Trick or Treat

Alright... I know this looks like she is crying, but I swear she was not. She did not like getting the candy from costumed people, but she didn't mind asking older people for a treat. Abby's friend Maddie went with us and was way into trick or treating - she even walked straight into the first house.
Mom and the ballerina trick or treating - she had cute little tights and a shirt on, but at 40-ish degrees you get to wear extra pants and a coat to trick or treat.
Abby and Dad trick or treating. Abby only took a 30 minute nap at 5 pm (we had to wake her up at 5:30 because people were here and ready to trick or treat). She did pretty goo for being tired.
Ballerina before the party. She was way cute :-)

Pumpkin Fun

Of course, pumpkin carving wasn't nearly as fun for Abby as it was for Steve and I, but we are pretty sure she still had a good time. Abby and I made her pumpkin a Blue's Clues pumpkin, so she was excited about having a dog in her pumpkin, especially when we lit it up with the candles. We also made a traditional-ish jack o'lantern. Of course, it couldn't be totally normal so we gave it a Michigan "M" for one eye and Steve gave it teeth for ears (an incisor and a molar, in case you are wondering). He didn't have that pumpkin done in time for us to take it's picture, so we only have Blue to show you today.

We left Abby with her babysitter Kitty on Tuesday and she has been talking non-stop about it. She must have had a great time because she keeps telling me about Kitty reading her books and keeps asking if Kitty is coming. I'm so glad we have someone to watch her that we all like a lot.
Here is Abby's pumpkin lit up. Carving it was quite a trick. I have a lot of knives and drills to wash as a result.

Abby exploring the insides of the pumpkin (after I had done all the yucky work).

Pumpkin Carving

We are carving up Abby's pumpkin tonight and she and I already gutted it so that it would be ready to go when Steve gets home. Now we just have to figure out how Abby is going to carve it. She said it had to be a girl pumpkin, so it will need to be something cute. I'm sure we'll have lots of cute pictures tomorrow - that is if Abby will actually do cute smiles instead of her cheesy ones.

We had a first last night - Abby's first time wetting through the diaper and soaking her sheets and mattress. I'm glad we made it over 18 months before it happened, but it was still no fun to clean up. We just put the last load of blankets into the dryer, so hopefully by bedtime we can get the bed back together. It was not the way I wanted to start a busy morning, but hey... sometime you just can't make it all night.

Our Baby - Week 16

How your baby's growing:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Fall Fun

Abby is still working on her molars, so it is still hard to catch her without a hand or two in her mouth. And, this morning she fell and bit her lip pretty badly, so she's been checking it out. Luckily her Dad was home for lunch and he was able to check and make sure all of Abby's teeth were still in working order.
Abby helped me rake the yard yesterday and again today. By the time I was ready to quit today we had a pretty good pile started, so we tried the bury the kid and throw leaves trick. Unfortunately she wouldn't open her eyes and smile nicely for a picture. Oh well...
I'm not even sure she enjoyed being buried, but she did like throwing handfuls of leaves into the pile and kicking loose leaves too. Sometimes she was too helpful though and was pulling handfuls of leaves out of where I have raked and throwing them into areas that were already cleaned. Sometimes her helpfulness is too helpful. She also liked having me rake leaves into her, which made raking without whacking her pretty difficult.
Evidence of the "helper" throwing leaves from the pile into the place I had already cleared. Abby had her friends A.J. and Maddie over to play today. They had a good time, mostly. Since they are all approaching the terrible two age we had some sharing issues and needed to do a quick search for enough play phones for everyone, but for the most part they have a good time together and it is nice to have some adult company during the week.
Happy fall to you all and good luck raking up your leaves! We still have about 1/2 the yard to go, so I'm pretty sure we will be back at it again tomorrow.

When Pigs Fly

Abby and I got our swine flu shots today, so our family is basically protected (we hope) from catching the H1N1 virus. Abby still needs to go in again for a booster, but at least we know she has some protection. Now she and I are just relaxing after being pincushions this morning.

We bought Abby a board book Bible on Saturday, since we were buying the same one for her friend's birthday party. She has been very excited to read it right before bedtime and nap time. She even reminds us to read it to her and knows that her Bible is about Jesus. She is such a fun kid to have around. Steve has been particularly enjoying the benefits of her new found bossiness and talking. She has, for the last several days, insisted on first her kiss from Daddy and then that Mommy has to kiss Daddy too. I think he must be paying her on the side for this deal. Maybe that evening when they had the bubble bath playtime...

Ninja Baby

Baby O. is apparently a ninja. It took over an hour for me to get to sleep last night. I'm glad this baby is moving and healthy, but I would love to fall asleep without being a punching bag.

Abby played all weekend with her friend Maddie, who is now sick and throwing up. Icky... I can hardly wait until it hits our home. We've had a really busy weekend and will have a crazy busy week, so I don't really have time to be giving you much of an update. But either way, I thought you all should know how crazy the new baby seems to be.

Happy Monday.

Translation Please

We need someone to tell us what in the world Abby is saying to us. We are pretty sure she isn't meaning to say "dollar-six" even though that is all we can make of it. And there is no context for her phrase - it is used throughout the day and when doing many, many different activities.

Favorite Things

I wanted to take a moment and write down Abby's favorite things at 18 months so that we don't forget how cute some of them were at this age.

Favorite toys: her Schleich farm animals, Penny the American Girl Bitty Baby, and puzzles

Favorite activities: coloring, chasing Maize, reading books, and getting her picture taken

Favorite color: pink

Favorite foods: chicken nuggets, grapes, carrots, milk, cheese tacos and string cheese

Favorite t.v. shows: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Olivia, and Dora the Explorer

Favorite movies: The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Monsters Inc.

Favorite books: Cuddle, Hop on Pop, Dr. Suess' ABC, and Tom's Tail

Best Friends: Maize, A.J. Hood, Maddie Dodge, and Jordan Doghmi

She also loves bubble baths, looking at herself in the mirror, putting on hats and taking them right back off, and playing "Super Abby" with her dad. She also loves getting her hair done into pony tails, but only if she can take them out immediately. She has lots of big person words in her vocabulary and a few words that only she knows.

Bubble Bath Time

Steve took Abby upstairs to "put on her pajamas" last night and after 30 minutes they had still not emerged, so I went to see how they were coming on the change from play clothes to pajamas. Somehow Abby accidentally fell into the bathtub, which evidently filled itself with water and bubbles in the process. And Abby and her dad were having a great time making bubble beards, bubble shirts, and doing bubble high fives. Abby even made a bubble beard for Steve. It was pretty funny! I am glad that I don't have to worry about my girl when her daddy is around.

Abby has been practicing her reading skills a lot lately. She can tell what the title of the book is and will often say the title to us when she brings the book over to be read. She can also read quite a few pages from "Hop on Pop," especially the "All Tall" page. We obviously are a little biased, but we are pretty sure she is way smarter than most kids her age. She even has been practicing her good manners lately and has been using the phrase "excuse me" after she has a little burping or tooting going on. And because she has been using her manners she also now knows that "me" refers to her, so last night when we were playing ball and I asked her who I should throw the ball to, she said "me" instead of Abby. Again... this girl is way to smart.

Our Baby - Week 15

How your baby's growing:

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

See what your baby looks like this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

How your life's changing:

You've probably gained about 5 pounds by now (a little more or less is fine, too) and are well into the swing of your pregnancy, but you may still be surprised by an unexpected symptom now and then. Actually, I've only gained 2.2 pounds according to the Wii fit, which I hadn't used since July (whoops), so I guess some Halloween candy is in order. And maybe some pumpkin pie... If your nose is stuffed up, for instance, you can probably chalk it up to the combined effect of hormonal changes and increased blood flow to your mucous membranes. Stuffy nose... check. This condition is so common, there's even a name for it: "rhinitis of pregnancy." Some pregnant women also suffer nosebleeds as a result of increased blood volume and blood vessel expansion in the nose.

(from: http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-15-weeks_1104.bc)

Abby's Baby Name

Abby has decided, quite definitely, that she wants to name the new baby Sister. So hopefully the new baby will be a girl or it will be very difficult to explain to Abby that we can't call a baby boy "Sister".

Some Ham To Go With Your Eggs

When Grandma Mary came over Abby learned about how fun it can be to make funny faces for the camera and then see the pictures. Since then she has been hamming it up and begging for us to pull out the camera whenever possible. She's done some pretty funny pictures lately. One night she had to take off her pajamas just so she could model her new boots. We didn't coach her on any of her modeling poses or faces - she is just a natural talent.

Abby enjoyed playgroup this morning. She got to make a place mat with her picture on it and had a lot of fun coloring it with all her favorite colors. She also got to do some dancing and singing, which she really got into. We have a great time playing with Abby's friends every week. And, as a special treat she had lunch with dad at his office afterward. It was lots of fun.

Stinky Dog Kisses

Abby has been particularly enjoying dog kisses lately. Last night I was snuggling her after she jumped head first off the couch and noticed a very doggish smell coming right off the top of her head. She must have been letting Maize groom her or something. They were back at it again this morning and Abby was cracking up. What a nut!

Abby has recently discovered lotion and is now obsessed with getting it rubbed onto her. I think she likes the rubbing more than the lotion feeling, but I'm sure that the lotion feels good on her dry skin (I know... I have terrible dry skin in the winter too). She keeps finding me bottles of lotion and bringing them to me. I now have quite a collection of lotion bottles. She is going to be quite a girlie girl someday I am afraid.

We are waiting for the little princess to wake up from her nap. She has in the last week been putting herself in bed. I just place her in her room, get told to "go away," shut the door and leave. She plays for a little bit and then makes her way into bed. I always go check on her within 30 minutes to make sure she got into bed and to leave her door open so she can escape when she wakes up. It's been working out well so far, which will be a big help when I have a second kid to put down for a nap too.

Boy or Girl

We have been asking Abby lately whether she wants the new baby to be a boy or a girl. So far her answer changes daily (today we are back to girl). So does her proposed names. I'm pretty sure we won't be naming the baby Maize, or number, or baby, so she'll have to keep thinking up ideas. So, in the spirit of Abby's answering ability, we will put the poll to you - boy or girl. You have less than 6 weeks to make your best educated guess.

Good luck!

P.S. According to the Chinese birth chart Abby will be passing her clothes down to a little sister.

18 Months Old!!!

Where has the time gone?!? We hope the next 16 1/2 years go as smoothly as the first 1 1/2. Abby has sure been a great baby and toddler.

I tried giving Abby her first hair trim today. We got it a little shorter than I would have preferred, but I was cutting wet hair on a wiggly kid. Next time I'll have to remember to dry it and then trim it. But, as you can see from the pictures we took afterward, she is still the cutest girl in the Upper Peninsula. Now we just have an ear length bob instead of a shoulder length mullet. We will have to see what dad thinks when he gets home.

Abby finally will tell you that she is "one" when she puts her finger up. It took a lot of practicing, since she was pretty set in holding up one finger and saying "two" instead. She certainly has a mind of her own when she gets an idea into her little brains.

Along with the haircut today, we also got Abby a new set of blackout curtains to try and help keep heat in her room. We picked out a curtain liner that we can reuse no matter how many times she switches her exterior curtains, which were pink this time. She thinks it is a princess room and was very impressed with her upgrade. We are hoping it saves us a few dollars in heating too, or at least keeps her toasty warm at night.

Our Baby - Week 14

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy cover of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

(from: http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-14-weeks_1103.bc)

In other news... we had our 14 week checkup and things were looking good. Abby and Steve came too, so Abby could learn that not all trips to the doctors office result in shots and other pain. She even warmed up enough by the end to give Dr. Mackie a high-five. And she was pretty impressed by the baby's heartbeat - which was 144 beats per minute. We will be checking in again at 18 weeks and will have to do the glucose tolerance test that visit, so I am not looking forward to that fun, but I figure we might as well get it out of the way.

Lion King Sized Success

They had one copy of The Lion King at Goodwill and it had just come in today. It is Abby's best day ever. She said sweet 27 times when we started the movie.

Hurricane Abby

Our house is looking a lot like a mega hurricane hit and I'm not too sure where to start in attacking the mess. I'm sure I had this place pretty much spic and span Friday, so it appears we have one fast mess maker. I guess we will be spending at least part of the next few days cleaning up the messes.

Abby and I took a trip to the library today. She was very excited to be coming home with 3 books. Unfortunately, we were unable to find one of the things I really wanted to pick up - The Lion King. Abby has been obsessed with The Lion King ever since we let her watch some of the songs from the movie on youtube. Unfortunately for her our local movie rental store doesn't have a copy, the library said it has a copy, but it was missing in action, and the movie is currently locked in the Disney vault, so I can't even buy her a new copy. We are heading to Goodwill in a little while for Angel Food, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will have a copy there. If not I guess I will be hitting ebay and half.com later this week.

Abby wore her puffy, fur trimmed coat this morning to play group. She thought she was sure hot stuff. And she had a great time playing with her friends. I'm glad that we have the opportunity to get out and play with other children. It is really helping with her friendliness.

Abby's Been Busy

Abby was trying to sit next to Grandma Mary, but getting a big hug was more fun. Abby really loves her grandmas and grandpas. She talks about all of them regularly and we practice their names with our picture books. She really likes saying Lorraine, since it is the longest name she has to remember.
Abby also likes to give her baby kisses. Hopefully she still enjoys the baby once it arrives. This is 13 1/2 weeks - I'm already much bigger with this baby than I was with Abby at 13 1/2 weeks. Things seem to be going well and we are going in Wednesday for our next appointment with the doctor. We are going to let Abby come this time so that she can hear the new baby's heart beating.
This is our snow from yesterday. It got a little deeper on the deck, but only lasted until around 9 am. Abby was pretty amazed by it. Apparently she doesn't remember the piles and piles of snow we had around here last winter. I can't wait for more snow so we can enjoy playing in our own winter wonderland of a back yard. We are going to try and build our own little sledding hill so we can enjoy some winter sports in our own yard.
Abby likes checking herself out on the camera now and is a major ham. Grandma Mary will have some very funny pictures of Abby in hats and wild pony tails. She is super interested in having her picture taken.
Abby is demonstrating how to lock Maize into a dog crate. She thinks it is the best toy in the playroom now. Maize does not agree, but has also been sleeping in the crate without too much whining. And I haven't had to clean dog accidents off the floor in 5 days. Nice change.

We are waiting for our 1 inch of snow to fall this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Abby really enjoys watching it fall out the back door. She usually watches it rain too, but that is a lot harder to watch than big fluffy snowflakes.

First Snow

We had our first snowfall of the year today. Luckily none of it stuck. Abby is having a great time with Grandma Mary and is making sure that Grandma has read all of our books.

Best Friends

Abby has been enjoying some weekday play dates with one of her best friends, AJ. Last week we played with AJ on Tuesday and Friday and she came over again yesterday. The girls always have fun together. The only thing missing is the third musketeer, Maddie. Yesterday we heard some exciting news - Abby's friend AJ will be officially adopted by her foster family tomorrow. We are so glad that AJ will be a permanent part of Abby's childhood and can't wait for the age when they can have sleep overs and parties and all the fun things that make childhood memories great.

Abby is eagerly anticipating Grandma Mary's surprise visit tomorrow. When I told her yesterday that Grammy was coming to see her she had the biggest smile I've ever seen. And she must have said Grammy about 20 times in a row. She was super excited.

We have found a new favorite food for Abby - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but only if you cut them with a cookie cutter. Her favorite shape was the star sandwich, so if you ask her what she'd like for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack you are likely to hear star sandwich. We will see how long this kick lasts. She still loves her chicken nuggets and hot dogs too, so at least we are getting more variety in her diet.

Our Baby - Week 13

How your baby's growing:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Party Time!

Almost all the kids that attended Jordan's birthday party. Jordan is in the blue shirt standing on the red slide. Abby chewed on her hands for the whole picture time because she is working on getting 4 molars all at once.
Abby and Jordan in the play place. They are good friends. Jordan spent most of the party chasing Abby around and trying to get a hug. She finally let him have a hug right before we left.
Abby climbed up into the middle level of the play place (with some help from mommy) and rode down the slide at least 6 or 7 times. She loves playing at McDonalds.
Abby up in the middle level of the play place, she wouldn't look through the window for me. We had a great time partying with Jordan and her playgroup friends!

Shake Your Booty

MVI_0438
Originally uploaded by Jen O.

This girl has some good moves :-)

Abby Obreiter

Abby learned how to say her last name today. It is hilarious and quite a mouthful for such a small lady. She also learned some awesome dance moves from our friend Craig today while Steve was hosting the guys for football Sunday (we also did football Saturday, so we are basically hosted and footballed out).

Tomorrow Abby is going to her first real, non-family birthday party. And it's at her favorite place, McDonald's play land. We are very excited to go celebrate her new friend Jordan's birthday. We met Jordan at Abby's swim class this summer and now we go to the same playgroup, so they have lots of fun playtime together. We'll have to see how Abby does when someone else gets to open presents and is the center of attention. I'm hoping a happy meal toy will keep her occupied enough.

Bird Feeding

Abby and I set out our bird and squirrel feeders so that we can attract more friends for Abby to watch this fall. A couple days ago we had two big blue jays on our back porch and Abby spent the better part of an hour waiting for them to come back. She really enjoys watching for animals out our back windows.

It is raining buckets this afternoon and cold! We stayed warm napping and heading to Wal-mart to get more bird and squirrel food. We also had fun playing with Abby's friend AJ this morning. While they were playing puzzles and little people Abby actually looked at me and told me to go away. Geesh. I thought I had a few more years of enjoying playtime with Abby and her friends, but apparently they are already too cool for moms.

Playland is at McDonalds

Steve and I had a biology teacher that hung the statement "Playland is at McDonalds" one day after we were particularly obnoxious the day before. Abby and I decided we would enjoy our local playland and had a lunch date at McDonalds yesterday, just us two girls. It must have been a really slow day for playland, because after Abby finished eating there were no other kids there. And since there were no other kids there I helped Abby explore more of the playland than she had ever seen before. She got to go into the 2nd of 3 levels and rode down the twisty slide 4 times. We had a great time. I got two cute pictures on my camera phone, but I have no idea how to transfer them from phone to computer. You'll just have to imagine Abby in a blue tunnel slide and Abby peering through the window on the 2nd level tower.

While we were at McDonalds we ran into Dr. Anderson's mom, so knowing that she is heading back to Iowa soon and that we had wanted to have them for dinner before they left, Abby and I jumped at the opportunity and had Steve invite them for dinner. Then we cleaned like maniacs and cooked for the rest of the afternoon. But, we had a great dinner, a nice visit, and Abby decided that Mrs. Anderson should be her adopted Grammy. That really made Mrs. Anderson's night since she has no grandchildren. We had lots and lots of fun.

We started our morning yesterday playing Star Wars. Abby loves playing with the toy light sabre we have (don't know why we have it, but we do). She was being an ewok, since she had cute bear ears on top of her head, and was chopping off Maize's legs and ears. They have a lot of fun playing games together. After we played Star Wars we pretended to be bears since she had the ears and all.

Today we've been recouperating from the fun. This morning Abby climbed out of bed and donned a sun bonnet before sneaking into our room (with Steve guiding her and keeping the hat on so I could see it) to wake me up. I don't remember when I last laughed that hard. This girl sure has an amazing sense of style.

Our Baby - Week 12 (and a day)

Week 12 of Pregnancy

While it may seem as if you've doubled in size over the past few weeks, it's your baby who actually has!

By now, your baby weighs a full half-ounce and is about the size of a large plum. Most of his systems are in place, though there's still plenty of maturing to do. For one thing, his fetal digestive system is beginning to practice contraction movements so he can eat someday, and his bone marrow is busy making white blood cells — weapons against germs once he's out of your safe haven. The pituitary gland (at the base of the brain) has started producing the hormones that'll enable him (or her) to make babies of his (or her) own in a couple of decades or so. If all these changes sound dizzying, that may just be you dealing with yet another problematic pregnancy symptom: Lots of women experience occasional dizziness and/or feel faint due to progesterone, which causes increased blood flow to your baby by relaxing your own blood vessels. More blood flow to baby means less blood flow to your body and brain and that, along with typically lower blood-sugar levels during pregnancy, can set your world a-spinning. Do your part to keep your equilibrium by eating regularly, getting adequate rest, and standing up slowly.

(from: http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/week-12.aspx)