Foto Friday Returns!

I'm back for a very late-in-the-evening Foto Friday! We have got some serious photo-catching-up to do.

We start the post with some photos of Annabel and her baby friends.

Annabel and her friend Haley are best buds.

Haley is a great friend because she loves to share her toys with Annabel!

Annabel really loved this toy of Haley's because she was still getting the hang of sitting up on her own at this time (this was about a month ago -- yes, I know I'm really behind)!

A few days later, Annabel went to go visit another friend, Lila. Here they are holding hands. How sweet!

And, when showing pics of Annabel and her baby buddies, we HAVE to share the most recent of her adventures with JP! Here they are, hangin' in Annabel's crib. Seriously... how cute are they?

JP thinks Annabel's baby bedonkydonk makes an excellent armrest.

The babies are confused by my reference to her bedonkydonk. Annabel, in particular, is not sure if she should be offended.

They decide that now is not the time for worrying about SAT words and just to focus on the joy of being beautiful babies.

Later, Nanny Kristi takes the kiddos for a stroll in the neighborhood to enjoy the mild November weather.

JP and Annabel discuss what route to take through the neighborhood to best take in the scenery.

Once the route is picked, JP, being the chivalrous young man that he is, checks to make sure Annabel's straps are secure before taking off.

Next are some photos of life with Annabel. In particular, one of the things I'm most proud of that I've been doing is making Annabel's solid food myself! I still buy a few baby food jars in the store as back-up or if it's a food I don't think I can attempt, like prunes. But for the most part, I've been giving Annabel fresh food!

This was my first batch of homemade baby food -- carrots and peas. I've also made sweet potatoes, butternut squash and given Annabel fresh bananas and avocado. I freeze each batch in ice cube trays and then store the frozen food cubes in ziplock baggies. She's currently eating about 2 cubes per meal.

Annabel tries my homemade carrots for the first time. You can't really tell here, but she loved them! Prior to making her food, when I started her on carrots and peas, her first taste was jarred food. I can definitely say that she seems to enjoy homemade food more.

Here's her first taste of homemade peas. I don't think she's a big fan of peas in general. She does love sweet potatoes and butternut squash. I've taken to mixing the stuff she doesn't like as much (green beans, peas, avocado -- all green stuff, hmmm) with some she does like (prunes or pears) so she eats it more enthusiastically. Which is to say she doesn't clamp her mouth shut and turn her head away. I really need to show you guys video of that. It's pretty funny!

Also this past month, I clipped Annabel's nails for the first time. Up until then, I had only been filing them down. But now that her fingers are getting bigger and easier to grip, I figured it was time.

As long as she had something to occupy herself, she was pretty cooperative.

I know. Is it weird that I had Chris take a picture of her first nail clippings? Well, at least I didn't keep them. Not that it's weird if you kept your baby's first nail clippings. I'm just saying.

After seeing how much fun Annabel had with Haley's sit-up toy, of course, I had to get a similar one for her. And she loves it!

She especially loves playing with that other baby who is always there with her on this toy.

In addition to sitting up on her own, Annabel is a busy caterpillar, army-crawling all over the place! Here, she's fascinated by the lens cap and goes for it.

Goal! Annabel rewards herself for attaining her prize by giving it a good chomp.

Another new thing for Annabel this past month is the big girl bathtub! She has graduated from her baby bath to taking baths in the big tub. Here she is with Daddy getting ready to go in.

At first, she wonders why Daddy is so far away. He's not usually that far during her bath.

As Daddy bathes her, Bellie gets the hang of things. She really enjoys all the fun splishing and splashing.

All clean! It's official -- Bellie loves her big girl bath!

And finally, we'll close with some photos of Annabel and her big people friends.

Auntie NeNe (Renee) comes over for some playtime with Bellie.

Bellie loves her Auntie NeNe!

We also met up with Auntie Kathryn and our friend Alex for lunch while he was in town for Thanksgiving.

Annabel suckers Alex into handing over his wallet. We made a mental note not to let him take her to the mall when she gets bigger. Then again, it's not our money...

Also, you might have noticed in these last two photos that we've added another hair ornament to Annabel's bow collection. Barrettes (or in this case, just one barrette)! She finally has just enough hair to keep a barrette in. I'm loving having all these new options to accessorize her.

Whew! That was a lot of photos! I guess I should have named the post "Foto November" since that's when all of these pictures were taken. Still to come, photos from Thanksgiving (my Mom took a bunch of photos, so I can do a belated post when I get them from her) and before that, from our trip to Carmel. Including adventures on a plane! Also, my next product review, which has been a long time coming (so what else is new, right?).

Until then, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is having a wonderful holiday season!

Cheers!