Quarantined

This is pictorial evidence that Abby is not all sugar and spice. Sometimes even the sweetest of us don't want to share toys with our cousins.

Abby and I are continuing our downward spiral into the common cold. We are not getting much better, in fact I am getting worse. Complicating the problem is the fact that as a nursing mother I can't take most over the counter cold medications, at least according to the labels and our doctor. Bummer... So, Abby and I are quarantined for the day. Steve is going to have to head to bible study by himself, since we were cooking the main dish and all. And with the minimal sense of smell I have left I can tell that the ham I am cooking is going to be amazing. Abby and I will have to entertain ourselves with Finding Nemo or some other Disney flick while Dad is away tonight.

We got another dumping last night. I'm not sure how much fell, since there is just a big heap of snow in the yard. It looked like about 3 inches on top of the car this morning, but that may or may not be an accurate estimate. We are starting to look forward to spring, but I have to admit that I do love watching the snow fall.

Our Visit Rundown

As you can see, by the time our trip was over Abby was one tired girl. She did more adventuring and is a lot more friendly than she has been in a long time. So between all the playing, driving, test driving, visiting, and partying, Abby was wiped out. It was perfect for the drive home, which she slept through for the most part. Even after all that sleeping in the car little Abby slept all night (and in her own bed to boot).

Abby got to go see her Aunt Hannah play some basketball and it was really fun. We wish we could have checked out one of Auntie Em's games too, but it didn't quite work out. Before the game started Abby decided to practice her jump shot from way downtown. She was the star of the pre-game show for sure! And she had lots of fun pointing Hannah out as she ran up and down the floor.

We also were able to have a play date with Abby's cousins Connor, Noah, and Jacob. It was really fun! Abby had a good time showing off her new, bigger than ever vocabulary and trying out some new toys.

So Tired...

We are home, but I forgot how tiring a long drive can be. Abby had a great ride and only cried about 10 minutes total of the 6+ hour ride. We had really yucky roads for the last 120 miles, so it took a little longer than normal. Thank goodness for a safe new car (Dodge Journey, if you hadn't already heard or seen it in person) and for the portable dvd player that let Abby watch movies while she was awake.

So, that being said, I am going to catch you all up later, after I've unpacked the car and had a little nap.

This is what the new car looks like according to the Dodge promotional information. Ours has a roof rack and some dirt and salt from driving in the Lower Peninsula for the last few days. We'll have all that washed off soon with our Up North snow.

Standing Up

Our snow is still piling up - the bank along the edge of the driveway is as tall as our garbage can, so you can just imagine trying to back out around banks all that high or higher. We got about 6 inches total (I would guess) out of our latest snow fall. It just keeps mounding up.

Abby is still working on her standing and walking abilities. She has been standing up as much as possible and will take a step or two between things. It won't be long now.

And... we finally got almost a full nights sleep. Almost, because the city felt like plowing our road several times during the middle of the night. But little Abby slept until almost 6 a.m., which was a major improvement over her 2:30 a.m. episode yesterday. Now she will be all ready for her big trip to Hastings, which may be extended from a 3 day stay to a 5 day stay so that I can attend a meeting in Kalamazoo on Tuesday night. I'm sure Abby's grandparents won't mind, but her daddy is really going to miss her!

One Hot Bodysuit

Especially for "Shenekwah" - Abby's Sunday tights made for a great body suit :-)

The Infamous Laundry Theif Stands Again

Busted!

We caught Abby red, or should we say whites, handed pulling all the laundry out of our clean clothes basket. Even more impressive is her standing on her own - she's on her way now!

We have it all on video tape, but Blogger won't upload it for us. We will keep trying, because it is too cute not to share. The little turkey loves to pull clean clothes out of the basket as fast as I can put them in.

After 5 nights in a row of Abby waking up in the middle of the night, we are finally reaching wits ends here. I think the first few nights she didn't feel good, but I have a feeling now she just wants to have a little snuggle and sleep in our bed. Last night I spent over an hour trying to get her back to sleep and in her crib, but she would have none of it. Tonight she may just find herself alone and awake for a while to see if that will help break her of this new and not cool habit. Afterall, moms have got to sleep too!

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa Steve Osgood! We wish we could be down to help celebrate Grandpa's birthday, but we will hopefully be down in Hastings this coming weekend, so we can give him a birthday hug and kiss then. Until then, Abby taped a special birthday message for him.

Abby doesn't get to take her morning naps anymore, at least for a day or two while we try to figure out why she keeps waking up at 4 in the morning. We are hoping she is just sleeping too much during the day and not taking the morning nap will solve that problem. She is getting bigger, so we bet she can make it all morning just playing. I, on the other hand, may not be able to make it all morning after being up around 4 a.m. for the last 4 mornings. That is just too early!

Abby has survived one wicked bout of diaper rash. Something she ate yesterday morning must have been a bad idea because it make her little insides sick and she got the worst diaper rash in her short history. It went from nothing at noon to broken skin by 1:30. Luckily our great doctor's office was super helpful and got Abby some prescription diaper rash cream ("Magic Butt Paste"). She is now feeling good again after a whiny afternoon and evening. We are guessing that the yogurt covered cranberries were the culprit, since everything else she ate yesterday was previously eaten and successfully digested. I guess we'll have a whole bag of yogurt covered cranberries up for claims when we come to visit on Friday night.

Ten Months Old

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Abby partied all day yesterday, literally, to celebrate being 10 months old. First she went to church, then to a baby shower, then she had friends over to play Nintendo. And she did all of this with no naps. Not a good plan on her mom or dad's part. But since she is pretty darn cute and generally happy she pulled it off without too much crying or crabbiness.

Abby loves her newest hat, which came from her future Aunt Courtnie's mom and dad. It was very soft and warm. She's been wearing it a lot with her new coat and doesn't care if you don't think red and pink are a good match.

Today is Abby and Mom do laundry day - and boy do we have an abundance to wash again. We also have a ton of dishes to do after the partying yesterday. I can't wait until Abby is big enough to be a helper instead of a distraction or a pulling the clothes back out of the basket non-helper. At least she is the cutest kid on the block while she is preventing me from getting things done.

Abby typed the first part.

Bee Mine

Abby just has one request this Valentine's Day (okay... maybe two or three). Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Play Date

Abby went on her first play date without her mom or dad today. It must have been really, really fun because when I went to pick her up she didn't seem to want to come with me. We are very glad that there are two girls about her age in our small group - it makes going to group fun for us and for her too. She is getting to have a HUGE personality and has got to be close to getting over her stranger anxiety because she spends every moment in public flirting and waving at anyone who will look at her.

Abby and Maize have been having more and more fun together as Abby grows. Abby loves her dog and likes to pet Maize, although sometimes the "pets" are little pinches or pulls on Maize's loose skin. Maize loves to kiss Abby, which seems to be one of Abby's favorite activities as well even though her dad and I don't sanction these activities. Earlier today Maize was doing her crazy dog dance for Abby who was laughing hysterically. We are lucky these too silly girls get along so well.

Abby and I are back to normal after our little bit of something - I still am convinced it was the Subway cookies, which were a little chewy and seemed like they were a bit undercooked. Who knows... Abby also got her 4 tooth, so she may have just been feverish from breaking that big girl tooth through. And now that she has her four front teeth she is a very effective biter. And she is also officially done with any baby food. I tried to give her sweet potatoes last night, which she likes, and she did the same trick that she did with the peas. She wouldn't even eat one little bite. Luckily we have a new couple in our small group with a 5 month old baby who I'm sure will be happy to eat all that extra baby food in a month or two. What a nut...

New Photos!!!

We put Abby's 9 month photos on her Walmart.com page:

http://photos.walmart.com/groups/abbyschristmasalbum

If you haven't used it before, the password is holiday. Print away!

Don't Eat The Cookies

Abby and I both had a rough night last night - I am blaming the cookies from Subway for our discomfort, but I don't know if food poisoning can cause a fever and we both have one of those too. Boo to being sick! And an even bigger boo to thinking it was the cookies - I LOVE cookies, especially the ones at Subway. This is very depressing.

Abby rebounded from her long night very well and cracked me up all morning. We got her blocks out the other day and she has been really, really into playing with them lately. The only problem is one of the things she'd like to do with the blocks is bang them on the t.v. screen, which is a definite no-no, especially since the only other t.v. in the house is about dead. And everyone knows that you can't watch Veggie Tales or Nemo without a t.v.

Here's a little clip of Abby climbing up the entire staircase on Saturday (that's 18 steps in this old house). Unfortunately the light above the stairs was out (blown fuse), so it's a little dark. Little Abby loves climbing the stairs - she heads for them every chance she gets. Our baby gate is quickly becoming a permanent fixture on the staircase. Now that she's mastered going up we need to start working on coming down. That's a tough one.

Heat Wave

Boy is it feeling warm today. So warm we let Abby go out without a hat, just the hood on her sweatshirt and the one on her coat. And speaking of hats, we got Abby a princess hat at Disney to help keep the sun off of her. She wouldn't wear it down there, but she likes wearing it here in the house. What a silly girl.

Abby had a fun lunch date today with A.J. and Madison. It was nice to get out of the house and have a little adult interaction. And then Abby and I went to her favorite place - Wal-Mart. I think she'd better be a pretty satisfied little girl after all the fun she's had today. Besides lunch and Wal-Mart she also got to go to the library and we picked out two alphabet books for her to read with her daddy.

We weighed and measured Abby the other day, just to see how well she was growing. She's slowed down a bit on growing tall (at around 28 inches she's only in the 50th percentile), but she's still holding her own in the weight category (at 22.2 pounds in the 95th percentile). Either way we think she is pretty much perfect. And she's become quite the class clown. Things could get very hilarious around here as she grows up!

Marvelous Monday

Abby and I had a great Monday. She had a nice morning nap, had fun with her dad at lunch time, played with blocks, and we both took a 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon. It was wonderful.

Here's a picture where you can just start to see Abby's top tooth. She's getting big. Unfortunately with her new teeth we sometimes get nibbled on when she gives out her great big kisses.

Other than playing and napping, not much new is going on today. Abby continues to make our lives interesting. She woke up 2 times after we put her to sleep last night, so I finally ended up doing step aerobics on the Wii Fit holding her. It was a much harder workout with the extra 22 pounds of tired baby. We tried to do the jogging level too, but it was too hard to jog and hold a wiggly girl who was way too tired to be awake.

No Peas Please

Abby's cousin Jack Hagberg told her that peas were gross, so she won't eat them anymore.

Drip, Drip, Dripping

Things are dripping both outside and inside in Sault Ste. Marie today! We, yet again, have a leak in our shower so Abby and I had to do a quick emptying of her closet this morning and the landlord is going to be getting yet another call about something going wrong around here. I will not be sad when we move out of this place.

Abby had a really fun time at our small group last night and even crawled way away from Steve and I to play with the other girls. That was a big first for her - letting her mom get out of her line of sight. She was also hamming it up for all the adults to enjoy. She is destined to be the class clown I think. Either that or in the drama club.

And now... since Abby has gotten our junk mail off the table and is eating it, we must be getting back to our leaking showers and melting snow. That and listening to the roar of the I-500 snowmobile race which is taking place down the road a bit. Happy thawing to our Michigan friends!

New Foods

These are the last of the Florida pictures that we are going to blog, since we are getting behind in what big girl Abby looks like now. You can't see her new top front tooth, but it is in and coming down a little more each day. So, for the rest you'll have to check out our flickr page (see the first Florida picture post) or wait until we get the 9 months photos posted on the Walmart page where you can print them off yourself. This bottom photo cracked me up. Abby can see over the top of her stroller tray, but she kept peeking under it to get a better look at the fountain. She is one smart cookie!
















Abby has been enjoying a few great new foods lately. Today for lunch she munched some lima beans and ravioli. Now, Grandma Lorraine can tell you about our family and lima beans, but I'll give you the short version. For the few weeks Steve and I stayed with Grandma Lorraine and Grandpa Harley, Grandma was investigating what Steve liked to eat, since he is a wee bit picky. When she asked about vegetables he told her he liked green beans, corn, and lima beans. The one vegetable that most vegetable eaters can't handle - lima beans. So apparently Abby has a little bit of her daddy's taste buds. Abby's also been eating snow peas and dried fruit, especially cranberries.

We are finally back on schedule for napping, and hopefully soon for waking up. I had to get up at 7 am this morning since some little bug went to sleep at 5:30 pm. We did force her to wake up at 8:30 to eat, but she went right back to sleep after her dinner. We are not going to do that one again!

The Funniest Things

Our daughter may just have a very peculiar sense of humor. She gets a laugh out of the funniest things. For example, we always know right away that she's got a dirty diaper because she'll just start laughing. She laughs all the way through changing the poopy diaper too. I guess I must be weird or something, since I've never found dirty diapers quite as funny as she does.

And in spite of the fact that she doesn't have a smile in a single picture from the water fountain at Disney, she quite enjoyed it the first day we were there. She crawled all around and investigated all the sprayers and sprinklers. But, after the first trip, she decided she didn't want to play anymore unless we were holding her. I don't know if it was her being sick or just being silly. She'll have to wait quite a while until she gets to play in a sprinkler again. At least until June or July up here. Stay warm and healthy!

Where Is My Week Going

It's Wednesday already, where has our week gone? I just started doing our laundry, which is going to be a monumental task, and there is still a lot of cleaning up and putting away to do after being gone a week. And Abby just keeps pulling things down and dumping things out and being a very silly girl. It's a good thing we aren't neat freaks or we'd be going bonkers!

Abby and Maize are back onto their normal napping routines, with only minor changes. Abby has been staying awake until 11 am and then only taking a one hour nap in the morning. I'm glad she is getting bigger and needs less sleep, but that leaves me with a lot less time to get things done without having to worry about what she is getting into. I am going to have to learn to be super efficient.

Tooth number 3 is all the way through and tooth number 4 (in order of arrival, not the technical tooth numbers for you dental types) is not going to be far behind. Abby also woke up this morning without a runny nose for the first time in over a week - Hooray!!! We were definitely ready to be done with her cold.

Our family has been busily enjoying our new Wii Fit in the evenings (thanks again Mom and Dad Obreiter) with one unpleasant side effect. It is hilarious to watch the other person use it and fun to play yourself, but we are both so sore and achy from using muscles we haven't used in a while. Last night I was considering sleeping on the couch so that I wouldn't have to walk up the stairs. Apparently we are a bit on the un-Fit side! But hopefully by the next time you see us in person we will be trimmer, toned, and in shape.

New Dentists

Here's another good Abby picture from Disney. Even though she was sniffly, stuffy, and coughing all week she was a really happy little girl.

Little Abby got her first rug burn yesterday, on her nose. It looks pretty bad, so we are hoping it looks worse than it feels. It was totally my fault - I am willing to admit it. I thought the little pumpkin was asleep, so I laid her down on our bed while I pulled a shirt out of my closet. It took her less than 5 seconds to wake up, crawl over half the bed, and dive off the edge. Needless to say, she is not allowed to sleep on our bed anymore! Not only does she have the rug burned nose, little Abby got a hold of an ink pen and drew a little on her face. She is looking pretty rough today!

I had a dentist appointment today with our new dentist and she is a keeper! Steve's up next on Thursday, so we will see how his appointment goes. I really liked Dr. Fairbanks, and she graduated from Michigan, so I know she's well educated. And it's a good thing that we found a good dentist since Abby is getting her teeth right on schedule.

Cool Tricks

Abby learned how to use a drinking fountain on our trip to Florida - she thought it was really fun. Abby is back into good girl mode today. She must be feeling better. She also got what she thought was the best present ever today - my old cell phone. Steve and I have new phones, so we let her play with one of the old ones. She really thought she was getting away with some great trickery when she got to hold the phone on the whole car ride back from the Alltel shop.

We are still looking for that new car - today Abby and I went to talk to the Jeep dealer. We are going to do some more investigating and hopefully will have a decision (and a new car) soon. And now... back to shoveling out the driveway, dealing with the mail, and cleaning up all of the things we brought in and dumped on the dining room table.

A Fifty-Plus Degree Difference

We've gone from 80 something to 20 or 30 something, but we are really glad to be home! Steve, Abby and I had a wonderful time in Florida. We enjoyed the warm weather, seeing family, and most importantly spending quality time together. Abby got to do some really neat things and was wonderful, even with a cold and 4 teeth coming in at once (the first one made it through today and the others should be in soon).

We started our Florida vacation in Vero Beach visiting Great Grandma Lorraine and Great Grandpa Harley. They took us on a walk around their neighborhood and Abby was able to see 2 otters. They also spoiled her with key lime pie and cheesecake. That was after all the other good food they had prepared for us. They also took Abby on her first trip to the ocean. She enjoyed the water, but hated the sand (we are talking about a major meltdown). We finally got her to put her feet into the sand, but she refused to let it touch her anywhere else.

We also visited Disney World and stayed at the Saratoga Springs Resort. We managed to make it all week without entering a Disney park, but we did frequently visit Downtown Disney (the shopping and dining area) and also checked out the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had lots of fun with Grandma Mary and enjoyed Wednesday when Melissa, Glenn, Jack, Great Grandma Lorraine, Great Grandpa Harley, Uncle Greg Hodges, Hamilton Hodges, and Grandpa Scott all came down for the PGA show. Abby, Steve, and I did check out the PGA show - it was huge and not really our gig, but it was neat to see.

And so, to sum it up - we did a ton of swimming, which Abby loved. We did a ton of walking, which was really nice to do in shirt sleeves. And we also did a ton of hanging out with family.

Abby is having a rough day after two straight days of travel. She still has the cold and has 3 more teeth to come in. She also has been sleeping in strange beds, on planes, in cars, etc. but hasn't had a good nap since Thursday. We're hoping that tomorrow will get us back on track. And probably within a week or two she will go from 2 teeth to six.

There are lots more pictures on our flickr photo page. Click HERE to check them out!