Whoa! Where Has Time Gone

Okay... so a week later, and I don't really know how the week flew by so fast. Except for maybe the fact that we were away from home for the holiday weekend and that I've had some extra crabbiness around here due to teething children (both of them - lovely). We had a great time down-state visiting family and managed to see all of the grandparents and great-grandparents again. Steve and I also went to our 10th class reunion. We can add that to things we will never do again - both because there won't be another 10th reunion for that class and because we paid a lot of money for bad food and no program or slide shows or anything. We did get to catch up with some friends, but it certainly wasn't 70 dollars worth of fun or food. Oh well...

Abby is officially over napping except on days when she has been really busy or she was up late the night before. I'm not sure I like this new phase of life. I need my naps too! But, we are learning to make it workable. Olivia, unfortunately, hasn't been napping well lately either. I think the travel threw her off her schedule, so she's been extra crabby since she's been missing her 3 hour afternoon naps (and she also doesn't want to miss out on anything anymore, so that complicates things). She's generally the happiest kid in the room, but with the teething and the lack of naps she's been off lately.

Now that we are home for a few weeks in a row again, we've been getting back into the swing of having friends around. Last night Olivia and her little friend Hugh discovered each other and rolled across the rug to get together. It was pretty cute to watch them discover each other and try really hard to get within reach of the other. Olivia also had some quality time with Wyatt (whom we've been told has laid claim to her, so apparently she is not available for your sons). It is great to have friends with kids the same ages as our daughters - they have such a great time with their little playmates.

Locking Up Again

We were back at the Soo Locks yesterday. I think it is probably our favorite outdoor place in town. There aren't any swings or slides or other playground equipment, but Abby seems pretty happy just playing on the staircase by the fountain and waving to all the boats that go through. Yesterday she got to wave to 5 boats in the two hours we were there (okay... technically 4 since one tug boat/barge combo went through twice). The park is a great place to just lay in the grass and enjoy a picnic. It is the softest grass in town. So yesterday we joined our playgroup friends for some time in the park. Abby and I remembered our bubbles and sidewalk chalk, but we were the only ones who brought stuff, so we didn't get to play much with the bubbles. We did, however, make some amazing sidewalk art with our chalk. Lots of lambs, bunnies, and chickens. And Abby scraped her pinkie finger running on the sidewalk (and falling from going to fast). If you ask her about it she will tell you she has marker on her finger.



















Abby has become very aware of things that hurt lately. It seems like every five minutes she is coming up to me and pointing to something to tell me "it hurts mom." Most of the things are bug bites, since the warm weather seems to have hatched out like a million mosquito. Our backyard isn't terrible compared to most of our friends yards, but it is still pretty bad. She is also still working on getting her last four molars, so I'm sure that doesn't help with the hurting.

We are leaving for Fargo, ND and cousin Jack's house in 8 days. Abby is pretty excited! We are looking forward to seeing Glenn, Melissa, and Jack and introducing Olivia to more of her really awesome family. It should be a good crash course for Jack on what it's like to have a baby around 24 hours a day. He is going to be a great big brother soon!

Sun-Day

After two days of icky weather we are back to beautiful sunshine! Abby has been spending a lot of time outside enjoying her swing set, sandbox (which now has sand in it), and sprinkler. We had a pool out for a while, but Abby had a problem remembering not to pee in it, so we drained it and decided a sprinkler would be a better way for her to cool off.
Olivia has been a lot more alert and interactive in the last couple weeks, so Abby has been enjoying more and more play time with her little sister. She loves sitting with Olivia on the chair. Olivia seems to like Abby too and gives her great big smiles. She just won't do them when I have the camera.
This is the pool girl right before she had her accident in the pool. So consequently her daddy drained it. We have had unusually warm weather around here for most of the last week and we supposed to hit 90 at least one day this week. I'm thinking beach...
So basically, Friday we were busy baby sitting Abby's friend Maddie at lunch time and her friends Autumn and Abby in the evening. Abby had a great time with all her friends. I got exhausted. That's a lot of running. And on Friday I managed to whip up 2 baby slings and a baby blanket for gifts - and they had to be done ASAP since one recipient is leaving the U.P. for the south side of Chicago on Friday night. Saturday was a lazy day, except for the part where Steve and I dug the sandbox out so that we could put in 10 to 12 inches of sand. The box as it was built would only hold 3 or 4 inches and we decided that wouldn't really meet Abby's needs. So we did some back breaking labor hunched over since the roof over the sandbox was about 4 foot high. Today we had lunch with our friends the Dodges, went to a graduation open house for one of Steve's co-worker's children, and then used our new sandbox and sprinkler to play in the back yard. I didn't realize how busy we had been until I sat down and typed all that out. I'm getting tired just thinking of it all... I think tomorrow is going to be much less busy.

Park Playdate

We went on a park play date with our friends today. Abby and Autumn (AJ) had a great time riding in Abby's wagon on the way to the park. I almost had a heart attack trying to pull two girls while wearing Olivia. They got a little heavy in the hot sun (it got to 79 degrees on my thermometer today - and the thermometer is in the shade).
Abby and Autumn ran all over around the locks. It's a good thing the whole place is fenced in and has only two exits. There were quite a few times when we weren't really sure where the girls had run off to, but since we could see the only exit available to them, there is nothing too dangerous, and no one else was around we figured we'd let them enjoy some independence for a little bit.
Olivia hung out in the shade of the wagon canopy, which thankfully is totally easy to pop on and off. She also checked out the newest foster child to live with our friends. He's a little boy who is almost two weeks old. It was almost like her first little play date too, since we let them play together after Patrick finished his bottle.

Abby has also been enjoying her little pool in the backyard and has been riding down the slide in her wet bathing suit. It has been beautiful outside. It has been close to 80 the last two days, which makes for some really wonderful outside time. Unfortunately it also makes Abby loathe nap time. She didn't even nap on Sunday or Monday. That is not something I am going to allow to occur on a regular basis.

Building Time

We have been busy, busy building Abby and Olivia's swing set. I think between Steve and I we have all of the major structures put together and now we just have to get them connected and staked down. Abby has been having a great time watching, helping, and digging as we put up the structure. We should be able to finish it up tonight, I hope.

Abby, Olivia, and I went to playgroup at the park this morning and had a great time visiting and playing with her friends. She may be a social chicken, but she still enjoys getting out and seeing other kids. Other than the building and play grouping, we've been pretty boring around here. Doing laundry, cooking, and doing the normal daily things. Abby wants to be outside all of the time. Olivia wants to eat practically all of the time. I want to sleep basically all day, but I don't get to. The normal stuff...

6 Kid Craziness

I survived 6 children under 3 for 10 entire minutes on my own today. It was not nearly as bad as you might think. We had Abby's friens Autumn, "baby" Abby, Rian, and Huron over to play and have lunch. For the most part there was another adult around, but for a little bit I was flying solo and flinging food toward lots of little people.

Abby had her 2 year old check-up today. I got to fly solo for that too. Abby wasn't too happy about being the one getting the check-up, but she did do almost everything she was supposed to do. She cried about being weighed and measured and wouldn't let the doctor look down her throat, but she did okay for her shot and even thanked the nurse for the band-aid and sucker afterward. She was 29 pounds today and 34 1/4 inches. Olivia also sneaked onto the scale. She was 10 pounds 9 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. During the check-up Olivia visited and snuggled with the front desk staff - I think they were in heaven.

And, we finally got both girls to take a 3 hour nap at the same time, so I got a nap and a spin on my elliptical now that I'm done with any restrictions.

A Long Walk

Steve had today off, so we took our girls on a long walk in their double stroller to enjoy the ridiculously warm (76 degrees) weather. They lasted about 5 blocks before they were both sleeping. I'd say that makes the new stroller a keeper. We also spent a lot of time outside enjoying the weather and making dirt "princess" castles with Abby.

Besides our outdoor fun, Abby and I met her friends for brunch at Burger King. She had lots of fun seeing her friends and enjoying some time out of the house. I also enjoyed visiting my friends, who just happen to be the moms of Abby's best friends - it's great when that sort of thing works out.

Going Cordless

Olivia turned 3 weeks old today and had two little milestones in the last 36 hours. The first was her first spit-up, which of course went right down the front of my shirt yesterday around lunch time. I could have done without that. The second was losing her umbilical cord stump this morning - oddly enough at the same moment she was spitting up down the front of my shirt. So she is now cordless and Abby is having a great time comparing belly buttons with her baby sister.

Abby has been having a good and bad transition to being a big sister. Most days and most times are good, but she's also been having lots of meltdowns and fits. It will be good to try a day just the three of us girls tomorrow so we can start to establish some rules and regulations for the little girls who live around here. One will need to learn to nap by herself and the other will need to learn that she can't have everything she wants right at the minute she wants it. Actually... reading that sentence I think they both need to learn both of those lessons. I guess I have a lot of work to do.

We had a lot of fun with Grandpa Roy and Grandma Von here the last few days. And we got a lot of yard work done thanks to Grandpa. We have a great spot set for Abby and Olivia's new swing set and a nice new garden with a small rock retaining wall (we found the rocks when we were cleaning up the weedy "gardens" that were left out back). Last night we had a little birthday party for Abby and Grandpa Roy, since Grandpa's birthday was about 2 weeks ago and Abby's birthday is in 2 weeks. She had a great time opening some presents and has lots of cool new Belle things and princess pajamas. She was very impressed with it all, except for the singing gift bags... those kind of freaked her out.

Abby and I went tonight to our small group bible study for the first time since the first Wednesday in March. She had a great time seeing her friends, although she has completely forgotten her playtime manners and how to share. We have some major re-learning ahead of us on that front. But it was great to see friends and have some adult conversation with them. Abby gave all of her friends big hugs on her way out the door... it was the most adorable thing. I can't wait for Olivia to get big enough to have such great friends too.

More Melting

It was 55 degrees outside today - not really what you'd expect for a Sault Ste. Marie early-March afternoon. We love it! Not that we got to spend any time outside today. We were too busy with playgroup and Time Out For Moms. One went great, the other not as planned, but Abby had fun at both.

We had lots and lots of kids at playgroup this morning and Abby had a great time creating a gorilla and playing with play-doh. Then we went to Time Out For Moms, a thing our church does for moms. Somehow everyone else, except for one mom who is pretty new to the church, decided not to show up. I'm glad we went and had lunch with Jane, but I felt pretty bad that it was just the two of us. I hope she doesn't give up on other church related functions because of today's turnout. On the bright side, I invited all the moms from our playgroup to join us for Time Out For Moms and about 8 of them did. So Abby still had lots of little friends to play with at the lunch date.

Abby took her daddy for a "run" around the block yesterday. Abby's new thing is half-running and then telling Steve or I to run too. He thought it was so funny, since she hadn't done that trick for him yet. They had a great time playing while I was out for a meeting. And Abby even went to bed on her own, in her own bed, without Steve or I sitting with her until she was asleep. She still woke me up at 3 a.m. to turn her music back on, but I figure it was a decent trade off for not having to fight to get her to sleep.

Here Kitty, Kitty...

It was cupcake day at Abby's play group and she got to bring two mini-cakes home for her afternoon snack. Her afternoon snack ended up being 5 p.m. after she took a three hour nap. And the best part is that I didn't have to lay down with her or stay in her room. I just took her up, popped in her c.d. and left. I love it when that happens.

I finished a kitten bonnet for Baby Sister today. I had to do a little improvising to get the chin strap the way I wanted it. And I had to do a lot of learning, since I hadn't knitted anything besides basic dishcloths. I can now say I'm a fairly decent beginner at knitting.

Boys Are Busy

Abby and I had some new friends over today and boy oh boy did I forget how busy little boys are! We watched an 18 month old and 3 year old from a new family who is attending our church (and their dad works at the tribe with Steve). Huron and Rian were cute and well behaved little boys, but boys certainly play much differently than girls. Much, much differently. Luckily, Abby napped through most of their visit, so I only had to handle 3 children under the age of 3 for about 30 minutes.

Abby and I are spending some quality Abby/Mommy time tonight while Steve is attending the tribal board meeting to see if he is going to get a raise under the new compensation package that is being voted on tonight. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the package will be approved, especially since Abby's favorite baby sitter lives with Dr. Dave, Steve's office partner, and Dr. Dave has been considering his options if the package isn't approved. We don't want to be on the hunt for a new baby sitter anytime soon, so we've been praying for a good outcome.

We are also praying for a good ride down tomorrow to visit family. Cousin Joe Nichelson probably doesn't quite know what he is getting himself into taking Miss Abby on a ride with him. But then again, he does have lots of littler siblings, so I'm sure he's had his share of fun riding in the car with a toddler. I'm hoping enough fruit snacks and dvd's will make the ride a happy one for Abby. Either way, we are glad to be going and spending some time with Joe. It's been a long time since I've had a good chance to visit with him and I personally am pretty sure I have the most amazing cousins in the world.

Playland Predicament

Abby met her friend AJ for a lunch date at the other play land in town today (Burger King) and she was actually big enough to climb in and around all by herself. But we still had issues... big kids. Abby is terrified of coming near them. And so, when she gets all the way up into play land and one gets near her, big pregnant mom has to climb up too so that Abby can be rescued. The rules sign on the outside said, "If you see anything weird, tell a manager." I'm pretty sure big pregnant women climbing around in the play structure counts as something weird, right?

Our Girl - 26 Weeks

If a full night's rest has become elusive, welcome to the (sleepless) world of pregnancy insomnia. Between heartburn and leg cramps, bathroom runs and that big beach ball beneath your nightie, it's no wonder your body's having trouble calming down and drifting off. But there are lots of tactics to try that should help keep you in bed (and asleep!) instead of pacing the floor; these include daytime exercise, a daily dose of fresh air, and limiting fluids before you hit the hay. What's up with your baby? She now weighs a full two pounds and measures nine-plus inches. And this week, her eyes, which until now were developing under fused eyelids, start to open. Of course, there's not much to see in there, but if your baby spots a bright light (or hears a loud noise) near your belly, you may notice an increase in fetal activity. (Hey, I'm in here, Mommy!)

from (http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/week-26.aspx)

We had a check-up today. Baby's heart rate was 138 and she was moving all around. Everything is right on track according to the doctor. We had the re-test for the glucose challenge test, so hopefully that will come back normal and the gestational diabetes will be a thing of my past :-)

Abby had a really fun afternoon playing with her best friends Autumn and Maddie. She didn't even cry when I dropped her off at Autumn's house and left. She is really growing up fast!

Abby Knock Up Door

We left Abby with her friend A.J. today while we were at a funeral. On the way in, Abby helped knock on A.J.'s door and then she said to me "Abby knock up door." I could hardly keep from laughing. She is quite an observant little lady.

Not much else is going on. We are just working on laundry and packing. Abby is reading me Hop on Pop (only the big words, not the whole page). So on this page above, she would read me "Hop Pop" and then I'd read the rest. She is pretty smart to have memorized the big words on almost all the pages. That and we read this book almost everyday.

Test One - Passed!

I officially passed the first glucose challenge test, so as of last week I hadn't developed gestational diabetes. There will probably need to be a re-test in about 10 weeks, but it's nice to know that I can enjoy some yummy holiday treats without worrying about my blood sugar. And I think tonight is going to involve some ice cream in celebration!

Abby had a great play date with her friends Little Abby and A.J. this morning. We really enjoy the ability to play with other kids (and she also enjoyed playing with their puppies Maggie and CoCo). Abby and I are thinking about heading out to finish up some Christmas shopping today - we are over halfway done and hoping to be all finished before Thanksgiving. Abby has been thinking really hard about what to get for her Aunties and Uncles now that we have all of her cousins' shopping done.

Moon Boots

Hmm... Abby wonders. Who is cooler? Abby in her spandex and moon boots or Napoleon Dynamite? He does have sweet pockets on the side of his pants, but she thinks the stripes are a much bigger fashion statement.

Abby enjoyed a visit from Grandpa Roy, who was in town to train the staff at the local Department of Agriculture office. We got to have dinner last night with Grandpa and then visit afterward and had lunch together today too. And, tomorrow night Abby will be headed off to Hastings to do lots and lots of visiting with family and friends.

Today was Abby's playgroup day. We had a great time playing with the other kids and Abby enjoyed the lesson on making healthy fruit salad from our local MSU extension office friend Janet. Abby even got to help make the fruit salad by cutting up peaches (don't worry, it was a plastic knife and she is very handy). I am so glad she has a safe, fun place to play with other kids and learn things each week. And, it is nice for me to interact with other moms. Just this morning one of them was asking me how I handled staying at home when I had so much education and had an "important" job before having kids. It's nice to be able to share with moms like that how much Steve and I value the fact that we can give Abby and Baby O. a great start by letting them have a stay at home mom. Not that me working would have been a bad thing, its just too much fun to give up in exchange for extra income. And I get to witness all the firsts. Like the singing of twinkle, twinkle little star. We are up to "twinkle star how wonder are up diamond twinkle star how wonder are." Pretty soon she will have the whole song down.

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.

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.

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.

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.