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.

Best Friends

Abby has been enjoying some weekday play dates with one of her best friends, AJ. Last week we played with AJ on Tuesday and Friday and she came over again yesterday. The girls always have fun together. The only thing missing is the third musketeer, Maddie. Yesterday we heard some exciting news - Abby's friend AJ will be officially adopted by her foster family tomorrow. We are so glad that AJ will be a permanent part of Abby's childhood and can't wait for the age when they can have sleep overs and parties and all the fun things that make childhood memories great.

Abby is eagerly anticipating Grandma Mary's surprise visit tomorrow. When I told her yesterday that Grammy was coming to see her she had the biggest smile I've ever seen. And she must have said Grammy about 20 times in a row. She was super excited.

We have found a new favorite food for Abby - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but only if you cut them with a cookie cutter. Her favorite shape was the star sandwich, so if you ask her what she'd like for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack you are likely to hear star sandwich. We will see how long this kick lasts. She still loves her chicken nuggets and hot dogs too, so at least we are getting more variety in her diet.

Our Baby - Week 13

How your baby's growing:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Party Time!

Almost all the kids that attended Jordan's birthday party. Jordan is in the blue shirt standing on the red slide. Abby chewed on her hands for the whole picture time because she is working on getting 4 molars all at once.
Abby and Jordan in the play place. They are good friends. Jordan spent most of the party chasing Abby around and trying to get a hug. She finally let him have a hug right before we left.
Abby climbed up into the middle level of the play place (with some help from mommy) and rode down the slide at least 6 or 7 times. She loves playing at McDonalds.
Abby up in the middle level of the play place, she wouldn't look through the window for me. We had a great time partying with Jordan and her playgroup friends!

Shake Your Booty

MVI_0438
Originally uploaded by Jen O.

This girl has some good moves :-)

Abby Obreiter

Abby learned how to say her last name today. It is hilarious and quite a mouthful for such a small lady. She also learned some awesome dance moves from our friend Craig today while Steve was hosting the guys for football Sunday (we also did football Saturday, so we are basically hosted and footballed out).

Tomorrow Abby is going to her first real, non-family birthday party. And it's at her favorite place, McDonald's play land. We are very excited to go celebrate her new friend Jordan's birthday. We met Jordan at Abby's swim class this summer and now we go to the same playgroup, so they have lots of fun playtime together. We'll have to see how Abby does when someone else gets to open presents and is the center of attention. I'm hoping a happy meal toy will keep her occupied enough.

Bird Feeding

Abby and I set out our bird and squirrel feeders so that we can attract more friends for Abby to watch this fall. A couple days ago we had two big blue jays on our back porch and Abby spent the better part of an hour waiting for them to come back. She really enjoys watching for animals out our back windows.

It is raining buckets this afternoon and cold! We stayed warm napping and heading to Wal-mart to get more bird and squirrel food. We also had fun playing with Abby's friend AJ this morning. While they were playing puzzles and little people Abby actually looked at me and told me to go away. Geesh. I thought I had a few more years of enjoying playtime with Abby and her friends, but apparently they are already too cool for moms.

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.

Our Baby - Week 12 (and a day)

Week 12 of Pregnancy

While it may seem as if you've doubled in size over the past few weeks, it's your baby who actually has!

By now, your baby weighs a full half-ounce and is about the size of a large plum. Most of his systems are in place, though there's still plenty of maturing to do. For one thing, his fetal digestive system is beginning to practice contraction movements so he can eat someday, and his bone marrow is busy making white blood cells — weapons against germs once he's out of your safe haven. The pituitary gland (at the base of the brain) has started producing the hormones that'll enable him (or her) to make babies of his (or her) own in a couple of decades or so. If all these changes sound dizzying, that may just be you dealing with yet another problematic pregnancy symptom: Lots of women experience occasional dizziness and/or feel faint due to progesterone, which causes increased blood flow to your baby by relaxing your own blood vessels. More blood flow to baby means less blood flow to your body and brain and that, along with typically lower blood-sugar levels during pregnancy, can set your world a-spinning. Do your part to keep your equilibrium by eating regularly, getting adequate rest, and standing up slowly.

(from: http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/week-12.aspx)