Finally... The Photos

We finally got the pictures of our best girls to upload. Hope you enjoy them :-)

Yesterday we let Abby have a little juice diluted with water for the first time. We are starting her on cereal in a couple weeks, so we wanted to give her the chance to try something new before the big girl food transition. The pucker on her face when she first tasted the pear juice and water was priceless. We should have had the camera handy. After the initial pucker she decided juice was okay, and promptly sucked down most of the bottle. If one thing about this little lady is certain, it's the fact that she won't hesitate to eat. She doesn't eat a ton at a time, but she likes to eat often, so it balances out. She generally has about 6 ounces at a time and then saves room for a "snack" a couple hours later.

Now that Abby is a great napper (on my bed, but napping nonetheless), I am finding it increasingly difficult to get out of the house. By the time she gets up in the morning, I only have about an hour before Steve is home for lunch, so I can't really go out. Then, after visiting with her dad at lunch and playing a bit Abby goes down for another nap around 1 or 2 and sleeps for 2+ hours. So by the time she is up again it is about


















time for her dad to be getting home. And when he does get home he is tired and wants to just chill out here. We are going to have to figure this out so I don't go stir crazy!

To add to the feats of strength that Abby can perform, last night she was sitting in her high chair while we had dinner and decided to use her arms to pull herself into an upright sitting position. She has been doing little "sit-ups" when I lay her on her back as well. Our little lady will be sitting on her own in no time. It's hard to believe it's only been 15 weeks since she was born!

House Rules

Our friends from Ann Arbor, the Franko's, have these great rules posted in their house. We do too, on a custom sign with Maize and Abby on it. We thought they were a good tool for teaching little ones. The rules are from a book and can be found at this website http://www.fortifyingthefamily.com/21_rules.htm.

The 21 Rules of the Obreiter House
1. We obey God.
2. We love, honor and pray for one another.
3. We tell the truth.
4. We consider one another's interests ahead of our own.
5. We speak quietly and respectfully with one another.
6. We do not hurt one another with unkind words or deeds.
7. When someone needs correction, we correct him in love.
8. When someone is sorry, we forgive him.
9. When someone is sad, we comfort him.
10. When someone is happy, we rejoice with him.
11. When we have something nice to share, we share it.
12. When we have work to do, we do it without complaining.
13. We take good care of everything that God has given us.
14. We do not create unnecessary work for others.
15. When we open something, we close it.
16. When we take something out, we put it away.
17. When we turn something on, we turn it off.
18. When we make a mess, we clean it up.
19. When we do not know what to do, we ask.
20. When we go out, we act just as if we were in this house.
21. When we disobey or forget any of the 21 Rules of This House, we accept the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

In case you are wondering - rule number 14 is our favorite.

A-Maize-Ing

We have an amazing dog who already puts up with a whole lot of abuse. I took some really cute pictures of Abby and Maize yesterday, but this silly website wouldn't upload them, so if you want to see them you will have to visit our flickr photo page by clicking on these different colored words. And, amazingly enough, both the dog and Abby are still sleeping at almost 11 a.m. I am so lucky to have a great sleeper :-)

We will try to load up the pictures later, but it is lovely outside, so we may get stuck resting out in the sun to try and get tan before the wedding we have to go to this weekend.

A Half Roll Left For Uncle Nate

Uncle Nate said he wanted proof of rolling, but Abby said he was only big enough to have half a roll. Maybe next time he can have a whole one.

Ice Cream Sunday

Another lazy Sunday down the tubes :-)

We did some cleaning so Wade and Sarah can stop in this week. We don't like cleaning much, so there was a bit to do, especially in the mail processing department. But, with Abby's assistance (in the form of a nice two hour long nap) we got it all done. She was very helpful.

Abby was also a little angel in church this morning. Lots of smiles, some sleeping, no noise and most importantly no dirty diapers. One of the couples from our new small group was convinced we had met them somewhere long ago - it took a while to figure out that they just recognized us because Abby had very loudly filled her pants a few Sunday's back. Thankfully she is over that habit.

And now little lady Abby is getting ready to sleep by resting on her dad's lap and sucking her thumb. She is really good at that trick now. So, maybe Steve and I need to hurry and get some of the ice cream out of the freezer :-)

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.

These are a few of my favorite things

We all love the Baby Einstein sit and spin center! Abby loves being able to stand and it is perfect for holding her up.

Abby also loves mirrors, and the sit and spin has a good one.

And best of all... the sit and spin puts Abby at the perfect height for her most favorite activity of all - TV watching. We really didn't want a little one who was a TV junkie, but sometimes it's the only thing that will calm her down, so we give in. Like last night when the uncontrollable crying only stopped when we turned on "America's Greatest Dog" for her to watch.

Which brings us to one last thing that Abby is growing increasingly fond of, Maize. Those two girls just love checking each other out. Abby got at least a dozen kisses this morning from Maize alone and was just mesmerized by her. They are a hoot.

Enjoy your weekends and the docudrama on Abby's TV habit (drama because there is no funny bone in this kid's body - she's just the most serious little thing around today, must be the weather).

A Little Bit Smoky

Yesterday Abby, Steve, and I went over for dinner at Dr. Drockton's house. We had fun visiting with Steve's two dental partners and their families. Abby got lots of snuggling and made a very nice new friend - Sadie Drockton, who is in 2nd grade. We all had a good time and got to enjoy a nice fire outdoors after dinner.

Abby's been keeping me busy, busy, busy. She is really into playing with her pink pig rattle. She will hardly let it go. We have a great time with the little porker and Abby rather enjoys chewing on him. We also got a noisy bug toy from Virginia Jennings - an old high school friend. When I pulled on it so that it would make noise her eyes got SO big. This afternoon Abby and I need to make a trip to the post office for more stamps and to Wal-Mart for more invitations so we can get them sent out for Baby Jack's baby shower! We can hardly wait to see him and the rest of our family :-)

Keys Found!

How they ended up in the beach bag, I can't remember. Luckily Steve had the common sense to look in that bag - I had figured it wouldn't have any reason to be hiding my keys. Now... as soon as Abby is up we are off to shop for baby Jack :-)

Introducing Cousin Jack Hagberg

This is Abby's newest cousin Jack Hagberg, born yesterday. Obviously my sister Melissa is way better at having babies than me - she looks amazing (not like the zombie I was after having Abby). Congrats to the new Mom and Dad!