So far, in July . . .

Our July (so far) in pictures. . .

My parents came to visit for July 4th.  Grandmother, Grandpa, and Annabella made quite the red, white, and blue trio!

"Grandpa plays horsey"

 My mom made my grandma's (dad's mom) famous strawberry pie with real whipped cream and fresh blue berries on top.  A little more red, white, and blue for the special holiday.  YUM.

My parents watched Annabella while Brian and I got a weekend away.

We enjoyed staying at a cute little bed and breakfast, not too terribly far away from home.  We relaxed by the pool, visited a local winery, each had a massage, and ate like royalty.  It was everything I dreamed it would be.  We missed Annabella, but we REALLY enjoyed time spent just as a couple.

One night while we were away, we went to a little drive-in theater.  It was a tad hot, but fun.

On July 13th we celebrated Brian's birthday.  Big 29.  We celebrated with homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches.

Bels says "Happy Birthday, Da!"

Bels has been cruising around on our furniture.  She still has a ways to go before she walks, but she's making good progress.  We're SO proud of our girl!

Annabella has also been teething like crazy, and really enjoyed this homemade teething biscuit.

On July 14th, I packed up all of the bottles, and Annabella drank all of her milk from her sippy cups.  I was nervous that this day would never come because she really hasn't liked sippy cups.  Sometime during the first part of July, I substituted a sippy cup for one bottle, and she did fine.  Previously she had totally rejected anything that wasn't her bottle.  So, the next day, we did two sippy cups, and on the third day, we got rid of the bottles.   The transition was fabulous!  I had heard horror stories about lots of tears from cutting the bottles cold turkey and kids not drinking much for a few days.  I wasn't sure my heart could take that, so I'm thankful that Bels was finally ready to make the move.  This is just another example of how Annabella does everything when SHE is ready, and not a moment sooner.

Our big girl also stacked 5 blocks by herself just a few days ago (something I wanted to make sure to record, so I don't forget).  We only own 5 little one-inch wooden blocks, so I need to go buy some more.  Annabella and her dad need to start building some towers!