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....

Grandma and Grandpa Hodges Were Here

And Abby had a good time, right up to the point where she tried to give Aunt Emily a kiss goodnight and Aunt Emily wouldn't let Abby kiss her on the lips. She gave Emily one good night kiss on the lips and then decided she would give her a second one, but she didn't close her mouth all the way, so Emily said no. Abby was heartbroken. Her little eyes were all welled up and she didn't even try to give Hannah a hug and kiss. It was funny but I felt bad for her poor little girl feelings who don't know that big girls don't like open mouth kisses from nieces. She wouldn't even give Emily a good bye hug when they left this afternoon. We have some rehabbing to do before our next visit apparently.

We had lots of fun with Grandma Mary, Grandpa Scott, Aunt Hannah, Aunt Emily, and Carson. We took them to The Antlers and let them see all the real fancy stuffed animals. We even let the wolf hold Olivia's car seat for her (Grandpa Scott assisted). Abby had a lot of fun with her birthday presents - a radioflyer wagon and an art easel (Thanks Mel, Glenn, & Jack!). Hannah and Emily also searched the basement and found Abby a GI Joe doll to be "The Beast" and they found the old doll clothes we had for a barbie doll version of the beast, so we had lots of fun playing with him and the "Belle girls".

And we had a yummy birthday cake with all of Abby's favorite princesses to celebrate her birthday. She really loves the birthday song and has been singing "Happy birthday to Abby" ever since Wednesday. It's been pretty cute around here. Except at 5:00 a.m. when Olivia decides to wake us up and stay awake. Or 6:00 a.m. when Abby decides to make our bed into her bed. I just keep telling myself I only have a few weeks of this left. I hope.

Training Day

Abby decided yesterday would be a good day to start training Olivia, so we worked on "Go Blue" and the proper form for "Hail" to the Victors. Abby was very excited that Olivia has gotten big enough to wear her Michigan shirts. We had to put away most of Olivia's newborn sized clothing since her torso was getting too long for it. We also are using the very last of the newborn sized diapers up (they should be gone today).

We are looking forward to an unexpected visit from Great Grandma Jennie and Grandpa Steve, Aunt Carol and Uncle Jeff (and boys). We aren't excited about the purpose of the visit (Uncle Jeff's dad Bud passed away - he was a really great man), but it will be nice to see them all. That is one benefit of being in Sault Ste. Marie - every once in a while Aunt Carol and Uncle Jeff are around to visit his family, who mostly live in town. I'm sure Abby will be very excited to see her "Candy Grandma."

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.

Abby's Been Busy

Abby was trying to sit next to Grandma Mary, but getting a big hug was more fun. Abby really loves her grandmas and grandpas. She talks about all of them regularly and we practice their names with our picture books. She really likes saying Lorraine, since it is the longest name she has to remember.
Abby also likes to give her baby kisses. Hopefully she still enjoys the baby once it arrives. This is 13 1/2 weeks - I'm already much bigger with this baby than I was with Abby at 13 1/2 weeks. Things seem to be going well and we are going in Wednesday for our next appointment with the doctor. We are going to let Abby come this time so that she can hear the new baby's heart beating.
This is our snow from yesterday. It got a little deeper on the deck, but only lasted until around 9 am. Abby was pretty amazed by it. Apparently she doesn't remember the piles and piles of snow we had around here last winter. I can't wait for more snow so we can enjoy playing in our own winter wonderland of a back yard. We are going to try and build our own little sledding hill so we can enjoy some winter sports in our own yard.
Abby likes checking herself out on the camera now and is a major ham. Grandma Mary will have some very funny pictures of Abby in hats and wild pony tails. She is super interested in having her picture taken.
Abby is demonstrating how to lock Maize into a dog crate. She thinks it is the best toy in the playroom now. Maize does not agree, but has also been sleeping in the crate without too much whining. And I haven't had to clean dog accidents off the floor in 5 days. Nice change.

We are waiting for our 1 inch of snow to fall this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Abby really enjoys watching it fall out the back door. She usually watches it rain too, but that is a lot harder to watch than big fluffy snowflakes.

First Snow

We had our first snowfall of the year today. Luckily none of it stuck. Abby is having a great time with Grandma Mary and is making sure that Grandma has read all of our books.

Playland is at McDonalds

Steve and I had a biology teacher that hung the statement "Playland is at McDonalds" one day after we were particularly obnoxious the day before. Abby and I decided we would enjoy our local playland and had a lunch date at McDonalds yesterday, just us two girls. It must have been a really slow day for playland, because after Abby finished eating there were no other kids there. And since there were no other kids there I helped Abby explore more of the playland than she had ever seen before. She got to go into the 2nd of 3 levels and rode down the twisty slide 4 times. We had a great time. I got two cute pictures on my camera phone, but I have no idea how to transfer them from phone to computer. You'll just have to imagine Abby in a blue tunnel slide and Abby peering through the window on the 2nd level tower.

While we were at McDonalds we ran into Dr. Anderson's mom, so knowing that she is heading back to Iowa soon and that we had wanted to have them for dinner before they left, Abby and I jumped at the opportunity and had Steve invite them for dinner. Then we cleaned like maniacs and cooked for the rest of the afternoon. But, we had a great dinner, a nice visit, and Abby decided that Mrs. Anderson should be her adopted Grammy. That really made Mrs. Anderson's night since she has no grandchildren. We had lots and lots of fun.

We started our morning yesterday playing Star Wars. Abby loves playing with the toy light sabre we have (don't know why we have it, but we do). She was being an ewok, since she had cute bear ears on top of her head, and was chopping off Maize's legs and ears. They have a lot of fun playing games together. After we played Star Wars we pretended to be bears since she had the ears and all.

Today we've been recouperating from the fun. This morning Abby climbed out of bed and donned a sun bonnet before sneaking into our room (with Steve guiding her and keeping the hat on so I could see it) to wake me up. I don't remember when I last laughed that hard. This girl sure has an amazing sense of style.

Visitors

We had some fun guests today - Uncle Jim & Aunt Ruth along with all their clan, Sarah & Wade, Debbie & Cody, James, and Joel. We saw a huge freighter and had lunch at The Antler's. All in all a lot of fun! Abby really loved having Joel around.

Tot Swim Class - Day 3 and 4

Abby was not too happy last Friday at swim class. She could see Grandma, Grandpa and Daddy from the pool and really, really wanted one of them to save her.

After a wonderful weekend of company (Grandma Mary, Grandpa Scott, Auntie Em, and Auntie Hannah) we are back to the normal routine, and back to updating you all on Abby's latest escapades. We had swim class on Friday and again today. Friday was a long class since Abby could see Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy during the class. She really, really wanted one of them to come and rescue her from the pool. But she did make it through the whole class with only a few whimpers and did everything that I asked her to do. Today's class was great - she was happy, smiled and waved to everyone, and was having a blast. She was being the star of the swim class show.

We had lots of great adventures with my family this weekend. Abby took them on a trip to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. We checked out the mall so that Hannah and Emily could have some new clothes for school that no one else would have. We also checked out Crystal Falls, a really beautiful fall right outside Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. Abby went all the way to the top of the waterfall (on my back). We also checked out the casino buffet in town, watched part of the pow-wow, saw the fireworks, watched boats coming through the locks, took Hannah and Emily to stick their toes in Lake Superior, and saw the fireworks. Needless to say, we were pretty well exhausted by the end of the weekend. But it was definitely worth it.

Abbeeeeee

Here are some photo highlights of Abby's weekend. We had a very fun time visiting with Grandma Von and Grandpa Roy and Great Grandma Joyce. Abby showed them around our neck of the woods including Tahquamenon Falls and Lake Superior. Luckily it was a nice hot day to be outdoors enjoying God's handiwork!
Grandpa Roy, Grandma Von, Abby, and Great Grandma Joyce.
Abby found the mini-rocking chairs at the visitor's center in the Tahquamenon Falls State Park. She loves little furniture!
Abby's grandparents brought her up a vanity play set. She was nuts about it. She is going to be a true girlie girl. She wanted to sit on her vanity stool and stare at herself in the mirror, talk on the play phone, and put on her necklaces for about an hour straight. It was a lot of fun watching her play.

Last night Abby perfected saying her own name. She'd been working on it for a while, but now it really sounds like Abby (emphasis on the "ee"). We left our digital video camera at Grandma and Grandpa Hodges house so they could make a dvd of Courtnie and Nate's wedding, so we couldn't get video footage of the hilarity that goes on around here. Here new favorite words are Abby and Daddy - she just walks around randomly saying them.

It was ridiculously hot here yesterday. We moved to the Upper Peninsula and were very excited to be leaving the major heat. Neither of us particularly enjoys seeing 90 degree weather, but that is what we've had the last few days. It is supposed to reach 87 today, so Abby and I made play date plans for the beach. We spent a lot of time yesterday in her wading pool. And we had a hard night going to sleep since it was so hot and humid! Hope you can all stay cool today - we will sure be trying any way possible.

Busy, Busy Weekend

We are so ready for our vacation at the end of the week! We have been beyond busy and the hectic pace will certainly resume as soon as we are back in Sault Ste. Marie! Steve's Mom, Dad, and Grandma Obreiter just left a few hours ago to head back to the Lower Peninsula. Abby and I took a little nap, and now we have errands to run, clothes to wash, and bags to pack for our visit to Florida. It is going to be another busy week in the Obreiter household.

We happened upon a gem of a house for sale. It's an old Preysbeterian parsonage with 3 bedrooms just a few blocks from here. We are going to take a look at it soon to see if it would be a good first home for our family. We are hoping, after two days in a row of freezing pipes, to find someplace better insulated and maintained before next winter rolls around.

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 :-)

Mission Complete

Removal of the porch bird is now complete. It is a very good thing that Abby has a soft side collapsible hamper, which worked well as a net. We are now back to 3 people and a dog in the house. No pests (knock on wood).

Here's another cute Abby in her Brazilian outfit. She is going to start packing her bag for Florida as soon as the 10 day forecast for the 24 comes out. We can't wait!

We started the car hunt yesterday. What a monumental task! Right away our first pick became close to our last pick. We took a Jeep Patriot out for a drive and decided quickly that it was a little too narrow in the backseat for a car seat and an adult (or in the future for two car seats and an adult or a car seat and a dog or any other combination). If it weren't for the cramped back seat, then it would still be a good choice. We also climbed into a Jeep Compass, which had less leg room in the backseat than the Patriot and was a no go. The Jeep Liberty seemed to be about right size wise, but we didn't drive it, just climbed in, so we don't know how that would ride. We also checked out a Ford Escape and thought it was pretty good, except that it wasn't as nicely made as we'd hoped (some wires and such were visible in the back and there wasn't as much space under the front seats for the backseat passenger to use for stretching out legs). It's a good thing Steve and I aren't too picky - we will be happy with whatever car we manage to find that has the space we need and falls into our budgeted amount and mileage (odometer, not gas mileage) requirements. Abby was a very good test rider yesterday, except that somewhere at the Jeep dealership she lost a boot and we were never able to find it. So, after all the testing we ended up at Walmart to buy a new set of shoes for Abby's little feet.

We are also cleaning for company. Those of you who know me well know that I don't place cleaning in my list of priorities very often - I'd rather spend time with people and helping others than being meticulous about having sparkling clean floors, counters, etc. In my mind there isn't going to be a crown in heaven for the person with the cleanest house, so I might as well focus my attention in areas where I can make an eternal difference. That being said, we are having company up next weekend, so cleaning is temporarily on the priority list. While we were cleaning out our single downstairs closet to make room for the Christmas decorations I found two old afghan starts. One was already big enough for a crib afghan, so Abby won that maroon and white beauty (the pattern isn't finished, so it looks a little odd, but then again I like odd, so it works). The other is being pieced together and stitched up, since it was a large granny square pattern. It's not quite baby colors, so we will have to see what I can do with it when it is done. And now... back to all that cleaning.

Come On Ring Those Bells

Abby LOVES bells. Really loves them. She has a jingle bell and a traditional bell, so we get lots of "music". Enjoy!


We meant to put this up yesterday, but we had company and had a lot of cleaning and cooking going on. Abby hammed it up for our guests and was in general a crack up. She also had a little diaper disaster (aka blow out), so we decided she is going to have to start eating at least a little baby food, whether she likes it or not.

Tomorrow is Halloween Already?!?

Ahh... where did our week go? Tomorrow night we are hosting a Halloween party for our small group and I don't even have half of my to do list done. For example, we need to get packed ASAP! Saturday morning is going to be busy enough, so we need to have our stuff together. And we need to clean. And we should probably decorate. And we should probably have a way to entertain our guests. Oh... and food. Ahh... What are we doing wasting time on the computer you may think. Frankly, I am thinking that too, but Abby wants to watch Little Bill and she was rudely awakened from her nap an hour and a half early by her dog, so she is nice and crabby. So she is doing whatever makes her happy until I can get her back to sleep.

We also have to make a trip into the office later today to see Steve and all Abby's friends that work with her Daddy. Plus she got the dentists some dental Halloween shirts for tomorrow and we need to deliver them. We will be glad to be in Hastings next week, where we don't have to host anything.

Snow Way

Abby met her first snow flakes this morning when we went to pick a few things up at Walmart. I don't think she was a huge fan of the cold, so it will probably mean she doesn't like the snow much either. Luckily it wasn't sticking to anything.

We are watching Bailey and Katelyn again, so Abby will have an almost 5 year old girl and a 6 year old girl to keep her company this afternoon. I am going to be tired tonight! And since they are coming, we are going to have to cut this short to get some things, like our clean laundry which I just folded, put away.

They All Fall Down

The leaves that is. We had a windy, rainy night and now our backyard is covered in leaves. You can't even see the grass in some spots. Yesterday we had quite a few leaves down on the ground, so we tried to do an Abby photo session, but she was all out of smiles unless Maize was around, and when Maize was around she was right in the way of a cute picture. Oh well.

Still no teeth, so Abby's still been having some random crying fits and ornery spells. But honestly, even with a couple of fits per day she is still the happiest and mellowest baby I've come across. She's pretty serious a lot of the time, but she also has a slight attention hound habit. We had dinner out last night and she was waving her arms all around and smiling at anyone who would look. That was accompanied by giggles and chatter. It was pretty funny. Abby also ate her first french fry. She is getting good at chewing so if something is pretty squishy she can manage it with some supervision. She's not quite ready for crispy McDonald's fries yet, but she can handle the steak cut ones. Although french fries are probably not going to be on her regular menu once she is big enough to crunch on real veggies.

Today is our moms and preschool playgroup and then AJ is coming to play, so we are going to be busy. Hopefully we will have a fuss free day. Yesterday was good except when she woke up crying during her afternoon nap. She wasn't even awake when I first got to her, so I'm sure it was a bad dream or something. She has a few of those where she cries out in her sleep. She must take after her dad who also talks and walks in his sleep sometimes. Maize barks in her sleep too. I am surrounded...



















18 days until we get to visit our friends and family in Hastings. Yipee! Abby and I are glad that Steve doesn't mind when we take extra time to visit family when he can't. He's the world's best dad.

Wearing Glasses

Apparently Abby is back to being cool with people wearing glasses. Weird. I did let her watch me put them on and take them off several times this morning. Then she decided that she wanted to take them off me. So, long story short, I am wearing the contacts again today since I can't see out of the lenses with all the slobbery finger prints. She is quite a character.

We are having another little friend over for a play date tomorrow. Abby's friend AJ, who is in our small group, is coming by while her mom is out for an appointment. We should have lots of fun with AJ since she is just a few months older than Abby. But that also means I've got some cleaning up to do today so that it is safe to play on our floor.

Here are a few more pictures from Mackinac Island. These two were taken at Arch Rock. We had such a wonderful time exploring the island and enjoying God's fall artwork on Saturday. We are already planning our next adventures, especially the ones to warmer climates this winter!

Not Easily Entertained

Abby was not being easily entertained last night, so our pie making endeavors lasted late into the night and we are all a little tired. But we do have two perfect pumpkin pies (my first attempt) and a dutch apple pie as well. Abby did get to watch some extra television last night and got to play in her exersaucer, which is our favorite baby entertainer. I think it would be on my must have list for new babies. That and a dog who likes to play with a baby. Maize was actually a very helpful distraction for a tired girl last night.

Hopefully she will be back on the right schedule today and will be happy and friendly tonight while our company is here. And tomorrow Abby is going to have two little visitors to spend the day with. Our pastor's wife is going down to Petosky to take the 3 hour glucose tolerance test to see if she has gestational diabetes. We are praying that her test comes back normal. We are going to be hanging out with their 4 and 5 year old daughters tomorrow so that they don't have to spend the day in the hospital lab too. It should be fun. Now back to cleaning... still have a bathroom to spiff up.

Clean Up Time

Abby is having company over tomorrow and again on Wednesday, so it is clean up time. We have been doing some major cleaning, not just our usual picking up and vacuuming. It isn't our favorite job, but soon it will be all cleaned up and we can enjoy a very clean house.

Abby is going to learn how to make pies tonight. Her dad is the expert pie crust maker, so she will probably have to learn how to peel apples and make the dutch apple pie topping. Yum. We love having company because it means we get to eat deserts! Maize has been very unhelpful and has been making big messes. So, on that note it's back to cleaning!