Road Tripping: New Orleans, LA

Annie and I joined Brad on his business trip to New Orleans last week!  Brad has been traveling so much with work so we were thrilled to have a chance to spend some time together on the road!

We left town on Wednesday, June 20th just in time for Annie's morning nap.  She did very well although I am learning that she is not a great sleeper in the car.  Annie slept a short while for her morning nap, then we stopped and had a nice, long lunch, then got back in the car.  Annie never slept again even though it was time for her afternoon nap.  Thankfully, she was happy and even very silly so we made it in 6 hours!

Upon arrival, we checked into The Embassy Suites hotel and then headed out on foot to explore and find dinner.  The weather was comfortable and we enjoyed walking!  Annie was happy in her stroller.  However, we did not have any plan for dinner and it was a bit hard to find somewhere to eat that we thought would be good food, affordable, and baby friendly.  We settled on the Palace Cafe on Canal Street and it was delicious!!  I highly recommend it!

(All pictures are either my iPhone pics or internet pictures because we left the camera battery in the charger at home)

Inside

After dinner, we walked to Jackson Square to enjoy beignets at Cafe Du Monde!  

The street musician serenaded Annie with "You Are My Sunshine" while we waited!  We headed home just in time for a gorgeous sunset over St. Louis Catherdral in Jackson Square! 

Thursday, Brad had his business meeting in Baton Rouge so Annie and I had breakfast at the hotel and then walked a few blocks to Starbucks!  She loves to walk behind her stroller and "drive" it!  

By the time Brad returned from his meeting, Annie had finished her morning nap, and we were ready to set out again!  First, we ate lunch at Mike Serio's Po-Boys & Deli in the Central Business District.  Brad loves to eat lunch here whenever he is in town.  We enjoyed yummy shrimp po-boys but not the obnoxious LSU paraphernalia!

After lunch, we walked for miles and miles and miles around the French Quarter!  Thankfully, the weather was amazingly comfortable.  We browsed the The Shops at Canal Place and visited the lobby of the Westin for a beautiful view of the Mississippi River!

Terrible iPhone pic :(

We ended up back in Jackson Square before heading home.  I was amazed at the huge and beautiful trees!

Here is Annie at the end of our afternoon!  Worn out!

Thursday night, we had dinner at GW Fins which was also good!  This would have been great date-night, romantic dinner without a baby!

Afterwards, we walked on Royal Street and enjoyed the street musicians and window shopping.  We also saw the revolving bar at Hotel Monteleone!

Friday, we ate breakfast at the hotel again, rested in the hotel during Annie's morning nap, and then set out for the Garden District and Magazine Street.  

On our walk, Annie asked to hold my hand (by holding up her hand) while riding in her stroller!  She is such a sweet, sweet, loving baby!!

 

We rode the streetcar down St. Charles street which was so cool!

The houses were gorgeous!

And the trees were gorgeous here too!

Per a friend's suggestion, we ate lunch at La Divinia Gelateria!  

Everything was good but especially the gelato!

We didn't last that long on Magazine Street because it was super hot and super sunny, but I am glad we got to go!

After another afternoon nap in the hotel, we ate at Leonardo's Trattatoria for dinner.  It was close to our hotel which was nice and actually very good pizza!

Saturday, we had a long drive home including an hour of barely-moving-traffic due to road work, but we finally made it home!  On a quick break, Annie cheerfully took over driving and even tried texted while driving.  Bad girl!

Annie was a trooper and stayed amazingly happy the entire trip even though she got a lot less sleep than normal and we were on the go in the hot heat a lot!  I am so thankful that she continues to be such an easy and adaptable baby!!

Thank you Brad for including us on your business trip!   I know its not as easy with us around, but we were very glad to be there with you and to get to enjoy New Orleans!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, Brad, and my father-in-law, Tom!!  

I am so thankful for my Dad and the rock that he has always been in my life!  He knows so much about so many different things,  he is endlessly patient and kind, he is tremendously generous, he is the hardest worker I know, he is a wonderful teacher and mentor, and he is always full of love and support!  I love you Daddy!

Happy 1st Father's Day to Brad!  

It has been such a joy to see you in this new role as Daddy to Annie! 

Just as I hoped and thought, you have been the sweetest Daddy right from the beginning!

You have taken on the role of Daddy with such ease and naturalness! 

You jumped right in to loving Annie, holding her, and learning how to take excellent care of her!

1 Month

You are the best at making Annie laugh, and she lights up when you are around!

3 1/2 Months

You are 100% dependable and are always there when she needs you!

4 Months

You are completely trustworthy!

6 Months

You are a master at getting her to sleep even when no one else can! 

You share the same gorgeous blue eyes and look so much alike which I love!

9 Months

You share a love of music, and she gets all of her dance moves from you!

You have so much to teach her and will be a wonderful role model!

You are unselfish with your time and willingness to help! 

Father's Day 2012

1st Father's Day!

We love you Brad and are so proud of you!  Thank you for your love and support of us both!

10 Months

Annie is now 10 months old!  This is such a sweet, happy, and fun stage!!  

This month was all about walking, talking, and dancing! 

I am so proud of myself because I actually took these pictures on her 10 month birthday and weighed and measured her too!  Too bad I am just now getting around to posting them.  I have been working on this post for forever, but I cannot get the videos to upload!  Ugh.

I love this sweet, innocent, relaxed face!

Here are Annie's unofficial 10 month stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 55%  

Height: 29 1/4" 80%

Head Circumference: ?

Annie was talking to her Daddy while I took these pictures.  

I love this series of expressions that I captured!

I don't have any pictures that show them, but Annie cut two more bottom teeth this month.  She now has 8 total teeth, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom!  

I got my first tooth at 9 months so all these teeth are a big surprise!

Annie babbles all the time these days and it is wonderful!  She says "dada" very clearly although I do not think she associates this with Brad yet.  She also says "Layla" pretty clearly and knows that Layla is our dog!  She says what sounds like "mama" sometimes but definitely does not associate it with me yet.  She also makes tons of other sounds and words that we cannot yet understand!  

Even though Annie cannot say many words, she can communicate with us almost perfectly!  She still answers no to what she doesn't want.  She does the sign language motion for all done when she is finished eating or finished swinging, etc.  She talks to us until we pay attention or respond.  And, of course, she cries when needed to let us know she's not happy with something.

And one of my most favorite things that Annie does and has been doing for several months now is to point with her chin at something that she wants!  She raises her eyebrows, looks with her eyes, and points with her chin in the direction of whatever she sees.  While doing all of this, she says  "oohhh."  I cannot believe that I have not included this yet in an update.  It is a very sweet and very effective way at communicating what she wants!

Annie really enjoys playing with her toys these days!  She likes to be in her room or on her quilt and play!  We desperately need more fun toys.  Any suggestions on your favorite toys would be welcome!  

One of Annie's favorite things to do is pull items out of a box or bag.  She loves to "help" me put on my make-up by taking everything out of the bag for me!  She also has a plastic box with blocks inside that she loads and unloads and carries around like a purse!

Annie is also enjoying books!  She loves to flip the pages on her own, open any peek-a-boo flaps, touch any touch-and-feel books, unload them from her bookcase, and chew on them!  However, she is not very interested in me actually reading the books to her yet.

Annie has become a copy cat and will mimic the things we are trying to teach her!  If I bang my feet on the floor, she will too.  If we clap, she will too.  Brad taught her something he calls "earthquake" where you shake your entire body!  Annie thinks it is hilarious and does it whenever Brad does!

Always such a happy, happy girl!!!

Here is a look back at her 9 1/2 month photo!

 Annie took her first couple of official steps on her own on May 6th just a few days past her 9 month birthday!  At first, she started out very unstable and wobbly.  But, as the month progressed, she has gotten better and better at walking.   She can take probably 8-12 steps alone but is not yet good at stopping herself in a safe way.  If she walks to furniture, she can stop herself, but if there is nothing for her to walk to, then I think she would probably crash.  So, she mostly still loves to walk while holding my hands, but instead of holding both of my hands, she now walks beside me while holding just one hand. She seems like such a big girl doing this!  We practice walking everyday in her room so I know it won't be long before she takes off on her own!

Here is a video where we tried to capture a few steps, but, I think Annie was more interested in the camera and Aunt Emmie than anything else!

*** My videos will not upload.  Any advice?  I've been trying this for days...! ***

Annie's balance improved a lot over the month as well and she became very good at standing alone (with someone close by!).  

Annie also loves to walk with her walker and then let go and take a step or two to one of us!

Even though this photo is blurry, I love it!

Annie is obsessed with dancing!  She starts dancing immediately when I play music on the iphone, kitchen speakers, in the car, or anywhere else that music is playing!  She bounces if standing, wiggles her legs and waves her arms if sitting, bobs her head in her car seat, and also taps her leg to the beat!  Seeing her dance all the time sure does make life happy!!   She will also ask for the music to be turned on if she is in the mood by dancing and looking at me like!

Annie also learned how to pull herself up to her knees this month and how to sit herself up from laying down.  She cannot yet get herself into a standing position.  

This is the progression that I watched one day when she was supposed to be going to sleep for her nap.  All pictures taken from the video monitor.

1) She's up on her knees holding onto the side of the crib.  Looking directly into the monitor although she doesn't know it!

2) Her paci went over board so she was looking for it.

3) She was very sleepy but not laying down!

4) Eventually, she fell asleep for her nap, slept, and then woke up and immediately sat up and looked into the camera again as if to say, "I'm awake Mama!"

As a result of Annie's new climbing skills, I immediately lowered her mattress after nap time!  While I was working on the mattress, Annie was pretending that the plug covers where pacis.  So funny!  It is definitely time to start baby proofing the house as she is going to be on the go soon!



Annie started rolling herself over and sleeping on her stomach this month which is fine by me!  But, she really likes to sleep with her head almost face down in the mattress which stresses me out!  Now that she does this so often, I have gotten used to it at least.

(This picture is a picture of the video monitor screen.)

One morning at breakfast, Annie made this hilarious face!  I asked Brad if he taught her this and he did not.  We have no idea where she learned it but it is adorable!

Annie and I went to our neighborhood pool for the first time!  Kat and Rollins joined us and we loved it!  Annie floated for a few minutes in the baby pool while in her float, but she mostly enjoyed walking in the baby pool!  Later in the month, we went to another pool and Annie loved being held in the big pool!  She did not love her float as much because she cannot splash and reach the water very well in it.

I love this photo!!  

Annie does not usually keep her sunglasses on as shown!  She mostly likes to put them on and off or just hold them, and she really loves to play with my sunglasses putting them on and off!

We also went to the lake for the first time with Annie!  It was nerve wracking for me, but Annie loved it!  She thought standing at the front of the pontoon boat catching the wind and seeing the sights was the best thing ever!

She also played in the baby pool while on the boat!

And, of course, she loved driving the boat with her Daddy!  

Playing high-five with Daddy and Wes!

Brad's grandmother, Grandma moved to Birmingham in May so we joined her for lunch and then went to visit her new place!

We celebrated my Dad's 56th birthday over Memorial Day weekend with a cookout at our house!

And, we also celebrated Elizabeth's 24th birthday with dinner at P.F.Changs,

and enjoyed cake, ice cream, and presents afterwards at Mom and Dad's house!

And finally, here are a few more pictures from this month!  Whew.  I know that this is the longest post ever and that most of you are not still reading, but I wanted to include all of these pictures because I love them!

Sharing breakfast like we do every morning!

Playing peek-a-boo on our walk!

Unhappy about being left in the car while I watered the flowers!

Gorgeous baby girl enjoying the front porch!

Getting work done in Daddy's office!

And finally, after almost every bath, I take Annie outside naked to let her dry off and get some Vitamin D.  Here she is swinging naked like she loves to do!

We love you so much Annie!  You are such an easy, happy baby!!