another highlight video...

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.




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we're still here...

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...



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twelfth month slideshow

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

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




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happy birthday annabel

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

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

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

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



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eleventh month slideshow

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



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four new videos of the babe...whoa!

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

video 1: the little giggler...



or click here to view "giggler" video on youtube

video 2: how big is annabel?



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

video 3: where you going?



or click here to view "walking" video on youtube

video 4: who you talking to?



or click here to view "talking" video on youtube

i saw the sign...

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

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



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ten month slideshow

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



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babies love to give kisses...

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



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cutest dang aggie. ever.

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

ninth month slideshow

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



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sitting, crawling, standing, going...

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

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

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

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


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where have we been?

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

eight month slideshow

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



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cutest kid? i think so.

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

happy mother's day!

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



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its official, she has figured it out...

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



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she's going for it...

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



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here comes the tooth fairy...

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

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

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

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



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yea! fun at the park!

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







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