home to ohio with great enthusiasm, lots of excitement and even a few plans. the five students were now the first leadership team for buckeye awakening. with help from our campus minister austin (and an occasional word of encouragement from me) these five took over and have done a phenomenal job preparing for ba#1. they have dealt with challenges, answered some tough questions, worked tirelessly despite their few numbers and buckeye awakening will kick off tomorrow with 30 retreaters and another 24 staff members ready to go (12 of which are coming all the way up from aggieland...makes me proud...)! i know that their work will pay off and my prayer now is that the holy spirit moves through the staffers, speakers and everyone else to make the word become flesh in a special way for these retreaters. and i know that he will.

i'll be sure to give a report next week along with stories, photos and possibly even a video or two...

annabel's first date...

2009-10-28T21:33:00.006-04:00

well, maybe that's stretching it a bit. but we did go over to little aidan's house to see him and his mama, colleen (and call me old-fashioned but we stayed to chaperon the whole time...) aiden was born september 26 so he's just about two weeks younger than annabel. he was born five weeks premature though so he came out at about 5.5 pounds. in a month though he's put on almost 2.5 pounds so he's getting to be pretty big now. it was fun to see him and annabel hanging out together. two tiny peas in a pod...

you'll notice in the picture that aidan is swaddled up pretty snugly. this was his first time in a "miracle blanket." annabel loves her miracle blanket and we're pretty convinced that this was a big reason that she started sleeping so well at night. hopefully aidan can learn a thing or two from his meeting with annabel and start sleeping a little better.

left or right?

2009-10-28T00:01:00.004-04:00

so today cheryl mentioned that she thinks that annabel seems to move her left arm around more than her right arm. not that she really has much control over her movements...she's still pretty spastic when she flails, rocks and kicks. but watching her it does seem like her left arm is the more active arm. so that got us to wondering whether this was a sign that she would be a southpaw. both of us are right handed, both our parents are right handed, all our sisters are right handed, i genuinely cannot think of anyone that i know that is not right handed. in fact, only about ten percent of the world's population is left handed. cheryl reminded me though that for many years children that showed left handed tendencies were...encouraged...to use their right hand more. some of you may have been encouraged in such a way. anyway, it would be pretty strange to have a left handed daughter. but who knows. it might be pretty cool. i looked it up online and there's some information but nothing that will help us know which she will be yet.

Your baby's preference for her right or left hand may start to appear as early as 6 to 9 months of age. Even so, you won't be able to determine true right- or left-handedness until your child is 2 or 3 years old, when she'll begin to favor the same hand consistently. And some children may be ambidextrous (using both hands equally) until they're 5 or 6, when they finally make a choice.

so what do you think? will annabel be a righty or a lefty?

the other side of annabel...

2009-10-24T19:45:00.000-04:00

"Whether breastfed or formula fed, during their first few months, many babies have a regular fussy period, which usually occurs in the late afternoon or evening. Some babies' fussy periods come so regularly that parents can set their clocks by it! The standard infant fussiness usually starts at about 2 to 3 weeks, peaks at 6 weeks and is gone by 3 to 4 months. It lasts on "average" 2 to 4 hours per day. Of course, there is a wide variety of normal."

i guess since we're at 6 weeks now we fit the bill pretty well. annabel is definitely the best baby that we've ever had and this week we got to see even another side of her. the fussy one. to be honest though, we won't miss this side when its gone :) but for real honestly, she has her moments (which sometimes last all day) when she's fussing up a storm that seems like it will last forever. but when she's not hollering she's is getting really really cute. she's smiling more, she's cooing more regularly and she's getting to be more alert and interested in what the goofy guy making faces at her is up to.

and today we left her for the first time with someone other than a grandma. whoa. i had a dinner for work and cheryl agreed to pack annabel up for an evening with some friends and come with me. dinner was fun and we were having a good time until the speaker starting talking about babies and then we realized that we missed our little nugget. so we ducked out a few minutes early and headed off to retrieve our bundle of joy. she did well on her first trip with some strangers but don't expect it to become a very frequent occasion at least for a little while longer...

other than that things are pretty normal around here. saturday was a nice relaxing day with the family and we even made a trip to walmart to pick up some decorations and other necessities. and come saturday we will either have a couple of really scary jack-o-lanterns or just a couple of pumpkins on our porch. either way we'll be ready for those little trick-or-treaters...

new cute photos ...

2009-10-22T19:51:00.000-04:00

annabel turned six weeks old yesterday. now since she started out so cute, she may not be six times cuter than the day she was born but it's pretty dang close. we put a few more photos online. its pretty fun to watch her get bigger and more fun every day. and its really fun when we catch one of those super cute smiles...

click here or the photo for more

so many babies...

2009-10-20T21:08:00.003-04:00

we're an aunt and uncle now! and very excited! congratulations to cindy and jeff on their new bundle of joy. kaelyn marie miller dove into the world on saturday, october 17 at 505pm. you can read the whole story on their blog, http://ourgrowingfamily-miller.blogspot.com.

first month of photos

2009-10-18T23:16:00.006-04:00

here's a slideshow of some of the photos from our sweet pea's first month with us. enjoy.

or click here to view on youtube

done and done...

2009-10-18T20:59:00.008-04:00

well, today was the nationwide columbus marathon and guess who ran in it and finished...andrew! whoa! 26.2 miles of running, walking, stumbling, stretching, and ultimately crossing the finish line. this was something i had been training for pretty consistently from about june until september 8. after that i guess you could say that i "started my race day taper..." taking five weeks off before a marathon makes the big day a pretty painful process. not to say that i would have been living the life of luxury and comfort had i continued my training until the proper time and day but the final 10 miles were probably much more strenuous without that last bit of training. c'est la vie. i had a pretty wonderful distraction :)

so i started the race this morning at 7:30am with about 12,000 of my closest running buddies. it was ca-razy. there was a stream of people walking to the starting line and about 10,000 of those runners jammed together itching for the starting gun. once the gun was fired, it took me about 12 minutes to cross the starting line and i was probably middle of the pack. like i said, there were A LOT of people. so we started the race through downtown columbus, then made our way through bexley where all the big houses are, then through old german village, and back through downtown to the finish line at the hockey arena. oh wait, that was just half-way for me...oy vey. the crowds were great and the spectators along the way were very encouraging. i wore my shirt that cheryl made for me last year that says "andrew rules" on the front. it was funny the first time some stranger from the sidelines yelled, "go andrew! you rule!" after the half-marathoners peeled off for their finish line the crowds were much smaller but the support that they dished out was still great. lots of "go andrew!" and "you rule!" and "almost done" (which yelling at mile 20 is really silly and borderline obnoxious...). so i kept going on past downtown, through the ohio state campus (where i got to see cheryl, annabel and colleen), through the neighborhoods of upper arlington and finally back across the river and down to the finish line (where i saw the girls again). that was a good feeling crossing the finish line. that last 10 miles or so was really tough. lots more walking than i really thought i would need to do. but you gotta do what you gotta do. and crossing that line made that very clear.

so that's the story of my very first ever marathon. maybe i'll do another one someday. probably not next year but after that we'll see. compared to today the half-marathon that i did last year was honestly, more fun. i can see doing a half next year or a 5k or something else. but right now i think that some stretching, sleeping and recovering is my priority. oh, and enjoying time with my favorite girls...and that sounds pretty nice.

annabel with her new toy...

2009-10-15T23:17:00.003-04:00

here's a video of our baby girl on her new play pad (thanks aunt mary and uncle vic). she was very entertained by the mirror and the musical butterfly. attention span is still pretty short but she enjoyed it all the same. she really is quite a cutie.

or click here to view on youtube

what a goooood day...

2009-10-14T20:39:00.007-04:00

so you know when people say, "today was a good day" and you're like, "what made it such a good day", and they say "how much time do you have?" okay, so maybe you don't have conversations like that all the time but just pretend for my sake :) "today was a good day." "and what made it such a good day?"

okay. so we started the day with a solid eight hours of sleep last night. we're not too sure if annabel sleeping so much at night will last forever but we sure are enjoying it while it lasts. after we woke up we left for our little one's one-month pediatrician well-visit. here's a little glimpse into how that went:

started with a short 4-minute wait in the waiting room
next we stripped her down to her skivvies and stuck her on the scale: in two weeks she packed on a solid 20 ounces; she went from 7 lb 4 oz to 8 lb 8 oz. whoa!
next in came the doctor. doctor g: well, how you doing? us: good. doctor g: how's she sleeping? us: good. 6-8 hours at night. doctor g: wow! that's awesome! how's she eating? us: good. nursing during the day and bottle at night. doctor g: again, that's awesome. what else is she doing? us: she knows how to roll from front to back now. doctor g: wow. and again with the awesome! well, she looks great. her weight is right on. she seems very advanced for a one-month old. and you guys look great. you got any questions? us: nope. doctor g: great! see you in a month.
and we left!

so it was a really good visit. doctor g is happy, we are happy, and annabel is happy. that would be considered a win-win-win...

after the pediatrician appointment we went back home and guess what annabel did...she took a two-hour nap which meant that cheryl got to take a two-hour nap. wow. way to go annabel. that's how you make your mommy happy. meanwhile i went back to work and had a really good visit with my boss and our bishop. but then we had another eye doctor visit. these have gradually been getting better but there's always still a bit of worry. but here's a glimpse at that appointment:

cheryl and annabel got there early and i met them as soon as my meeting was finished.
a new resident and her trainee came in (trainee was wearing a bow tie. he was funny.). the resident got her eye scope and light and checked out annabel's eye. (side note - we left her in the carrier during the exam and it was phenomenally easier. imagine that on our tenth visit we finally figured out a way to make it easier. doy.) after her exam she announced that she thought her eye looked good.
then doctor g came in for his turn to shine bright lights and look through his little scope (this was the same doctor who originally suggested the pressure patch so we like him). so he looked and announced that he also thought it looked good. there is still some haziness on her cornea but he doesn't think that the drops we've been using will do anymore to help and the haze is not blocking her pupil. he thinks that we can leave it alone for a while and come back later when he can better evaluate her vision.
well, "come back later" meant three months! what? can you believe it? no drops, no ointments and no doctors for three months?!? now that is good news!

so that was pretty awesome too. after making our doctor visits a part of our regular daily and/or weekly routine, we are suddenly faced with a whole month with no visits. what are we going to do with ourselves? i think that's a problem we can find a solution for.

so after all these good doctor visits, we topped the night off with a bath for the babe. it was still a loud experience but it was easily the best bathtime we've had so far. and we have a squeaky clean and good smelling baby to prove it. at least for an hour or so...

so there you have it, there it is. that was our day. and now you know what makes a good day for a couple of brand new parents...

she's so sleeeeeepy...

2009-10-13T22:59:00.005-04:00

to our faithful followers, sorry its been a few days since our last update. take solace in knowing that no news is good news in this case. i guess that we have become a little bit boring. but in a good way :) not having daily doctor visits, nasty infections and potential surgeries is just fine with us. so what are some of the updates from the past few days. probably the most exciting new trick that annabel has learned since mastering the roll is the "sleepy baby"...that's the one where she sleeps seven hours straight at night! yep, three out of the last four nights she has slept for 6.5 hours or longer at night. its been pretty awesome. the first night she didn't wake up at 3.5 hours we were both up checking on her, and then again at 5 hours, and then again at 6.5 hours. we were definitely both nervous all night long. and we're not totally sure what started it. maybe it was the new nursery stereo playing nature sounds, the power yoga for babies dvd or the brandy that cheryl mixed in with her bottle...but whatever it was it's working just fine so we'll keep doing it :) its also getting a little easier to get around town with the baby. yesterday cheryl brought annabel up to the newman center to meet me and then i went on a date with annabel to a meeting last night. she travels pretty well and is always a hit once she gets there. yesterday i think that she got to be held by at least six people other than her mom and me.

well, i hate to cut this short but its time for bed. tomorrow we have two doctors appointments so we may have some more exciting updates to share. and maybe a new photo or two. good night.

annabel and her mobile

2009-10-12T22:22:00.003-04:00

here's a video of our sleepy little baby in her crib.

or click here to view on youtube

can i get a birthday roll?

2009-10-09T22:49:00.003-04:00

so today is annabel's one month birthday. and she celebrated it festivus style with her feats of strength (and the seinfeld lovers rejoice...). so check out the video to see if our little monkey has mastered the 180 degree tuck-n-roll (sorry again...it must be the sleep deprivation). anyway, this movie has it all. suspense, drama, a lovable main character (although in this scene she seems a wee bit cranky). enjoy.

or click here to view on youtube

week by week, bigger and bigger....

2009-10-08T22:58:00.011-04:00

here is a slideshow of cheryl (and nugget) as she grew throughout her pregnancy. week 11 she looks kind of skinny (blame the morning sickness) but she picks up after that and grows and grows and grows. all while still looking phenomenal...

or click here to view on youtube

the first three years...

2009-10-08T19:31:00.006-04:00

photo from our honeymoon in 2006

so october 7 was the three-year anniversary of the day that cheryl and i got married. we had a really nice day together. i stayed home from work and we just hung out most of the day. in kind of an ironically appropriate way we had an eye doctor appointment for the little one. just to sort of drive home the point that its all about her now, i guess. but it did give us a chance to look back at the past three years to see how we got to where we are now. here are a few of the highlights:

got married (obviously).
honeymooned in california.
got another dog. :) and then buried our old dog. :(
became business owners.
bought a house...in bryan, tx...dun dun duuuunnnn... :)
bought a sleeper sofa (this was a major feat and i have no idea why...)
went to hot springs, arkansas for our one-year anniversary.
went to colorado for shannon and kevin's wedding.
went to our very first college bowl game (alamo bowl 2008).
wrote my thesis, finished grad school and then took a 10-day road trip to commencement in minnesota (took 1,100+ photos traveling through texas, new mexico, colorado, wyoming, south dakota, minnesota, wisconsin, illinois, missouri, and oklahoma).
put together the greatest softball team of all time...go speedy britches!
ran a half-marathon.
sold our house in bryan. moved to ohio. lived in a tiny apartment with our two dogs. bought a house in columbus.
started a new job.
shoveled snow off our driveway.
took various trips to new york, new jersey, connecticut, pennsylvania, michigan, texas, st. louis, and chicago.
got pregnant.
had a baby.

and it happened in the blink of an eye. its been a wonderful three years. cheryl and i both agree that there were some highs and lows but everything happened for a reason. we also calculated that we are now 6 percent of the way to our 50-year anniversary :) we're both very excited to see what the next 47 years (and beyond) have in store for us. our love for each other continues to grow each and every day. i wake up in the morning thankful for my life and thankful for the people in it. our family may be just a tiny bit bigger but its a whole lot stronger.

to three amazing, wonderful, beautiful, blessed years and to many many more to come...

the faces of annabel...

2009-10-08T19:13:00.003-04:00

this video is fun because you get to see a few of the faces that our sweet pea makes from time to time. she makes some of the funniest faces and if she keeps it up long enough we might be able to ask her what they mean someday. the tv was on which supplies the background audio for this video. not sure what we were watching but it starts off with some pretty calm music. kind of appropriate...

or click here to view on youtube

messages to annabel...

2009-10-05T19:19:00.004-04:00

over the past 3.5 weeks, cheryl and i have been so touched and moved by all the messages that we have received. some people told us to stay strong. some people told us that we were doing a good job. some people told us simply that they were thinking or praying for us. the outpouring of support for us will be something that stays with us for a long time. we now have a request though to go one step further.

during these times we have become truly aware of how much we treasure each moment and want to remember them forever. we want our little annabel to be have the same opportunity. it is for this reason that we are putting together a book of these messages that as she grows and becomes more aware of the world, we will be able to show her that it is full of people that love her and wish her the very best. so here is the request: please consider sending a note directly to annabel that we can add to this book. these notes can be funny, serious, sweet or anything in between. and we want these messages to come from everyone. if you grew up in the same house or barely know me or cheryl, we want to hear from you. this experience has shown us how both big and small the world is and we want annabel to know that people from all over care about her.

so thats the deal. send us a message to annabel and we will include it in the book. this is something that we and she will treasure always and we want you to be a part of it. email your messages to aggierobison@gmail.com, post a comment to this entry, send us something on facebook, text me or whatever. just send something. thanks, gig 'em and god bless.

PS - on another note, we have been told during the past few weeks that there are two special girls who have been following annabel's story very closely. we want to say a special thank you to annabel's cousin katie and our friend from houston, alessandra. we hope that our little baby grows up to be sweet like you...

babies, babies, everywhere...

2009-10-04T15:38:00.005-04:00

welcome to aidan maxwell, born september 26, 2009. he showed up a few weeks early but at 5 lb. 9 oz. he may be small but he sure is mighty. aidan's mom, colleen works in the development office with me at the newman center. say some prayers that he starts eating a little better and stops giving his mama such a hard time. :)

new photos of the cutie...

2009-10-03T19:21:00.008-04:00

just when we thought that our little annabel couldn't get any cuter, she went ahead and did just that. these photos were taken this weekend so she's about 3.5 weeks old...

she's gonna be a walker soon...

"practicing midnight yell all night long"...oh she's got that down for sure...

she's a darling, and baby looks pretty dang good too... :)