Abby Too Noisy

Yesterday Steve and I left Abby with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Scott for the day while we visited friends in Ann Arbor and headed to the Michigan basketball game. She had a great time. During her great time she was apparently pretty hilarious too.

For example, Abby headed to church with Grandma and Grandpa, but had to leave the service with Grandma because she was being too noisy. She apparently wasn't too happy about that and promptly asked to go back in to sit with grandpa. That idea got vetoed. Then Abby told the usher, our friend Mr. Koutz, that "Abby too noisy go back inside." I'm pretty sure he got just as big a laugh out of that as I did when we got back home. She also wouldn't go into the church's nursery because she thought the other kids were "weird."

On Saturday I scored a major find in the Abby bedding department. I love the Target "Simply Shabby Chic" line of bedding for kids, but had ruled it out because it tends to be pretty pricey. And with little girls we didn't want to invest too much money on bedding until they were old enough to choose for themselves and treat the bedding gently. Fortunately, I stumbled across a bed in a bag set (all the pieces you could possibly need or want) from that line on clearance. And there were two twin size sets. So... instead of buying the Disney sets from Wal-Mart and having to buy each piece seperately, Abby has really cute pale aqua and white bedding with flowers and butterflies for less than I would have spent to outfit her with any of the other potential sets. And she actually liked the bedding. Once we get it home and get our beds we will share pictures of her pretty princess room with you all.

And now... I should be going, since Abby is trying to put Grandma Mary's dogs in "time out" in their dog crates.

Doing Chores

Abby has been mastering her two chores around this house - feeding Maize and picking up toys. She is getting pretty good with the toys, but sometimes the dog food doesn't quite end up in the bowl...We've had a rather uneventful day today, which was a welcome change from the running around and busyness we've been experiencing lately. Abby and I even took the opportunity to re-arrange our family room so that we can enjoy our gas fireplace, which until yesterday was not working. We did a lot of sweeping, picking up, and rotating of furniture so that we can see both the t.v. and the fireplace from the couch. And Abby found lots of great things under the couch that we had "lost."

Abby is really mastering language at a great pace lately. She is talking almost exclusively in sentences now and it is becoming harder and harder to pretend like we can't understand what she is asking for. She gets pretty adamant about things too... Like yesterday, we bought a second toddler car seat for Steve's car. K-Mart had them on sale and we really wanted the ability to take which ever car was parked in back (since we have a one lane driveway and parking on the streets during snow season is not a great idea). So Abby and I went and picked out a new, pink car seat. Then she had a little fit because I wouldn't buckle it in right away and let her ride home in it. She didn't quite understand that we were on a schedule and changing out car seats in the freezing cold wasn't on mommy's agenda. She did enjoy playing with the car seat once we got home. She even wanted to be buckled into it and left alone.

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.

Christmas Shopping Extravaganza

I don't think Abby missed me that much while I was Christmas shopping in Traverse City. She was huggy and snuggly when I got home, but I think she had a lot of fun with her Daddy yesterday. And I had lots of fun with my friend Tara getting a jump start on Christmas shopping. So far, we have presents for all the little people in our lives (including all of Abby's gifts). Now we just have to tackle presents for some of the bigger people.

Since Abby can't read, and I can't take things back easily, here is what I got her: the play-doh version of Mr. Potato Head, the books Olivia and Olivia's Opposites, a Little People panda and giraffe set, and some more of the Gymboree dog gear (socks, barrettes, and a white t-shirt). Most of her present is going straight into her college fund, since she is too little to care whether we bought her a ton of stuff. And she has a ton of stuff... too much to put away.

We had been enjoying some unseasonably warm weather lately, but today is no good. I am not a fan of forty, sprinkly, windy, and grey. I don't think my heater is a fan either. But it is good napping weather and Abby has been working on a nice long nap for quite a while now. Which means Steve and I managed to get her presents all wrapped while she was asleep, so they will all be great surprises.

Blueberry Baby

Abby was wonderful in Wal-Mart today, mostly because Abby spent the cart ride eating blueberries. Letting her eat in the cart has made all the difference in our shopping experience for the last couple of weeks. I should have figured this out months ago. We can even get through the toy department without whining when there is food going into her little mouth.

Abby had a great time this weekend. She was wonderful again when we visited Dr. Anderson and his mother on St. Joseph Island. She even ate dinner sitting in a big person chair between Mrs. Anderson and I and made Bev's week since she has no grandchildren of her own. Abby even got comfortable enough to chat away with them and to give Mrs. Anderson a hug on her way out. I have a feeling Abby will be invited back again after such a good performance.

I'm starting to feel better during the afternoons, but I'm still pretty much nauseous all morning and after dinner. I'm hoping that I don't have too many more weeks of this to deal with. Between feeling icky and spending too much time in the bathroom I feel like I'm losing my "Jen" time because of how much time I'm spending taking care of Abby and keeping up with the house. I'm going to have to get that rectified ASAP!

Abby learned a new trick yesterday (a bad trick!). She wanted to head back to the church nursery, which is more of a cry room because the parents have to stay and supervise their own children up to age two. So Abby did what any resourceful little girl would do and quickly and rather silently climbed under the pew to escape. I, of course, watched this all go down and followed her back there, but she sure thought she had pulled off a great victory in the war against listening to mommy.

Rainy Days

Abby and I saw this sleeper at Wal-Mart and had to buy it - with all the babies we know that will be arriving soon there is sure to be a little girl who would love to have pandas for toes. Or maybe we will save it for Abby's Uncle Dan when he has a little girl someday. It was just too cute to say no to. Abby also picked herself out a snoopy t-shirt for either this fall or next spring.
After 2 straight weeks of it being hot (by up north standards), I am so thankful for a cool rainy day. It has hampered Abby's ability to play outside, but we are making do. And with the cooler weather she has taken such a great nap that I got an hour of sleep in and still have time to update this blog and check my email. I consider that victory for the day. And we even made it through the Wal-Mart toy department without a breakdown on Abby's part or any toys. It was difficult, but she was a very good girl.

I'm battling through this morning/noon/night sickness that seems to plauge me during the early part of pregnancy. I've tried lots of the eat this or don't eat that remedies, tried drinking giner ale, and basically have struck out on all sides. There are apparently suckers or hard candies that are supposed to help, but unfortunately no stores up here carry them. Hopefully we only have another 6 or 7 weeks of this to survive. Ugh... I went in yesterday for additional bloodwork and have to head back to the doctor's on September 1st for another ultrasound. This is going to be one well spied on child :-)

Shopper's Shoulder

Abby loves wearing her new tu-tu from Grandma Mary and Aunt Hannah. She even knows how to do spins now. She would wear the tu-tu over anything if we let her.
This is Abby's necklace that she picked out at Super Wal-Mart. She is showing me how to wear a bracelet, but using the necklace instead. She really loves jewelery - we are in trouble when she gets big enough to walk around the store by herself.

Abby and I went and picked up groceries along with some camping supplies today. Abby picked out her very first fishing pole. There was a Disney princess one and a Dora the Explorer one. Abby is usually a princess kind of girl, but she picked Dora. Then she rode in the cart saying "Dora, Dora, Dora" just like the theme song. She was very proud of her purchase - that is until I put the goldfish crackers into the cart. Then all she could think of was the goldfish crackers and how badly she wanted to eat them.

Abby said Grammy and Grandpa one time last night, but then wouldn't say them again. She has lots of words like that, I know she has them stored up in her head and just isn't using them because they don't go with anything she is thinking of that day. Even without those words that she doesn't use every day we still have a lot of jabbering going on around here.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Licking the sparkling apple juice out of my toasting glass at the wedding we attended over the weekend.
This is the "cheese" face. Hopefully we outgrow this one into one where she keeps her eyes open soon!

Poor Abby had a very long night last night. She is definitely in the middle of a bad, bad cold and was really feeling pretty bad last night. She and I ended up sleeping on the couch together so that I could keep her propped up pretty far. And she was not fun to sleep with - lots of tossing, turning, coughing, snoring, etc. I hope she is on the way to all better soon!

Abby picked out her first necklace and bracelet at Wal-Mart today. It is a rainbow heart set and boy did she think she was hot stuff wearing it around the store while I did my shopping. She certainly loves to be the boss of her own style. Today we had to switch her shirts 2 times because she changed her mind after picking out her own clothes. She finally decided upon a cute orange one, which looks great with her new jewels.

Shoe Shopping

Here's the progress on the bathroom so far. We still have to finish up the floor, but we have the walls done and just need to repaint the white trim and radiators. Not too bad for amateurs.
Abby's learned how to kiss with her mouth closed (finally!) and loves giving out kisses, especially to mommy. Yesterday she learned the word elbow. I was trying to teach her where her elbow was and instead of mimicking me by showing me her elbow, she just said the word. She is too smart for her own good I would say!

Today Abby got to pick out 3 new pairs of shoes, since she'd outgrown all but one pair at our house. She was so funny - she has very particular taste in clothing and in shoes as well. She basically won't get dressed unless she gets to pick her own shirt out and she was the same way with her shoes. She was so proud of her new purchases - she very carefully carried one of the boxes all the way up to the cash register all by herself. We also checked out the brand new Wal-Mart Supercenter today, where Abby got to pick out her very own potty chair (all by herself of course). She also got a free shirt and magnet since it was the grand opening. It was so busy that we had to park way, way out in the lot and walk quite a way through the rain. I'll be avoiding that place for a week or two while all the gawking continues.

Working Girls

Abby and I spent all day yesterday working. We packed at the rental house in the morning and unpacked and cleaned the new house in the afternoon. We even let Maize come to the new house to check it out. She, of course, instantly peed on the carpet. Luckily the carpet is all coming out, so a little dog pee won't hurt it.

We moved the garage sale sofa in last night with some help from friends. It is just as nice as our current sofa, so it will work out great. We also hosted our first dinner party at the new house last night for the friend who carried in the sofa. We found a few more little things that we needed to fix by having company over and using the bathrooms.

Abby and I ran some errands this morning and worked on some additional packing. I think it is going to be a very busy weekend for us. We stopped in the local florist and greenhouse and remembered how spoiled we are having Grandma Jennie and Delton Floral in the family. The flowers and baskets at our greenhouse up here were almost double the price and not nearly as nice. I was definitely disappointed in the selection! We also stopped in Goodwill and found a great little picture for Aunt Carol (it's a whole row of Raggedy Ann's and Andy's). I love the half price tags - we got the picture for $1.99 and a winter weight infant car seat cover for $2.49. THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER BABY - I just figured for such a great price there was bound to be someone who could use it and it is the fancy, normally $40 or $50 dollar kind.

This afternoon has more packing, moving, and cleaning in store. I am waiting for the last load of curtains to finish washing so that we can see how they cleaned up and decide whether they are moving back into the house or moving down the street to Goodwill. There may be a few in there that would be bad enough that no curtains would be better than re-hanging them.

Terrific Tuesday

Abby and I have had a lot of fun on this lovely day, except that she only took about a 30 minute nap, so I'm sure we will be paying for it later this evening with a great dramatic meltdown right before bed. Such is life with little girls...

We are getting closer and closer to getting things with the house all figured out. I now have at least one official estimate for the electrical repairs (and a second on the way) and I should have two roofing estimates in the next few days as well. I just can't wait to move into the new place and get to work making it ours. I have 72 little perennial seeds planted so that I can start my flowerbeds. I am so excited about the possibility of great flower gardens. I just was out back and noticed a lot of new things coming up that I had planted last spring and left for dead (like some peonies that never came up last year and lilies that didn't make it up either). Whoever is here next should have some pretty blooms out back to enjoy. They'll just have to fill in the gaps with some annuals or start more perennials of their own.

We took Abby on a long walk last night around our little downtown area. She pushed her own stroller the last block and a half. She is really into pushing shopping carts and strollers right now. She was trying to push from the very bottom axle, but that would have meant practically crawling, so she had to settle for pushing from the basket. Abby had a minor meltdown last Friday at Wal-Mart when I made her ride in the cart rather than walk on her knees so that she could push the cart from the bottom rack. What a nut...

First Birthday Tomorrow!!!

It's hard to believe that exactly one year ago today I was in labor just about to have a small, sweet baby girl. What a difference a year makes! Abby has gone from 8 pounds to over 22 (we will get the official weigh-in on Friday at her 1 year checkup). She can walk, is starting to talk, feeds herself, and is a wonderful friend to Maize and her dolls.

Abby took her birthday money from Great Grandma Jennie & Great Grandpa Steve and her gift card from our friend Erin and went to Wal-Mart this morning. She picked out a dog groomer little people set and we also found some new Dr. Suess books, since they are her favorites. And she also got new t-shirts and socks since she has outgrown her 18 month sized onesies. What a huge girl! She also got a Crayola color wonder set, so she should be able to color without wrecking any of our things. We can't wait to test them out and show off Abby's art skills.

It's a great day in the U.P. today - almost 60 degrees! So nice that we will probably take a little walk when Steve gets home. Maybe we'll even have a little birthday dinner downtown for Abby tonight since our tomorrow is going to be busy. But we have to make sure that we have enough time to make the birthday cupcakes for Abby to enjoy tomorrow. We are planning to share the extras with her Dad's fellow employees. For now I'd better get back to playing - Abby is climbing her chairs trying to get to the coke can on the end table, could be dangerous!

Abby Loves Shopping

Abby was a busy shopper this weekend. She bought Easter candy, some yummy snacks for herself, new pillows for her second bed (also known as mom and dad's bed), and some cabinet locks. Oh... and she also tried to buy this house, but we are still waiting to hear if her offer was accepted. She tested all the closets while we were there and we had some help from a local friend to make sure this was not going to become a money pit. So, maybe in the next month or two Abby will be having her first room that she can decorate any way she wants. There are more pictures of the house on my flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jd_jeno/.

Today Abby and I are going to enjoy playing inside and looking at the nice sun outside. It is deceptively beautiful. Lots of sun, but only 28 degrees. And we have to prepare our snacks to watch Michigan State play for the national championship today. Even though we are definitely Michigan fans all the time, we will cheer for the Spartans tonight. We may even let Abby wear her MSU bib.

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!

New Shoes

Every girl loves new shoes, right? Last night we got Abby 3 new pairs at J.C. Penney on the clearance rack. She got a tan pair of size 4 Mary Janes to wear now, and a size 5 and 6 pair of shoes for later. Abby's bag is all packed for Florida - now we just have to figure out if all my stuff can fit into the bag with her stuff so that we can minimize luggage. Good thing there is a washer and dryer where we are staying!

We are staying warm at a sunny ZERO degrees today! At least it is sunny.

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.

Sunday Funday

Abby has been in a much better mood today and we are really thankful for that. She now has her second tooth, so I'm sure that alleviates a lot of the discomfort and whining. She was probably also sad about Michigan's loss, but we will never know.

Abby tried out a new version of riding in the shopping cart today. Instead of sitting up in the seat she decided to lay down where our groceries normally go. It was a very relaxing ride for her. By the time we checked out she was almost asleep.

And now... back to laundry so I can have clean clothes to pack for our trip south for Thanksgiving!

Getting Big

Abby is certainly getting bigger. Now that she has her first tooth coming through she got to practice a new bedtime habit - brushing her tooth before she can go to bed. She LOVED it! She kept opening her mouth after Steve thought he was done brushing her teeth so he could do it again. We hope her love of brushing her teeth will continue throughout her lifetime.We took Abby on an adventure to Canada yesterday - not that driving about 2 miles to the mall on the other side of the Saint Mary's River should qualify as an adventure, but we were in a foreign country, so it counts. We decided to do a little Christmas shopping since our dollar was worth $1.19 in Canada, but all we came home with was a metal cheese grater to replace our metal/plastic hybrid that broke on Monday. Not the most exciting trip, or the most productive, but at least we had no waiting at customs on either side of the bridge. We'll just have to keep thinking about Christmas presents for Abby's family...

Tomorrow is Abby's last set of shots for a while, we hope. It is never fun, but she has been pretty good afterward each time, so I'm not too worried. We'll have to see how big our girl has grown in the last few months. She feels like a 30 pound bag of dog food when I am carrying her around, but I'm sure she doesn't weigh quite that much. Happy Wednesday!

We're Back - For Now

We made it back from Grandma Lorraine and Grandpa Harley's house and our visit to Ann Arbor. We had a great time catching up with all our family and friends. We also got to do some shopping, which is Abigail's favorite activity. She really enjoys looking at all the lights, racks, and other fancy, shiny, new things. And since we had shopping on our agenda, Abby got to pick out some new things for this winter and for next summer. We got everything that was on our list, so it was mission accomplished all around.

Abby really had a good time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got to play with Grandma and Grandpa and also Grandpa Scott. Grandma Lorraine taught Abby how to roll from her back to her stomach, so now Abby can roll each way. It was a great time.

We also got to see all our old Ann Arbor friends and meet 4 new friends. Abby got to hang out with baby Paige at the pool (and her big sister Ava and also Lachan and Jade). She also met Sarah, Luke, and Tatum. It was really nice to get to see so many new babies! Now Abby and I are getting things back in order since we brought lots and lots of bags in that hadn't been here before. Have a happy Monday!

Shopped 'Til She Dropped

She did it - we walked downtown from our house and went to all the "fudgie" shops this morning. Abby made it through part of them, but somewhere along Portage Ave. she dropped off to sleep. Mr. Pig had to accompany us on the shopping trip since we cannot go anywhere without that pink, rattly, noisy dude. We had fun pretending to be tourists.

This evening Steve went golfing for the second time in one week. He found a golfing buddy in our small group and has been enjoying some time on the course. Abby and I decided that if he got to golf we could go shopping again, so we headed off to J.C. Penney to hit the sale racks. Abby picked out (and chewed on) some shirts for next summer. We also found some cute play dresses for her and a couple things to add to Baby Jack's shower gift. Abby loves shopping - all the lights and colors and people oohing and aahing over her.