Chatterbox

We are trying to up our game on our website to include YouTube videos. It might take a few tries, but if this link works, here's Ani doing her gabbing that is typical of her these days. She tends to be very expressive with her hands. :)

Cousin time

Here's Ani with two of her cousins, Emily and Nick Barrett, from a visit last month. Somehow, I didn't catch a photo with her other cousin Ryan. :( Next time, we'll have to make sure to get a good picture of him too.

In Denmark with Dad

We spent the past week in Denmark where Ani and I met up with Ben. It was a great trip - we enjoyed the pristine farmlands, beautiful castles and churches, and Viking history. Most of all, it was great to hang out as a family.

Baby feet

Aren't these little piggies cute?

I'm waiting on perpetual hold with Delta airlines, which just may be the 7th circle of Hell. Anyways, I thought I'd try to cheer myself up by looking at cute pictures and posting them. It's almost working, almost....

Beach day

Pictures and lies

Isn't it great how pictures can capture a moment and give the false impression of reality.


For example, here's a great photo of Ani's Uncle Brian reading a story to her and cousin Dominick. Doesn't it look like Ani is listening intently to the story? While Dominick may enjoy story time, I've pretty much given up on reading to Ani for now because she always insists on devouring the book herself, quite literally.


This second picture (taken just moments later) better captures reality, but I'll save the first one for the albums to brag about what a good listener my little girl was :)

Real food

I'm convinced I choked to death on something in a previous life, because I've been very hesitant to give Ani any real foods. Since Ani is completely over babyfood and has 8 teeth now, I've put my fears aside and let her go for the solids. Although Ani is only 1/4 Italian, spaghetti is clearly her favorite food.

Rub-a-dub-dub

Ani and Nicole have made it to Michigan -- our home base until September until we go with Ben to Uganda. Here Ani is taking a bath with her cousin Dominic (18 months). The two have become fast friends and Ani wants to do everything Domi does. It's pretty adorable.

Little red Ani B.

With the flurry of moving activity and visitors we are a little behind on our photos. Here's Ani in an adorable outfit made by Uncle Nate's girlfriend Melissa. Ani loves it. Thanks Melissa!

The power of prunes

For indelicate reasons, we fed Ani stewed prunes this morning. In the process, she took on many characters.

First, she looks like a Revlon model sporting the newest lipstick color "Prunella":












Next, she decided to venture into a Charlie Chaplin routine:


Finally, she decided to transform herself into one of her favorite characters, DAD:

'sup?

In reverse

Watch out everyone! Ani's on the road. Ok, just the playground. She's old enough now to enjoy all the great communal toys lying around the village.

Not your average 7 month old

Ani is trying to help her dad understand the intricacies of multilevel statistical modeling. Hmmm...maybe we should start with ABCs.

I just wanna fly....

When she's not scooting across the room --- she has the military crawl down now --- Ani assumes the skydiving free fall position. I get a sore neck just watching her.

Sitting pretty

It's official, Ani is a bonafide sitter. With her long torso and little bottom, Ani has not been inclined to sit but rather has been working on her crawl. She's mastered it now though and is happy to sit and play for almost 3 minutes before getting bored and rolling into her crawl position.

Visit from Bappa and Mimi

Ani's grandparents (named Bappa and Mimi by cousin Dominick) came for a visit. Ani was remarkably chipper all week, giving her grandparents a distorted impression of her day-to-day demeanor. Of course, she cried the whole way home after her grandparents were dropped off at the airport.

Yuck!

We're enduring a case of the Ani diarrhea here at the Bellweathers. Is it a virus, food sensitivity, just teething??? We have no idea and are hoping that whatever it is, it ends soon. Ani's biggest complaint is a sore bottom and she's expressing her displeasure here. She's pretty darn cute about it though. :)

Raindrops on roses....

Here are a few of Ani's new favorite things:

1. DAD. She is over the moon for dad these days. Mom will do if she's hungry enough, but really, it's all about dad.

2. Moving around. She's a semi-crawler of late. She scoots backwards and shifts around in 360 degree circles but can't get very far in a forward motion yet. Still, we're quite proud ;)

3. Breathing fast and furious through her nose. She found she can make some cool noises this way and always gets a laugh from us. See photo for the great face she makes when she does this.

Two teeth

Ani's two center bottom teeth came in recently. Now she can do some serious damage to the furniture and to mom as well :)

I couldn't get a good photo of her teeth so I decided to put this one up instead that was taken by Ani's new friend Pavlina.

I'm so baked....

Here's a cute picture of Ani that one of her babysitters sent us. Sure, she can't read, but she can model the latest in baking fashion.