Santa, Baby

As you can tell, Anabelle's first visit with Santa went very well. The girl has never met a stranger! She loved him. Memories were made. I cried... She is SO MUCH FUN!

Biter Biscuits

Among many other first tries of foods, including peas, green beans, sweet potatoes and peaches, Anabelle had her very first "biter biscuit." Her sweet friend, Addie, shared them with her since Addie has all of her teeth now. I must preface the pictures by telling you that Anabelle has never smiled, not once, while eating. She is a serious girl a lot of the time, and eating is definitely one of those times. We can tell when she likes her food by the speed with which she eats it. Smiles are not even a consideration.

If you watch the pictures, you can see she loves this. No smiles, but she demolished it in minutes. So fun to watch!

Sprinkle, Shower and Bath

One of my dear friends, Heather, is expecting her second baby any day now. Well, mid-January, really. We threw a surprise "Sprinkle" for her a few weekends ago. What's a Sprinkle, you ask? It's smaller than a shower, since showers aren't typically held for second babies. It was food, friends and pampering for the mommy. Here are a few of us with the glowing Heather.

One of my other very dear friends, Amy, is expecting her first just before Heather. We don't get to see her very often, living in different states, but it's always a wonderful reunion when we do. The Groves and we decided to have our own shower for the Domingos in the form of a weekend reunion. It was so relaxing, fun to catch up and filled with delicious food! Here are the three mommas and our babies (with baby D giving Amy that beautiful mommy-to-be glow).
And speaking of showers, Anabelle loves them! It's a good thing, because we don't have a bath seat that fits the tubs in our temporary house. She either gets to take a shower, when possible, or a bath in this fabulous kitchen sink, surrounded by granite countertops. I keep telling her not to get used to it. ;)

Christmas with Grandpa Mack

After Christmas celebrations with Mike's mom and grandparents, we met his dad for a little QT. Anabelle was in a terrificly smiley mood, as you can see! And check out her beautiful new hot pink scarf that Aunt Chelsie diligently crocheted for her.
We may need to sell this photo to Starbucks. I'm sure it would increase their business at least two-fold.

Grandpa Ron is an incredible wood worker. He made Anabelle a beautiful toy chest that is in her room, with her name carved in it. For Christmas, he made her this gorgeous rocking horse. She loves to sit on it and rock back and forth. I am amazed by his talent and thrilled to have a piece of furniture like this to pass on through the generations.

Christmas at Grandma Mack's

We celebrated Christmas with Mike's family last weekend so we can wake up in our own house this year for Christmas and celebrate just the three of us!

Saturday night, we ventured out into the cold to take a stroll through Auburn's park that was decorated with lights and Christmas attractions. It was very pretty, and Anabelle loved all of the lights!
We managed to get a photo of the whole crew... barely. The kids also saw Santa, but the photos turned out pretty terribly between the two older kids wanting nothing to do with him. Anabelle, on the other hand, was happy just to be there.

And thrilled to be Rudolph, as you can tell.

She opened her very first Christmas presents while we were there! She loved unwrapping them. In fact, we may just wrap up paper and boxes for Christmas. It was so exciting to think about what Christmas morning will be like. Here she is checking out her gift.

And here she is being a little mommy to both of her new baby dolls. She has a hand on both of their bellies. Patting them, probably, because that's what she does to things she likes.

6 Months!

Anabelle turns 7 months old tomorrow, so I figured I should post her 6 month bunny picture. It's the last one against pink walls. *sniff*

Chatty Cathy

Apparently I have become quite the "Chatty Cathy" this past month because I went way over on my minutes! Since we don't have a house phone, I'm guessing a lot of those minutes came from setting up our new accounts and cancelling old accounts as we moved. Regardless, texting will be my new best friend this month while I try to limit my talk time before 9 PM. If you're on Verizon, we can talk all day! Otherwise, I may have to be selective in my talking time for a while.

This has been a public service announcement by Biz Mack. Sponsored by a grateful husband, I'm sure.

Snow & Shopping

Photos have been tough to come by with our busyness, but my (camera)phone is always handy! Here is a summary of our week this week thanks to Verizon:

First, Sonya and Connor came to our new house to visit! We ate lunch at Chicago's Pizza - SO thankful to still have one nearby. Connor was smitten by Anabelle. See him checking her out! Anabelle saw her first snow this week! It was beautiful to wake up to, even if it was just a dusting. Here is how excited she was to watch it fall from the sky!

And then she went Christmas shopping with Mimi and me. We went on the coldest, iciest, 60 mph windiest day, but she still loved it! Here's proof:
So that's our week, plus organizing and such.

And More of the Beauty

Merry Christmas from our little sweetie! Her mimi has made her a hat like this in girly pink, Colts blue and now Christmas red with jingle bells on the little pigtails. It's darling! (She makes them with shorter tails for boys, if anyone is interested). We are so excited for Christmas with Anabelle this year! She will be so much fun!

By the time Mike got home, Anabelle was pretty tired of being the beautiful model. We got a few family photos in, but she kept her game face on. Abby still captured a few cute ones. We may try again another day for three smiles!

That's it for the photo shoot! I've already "hired" Aunt Abby for her 9 month and 12 month photos. She was so generous to do these for us, and we are very thankful to have her, plus Mimi and Auntie Rachie to help! I imagine more Christmas photos will be taken when the aunts are home for break.

Speaking of Christmas, we actually get to decorate for Christmas since we are moved in to the rental house now! I am thrilled for that. It will make this house seem even more homey, even though we know we're moving out in about six months. Anabelle may get tired of watching Elf and White Christmas since they will surely be on repeat this week as I unpack our stuff!

Contact Mack

Dear Friends, Family and Blogging World,

We have temporarily relocated. We would LOVE to get mail from you, especially at Christmas! Please send us lots of letters and your family photos to:

PO Box 122
Greenfield, IN 46140.

We can safely advertise our temporary address since it's a small metal box in a US Postal Office. If you want to come visit, we will give you our physical address. Just ask!

Love,
The Macks

6 Month Photos Continued

More of Aunt Abby's fabulous photo work. Anabelle was a terrific model. We just love the smiles... and those chubby cheeks/thighs/etc.

Our Baby is 6 Months Old

Our sweet princess is 6 months old! Where has the time gone?

At her 6 month appt, she was stretching out the charts at 21 lbs, 4 oz and 28 inches long! She does not miss a meal and is coming close to maxing out the length on her twelve month sleepers. Yes, my adorable six month Christmas outfits that I bought in my pregnant excitement are still in packages in the closet (er, boxes). But we love her so, so, so very much, and I don't care what size she is wearing!

This past month she has continued her rolling and rolling and rolling. She still prefers the right, with an occasional nod to the left roll. It's probably 99 to 1. She is also sitting up, almost completely on her own. Padding around her is preferred for the quick turn and tumble. But she loves to sit and play now. She is also quite the daddy's girl. No matter what she is doing, if daddy comes near, she is all smiles and giggles. She will even stop nursing to arch herself upside down to take a peek at her handsome dad sitting beside me.

Speaking of eating, she tried her first vegetable in time for Thanksgiving! She is loving sweet potatoes and will start peas this week. I am pretty sure she said "It's about time" when we fed them to her.

To capture Anabelle in all of her 6 month adorableness, Auntie Abby, Auntie Rachie, Mimi and I spent an entire day in a photo shoot of the little miss. Abby has a fabulous camera that we bought a great lens for just to capture our baby girl on. And Abby did AMAZINGLY! The pictures were better than we could have hoped for. In fact, all 495 pictures were beautiful. Here are the princess ones of our 21 pound sweetheart:

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our little pumpkin.

Just a sneak peek at Anabelle's 6 month photos. More to come!

So Sorry

Anabelle wanted to tell you we are so sorry for the delay in postings! It's been a busy month in the Mack house. We put our house up for sale by owner, sold it 17 days later. We have packed up the whole house and are in the midst of signing an agreement to build our new house. Mike has packed up his whole house and begins working in Greenfield on the 30th. We have found a house to rent in Greenfield and will be very close to Papa & Mimi. We hope to break ground on our new house in the next 30 days and be settled in it by the summer!

That's our life in a tiny, tiny nutshell. I feel like we are in a constant, ever growing whirlwind. Our minds are continuously racing, and my to-do list is growing by the minute. I appreciate your patience through this all as my friend or blog reader. We're busy, but we still need our friends!

Until the next free minute...

Belated Birthday Love!

It's a week late, but Mike's birthday was last Sunday. We celebrated both his and my dad's birthdays Friday night in Greenfield with my family. It was, in true Campbell/Mack fashion, at El Rodeo. Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like a burrito and margarita! And an adorable baby girl in a sombrero!

We celebrated his birthday by spending it at home, as a family, and eating a LOT! Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast, Buffalo Chicken dip for a Colts game snack, and lasagna for dinner. I think he needs more birthdays! Happy Birthday, honey! We love you lots!

And today is actually my dad's birthday! His celebrations have been going on for about two weeks. And Anabelle's ribs last night were part of his birthday dinner from Tia & Tio. So, here's to her sweet Papa... Happy Birthday, dad! We love you, too!

Are We Sure?

Are we SURE we want our 5 month old staying with her grandparents when we get pictures texted to us of this?

Mike and I dropped Anabelle off at Papa & Mimi's last night for another overnight so we could tailgate and go to the Colts' game today. We had a wonderful day (with beautiful weather!), but we are afraid she might have had too good of a day. Tio and Tia (Tony & Joy) brought ribs to celebrate my dad's birthday, and everyone there thought it'd be funny to stage Anabelle like she'd eaten some.

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. After laughing, I then feel bad for Anabelle who was probably dying to lick that BBQ sauce off of her cheeks. She would have given anything to have a taste of the goodness. (No, she did not eat any of it! Don't go calling our doctor...)

Silly Hat Day

Remember silly hat day during Homecoming weeks in high school? Anabelle has one that now will rival for both silly and most adorable hat day. Mimi made Anabelle this precious little thing that makes her look like she has pigtails in! It is a riot to see it on her.

Look out, cold weather, here comes more cuteness!

p.s. It was a very exciting weekend this weekend to get to see Aunt Rachie! She hasn't seen Anabelle for two months! A long time for such a tiny girl. Anabelle loved getting to play and snuggle with her and can't wait for Thanksgiving to do it again!

Pretty Baby

As I mentioned before, Aunt Abby came to take some great pictures of Anabelle. Turned out that her camera was dead, so I took some great pictures while Aunt Abby played with her! Check out the most beautiful baby model there is...
(I photoshopped out the background of this for Mimi)

When you enlarge this picture, you can see her two bottom teeth that are in and the mountain of gums next to it where a third tooth was coming up. The third tooth, praise God, has now broken through! Hopefully her pain is over, too....

Sugar Baby

If you recall, last year Mike and I were Sugar Daddy and Sugar Babies for Halloween. This year, with our very own Sugar Baby, we had to enhance the ensemble! We didn't have anywhere to be, but we did have a photographer (Aunt Abby) on hand to shoot some photos. So, we did.

I must say that she might be the cutest Sugar Baby, ever! She is already asking for me to make her a bigger one for next year.

That evening, Lily stopped by with her mommy and daddy to show off her princess bumblebee costume, and to score some candy! She was darling in her outfit, but Anabelle wanted her antennae! You can almost see the conversation happening, Anabelle says "Give me those sparkly things!" and Lily is saying "Get away from me crazy baby!" But really, they love each other.

Aunt Abby spent the night with us afterwards and took some great pictures of Anabelle. Here she is feeding her some yummy cereal! Thanks, Abs, for everything this weekend!

How We're Feeling

If this smile says anything, it's how we're feeling this morning!! After daddy fed her a later meal of cereal, we also gave her some Tylenol for the third(!) tooth that's coming in. She then slept for almost 11.5 hours last night! BIG smiles on all of our faces this morning!

She's presently squealing with delight at her exersaucer. It's a wonderful start to the day.

Laughter, the Best Medicine

More Celebrations (Overdue)

(Somehow the publishing this got overlooked) Anabelle welcomed another friend to the world last week! On October 4th, Abigail Chapman Land was born to some of our best friends, Katie and Cam Land. It wasn't that long ago that we welcomed their first daughter, Sarah. Abigail is just precious! She was born with a full head of thick hair, with sweet little blonde highlights. Already a girly girl! Anabelle is excited to have a girlfriend to go shopping and do her nails with.

We also celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary last week! To celebrate, we try to get away for a weekend somewhere in Indiana each year. This year was Corydon, IN. We stayed at a sweet B&B there, visited a few wineries, toured the Marengo Caves and treated ourselves to massages.

It was a lovely weekend, but it was missing someone! Anabelle stayed with Papa & Mimi while we were gone. They all had a wonderful time, which made Mike and me feel much better about being away. We still managed to talk about her most of the time we were gone!