Sometimes Happy...

Olivia, who has up until the last week been an incredibly happy baby, has had a very bad week. We can barely see her two little front teeth that just about have made it into her mouth. I'm praying they hurry up and pop through so that the poor girl can get some relief and I can get some sleep at night. She's been either happy or shrieking for about a week. I've been beyond exhausted for about that same amount of time.

We had a really fun week this past week. We got to witness the adoption of our friends' foster daughter and celebrate her adoption into their family. She'd been with them since she left the hospital, so it was exciting to finally (18 months later) celebrate that she was official. We also got to enjoy visiting with Great Grandma Lorraine and Great Grandpa Harley. They hadn't been up to see the new house yet, so we had fun showing them around and the girls loved playing with them. Abby was pretty bummed out when they left Sunday morning and has been checking for their car out the window just in case they come back. We took them to the must-do tourist spot in town (The Antlers Restaurant). While we were having dinner Abby fell asleep at the table. She almost fell out of her chair, but we caught her in time to let her sit up on my lap and sleep. It's amazing the places that little girls can fall asleep.

And... for the "Abby-isms" file of things I need to remember, we had the following play out this weekend:

Abby was playing with her dolls and wanted to put her doll's bottle into the fridge, since I had just put her milk into the fridge. Her toy fridge was upstairs in her bedroom. She took the bottle up and then came down and this conversation happened.

Abby to me: Can you bring my fridge downstairs?
Me to Abby: You need to ask your dad if that's okay.
Abby walks across the room to Steve.
Abby to Steve: Can you bring my fridge downstairs?
Steve to Abby: If I bring it downstairs you won't have any toys in your room.
Abby walks across the room to me.
Abby to me: Dad said yes.

Oh are we in trouble....

Think Pig

Abby is on a pig kick since her week visiting Hannah and Emily's hogs at the Barry County Fair. We have been watching pig movies, playing with her toy pigs, and changing ourselves into pigs with her magic wand. We even took pig pictures at Great Grandma Jennie's camper when we stopped by their campsite to visit them yesterday. Someday Abby will either love this picture or really, really hate it. Personally I really love it - I crack up every time I see her little nose smooshed up and her squinty eye.

Since the weather on Saturday was bad we skipped camping for the weekend (like we had planned) and instead just made a day trip over to Blind Sucker Flooding on Sunday. We had a lot of fun visiting and brought back a whole GALLON of wild blueberries. YUM! We had so much fun we are thinking of going back to camp this weekend, since the weather is supposed to be much, much sunnier. And it can't get much cloudier than today. We had rain all day - Abby spent over an hour playing in the rain on the deck. Olivia just spent time whining since there weren't any grandmas around to hold her while she napped. It's been a lot of spoiling lately!

Earthquakes and Other Random Events

Yep... I really mean earthquakes. We apparently experienced one that had an epicenter about 500 miles away. Neither Steve nor I felt it, but lots of our friends did. I was trying to put Abby down for a nap and she was walking all over on the bed during the earthquake. I think that combined with the fact that we have a cinder block house made it unnoticeable for me. Steve was working on a patient and was concentrating on what he was doing, so he didn't notice it either. But Dave, Steve's co-worker, saw the waves from the earthquake ripple across the belly of his very overweight patient. I can imagine it was a very weird experience (and probably hard not to laugh, which would have been pretty mean).

So... other than being earthquaked, we have been trying so hard to potty train. Abby had one morning where we tried the drink until you have to pee every 15 minutes method. She went 14 times in the morning, then decided that "I can't" (said in her most whiny voice). So... we are back to refusing to sit on the potty chair after her recording breaking morning. Ugh...

Olivia laughed at me for the first time last night when I was blowing raspberries on her belly. It was just a little laugh, but it was pretty adorable. She is still trying hard to flatten out the right side of her head. I can't seem to figure out how to keep her from rolling over onto it in the night. I've tried the sleep positioner, rolling blankets under her right side, putting her to sleep on her side, basically everything I could think of. No luck.

As for Abby, here are her best lines from the week:
"When I grow big like a mom I can drink coffee and diet coke."
"I am going to get my waffle (it is 3 steps away). I will be back in 3 minutes."

And finally... we are all having cabin fever since Summer didn't get the message that it arrived already. We have had rain, rain, and more rain. We took advantage of the nicer (warm but way, way windy) afternoon yesterday and went to the park with Autumn, Little Abby, Mrs. Hood and their foster boy. Abby had a lot of fun with her friends. And it was great to see people since we've been stuck inside and have had snotty nosed kids. I'm hoping their noses are dry soon.

"He Will Put A Band-Aid On My House"

We have a drain cleaner coming today to clean out our drain that is backed up (it's only the kitchen sink/garbage disposal and washing machine on the line). The drain guy who is coming out today has been here for the same problem before since he is the only drain guy in town. So... hopefully by the end of the day I will be able to do laundry without all the water ending up on the floor. Then possibly we will move some furniture down there so we can hang out someplace cool when it gets hot this summer.

So, since I knew Abby would be freaked out by a strange guy entering our home later today, I told her that our house was broken and that a special man would be coming to fix it. I also had to go down into the basement to clean up and little and didn't want her down there with all Steve's tools and yucky water on the floor, so she needed an explanation of why she couldn't come down and help me, which she normally does. Our Abby is one smart cookie. After I explained all that to her she looked at me and said "Our house is broked." I told her she was right. Then she told me to fix it, so I explained to her that I couldn't but the special fixer man could. So the next thing out of her mouth was, "he will put a band-aid on my house." Way too cute not to share.

In other news... Abby can now draw pretty good circles. I am trying to teach her how to draw an "A", but we are having no luck. Olivia is enjoying her jumper and Abby has only been scolded 3 times for shaking it too much for a baby to ride in. I'd say that's pretty good.

Dentist's Kids Gone Wild

The coke can was robbed from the recycling bin. I did let her have the sucker, but we were making valentines for her friends with the other ones, so it hardly seemed fair not to let her have one.

Abby Back Hurts

It must be that Steve and I have been talking about my aching back a little too much, because this morning Abby woke up, came down for breakfast and said to me "Abby back hurts. Hot shower." Needless to say I couldn't control the laughing and we took Miss Abby up for her hot shower, after which she was all better. She doesn't seem to miss a thing anymore. So, as much as my back is probably going to hurt for the rest of this pregnancy, I think I am going have to grin and bear it.

Last night Abby found her portable dvd player and insisted on watching Veggie Tales on it, even though her dad volunteered the big screen t.v. for her. She sure has a mind of her own. But she enjoyed Bob and Larry and her daddy was able to enjoy his sports center and other programs. She also insisted on wearing only dog clothes this morning, but after spilling a whole cup of milk on herself at lunch, she is now wearing a cute blue sweater and plain old khaki pants.

Abby enjoyed her daddy's day off yesterday by taking two walks around town, including one to the library. She enjoyed her library books so much that she went to bed with them last night. They were still sleeping with her when she woke up this morning. Another example of the crazy ideas that this girl gets into her little head. And another reason why we love her so much!

Here's one last picture of Abby and the puppy her dad said would be too much work for us (and I'm sure he was right, but it is such an adorable puppy).

She Says The Darndest Things

Abby just brought me her shoes and said "stoee" - I think we may have a shop-a-holic!

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!