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!

Happy Birthday, America!

The day started off with a change of plans. We were scheduled to go to my Aunt Becky's house for her annual 4th of July cookout and swim party, but late on July 3rd, Aunt Sue (Becky's and my dad's sister) had a heart attack and was in the hospital. So, change of plans. (She had to have three stents put in at noon today and is still in the hospital. She's doing okay - not great, but okay.)

Instead, Robby and I decided to take advantage of our rare spare time and we drove down south to the Mansfield/GP area to look at some houses I had picked out online. I LOVE house shopping! Originally, I wanted to move to Mansfield because of the excellent school systems, but after showing Robby some prospective day care centers close to my work, he mentioned moving to GP instead so I won't have a 20-25 minute commute. I was okay with the commute considering what I drive now, but he does have a point. And it's not like Abby will be going to elementary next year or anything. Knowing us, we'll probably move by then anyways. Also, a point to consider is all the wonderful changes the superintendent is making in the school district. In two years, she's brought the schools from 1 in 5 either recognized/exemplary to 1 in 2, with none deemed unacceptable. That's a substantial gain! Maybe by the time Abby is ready for school, the school system will be that much more improved and I will WANT to send her to GP.

By the time we got home, it was time for our night-night routine - Daddy playing with Abby while I get dinner ready, feeding her and us, bath time, quiet play, story and bed. She was out before it was dark and unfortunately missed her first fireworks show. We were going to take her out to the local high school, but since she was so sleepy at her normal bed time, we decided to just go ahead with her routine. Had she been awake, we would have gone. Oh well. Robby and I were able to watch the fireworks from the front porch, anyways. It was nice to have family time on this holiday.

Thank you troops and veterans for giving us this gift. Let freedom ring!

Movin' and Groovin'

Abigail has changed so much in the last week and a half. She scoots all over the place, both while she is on her back and on her tummy. The thing is, when she is on her tummy, she scoots backwards. Instead of putting her hands out and pulling to go forward, she pushes and ends up going backwards. Two days ago I was folding laundry and I heard her go "eh, eh, eh" so I peeked in on her and she was halfway underneath the couch! All that was sticking out was her head and her arms! She backed her way under there; it was really surprising because I put her in the middle of the room on a blanket with nothing around. I thought she was safe! Wow, we are really going to have to keep an eye on her now.

Also, she stands up very well holding on to things - her favorite thing to hold on to is her crib rail. She can pull up on me using my clothes, or my arms, or my HAIR. Anything she can grab is fair game in her eyes. Just yesterday she did it quite effortlessly - looked like a pro. She can't quite pull up on furniture or anything yet, mostly because she can't reach it from a sitting position, but it won't be long. She can go from a sitting position to being on her knees, so I know once she does that and reaches for something, she'll be up. The best part of this all is seeing the delight on her face when she completes such a task! She is SO proud of herself and it is really evident!

She has started to take a keen interest in things - tiny things. She will pick up absolutely ANYTHING off the carpet, couch, etc. The tiniest speck of paper or tiniest fragment of a leaf is subject to being put in her mouth. Just the other day I looked over at her and saw that she was foaming (serious spit bubbles) at the mouth. I had no idea what happened! I immediately looked at the counter to see that the Advil bottle didn't fall over and spill; I thought maybe Chance brought one in to her. She was still breathing, so I wasn't too panicky - yet - but when she moved her mouth I saw a STICKER in there! Now, where did she get a sticker? I have no idea! Luckily, it was rather large and I could remove it easily. Ay ya yi ya yi. I am on "eagle eye" mode now.