Let it Snow, Let it Snow

So most of our Christmas cards have been sent out and we are now ready to reveal Abby's beautiful Christmas photo. It's a good thing we took this picture when we did because now the snow is too deep to even attempt to take an outside snow picture. And, when we did this one it was around 30 degrees - today it's a balmy 9 degrees (brr... it started at 1 degree this morning)!

Abby was wonderful last night at Steve's office Christmas party. She had a great time visiting with the assistants and other dentists. I think she almost stole the show, although some of the white elephant gifts were pretty hilarious! We somehow ended up with some animated goodies, including a dancing Santa (in his underwear of course). Abby likes copying Santa's dance, so we may have to capture that on video for everyone to enjoy.

Today's adventures include making my first cheesecake (it's a peppermint and chocolate recipe that thankfully doesn't require baking) and also making a dish for Steve's work brunch tomorrow. Abby is going to be getting a lot of practice cooking today. She will probably also get some practice eating.

It Was So Cold...

Now here's the part where you all say "How cold was it" and we show you this picture of our exploded pop can. We had been enjoying the ability to leave pop out on our porch for a free way to keep it ice cold without cluttering up our refrigerator. Obviously we had to come up with plan b after our sub-zero temperatures created a 4 can explosion. Thankfully tomorrow night is supposed to be our last night of single digit temperatures for a few days. Hopefully we will be thawed soon.

We could also use the exploded can as a metaphor for my head, but it is much better. I managed to make it through the day without any cold medicine, and the only issue I've dealt with is lack of hearing. But, with a noisy dog and noisy Abby in the house my muffled hearing is almost a blessing in disguise.

Abby has been entering a new stage - deliberate disobedience. We are not too excited about her finally reaching an age where she purposely does things we've told her not to do. Our biggest problem is her constantly turning the t.v. on and off. I will admit, we found it funny and didn't address it right away, so we are partly to blame for the problem. So today, we tried doing a time out for not listening when I told her not to touch the t.v. power button. Let's just say that time outs were not working for us today, mostly because I couldn't stop laughing. Abby apparently loved being in time out and started doing her little Abby dance, cracking up, and in general enjoying her time in the "naughty chair". We are going to have to reconsider time out - it isn't going to be very effective if it's too fun.

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.

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.

Two Turkeys

We have one turkey cooking in the oven and another cute one who is finally taking her nap. Abby and her dad enjoyed their usual lunch date today and watched the Michigan/UCLA basketball highlights on SportsCenter. Abby wishes her dad would have stayed up with her to watch Michigan win, but they both slept through it, so all they have is the highlight reel.

Tomorrow Abby is going to experience her first Michigan/Ohio State football game. Unfortunately Michigan will probably lose and she will be watching the game in the home of an Ohio State fan, so she will not be able to yell at the t.v. and throw toys at it. Bummer...

If anyone has a pattern for an easy dog sweater to knit or crochet please let us know, poor Maize is freezing to death when we put her outside. Even her paws are getting frostbit and then we have to watch her limp around until they warm up. Abby doesn't like that, so I am trying to crochet up a dog sweater with some scrap yarn. We'll see how this works.

Abby would like to remind you all of her favorite two words during football season "Go Blue"... Have a wonderful weekend :-)

Crazy Night Owl

I am tired this morning. Very tired. I don't recall approving a late night party, but Abby was sure that it was on the agenda. So, until 11:30 we had a party that was fun for her and not so fun for Steve and I. She had like 3 full bottles, we tried rocking, singing, putting her into bed and leaving, letting her lay in bed with us. We finally gave her a little tylenol since she is working on some new teeth and she went right to sleep, but I doubt that is because of the tylenol. And... she was up 1 whole hour earlier than yesterday. Not that 7:15 is too early, since Steve had already been through the shower, but still a short night for our normally long sleeper.

It is cold here. Yesterday we didn't make it into the 50's and we are expecting more of the same today. We will be wearing lots and lots of sweaters for a long while. That and staying inside - especially because a skunk was outside and making the neighborhood way stinky last night.

Abby's been eating some great new things, like animal crackers. We bought a solid food feeder, which is basically a netted bag that she can gum foods through without big pieces choking her. She is happy and we are happy not to be picking food out of her mouth every few minutes. She had mushy cookie all over herself and her clothes yesterday. Not only does she love the feeder, Maize loves it too. We've had to disinfect it and Maize has been lectured about her position as a dog and how she is not allowed to eat people food or use people utensils.

And so, time for Thursday in the chilly cold, U.P. We've got to make some yummy foods for our bible study tomorrow. I'm thinking pumpkin bread :-)

Baby Sweater

We need to get out our warm clothes, and fast! It is a whopping 63 degrees here today and not getting any warmer. Abby and I both got our warm clothes out. We much prefer t-shirts to sweaters, but if we are going to stay warm this winter we won't get a choice.

I tried to make Abby a baby sweater yesterday. I found a pattern that said 6 to 9 months, but it must be a very different 6 to 9 months than I'm used to because it would not fit. But it's cute, so it may be finding a sweet baby girl to be gifted to soon. Now we just need to go to JoAnn Fabrics to find some pretty buttons for this little sweater. We'll have to find a new pattern to make Abigail her own sweater. Maybe we'll try another variation of this pattern again too for a smaller baby. Who knows... now that I've done one I know I can do another!

First day back at work

Sparky and I went back to work for the first time. It has been so nice to have been off work since last November - I have become very spoiled with sleeping in, getting around to things when I feel like it, and just enjoying a very flexible schedule. Luckily the new job will be just perfect for us. I made it through the whole day without feeling overwhelmed or exhausted and my co-workers were all amazingly kind and considerate. They had been warned that I was expecting, so I am probably getting it easy. My new job seems to be right up my alley - starting tomorrow I will be spending most of my time on the phone or email working with contractors, businessmen, and attorneys to work out construction contracts. I know nothing about construction law or construction practices, but I am sure I can catch on to what I need to know quickly. And... with an hour for lunch I can eat fast and sneak in a 30 to 45 minute power nap.

My cold has almost left me alone. Since I am limited to taking Tylenol, which does nothing for a cold, I have resorted to Breathe Right strips to help keep my airways open at night. I'm hoping to be over this soon and will definitely be getting a flu shot this year, in spite of my severe needle-phobia.

The belly doesn't seem to be growing, but we will post another picture soon so you can judge for yourself.