Memorial Day Poolside

Memorial Day was a lot of fun! It was Abigail's first time in the pool. We set up her little pool and water table in the back yard and let Abigail have at it! I was really pushing the pool, but she much preferred the water table. Although it was 80+ degrees at 10:00 in the morning, we didn't let the water in the pool warm up before putting her in, so I think the cold water was part of the reason Abigail kept wanting to get out of the pool and stand at the water table. Despite the cold water, she did plenty of exploring and learning. I think you can tell by these smiles that she had a great time!

scooping water. . . 

This girl takes her water play seriously.

He is the World's Greatest Dad!

Abigail couldn't resist a visit to her new play set. She loves going down the slide with daddy.

She also likes climbing up!

That evening we went to Mimi and Papa's house and had BBQ. Abigail has been working on eating more table food, but you wouldn't know it that night! She refused to have anything except veggie straws.

Here is Abigail with Aunt Nan and Uncle Joel, "NaNa" and "DoJo". She is getting so much better at saying MiMi, Papa, Aunt Nan and Uncle Joel! We practiced a lot this weekend. She did call Papa "PeePee" which Rich and I found quite hilarious. I wonder how she'll do saying "Grandmama and Grandaddy", that will surely be a mouthful!

Abigail and Mimi did have a special moment when she sat on Mimi's lap and played piano on Mimi's grand!

Two Sweaty Boys and One Happy Girl

Daddy and Uncle Joel spent most of Sunday transporting this play set from one backyard to another, and it turned out to be quite the daunting task. One of Rich's co-workers offered us this playset if we were willing to get it out of her yard. So, at the end of the day we had two very sweaty boys, and one very happy girl!

Uncle Joel is playing peek-a-boo!

Abigail was eager to check it out!

Big Girl Day

Working on some bread and cheese. Surely when those top four teeth come in, this will get easier!

Today is "Big Girl Day". No more rice cereal and baby food, time to move on to whole milk in sippy cups and real table food! This is what mommy sent to school for lunch today.

Abigail also rode in her big girl car seat for the first time today. This will provide her with much needed room. She has been pulling down the shade on her first car seat and propping her feet up on it. Clearly, it's time to move up.

As soon as she's walking on her own she'll be moving up to the Junior Toddlers Class at school. This could be in a matter of weeks! What a big girl!

Water Table Fun!

I had to post this video from Abigail's birthday of the girls playing at the water table. They are each in their own little world. Emmaline on the left is focused on her red boat, Abigail is tapping her blue boat on the side of the table, and cutest of all is Caroline on the far right having a little water snack! What a great gift! Thanks Katie Maechler for the recommendation!

Abigail Grows Up in One Day!

Or maybe in the past few. . . Today was an especially big day for Abigail! She is growing up so fast, learning and doing several new things each day. Here are some interesting things/new accomplishments since she has turned one:
-she can feed herself a few bites with her spoon
-she has started pouting (I am not super thrilled about this one)
-she thinks "no" is funny, and responds with "BA!" and smiles
-SHE HAS LEARNED HOW TO SCREAM!
-said "naa no" (for "night night")
-she loves to turn on lights, and will reach for the doorknob when coming in and out of rooms
-and she can ride her horse all by herself! She is really enjoying her new horse, and her "horse sounds" is just precious. Watch this video and I'm sure you'll agree!

 Today she: -said "bye bye"  and reached up to try to open the door for mama when she came home from work! When daddy asked her if she wanted to ride horse, she crawled over to her room because she knew that's where horse stays!

This was the first time Abigail really rode horse all on her own, so I was so nervous the whole time filming that she was going to fall off!

Abigail's First Birthday

Abigail had a wonderful First Birthday! We celebrated Saturday, April 14th with family and two little friends and their parents. Abigail wanted to invite the two little girls that she was baptized with, Emmaline and Caroline. It had been a long time since we had a play date with all three girls, so we told her, "Of course, they can come!" I must say, she was a very good sport, but unfortunately, the birthday girl was not 100%. . . she had a fever two days before her party and had developed a pretty nasty rash on her bottom that was clearly different from diaper rash. We took her to the doctor Sunday after her birthday and she was diagnosed with impetigo, and started on antibiotics. We are still seeing spots! I must say, nearly a full week later, her skin is finally starting to clear up.

                  Here is the spread.

The very yummy cake, designed (not made by) mommy - white cake with buttercream icing, with a layer of strawberries inside - it was a big hit!

And here is Abigail's smash cake which went virtually untouched. Even when we put puffs in the icing and tried to get her to dig them out, she still was not into it! It didn't help that I accidentally popped her in the face with the string of her birthday hat. . . Ah well, cake is in the freezer for a rainy day! Abigail received two big gifts from Mommy and Daddy, who just could not resist. The first was her very own stuffed rocking horse, complete with "real horse sounds", which a few days later, she now tries to imitate! She is also able to ride the horse all by herself now, which will be talked about later in the post "Abigail Grows Up in One Day"

Here are some pictures from the birthday weekend!

11 Months Old

 Props are often required to help us try and get a good pic. they are not always successful.

Finally! We got her looking straight at the camera AND smiling!

At 11 Months, Abigail is a lot of fun. She is very busy and all over the place as you can see in the above pics! She crawls very fast and is walking well while holding onto our hands or a walking toy. She also likes to push the laundry basket around the house. She is getting better and better at turning! Also as of yesterday, April 7th, she can stand along for a few seconds!

--She is also saying "uh oh", baby, mama, dada, and other various precious babbling.
--She can also follow simple commands such as drop this, point to mommy's nose, or clap your hands.
--After her bath she likes to hold the brush and brush our hair and has even started to brush her own hair.
--She loves to read.
--She likes to help clean up her tray after she eats.
--She can hold a banana on her own and take a bite.
--She squeals with delight whenever she sees our kitty, Sophie
--She likes to point at things.
--Weighs 21lbs 6oz and is quite tall I'm sure since her pants are quickly becoming capris!

We can't wait to celebrate this precious girl's FIRST Birthday next weekend!

Mommy is Funny

Check out this video! You will be cracking up! Abigail was. If anyone ever tries to tell me that I am not funny, I am going to show them this video. I'm not sure if Abigail was just in a really good mood, or if I caught her at just the right time or what, but as you can see here, she is having a blast!! I was playing peekaboo and jumping out from behind the wall.

Playing piano with Mimi!

Pla

To Bib or Not to Bib. . .

This was a while ago. . . she is much faster at bib removal now! Actually, at this point, we are not even putting one on.

Learning learning, always learning!

This girl has had quite a day today, even though she is sick, she never ceases to amaze. Two things in particular strike me as significant today:

(1)    She has learned about Kleenex. She voluntarily reached toward the Kleenex box, pulled one out, and put it to her nose. She has learned what Kleenex are for! Thank you cold.

(2)    She mimicked “uh oh”! I dropped something and said it, and she repeated what I said! I said it again, then she said it again.

One more thing: no more bibs. This is the new rule per Abigail. She has learned how to un-Velcro her bib, so now she doesn’t want to have it on at all.  Thank goodness she is neat, so we can actually get away with feeding her without a bib. For now. . . 

Look Mom, no hands!

Abigail really likes her bouncer, so much so that sometimes I think she's going to bounce right through the ceiling. This is the first time I've seen her hands free!

Memphis Adventures

Our Memphis trip started with Abigail trying out her grandmother's wooden highchair. My mother says that even her mother sat in this chair! This was also the highchair that I ate out of so, there is a lot of history here!

Then some special time with granddaddy.

Out for a stroll. Glad to spend some time with Uncle Bubs from NY. I got to meet his girlfriend, Lauren too!

Here is a video of Abigail and her walker. Thanks to Grandad's discovery of the demo toy at the toy store. Ever since then it was a done deal, we knew we had to get this toy. What a special moment to see this little girl "walk" with just a little help from this push toy!

Thank you so much Grandmama for my first basketball! (Just in time for March Madness!) Here is a quick glimpse of our natural athlete. As time goes on, she's getting better and better at throwing and playing catch. I should also note, today, she threw this basketball from the living room into the kitchen! (Well, she threw it, then it bounced, and rolled into the kitchen.) Nevertheless, I was impressed!

Little Musician

This is music to our ears! We are noticing a left-handed preference with the xylophone. . .

10 Months Old

Abigail was having a snack and sitting quietly for a few seconds, so we grabbed a couple of shots on the red couch. Here are a few things she is up to these days: -crawling all over the place-we used to keep her isolated in the front room on her play mat, simply redirecting her if she tried to crawl away, but now, she's allowed pretty much all over the house, and she loves it! -one of her favorite things is crawling with something in each hand, i.e. puzzle pieces or blocks -pulling up and cruising around her crib, not so much on furniture -she likes to point at things -she can point to mommy or daddy's nose -claps her hands -will blow kisses (sort of) -will wave bye bye (sort of) -will "dance" to her musical toys -will turn around in a circle while sitting down -she LOVES puffs, and is now shoveling them into her mouth. It seems like just a week or so ago she had no clue what to do with them. We are having some issues with textured foods, she is not so into this.

Here she is on her usual monthly picture spot.

Then somebody wanted to look out the window and see what was going on.

While Mom Is Away...

Abigail and Daddy will play! And play, and play, and play,

and not clean up! This is what I found when I got home after my afternoon at the salon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Abigail had a really great first Valentine's Day. She slept in until 8:00, then got dressed in a cute outfit from Great Aunt Debbie, who does a fantastic job of sending fun holiday surprises in the mail. She had a fun day at school and finished up her valentine for mom and dad. It was precious - heart stickers and a little few marker marks on the front, then a nice poem and a "handprint heart" on the inside. We love her so much and hope she feels loved every day!

We should note that Grandmama made her a handmade watercolor card. And on Wednesday, we celebrated with Mimi and Aunt Nan and Aunt Nan gave Abigail her first purse!

Puzzling

Why crawl on hands and knees when you can hold puzzle pieces? Abigail likes to take things with her when she crawls. I'm sure she'll soon learn that pulling up is not quite as easy with toys in your hands.

Sharing a Snack with Daddy

Rich brought home some "Baby Mum Mums" for Abigail to chew on. This is some sort of puffed white rice wafer. . . This is what was brought home when I asked Rich to get some "teething biscuits". Abigail seemed to like it and wanted to share!

Rich spent the day with Abigail today while mommy went to work. Today she started pointing at things. She also crawled up to Daddy's legs and pulled up to standing, holding onto Daddy's pants legs. She crawled up to me too when I got home!

9 Months Old

At 9 Months old, time is really starting to fly. People always tell me, "it goes so fast". Honestly, up until this point, I have loved the pace. It has seemed just right, not too fast, until now! Something about 9 months, she has just taken off. Abigail is truly changing DAILY. She actually started THREE new things in one day recently. (1)clapping her hands, (2)learned how to turn around in a circle with her legs, and (3)started trying to go up on hands and feet all in one day! Whoa baby, slow down! Crawling all over town, I hope she doesn't start walking just yet. . .


These monthly pictures are getting harder and harder to take!


Big girl pulling up!

I have figured out how to take my alphabet mat apart. . .


Here's one of my tricks: turning in a circle!

At 9 months Abigail is. . . :
-up on all fours, crawling with ease
-pulling up to standing (loves to do this in her bed)
-goes over to her toy box and picks out what she wants to play with
-clapping hands together
-likes to "dance", moves up and down with music
-crawling up stairs (small foam stairs at school - we live in a one story)
-eating fingers foods, well, just puffs so far, and she has no clue what to do with them other than collect them in her hand
-painting with a paintbrush at school
-had her first snow!

8 Months Old

Abigail is such a big girl now! Here are some of the things Abigail is up to at 8 months:
-She can say mama, dada, bla bla, ya ya, la la, na na, ga, and doh
-She sat in her first restaurant high chair!
-She went on a plane ride to Dallas, then took a rental car to San Antonio, had a wonderful first Christmas!
-has had 23 different foods
-loves to army crawl on her tummy, can get up on hands and knees and make a few crawl moves
-painted with a paintbrush at school
-drank water from a sippy cup
-trying to start pulling up!
-working on waving hi, sometimes with both hands at the same time
-stands up in bed-first day was January 1st, 2012, started the year off right!
-had first ride in jogging stroller - (Mommy and Daddy are starting to train for the Country Music 1/2 Marathon in April)
-personality is kicking in - hello whiny cry! She will let us know when she doesn't like something, or especially if we are taking too long to get her food ready