Swinging, Sliding, Bubbles and Ice Cream!

What a great weekend! It was the first weekend in a long while where our little family of 3 could spend so much time together (family of 4, if you include our furry baby). We shared the weekend doing new things with Abigail, so I took some pictures to mark the occasion and to share.

Friday morning Abby and I took Robby to work just so we could get out the house. When we picked him on that evening, we had to exit off the interstate and tend to a SCREAMING baby in the backseat. I honestly think she is getting more and more uncomfortable in her carseat - she's almost at the weight limit - that, combined with teething = quite a fuss. After we gave her a doll and calmed her down, we just sporadically decided to go eat at Chili's, which was just a 1/4 mile down the road. It was the best, most relaxed meal the three of us have shared in a while! I don't know what made it so good and enjoyable, but just remembering it now kindles warmth in my heart. We got the three courses for two people for $2o meal, which I must say, is quite a bargain. Normally, we will just skip the dessert, but since it was included we chose Chocolate Molten Cake (yum, yum) which has vanilla ice cream on it. We were at one of those two person booths (with a highchair) so of course Abigail could reach any and every thing on the table. We shared her first real ice cream with her.

She would make this face every time after giving her a bite of ice cream - she didn't like how cold it was at first. By the time she ate it, she was smiling and opening right up for the next bite, but I couldn't get any of that on camera. So, even though you can't tell how much she loved it by this picture, take my word - she LOVES ice cream!

On Saturday, after a long day of umpiring for Robby and laundry for me, plus a short jaunt to the mall to get Colby a birthday present for his upcoming party (SIX already?), we gave Abigail a bath to help her unwind. A surprise for her --- it was her first BUBBLE bath!

She is a big fan of the bubbles!

>

Finally -- some hair! Look at that curl in the back!

Since a "cold" front came in early this morning, the temperature stayed below 95 degrees today! When it isn't so blistering hot outside, we like to take Chance and Abby out for what we call a "Family Walk." The length of it depends on the weather and how tired we are, but since all was well today, we walked to the park. I put Abby in her first big girl swing (still the "baby" swing - I call it the big girl swing because it's not like her Graco infant swing that we have here), and I also slid down the slide with her. The first slide I took her on was the little bitty slide (it was made for adults to slide with their babies, just not very high). Since we were up and down the slide so fast, Robby didn't get any good pics even though we did it three times. After that, we switched and I took the pics. :)

Swinging - we didn't get too high at first.

Trying to make it go.

My precious sweetheart!

Daddy pushing her a little higher!

After she liked the itty bitty slide with me, Robby took her on the twisty slide.

She loved the last one, so now he wanted to take her on the "Megatron" twisty slide.


Ready?

Daddy loved it; not so sure about Abby.

Chance met a friend while we were there, too.

The medium slide. The last one before we left. It's funny how the moving objects (R&A) are in focus, and all of the still objects are blurry. My camera is amazing!

Over all, she loved it and we will be making many more park trips!

The Silver Lining

Day three drop off at daycare went much smoother. There were no tears all day, and we got there just in time for "music time." Abby got a drum to bang on, so she was occupied from the start. I think that had a lot to do with it. It was nice to leave and know that she was happy and content.

Now that my three days of meetings are over, I will have the rest of this week off and then all of next week, then I start back to work full time, which means that she will be at daycare full time. I hope that the week break doesn't put us back at square one on August 3rd. If it does, at least I know that it will get better. :)

After I picked her up, we went over to my aunt's house for a cookout. My cousins from Colorado were visiting, and it was their first time to meet Abigail. I was so ticked that I forgot my camera! There were a total of 12 of us there, and we had a good time! My little cousins Katy -14, Connor-11, Megan-10 and Brandon-7 were excellent with Abby. She really took to Megan!

Daycare is Killing Me!

This morning when I dropped off Abigail at daycare (my schedule got rearranged at yesterday's meeting and I have to go in for two more days of meetings), she started crying and reaching for me and saying, "Mama, mama, mama!". It broke my heart to leave the classroom with her so upset.

I knew that this would happen, especially since we have spent nearly the entire summer together 24/7, but that doesn't make it any easier. She's at the separation anxiety stage in her development, and we've been together quite a lot recently, but after picking her up crying yesterday and then leaving her crying today, I almost couldn't handle it! My brain was saying that she will be fine, it is normal, but my heart was telling me to run back in there and scoop her up!

I somehow managed to leave the building and go to work, but today I DID stop by during my lunch break unexpectedly to peek in on her and see what she was doing when the daycare didn't know I was coming by. She was sitting in the floor playing with another baby and smiling. The teacher said that she only cried for a little bit after I left (probably less than I did, ha!) and has been fine ever since. It was easier for me to go back to work this afternoon, but I still rushed out and raced over there to pick her up. This afternoon, she was happy to see me again, but no tears. She even waved bye-bye to the teacher and to her new friend, Logan B., who also waved bye-bye to her. (Okay, so that was cute.)

Whew, I certainly hope the worst of it is over.

Mommy on Alert!

Today was Abigail's first day of daycare. It really wasn't supposed to be until August 3rd, but I had a meeting at the ed center and didn't want to take Abigail, so I dropped her in for half a day so it wouldn't be a complete shock when she started staying there 8 hrs/day. (Yes, I ALREADY feel guilty about leaving her that long - or on some days longer, I am sure.)

First of all, it was such a challenge to even get out the door with all that stuff. Taking her to daycare is going to add about 15 minutes to my morning routine - 15 minutes I don't have. I guess that means I'll be getting up earlier. (Oh joy.) I dropped her off, went to my (short) meeting, then drove around and looked at houses, then worked on Abigail's first birthday party; I actually got a lot done! In between the looking for houses and the birthday party planning, I thought about stopping in on her at the daycare and just "peeking in" to see how she was doing, but I didn't. I called; they said she was fine, so I decided not to disturb her.

BUT, when I went to pick her up a little after lunch, I could hear her crying the moment I walked into the day care (okay, okay, so the infant room is near the entrance to the building -- so not the point!). I ran over, put on those little bootie things to cover my feet (policy for the infant room since the babies are on the floor) and ran in. As soon as she saw me, she literally started laughing and giggling and talking. She was INCREDIBLY happy.

As happy as I was to see her happy to see me, I was also a little concerned that she may have been unhappy all day. I'm going to be watching VERY closely these first few weeks. So what if they think I am a helicopter parent. It's my baby girl, and I will do everything I can to make sure she is safe and happy!

Getting Handsy

Breakin' in her boots.

Smiling at Daddy.

Happy girl. Look at those teeth!

Waving bye-bye!

Over the past nine days or so, Abigail has really been practicing clapping. At first, it started out as a one-armed clap (aka "knee-slapper"), then it developed into a move-the-right-arm-while-the-left-arm-stays-still clap, and now she can fully clap! It still reverts to the old claps every once in a while, but for the most part, she's got it down (except it doesn't make a sound - it's more like a fist clap)! She claps when we sing "pat-a-cake" and occasionally she'll do it when we say, "Yay, Abby!"

Also, and this is a REALLY new development, she started waving bye-bye. Normally when we leave or go anywhere I will wave her hand for her and say, "Bye-bye," but today when Robby left and he said it, she waved back! It wasn't the typical toddler move your fingers back and forth like you're grabbing something kind of wave - it was more of a bird flap move your whole arm kind of wave. No matter how she does it, we love it! Robby was so excited to see her new trick!

Girls Can Wear Blue, Too!

Why is it that whenever I put Abigail in a blue outfit everyone calls her a "he" or says, "How old is your boy?" She's a girl! Today she was wearing a blue DRESS but that didn't matter. This happens every time she is in a blue outfit and I leave the bow at home. I very clearly remember the first time it happened; Robby and I were taking her for her 2 month doctor checkup and she was wearing a warm blue (like a robin's egg blue - with flowers on it!) footsie outfit. On our way to the doctor, we stopped for a quick bite to eat; it was her first time out without a bow or hat and someone sure did call her a boy. Because of that, she hardly ever wears "boy colors" out in public without a bow on her head.

As a side note, Robby just finished a gender and society class and one of the heated debates in that class was whether or not parents would buy "opposite gender" toys for their boy/girl; ie would the parents buy a girl a truck and a boy a Barbie. Buy is the keyword here, because more parents would allow their child to briefly play with the opposite gender toy than would actually purchase one if the child requested one. When he discussed this, I asked him his answer, and he said that there's no problem letting Abigail play with "boy" toys because there's less of a stigma. Then I said, well what about if we have a boy? His response surprised me - he said that until the boy is about 3 1/2 he would actually buy his son a Barbie if our son wanted one (after that, he said no way because he doesn't want his son to get made fun of)! Holy cow. I'm not sure even I would buy a boy a Barbie/doll in general - ever - regardless if they are 3 or younger! I've read the research when I was in school about play development, and Robby, through his class, was able to remind me of all the data (and give the new statistics), but geeze... All I can say is that I love Robby being in school! :)

You Can Take the Girl Out of the Country...

New Overalls - If you look closely you can see her new pink cowgirl boots, too! (They're not on her feet yet.)

Yesterday Abigail and I went on a search for her first birthday outfit. Her birthday theme will be ladybugs, and I want her to have a cute ladybug outfit; I know Gymboree carries a ladybug line, so I went there, but they aren't doing ladybugs this fall. Instead, they recommended that I go to the outlet mall because the outlet store carries last year's line at a discount. When I got there, they still had summer ladybugs out and the fall back-to-school line, and they won't put out the winter line (the specific ladybugs for which I am looking - I saw the outfit last year - I should have bought it then!) until October or November. Oh no! I hope that it's out before November 7th (her birthday party date).

However, they did have some cute clothes there. I bought her overalls (seen in the picture above) and pink cowgirl boots for when she goes to the farm to see the donkeys. She is adorable in overalls! Plus, they have a built in toy. I love it when I can find stuff that combines function + entertainment. One other shirt I got her is for her first day of "school," on August 3rd. It says "Smarty Pants." :)

Sweet, Sweet 'Bota

My parents' rotweiller mix, Kubota, died yesterday. She's been with the family longer than Robby has - since the summer of 2004. When they first got her, she was 3 years old, neglected and very mistrustful of people. Luckily, she took very well to my dad from the start and even allowed him to get down on the floor and play with her.

She was a great guard dog, threatening to bite (and in some cases, it wasn't just a threat) ANYone who got on my parents' property, friend or foe. Over time, she became more docile and started trusting family, even allowing myself and Robby in the "circle of trust" - we only visit once a month or so, so she didn't really get to know us as well as everyone else until about 2007. Even after then, if we pulled up late at night, we'd have to call my parents to let us in!

During her last year, she was becoming quite the sweetheart and I could see her eyes were full of love. We sure will miss her.

A Visit From Abigail

Before we could go anywhere today, we had some daily duties to take care of.

As you can probably tell by her sweet potato stained face, she made quite a mess while eating! As a result, she helped me do laundry (that's a Lamper Basket -- Laundry Basket + Hamper -- and it's just the right size to keep her contained and allow her to stand up!)

A bath ensued.

Time to visit great aunts and uncles! Doesn't Abigail look gigantic here? Such a big girl!

Who can take a nap with all this attention?




Going for a stroll around the living room.

Playing cards and eating Cheerios.

Abigail's new friend - Lucy!

Shop 'Til You Drop

Not even an hour after Abigail and I returned home from Target, Randi, Chris and Mason came over, and together with Mimi, we all went to eat at Cotton Patch. I haven't been to one since my days in Nacogdoches - it brought back some college memories! Robby had just gotten home from umpiring, so he was famished, as was I. It was delicious!

While we were at the restaurant, I realized that I left Abigail's shopping cart/high chair cover in the buggy at Target! Luckily, Cotton Patch was in the same shopping center, so after we ate all seven of us decided to go to Target, get the cart cover, and just walk around. I was keeping my fingers crossed that someone turned it in, and sure enough, someone did. Yay! When I asked the customer service rep about it, he said that he sent it to fitting room because he didn't know what else to do with it. Typical teenager - typical guy! Well, either way, I was happy they still had it.

This was Abby's and my second time in Target today, and we ended up spending about 3 hours of our day in there! This time, we found some size 12M shirts for Abigail that were on clearance...the original sale price was marked down an additional 75%, so the shirts that were originally $5.99 turned out to be only $0.59! We got all the varieties - 3 shirts for a total of $1.80! Amazing, or as Robby and I like to say when something is really amazing - Amaz-a-zing (from Bad News Bears or something like that). I felt like that lady on the IKEA commercial where she got such a deal that she felt she was stealing the stuff and had to speed out of the parking lot. Great day!

Chris and Mason sword fighting in Target.

Chance making a new friend.

Abigail sitting very politely (such manners!) with her new garden toy from Mimi.

Dancing with Mimi.

Mason hamming it up on the zebra.

Playing nicely together.

Little Miss Manners out the window! She became a little aggressive!

Diaper Depot

With Abigail at a little over 8 months old, we will finally have to start buying diapers. We were abundantly blessed with diapers from all of our friends and family before Abigail arrived, and when I was about 4-5 months pregnant I started buying various sizes every other time or so when I'd go to the store. So, we haven't really had the need to purchase any until now. I think between her birth and now, I've only bought 5 packs of diapers. Oh, and one today...so six packs. I'd say the pre-buying + the generosity from our showers saved us a huge hit when she was born...and especially when I stopped BFing - formula at $22-24 a pop for only 4-5 days' worth is a killer! Robby and I are counting the days until she switches to whole milk! (The next baby will be BF longer, that's for sure!)

Because I have one sister in law and several friends pregnant (or trying to be!) and I always get asked about how many of what size diapers, I thought I'd post that information here, seeing as today is a special diaper-buying occasion. About 2 weeks before her delivery, Robby and I had a whole closet full of diapers, so we decided to count them up "just for fun." (Yes, I think that is fun.)

Here are the grand totals, and I am including what I had to buy, as well.
Newborn = 148 originally, but we bought 2 packs of 48, so total = 244
Size 1 = 460
Size 1-2 = 468 (-50 she outgrew them!) = 418
Size 2 = 786 (-300 she outgrew them, too!) = 486
Size 2-3 = (we bought all of these because the size 3 diapers went up to her nipples!) = 144
Size 3 = current size = 275 given to us, and we just bought 96 more...we'll see how many more we'll need before size 4 hits.

Don't worry - we didn't waste all those unused diapers - we shipped 'em off to Arizona for our little nephew to be!

Grand total of how many diapers she's used to date: 2,027. Dang. She is a potty MACHINE! Sorry America's landfills. :(

Daily Dose of Exercise

I think exercise really does make me more energetic. That, or not having to work. I haven't quite figured out which one is responsible for my burst of energy these past few weeks - even Robby has noticed and commented on my "extra happy" behavior (endorphins!). Really, I think it is a combination of exercise, and finally getting adjusted to life as a mom. Having a baby really takes it out of a person!

Even though I'm not "working," staying home all day with Abigail is no easy task. It's really hard to find stuff for her to do all day that is engaging. I'm so used to just lounging around and either watching TV or hanging out at the pool (my summer time routine from high school - last year), neither of which I can do with her.

So, we play and play and play. Sometimes I use the gym as my "me" time. They have a day care where I can drop her off for up to two hours while I work out, although I haven't worked out a full two hours yet. Honestly, I haven't been doing quite as well with exercising as I had hoped I would at the beginning of the summer. It's kind of a bummer. But, the way I am looking at it is that I am trying to make a more active lifestyle change, rather than just lose the weight and be done. Robby said something the other day like, "Well, if you want that, you'll have to go to the gym the rest of your life." Exactly. That's kind of the point. On Oprah the other day (I watched it at the gym while I was working out), they had someone on there talking about how humans can live up to possibly 150 with good quality of life. I don't think I want to live that long, but hey, why not have a great life quality as long as I do live? I think that will require me staying in shape, so why not start now?

Oh, I think I finally figured out what was wrong with the comment thing. Try it out, if you want, now or in the future. It should allow comments now. :)

Abigail is 8 months old!

Look closely! You can see her two bottom teeth!

Today marks the 8 month anniversary of our little one's arrival. According to my measurements, Abigail is 27.5" long, 18.8 pounds, and has a head circumference of 18.25" (ish - it was hard to tell because she squirmed!). She wears size 3 diapers and shoes, although she hardly wears shoes - or socks! - for very long. Depending on the brand, she wears 6-9 months, 6-12 months or just plain ol' 12 month clothes. Many of her 6-9 month clothes are getting too small. In the case of rompers or some of the such, her torso is too long for it to snap!

She goes to bed around 8 pm and gets up in the morning about 7:30 or 8 am. She usually wakes up between 3-4 am for a bottle, but lately she has been waking up at about 11pm also. It's new to us and we don't like it! I think it is because she has a wet diaper, because usually she will just get a diaper change and go back to sleep. She really hates being wet! She has two teeth, bottom center, and it feels like the top two are getting close. Of course, it took months for the bottom two to come in, even after we said it looked "close."

She loves food, especially Gerber puffs. This past month, she tried mashed potatoes, various beans, saltine crackers, dry cheerios and a few bites of other table foods. She started eating diced soft fruits and I think I may do the same for vegetables soon. She's on stage 2 foods and loves most of the fruits. She's even starting to come around to peas and green beans! We just tried giving her pureed chicken a week or so ago, and she HATES it. Every bite would make her gag. It's kind of funny to see a baby have such a strong preference. She will eat it, however, if we mix it with sweet potatoes.

I am really amazed with her development. I already mentioned how she moves in a previous post, but now (started today) when she stands up holding on to something, she is getting brave and letting go to reach for a toy. Scary! I have to fight my urge to make her hold on while I hand her the toy. Not much progress on crawling since that post last week, but she does get on all fours and rock quite a bit more often. When she is sitting, she will reach for toys and almost put herself in the crawling position. One noticeable change from last month is the amount of time she spends on the floor and on her tummy. She used to HATE being on her tummy, but now she will stay that way and scoot (backwards, or in circles) for 10-15 minutes at a time. Mind you, that is accompanied time. She is not much for playing by herself. I wonder sometimes is she will crawl or walk first. She can walk pretty well when holding on to my hands - when she wants to. She did yesterday at the Little Gym, and the teacher was impressed. :) It's give and take on any given day. Oh - and she FINALLY rolled over back to front on July 3rd. Whoo! Also, if she drops something, she looks for it, and I think that is amazing. Funny how object permanence develops.

As far as language goes, she is quite the copy cat. Robby once said to her, "Say, 'Hi, Dada'" and guess what? She actually said it! She did it several times because I kept telling Robby it didn't count. After the third time, though, I had to admit she was doing it! And once I was going "Beep beep beep" and she copied me! Better watch what we say. The only new sound I've heard this month is the "p" sound -- and that was after a weekend of my dad saying "Say, 'Papa'" a billion times to her. I guess all that repetition had an effect! I have noticed that she jibbers in syllables now - not as many vowel single syllable sounds. Once while she was sitting in her crib playing with her baby dolls, she was jibbering away and would pick up one, say something, put it down and pick up another. It was cute and I caught a little bit of it on video! If she is mad at one of us she will just jibber and jibber and jibber. We can tell she is so mad and she really goes off on us, although we can't understand it. At this stage, it is cute. :)

Scootin' around - very proud of herself!

Standing up like a big girl! We're lowering the mattress tonight!

Abby and her BFF Chanceypoo.

Children, Children Everywhere!

Sometimes I go to the babycenter.com website and read posts from other mothers who have babies that were born in November 2008, the same time as Abby. It's a great resource for any questions I may have.

A few days ago, there was a lot of talk about a place called The Little Gym - it is a gym for tiny people, ages 4 months until 12 years (I think). After reading so much about it, I decided to look one up and see if there was one in my area, and good news - there are several! I looked at the programs and saw that Abby could take a parent/child class for babies 4 months - 10 months. A class called "Bugs". We decided to try it out today. It was incredibly fun! The class started off with singing and clapping; we did jumps, walking, running, scissor kicks, wheelbarrows, upside down meet and greet, played with the parachute, played with balls of all sizes and textures, and had "mat" time. We got Abigail to do somersaults and backflips! It was fun for both of us. She liked the parachute, bubbles and balls the most. She squealed and laughed the whole time! I liked her interacting with other babies her age and the fact that we had a safe place for her to try new activities--together. There were actually two babies there who are only three days younger than her (different families, not twins), and it was nice to talk to their mothers. Plus, it gave me a lot of great ideas of things I can do with Abby at home. We will definitely go back! http://www.thelittlegym.com/Pages/parent-child.aspx

After that, we went to GP to tour/interview a day care center. I had already done research online (to look at reports of investigations, deficiencies of a daycare or in-home baby sitter listed with the state, go to http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/Search_Texas_Child_Care/ppFacilitySearchDayCare.asp or google Search Child Care Texas), gotten parent referrals, driven by and reviewed the curriculum. All I needed was to see it for myself and to talk to the director/teachers. When I got there, I was very pleased. The campus director let me watch all the classrooms, not just the infant room to see how everyone interacted at all levels. Abigail will be in the same classroom with two fellow teachers' children. Fun!

The director was very informative and answered all my questions during our 1.5 hour tour/interview -- I was thorough with the questions. Plus, she was very nice. After I left, I timed it to my new school - 6 minutes. Nice! I guess Abigail will be attending that school come August. Just gotta get the paperwork in, because they only have one infant slot left!

A Case of Mistaken Identity

My parents have spent the last week on vacation in New Mexico and Tucson. They rode their side by side ATV in the mountains, then traveled on over to Arizona to see my brother and his wife. Even though my mom has this upcoming week off, there's always a chance (CHANCE! ha.) that she could get called in, so she flew back and I picked her up from the Tyler airport.

I guess it's been a while since I have been out that way, because when I pulled up to the airport, there were only five (five - total!) cars and I thought, "Man! I know Tyler is small and compared to DFW and its airport it is especially small, but this is ridiculous!" I thought I was just a city-slicker now. After getting out the stroller, taking Abby out of the carseat, fighting her to strap her in the stroller, getting my purse, her diaper bag (she needed a change), my cell phone and anything else I thought I might need, I walked on up to the "airport," walked in...and NOTHING.

A big room full of nothing. No chairs, no people, no lights. Nothing but a musty odor. There was a plane out back, but nothing else. I felt like it was the Twilight zone or something. A little eerie, I must say. Finally, this old man (just like a movie, I tell you!) came out of nowhere, and said in a creaky old voice, "Can I help you, ma'am?" And I said, "I guess this isn't the airport anymore?" He looked at me, then Abby, then paused and replied that it hasn't been for years. Well, I'll be. Have I been gone that long?

Anyways, he gave me new directions, so I walked back out in the heat, had to REALLY fight Abby to get her in the carseat, put up the stroller and everything else, make a left hand turn on a busy, busy highway and drive the 1/2 mile down to the new airport. It was definitely an upgrade.

We got there, and although still small compared to what I am used to driving by every day, it was nice and clean, full of light and people! I tried to look around for one of those computer monitors with flight information, but couldn't find any (I never realized until now how COUNTRY Tyler really is!). Instead, I just waited with other people in the lobby and hoped my mom would find me. Sure enough, about five minutes later, people started streaming out of the only gate at the airport. When my mom came out, she was looking around as if she didn't expect me to be there yet (and I wouldn't have if it weren't for that old man! It's like he was put there especially for lost travelers. I'm surprised he didn't offer me some kind of warning about impending doom or some kind of life altering advice.).

Now, I'm down in Tyler with Abby while Robby is staying home to work and go to school. He had to ump the Little League World Series (or something like that), so he's been busy and needs time to study. We're going to stay a few nights so he gets a full night of sleep and plenty of time to take care of business.

The airport I remember. See the open sign? Very deceiving.

The new and improved airport!


Mom waving hello!