Taking After Uncle Nate and Uncle Dan

The Heater is ON

Boy was it cold this morning when we got up. Really cold. We would think 65 was great if it was outside and sunny, but it didn't feel so great when you are jumping out of a lukewarm shower. So I turned on the heater, but I set it to 66 for now, so I doubt it will get much warmer. I hope the sun comes out today and warms us up. We are going to have to seal the windows and doors for sure.

Unfortunately, yesterday's Daddy/Daughter evening did not go well. Abby's big day resulted in a very, very, very crabby evening. Poor Steve. He said it finally required a ride all around town to get Abby to stop the screaming. Not just crying - actual red in the face, hyperventilating style screaming. But, she woke up in a good mood today, so hopefully we can maintain the better attitude by staying around here and playing with Abby's best friend Maize.

We moved Abby's booster seat to the table so she could join us at meal time. It really improves the quality of time we get to spend at dinner, since she can play with things (including place mats) and see both Steve and I. We really enjoy our family dinners together.

New Tricks

Here's a great new skill Abby can add to her ever growing resume - the ability to make tooting noises with her mouth. That and soak through about 8 bibs a day doing it. She had a little tooting concert on our whole car ride this afternoon. I was laughing so hard I thought I may need to pull the car over and get a little more composed before I kept going. She is such a character.

We went to the mom's group from our church today - it was a lunch playdate at McDonald's playland. Abby isn't quite big enough for the playland, obviously, but she had a good time watching all the kids running around and enjoyed a bottle while we were there. She is so alert and attentive. Tonight is going to be an Abby and Daddy night while I go to the church building committee meeting (I somehow got volunteered to be on the committee and figured it was a good way to use my legal talents for the benefit of our church). Abby is in a good mood today, so Steve should be all set.

Tomorrow Abby and I are going to try and wash all the windows before we seal them up for the winter. No one wants to spend all winter looking through dirty windows.

Practicing For The Price Is Right

Spin it girl :-)
Thanks to whoever got this good toy (I think it was Aunt Ruth, Sarah, & Debbie). Abby sure loved it when we got it out for the first time yesterday.

Fruit, Fall, and Football

Our fall leaves are starting to appear - I am not sure if I am excited about this or not. I'm sure Abby won't care and Steve is inside all day at work, so it doesn't bother him either. It seems way to early to me for the leaves to be changing - especially since my Asiatic Lilies just started blooming.
Abby tried out bananas for the first time today and decided that she liked them quite a bit. She really gobbled them right down. It is the first fruit we have found that she likes to eat. Hopefully she will learn to like the other fruits too, but for now we are just glad she is a good veggie eater. Abby's been learning a lot about football in the last two days. First she got to watch lots of college football, including Michigan's win. Grandpa Harley even was here to teach her about football, but she mostly spent time warming back up to Grandma Lorraine. Today Abby's dad tried to get her to watch the Detroit Lions, but she decided to take a nap with her mom instead. It was much more exciting.

Tonight this little squirt is going to have her bi-weekly bath. I'm sure that will be a fun treat for her. She was great in church again and has had a fun afternoon, so we should be able to have a nice bath too. Hopefully she won't have a big splash party like last time!

Let's Go Blue!!

Yay for football season! We hope our team impresses us today!
We've got our gear all ready - including the Michigan wind suit. Now... we must clean. Grandma Lorraine will be here this afternoon (and we just found out this morning). Lots of work to do today!

Baby Sweater

We need to get out our warm clothes, and fast! It is a whopping 63 degrees here today and not getting any warmer. Abby and I both got our warm clothes out. We much prefer t-shirts to sweaters, but if we are going to stay warm this winter we won't get a choice.

I tried to make Abby a baby sweater yesterday. I found a pattern that said 6 to 9 months, but it must be a very different 6 to 9 months than I'm used to because it would not fit. But it's cute, so it may be finding a sweet baby girl to be gifted to soon. Now we just need to go to JoAnn Fabrics to find some pretty buttons for this little sweater. We'll have to find a new pattern to make Abigail her own sweater. Maybe we'll try another variation of this pattern again too for a smaller baby. Who knows... now that I've done one I know I can do another!

Just Another Good Day

Abby and I have been having a very normal, very good day. She is getting to be quite a clown and we have a great time. She just cracks us up and cracks herself up in the process. Today she really had a great time playing with her duck rattle. She chewed it, shook it, and chewed it some more. And the whole time I was making up rhymes for her or making silly noises, which only intensified the laughter. It is so nice to have a happy baby!

Other than that there is not much to report. We are waiting for the big rain from the hurricane to get here - it is supposed to start raining this afternoon and rain until tomorrow afternoon. Blah. Steve and I are on our post-Labor Day diet and workout plan. I am not sure how many more salad lunches I will be able to handle, but so far so good. I just want to get my waistline back into its pre-pregnancy shape so I can pull out all my old suits and fit back into them since I've lost almost all of the baby weight. We shall see if this works.
Here's another photo from camping for Grandma Jennie - it isn't exactly the camping tree, but it was pretty close. And, this girl just would not smile for us. Either she's hamming it up or she's ultra serious, there is no in between for us. Have a wonderful day - we are going to snuggle, read the Lord of the Rings, and stay dry!

Back to Normal

After a lot of craziness I think we are finally back to normal. Abby slept until 7 am this morning had her bottle and was back to sleep by 7:40 am. And... it is 10 am and she is still asleep. I love normal ~ especially the part of it that allows me to sleep in a little and get a shower before I have a baby to start playing with, feeding, and changing. It's my own little luxury.

After all this terrible hot weather we are finally back into more reasonable temperatures today. I am so glad it is going to be cool ~ Abby behaves much better when it is cool and so does her best friend Maize.

We are going to start a new food this afternoon. I am still debating - it is either going to be banana baby food or white grape juice. Hmm... too bad Abby can't just tell me which she'd rather try. Either way she is going to be getting a new fruit for 3 days then a new veggie for the next three, with her old favorites mixed into the feeding schedule of course. We've given up on peaches - she won't even do two bites. I tried to explain to her that they are practically the favorite fruit of many of her relatives on my side of the family, but she will not eat them. I can already tell she is going to be a very strong willed child... and I probably deserve it.

Let's Eat Squash

Abby loves to eat squash! It was an instant hit. And she made a huge mess eating it - but since bath time was on the agenda for the evening, we figured a little shirtless squash eating would be okay.



We are going to have to go to the beach today if the weather man is right and it is going to be 86 degrees. That is too hot for us Yuppers. And I need the exercise anyway - after a weekend long sugar binge Steve and I are both going back on the eating healthy bandwagon. Maybe I can even get Steve to try some squash - the big people kind, not the Gerber variety.



And so it is before 9 a.m. and I was planning to sleep in while she took her usual nap right after eating, but Abigail decided to wake up and stay up this morning. She is getting sneaky and is now back to sleep, but it is too late for me. Oh well...