Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

She finally got it! She finally learned how to tip back her sippy cup!

She can drink by herself!

Reading with Daddy.

Happy girl. :)

First spaghetti dinner tonight!

Yum Yum!

Abigail is 9 months old!

Our little princess is 9 months old today! She went for her well check yesterday - Robby took her since I had to work, but they did quite well. I sent a list of questions with him to make sure that the time was used wisely. No shots this round, so he was lucky with an easy visit!

Abigail is 28.3" long (90%), 19.14 lbs. (75%) and her head circumference is 18.75" (>97% still). Her pediatrician wasn't concerned with her head circumference since her 6 month CT scan came back normal - whew! We got the okay to switch from regular Similac Advance formula to Similac Go & Grow, which is specially formulated for babies 9 months+ to get ready for the switch to whole milk at one year old. The good news is that the Go & Grow is $4 per can cheaper! Yay! Also, we're supposed to let her eat more table foods and drink from a cup more. At one year old no more bottle and no more baby food! I don't know how we're going to make it, but we'll try.

She wears 6-12 month or 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 3 shoes. She has 2 teeth in and 3 more on the way. They're so close that I check every day to see if they have popped out yet. She has outgrown her love of the jumperoo for a more challenging sport - crawling! She can get around quite well for only having been at it for a little more than a week. Also, she can pull up on just about anything and is trying to climb up everything. As soon as she learns how to get her knees up, I know that we'll find her on top of who knows what. Sometimes if she pulls up she will cruise along the side - like down the couch or the side of her crib, for example. No telling where she will go!

She can clap and wave and when she has a toy in each hand she can bang the toys together. She can open and close things (like a laptop), turn the pages in a book (she LOVES reading!) and turn light switches on and off. Oh my goodness if I walk out of the bathroom without letting her turn off the light.

She's pretty good at feeding herself finger foods and has gotten the pincer grasp down. She can pick up cheerios almost as well as I can! At day care she has made friends and the teacher calls her a social butterfly. (Okay, so I added the butterfly part. The teacher just called her very friendly and social.) The teacher has commented on how much she talks compared to the others (her pediatrician also said that she is advanced on the jibbering and talking, too!). We know she talks a lot, but we think it's normal. It's abnormal when she's quiet - that is for sure!

Speaking of expressing herself, she is very vocal about letting anyone within earshot know what she wants. She has no problem screaming (screeching? squawking?) when she wants something - especially when it is food. At least she's outgrown the crying for food tantrums she had when she was younger. Those were unbearable! She can say Mama, Dada, Hi, Dog and has imitated Papa and Jojo (my parents' dog's name). She can tell the difference between Mama and Dada and if she says Dada she wants DADA - no exceptions. Also, if you say something, like "Say, 'Thank you,'" her vocal inflections mimic the tone I use. It's really fun when I tell her 'I love you' and her voice sounds like it, even if the words aren't there yet. I get excited when I hear it!

She "inch worm" crawls. Down and up and down and up and down until she gets to where she needs to go.

Up.

Down.

Up again. She really enjoys hunting down and chasing Chance - no matter where he is! He is her entertainment!

She got him!

Abigail's attitude!

First Masterpieces

Today was Abigail's second full day of day care. When I picked her up, I had quite a surprise - her first finger painting! I never knew how touched I could/would be by a piece of paper with a blob of blue paint on it, but it really touched me! I wish I had a scanner so I could post it on here...

Finger painting wasn't the only masterpiece she created; she also brush and sponge painted. Her sponges were stars, and she was the only baby in her class who didn't smear the sponge. They were perfect little stars! I was so proud!

Forward, March!

Whoo! Abigail finally mastered going forward! Last Thursday, July 30, she finally started going forward when crawling; previously she would push with her hands and propel herself backwards. This weekend, with a little bribery from juice boxes and Puffs, she learned how to consistently walk forward when in her walker. Up until now she would "back up" her walker by looking over her shoulder to "drive." So cute, but I'm glad she got the hang of forward motion!

Concentrating on backwards walking. The cutest face I have ever seen!

Uh - oh. She caught me.

Bowling Birthday Bash

Today is my cousin Colby's 6th birthday! He and I have always been close - in fact, I think that he followed me around more closely than Robby on my wedding day! Right after the ceremony he stuck to me like glue and is in several of the pictures. Naturally, he adores Abigail. Abigail was invited to his birthday party, so of course we went. :)

We drove to Tyler last night, and even though we got here a little before 10 pm, my mom and dad's house was buzzing with guests! Abigail received plenty of attention. We were a little worried at how she'd react since it was late for her and she was sleeping in the car. Most of the time, when we first get to Tyler, she is a little "grump-a-moose" (as Robby calls her). I guess her 'diva' side took over, because she was perfectly pleasant getting all that attention.

Colby was so precious when he saw Abby; he had to be the first one to hold her - other than Nani and Papa, of course - and he was very protective when others wanted a turn. ("Watch her head, guys." "Be careful with her. She's just a baby." "Don't let her fall over!") He was also very proud of her when he found out she could sit up. He is so gentle and loving with her. I know that they'll be good friends!

This morning was Colby's birthday party at the bowling alley. Good times!

His Bowling Face


Perfect Form

Nani helped Abby pick out her ball.

Ready to bowl!

"Bowling" The ball would roll down that little cutout and we'd roll it back to her to push again. She loved it!

More attention.

She loves to party! Her favorite thing was to watch all the other children. She was fascinated!

The Birthday Boy with one of his favorite gifts - a real turtle! Happy Birthday, Colby!

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!