Finally!!!

So here it is - Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort. We are mere hours away! By Sunday afternoon you will find Abby and I relaxing in the kiddie pool :-)

The bags are packed, they are sitting by the door, and we are almost ready to go! And we cannot wait - especially me! So we are going on vacation for a whole week - no posting until February. But we promise lots and lots of pictures of Abby's first trip to the beach and her first trip to Disney. Maybe even her first plane ride - we will see how that goes. She is really going to miss Maize. She has been chasing her around and harassing her at every opportunity lately. She will get right up to the couch or chair where Maize is sleeping and scream right in the poor dogs face or pull her ears. I think Maize will really enjoy her dog-cation as well.

So now, I have to try and get Abby to take a nap, which she wouldn't do yesterday, and run down my checklist once more so we have everything we need for our trip. Just thinking about it makes me tired!

Almost Vacation Time

We are one day from leaving on the first leg of our vacation journey - the trip to Hastings to pick up Grandma Mary. Abby and I are ready to go, we even packed up Abby's diaper/toy bag for the airplane today. Now we just have to get her Dad equally ready to go and see if there is room for all of our stuff in two suitcases. We are counting down the hours.

We went last night to look at the Presbyterian parsonage and another house that we almost made an offer on last spring (which I had never seen). House hunting is such an interesting process. The house we almost offered on is a classic 70's house, right down to the colored bathroom fixtures and kelly green carpet (everywhere). I think men and women must have very different eyes when it comes looking at the functionality of a space. For example, in the 70's house Steve was all for the "master suite" since it had a master bathroom connected to it. One thing he didn't take into account was the fact that our bed is probably almost as big as the room (apparently king sized beds weren't too popular when the home was designed). So anyway, we checked out those two homes and now we have some thinking to do about our long term plans and goals. But the parsonage was lovely, well kept, and would earn the Aunt Carol two thumbs up for being a very cool, old home. I'd say we really liked it (Steve liked it, I loved it, so that combines to really liked it right??)

Abby's been broadening her food horizons slowly. We finally got her to start eating chopped fruit this week. She still will not eat any vegetables except green beans and chopped up sweet potato, but she will eat the baby food varieties, so we are keeping her diet fairly balanced. She really, really loves drinking yogurt smoothies using big girl straws. She especially likes it when I let her hold the yogurt bottle. She is growing up way, way to fast!

3 Days Until Florida!

It is warmer here today, a whopping 23 degrees, but there is no sun. Personally, I'd rather have below zero and sunny. After all, I do spend most of the time indoors looking out, so it might as well look nice outside. We are all ready for a short break from the cold and snow and can't wait to wiggle our toes into the sandy beach. Hopefully Abby will enjoy her vacation as much as we will. And we are really hoping that she does well on planes, for everyone's sake!



Here is a short video of Abby's newest hobby - emptying our bookshelf. She pulls books out like a champion - either one at a time or in handfuls. What a silly girl! At least she also has dolls and other toys to play with once she gets everything onto the floor.

I just finished packing the bag that Abby and I are sharing. It is super full and barely under the weight limit, but it is much nicer to have one heavy bag to lug around instead of two. Plus we'll have a stroller, car seat, my carry-on, Steve's carry-on (which is going to be a diaper bag too), and Steve's suitcase. It was so much easier to travel when it was just the two of us! It's a good thing we love Abby so much or she'd be in trouble for all the extra luggage and work it takes to travel with her!

New Shoes

Every girl loves new shoes, right? Last night we got Abby 3 new pairs at J.C. Penney on the clearance rack. She got a tan pair of size 4 Mary Janes to wear now, and a size 5 and 6 pair of shoes for later. Abby's bag is all packed for Florida - now we just have to figure out if all my stuff can fit into the bag with her stuff so that we can minimize luggage. Good thing there is a washer and dryer where we are staying!

We are staying warm at a sunny ZERO degrees today! At least it is sunny.

Just For Fun

We thought this was too funny not to share. Our winter up here has been better when it comes to slipping and sliding. The snow is too dry to be slippery for the most part. Instead we have the 6 foot tall snowbanks along all the roads which force you to play chicken when deciding whether it is safe to turn or cross the street. Stay warm!

Sew Much Fun

I know what Grandma Jennie will say - I should start a business. I have too many businesses already I think.

And, for Aunt Carol, who knows "The Soo", the house we are going to check out is on St. James Place, which is a cross street between Carrie and Spruce. The listing number is 08-810 (listed with Century 21). It is right around the corner from the bank, the stone church, and "The Castle".

Abby's New Doll

Abby already has 9 baby dolls and 2 barbies! She got her newest addition to the doll collection over the weekend. Her new baby can moves its head and arms and also makes baby noises (it has a motion detector in its forehead). We have had a good time playing with the new baby in Abby's growing family. Now we just have to come up with some names for the babies. So far we have Kitty the barbie (since it is a ballerina like our babysitter), Penny the Bitty Baby, Jo the water baby (it could be a boy or a girl, so we picked a name that could be unisex), and Natalie the Cabbage Patch Doll (thankfully those come pre-named). Now we just need 6 more doll names and also a name for a very fancy looking barbie. That is a lot of naming!

Abby really loves dolls. Her face lights right up when she see them. Sometimes she gets to take a doll into her big girl bed for a nap, which usually results in a shorter nap. She will start to wake up and rather than going back to sleep she finds that baby doll and starts playing with it. Pretty soon she will be cooking in her play kitchen and feeding her babies.

Busy, Busy Weekend

We are so ready for our vacation at the end of the week! We have been beyond busy and the hectic pace will certainly resume as soon as we are back in Sault Ste. Marie! Steve's Mom, Dad, and Grandma Obreiter just left a few hours ago to head back to the Lower Peninsula. Abby and I took a little nap, and now we have errands to run, clothes to wash, and bags to pack for our visit to Florida. It is going to be another busy week in the Obreiter household.

We happened upon a gem of a house for sale. It's an old Preysbeterian parsonage with 3 bedrooms just a few blocks from here. We are going to take a look at it soon to see if it would be a good first home for our family. We are hoping, after two days in a row of freezing pipes, to find someplace better insulated and maintained before next winter rolls around.

Thawed Out, Sort Of...

Our pipes are thawed out, but I doubt much else outside is with the temperatures we are having today! It made it up to zero degrees for a few minutes around 3, but it dropped right back to -2 degrees and it is still falling. Brr...

















Abby has a new favorite, and messy, activity. She really loves pulling all the books off the bookshelf in the living room. I had to clean off the shelves she could reach and put only her books and toys on them so she would quit eating our phone books and taking pictures out of our photo albums! She really loves tossing as many books on the floor as she can and then standing on them. What a nut! She has also figured out how to turn the humidifier off and on, but it has a fan she could stick stuff into so I've now moved it so that she can't reach the buttons or the fan. Just another thing she'd like to play with but shouldn't.

Steve's Mom & Dad and Grandma Joyce Obreiter are on their way up to visit. They should arrive sometime later tonight, so we are praying for good weather on their travel. It is snowing again here, but since it is lake effect snow it shouldn't be widespread. Happy Friday - hope you are all staying warmer than we are and that your pipes stay thawed :-)

FROZEN!!!

We are freezing up here in more ways than one. Steve got a nice surprise this morning when the shower wouldn't work. Neither would any of our other faucets since the pipe coming into the house from the city pipes had frozen. We are lucky to have a great landlord who was over as soon as he could get here (his car wouldn't start because of the cold so he had to borrow one from a friend) and got us all thawed out. He should be back later today to get us insulated a little better, so that hopefully we won't have any other freezing events.

Oh... and it is -17 degrees (air temp). I don't know what the windchill is, but I'm sure it's ridiculously low!

More updates later - Abby and I are going to get cleaned up now that we have water again. That and a nice cup of coffee!

9 Months Old!

Here's another good picture from Abby's sled ride the other day. It has been too cold to do more than dash outside into a pre-heated car the last couple days.

I was trying hard today to decide which was harder - the first nine months of Abby's life, carrying her around inside and depriving myself of sugar and caffeine and cold medicine, or the second nine months. They both have been new and exciting times with lots to remember. But I think in the end the rewards from Abby after birth outweigh any of the things that have made it challenging at times.

Two nights ago Abby and I were looking at a book with pictures of our family in it. I asked her to point to Mommy and she did. She also found Daddy and Maize. She is still working on learning the rest of the family. Right now Uncle Dan is her favorite one to find in the pictures - maybe because he is so much taller than all the rest of us! She is getting to be the smartest kid on the block. She sometimes uses words to get the message across, like today when she said "up" after she was finished eating her breakfast (she wanted me to pick her up out of her high chair) and last night when she told Steve "hug" so she could have a hug from her daddy. Slowly we are working on new words, but sweet, shy Abigail won't preform her words in front of other people yet. She also wouldn't climb the stairs yesterday when I was watching her. I figured it would be better for her to learn to do it with some supervision, since we are going to have stairs and she is going to have to use them if she wants a bath. We will have to keep working on that one.

Stay warm! We are enjoying lovely sun with our sub-zero arctic temperatures, so at least it looks beautiful outdoors. But we do have a lake effect snow advisory for 5 to 8 inches by tomorrow morning - YIKES!!!

A Real Post

So, after Abby did all her typing, here is the real scoop on what we've been up to. Abby and I have had a busy two days. Both days we had to drop Steve off at work and pick him up so that we would have use of the car during the day. On Tuesday we did some shopping and also went to Time Out For Moms to have a lunch play date with our friends. Abby had a great time watching the big kids use McDonald's play land and enjoyed some french fries with her normal lunchtime fare. We also went to K-Mart and used our coupons (and saved 21+ dollars after the savings and tax). And we got some really cool flannel print fabric from JoAnn Fabric's half off clearance section so that we can make some receiving blankets for new babies. So it was a busy, busy day yesterday.

Today we needed the car again so that Abby and I could head to a local bank to set up an account for our church's Angel Food Ministries program, which Steve and I are the new Directors for. We got to see Abby's little friend A.J. while we were there since her mom is the Assistant Director. Angel Food is a program that gets food at wholesale prices and distributes it through churches into communities. The food ends up being about 1/2 of what the grocery store cost would be and is first quality, name brand food. Steve and I are very excited to help get this started and are looking forward to being able to save on our grocery bill as well! And, besides saving money it will help us, and our church, to reach out into the community and meet the real needs of people.

After our trip to the bank Abby, Steve, and I had to take Maize to the vet for her rabies shot. Abby slept in the car with Steve, who got to sneak out of work early to help us out, while Maize and I went inside for the shots. She was not happy about meeting her new vet, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. So now, after being busy for the last few days, we are ready to just chill out tomorrow. Unfortunately I still have lots of cleaning to do, but I have a feeling that a nap will be on my agenda as well as Abby's. Stay warm - we are experiencing sub-zero temperatures and intermittent snow showers as well.

Abby's Post

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That was all from Abby

Abby's First Sled Ride

We took Abby on her first ride on the beautiful sled from Uncle Jim and Aunt Ruth. I had no idea how deep the snow in our back yard was, which did not help create a fun experience. Sleds do not work well in mid-thigh deep snow. Sleds also do no pull well when the adult keeps falling into the snow because it is too deep. I finally ended up carrying Abby and the sled to a good spot for pictures and just setting them down. Abby was enjoying her sled until she decided to put her un-mittened hand into the snow. Now this is totally my fault, since I made the deliberate choice not to put mittens on Abby. Her jacket is long enough in the sleeves to completely cover her hands, and knowing that I wanted just a couple pictures I figured putting mittens on Abby would certainly result in tears, which would make for bad pictures. We got tears anyway when Abby decided to lean over and stick her hands in the snow. Burr! So here is the progression of pictures from yesterday's sledding. First picture - happy and smiling because we just came out and Maize is funny in the snow. Second picture - Abby sticking her hands into the snow. Third picture - after we came inside while she was still crying because she didn't like the cold snow. She cried for a good 5 minutes, even after I had rubbed her hands and gave her a bottle. From now on I am just going to deal with crying because I put mittens on her instead!

So there was our first attempt at some outdoor pictures with the beautiful sled. We are going to have to try again later with a little less snow. Maybe in the driveway or something...

Still Cleaning...

Well, there are not any new pictures to post. Hopefully this afternoon we will be able to take a few with Abby's new sled outside before it gets bitterly cold up here (tomorrow's high is supposed to be -1 degree!). We did more cleaning and more sorting, so our local goodwill is about to get a big donation from our closets. And we pick out Abby's outfits to take to Florida so we can get them all washed and ready to go. Lots of little jobs going on.

Steve returned to the local Chrysler dealership and retrieved Abby's little boot, so we now have a pair of boots and a pair of shoes for her tiny feet. It sure takes a lot of gear to keep her safe and warm up here. Speaking of gear, I am charging the drill up to put the cabinet locks. Whew... my to do list keeps growing but my clock doesn't seem to slow down to accommodate the new chores.

Abby jumped all over the bed last night before she finally fell asleep. She also explored practically our entire room. It's a good thing I was cleaning fast enough to keep ahead of her or she would have eaten a lot of interesting things. As it was she got to my dress shoes, but apparently they didn't taste too good, so she discarded them pretty quickly.

Mission Complete

Removal of the porch bird is now complete. It is a very good thing that Abby has a soft side collapsible hamper, which worked well as a net. We are now back to 3 people and a dog in the house. No pests (knock on wood).

Here's another cute Abby in her Brazilian outfit. She is going to start packing her bag for Florida as soon as the 10 day forecast for the 24 comes out. We can't wait!

We started the car hunt yesterday. What a monumental task! Right away our first pick became close to our last pick. We took a Jeep Patriot out for a drive and decided quickly that it was a little too narrow in the backseat for a car seat and an adult (or in the future for two car seats and an adult or a car seat and a dog or any other combination). If it weren't for the cramped back seat, then it would still be a good choice. We also climbed into a Jeep Compass, which had less leg room in the backseat than the Patriot and was a no go. The Jeep Liberty seemed to be about right size wise, but we didn't drive it, just climbed in, so we don't know how that would ride. We also checked out a Ford Escape and thought it was pretty good, except that it wasn't as nicely made as we'd hoped (some wires and such were visible in the back and there wasn't as much space under the front seats for the backseat passenger to use for stretching out legs). It's a good thing Steve and I aren't too picky - we will be happy with whatever car we manage to find that has the space we need and falls into our budgeted amount and mileage (odometer, not gas mileage) requirements. Abby was a very good test rider yesterday, except that somewhere at the Jeep dealership she lost a boot and we were never able to find it. So, after all the testing we ended up at Walmart to buy a new set of shoes for Abby's little feet.

We are also cleaning for company. Those of you who know me well know that I don't place cleaning in my list of priorities very often - I'd rather spend time with people and helping others than being meticulous about having sparkling clean floors, counters, etc. In my mind there isn't going to be a crown in heaven for the person with the cleanest house, so I might as well focus my attention in areas where I can make an eternal difference. That being said, we are having company up next weekend, so cleaning is temporarily on the priority list. While we were cleaning out our single downstairs closet to make room for the Christmas decorations I found two old afghan starts. One was already big enough for a crib afghan, so Abby won that maroon and white beauty (the pattern isn't finished, so it looks a little odd, but then again I like odd, so it works). The other is being pieced together and stitched up, since it was a large granny square pattern. It's not quite baby colors, so we will have to see what I can do with it when it is done. And now... back to all that cleaning.

Abby loves music and enjoyed watching the marching bands during bowl season. She is a good dancer too!


Abby also loves free falling onto Maize's new dog bed. It cracks her up. She will hold onto Steve or I only long enough to stand up and then lets go all on her own so she can fall backwards. She's also figured out that this works on our bed. Let's hope she doesn't try this trick somewhere dangerous!

It is 1 Degree Outside

Good thing we are heading to Florida in 15 days!

More later...

Riding An English Pony

Abby has decided that her new pony has an English saddle, so she has been practicing her posting. For those of you who aren't up on the language of a horseman, posting is lifting yourself out of the saddle every other stride while a horse is trotting. Abby is getting very good at this portion of horseback riding. In fact, we have had no falls and Abby has not been bucked off in 2 whole days. She has really been practicing this horse riding thing!

















Our back porch bird seems to have disappeared. Perhaps it got out the same way it got in. If not, I'm sure I will find it when I take the recycling to the recycling station this weekend. I'm hoping it's option one.

We made Maize a dog bed yesterday with our new sewing machine. She liked it so well she slept on it for two whole hours before she went back to sleeping on the couch. I also finished a pair of fake "Ugg" booties for Abby, but they were still a bit tight, so we've started on some ballet flat booties instead. The first one was pretty big, so I may have to make a liner to help keep them on. And, besides all the crafting our floor must be cleaned so Abby the escape artist doesn't accidentally eat anything she shouldn't on her adventures outside the living room. So much to do, so little time!!!

Eruption!

Abby's top left tooth is just about to break all the way through into her mouth! We all hope that will help with some of the general crabbiness we have been experiencing lately. And hopefully she starts getting to bed better at night. We had another late night last night, but while she was crying I was figuring out how to make a baby "Ugg" bootie, so it wasn't totally unproductive.

















We've been testing out my new sewing machine lately - it makes incredible stitches, like the flowers that we trimmed Abby's blanket with. The pattern is just as cool on the backside of the blanket as it is on the front. We can't wait to take a trip to JoAnn's Fabrics to pick up some more flannel to experiment with.

We've also been experimenting with our new camera reflector (that Steve got me for my birthday). We tried hard to get some cute pictures of Abby in her Brazilian outfit from our friends Fred and Vanda, but the little squirt wouldn't sit down and was wiggling all around! She is officially an escapee as well. I have to get all of our downstairs clean since Abby can now cruise from the living room into the dining room at record speed. We've also got to get the baby gates and cabinet locks up as soon as possible.

We barely got the Buick home last night. Since it was running straight off the battery, we knew it would be close. Steve made it all but the last 6 blocks with headlights and taillights. Good thing I was following him! God was also on our side - the car made it into the driveway and died before Steve could turn it off. It was a very exciting adventure! And now we are on to the next adventure - catching the European Starling that somehow flew into our back porch and now is stuck. The fact that it got in there says we may have a hole in the wall or something. Yikes! I almost had a heart attack when it flew up into my face while I was trying to do a load of laundry (since our washer and dryer are also living on the back porch). This could be a real trick...

Terrible Tuesday

We are having one of those days today - the terrible kind. The kind where you didn't get enough sleep the night before and the day starts way too early. Also the kind where your dog wakes you up from your nap right after you get to sleep. And the grouchy kind - we are all grouchy. And the cabin fever kind, with the weather too cold to leave the house and no car to leave anyway. And finally the kind where you don't feel good, but you still have to do everything you normally do because there is no one else around to do it.

This afternoon has to be better because it can't get worse!

And so that I don't have more of these terrible days, just a friendly reminder about the rules for calling our house.

1. Please try to avoid calling during nap times. They are always the same time of the day, every day, like clockwork. 10 am to noon and 2 pm to 4 pm are Abby's naps. Unless it absolutely can't wait, I'd appreciate your assistance in keeping her asleep by keeping our phones quiet.

2. After 9 pm we are all trying to get ready for bed and to get Abby to sleep. Unless the world is going to end if you don't call us right then, we would all appreciate our quiet, uninterrupted time for our nightly routine and Abby's bible story. One phone call when she is just about asleep adds 30 + minutes to our routine while we get her calmed back down and asleep again.

Now we know all of you, our family and friends, have watches and clocks and such, so if you want to avoid reading grouchy posts in the future, check them before you call!

We are going to make attempt 2 at getting the Buick back into our driveway. There was too much ice on the windshield for Steve to drive it last night, and, since it will be running straight off the battery and not recharging it, we won't be able to run the defrost on the drive home, so getting the ice off has to be done before the car is started. We will see if we can get it done tonight, otherwise we may be having it towed again. Then is the big process of trying to decide what to do with the poor old girl. If anyone wants a project and wants to tow the car away from here, let us know!

11 Degrees and Sunny, Wind Chill - 15

That is our forecast for today. No snow, we hope. We had a good day yesterday on my birthday. Abby was a little crabby, but when you are getting a new tooth that sort of thing happens. She also ate Shrek (or a whole mouthful of green beans without swallowing any of them). She is a really silly girl and she really, really loves her green beans!

We got some projects started yesterday and Steve finished a major one. We now have shelves in the bathroom closet that had previously been totally empty. It was a tricky fix, with it being a triangular closet and all, but Steve did a great job at getting 3 usable shelves into it. He's pretty handy, even if he doesn't know it!

We also started the new car search last night by driving around our local dealerships so that we can hopefully take a few vehicles out for a test drive next weekend and figure out what we like and don't like. So far the Ford Escape is our favorite from the outside, but just like people, the inside is usually most important. It was hard work scraping the snow and ice off the windows in the car lot to see what was available. And tinted windows over the spec. sheets wasn't too helpful! Plus riding around in the car was a good nap time for Abby, and she really needed it.

Abby learned how the ride the horse both forward and backward, but it is still bucking her off every once in a while. She is still learning that you can't lean over to grab things while riding the horse, so we've had a few bumps along the way. She always wants right back on her pony though, so she must be pretty tough!

Clean Sweep

We did a little (okay, a lot) of cleaning and reorganizing today to make room for new things and put some old messes away after 6 months of laying around. It was hard work. Abby's room is now sparkling clean, toys on the shelves, clothes in the dresser, too small things in the box. Whew... She was a great helper! Not only that, we got our room clean too and Steve is working on a set of shelves for the bathroom closet that was empty (just a big open waste of space). Soon our towels and sheets will be moving out of my bookshelf and into the closet so that our books can move out of Abby's room and into our own. That's a lot of moving for a little place like this.

We are retiring the 1998 Buick LeSabre that I've been driving since law school started. It died in the driveway before we could leave for the Christmas holiday and the repair bill was to close to the value of the car to make it worth spending the money on the poor old thing. So it is on to the great car hunt for us. So far we've decided we like cars and suv's better than crossover vehicles, so I don't think a Ford Edge or Flex will be ending up in our driveway anytime soon (unless we get a great deal that is). We are going to have to plan some extra time to go out car shopping since there aren't too many options up here. And test driving things with a toddler carseat, which is harder to switch from car to car, is not going to be that fun either. Poor Buick... we were planning to keep her around for a few more years.

Tomorrow I hit 27 - no big plans for my birthday since there isn't anything all that exciting we can really do up here. Maybe a baby free trip to the grocery store and some chinese takeout. Have a wonderful Sunday :-)

More Christmas Fun

Abby is still working on trying out all her Christmas presents, and that is hard work considering the enormous amount of things she received. She has also been indulging in a new, and yummy, treat - fresh fruit. We made a little stop on the way home from Hastings in Mount Pleasant and got all the fixings for a good fruit salad. Abby certainly has some of her Grandpa Scott's taste buds because she really loves melon, especially cantaloupe. We were also surprised that she liked pomegranate as well. She's a real fruit gobbler when it is the fresh variety.

Abby learned another new smooth move today. Steve and I both watched her sit back up after being on the floor crawling. This is the first time she has tipped herself back into a sitting position - she is really on her way now! When she isn't crawling and sitting she is riding that pony all over the living room and using it to grab things off the couch, the ottoman, and the end tables. It is going to be time to clean off all our surfaces for a while.

New Year's Resolutions

Abby had a silly start to her new year, and we all hope you had a great start too! We spent New Year's Eve with Dr. Dave and his family, Dr. Bruce, and Dr. Alice and everyone had a wonderful time. Abby was especially glad that she got to have 2 whole slices of cheesecake, approved by Dr. Alice, the family physician. She was also awake when the ball dropped and when Robbie Knievel did his big motorcycle trick. And after all that partying, Abby was sleeping in as late as possible this morning!

We are making New Year's Resolutions again, even though we don't usually achieve them. Here is Abby's list:
1. Learn to walk and finally catch Maize
2. Learn to use a spoon so she can feed herself ice cream and cheese cake and not have to share it with her mom.
3. Learn enough words to boss everyone around

Jen's list:
1. Read through the entire Bible at least once this year
2. Lose the last 10 baby/law school pounds
3. Learn to make knitted (as opposed to crocheted) baby blankets

Steve's list:
1. Lose more weight than Jen does
2. ???
3. ???

Another exiting note to pass along, Abby learned how to dismount from her riding pony. Now she just has to figure out what to do once she gets off and how to get back on.