Abbie - 11 months

Happy 11 months to our sweet girl! 

Today I was thinking back to this time last year and how miserable I felt and how excited I was for her to arrive. I really had no idea how much she would change my life. 

Unfortunately Abbie has been sick. She got a cough and runny nose a few days ago and then Sunday she had an elevated temperature and was just miserable. I took her to the doctor yesterday and found out she has an ear infection :(  As long as she has tylenol in her system, she is her happy normal self. However, in between the magic meds she is just sad and miserable. It makes me so sad to see her like that. Tonight it got worse and we just couldn't get her to settle down. So she got a priesthood blessing and within a couple of minutes she was happy again. Thank goodness for worthy priesthood holders!  

Anyway, on to the good stuff. She is still very active, and loves to be moving. She still loves to eat and is eating more of 'our' food and less of hers. I should also mention that this means I am pumping less. Yahoo!!! 

Also, she now takes 2 naps a day and is such a good sleeper (I think she is making up for those rough few months). 

This is the best picture I could get of her smiling AND looking at the camera.

She is getting more vocal. We have conversations all the time. I just wish I knew what she was saying.  The words she does say are "mama", "dada", and "thankyou". She will also copy our sounds/words a lot.

She still gets shy around most new people, but every once in a while she will immediately find someone she likes and they become her best friend. She definitely has her favorites-  I am not at the top of the list, but at least I'm not at the bottom. 

I seriously love this picture!

She has finally got the sippy cup thing down. She likes drinking water and watered down orange juice from it, but still prefers milk from a bottle. 

She likes to play games with us: peek-a-boo, guess which hand, run away from the 'monster', and she thinks pulling things out of whatever they are in is fun too.
However, today for the first time, I saw her putting away toys in the basket rather than taking them out. It was pretty cute.

So, even though she is active and can't sit still, she is tons of fun and we love her to death!

Movin' on up

About a week ago Brandon got his grades from last semester. I am happy to say that he is still in the top 10% and actually moved up one rank. I am very proud of him. (He will probably be embarrassed by this, but isn't that my job as his wife? jk) 

We are counting down the days til he graduates- 79 in case you are wondering. We are ready to move on to the next phase of life- meaning we are ready to get out of  Provo. We still don't know for sure where we will end up, still waiting to hear. But the prospects in Salt Lake are looking better than ever. 

Well, I finally got my painting framed even though I finished it before Christmas. I think the camera makes it look a little weird, but oh well. I am still loving art lessons, and am probably half way done with my next painting.

You don't think I would do a post without a little Abbie do you?

She recently learned:

*how to share when you say "share" or "thank you"

* how to give a hug and will usually come do it when I ask

* to open her mouth when you say you are going to give a kiss (her version of a kiss)

I should also mention that I cannot wait for the day that she can go to nursery during church. We, either Brandon or I, spend much of the time in the hall. It sure makes it hard to feel the spirit and learn.  But, I guess most parents go through this, it's just the way it goes.

Oh, and a of course a picture. We went to the mall on Saturday and Abbie played in the kid playground.

 

I just realized that my posts are turning into random, jumbled pieces. Oh well, better than nothing. That's it for now.  Happy February!

Abbie Cadabby

Well we haven't been up to much out of the ordinary. Abbie is as cute (and busy) as ever, Brandon as busy as ever, and me as bored as ever :) (Just kidding about the bored part, although I do get bored sometimes) I am busy too. Watching 2 babies most days keeps me pretty busy.

Last weekend for Heather's birthday we went to Planet Play. Abbie enjoyed the yummy buffet as much as the rest of us. And we enjoyed playing games.

Abbie is getting to be a fan of noodles

Abbie loves to pull things out and make messes. I have had to tape some of our cupboards shut- not the best solution. Don't those wipes look yummy? The only time she gets away with it is when I am pumping.

She still loves daddy. Whenever he is home she wants to be with him. Seriously she won't leave his side.

So cute! Abbie loves books. But not when we read to her- well actually we don't read to her very much anymore because she wants to hold the book and play with the pages. Good thing we have some board books.

She pretty much entertains me all day long :)  Check out some of the funny noises she makes.

One other exciting thing- or at least it is to me. Abbie didn't freak out when the vacuum was on this morning. Yay! That is a huge milestone.

Movies

Here are some cute videos of Abbie.
Because we live in an apartment we haven't had to worry about stairs. When we were at my in-laws' this past weekend Abbie found a new fun thing to do: climb the stairs.
She went and did this several times :)

On Monday because everyone was out of school for the holiday we decided to go swimming. The best part was watching Abbie- she had a great time!

Another walking video. She just keeps getting better at it. Now she walks more than she crawls. She is also getting good at turning/ changing direction without falling over. And, she seriously loves her toothbrush :)

Oh, I've been meaning to put this up for a while. Our first professional family photo.
It was taken at the beginning of December.  Brandon had to tickle Abbie to get her to smile :)

Peace and Quiet book

Ok, so here it is. Some pages I copied from someone else, some I got the idea from someone else and then modified it, and some I came up with on my own. Also, on each page I listed the scripture reference so maybe when she is older she can look up and read the story too.
So, enjoy!

I finally finished the cover over the weekend. I decided it was necessary to make one to help keep the book together :)

 The Tree of Life

You can snap on and off the fruit and put them in the basket

 Put on the Armor of God

 The pieces of armor are stored in the red pocket. You can match them to their shapes where it tells what the pieces represent or you can dress up the guy.

The Anti-Nephi-Lehies bury their weapons

The people can be taken off and the ground flap can open. In the flap are the weapons attached with string.

Noah's Ark

 Noah's ark is a pocket and inside are Noah and animal finger puppets.

"Follow me, I will make you fishers of men"

The fish are attached to the water by yarn and you can put the fish in the net.

Jonah and the Whale

Jonah stays inside the whale, but you can get him out to play with. 

Daniel in the lion's den

You can open and close the cage doors. You can also braid the lion's tail.

Lehi sails to the Promised Land

You can move the boat along the blue pipe cleaner.

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

You can unbutton the flowers and take the fruit off the tree.

Baby Moses is sent down the river in a basket

Baby Moses can snap on and off and you can weave the pieces to make a basket.

I realize many of the pages are more advanced, but I did that on purpose because I want it to last and be used for a long time. For the time being Abbie enjoys playing/eating the people and things that come off and she likes playing with the fishes.

10 months

 Well, here we are; another month has gone by. Abbie is now 10 months old. Double digits! Sometimes I think back and try to remember what she was like when she was younger, but it's hard to imagine her any other way than how she is now. Good thing I keep up this blog :)

 Abbie can now successfully walk. But, just because she can doesn't mean she does. She still prefers crawling, probably because right now it's faster for her. I am sure soon enough she will be running :)

She sure is a busy girl! She is really good at entertaining herself and is always busy finding new 'toys' and places to go- not that there are that many places to go in our little apartment. She is also really good at remembering where things are. She loves to go to the bathroom and into our bedroom. In Brandon's words she is a 'crazy pants'.

Any time anyone has food, she sure zips over quickly to get as many bites as possible. She is still eating baby solids mainly, but has tried many different big kid foods too. She pretty much snacks all day long :) Good thing she is a mover. She's not really gaining much weight. I think she is about 21 1/2 lbs. Which means she has pretty much outgrown her baby car seat in weight (and length). So, today while we were out we got a new one that she will be able to use until she is done needing one.

She is still sleeping through the night. Hallelujah! She goes down for the night around 7pm and gets up around 7am. We are currently transitioning from 3 naps to 2 naps during the day. She is so good at going down to sleep, usually no crying or fighting me. On the other hand, she is terrible if Brandon puts her down. I think she has learned that I will not get her out because she is crying, Brandon will. He wants to be the nice one, and it's working. She will almost always choose him over me. Yep, she is becoming a daddy's girl.


(It took many pictures to finally get a good one. She couldn't sit still long enough, and when she did she wouldn't look at the camera. )


Some other things to note.
*She has 3 1/2 teeth- meaning 3 teeth that you can see, and one that has barely cut through 
*She wears size 12 month - 18 month clothes
*She has enough long hairs to put in a little, tiny ponytail on the top of her head
*She has the cutest laugh and loves to play peek-a-boo

We feel so lucky to be her parents. She is such a blessing. We love you Abbie!

Bring It 2012!

We celebrated bringing in the new year by go bowling with my family on new year's eve afternoon. It was so fun because they had the lights off and cool retro lights going- which Abbie loved. And they gave us party favors and hats plus pizza and drinks. Afterwards we went home, put Abbie to bed and had our own little party. We watched a movie and stayed up til midnight.

I think this year is going to be a good year. Things are going to change and I am excited for it. Brandon will finish school and get a job (hopefully!) and we will probably be moving back to Salt Lake- most likely into Brandon's parents' basement apartment.

Til then, we have gotten back to our normal routine. I thought Christmas break might have ruined Abbie's sleeping routine, but thankfully it has mostly gotten back to normal. Brandon started classes yesterday and is excited to just get them done- he thinks it will be a pretty easy semester. I am trying to get used to him being gone again, and getting things done at home. I am also going to continue baby-sitting Isaac during this semester.

Oh, and because I thought this was super cute: Daddy and Abbie brushing their teeth :)