"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.

Too Many Socks

There are 89 (yes... I'm sure) pairs of baby socks in Baby Sister's drawer. A lot of them are size 6 to 12 months, but that is still way more socks than any little girl probably needs. I guess you can say we solved the problem of the disappearing socks.

Abby got her first Polly Pocket set today - a Beauty and the Beast one. We had to get something Belle that Abby could take with her after taking the dvd to church on Sunday resulted in a little meltdown over the church not having a dvd player or t.v. for Abby's personal use. So now, instead of traveling with her favorite dvd, we are traveling with a tiny Belle and a tiny Beast doll. The things we do to make life with a toddler less trying...

We are still no closer to finalizing Baby Sister's name. Steve asked me if I'd picked out her name yet, and I told him I wasn't picking one because I didn't want to give her a name he hated. He said the same thing. So we are still at an impasse on naming this little lady. And with just over 10 weeks left, it may be coming down to the wire.

Miss Mess

Well... you would think that after yesterday morning's yogurt incident we would be set for the day on gigantic messes. WRONG. Abby had a full glass of milk at the dinner table (with just a touch of chocolate milk that was left from Wendy's the night before). We were trying out the bigger girl sippy cups (you know... the tupperware kind with the snap on lids). Abby learned the hard way that you can't bite down on the lid while simultaneously pulling the cup backwards away from your mouth. We had a light chocolate milk explosion. Everywhere. And then she really needed that bath, which luckily she hadn't taken yet. And I needed to do laundry, again...

We are cleaning and reorganizing our playroom today. Last night Steve and I moved the t.v.'s around, since we've been spending most of our time in the playroom now that the heating in the room works (and since Abby is way into toy time). Now I just need to finish going through the toys and putting them back into their proper bins. And sweep up the floor, which somehow got covered in cherrios. Abby is a neverending supply of messes.

Tired Tuesday

We hope you don't get a case of the post-Christmas grumps, but if you do this may help you get out of the slump. Abby has been enjoying her Christmas gifts almost non-stop since we returned home. And after purchasing some new rubbermaid storage totes, Steve and I have been appreciating them too. Last night we had some good times with Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head. Abby is certainly creative when it comes to making them up.

Abby got quite a bit of kitchen supplies and fake food for her play kitchen over Christmas and she has been cooking us some wonderful pretend creations (and boy are we glad they are pretend, because in real life some would be majorly disgusting). Last night we had some tomato coffee (she is really into cooking up tomatoes) and some cookies. She has also been feeding a lot of her creations to her dolls and Maize. It is fun to watch her imagination at work.

I have reached the stage in pregnancy that we shall fondly call sausage foot time. The car ride to and from Hastings left me with toes that felt much larger than they should and with distinct imprints from my socks, leaving a nice sausage like bulge where they ended. So I am back into the compression tights, not something I would have minded skipping this time around - oh well...

Last night Abby entertained herself (and apparently her sister too) by shining a flashlight directly onto my belly. She enjoyed the red glow that your skin makes when the light is directly on your skin. Abby's sister enjoyed punching out the light that Abby created. I'm pretty sure baby O. is going to come out swinging, so Abby had better beware!

Madrigal Magic

Abby attended her first fancy theater event last night - the Madrigal Dinner at the Kewadin Casino. It was a really fun medieval dinner show with singers, dancers, and some musical numbers. She went mostly to watch her baby sitter Kitty and Kitty's sister Susie dance in the program. She was incredibly well behaved for the 3 hour program - I was shocked.

The only problem we encountered was Abby's little fit over the cornish hen they served. She did not want a whole chicken on our plate (Abby and I shared). She only stop fussing over the chicken when she noticed that Kitty had a chicken too. Apparently whatever Kitty does is the standard for cool in our house right about now.

Abby is helping her dad celebrate his birthday today. So far they had donuts for breakfast, went to church, had pizza at Pizza Hut for lunch, and is now playing toys and watching football with dad. I think they are both having a good day.

Two New Favorite Things

I have two new things I could no longer live without. The first is my boppy pregnancy wedge pillow (http://shopboppy.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=17&zenid=798c8798fc3a3f9508743805eeaf8624). I'd been trying to alleviate my daily backaches by using a standard pillow, but this magic little pillow was the perfect shape to help support my back from the ache caused by the growing midsection.

The other great new purchase I made this week was a food steamer. Abby and I picked out the Rival model (http://www.rivalproducts.com/product.aspx?pid=2420) at our local Wal-Mart and have been enjoying yummy veggies and meats from it. It has two steaming trays, so we can fix multiple vegetables at the same time without doing the microwave juggle. And the food tasted so much better at dinner last night after a quick trip through the steamer.

Abby's new favorite thing is play-doh. She's played with it at playgroup before, but over the weekend she and Aunt Emily really got into it. Abby especially enjoys cutting and pretting things into the play-doh. We left the play-doh from the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Hodges' house, but we replaced it with our own play-doh 4 pack. On the way home Abby counted the play-doh and then finished counting. I had no idea she knew how to count, so I was quite pleasantly surprised to hear "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, two" from the backseat. We've since had to throw one of her new play-doh tubs away (I didn't think yogurt smoothie and play-doh mix would sit very well), but we are still enjoying lots of creative playing.

Barks and Balls and Books

I am doing an experiment today to see how many books I actually end up reading in a day (and how many times I read the same book). So far we are in the 20's, and I've been busy so I haven't read every book that's been thrust upon me. I hope Abby always enjoys reading as much as I do.

Now that our backyard is almost snow free we've cleaned it up and started playing outside whenever we can. Abby and Maize have a lot of fun outside. Maize loves taking naps in the sun and Abby enjoys walking up and down on the cement and petting her poochie. Last night Abby and I went to K-Mart and picked out some outside play toys. She was most impressed with the micro sized soccer ball. We had a great time playing with it inside and it should be lots of fun outside too. We also picked out a kids golf set so that she can decide whether to follow in her daddy's club swinging steps. We'll just have to be extra careful and make sure that the clubs don't get swung at dogs.

It is rainy and cold today, so we will have to wait a day or two before we can find out how much fun our new outside toys are. Stay warm and dry :-)

The Party Pictures

Here are a few of the pictures from Abby's actual birthday. The weather was so wonderful yesterday that we went to the park after having dinner and cupcakes. And today was great again, so we played with Abby's new bubble mower outside, but it wouldn't bubble. So we have to see if we can trouble shoot that mower when Steve gets home tonight.

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!

The Girl Who Loved Her Dolls

These are from yesterday and too cute! We spent most of the day caring for 9 of Abby's favorite dolls. They even got to play with Abby's toys.

Orange You Glad I Didn't Eat the Peel?

Abby found some tangerines today that we got in our Saturday delivery of Angel Food. She is super smart and right away knew that the tangerine was one of her favorite foods (she loves, loves, loves citrus fruits). She did all of this finding while I was busy chopping peppers and onions for a pot of chili. I was very surprised when I had a little tug on my pant leg and saw that Abby had chewed through the tangerine peel and had gotten part of the fruit in the process. What a little smarty pants. I peeled the tangerine for her and she gobbled it right up. But not before I got a picture of her damage.

We are still working on focusing with the camera for an awesome coming around the door photo. I'm still not sure what the deal is, but the camera always seems to focus on something other than sweet Abby. At least I keep getting her to do the posing - one of these times the camera is going to get the focus right and we are going to have a home run.

Other than eating tangerines, peel and all, and walking through the doors, Abby is becoming a walking machine. She has almost totally forsaken crawling and just cruises around here like she owns the place. She is really steady for only having a few weeks under her belt. She is also becoming quite the mommy to her dolls. Yesterday she was sharing her sippy cup with her dolls during the day. When we went upstairs to get ready for bed she insisted on going up the stairs all by herself and did so one handed so that she could bring JoJo up with her. I tried to get her to give me the doll so that she could crawl up with both hands, but she would have none of it. Today she fed part of her snack to her dolls, and also part to her best buddy Maize. She is growing up and learning a lot. And with only 15 days or so until her birthday, she is leaving babyhood behind for girliness.

Our Big Barnyard

This is our farm herd. It's rather large. We just thought you all might enjoy meeting them. Plus they need names - any ideas appreciated!

Pepsi Please

We are really behind and have no good excuse. This weekend seemed to get away from us and we sure didn't get things done like we planned. Oh well... it was fun. Abby got her 6th tooth yesterday. She now has 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. Quite a set of choppers they are and they are very good at biting and eating.

Most of our blogging dysfunction this weekend is due to Abby's new found love of the computer. If it is out she is trying to mess with it, pushing the buttons, pulling out the power cord, and in general being a little bit of a pest. So, that limits my ability to distract her with toys and get things done on the computer, which may cause quite a problem with all the Angel Food things I have to do this week. Abby's very favorite thing to do is open the cd-rom drive and smash it closed. Obviously not a good choice.

Abby's also pretty into pop cans. We may have to start pouring soda into a cup because she is like a heat seeking missile when it comes to pop cans. She found a closed Pepsi can this weekend and went crazy for it. But since she's already cut her finger 3 times on open cans that were left within her reach, we have got to find a better toy for her to play with.

In the last week Abby also began playing a newer, rougher game with her dog. It's a mild form of wrestling, with lots of kicking by both Abby and Maize involved. Maize will lay on her side and kick her legs at Abby while Abby, who is standing, kicks back and her. Then Abby laughs and Maize wags her tail. Apparently I am not enlightened enough to understand the joy of kicking and being kicked by your pet dog. Oh well...

And on a final note, Abby walked all the way across the living room at our Pastor's house last night. We had a nice visit with them and we were super proud of her long walking skills.

Don't Eat The Cookies

Abby and I both had a rough night last night - I am blaming the cookies from Subway for our discomfort, but I don't know if food poisoning can cause a fever and we both have one of those too. Boo to being sick! And an even bigger boo to thinking it was the cookies - I LOVE cookies, especially the ones at Subway. This is very depressing.

Abby rebounded from her long night very well and cracked me up all morning. We got her blocks out the other day and she has been really, really into playing with them lately. The only problem is one of the things she'd like to do with the blocks is bang them on the t.v. screen, which is a definite no-no, especially since the only other t.v. in the house is about dead. And everyone knows that you can't watch Veggie Tales or Nemo without a t.v.

Here's a little clip of Abby climbing up the entire staircase on Saturday (that's 18 steps in this old house). Unfortunately the light above the stairs was out (blown fuse), so it's a little dark. Little Abby loves climbing the stairs - she heads for them every chance she gets. Our baby gate is quickly becoming a permanent fixture on the staircase. Now that she's mastered going up we need to start working on coming down. That's a tough one.

Abby's New Doll

Abby already has 9 baby dolls and 2 barbies! She got her newest addition to the doll collection over the weekend. Her new baby can moves its head and arms and also makes baby noises (it has a motion detector in its forehead). We have had a good time playing with the new baby in Abby's growing family. Now we just have to come up with some names for the babies. So far we have Kitty the barbie (since it is a ballerina like our babysitter), Penny the Bitty Baby, Jo the water baby (it could be a boy or a girl, so we picked a name that could be unisex), and Natalie the Cabbage Patch Doll (thankfully those come pre-named). Now we just need 6 more doll names and also a name for a very fancy looking barbie. That is a lot of naming!

Abby really loves dolls. Her face lights right up when she see them. Sometimes she gets to take a doll into her big girl bed for a nap, which usually results in a shorter nap. She will start to wake up and rather than going back to sleep she finds that baby doll and starts playing with it. Pretty soon she will be cooking in her play kitchen and feeding her babies.

Riding An English Pony

Abby has decided that her new pony has an English saddle, so she has been practicing her posting. For those of you who aren't up on the language of a horseman, posting is lifting yourself out of the saddle every other stride while a horse is trotting. Abby is getting very good at this portion of horseback riding. In fact, we have had no falls and Abby has not been bucked off in 2 whole days. She has really been practicing this horse riding thing!

















Our back porch bird seems to have disappeared. Perhaps it got out the same way it got in. If not, I'm sure I will find it when I take the recycling to the recycling station this weekend. I'm hoping it's option one.

We made Maize a dog bed yesterday with our new sewing machine. She liked it so well she slept on it for two whole hours before she went back to sleeping on the couch. I also finished a pair of fake "Ugg" booties for Abby, but they were still a bit tight, so we've started on some ballet flat booties instead. The first one was pretty big, so I may have to make a liner to help keep them on. And, besides all the crafting our floor must be cleaned so Abby the escape artist doesn't accidentally eat anything she shouldn't on her adventures outside the living room. So much to do, so little time!!!

11 Degrees and Sunny, Wind Chill - 15

That is our forecast for today. No snow, we hope. We had a good day yesterday on my birthday. Abby was a little crabby, but when you are getting a new tooth that sort of thing happens. She also ate Shrek (or a whole mouthful of green beans without swallowing any of them). She is a really silly girl and she really, really loves her green beans!

We got some projects started yesterday and Steve finished a major one. We now have shelves in the bathroom closet that had previously been totally empty. It was a tricky fix, with it being a triangular closet and all, but Steve did a great job at getting 3 usable shelves into it. He's pretty handy, even if he doesn't know it!

We also started the new car search last night by driving around our local dealerships so that we can hopefully take a few vehicles out for a test drive next weekend and figure out what we like and don't like. So far the Ford Escape is our favorite from the outside, but just like people, the inside is usually most important. It was hard work scraping the snow and ice off the windows in the car lot to see what was available. And tinted windows over the spec. sheets wasn't too helpful! Plus riding around in the car was a good nap time for Abby, and she really needed it.

Abby learned how the ride the horse both forward and backward, but it is still bucking her off every once in a while. She is still learning that you can't lean over to grab things while riding the horse, so we've had a few bumps along the way. She always wants right back on her pony though, so she must be pretty tough!

More Christmas Fun

Abby is still working on trying out all her Christmas presents, and that is hard work considering the enormous amount of things she received. She has also been indulging in a new, and yummy, treat - fresh fruit. We made a little stop on the way home from Hastings in Mount Pleasant and got all the fixings for a good fruit salad. Abby certainly has some of her Grandpa Scott's taste buds because she really loves melon, especially cantaloupe. We were also surprised that she liked pomegranate as well. She's a real fruit gobbler when it is the fresh variety.

Abby learned another new smooth move today. Steve and I both watched her sit back up after being on the floor crawling. This is the first time she has tipped herself back into a sitting position - she is really on her way now! When she isn't crawling and sitting she is riding that pony all over the living room and using it to grab things off the couch, the ottoman, and the end tables. It is going to be time to clean off all our surfaces for a while.

New Year's Resolutions

Abby had a silly start to her new year, and we all hope you had a great start too! We spent New Year's Eve with Dr. Dave and his family, Dr. Bruce, and Dr. Alice and everyone had a wonderful time. Abby was especially glad that she got to have 2 whole slices of cheesecake, approved by Dr. Alice, the family physician. She was also awake when the ball dropped and when Robbie Knievel did his big motorcycle trick. And after all that partying, Abby was sleeping in as late as possible this morning!

We are making New Year's Resolutions again, even though we don't usually achieve them. Here is Abby's list:
1. Learn to walk and finally catch Maize
2. Learn to use a spoon so she can feed herself ice cream and cheese cake and not have to share it with her mom.
3. Learn enough words to boss everyone around

Jen's list:
1. Read through the entire Bible at least once this year
2. Lose the last 10 baby/law school pounds
3. Learn to make knitted (as opposed to crocheted) baby blankets

Steve's list:
1. Lose more weight than Jen does
2. ???
3. ???

Another exiting note to pass along, Abby learned how to dismount from her riding pony. Now she just has to figure out what to do once she gets off and how to get back on.

Riding Horses

Abby got a riding pony for Christmas and she loves riding it!


Also... Abby has more pictures at her WalMart photo site. The password for first time users is "holiday". We put her new ones and all the old ones too, just in case there are some old photos that you wanted and we didn't give to you.