Twinkle Toes

Here is a small corner of Abby's final version of the Christmas picture. Now, just to avoid confusion, there will be 4 separate versions of the Christmas picture that are going to be mailed out (so that each afghan maker has a special photo with their afghan in it). That being said, I will make sure that you all get to see each of the final 4 and we will even make the album we uploaded available on walmart.com for others to order from. But not just yet... you'll have to wait until after we send out the cards.

Tonight I have a baby shower to go to, so it will be the 2nd attempt at Daddy/Daughter night. We are keeping our fingers crossed that today's attempt goes better than last time, which was a sob fest followed by a car ride. Abby has a bath on the agenda so that should help. Plus at lunch time Abby didn't want her daddy to hand her to me (she actually did the whole stick tight trick). Steve said it was the best birthday present ever. I think I'd agree... maybe I'll take back the rest of his gifts. Just kidding, maybe...

I Want Candy!

Abby has discovered candy canes and would really like to figure out how to get the wrapper off them. Today we babysat Bailey and Katelyn again and Abby was really enthralled with them. She loves watching bigger kids.

We decided to wait until Saturday to go and get a tree the old fashioned way - cutting it down at the tree farm. Now we just have to hope that the 12 to 24 inches of snow that are forecasted for tonight and tomorrow doesn't bury all the trees!

Some That Didn't Make The Cut

We are taking multiple versions of Abby's first Christmas picture so that each of her handmade afghans appears in a picture. Here are a few of the different versions that weren't quite adorable enough to beat the finalists (which will not be revealed until you open your Christmas card). Thanks to Great Grandma Jennie for the white afghan (in the first two shots), to Sharon VanKoevering for the perfectly pink afghan (in the second two shots), and Arlene Shock for the pink and white afghan (in the last shot)!

Tonight we are planning to put up our Christmas tree and take a family photo to finish our Christmas cards. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that the snow will not get to heavy after Steve gets out of work. We love snow, but we really want our Christmas tree!

The Thanksgiving Rundown

Okay, so here's the rundown of our Thanksgiving in Hastings. Abby had lots of fun and learned how to do new things and tried new foods too. She had a little taste of pumpkin pie, apple pie, cheesecake, squash, real sweet potatoes, stuffing, cookies, Krispie Kreme doughnut, and tortilla chips. And best of all she learned to use a straw and loves it. She is so into straws that we bought her a sippy cup with a straw and she drained the water lickety split. She sure loves doing big girl things.

Abby also had lots of fun visiting her family and meeting some new family members. She isn't as friendly as we'd like, but she's not a total hermit either, so I guess we can't complain. She is very good at making eyes and smiling at people as long as Steve or I (mostly me) are holding her. And there were sure a lot of people to meet and meet again. She was a really good little girl all things considered.

But one thing she loved most for sure was getting home. She was the happiest, smiliest girl when she saw all her toys and her new room. It was really funny to watch her get so excited. Now the countdown is on until our trip down for Christmas. Just a little Christmas shopping to do and we will be all set.

That's What She Said

After weeks of dada's and gog's (dog), Abby finally said her first mama today! Yeah!!! She also learned nana (for Hannah) and some other fun mumblings that sound wordish, but probably aren't. We have lots of unpacking and cleaning up to do after being gone for Thanksgiving, but we had a great time, so it was well worth it. Unfortunately we had so much fun that I didn't even take one picture with my camera. Bad mom... I know.

Anyway, back to working, we'll break down the weekend's events later!

Leaving...

We are going to be leaving sometime in the next couple hours for Hastings and there is still quite a bit to do, but I needed a little sit down break. Abby finally cried herself to sleep an hour ago, since she would not go to sleep for nap time in any of the conventional ways. She was really tired, but wanted to watch my every move since I was doing different things today.

And so, we are almost ready to hit the road. I had a video of Abby's room to post, but I can't find the cord to link the camera and the computer and I don't want to waste a lot of time looking for it. So it will have to wait. On the bright side, Abby and I found the best sale ever! We visited the fudge shop and they had a 75% off sale, plus salt water taffy for $1 per bag. Talk about a bargain! For $12 we got 6 bars of fudge and 2 bags of taffy. Over the summer the same amount would have bought us about 2 bars of fudge. It is going to be a very yummy thanksgiving, that is if the fudge makes it south of the Mackinaw Bridge ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I don't think I really need to tell you all what I am thankful for, but just in case you are wondering here's the short list:

1. A very healthy, happy baby girl (Abigail)

2. A wonderful husband who works hard so I can stay home

3. Not being pregnant and not having diabetes anymore! (I loved the end result, but the whole pregnancy thing stinks)

4. A wonderful family and extended family who make a super support system

5. A free, democractic country, even if I don't agree with some of our leaders, it is good to know that democracy rules here. Thanks to Joe and all the other soldiers who work hard to keep our country free.

New Room!

Abby has a new bedroom! We will try to load up a video tour later. Steve and I decided that the 10 degree temperature difference between our upstairs and downstairs was fine for two well insulated adults, but that Abigail had better live downstairs. So now Abby has her own playroom and bedroom downstairs and the extra bed is sharing a room with our exercise equipment.

The new room did not make Abby happy enough to sleep in her own bed all night. She has a little congestion and a runny nose, so she was up in the night to have a bottle, a snuggle, and some vicks vapor rub for babies. But other than that little incident we'd have to say that Abby loves her new room.

Yesterday Abby started working really hard at learning to crawl. She now flips herself from sitting to a crawling position, but then she stalls out again and lands on her belly. One of these times she is going to get the hang of it and will be off like lightning after Maize.

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!

Dogs Can Fetch

Abby has been playing a lot of fetch with Maize lately. She really loves to watch the dog run. We thought you would enjoy it.

We have 11.5 inches of snow now, and I doubt it will melt, so I'm sure it is only up from here. And to clarify for Grandpa Steve the 2nd turkey (the one in the oven) came from my mom's freezer and made good dinner. We are not adding a second child anytime soon - I refuse to have two in diapers, one is enough to keep up with.

Abby is tired from staying up until midnight last night and getting up at 4:30 this morning, so I think we will be up in bed soon. Hopefully old man winter doesn't dump more snow on us while we sleep. We are going to run out of places to shovel it into!

Two Turkeys

We have one turkey cooking in the oven and another cute one who is finally taking her nap. Abby and her dad enjoyed their usual lunch date today and watched the Michigan/UCLA basketball highlights on SportsCenter. Abby wishes her dad would have stayed up with her to watch Michigan win, but they both slept through it, so all they have is the highlight reel.

Tomorrow Abby is going to experience her first Michigan/Ohio State football game. Unfortunately Michigan will probably lose and she will be watching the game in the home of an Ohio State fan, so she will not be able to yell at the t.v. and throw toys at it. Bummer...

If anyone has a pattern for an easy dog sweater to knit or crochet please let us know, poor Maize is freezing to death when we put her outside. Even her paws are getting frostbit and then we have to watch her limp around until they warm up. Abby doesn't like that, so I am trying to crochet up a dog sweater with some scrap yarn. We'll see how this works.

Abby would like to remind you all of her favorite two words during football season "Go Blue"... Have a wonderful weekend :-)