A Step In The Wrong Direction

We thought our snow was finally melting, but we were wrong. The bare patches that had appeared on our driveway are now gone. It is definitely a step in the wrong direction for us weather-wise.

We are enjoying some good times lately. Abby is playing longer into the evenings and is having a great time with her Dad each night. She still has a lot of fun with Maize and Mom during the day. Yesterday Abby had her first taste of broccoli and actually ate quite a bit of it before tossing the rest overboard to her furry friend.

We are busy, busy, busy this week and trying hard to keep up with housekeeping, blogging, and resting. Tonight we are having dinner out with friends, tomorrow Abby and I have Time Out For Moms and have to take Angel Food orders, Thursday we have a meeting with the MSU Extension office and have to take more Angel Food orders, and Friday we have a little play date, more Angel Food ordering, and bible study. And then Saturday we are off to Hastings so Steve can fly to Portland, Oregon on Sunday. Whoa... it makes my head hurt to think of all the work we are going to have to do in the next five days. On that note I better be getting back to something at least slightly productive!

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.

We've Reached The Point Of Exhaustion

We have finally reached the point where she just can't party anymore. Finally, we wore poor Abby out so she would take an afternoon nap. We just didn't expect that it would be in her high chair during her lunch time. And she went down fast - it was no more than 2 minutes while I was putting away the lunch supplies. And now... I am going to use her nap time to catch up on my much needed rest!

Good Deals Day

Abby and I went to Goodwill a day early this week (we had to drop some information off to the store manager). While we were there we tried to find some good deals and we had great success! Our Goodwill now sells all children's clothes for $1.99. We got two nice pairs of blue jeans, a Winnie the Pooh shirt, and a pair of black leggings for Abby. She is going to be one well dressed little girl. Better than all that, we found the loving family doll house (for little people) and it was a great steal at $2.99! We can't wait to get some good playing done with our new toy. Abby also got a good treat when her dad let her sneak some of his breakfast. She is one lucky girl!
















Abby helped me make 2 1/2 apple pies yesterday (the 1/2 was a mini pie that she also helped consume). She mostly took slices of apple and snacked while I peeled and chopped. She also played me some nice music with her instrument table. She was being very helpful. And our pies turned out pretty good, except that my rice flour crust wouldn't stay together. But if it's going to be sliced and munched anyway, then it probably doesn't matter how pretty the top of the pie looks.

Tonight we are going to try some Hawaiian style pork with pineapple, yummy!!! I am hoping a tropical dinner will help our snow melt.

I Just Want A NAP!

But Abby apparently doesn't want one herself. She is on an afternoon rampage and only had a short nap this morning, so we are getting to the ridiculously tired stage. It's a very good thing her best friend in the world, Maize the dog, is feeling rather playful today and is enjoying Abby's petting and pulling game.

Abby is still working on her 4th upper tooth (it will be her 6th overall). She's been chewing lots of things that she normally keeps out of her mouth. For example, she's been trying out pacifiers, which she hasn't used since she was about 8 weeks old. Unfortunately, she wasn't old enough to read the instruction manual, which would have told her that she has the pacifier in her mouth upside down.

Tonight is library night. We normally go during the day, but Steve will be heading to Salem, Oregon in about 10 days and he wanted a chance to pick out some books too. Abby has been much more interested in reading books lately, especially with her dad. I bet they will have a good time choosing some new things to read at the library tonight.

It Was So Cold...

Now here's the part where you all say "How cold was it" and we show you this picture of our exploded pop can. We had been enjoying the ability to leave pop out on our porch for a free way to keep it ice cold without cluttering up our refrigerator. Obviously we had to come up with plan b after our sub-zero temperatures created a 4 can explosion. Thankfully tomorrow night is supposed to be our last night of single digit temperatures for a few days. Hopefully we will be thawed soon.

We could also use the exploded can as a metaphor for my head, but it is much better. I managed to make it through the day without any cold medicine, and the only issue I've dealt with is lack of hearing. But, with a noisy dog and noisy Abby in the house my muffled hearing is almost a blessing in disguise.

Abby has been entering a new stage - deliberate disobedience. We are not too excited about her finally reaching an age where she purposely does things we've told her not to do. Our biggest problem is her constantly turning the t.v. on and off. I will admit, we found it funny and didn't address it right away, so we are partly to blame for the problem. So today, we tried doing a time out for not listening when I told her not to touch the t.v. power button. Let's just say that time outs were not working for us today, mostly because I couldn't stop laughing. Abby apparently loved being in time out and started doing her little Abby dance, cracking up, and in general enjoying her time in the "naughty chair". We are going to have to reconsider time out - it isn't going to be very effective if it's too fun.

Still Sick

Abby has bounced back wonderfully, but I seem to have a sinus infection and have been really out of sorts. The enormous amount of pressure has affected my hearing, vision, and breathing, so needless to say I've spent most of my last two days medicated and resting. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband to help me around the house. He's been so helpful that Abby wants to be with her daddy and won't even stay and play with me today.

Steve and I (and Abby too) participated in our first Angel Food distribution yesterday. Things went really well, people showed up to help, the orders were right, and the food quality was good. And we survived it with my sinus infection and Abby missing her morning nap. She just found all the grandmotherly aged women in the room and stole all their kisses. She is just a ham like that - as long as her mom is in sight.

So, I am going to get another cup of tea, some more advil sinus & cold, and try to get rid of this mess before our house falls apart and we run out of clean clothes. Abby has 5 teeth now and 1 more almost in, so between the two of us we haven't felt much like doing housework (or had the time to do it).

Quarantined

This is pictorial evidence that Abby is not all sugar and spice. Sometimes even the sweetest of us don't want to share toys with our cousins.

Abby and I are continuing our downward spiral into the common cold. We are not getting much better, in fact I am getting worse. Complicating the problem is the fact that as a nursing mother I can't take most over the counter cold medications, at least according to the labels and our doctor. Bummer... So, Abby and I are quarantined for the day. Steve is going to have to head to bible study by himself, since we were cooking the main dish and all. And with the minimal sense of smell I have left I can tell that the ham I am cooking is going to be amazing. Abby and I will have to entertain ourselves with Finding Nemo or some other Disney flick while Dad is away tonight.

We got another dumping last night. I'm not sure how much fell, since there is just a big heap of snow in the yard. It looked like about 3 inches on top of the car this morning, but that may or may not be an accurate estimate. We are starting to look forward to spring, but I have to admit that I do love watching the snow fall.

Our Visit Rundown

As you can see, by the time our trip was over Abby was one tired girl. She did more adventuring and is a lot more friendly than she has been in a long time. So between all the playing, driving, test driving, visiting, and partying, Abby was wiped out. It was perfect for the drive home, which she slept through for the most part. Even after all that sleeping in the car little Abby slept all night (and in her own bed to boot).

Abby got to go see her Aunt Hannah play some basketball and it was really fun. We wish we could have checked out one of Auntie Em's games too, but it didn't quite work out. Before the game started Abby decided to practice her jump shot from way downtown. She was the star of the pre-game show for sure! And she had lots of fun pointing Hannah out as she ran up and down the floor.

We also were able to have a play date with Abby's cousins Connor, Noah, and Jacob. It was really fun! Abby had a good time showing off her new, bigger than ever vocabulary and trying out some new toys.

So Tired...

We are home, but I forgot how tiring a long drive can be. Abby had a great ride and only cried about 10 minutes total of the 6+ hour ride. We had really yucky roads for the last 120 miles, so it took a little longer than normal. Thank goodness for a safe new car (Dodge Journey, if you hadn't already heard or seen it in person) and for the portable dvd player that let Abby watch movies while she was awake.

So, that being said, I am going to catch you all up later, after I've unpacked the car and had a little nap.

This is what the new car looks like according to the Dodge promotional information. Ours has a roof rack and some dirt and salt from driving in the Lower Peninsula for the last few days. We'll have all that washed off soon with our Up North snow.