My baby's first words?

Today, as I was having a telephone conversation with my wife, I heard Anneke banging on the keyboard in the background. Soon text popped up in my GTalk chat window.

Now you may be inclined to argue otherwise, and you would have a valid point, but I am going to have to go ahead and say this is the first remote communication I have received from my daughter:

// / mmm ;ij.km>
; 77777r 87yhjnh
hnbiiiiiiiii v o o k [=
"
yfy6jhy,. u9 y780olp ol9 uji hjbl;k l'
] n

Tagged

My sister tagged me with a request for seven random, little-known facts about me. This is complicated by two things: I talk about myself a LOT, and I have to write this with the thought of future clients of mine stumbling across our blog. So, Caroline, think mildly neurotic....
So I think this will be boring:
1. I found a great chocolate chip cookie recipe and froze a few batches of dough. So right now I have three cookies baking in the oven.
2. I think folding clothes is kind of the loophole in household drudgery, because you get to watch TV. Plus, you start with a mess and end with neat, organized piles, all in the course of half an episode of Magnum P.I.
3. I just read this and realized I need to get out more.
4. I once read that Camilla Parker Bowles is not one for therapy. She's more apt to make some scrambled eggs and put some rum in her tea when the going gets tough. I try to remember this when I'm getting all dramatic about a bad day. Sometimes you just need to figure out what your version of the eggs/rum-in-tea is.
5. Speaking of which: when I am going through a hard time I tend to fetishize a particular meal. When Dave was recovering from his accident it was tempura udon. I slurped down many, many bowls of it. Then one day, after Dave had returned home and was limping and gimping around on his own, I was done. After the baby was born it was coldcut sandwiches. Now that Anneke is scooting around I am so sick of them. What will I eat when she starts CRAWLING?
6. Camilla Parker-Bowles is not otherwise a role model of mine.
7. Nigella Lawson is! I love her so much. I made three of her dishes this weekend, including venison in white wine. It's basically venison stewed in caramelized onions, spices, and, of course, wine. It was heavenly.

I tag Ashleigh and The Law!

TRAUMA: life at the MannBowles house

So today I put Anneke in the Ergo so we could walk around the corner to buy me some tights to go with my new boots. The sun was shining, and Dave was off on a mission to buy a raccoon trap. We ambled down the walk when BOOM! Flat on my face--with baby strapped to my front. It all happened so fast--I really don't remember it. The only think knew was that I had fallen on top of my baby! I got up and Anneke was wailing and bleeding on my shirt. Then I was wailing and running to B&A's house. I called Dave to tell him to get home pronto. Anneke was so upset. Brian, his brother and sister-in-law helped assess. It really was not clear how badly she was hurt! Long story short, Dave got home, and we lay our inconsolable baby on the changing table to get a better look. She had stopped bleeding; I nursed her for a while and called the on-call doctor. By the time I spoke to the doctor Anneke was her old self again, albeit with a scraped head and chin. Sigh. We gave her some Tylenol and took her to her buddy E's first birthday party. She was the belle of the ball (next to the birthday girl, of course). I have checked on her twice this evening, just to make sure she's okay. She is. I'm not, but I guess that's the price I pay for being a mom.

Seven months!

Our little pumpkin is seven months old! We took these in B&A's back yard, and they entertained her while I snapped the photos. She is almost sitting up by herself, and tonight she got up on all fours for a second! Next month I predict we will not be using the Bumbo.

 

 

 

 

Wardrobe courtesy of The Lollipop Shop in Camden, Arkansas. This was a gift from The Glazes, and I have been waiting almost seven months for her to wear it!

More photos for the grandparents

Okay, Camden, tell me this top photo does not look just like Jonathan Reynolds. Not sure how that happened.

And check out those teef!

What we've been up to

Friends who check our blog as obsessively as I check theirs (let's hope that's no one)may be wondering: what has kept the MannBowles so busy they haven't blogged in a week? Well, we have been lolling in the grass with friends and feeding Anneke beets.

Movies (Backward)

As I am sure has already been mentioned, Anneke has started, well not crawling, but more moving backwards. We have captured it on film, as you can see below.



And this one with a special touch from Dad. Notice as things appear in front of her that she wants to get, she moves backwards further away from them.



Microsoft Movie Maker is free, but sure can be frustrating. A new version of Premier Elements is coming out Oct 15th, and I plan to pick that up. Expect even more videos after that happens.

-Dad.