Warm and Fuzzy

Abigail was too cute after her bath tonight! Such a pretty girl!

First Baseball Game

Today was Abigail's first baseball game; we went to see Robby's stepbrother pitch against Mansfield Timberview HS. He's a sophomore and pretty good - he's the starting pitcher on Granbury's varsity team.

Even though Granbury won (and won by a lot - run ruled in 5th inning!), I did not get to enjoy much of the game! Abigail was more interested in running around or trying to climb up the bleachers than watching the game, so Robby requested that I take her around in the stroller. We ended up going across the parking lot and walking around the football track the majority of the game.

Pitching

Up to bat

The always adorable spectator!

The New, Adventurous Self

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

I am a toddler now and I like to climb and explore. Please watch me more closely.

Love,
Abigail


I feel like Robby and I should have gotten that memo from Abigail because today, we had two MAJOR supervision mistakes! First of all, we went to Babies-R-Us in hunt of a new stroller for Abigail. Yes, true, she already has two - a huge whopper of a stroller that came with her travel system and a light weight stroller now that she is older. But the bigger, better one has a busted handle and is a pain to use, even after the attempted repair with duct tape (Robby found out that it is NOT 4-wheel drive in the snow!), and the other one, kind of like an umbrella stroller, but a little different, has a handle that is too short to drive. Robby absolutely cannot drive it - he looks like an old man hunched over, and it is even uncomfortable for me to drive (push) at 5'4". It makes me wonder who, exactly, the stroller company had in mind when making it - someone who is shorter than me, obviously!! We HATE it, and Robby was fed up with it when we went to the park yesterday. I went online and gave it bad reviews for anyone over 5 feet tall.

Back to the story...while we were looking for a stroller, Abby managed to climb out of her seat in the buggy and tumble out of the shopping cart! She fell flat on the floor and started hollering! Yes, I know it's a shock! Robby and I were both right there, and I even saw it happen, but I felt like one of those movies where you're in slow motion and can't quite get there fast enough because, although I am in slow-mo, she is in fast forward. Shame on us for not buckling her in! Robby scooped her up, I checked her head for lumps/bumps/bruises, then her body/back/legs/arms/everything I could check, and no bumps at all or blood of any kind. THANK GOODNESS! After about 2 minutes of crying, I took her to the rocking chair section and rocked her for about a minute, then she was squiggling out of my arms wanting to get down and play. She was good as new! Happy, talking, running. Yes, I kept a close watch on her behavior after that (and ours, as parents!).

We were so upset and thankful that she was okay! Naturally, we let her pick out a "sorry Mommy and Daddy didn't buckle you in" present. She got some Mega Blocks! She's a toddler now, and a climber - lesson learned!

Oh wait. As if that wasn't enough, there's another boo-boo in store for us. We decided to go to the park near our house to try out the new stroller (it's fantastic, by the way!). Everything was going well: we walked around the trails first - over a mile! - then came back to the toddler playground where Abby likes to play. We let her out, and since I was holding Chance's leash, Robby went to play with her on the equipment. (Plus, I had to take pictures.) She went up the stairs by herself (Daddy is good at letting her explore on her own) and went down the slide --- ALL BY HERSELF! Yay! I was nervous, but Robby let her sit down on the slide by herself, then push herself down and I was at the bottom to help her off. It was great to see her so autonomous!

She did this cycle about 4 or 5 times...and that's when it happened. At one point, Robby scooted over to let another kid climb up the stairs, and as soon as he did that, BAM! Abigail fell off the playground! OH MY GOODNESS, I am not kidding. Two falls in one day! It was about 3 feet, but luckily, she landed on soft, squishy wood chips. This time, we didn't feel as guilty about because Robby was right there and it was something we have to do - let her do things on her own, even if that comes with a risk of falling or getting mildly hurt. She cried for a bit, but it was more like an "ow!" than anything, and she wanted down immediately and ran back to climb up the slide. Whew. Growing up is hard work. I'm just glad she is tough as nails!

Going into Babies - R - Us eating a sucker!

Abigail's new ride! She loves it and thinks it is very comfortable. It has full recline.

At the playground - going up the stairs with no help from parents!

Moments before Fall #2. Robby moved over to let that kid pass and right after that is when Abigail fell. The kid in no way pushed her - he was careful. She just turned around and fell straight down under the bottom rail.

After falling, she wanted straight back up to play again! Here she is getting ready to go down the slide.

A Day at the MAC

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My little Abigail was wearing a shamrock shirt from Nani and she looked extremely cute! The green really complimented her hair, and every where we went, she was told that she was so precious! Of course, I had to agree! I just wish I got a good picture of her to post!

Since we are on spring break this week, I looked around for some fun things for Abigail (and Mommy and Daddy) to do. I'm afraid I'm spoiling her with these fun activities and the go-go-go nature that our spring break has had so far, and that she will be mighty upset when she returns to normalcy next week, but what can I do? I like having all this time for family!

Today the Mansfield Activity Center had "Toddler Time" in their gym - free for Mansfield residents; actually, they have it every Monday and Wednesday, but today was the first time that we were able to make it, and it will probably be the last time until June. There's a maximum of 50 kids allowed, so we had to register, and it's a two hour time period for children who are walking -> before they enter kindergarten, basically ages 1-5. The majority of the children there were under 3, which was nice. I liked seeing how Abigail's abilities compared to children of her own age. (Uh-oh. I just said a Mommy no-no: compare! Ack. I better get a grip!) She was one of the younger ones there, but she could hang with them quite well!

She and two others nearly her age, a girl 22 months old and a boy 19 months old, followed each other around and played...not really together but near each other. If I remember my psychology it's solitary play, but emerging to parallel play, where the kids are near each other, but still not playing with each other. Most of the time Abigail plays by herself indifferent to others around her, but she was really watching them and trying to replicate what they did. Well, she always has been very observant of the situation around her.

The activity she loved most was the bounce house! It was her first time in one, so at first, I got in with her. She couldn't stay standing up for anything! Those 3 year olds were making it bounce like crazy! Don't get the impression that it was packed with 25 toddlers - in fact, in only had about 6-7 in it at the most at one time. There was so much to do!

It was fun to watch and she laughed all the while; every time she tried to stand, she was bounced back down. After we got out and explored the giant foam blocks, she ran back to the bounce house. I didn't get in with her this time, just helped her climb in and watch. She held on to the net, but since she can't really jump, she kind of bounced her knees. Too cute! After a few minutes, out she came to play with the balls. Then back in the bounce house - then back out to play with the tunnels. This continued on for nearly about an hour and a half - until Mommy got tired of trying to keep her away from the "big kid" dodge ball game that was happening on the other side of the gym. She was SO interested in that game!

It was a fun time, and we will definitely go back when school is out for the summer!

Sitting in the bounce house. She had to rely on others to bounce her since she can't jump yet!

Trying to stand - it was a bust!


Watching kids bounce!

Checking out the tunnels.

After her nap, we took Chance to the dog park, then took a family walk on the trails in the woods. Notice how this trail has lanes? It's a very busy place for bikers and roller bladers!

An Addition to Our Family

Meet Bunnie, Abigail's new bunny. I had a Build-A-Bear gift card, so Robby and I decided to let Abigail make a new furry friend for Easter, and we thought that this week would really be the only chance (CHANCE!) that we had before Easter to get it done. Abigail was much more active in the process than she was when we built Ada (a bear she made at almost 11 months old). We let her choose the animal and the outfit. She delighted in pushing the pedal to stuff it and wanted to give it its first bath by herself. Bunnie is incredibly soft and she is wearing a beautiful Easter dress! We had a lot of fun at the Build-A-Bear Workshop; I only wish that we would have picked up an Easter dress for Ada, too!

We were very excited about letting Abigail play with it immediately, but lo and behold, as soon as we left BABW, we got a call from the Easter Bunny himself. He told us that Bunnie was too little to play, and needed to go visit him until Easter to grow and learn how to be a good friend. As sad as we were, we felt that since it pertained to Bunnie's well being, we had to comply with the Easter Bunny's wishes. He promises to have her back on Easter, though, and that she will be more than ready to play with Abigail!

Fort Worth Zoo

Since we weren't able to go to the zoo yesterday, we decided, along with Mimi, Randi, Chris & Mason, to try again today. Although the zoo was still a popular attraction today (everyone's on spring break!), we could at least park on the right side of the road! This was Abigail's second time to the FW Zoo, and the second zoo this month (we took her to the FW Zoo when she was 6 months old and she visited the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler last week with cousin Nicholas)! Last time we went, she learned a new word (bird), and I love all things educational. Plus, it was another great day to be outside, although chillier than yesterday.

It took us about 3 hours, but we were able to see most everything the zoo had to offer, including the long line for the penguins! It was a great day to see animals and get some exercise.

Abigail checking out the flamingos.

Abigail preferred to sit side-saddle on the lizard.

While Mason preferred to sprawl out on it!

He loved the reptile!

Good thing this penguin isn't out - Abigail only comes up to its wing!

Lazy kangaroos

Mason was enthralled by the tigers.

Looking down at the Dik-Dik hiding in the bamboo.

Everywhere we turned, I saw a shoe on a railing! After about the 4th one, I decided to take a picture. Those things can get lost here! As a matter of fact, Abigail lost one of her shoes at the crocodile exhibit and I had to retrace my steps to find it!

This monkey was going crazy on the bars. He looked like a gymnast!

Uncle Robby gave Mason a lift at the end of the day.

Sunny Sunday

It was such a beautiful day, and after church we decided to meet up with Robby's family in Fort Worth. Our first plan, the zoo, was a bust because there were SOOOOOO many people there that we would have had to park down the road & across the (big) street, so we went for plan #2 - a trip to the FW Botanic Gardens! Even though Robby was bummed about the plan change, I was thrilled because it was where we got married, and we've only been back once since June 2007!

Although we looked at a few plants/flowers, most of them weren't blooming yet - only in the budding stages - so we settled for sitting in a field and just hanging out in the shade. The babies (toddlers? agh, Abigail & Mason are growing up!) explored the area and played. Luckily, I had my trusty kite with us, so we were able to take advantage of the wind! Unfortunately, I still didn't have the kite string so we had to go with my improvised thread. The kids still liked it though, as lame as it looked! Also, Mimi had some bubbles in her bag of tricks and the kiddos loved chasing them.

When we finished with the gardens, we went to Trinity River Park in search of a good playground. The playground we found was PACKED with kids, and the equipment seemed kind of dirty looking (I thought about writing to the city! as many people as there were that used it, it should be taken care of better!). Even so, we let go of our icky feelings and let the kids play on the smaller toddler playground. It was so nice to just meet with family and relax in the sunshine! March is becoming one of my favorite months!

Standing in the spot where we got married nearly 3 years ago!

Abigail on the boardwalk, in her shades! She was hilarious because as soon as I put them on her, she started walking funny - like it was HILARIOUS to her that she had on sun glasses. Also, people who passed us thought she was adorable in her little sun glasses and all said so.


Mimi


Abby giving kisses to her Mimi

Mason's turn!

Sweetest picture ever!

Abigail sharing fruit loops with her Daddy! Such a generous soul!

Playing with the kite.

Mason's turn to fly the kite!

My little girl - so sweet!

Exploring the field.

Daffodils

Yes, they were actually up to trouble.

At the park, on a turtle ride.

Playing peek-a-boo with Daddy on the playground!

Mason loved the slide!

Abby loved the swings!