Pro's Blog

Ophish

2012-01-23T14:26:00.002-05:00

I got an e-mail from Morgan the other day - asking if I remembered a language in which there was an "op" following every consonant and where it came from... Sure do! And it brought back happy memories. :) I love happy memories. I called Grandmommy to confirm and her delightful laugh was all I needed. I so remember her teaching us to speak it and all the laughing involved! I hope one day that I can teach my own grand kids such cool things and give them memories to last a lifetime!
Until my next post,
Jopesopsopamopyopnop Lopauropelop (Goparopnoperop) Mopilopo

Randoms...

2011-12-13T23:14:00.001-05:00

- Danny started giving kisses finally and I'm in love all over.
- Little boys should learn about gravity before learning to climb.
- I'm totally overjoyed today that Christmas is saved!! :) Abi wanted a Lalaloopsy silly hair doll in the worst way and they are sold out all over the country and on line! Though I was originally against getting one (cause they're stoopit!), I was so disappointedly that I couldn't find one anywhere - she tells us that she "wishes she had one of those" all the time! Auntie Beth found one in Michigan today and is mailing it to us! Yay!!!
- I love the feel of the keys on my wireless keyboard.
- I'm dreaming about the possibility (hope) of having all my siblings together for Thanksgiving or Christmas next year... It will have been 5 years by that point.
- I wish I had a lot more time for doing crafts... I have so many things that i want to do...
- Having little children is hard. I love them to death. I wish that it was easier. (at times.)
- I hope that we will have snow for Christmas and I can't believe I'm saying that! It has been an unbelievably warm and wonderful Fall, but I guess I do still have a little bit of a child in me somewhere - there must be snow for Christmas!!
- Abi sang a couple songs with her Sunday school class for the Christmas program at church! I've never been so proud!! Its so funny... Up till this year I always watch and wonder why they have the 3 year olds sing - they pretty much just look around and stare into the lights like deer. But how stinkin cute!!! I was a weepy mess of pride! My baby girl sang and she new all the words and it was more precious than imaginable!!!
- I have noticed that my OCD tendencies are lessening as I have kids. However, sometimes I worry that I passed them on a little too strongly to my daughter! ;) Gosh I love her.
- I love to watch my kids sleep. Yup - I'm that Mom... They are so perfect and cuddly and wonderful laying there in perfect calm. I want to soak up every moment and never forget.
- I'm wondering if the kids are allergic to dogs... this would actually make me really sad. We were at my parents for dinner Sunday. Abi got her face licked and her face turned fiery red - could just be sensitive skin, but then she was all itchy! Danny was sneezing the whole time... Even though we don't have a dog (or even want one right now), I'd still be sad. In my head it is somehow really important for kids to have a dog!

...OK - that's enough random thoughts for now...

1 Year Old

2011-11-18T19:46:00.001-05:00

Our little man is one. He's developing quite the little personality - jolly as can be and starting to do whatever he can to make us laugh. He's such a happy little guy! We're so happy to have you in our lives and hearts little Daniel James!

Danny started "cruising" around the house 4 months ago and within a couple months of that started taking a few steps here and there. I was starting to wonder when he would get the confidence to realize that he really could walk... I think today he finally flipped the switch! He's a regular walking machine today!! No more taking 2 steps and gingerly lowering himself to the ground to take off on the more confident all 4's! This boy is on the move! ... and quite proud of himself I must say!!!

He also learned 2 days ago that he can climb! ...on chairs, on the couch, on boxes - on anything really! I wonder though, why little boys learn how to climb before they learn about gravity?? Its good that he has a very solid head, because it often takes a good bump!

11 month pics - only a months late...

2011-11-07T14:15:00.000-05:00

I made applesauce yesterday!

2011-11-03T14:07:00.001-04:00

Well - it only took me about 2 hours between last night and just now, but I finally figured out how to send a pic from my phone to my blog! So I'm not very technologically inclined, but at least I can finally figure it out if I have to!

I made applesauce yesterday! I'm so excited by how easy it was! For the last couple years, I've made apple-butter by pushing apple much through a strainer with the back of a spoon.... and swearing that I would never do it again without a machine. Kris got this for me for Christmas last year and I've been awaiting a chance to use it! So amazing to not have to peal and core the apples before cooking them down - this does it all and made it all sooooo fast. It only made 4 quarts, but I'm very happy with them. Apples, a little sugar, cinnamon, and a hint of nutmeg - it met with MAJOR approval from the kids :)

10/10/11

2011-10-13T20:41:00.001-04:00

All in one day Danny both got his first tooth (FINALLY! ...after only a mere 11 months and 5 days!) and took his very first step!! Little Man is getting so big so very quickly!!! I actually thought he may be walking sooner than this because he's been cruising around the furniture for about 3 months already, but he just hasn't quite had the confidence to walk. A few weeks ago we realized that he was able to walk behind a push toy and he's been great at standing in place, but just in the last couple days he's gaining the confidence to take a step - something he has now done several times in the last couple days. GO DANNY!!!

Lover of Books!

2011-10-12T21:25:00.001-04:00

Abi is absolutely in love with books. Its funny - I remember when she was really little always trying to read to her and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. I was sad, thinking that she wouldn't be into reading. Though I'm not much of a reader I really feel that its important and want my kids to love books. I'm not sure what changed - for the longest time the only book she'd sit for was a Bible story before bed, but now she is constantly carting books around, asking me to read to her and "reading" to herself and everyone else. I think its been for about the last 6 months. Her memory amazes me too - If I read a book to her once, she will correct me every time from there on out if I say a wrong word! She remembers so much it baffles me!

Danny seems to love books already... He can be running around like a crazy man getting into everything and the moment I get a book to read to them, he'll just sit quietly in my lap and listen.

Abi's love of books is not the only to change recently. Once again I'm amazed by how things change. We've thought for a bit that she was going to be more of a shy, loner type because she's been fairly intimidated by people in general since she was little. All of a sudden - within the last 2 months she's come out of her shell in a MAJOR way! No longer shy, very outgoing, talks to everyone, and wants to have her friends around at all times. Its totally an awesome experience to watch our babies learn, grow and change. I wish I could document every single moment to remember!

So many changes!

2011-10-04T14:25:00.000-04:00

Its been so long since I posted, that I got on to post and its taken me an hour to figure out all the new changes to Blogger! Must say - I rather like them! Not quite as simplistic, but much better for being able to post things the way you want!

Anyway - I'm totally steeling pics from my Husband and posting them here :) Abi did a fabulous job capturing her Daddy here! :)

"3" has been tough on us lately...Fierce independence, constant chatter, emotions not yet able to be managed... Gets a bit tricky at times, but I love our little lady. She's full of energy, sweet as can be to her brother (a rather fab help to me with him), and an avid learner. She's had all her letter down for a long time, but now seems to know all the lower case letters as well, and many of their sounds. She's learning to right them now! Every evening that I work, I come home and find the next day that she's learned a couple new songs from Jackie and sings them to her little hearts content. She forgets NOTHING! Her memory amazes me! Just last month she started a new Sunday School class at church and is very proud to have memorized her first Bible verse: "God is Love" 1 John 4:8 I struggle a little bit with the fact that I don't get as much 1:1 time with her now to help her learn things, but she just keeps learning anyway! :)

Dan the Man will be 11 months old tomorrow and has yet to pop out a tooth! For a little guy that hasn't really wanted baby food for the last 3 months, its getting rough to figure out what to feed him! I kinda thought he would be walking by now - he was crawling at 7.5 months and cruising around the furniture by 9 months, but is still a little leery of letting go... We did discover that he's now a champ with a little walk behind toy though! His sleep patterns are slowly getting better... He more or less sleeps through the night finally, but this week has been once again waking up at 5 am and not going back to sleep till 6... Not my favorite time to wake up - especially if I've worked the night before and not gotten to bed till 1am! We've been in the middle of "maybe" giving up the morning nap for a month too. Seems to go OK for a couple days.... ...and then its a couple days of torture - but he just doesn't want it, so I have no idea what to do! I've finally given up swaddling. Though it was the only way to get him to sleep for so very long, this past week if you wrap him he works to get it undone and out in seconds - so I think its time to give that up! I must say though - for all his trouble with sleep, he really is one very delightful little man! He's happy as can be, for the most part, even when sleep deprived! And a very determined little fellow he is too! Mischief finds him at every turn!!!

We're headed to NH this weekend to celebrate Kris' grandfather's birthday with him - He'll be 86! I'm excited to go up and see his family - its been about a year and a half and they haven't seen Danny yet. Really want to get up there while His Gramp is still doing well too. Then when we get back, I've been thinking that I need to get out to see Grandmommy and "have tea" with her! She's 88 and going strong! ...though her memory is failing and I want to get there a few more times while she remembers me and the kids!

I've spent a LOT of time this summer (in 45 minute segments during naps) trying to get the deck painted and am sadly realizing it probably won't be totally finished before its too cold :( Kris made awesome gates for both decks and I'm thrilled that they are now a bit safer and looking lovely! Plus I'm in love with the fact that the upper deck is now a place to still "get outside" even if the ground is too wet to really play! Its a fabulous thing in my mind!

OK - enough for now! This has not been a very successful nap time and both kids are crying - time to go!!

Photo shoot for Daniel's 10 Months Pics

2011-09-30T23:13:00.000-04:00

Mini photoshoot

2011-09-07T22:51:00.001-04:00

090611, a photo by ...milo... on Flickr.

I had to ask Kris to help me take Daniel's 10 month shots since he will no longer stay in one place for more than a second. While we were at it, we took one of Abi and a couple of them both together. Love my cute kids :)

Late is better than never...

2011-08-28T09:50:00.006-04:00

9 Month pictures:

8 Month pictures:

So fast!

2011-06-27T21:48:00.001-04:00

We bought Daddy (or as Abi has lately been calling him - for reasons we can not figure out - Boppy!) a picture frame for Father's day and then tried to get a picture to put in it! Getting more and more difficult with a wiggly little guy! :) But Abi did a great job of holding him in place!

Danny is growing up in leaps and bounds. In just one week he has learned to 1) feed himself finger foods (puffs since he still has no teeth!), 2) crawl (though at the moment its more of a very speedy shuffle), 3) move his legs like he's walking while held up, 4) gurgle! ...which he does ALL the time!! :) I forgot, however, that feeding self + crawling = eating off the floor! Guess I have to find time to clean the house a little more often!

Sad Day...

2011-06-25T09:19:00.002-04:00

It is a grievous day in NYS:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/nyregion/gay-marriage-approved-by-new-york-senate.html?_r=1

I'm so sad that my children will now be raised with school systems, neighbors and strangers telling them that this is normal! God help me to teach my children your ways. Give me strength to stand strong in our beliefs and Your ways. Give my children hearts that are softened to hear you Word and want to live by Your commands. Protect my children, Lord, and help me not to be silent in my convictions.

2011-06-18T15:57:00.001-04:00

Just checking to see if I can post to my blog from my phone...

Ready to Crawl?

2011-06-18T09:43:00.002-04:00

He's is soooooo ready to be on the move!! But we're thinkin he doesn't just want to crawl - he wants to RUN! He's been using the "roll method" to get around for a couple weeks now, and just this week he's figured out how to get up on all 4s and rock. He even pushes up on his toes with his butt all the way up in the air! When you sit with him in your lap he tries to throw himself down on the floor as if he thinks that if he could just get down there, he knows he could run. Silly boy has been able to sit up for a while now, but it was tough to tell because as soon as you sit him up he lunges forward to get at whatever he sees. :)

Its been a good week. :) Last week was horrid - it was probably the worst week (sleep-wise) ever. I spent most of the week listening to screaming. Couldn't get a single nap out of him that was more than 30-45 min long and it took 1- 1 1/2 hours to get him to sleep. I don't know what the difference is this week - maybe just my attitude... He's slept MUCH better at night. Naps have been hit and miss, but I just decided that I was going to go with it. If he didn't want to sleep I wasn't fighting. Must say, I think I've gotten more done this week than in the last 7 months combined. It feels good!

I started a quilt 16 months ago - just a lap quilt. My hope was that by making it a small quilt with fairly easy squares I would actually make the whole thing without giving up and turning the squares into pillows like I've done the 20-gazillion other times I've tried to make a quilt. ...then I got pregnant and had a baby... and well - In 16 months I got 7 squares put together. BUT - in the last 2 days I finished the last 5 squares! Officially the farthest I've ever gotten at making a quilt! Now to put all the pieces together, but some batting in, put a back on it and get it quilted!!

We have lots of house projects that need to be done. I've been discouraged at the lack of time, energy and $ to get at them, but slowly I think we're getting there! The attack is a HUGE priority this summer - it simply HAS to be insulated before winter hits again. This past winter we were the only house on the street with a clear roof - even though we had feet and feet of snow! All the melting built up ice and pulled the rain gutters off. So instead of doing new things on the house, we replaced the gutter for the 3rd time in 4 years. ;) So - we have to clean the garbage out of the attack and get it ready to put down insulation when it gets cooler up there again in the fall.

We also have a couple Adirondack chairs out front that never got painted. I scrubbed them down this week finally - couldn't believe how much gunk came off of them. GROSS! Just need to tighten up the screws and start painting. Then I want to paint the window trim on the outside of the house and paint the shutters. The shutters are terribly faded, and all the paint is coming off the window trim. I think doing these 2 things will greatly improve the appearance of the outside of the house. Then there are the 2 massive decks out back that have to be cleaned and painted!!! Yup - its really all much more than can be done in one summer by a couple of people who have to work and have 2 little kids to look after, but I'm feeling ambitious!! :) We'll see how far we actually get on all of it.

We have new neighbors across our back yard. I'm happy to have another young family in the neighborhood! We're a little concerned though, that no one knows where the property lines are around here and they want to put up a fence. Whoever put the fence up in our back yard didn't put it nearly to the edge of our property. Very frustrating since we have a lot more lawn than it looks like we do. BUT - the fence is in great shape making it hard to decide to take it down! If we take it down to be able to use all our yard, then we need to either be OK with having no fence or have $ to put up a new one. Can't decide what to do, but in the mean time its frustrating to know we have a lot more unusable space... ...and hoping that a new fence doesn't go up on our property. Called a surveyor and can you believe that it costs 1K to have our 4 corners marked??? It would literally take no time at all to mark our tiny little rectangle and they want a thousand dollars for it! Craziness.

7 Month pics

2011-06-18T09:40:00.003-04:00

Cutest little boy there ever was. Se Below:

7 Months old! The time goes so quickly! Its been hard and sleepless, but we love him.

5 and 6 Month pics together

2011-05-20T17:26:00.002-04:00

Since I'm so late you get them both together :) Here are Daniel's 5 month pictures.

And here are the 6 Month pictures! I just can't even stand how cute this kid is! I mean seriously - check out the faces!!!

...

2011-04-29T13:13:00.000-04:00

Down 22lbs. These next 10 are soooooo hard to stay motivated for!

:(

2011-04-26T10:27:00.001-04:00

If ever there was a day that I was going to completely loose it, today is that day. ...but then, I've thought that a gazillion times over the last few months. Guess I'll manage.

I Love 2-year-olds :)

2011-03-27T22:01:00.002-04:00

I truly don't understand why people talk so badly of the "2's." Its true that there are rough times. Two year olds are testing boundaries, figuring out the world, and learning at astounding rates. I LOVE having a 2-year-old. I love our little Lady :) Abi amazes me every day with the things that she knows and the things that she says. We were at Kris' parents tonight and Abi saw something that Nana had - I guess it was a leprechaun playing the bagpipes and from the other room I heard, "Nana, is he playing the bagpipes?" How on earth does she know anything of bagpipes??? I can't keep up with all her learning! She knows all her letters (capitals and most lower case), can count to 20 (only missing 13 and 14), counts backward from 7-1, can do puzzles by herself, knows her way around the i-pod/i-pad much better than I do, memorizes books and "reads" them back to me. He imagination grows daily and keeps me in awe. I wish that I could remember every single moment... Reminds me that I need to keep up with the baby books and her "cute sayings" book... I'm so far behind and its so hard to catch up!!!

Sleeping Troubles :(

2011-03-27T21:30:00.002-04:00

I'm beginning to wonder if we will ever get sleep again in this house... Abi was a harder baby in that she screamed for 4 months and never took more than a 45 min nap till she was 1 1/2, but tough times seem to be dragging on this time. The best thing the first time around was that Abi slept through the night at 8 weeks and never stopped so we were at least getting good rest at night. At just about 4 months Daniel was finally able to make it through the night without having to get up and eat at 4am, but he doesn't "sleep through the night." We are up with him anywhere from 3-7x's a night putting the Nuk back in and trying to get him comfortable to fall back to sleep. Often he still wakes up at for an hour or so at a time around 3am. What is that all about??? I finally had a thought a couple weeks ago - he was sleeping absolutely wonderfully during the day. He was taking 2-3 naps and his afternoon nap was 3-4 hours long. So I thought that maybe he was sleeping too much during the day and that was why he was up so early in the morning thinking he was done sleeping.... Having this genius thought I started waking him up from his naps so he would take just a 2hr nap in the morning and a 2hr nap in the afternoon and a 45min evening nap - but they say "never wake a sleeping baby!" What am I doing??? Seemed to work for a couple weeks in that he wasn't thinking he had to stay awake so early in the am (though still up several x's at night.) Now - we've just gotten to the point where he is still up multiple x's at night and will only sleep 45 min at a time during the day - he hasn't had a good nap in days... I don't even know what to do anymore. We have another issue - its a bundling issue... The only way to get him to sleep is to still bundle him. BUT - you have to leave one arm out so he doesn't freak out, lay him on his right side with a soft blanket by his face and a pillow behind his back so he doesn't roll over. He's teething so he wakes up and sticks his hands in his mouth and takes the Nuk out and then can't sleep. He's strong - the second he's at all awake he's all tangled in blankets and completely unwrapped... Tried leaving him unwrapped and he just plays and cries because he can't get to sleep that way... I feel as though I have no idea what I'm doing. We've been trying solid food. Little Man thinks that he's starving to death at his very tiny 17lbs 4oz, and can drink 8-9 oz of formula at a time. He's the same size at 4 months that Abi was at 6 months and drinks as much as a one year old. He has NO desire for solids though. I've been trying for almost a month now and it just ends with him crying and me frustrated. I finally thought that if he didn't like cereal, then maybe he'd like it better with fruit in it. He likes it but has no clue that he has to open his mouth to get it in and then thinks it isn't fast enough. So far I haven't been able to get more than a couple bite in before breakdown. I'm frustrated - but I love my son. I'm struggling, he's struggling - we all are... He started teething in earnest and is proving to be much more tough on him than it was on Abi. He's obviously in pain often and it makes me sad. Nothing seems to help it much either. Sadly I don't think any teeth are close to coming in - I can't see anything yet. I'm partly sad because after a few rough months in the beginning he had turned into a really happy little guy with a great personality... Teething has made him pretty miserable and the happy times have been fewer and farther between. I hope that once he gets a couple teeth in he will get a break to be happy again. Its been a rough couple days and I need an attitude adjustment... I've reached the point in sleep deprivation where I have had a headache everyday for a couple weeks, I feel like I'm in a constant fog, and I can hardly keep my eyes open during the day. I feel like things would be easier If I could just get ONE full night of sleep. Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep seems like a dream straight from Heaven... ...and a complete impossibility. I'll keep hoping and praying...

Haha!!!

2011-03-21T22:42:00.003-04:00

So... Yesterday Kris Dad and wife were coming to visit. He went out to buy coffee as we had none and left it on the counter. A little later He was doing dishes while I took a shower and Abi pulled up a chair to the counter to play. About half an hour before Kris' parents were supposed to be here, I went to put on a pot of coffee... but there was no coffee to be found. We searched the entire house for about half an hour turning everything upside down and inside out. Assuming that Abi had done something with it, I asked her where it was and her response was, "Its in your box, Mamma." I believed her but didn't have a clue WHAT box and she didn't seem to be able to show me so I decided that she must not really know. Well... after probably 45 min of looking in every single place in the house - Kris found it. It was INSIDE a cereal box in the cupboard. I had looked in the cupboard, but that box didn't look like it had ever been touched!!! I wonder what she was thinking when she did her clever little deed... :) MAN I love that kid!!! :)

4 Month Pic of the D Man!!

2011-03-17T20:27:00.002-04:00

Once again its almost time for the next months pics and I'm just getting around to these! :) Here are Daniel's 4 month pictures!!! He's so stinkin cute :)

They said it would go faster the second time around. "They" were right - I totally can't believe Daniel is almost five months old!!

3 month pics etc...

2011-03-01T13:21:00.004-05:00

Since Daniel will be four months old on Saturday and it will be time to do pictures again... I figured I should resist the urge to nap and post these pictures which are now a month old!! This first one is before the hair-cut. Poor little man is loosing all his hair in rapid order!
And this is right after his very first haircut! He looks like a totally different boy! I was afraid that I wouldn't like it, but I really do - I think its cute!

Once again I am in awe of just how quickly the time goes by. I can hardly stand that my little man will be 4 months old on Saturday! Yet - at the same time... I've come to realize that infants are VERY hard and I actually start to have a lot more fun right about this age! I sure love my babies!

Daniel has become a really good napper for the most part. I feel that I've finally got him figured out in that regard. He has this little soft "bear-blanket" that he turns his face into and somehow the softness puts him to sleep! Night time is another story... I feed him around 7:30 and put him down. He sleeps wonderfully for about 5 hours and the he's up at 1am, at 3am and at 5am... Usually its just a pacifier check, a re-wrap and back to sleep, but it still means me being up several times a night... By 5am I have to feed him and then he goes back down till about 7:15. Some nights, though, he is up for an hour at a time and I have no idea why... Oh, how I long for a full night's sleep!!!

Its been a rough week at the Milo house... We got another foot of snow and what do you know - the snow-blower died! All the snow combined with the lack of insulation in the attic has cause terrible ice build-up and the rain gutter on the front of our house is being torn right off. We've had some ants in the house that we couldn't seem to get rid of as well and finally had to call an exterminator yesterday... I hope that is the end of that! This is all frustrating and disheartening. I find myself a little down trodden and yet at the same time I'm amazed by God's faithfulness!! We just got our taxes done last week and found out we'll be getting a wonderful return. God's timing is amazing. Hopefully we'll be able to use the majority of that, though, to spend on a newer and larger vehicle. We really need something bigger and want to get it before we have any more trouble with Kris' car!!

2 month pics

2011-01-18T14:37:00.003-05:00

These are a bit late... Our little Man is 2 months old already!! Its crazy really! Blogging time has been hard to come by, but since I currently have 2 children in bed (crying and refusing to sleep) I thought I might take a minute to at least post these!

Its been a really busy month... Aaron and Melissa came up for about a week and a half starting Christmas day. It was the best time!! Mercy surprised us and showed up on our door step Christmas day too! :) Silly me - I totally didn't understand why she was sending me a picture of my front door! Then we went to MI for a week to see Ty and Beth. I feel like this was the most relaxing and fun times I've had with my out of town sibs in a long time. It will all be among my happiest memories.

Sadly, though - there has been a lot of stress as well. Daniel spent 3 blissful weeks sleeping when he was born and its been very difficult since. He isn't quite as hard as Abi, but this time around I also have a 2 year old that wants all my time and attention. He doesn't scream quite as much, but is just a bad a sleeper. And when he's over tired he just screams... That came to a head while we were in MI when he abruptly stopped nursing and then stopped eating and sleeping. There wasn't anything wrong with him - seems that he was just overstimulated, but it made for a stressful end of the trip, sadly. I don't understand why both kids have gotten so overstimulated so quickly - not sure what I'm doing wrong. Even with family around and while traveling we kept his schedule the same!! He's done really well the last few days which is encouraging, but it still seems that if I try to go anywhere in the morning it will ruin the rest of the day! What's a body to do? I can't just stay home all the time! ...though in truth I do - way too much - just because its easier in the long run! And this whole sleeping thing... 45 min cat naps - oh so familiar... Abi was at least sleeping through the night at this point! By the plan he should be sleeping 10hrs at night by now and we JUST started getting 8 last week.

Though it was really sad for me that Daniel quit nursing I've tried to convince myself that it was for the best. He was so bad at it anyway. For some reason gulped a ton of air and was so SO gassy... He seems to do a bit better with the bottle, and burps much easier!! I'm just sad that it ended that way and that I was able to do for him as long as I did for Abi. :( At least its easier to see how much he's eating. Within the last 3 days he has jumped from 4oz a feeding strait to 7-8oz!!!

In the middle of all this we had to take Abi's Nuk away. Oh, dear!!! I took her to the dentist at the end of Dec because I had noticed a dark spot on her tooth. Sure enough it is a cavity. :( For now we are just watching it (and the several other stained spots - incomplete enamel???) in the hopes that it doesn't grow and won't have to be dealt with for a couple years. I can't imagine trying to have her get a cavity filled!! We have to brush her teeth twice a day, floss them and put fluoride treatments on the one tooth. She was great at the Dentist - I was so surprised. I had taken her with me the week before so she could watch me get my teeth cleaned. She was awesome till I tried to get her to let the dentist look in her mouth! So I had to make an appt with the pediatric dentist - she LOVED it and was amazing! Didn't fuss once and held her mouth wide open on her own. Even let them polish her teeth and she hates things that make noise!! Anyway - the dentist took one look in her mouth and said, "she's a pacifier baby isn't she?" ...and then showed me how the thing was messing up Abi's bite. So we waited till after the Holidays and took it away. She cried for 4 days at nap and bed times. Now she doesn't cry. But - I fight her for an hour to fall asleep at nap and then she sleeps about an hour. At night she plays for 1 1/2 hrs and wakes up and hour earlier in the morning! 4.5hrs of sleep less a day is taking its toll! ...on her and me... Today she was a wreck... She fell right to sleep at nap time!! ...and only slept 45 min... :( Humph. Nuks are recommended to help prevent SIDS - then the babe gets hooked on it and finally starts sleeping good - then it ruins her bite (hopefully not permanently???)!! That's just a little bit frustrating. I'm sooooo hoping that we're able to get back to a better sleeping habbit again....

Danny is crying again... I must go....

1 Month Old!!!

2010-12-06T21:59:00.002-05:00

Our little man is 1 month old already. I know it went fast with Abi, but I think its going faster this time. The first 3 weeks were quite easy - he slept constantly. Its been a lot more rough this past week. He's having a really hard time getting himself back to sleep. I'm not sure I'm keeping him awake too long and he's getting overtired? In any event its been a trying week as we try to figure things out. I still think that he's a much easier baby than Abi was. He doesn't spend all his time screaming! But when he's really tired and can't sleep we do hear nerve-racking cries. He's REALLY gassy too, so now I'm trying to figure out if that is because of things that I'm eating? Its so hard to tell. That is part of his sleeping trouble - when he has gas it wakes him up and then he can't get back to sleep...

He's not so great at eating... his latch isn't good and he gulps air. I wouldn't say that he's a bad eater, but It seemed easier with Abi for some reason.

We've had a month of health struggles. After having Daniel I got a yeast infection just like last time. Just as that was clearing up we all came down with horrid colds/coughs. Even Daniel got a bit of a cold! I didn't think that could happen when they are that young - esp if they're breast fed?? Before all that cleared up I got my first ever UTI. NOT fun! Spent 5 days on abx, then about 4 healthy days, and then the UTI came right back. I'm really blessed that Dr. Carelle was willing to call in a script for me and I didn't have to go in. I went to Urgent care the first time so he had my records. Hopefully all will be well after this 10 days of Abx!! I'm tired of not being healthy. All that combined with my total lack of sleep is making it hard to have a positive attitude!

...side note...

2010-11-19T18:19:00.003-05:00

Its been 2 weeks and I only have 4lbs to go till I reach pre-baby weight! ...and then 22 more lbs to go after that. The wonders of only gaining 20lbs this time as apposed to 40lbs last time!! Now if only I hadn't put on that extra 22 prior to getting pregnant! :)

What?

2010-11-19T15:02:00.003-05:00

Not the most flattering picture ever, but I just love his wrinkly little legs! :)
Oh, and just so we're clear on it - he was NOT 19in at birth! ...because five days later (at the pediatrician's) he was 20 3/4 inches long! Now that's some fast growth!

So, get this.... Daniel was born on Friday at 7 lbs 12oz. In the hospital they tell you to feed every 2-3 hours so I did because I was there and kinda had to. We were discharged from the hospital after 36 hours and Daniel was 7lbs 7oz. They like it to be a full 48 hours so the Pediatrician asked us to bring him to the office for a weight check in 2 days... ...I bargained for 3 days because Abi already had an appt for her flu shot. So on Wed Daniel was 7lbs 8oz - doing great. His Dr asked me how much he was eating and I said, "oh, about 20 min every 3 hours." Actually, knowing that it didn't really need to be quite that often I was doing 3hrs during the day and 4hrs at night. Her immediate response was, "Oh, you need to work on that! Feed him every 2 hours during the day and no more than 3hrs at night! And do whatever it takes to get him to feed for longer!" Then asked me to bring him back in a week for another weight check. I was frustrated. I wasn't going to push it - I did that with Abi and it was miserable. I know from experience that a baby will feed better when he's actually hungry and that he was getting PLENTY in just 20 min at a time! But - I'm an OCD rule follower... I didn't change anything - kept doing 3hrs during the day and 4 at night for the next week, but I was anxious all week about it because now it was in my head that I might be wrong. And my poor husband heard about it all week! :( Well, I took Daniel back for his weight check this past Wed. and he was 7lbs 14oz!! The Dr's exact words were, "Wow! He's doing great! He's ahead of schedule!! Keep doing what you're doing!" Haha! I didn't say a word. :)

Totally Different

2010-11-16T21:19:00.002-05:00

I hesitate to be too hasty in saying this... ...but so far this is a completely different kind of baby experience! Daniel just... SLEEPS! They say that new borns sleep most of the first 2 weeks and then things change... He isn't 2 weeks old yet, so we'll see if that changes, but I know that Abi was already screaming by this time. I literally have to torture him awake to even eat. Pretty sure he'd sleep through the night now if I didn't set my alarm so he doesn't starve to death in his sleep! :) I feel blessed - this has made transition to two fairly easy so far.

Abi has done remarkably well so far with all the transition. She's madly in love with her baby brother - a couple days ago she informed me that he was her best friend! She's precious with him - constantly wanting to kiss him and telling him how cute he is. :) Today we had a bit of a rough day... as well as she really IS doing, it doesn't change the fact that she's not at all good at entertaining herself and is very demanding of attention. Before Daniel was born we had gotten to the place where I could get her to play with toys in her room by herself for about 20 min to half an hour during the day. I think its going to take a while to get back to that. Abi loves Daniel to death, but struggles with the fact he sometimes needs my time and that means she can't have it - she's a little clingy right now! All in all I think the transition is going quite smoothly.

We got to get out of the house to MOM's group this morning. It was great for me, and I was happy to find that I could actually get us all out of the house by 9am. :) Abi was just happy to go "play with her friends!" Our little lady loves her social time - its been hard for her being home most of the last 3 weeks!!!

New Baby :)

2010-11-11T09:50:00.002-05:00

Daniel James Milo

11/5/10 6:33pm

7lbs. 12oz. 19in.

He is precious :)

Kids rooms are done at last!

2010-11-03T18:58:00.003-04:00

This is Abi's new "big-girl" room...
No - it doesn't say "arm." Those are her initials...
I'm no interior designer, but I'm happy with the results!

I did her silhouette for the frame - I love it!!

The tree was all Kris' idea and I love it - best idea ever!

Little man's room is all ready too!Small, but its a perfect nursery :)

Very manly bedding for the "little man!"

The time has come - and I'm ready!! ...or at least I'm ready when the time really does come! Hopefully any day now "little man" will be ready to join us in person! There is nothing left to prepare! Its been a busy last 5 months!

Landscaping finished in the front yard - check!

Rooms ready - check!

Abi adjusted to new room and bed - check!

Abi potty-trained like a champ - check!

Car cleaned and car seat in - check!

House cleaned (though if he doesn't come quick it will need it again!) - check!

12 meals in the freezer - check!

Baby clothes washed, sorted, folded and put away - check!

Diaper bag packed - check!

...can't think of anything else.... Oh - baby afghan half done... Better work on that!

I seem to have pulled a couple muscles in my back a couple days ago and could hardly walk for the last 2 days. Thankfully its on the mend today. I'm kinda surprised it never happened before this, but very glad too!! I'm scheduled to work Fri, but that should be my last day before maternity leave - its getting to be too much... Hopefully won't waist much time before he comes though!

Laying the smack-down!

2010-10-30T13:18:00.002-04:00

Yesterday - at my OB appointment - Little Man was was given the word... Helen (my Nurse Practitioner/midwife) says he has to come early...! ...she's leaving for Ireland on Nov 14Th. You heard that Little Man!! We're ready for you whenever you want to come :)

Sleep - or lack there of...

2010-10-27T19:30:00.002-04:00

I really don't remember having so much trouble sleeping when I was pregnant with Abi. I know its common, but ever so frustrating. I'm exhausted, but when I lay down I just can't sleep. Last night I finally fell asleep around 2am. I think I might get more sleep after the baby comes!! So - by all means come early, Little Man!

Reaching for new heights!

2010-10-26T20:40:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I was standing at the kitchen sink doing a few dishes with my head in the clouds (as seems to be my usual state recently!) and suddenly realized the kitchen light was turning on, off, on, off, on, off... My little lady just realized that she can reach her first light switch!! And let me tell you - she is VERY pleased! :) My little lady is growing up all too quickly! Gosh, I love her so!

PS... I thought all light switches would be placed at a standard height? Apparently not - there are only a few she can reach right at the moment.

I should also mention that yesterday I cleaned the car - scrubbed every inch - and installed the infant car seat. So glad to have that done! I feel more ready now. This morning I took Abi and we went to MOM's group. I was wondering what Abi would say when she saw the seat in the car. She took one look and said, "Oh, Mamma! Its so cute! That's for my baby brother!!! He's going to talk to me!!" Such a little sweet-heart. She's very excited to have her baby brother! :)

"Little Man Milo Timeline"

2010-09-26T20:00:00.002-04:00

Yeah - so its only been 6 months...! Worst I've done since starting my blog years ago. Oh, well - having a 2 year old and being pregnant is hard. Period. That is my only excuse. ;)

I've wanted to do a time-line on this pregnancy from the beginning since a lot has gone on, but I'm only just now getting to it. I'm stuck sitting here trying to stop contractions, so here goes!

May 2009 - time to start hoping for baby Milo #2
2/6/10 - last period
3/8/10 - Dr. appt with PCP for sore throat. Pretty sure I had Strep, but they said no. Rapid strep was negative, now have to wait for cultures to come back. Had blisters in my throat for 3 days - I know they're wrong!! ;) I had mentioned there was a chance of pregnancy in case of the need for abx. Pregnancy test was negative... so frustrating!
3/9/10 - I don't believe I'm not prego - buy a test... There is a VERY faint + but I'm afraid to believe it and tell Kris I'm not sure what to think. Its been a long road and I don't want to get my hopes up...
3/10/10 - I call Kris and ask him to pick up another test on the way home from work - the result is the same... a VERY faint +... My throat is still killing me and I can't eat. Call the Dr to find out about my throat cultures, but they came back negative also. Try to get back into the Dr's but they have no appts left for the day. Went to urgent care where my rapid strep is positive!!! Head out with a script for abx (pregnancy OK'ed just in case.) On the way home I'm talking to Amy who informs me that there is a lot of Strep going around that is resistant to Abx - so if It doesn't get better I might need different abx - heart sinks...
3/12/10 - Still can't eat - can hardly drink... Call PCP - they won't give me a script and I have to go back in! New abx and I finally start to feel better in a couple days! Woohoo!!
3/15/10 - Just one more prego test to be sure... Now that I'm feeling better I might believe it... Its +!!! A very dark, clear, obvious +!!! Woohoo!!! Can it really be??? We've been trying so long and I was loosing hope!
3/19/10 - First GYN appt - to confirm what I already know.... We are finally having another Baby!!!
3/20/10 - I have a little spotting, but I had that with Abi so I'm not terribly concerned - only lasted a day...
3/23/10 - first U/S - they say its too soon to "date" and I'll have to come back in 2 weeks...
3/27/10 - Spotting starts again.
3/30/10 - Still mild spotting off and on - Call GYN. They are concerned and want an U/S, but they only do them on Tuesdays and its too late in the day. Have to wait a week for the U/S. But while I'm on the phone find out from my GYN that I have an infection and need to start abx immediately as the infection usually causes a miscarriage and also can keep you from getting pregnant in the first place. (No wonder I couldn't get pregnant for almost a year!!!)
4/6/10 - U/S appt - seems to go well, but I don't know what they're looking for. Call from GYN to inform me that I have a Subchorionic Hemorrhage. I'm told to be on complete lifting restrictions and to do as little as possible. Ummm - how does that happen with a 2 year old at home?? Work is telling me not to come in till I can lift - stress!!
4/13/10 - U/S to re-eval Hemorrhage. It has reduced to half the size!!
4/20/10 - U/S again - Hemorrhage is almost gone, but I'm told to continue with the restrictions for another week and then I can return to work. GYN wants me to get the 12 week (where they check for abnormalities) U/S at the hospital. I didn't do that one with Abi, because no matter what - this is our baby! But they really want me to get it done so they can double check the bleed. I say OK. Why not, right?
5/10/10 - U/S at Belleview.
5/20/10 - Phone call from Helen (my Nurse midwife.) "Jessamyn, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Your blood work is negative, but the U/S came back borderline for Down's Syndrome." My heart seems to stop for a minute, but I pull it together for long enough to ask questions. She advises me to get an amnio so that I will be prepared and not worry about it for the rest of the pregnancy. I call Kris and cry, but we decide to go with the amnio - I just have to wait 3 weeks to have it done! I spend a couple days crying a lot, and then God gives me such peace! No matter what happens, it will be OK! But it is still a rough time off and on for weeks...
6/10/10 - Amnio day - I'm nervous, but Dr McCarthy and the U/S tech are awesome and put me at ease. Now to wait for the results.
PS... ITS A BOY!!! We're so excited!!!
6/23/10 - Call from Helen again with amnio results.... ALL IS WELL!!! We are having a healthy baby boy. We can start to relax and enjoy the pregnancy. :)

Its been a busy few months since then... finishing the landscaping in the yard, doing over the spare-room to be Abi's new big-girl room (including spackling, sanding, tons of painting, and sanding and painting my old bed and dresser!), and starting to prep for the baby. There is still more to be done but its all coming together... Abi adjusted fabulously to her new room and bed. She LOVES her new bed and sleeps great! Just have to do up the finishing touches on her room and get to decorating to babies room. Wish it wasn't so expensive to get a couple rooms ready!!

Tonight I'm doing nothing... Spent the weekend working and at 2pm started having contractions - every 4 minutes for 90 minutes... not good. 33 weeks is a little too soon. I think I'm just tired and dehydrated. I forgot to drink at work all day and never sat down! Called the Dr. and they said I was right - rest and rehydrate!! So I'm trying. As long as I sit still I don't have a single contraction, but the second I stand up they start in again. ...so its been a sit around and do nothing night... :) I'm awfully blessed that Kris is so good to me - even though he doesn't feel well at all this evening. I love you, Honey!

PS - last night I started an afghan for the baby. I realized that I've made several, but none for my own kids - gotta fix that situation!!

Hmmm

2010-03-12T21:37:00.001-05:00

I should blog sometime - its been awhile. Hmmm.... guess I'll think about that tomorrow... :)

The things they say!

2010-01-29T10:17:00.002-05:00

Last night Kris was putting Abi in the car and had her sippy cup in his hands. She looked at him and said, "Mine!" ..."Not yours!" ..."Don't touch!" ...and no I'm not making it up - I kid you not. OH MY! What are we in for? :)

Please don't do that again...

2010-01-16T22:06:00.003-05:00

I wasn't aware of Abi ever trying to climb out of bed before... but she got an idea in her head and it was done - not with any great finesse - just done. She was tired Wednesday night; Corey and Patrick had been playing with her and it was an hour passed her bedtime. I put her in bed and somehow thought that she was asleep. Kris and I were talking, and I was on my hands and knees cleaning up the mud in the entryway... ...I've never heard a more heart stopping crash. Nor have I ever made it up 6 steps and down a hall faster - Kris right on my heals. She cried for a couple minutes and then was fine - couldn't even find a bump or bruise - and she was ready to "play toys!!" None the worse for wear - she was ready to go. After 20 minutes of hugging, smothering her with kisses, telling her never to do that again (what do you mean she doesn't understand that?) and letting my heart rate slow to a speed not indicative of serious cardiac issues, we put her back to bed. As she lay down she said, "Fall!" "Fall!!" "I fall!!" ....Yes you did, baby girl, please don't do that again!

... and so I leave you with a couple pictures of a genius 1-year-old and other "ideas" she has recently come up with!

Happier day :)

2010-01-07T00:13:00.004-05:00

This is my little babe with her table and chairs - the ones she can't stay away from all day long... the ones she loves to play tea-party at... the ones at which she will sit and beg us to "sit, sit, sit" with her all day long :) I love this little babe!

OK, so I went to the Dr. today. I had to wait in the waiting room for 45 min (at 9:30 in the morning - pretty far behind for being that early!) but the good news is - he didn't think it was my disc issues but more of a repeated sprain. He gave me a script for some muscle relaxers so hopefully that will help! I'm tired of back pain, and I'm sure my poor husband is tired of me having back pain!

I'm late getting home from work this evening... Late for a reason that I don't mind at all. Someone stopped me on my way out the door to ask me about my church. I have no idea how she new what church I go to. I don't always talk a lot about such things at work because I don't want people to feel that I cram things down their throats. I find it a hard balance.... but tonight I was sooooo happy! That someone would ask meant they felt comfortable talking to me about my faith. I say all this to say that it also brought up questions in my mind... questions on a lot of things, but one thing I can't get off my mind. How would I deal with it if a couple living an "alternative lifestyle" asked to join our smallgroup? I have so many questions and not so many answers. We love sinners, just not the sin - and thank God for that because we all have plenty of sin in our lives! Hmmm.... I don't think I can even put my thoughts into words right now - my head is tired, but I want to think about this a bit... I think I need to do some studying and contemplating...

A few things...

2010-01-05T13:19:00.002-05:00

The new year is hear and so must be the diet... I can't believe how much weight I've put on since this summer! Its time to stop feeling sorry for myself about not being able to get pregnant and using that as an excuse to eat like a stinking pig!! I have 25 lbs to loose - I'm starting now... I do hope my back gets better quickly so that I can go to the gym!

I'm so frustrated today - I've called 2 Dr's in the last 2 days and I can't get even one to care enough to talk to me on the phone! Yesterday, I called my Primary Care Dr. about my back - its a little better now, but on New Years Day I could hardly walk. He waited all day to call me back only to have his nurse call me and tell me I need to come in. I don't need to talk to a nurse - I am a nurse - I had a couple questions for my Dr! What happened to the days when there was common courtesy and Dr's cared? Ugh.... OK - so Kris talked me down off that ledge... I'm going to see the Dr. tomorrow - but not my Dr. of course because he's now off for the rest of the week! So then today I called my OB/GYN - I'm frustrated about not being pregnant and just wanted to chat for 5 sec to make myself feel better. The receptionist asked what it was about - when I told her what it was about she immediately said, "Oh, your going to have to come in - they won't want to talk to you over the phone." I asked, "Can't I even talk to someone to ask a couple questions??!" She took my number and said the midwife would call me back.... Two minutes later I get another call from the receptionist who informs me, "She said you really have to come in." I was so angry... "Can't anyone even give me 5 seconds of their time to tell me how long to keep trying before I completely loose heart???" She put me on hold for a second and then came back, "A year" was all she said. "Well, I'm not there yet" and I hung up. Seriously? I can't even talk to a Dr. to try to get some encouragement? It hasn't been a year yet, so they won't see me in the office, but they also won't talk to me over the phone... Great! So basically not a single Dr. that I see cares enough to give me the time of day??! I'm so angry - thanks for the encouragement Dr's - you all make me feel soooooo much better!!

p.s. I don't really think anyone reads this much - if you do, I'm sorry you read my ranting... If your a Dr. don't take it personally - I'm only referring to my current Dr.s...

Christmas

2009-12-27T20:26:00.006-05:00

This was our picture to send out with Christmas cards this year... Its not perfect but I LOVE it. I didn't realize till a couple months ago how impossible it is to get a good picture of such an active toddler! She was actually jumping up to go look at the screen when this was taken :) I'm so happy to have a nice family picture again!!

So - I decided to make Christmas stockings this year. I had made two for Kris and I a couple years ago, but Abi didn't have one. I made a forth in hopes that there will be a 4th Milo next year - we shall see... They were pretty easy to do. The hardest part was hand sewing the piping (see the second pic) - even that was easy but time consuming. Of course I had planned to start much sooner than I did... I actually started prep for Christmas before Thanksgiving this year - something I've never done before! I was so proud of myself, but then Abi got sick and I got sooooooo far behind. I started these stockings the Friday before Christmas - but had them finished by Monday.

Poor little babe has been sick again... Hopefully we've reached then end of it! She just had a cold, but it was a bad one! We finally took her to the Dr. on Christmas Eve because she had had such a cough and it wouldn't go away! They weren't sure what was wrong - maybe an ear infection or sinusitis - but said that since it had been more than 2 weeks they were going to treat it with abx. So now - 3 weeks later and a couple days on some amoxycillin - she FINALLY seems to be sleeping better and I've only heard her cough once in the last 24 hours!! Yay!

...OK... so I started this post over a week ago and then life got so busy again that I haven't had time to finish it!

This was definitely my favorite Christmas!! Having Abi old enough to somewhat understand and then to be able to express her appreciation was heart melting!! We got her a little set of table and 2 chairs that are just her size and SHE LOVES THEM!!! Kris and Ty got them ready Christmas Eve night after Abi went to bed and left them set up in the living room. Christmas morning Abi woke up crazy early and I had her play with Kris in our room for a little while so I could finish getting things ready... On her way out to the living room she decided to make a pit stop in the bathroom to get her "pieces" (her shampoo etc....) So I said, "Abi, come here - I want to show you something!" She started to come out of the bathroom throwing a fit cause she wanted to do her own thing, but stopped short in the doorway when she saw the table and chairs. She stood like a statue for about a second and then a huge smile slowly grew on her face. She ran to the table, climbed up in a chair, put her hands over the table and leaned over and gave it a hug. Then she jumped up and ran back to me and gave me a huge hug.... ran back to the table.... ran back to hug me.... ran back to the table.... My hear melted. If that was the only thing she was excited about it would have been worth it, but it wasn't. She loved every since toy and enjoyed unwrapping immensely! (Though I must say - what is with the pulling off a tiny piece and handing it to me "tay-tchoo!", pulling off another piece and handing it to me "tay-tchoo!" she may be a little OCD like me!)

I think we just had the best Christmas that I can ever remember! I can't believe how having a child who is so excited about everything can make it all so much more magical! :)

Christmas is coming!

2009-12-20T09:23:00.004-05:00

So much to say... ...and so very little time! But here is a pic of our little babe with her very first Christmas present - a pillow pet sent by Uncle Aaron and Auntie Melissa!! She LOVES it - gosh that thing is soft! :)
-Abi has just been sick for almost 2 weeks - hopefully she is now on the mend...
-We had the chance to go to Atlanta to see Aaron, Melissa and Mercy for Thanksgiving -it was such a wonderful time! I'm so happy we finally got to see a bit of their lives. And Abi did well and stayed healthy this time!
-I finally got to go to M.O.M.S. group a couple weeks ago. I've been wanting to go for a year and it just didn't fit with Abi's schedule. It really was a blessing
-Ty and Beth are coming for Christmas!
-Mercy is coming for New Years!
-I'm making Christmas stockings. I wish I had more time, but I'm excited and they're coming out well!
-Time flies and I don't like it! I've been watching old videos of Abi and it makes me sad that she's growing up too fast!
-We've been trying to get pregnant ever since Abi turned one and are trying VERY hard not to get completely discouraged...
-We had the most lovely warm fall - making the coming of winter less hard.

...Thanks to Christa - I stole this from you :)

2009-12-19T19:08:00.001-05:00

Before I was a Mom I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing.
I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mom,
I slept as late as I wanted
And never worried about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was Mom I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words of lullabies.

Before I was a Mom I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom I had never been puked on
Pooped on
Spit on
Chewed on
Peed on
Or pinched by tiny fingers

Before I was a Mom I had complete control of:
My thoughts
My body
And my mind.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child
So that doctors could do tests or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a Mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mom I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
Every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay
I had never known the warmth
The joy
The love
The heartache
The wonder
Or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

Cuteness :)

2009-10-29T23:04:00.002-04:00

Sorry - I can't blog without adding a picture of my little babe! :) And no, she's not eating an apple (though she LOVES them and can gobble them up.) Its a POTATO!!

Blogging? What's that???

2009-10-28T20:12:00.006-04:00

Pretty sure that this officially marks the longest that I've ever gone without blogging since starting this blog over 3 1/2 years ago! Who knew that a 1 year old would take up all my "extra" time, whatever that is?!! :) The last couple months have been a whirl-wind... ...spinning by faster than the eye can see! Last moths - What am I saying? I still can't figure out what's happened to the whole last 2 years!!! Time has never gone so quickly and I fear it won't slow back down! :)

I think one of the things that made it all go by so quickly was that Abi was sick a lot in the last couple months. First a cold, then a virus, then a croupy cough... poor little babe! I HATE when she's sick! I feel so bad for and I can't fix it!

One of the more exciting things that happened is Sept was a fire on the hospital floor I was working on... All the staff worked well together - evacuated all the patients and kept everything running smoothly. It wasn't good excitement, but afterwards it was cool that I got to help with such a thing. Made me feel like a bit of a hero for a day or 2! :)

Abi has a couple new toys. She has a lovely swing hanging from the back deck which she could sit in for hours at a time. She loves it, and usually ends up screaming when we finally have to take her out! She also has a new wagon. Actually - I suppose that's more our toy to play with her. Its great for going on walks etc...

We discovered Liberty Ridge Farm this year, and have decided that it is "THE" fall place to go! They have a huge corn maze, a wood fort maze, a little pumpkin maze for little people, little animals, awesome food, games, giant human hamster wheels.... on and on! We've been a couple times now and had sooooo much fun! I love being able to go to places like that and have Abi enjoy it to!

Ty and Beth were just here for a bit and it was awesome! We were so blessed to have them here - they're so special to us. They left on Sunday and Abi is still running around the house saying, "guys??" "Guys!!?" She misses them badly :)

I'm amazed every day by how much Abi is growing, learning and changing. She surprises me every day with new words that I'm shocked she knows... How does she learn all this??? I know that most people wouldn't understand what she's saying yet, but that fact that she and Kris and I do is crazy! There have to be at least 50 words, but I've totally lost count and I'm quite sure there are more! She loves pushing her "baby" around in her stroller, playing with all the tupper-ware in the kitchen, getting into everything she isn't supposed to etc.... She watches me put my make-up on in the morning and comes running in saying, "cheeks! cheeks!!" so that I'll put her blush on. (Don't worry - I don't really put any on, but she likes the brush) :) Man - I'm so afraid that I won't be able to remember all these moments! I try to take soooo many pictures and videos, but I know there are things I'll forget and it makes me sad... Kris and I just love to watch her - its amazing what it does to your hear to watch your little babe. There simply are no words!!

There have been some things lately that we have struggled not to be discouraged about. It is sometimes so hard to trust in God's timing. Sometimes you get frustrated with people, sometimes you get frustrated with yourselves, and sometimes you get frustrated with circumstances. Its all been such a great reminder to me of the fact that I need to continuously seek after God and make Him the center of my life. And so... I seek... for His answers and His blessing. The latter of the two I've already received in so many ways.... One of the greatest being my husband! I love him so :)

Hmmm...

2009-08-18T20:35:00.007-04:00

So I gave up on the just one nap-a-day thing... After 4 days she was so completely exhausted she couldn't stand it and we couldn't either!! I say I gave up, BUT she gave up on 2 naps - so no matter what I do she will NOT take a second nap. The biggest problem is that she will only take a 1 1/2 hour nap even though she's only taking one nap a day! Its like clock work - I could seriously use her as a timer!! Its just not enough sleep... Don't know how to get her to sleep longer. I did decide (after talking to every mother I could think of) to still put her in her crib for quiet time in the mornings... ...she doesn't sleep, but she's happy to be in there and it helps us to get through the long mornings. I hope that with time she'll start to take a longer nap since its really only once a day - she needs more sleep. As it is right now she reaches complete melt-down mode by 5pm... Ugh...

I've been LOVING having a pool this summer! I've gotten to use it more than the last 2 years combined. :) I'm determined to be in it for at least a little while every day I can - especially on the hot days we've had this past week. I love this weather and I'm so happy that we're finally having some summer weather! Kris isn't much for the pool, so I get it to myself. (Anyone want to come swim with me?) Abi loves the water, but she doesn't like to be held and after about 5 minutes wants "up!" She loves to run around on the deck while I stay in the pool on the edge watching. She runs around like a crazy girl picking up the leaves and throwing them on the ground saying, "yucky!" Then she'll run over and give me a kiss and go right back to playing.

Abi discovered spinning in circles today. She only makes it about 360 before falling on the ground - and then looks up at me as if to say, "what just happened?" She looks very perplexed at the idea of being dizzy and doesn't understand it at all. That doesn't stop her though!

I'm constantly baffled at all the things she understands already. For a couple weeks now I can ask her if she "needs her dippee-doo changed" and she'll run right down the hall to her bedroom and stand by the changing table waiting for me! :) I can ask her if she's hungry and sometimes she'll run right to her highchair and say, "up?" She's learning so much communication already! And if she doesn't know how to tell you what she wants she runs to wherever you are and grabs you finger and pulls you to wherever she needs to show you what she wants! While very cute it can also be frustrating because if we don't immediately go where she wants us to, she throws herself on the ground and throws a fit! :)

A short (and probably incomplete) list of her vocab: Daddy, Mama, yes, no, more, thank-you, cheese, hot, water, uh-oh, yucky, oh-gosh, up, eyes, ears, cheek, teeth, hat, hair, hi, pinch, hugs, kisses, dog, woof, kitty, woah, go, this, that, watch...

The other day Abi fell and gave herself a bloody lip. Poor little babe seems to be a little accident prone! She fell into the futon frame and tore the frenulum of her upper lip. Thankful after the screaming subsided she dealt with it very well! She wouldn't let us look in her mouth or get near it, but it didn't slow her down on her eating or drinking! Oh, and speaking of eating... I was starting to think that she's becoming an extremely fussy eater, but in reality I think its just that she doesn't want ME to feed her AT ALL! As long as its something she can feed herself, she'll eat. If its something that I have to feed her, she won't tough it! Silly girl!

Just one nap?

2009-08-11T20:23:00.002-04:00

I decided on Saturday (after a week of nap torture with the little babe) that maybe it was time to try taking her down to just one nap a day... The plan was to start Monday (yesterday) and see how things would go. I planned on this week being a little rough, but last week I could hardly get her to nap at all without holding her eyes shut till she fell asleep. And I definitely couldn't get her to take 2 naps! So we started yesterday. The morning was a little rough and long. I actually gave up at one point and put her in her crib, but she didn't sleep - just played for 20 minutes and then I took her grocery shopping. By the time we got home and ate lunch she was completely exhausted and took a wonderful nap. She actually woke up after just an hour, but I went in and laid her back down and for the first time in her life she actually went back to sleep! Woohoo! Took a 2 1/2 nap in all... it was a very good first day! Today she slept till 8am - another first. She's always up at 7am, so that was really nice. But today's nap was only 1 1/4 hours making it a bit more of a long and wound up evening. :) We shall have to see what the rest of the week will bring!

Sad day...

2009-08-09T21:08:00.003-04:00

Grandaddy passed away this morning....

...Mama called me Friday evening to tell me that he wasn't looking good at all and that If I wanted to see him alive again I should get there as quickly as possible. I was planning to go out Monday (tomorrow) since I had to work all weekend, but I didn't get there in time. I'm very grateful that I was able to see him 3 times in the last 3 weeks. I found out this morning at 10:02 via a text message from Mama.. "Grandaddy is gone." I was told I could leave work, but what would be the point in that? Grandmommy didn't want visitors or phone calls - she wanted to be left alone with him for a while. I pray that she will be OK - I don't know what she'll do now that he's gone. Her life for the last 2 years has been one thing - taking care of him! And I must say - she did a darn good job! I haven't been able to figure out what to think all day.... I'm sad - all I think about is the happy memories and how great he was, and then I'm sad that we weren't closer than we were, and then I'm sad that I don't know if he went to be with the Lord. Then I'm relieved for my grandmother that the hard time is over, then I'm upset that I didn't witness to him more while he was here. I'm frustrated... My heart hurts... My first grandparent is gone and I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. This sucks - period. (I'm sorry if you don't like the word - its the only one that fits.)

Grandaddy wanted his body to be donated to Albany Medical Center for research (awesome idea.... Kris and I are thinking we'll do the same) then he'll be cremated. There are no plans for a service yet... Waiting to hear what the plan is. Also waiting to hear from Daddy - he's going to talk to Grandmommy after work tomorrow and see how she is and if she's ready for calls yet. I want to talk to her...

I'm fine - I'm just emotional. I don't like being emotional.

I do have lots of happy things to remember :) I'll always remember.... ....that he had salt and pepper (his 5 o'clock shadow) on his chin when I was little.... that he was like my savior when I was paralyzed in fear at the very sight of those huge cows at the age of five and was afraid to even walk down the center isle of the barn lest they somehow kick me... that I never knew what he did at his job later in life because the only thing he would tell me was that got paid to "flirt with the girls..." that I got to go on a trip with him and Grandmommy to Indiana to a family reunion when I was 11... that I got to help him build his house when I was 12... that I got to spend the night at their house once when I was 13 and he grilled salmon steaks with fresh cut beans - it was the first time I'd had salmon...that he taught me how to drive a tractor for the first time when I was 14... There are more sweet memories, but the one thing I will remember most...? I will remember that he married my grandmother "because she had sexy legs!"

Still Alive!

2009-08-08T10:00:00.003-04:00

We are all still very much alive! It's just been busy and I haven't found the time for blogging! I've been trying to keep up with the "Odd Days project" and even that is suffering. Abi is walking now and getting into everything... ...makes it a little hard to get to things... Since its been 2 months since I posted perhaps I'll just do some short recaps...

-Early June we went to Florida for 10 days with Ty, Beth, Mercy, Aaron, Melissa, and Mandy and her family. We rented an awesome condo in Daytona Beach and it would have been wonderful, but Abi was sick the ENTIRE time... :( A trip to Urgent Care and 2 trips to the ER and we still don't know if she just had an ear infection with an allergic reaction to the abx? Or if she had the Roseola virus with an ear infection on top of it?? In any case - it was SUCH a rough week and we still desperately need a vacation!

-We're hoping to try to do a little weekend camping trip later this year - we'll see how that goes. At least we will stay closer to home in case things go badly! :)

-I haven't actually had to work over at Sam again, yet... Since going on vacation I've been able to get plenty of hours at Memorial. I'm happy about that - cause that's where I'd rather be anyway.

-Abi started walking in the middle of July and hasn't stopped! She took her first 2 steps on a Sunday morning, and by Tuesday was walking all over the house! She just wouldn't stop till she had this new skill figured out! She's so completely fun to watch with all the new things she's learning and doing. She makes us laugh all the time! Sometimes I get frustrated by all the things she gets into and the fact that she doesn't listen to the word "no" (though she knows exactly what it means!) But in general we could just watch her and laugh all the time!

-I'm contemplating starting Abigail on just one nap a day on Monday and see how that goes. Nap #2 has been a huge fight all week so I'm wondering if it's time? We'll see... I'm not really sure she's ready yet, but its worth a try.

- This summer has been sooooooo cold and rainy. It was about 50 degrees out last night - IN AUGUST!! What is up with that? The pool is not really swimm-able - its just too cold! And it won't warm up because of all the rain... ugh!

- Grandaddy is not doing well at all and I'm sure will not be with us for long. Its so hard to watch and I'm worried about what Grandmommy will do after he's gone. He's on hospice now and quickly going down hill. Mama called last night to tell me that if I want to see him again I should get there quickly... I'm so sad... If I knew for sure where he was headed then I would be happy for him to go and be at peace, but I don't... It hurts to not know and to wonder... I wish there was more time and I had a chance to share with him, but his mind has been gone for a couple years already... Only God knows where his heart really is...

-On a lighter note... I HATE CHIPMUNKS!!! They won't leave my gardens alone and I don't for the life of me know what to do! I've gotten so desperate that I even put out rat traps, but they just take whatever I put on them and stare at me defiantly... Oh, what to do? Our yard is over run by rodents.... chipmunks, squirrels, moles, and rabbits - I'd love to be rid of all of them. I enjoy gardening and I can't grow anything without it being destroyed!! It makes me so upset! I think next year we may try to pay someone to get our yard looking better (if we're able to afford it.) We don't really have grass - just a bunch of weeds and dirt with millions of ant hills thrown in... Its a horrid yard for a little babe who wants to run around outside! We want it to be someplace that she can just play safely and its not right now. We did quite a bit to try to help it out to no avail this year so we're hoping to get help next year...

-Summer is going to quickly and we're trying to find fun things to do to enjoy what's left of it. Last night we took Abi and went to the park. Kris and Fred have discovered the wonderful world of disc golf and are loving it! Kris just got his own set of discs yesterday so he wanted to try them out. Abi LOVED it! She just kept running around trying to get the discs and taking them away. It was great to be able to set her down and just let her run all over that park! The picture up top is of her at the park after she discovered the ducks - she was running around trying to catch them. It was sooooo stinkin cute!!

Work

2009-06-03T12:19:00.002-04:00

I'm a little nervous.... Today I'm going to work at Samaritan Hospital - or at least I'm going to go spend a day orienting there. I haven't been there since I was in school 4 years ago. I've been getting cancelled constantly at Memorial. For some reason the census is really low and they've had to close 2 floors. That's never happened in the 7 years that I've worked there! And since I'm per-diam I'm the first one to be cancelled. I've lost four days work in the last couple weeks and its not looking like its getting better! That's a half months pay! And all right at the time that I was trying to pick up extra hours to cover the time I'm taking off for vacation! Ugh - its been really stressful for me, but just a perfect reminder that God is in control - not me - and I need to trust Him fully. So anyway, Sam is a "sister" hospital and they usually need more help so I'm going over there to orient so that I can hopefully pick up more hours there when I get cancelled at Mem. I don't like change.... ....I'm nervous.

1 Year Old!!!

2009-06-02T10:33:00.002-04:00

My little tiny baby is one year old today!! I can hardly stand it! It feels like just yesterday that I went the hospital and came home with such a tiny little bundle. I'm so happy and excited to celebrate her birthday and yet I'm sad. My little baby is growing up and I can't slow time down! I'm just trying to enjoy every moment with her - it goes by way too quickly! I pray that she will grow into a wonderful and stong woman of God. I pray that God will give Kris and I wisdom as her parents - that we can help her to learn and grow to her greatest potential. We love you little babe and we're so happy to have you in our lives :)

June 2, 2008

June 2009

Napping update...

2009-05-31T15:31:00.002-04:00

I hesitate to write this - lest by some strange turn of events I jix myself. That's not possible silly - I don't believe in superstition!! Well - our little babe who has been a HORRID sleeper since she was born seems to be doing better. I completely lost it about 3 weeks ago and decided that I couldn't stand it a day longer, so I pulled out the book "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby." I read the chapter about kids her age and I can't believe how much it seems to have helped. What did we do? One, small... little... change... We moved her bedtime forward by one hour. That's it. Period. She now goes to bed at 7pm instead of 8pm. That's it. Period. And our life has changed. She's no longer totally over tired all the time and bouncing off the walls. She takes great naps usually twice per day. (Don't get me wrong - we still have bad days some times...) Weekends are a little harder - when Kris and I are both home she just wants to play with us and usually takes about an hour to get herself to sleep - or doesn't sleep at all. But in general things are getting better - I'm sooooo relieved! Its been a rough year - just due to lack of sleep! Because its been tough, I still freak out every time we have a rough day, but I'm so grateful and praising God that things seem to be better. It makes me love and enjoy my time with Abigail so much!!

A couple nice updates...

2009-05-31T14:33:00.006-04:00

We were very blessed to get a nice income tax return this year. The first thing we did was get a new railing on the stairs. We didn't even get it because we wanted to (we actually had other things that we wanted to do), but it was a necessity! Abi could put her head through the old one and slide underneath - not safe at all!!!

I'm sooooo glad that we got it done though - We absolutely love the new railing! I'm in the process of staining/poly-ing it still. But, it looks so nice - nice and modern and new!

I've been dreaming of re-doing this garden since we moved in 2 years ago... I was finally able to get to it this year. I dug all these out a couple months ago and then spent pretty much every day thinking about exactly what I wanted to put back there!

And this is the finished product!! I love it - I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. I think that it will look better as the plants grow a bit, but I already really like it.

We also just had a new roof and gutters put on - courtesy of our home owner's insurance due to a hail storm we had last year in June. We only had to pay the $500 deductible and the rest was covered by the insurance. It was soooo noisy and we couldn't stand having the construction guys here - they were just nasty - but thankfully its done and we shouldn't have to replace the roof for many years to come! We actually just had the gutters done last year, but the insurance agreed they should be replaced - so we have new gutters again for 2 years in a row...

Four wonderful years :)

2009-05-29T21:53:00.002-04:00

5-27-09 marked four years of marriage. They've been wonderful. I love my husband and I know how blessed I am. We've had a couple tough times, but mostly we've had great times. We've walked it together and with God's grace. I love you, Honey. You are my best friend. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.

11 month shots

2009-05-29T21:46:00.004-04:00

And the 11 month shots! I just want to kiss those big ol' cheeks :) Thanks for your help, Mom! I couldn't do it without you - she's too wiggly.

How long has it been?

2009-05-29T21:41:00.004-04:00

Once again I have allowed the ages to come and go and I have not posted to my blog... There just isn't enough time in any of my days! My little baby is about to turn 1 in just four short days. I don't like to think about it - I'm sad. She isn't going to be a baby much longer and its gone by MUCH too quickly.On the other hand - I'm so proud to celebrate her first birthday with her! I love this little babe. :) I love to watch her learn and grow - its such a wonderful thing. I swear there has never been another more awesome baby in all the world!

Here are Abi's 10 month pictures - so what if they're almost 2 months late!! Isn't she adorable? Its getting harder and harder to take her picture every month because she won't sit still for even 2 seconds anymore...

Our New Furniture!

2009-04-22T21:42:00.003-04:00

Its here!!! Our fabulous new bedroom furniture! Now we just have to sell our house and get one with a bigger master bedroom. J/K :) Its a little crowded, but its very do-able. We're so excited to finally have furniture... ...and an awesome mattress! Now need to finally get some curtains and decorate the room. The mattress came in on Sat. We were going to just sleep on the futon for a few days till the furniture came in, but we couldn't do it. We just laid it on the floor and slept on just that for a few days till the furniture came in on Tues (yesterday). I'm now waking up in comfort every morning. I've had no back pain for 4 days! What a wonderful feeling. :)

Its amazing how fast the dresser filled up! We had a little trouble fitting things, but I think we just weren't used to having dressers to put things in...

I wanted to get a good picture of Abi hugging her Teddy. This one isn't great, but its OK. My little babe who has always been the one to refuse any kind of snuggling is suddenly becoming a snugly baby!! And I love it!! I don't even really know how she figured it out, but one day I went in to get her up from her nap, and she rapped her arms around my neck, put her cheek against mine and said, "Aweeee...!" Oh, how I love it!! And she loves to hug her Teddies too - or as she says, "Teh-gees." She says Huggies too - "Uhh-gees." :) Oh, she loves to play with the cell phones too. For a couple months every time the phone rings and I pick it up she wants to talk and goes crazy till I let her say hello. Well, a couple days ago she was playing with Kris' phone and picked it up and put it to her ear all by herself. She's getting so big and figuring things out on her own! How does it happen? How do they grow up so fast?

On the other hand... We've had so much trouble getting Abi to nap well. I spent a week working hard to get her on a schedule and it seemed to work, but it didn't last even a week. Now I'm trying again. Its so frustrating. I've been reading "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" and getting some good tips. I feel like we've tried everything over the last year. After doing some reading, It seems that she's been overtired and overstimulated most of her life despite how hard I've tried to keep that from being the case. Who knows... I have new resolve to just keep working at it. What else is there to do in such a case? Its been so frustrating, but the worst part is when it gets stressful. And that it has been. And stress isn't good for happy marriages. :) I'm so grateful that Kris is so understanding and helpful. I love you, Husband - with all my heart! Every day I'm reminded how blessed I am that you wanted to marry me. :)

Updates:

2009-04-07T22:49:00.002-04:00

Seems like there's always so much going on and I don't have time to update my blog. So I thought I might just throw out a punch of thoughts and leave it at that... ...for now...

- We've been having so much trouble with Abi's naps since she was born. Seems that letting her scream it out has finally done the trick. She still doesn't always sleep great, but usually so much better.

-We got a really wonderful tax return this year! What a blessing - now we're trying to decide what the priorities are to use it for.

-We've been wanting to have a hole put in the wall between the living room and dining room - kinda like a pass through window. So we decided to get an estimated done. ...$2895... WHAT!!??? Can you be serious???? We're talking a 4x5 foot window people! We're not talking paving the driveway in gold!

-We ordered bedroom furniture and we're sooooo excited. It should be in sometime next week. Tomorrow we're going to look for a mattress...

-We're in the middle of trying to refinance our house to bring our mortgage payments down a bit. The appraiser came on Monday and we're just praying that she gives good numbers. The house has to appraise for at least 223,000 in order for us to be able to re-fi.

-I dug up all the old bushes from the front of the house a couple weeks ago. The plan is to totally re-landscape the front this year. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully I can get at least one side done. I have grand ideas for what I want it to look like.

-I'd welcome any suggestions on how to get rid of moles. Our entire back yard has been completely destroyed by them!

-I can't wait to go to Florida in June! I miss my family soooo much.

-Abi is crawling all over the house now like a little crazy person and getting into everything that she can find. She cruses too - so cute :) She loves to go outside on nice days - she points to the window and says, "side?"

-I'm trying to prep to run a 5K this summer. I'm terrible at running and so far I can only run 1/2 mile at a time. Ugh - I didn't think that it would be so hard! But I really want to do it and I still want to lose another 10 lbs and I think that running will help.

-I have about 15 craft projects that I've been in the middle of for about 2 years. I want to work on all of them and get them finished up so I can start new things but I just can't seem to find any time.

-I need a maid. My house is dirty and I struggle to keep up - only because Abi no longer sits still while I work... Hmmm - I wonder if I can strap mops to her knees so she can clean on the go?!

I'm pretty sure that there is a lot more still on my mind, but I don't know what it is at the moment and I really must go to bed and get some sleep so that I can get back to all this tomorrow!

So excited!

2009-04-01T22:13:00.002-04:00

I'm soooo excited!! After almost 4 years of marriage - sleeping in a bed with craters in the middle and putting our clothes in little cubical thingy-bobs... WE ORDERED BEDROOM FURNITURE LAST NIGHT!!! Woohoo!! I can't for it to come in. Now we can finally get our bedroom looking cozy. :) It wasn't that big a priority for us because... well - who sees the bedroom anyway? And there are always so many other things that seem to be more important. But we've been saving for a long time and finally had enough money. Plus with our beautiful tax return we're going to get a new mattress!! I can't wait to be sleeping more comfortably! We were both starting to get more and more uncomfortable on that old mattress. Wow - I feel so blessed...! This picture isn't the best as it doesn't show the dressers, but it was the best I could find. I went on the website of the furniture store that we bought it from and they didn't even have a picture up yet because its so new - so I just hunted the Internet for a while before I found this.

9 months pics (3-2-09)

2009-03-25T09:37:00.005-04:00

So I decided with Abi's 9 month pictures to actually put a little more effort in... I happy with them. I'm already wondering how on earth I'll do the next couple months pics though! She doesn't hold still anymore!!!

8 month pics - late...

2009-03-03T14:55:00.005-05:00

OOPS! I was just thinking about the fact that I need to do Abi's 9 month pics and realized that I never posted the 8 months ones! So, alas - here they are :) She was 9 months already yesterday... I'll try to get tho those pictures tomorrow. I can't believe I've already been able to carry her on the outside for as long as I did on the inside! She's growing up just WAY too fast.

Abi helped me do a little shopping today. And by helped, I mean she continuously pulled at every tag she could find non stop. Pulling piles of clothes off onto the floor faster than I could pick them up. Then the ones we were keeping she kept throwing on the floor and saying "uhh- uhh!!!" She's so stinkin cute - we can't imagine our lives without her anymore! So, anyway, had to go out and buy all new clothes for the first time... What a blessing - we had all the clothes we need up to size 9 months just from my baby-showers! But she's gettin big and needs 12month stuff now and we didn't have any. Can someone please tell me why baby clothes cost so much???? Its like 15$ per outfit - and there is hardly anything to them!

Yesterday -

2009-02-23T20:18:00.002-05:00

I had SUCH a bad day... We'll get to that later...

When I got home, I was so frustrated and just wanted to have a good cry, but I knew that wouldn't work. I walked in the door and up the stairs and there was Abi in her jumpy seat. She started screaming and jumping around like crazy - she was so happy to see me! It didn't take long for that to turn to desperate attempts to try to get me to pick her up... But my husband and the love of my life comes first. Why is it that being with him and having him near makes everything 100% better? I picked Abi up and took her into my room while I changed my clothes. Then we went into the living room to play for a little while. I sad down on the couch - something that Abi usually hates as she's rather we be standing up carrying her around - but not this time... She grabbed my face with both her slimy little paws and pulled my face to hers and kissed me over and over and over with wide open mouthed wet wet kisses!!! She's never done that before - my heart melted. And this time I cried - because it was all better now...

So- about my day... there is this thing about nursing. Co-workers have to work together or things get dangerous... If everyone doesn't work just as hard and do their part to the best of their ability, then things can go very very wrong and the one person who is trying feels 10x's the stress and pressure. That, and - no matter how much they do, it will never be possible to make all the patients happy and give them the care they need and deserve! On my floor at the hospital there are a couple people that don't pull there weight - its a huge frustration to everyone! I was working with both of them yesterday. Hence I was WAY over stressed, dangerous things happened. I spent much of the day trying to clean up were they left huge blunders. That left angry patients. One of them screamed and cussed me out - I yelled back... At least I had his respect after that. One of the above mentioned individuals did something they new was VERY wrong - because they were afraid of being turned in they spent the next couple hours trying to find a reason to turn me in instead so they wouldn't get in trouble. Ended up with the nurse manager involved - thankfully she knew it was all bogus. Why has it all been let get to this point? Then the 2nd patient started getting upset and yelling... What was I to do? You can't put out 1000 fires all at the same time. Prioritizing always makes those lower on the list angry...

And that was my day in a nutshell. There were plenty of other little things, but there is no point in belaboring the issue. I went in to work today for a little while just to have a chance to talk to my boss. I feel better about that. But somehow I don't expect things to change - this has been going on for a very long time. I love my boss and I don't think its her fault and think that HER boss has her hands tied. I wish that I understood the politics. I don't.

I'm 30...

2009-01-30T11:05:00.002-05:00

...and I'm OK with it. :)
I thought I'd be much more upset with turning 30 than I am. I'm not - I'm fine with it. I'm so blessed by God and all that He's done in my life and the position that I'm at. I have a husband who loves me and is more wonderful both to and for me than I ever hoped. I love you Honey - forever and always... more than I can say! I have a beautiful daughter that I adore watching learn and grow. She, without knowing it, makes me realized new things about myself every day. I am blessed with friends to share my life with in good times and bad. We have a house - and one much nicer than I ever dreamed of throughout my life. Two good cars sit in our driveway and I don't have to wonder if they're going to break down. We have a church that we love and are blessed to be able to serve along side people that we love and respect. I serve a God who loves me and works daily to make me more like Himself. I could go on and on, but at the risk of starting to sound silly and boring anyone who reads this... I'll stop. I'm so happy!!!

Beauty Queen Wave :)

2009-01-22T21:29:00.002-05:00

Kris has been working for several days at teaching Abi how to wave. :) Until today she would only do it for him, but today she waved for me too. Its so funny and cute... I think she also kinda knows who "Dah dah" is too. For the last few days she stops what ever she's doing at some point throughout the morning, starts to wave and asks, "Dah dah?" How cute is that?

I've never disliked winter so much!

2009-01-22T21:05:00.002-05:00

Somehow this is the end result of a very long sleepless day... How this could be comfortable, I do not know! You know, the parenting class that we took made everything sound so simple - "If you do it like we say, your child will sleep through the night and nap on schedule!" I'm struggling not to be frustrated lately. Abi sleeps well at night for the most part, though every once in a while (and for no apparent reason) she'll go through periods of waking up multiple times a night. The last few nights have been better, and I'm so grateful! At least I'm getting to sleep without getting up every couple hours! We had a few rough weeks before this! Anyway -naps are a battle every day. If this were a war I would surrender - after all I loose the battle almost every single day! We started out good today, but after her morning nap she woke up miserable and was for most of the day. I have no idea why, and she wouldn't take a nap this afternoon. I only wish I had some small clue of how to fix the problem! It seems like if even one small thing messes up her routine then I'm screwed for the next 3 days. That means - no shopping, no projects, no ever leaving the house... I can't do it! I'll go insane!!

I've never struggled so much with winter before. I think that it just might be because I've never been home all winter before - I've always worked and I think that makes it go by quicker. I feel like a shut in lately. Its been to cold to take Abi out and even if it wasn't it messes with her schedule. Even when I'm home I don't get much opportunity to do anything - babies take a lot of time and attention. All I'm saying is that it makes for a very LONG winter!

I long for Spring!

And I need a vacation...

Just a couple of little pictures...

2009-01-07T21:40:00.002-05:00

This is the face that greets me every morning and after every nap... ...it melts my heart. :) Even when we have a bad day, I can't be sad when I see this!
Its very hard to take a "self portrait" with a heavy camera while holding a baby that never holds still! :) But - I liked the picture anyway. Next time I will use a tripod and camera remote!

I finally got all the Christmas decorations down yesterday. A job that I always do on New Years day, but Mercy, Colin, Cheryl and Ryan were here. Then Abi got sick. Then I had to work.... Alas the job is done, and yet the tree still sits in my living room. There is one thing that we did not think out thoroughly before buying a fake tree... storage! Raised ranch houses don't have much storage. We have an attic, but it has a broken pull down ladder and no flooring! I think that tomorrow we will attempt to do something makeshift just to get the tree up there and get it out of our way. Hopefully by next year we will be able to replace the attic door/pull-down-ladder and put in a little flooring (which will also require putting down thicker insulation prior to nailing down flooring). We really need the storage space!

I look forward so much to the holidays, but this week I am really enjoying getting back to a sense of "normalcy." Whatever that is of course!

Wowza!!

2009-01-07T21:18:00.004-05:00

My baby is 7 months old already! Every month I'm in shock at how fast the time has gone. I love her so much it overwhelms me sometimes. She's so beautiful. I'm prejudiced and I'm OK with it!

So, yeah... I spiked her hair the other day.... just because. :) Actually I thought Ty might enjoy it. Her hair sticks up all the time anyway, but I wondered what a little gel might do? ...and now we know. :)

Odd Days Project

2009-01-01T21:23:00.002-05:00

Kris came up with an awesome photo idea - its called the Odd Days project! And he managed to get a whole bunch of us excited about it! So there is quite a following. :) I hope to take better pictures, but here is my start. The idea is to take one picture for every odd numbered day for the whole year of 2009. I'm really excited to see all the pictures together at the end of the year and print them out for an album.

Abi really wasn't as terrified as she looks! Her expressive little face doesn't always show through at her best in pictures. We actually had a fantastic day with Mercy, Colin, Cheryl, and Ryan, and Abi was so good all day - despite the fact that she only took two 45 minute naps... She was loving her new friends. :) It was awesome to get a chance to see Mercy for a little while and to meet Colin.

Little side note: Abi fed herself her finger foods for the first time today. She loves to eat absolutely anything, so I've been trying Cheerios with her. I put them on her tray and till today she would play with them and even pick them up. But for some reason, though everything else she touches goes into her mouth she wouldn't put food there. She would just sit and wait for me to put another one in her mouth! Today she did it herself for the first time! Pretty cute to watch.

Happy Moments :)

2008-12-29T21:50:00.002-05:00

Haha! I love this video! I had just gotten home from work and Abi was a little fussy, so I took her in our room while I changed my clothes so she could be with me... I laid on the bed and she just started laughing! It was so much fun because she doesn't laugh much and she kept it up for about 10 minutes! I'm so glad Kris thought to tape it!

Abi's had a lot of firsts this week! Her first Christmas of course (which I'll hopefully get around to posting pictures of soon!), she started sitting up, she got her second tooth (and I'm so glad - its been swollen up like a blister for 2 weeks), she started making actually syllable sounds, and she held herself up on her hands and knees!! My, what an eventful week! I so love watching her - its all so amazing!

Little Babes Attacks the Tree!

2008-12-22T21:57:00.003-05:00

Her Dad taught her to play with the tree. :) Abi loves the ornaments - how can ya resist letting her play? She's so funny with her little hands - hasn't quite mastered bending her fingers yet. She just pokes at everything with stiff finger tips for the most part. Although - she did figure out how to grab the ball with both and pull it right off the tree a few times! So proud of herself too. :)

6 month shots...

2008-12-22T17:33:00.003-05:00

Every month it seems to get a little harder to get Abi's pictures. The more mobile she gets, the harder it is to get her to sit for even 5 seconds! This kid has energy! And sitting still is not in her vocabulary. She's very much a go getter. I have trouble getting her to sit because every time she catches her balance she does a nose dive for whatever has caught her fancy! She is always on the move and into whatever she can reach - I'm sure she'll be crawling soon and I'm nervous. I don't think I have enough energy...

6 months old! (Dec. 2nd)

Hmmm...what can I get into?

I'm getting a little tired of this now!!!

Please, for goodness sake stop!!!

First Christmas tree for Babe...

2008-12-18T13:53:00.004-05:00

Abi's first Christmas tree!!! Be ware the loud, shrill, piercing noises! Abi has taken to discovering her vocal chords... She likes it better the louder and higher pitched it is! :)

First tooth!

2008-12-18T13:35:00.003-05:00

(12-3-08) Not much to show for it, but this was the day Abi got her first tooth! She looks pretty tired doesn't she? She actually did really really well with it all. She had more trouble with the fact that she had to get 4 shots later in the day. She's always done fine with her shots, but they wanted her to have a flu shot this time and it seemed to be more painful for her... It was a really bad night. She was fine for the afternoon, but all of a sudden started crying and screaming inconsolably for about an hour. No matter what I did I couldn't get her to stop, and it was the saddest cry I ever heard! I finally put her on the floor on a pillow and laid down next to her to try to hold her still. Every time she moved her leg she was hysterical again! It was horrible! She spent the rest of that evening on the floor! I dread her having to get the other half of her flu shot in a couple weeks - why on earth do they have to do it in 2 parts???

She's been working on another tooth ever since to first one came in. I'm starting to wonder when its ever going to come through! Her little gum is swollen up bigger than the tooth that's already been in for 2 weeks. Its starting to look like a blister... I hope its OK. If it doesn't come through soon, I might just have to call the Pediatrician - I've never seen a blister looking tooth, but then I've never had an infant teething before!

Thanksgiving #2 cont.

2008-12-17T10:50:00.003-05:00

Competition continues...

One more face to grab! This is such a wonderful day...

Father and daughter :)

Sisters :)

I like my uncles and Grandparents cause they always let me do things my parents won't let me do!

Thanksgiving #2

2008-12-17T10:40:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving #2 was at Morgan and Amy's house on Saturday evening. Once again we ate like we had never seen food before! Amy you did a fabulous job! :)

Abi loves to grab faces - not sure what that's all about!

Our lovely host and hostess - please don't disturb Morgan - He's trying to think...

I would like to have that hot mulled cidar please - it looks very yummy!

The table is set!

Gotta say, I like big family meals! I wish everyone else was there though - I miss the rest of my peeps...

Maybe this gramma has something that I can get into... Hmmm...

Oh, yup... There it is... A red napkin - sweet!

And the competition begins...

Linea and Abi...

Its been a long day and someone needs a little nap... though if only for a few minutes!

Thanksgiving #1

2008-12-17T10:29:00.004-05:00

For some reason we didn't get a whole lot of pictures Thanksgiving day - I think we forgot to pull out the camera! But here are a few! We went to Kris' parents house and had a lovely time... all the while eating WAY too much!

Abi loves Nana's fan - she looked for it first thing!

Thanks to Mercy, Abi's feet were dressed in style! And thanks to Grampa, Abi had the appropriate bib for the occasion!

Still looking at that fan! I'm thinking the white tights don't do anything for her except make the legs look much chunkier than they actually are!

Now, Grampa, If I could just have this piece of paper from you pocket...

Yup, that's the one. Thanks. It looks very yummy... ...let me try it...

Family pic... Back Row: Kris, Jessamyn, Patrick (Kris' nephew), Corey (Kris' niece)

Front Row: Mom, Kenny (Kris' step dad), Abi, Kevin (Jen's boyfriend), Jen (Kris' sister)

Cousins! :)

With Mom and Dad :)

2008-12-17T10:24:00.002-05:00

(11-28-08) Abi with mom and dad... I love to kiss her little face!

An exceptionally rare snugly moment!

Dad teaches her about mirrors...

Abi and Dad - a very cute couple if I do say so myself!

Baby things...

2008-12-17T10:18:00.003-05:00

(11-23-08) Abi discovers the coo-coo-clock for the first time... Having a little trouble seeing it!

(11-23-08) Sometime in the evening this is the only way to get her to take a little nap so that she'll make it through the evening before bedtime! If I were to lay her in her bed she'd wake up immediately, and trust me - sitting here with her sleeping is better than listening to her scream! Besides - this is how I get my facebook on! :)

(11-27-08) Just a couple pics of my beautiful little babe :)

My Under-Table Mechanic!

2008-12-16T09:56:00.002-05:00

(11-19-08) Never set a child down and walk away once they're old enough to move! Now - in my own defence - she's never moved around before - not this much anyway! I set her down on the blanket on the floor and went to put my hair up. I was only gone for a couple minutes and when I went back in to check on her she was under the table! I'm sure there was something very important to fix under there! She can't crawl, but she sure can get around! Don't mind the bib - she never can keep that down where it goes!

Don't worry Mom! I'll fix it!!

I've ...almost... GOT IT! I'm almost done here!

Hey! That flash is a little distracting! Could you stop? I've got work to do here!

November! (I'm that behind!)

2008-12-16T09:39:00.003-05:00

OK - I don't think its possible to be any further behind with all my posting.... Since I can't figure a good way to catch up quickly and have everything make sense, I think that I'll just do a couple posts throughout the day as I have time and try to get caught up!

(11-6-08) This was the day that I decided Abi was done with her swing! Not that I couldn't strap her in, but she hates that - and a screaming baby in a swing is not a happy baby in a swing! She was actually reaching up and grabbing the leg with her hand and hanging on till the weight of her body made the swing snap back... silly girl!

(11-6-08) "I just think I'm pretty hot stuff!"

(11-7-08) Abi playing video game with her dad - or should I say watching the red remote and wishing that she could get at it!

(11-9-08) Friends of ours gave us a wonderful gift certificate to Babies R Us. It was just in time to get Abi a new toy after she outgrew her swing! What a blessing!

(11-13-08) Thanks Grampa! I love your new phone!

(11-13-08) And Gramma's hair is another perfect toy!

(11-13-08) I am in fact a little embarrassed that I let her go out with not a single thing that she's wearing matching! But she was so cute sleeping there that I had to take a picture!

(11-13-08) My beautiful sleeping baby :) So peaceful!

Abi's eye...

2008-12-16T09:31:00.002-05:00

I'm SO excited!!! When Abi was born she had a clogged tear duct in her right eye which caused the eye not to drain. Up till now it would get really goopy all the time and water easily. We had to wash her eye a couple times a day and constantly keep a cloth close by to clean it again. I kept mentioning it to the pediatrician, but she said that they wouldn't do anything about it till Abi was a year old. If it didn't clear up by then she'd probably have to have surgery. I was starting to get worried because she's 6 months old and it wasn't showing any signs of clearing up at all... Well - last Wednesday (Dec 10th) I noticed that when she woke up in the morning her eye was completely clean and clear! I has been ever since!! I'm so happy and relieved and grateful that God took care of it! :) (Now we don't have to make sure her eye is OK before taking pictures!)

Last night...

2008-12-02T10:28:00.003-05:00

I think I have about a million pictures from this past month to post, but I don't have them ready yet - and it takes so much time to get them ready! So in the mean time I figured I'd post a couple videos from last night. :) The first one was actually her rapped in her towel - she loves bath time, and especially loves noody time afterward. She really would rather never have to wear clothes!

Abigail now loves all things red and all things shiny :) She loves to try to get the nobs on the living room table, but gets very frustrated when she tries from a standing position. She'll bend over to try to bite it but her head gets stuck on the table edge. It looks so funny, but she gets angry pretty quickly - so i made her sit to play with it this time... She doesn't really like sitting either - she'd so much rather be on her feet all the time!

Abi

2008-11-30T21:36:00.002-05:00

I'm discovering that so far 6 months is my favorite baby stage... :) I'm baffled and amazed at the seeming innumerable things that Abi learns every day! Its a feeling that I can't express to watch a baby learn about life. Today Abigail got her toes into her mouth by herself for the first time - its was so cute! She's been playing with her feet for about 7 weeks, but never tried to put them in her mouth before. She knows her name and no matter who is trying to get her attention, she will look and then smile with a huge grin as if to say, "Yes, I'm cute and I know it. I'm Also very important and you better know it!"

A couple days ago she discovered her shadow for the first time - it was so funny. Took me a couple seconds to realize what she was staring at! Then she started trying to get it and I was cracking up. How could I ever take the little things in life so for granted? So incredible to watch an infant learn about all the things that we've given up noticing so long ago...!!!

Abi also loves the color red (as I'm pretty sure do all babies!) and all things shiny. She tries to get the remotes, phones and computer mouse all the time and Kris' red x-box controller is a must have! I was looking at old pictures tonight and she was so excited that her whole little body started to shake. She notices everything new. She notices when I wear a new sweater and tries to grab at it. She notices every new toy and won't play with old ones any more once a new one is introduced. She's constantly gotta be on the go and trying to discover new things! I'm sure that as soon as she figures out how to crawl her poor mother will be in trouble! She's figured out how to get around without crawling. If she lays on her back and picks her but up she can push herself around quite nicely! And she does! I left her on the floor for about 2 minutes the other day and when I looked she was under the living room table inspecting and manipulating it's underside! Crazy little baby. :) I can't believe how much I love her. I never get tired of watching her and all her discovering. I marvel and am amazed continuously...

I forgot!

2008-11-25T14:17:00.002-05:00

I totally forgot to mention something very important! :) I'm so happy - I've lost all my "baby weight" as of Nov. 13th!!! Such a good feeling! I still have a few more pounds to go to get where I need to be, but I'm smaller now than I have been in almost 6 years! Yay!

A little of this, A little of that...

2008-11-25T13:22:00.002-05:00

I should be working right now, but since I'm not I figured I would take a little time to log some happenings... My blog has become a baby journal and I often forget to put anything else in here. Guess that makes sense really - that is my life right now... ...all things baby! :)

Abi has been teething for about 3 months now, but with no progress. Just chewing on anything and everything that she can get in her mouth and drooling so exceedingly much! Well, this week on Monday I noticed that her bottom gum is actually swollen in the front - so I do believe that she is finally working on cutting teeth. Two at once no less! She's actually been remarkably pleasant for teething, but she's reverted back to not sleeping well for her naps especially so she gets very overtired and cranky by the evening. I don't know if that's teething related or if its something else... Someone told me the other day that 6 months can generally be a time were kids go through changes and it can mess up there sleeping habits. Who knows?!! Not me - I just know that I wish she would nap better! That's when I get the break I need and without it I get a little stressed! Hey - Did I just say 6 months!??! I can't believe that my little baby will be 6 months already next week... where does the time go? Oh, side note on napping... Abi has developed a lovely talent - no matter what time I lay her down for her morning nap she will poop 45 minutes later thus waking her up and destroying any plans for further napping! I don't get it! How does she do it - and for 2 weeks straight. Doesn't matter what time I lay her down - I can try keeping her up longer and it still happens! Doesn't even matter if she's just pooped before that nap - it will still happen! Silly little baby - I hope this will stop soon - its very frustrating!

Work - not much to say - I haven't hardly worked all month. I've worked exactly 2 days this month to be precise. I'm so grateful for God's provision. At the same time that I've been getting no work, Kris has been working an out-of-town job which gives him a higher pay rate. What a blessing - God works all these things out! Its funny really - Kris and I both wanted for me not to have to work at all once we had kids, but that sadly just isn't possible. I need to work just 8 days a month and that pays the mortgage. Needless to say, its actually kinda nice not to have had to work much this month, but the waiting in limbo gets to me. I'm very OCD and I like to plan everything out. It frustrates me to plan all week on working a certain day - then I get up that day, get everything ready and plan to drop Abi off with a friend and go in to work at 3 only to get a phone call at 1 and say - "don't come in." Then my whole day changes and half of what I've done that day is unnecessary. Its a little frustrating. I knew this could happen when I went per-diam, but I didn't think it would go on for this long. Its hard for me not to worry about the "what ifs" too - what if this doesn't change? Will I need to look for a new job? Who knows... Kris keeps having to remind me that we are doing fine and to role with the punches - that's hard for me. But then - again - Maybe that's exactly why this is happening now. I need to learn all over again to rely on God and let him take care of us. For too long we could do just fine on our own. I guess I was too confident in our own abilities - Kinda makes us forget about God and all that He's done for us! I guess I'm grateful for the things in life that help me to get my focus back...

I'm thinking today about our small group and spending some time praying. Kris and I have been small group leaders for a few years now, and its been good. Sometimes harder than others, but good. Its something that we believe God has for us to do and are glad for the opportunity. Its kind of like pastoring a small group of people, but for a while I haven't really felt like we've had the opportunity or necessity to do much of that.... till now. We have a lot of people in our group going through hard times right now. I feel blessed to be able to be there for them, and yet almost overwhelmed - yet only for a moment till I realize that its all in God's very capable hands. Thank God that He is really in charge and knows all things before they happen. I'm praying that I will be at the place in my own walk with God that I need to be in order to minister to and help all these people - our friends.

What else is up? Hmmm - do you have any idea how badly I just want to get the leaves picked up in the yard. I can't believe how hard it is to get to things like that with an infant! How on earth did I think that I would have all this time since I'm home all the time??? Some days I feel really bad, because I feel like I don't get nearly as much done as I should have.... I know that Kris doesn't think this, but sometimes I think to myself that If I was him coming home from work at the end of a hard day, he could look around and say "what on earth do you do all day?" He never has and I know that he understands, but somehow I feel like I should be able to do so much more than I do! Its crazy.

OK, I can't think of anything else to write about right now and I have other important things to do! Must finish dishes, finish laundry, pay the bills and then we'll see if Abner is still sleeping. :) Sorry Merc - I'll try to get to more pictures after that! :)

5 Months :)

2008-11-12T18:41:00.003-05:00

My little baby is 5 months old already.... How can that be? I can't believe how big she is and how fast the time has gone! She's growing so quickly and doing new things every day... I love to watch as everything unfolds. Its so amazing to be a mom. :)

Highchair series :)

2008-11-12T18:34:00.002-05:00

I cannot just sit! I must explore! I must figure it all out - I have things to discover, things to study, things to learn!!! Let me do my thing...
Oh, Hi! How are you? I'm too cute and I know it...

Ok - here's my wave! I have said my hellos now let me be - I have things to learn!

:) Ummm... why are you still taking pictures?

Helloooo..... I'm ready to eat now - please stop with the pictures and give me food! I love my food!!!

Englehardts

2008-11-12T18:28:00.003-05:00

A few pics of our friends Fred, Bridget, Molly and (?). I'm so thankful for our friendship with them! Kris and I were frustrated for a long time that we didn't really have close Christian friends - now we do. Our friendship has grown so much and we are so grateful for you guys! We love you!
Ha! I love the faces that Molly makes! She is such a cute kid!

Couple pics...

2008-11-12T18:17:00.002-05:00

Just a couple pictures of the babe being cute on the livingroom floor! She just started this week to pic her legs up under her a little bit. She's not great at it, but she seems to be getting a little closer to crawling... :) It probably will be a while, but it still amaizing how much she can move herself around without crawling yet.

Morgan and Amy came over the other day and watched Abi so we could go to a birthday party together. Its always nice to get out for a little bit. For the longest time we didn't really want to leave her with anyone since she was so fussy all the time. I'm so happy that she's happier. We enjoy her more all the time and its a little easier to let someone watch her so we can get out together!

Jumpy Seat

2008-11-01T22:00:00.003-04:00

We all love this thing! Abi has a blast in it and can play there happily for half and hour! That's huge!! That means I can cook dinner now while she plays right next to me. Half an hour where is isn't demanding our undivided attention. Sweet :)

Spitting and Blowing Bubbles

2008-11-01T21:36:00.002-04:00

We have mastered a new skill. We call it "Spitting and Bubble Blowing!!!" Woohoo! Its all fun and games until we're trying to feed her! At which point we both need a bath when we're done... Ugh!

Little Lady Bug

2008-11-01T13:59:00.002-04:00

I don't feel like getting into it at the moment, but I struggle greatly with the whole issue of Halloween. I grew up extremely conservative and we were never allowed to celebrate Halloween or have anything to do with it. It's hard for me to think of it in any other way... I wish the day didn't exist and I didn't have to think about it... Anyway - we usually go to the Novak's (Kris' friends from high school) to see their kids costumes etc. Someone gave me this ladybug costume for Abi when I first got pregnant - before I had even decided to do her bedroom in ladybugs. So cute I can't stand it! She only wore the costume for about 20 minutes before she was too hot in it!

Sam and Willow with Abigail. Sam was so proud of himself for holding her up! :)

How cute is this?!! Sam wanted her to try them on. At first she kept turning her head all over trying to get them off. Then she calmed right down and didn't seem to care. She was actually looking cross-eyed through the cracks by her nose! Silly little baby!

Hey... What can I say? At least they matched our outfits!

Mid October

2008-11-01T13:58:00.003-04:00

Just a few cute pictures. (Hmmm... My blog seems to have become nothing but pictures of my cutest baby ever!) When we lay Abi on her back on the floor she grabs our hands and tries to pull herself up. She isn't strong enough and needs help, but she is a strong little thing. She loves to stand! For the longest time as soon as we pulled her up to standing she'd immediately go straight to chewing on our fingers! :)

Adoring moments :)

We went outside so Abi could play with her toes in the grass. She really liked it - it was fun to watch how excited she got about it.

I'm sad that she wasn't big enough to wear this top much before it got too cold. I love it! One of my favorite Dr. friends at work gave it to us. Jen (Dr. White) is quite partial to Abi and thinks she looks just like she did as a baby. She's a red head too and is pleased as punch that Abi has ready hair! :)

10-11-08

2008-11-01T13:56:00.009-04:00

We took a trip up to NH a few weeks ago to see Kris' grandparents. Aren't they just the cutest couple ever?!! :) I love them. Abi got to meet her great-grandparents for the first time. Its a 3 1/2 hour trip each way - all done in one day. We couldn't believe how well Abi did for such a long trip at just 4 months - especially since she usually doesn't like the car! Gram isn't doing very well, which makes Kris and I really sad. I hope we didn't overwhelm her too much, but wanted her to see Abi while she would remember who we all were.

Four generations... Kris and Abi with Kris' Mom and Grandparents.

And Jenn, Corey and Patrick (Kris' sister, niece and nephew.)

10-10-08

2008-11-01T13:56:00.008-04:00

She started rolling over at about 3 1/2 months, but only did it a few times and hasn't been interested since. Every once in a while she'll go just this far and can't pull her hands out of her mouth long enough to get over the rest of the way! :) Take a look at those thighs! They stick out an inch from her waist!!

We call her "nudey babe" for short. She loves to have her clothes of and gets quite upset when we start to put them back on. Sorry Abi - winter is coming and the days are getting colder! Not to mention yesterday you just came down with your second cold in 4 short weeks! Poor little baby :(

We had several really nice warm days in October and did our best to enjoy them! Abi was quite happy to set in the stroller and play with her toys and just look around while we went for good long walks. She has always loved being outside since she was born - I'm sad that I can't take her out much anymore - just too cold.

Cute baby :)

4 Months (on 10-2-08)

2008-10-30T21:54:00.002-04:00

Now that she's almost 5 months old (next week), I'm finally posting her "4 month shots." Where does all the time go?! I love this little babe!! Just as a side note - I can't believe how she has changed since she hit 4 months - literally that day! She's so much happier now. She naps better, too. We're having so much fun now - I'm so happy that we weathered the screamer stage!

Falling 10-6-08

2008-10-30T21:39:00.008-04:00

This cracks me up so I decided to take pictures and post them. :) She started to find her feet at 4 months and now adores them! So while we were trying to take her 4 month pictures she got tired of that and wanted to play with her feet instead. Picture #1: "Oohh! My feet!" Picture #2: "Oh, awesome! Let me have them!" Picture #3: "Oops! I fell over!" Picture 3 is my favorite - the look on her face just kills me! She still can't really figure out how to pull her hands out on her own - though when they're out she thinks she's big and tough and ready to crawl. Hasn't figured that out yet though... Soon I'm thinkin!

Oct 6th

2008-10-30T21:34:00.003-04:00

Abi with her Daddy - she loves him! :) Not sure why she always looks like a dear in headlights though. She smiles and laughs till you pull out the camera. As soon as she sees the camera its just about impossible to get a smile!

My little sheep herder

2008-10-30T21:23:00.002-04:00

I took this picture a month ago and I should have taken this picture about a month earlier. :( Its a little small for her in this pic - but still sooooo cute. Kendra (my sister-in-law's sister) made this for Abi when I first found out that I was pregnant. She also made a matching stuffed monkey! I think Abigail looks like she should be herding sheep in the Alps :)

Jumpy seats

2008-10-20T11:08:00.004-04:00

The other day, while I was at work, Kris pulled out Abi's jumpy seat and introduced her to it. She will sit happily in it for about 20 minutes which is great! Gives me time to cook dinner, and she's right there where I can see her!

On the left is me in my jumpy seat at 5 months and on the right is Abi at 4 months. :) This is so funny to me.

Having Abi now makes me love going back to look at my own baby pictures and see what I looked like and what I was doing at different times! I'm trying to remember to right everything down in Abi's baby book so she has it to look back on sometime (and me). :)

p.s. No - we don't look anything alike in these 2 pics...

p.p.s. I just noticed that our arms and legs are in the exact same positions!!! Haha! That's cracking me up!