Stinky Dog Kisses

Abby has been particularly enjoying dog kisses lately. Last night I was snuggling her after she jumped head first off the couch and noticed a very doggish smell coming right off the top of her head. She must have been letting Maize groom her or something. They were back at it again this morning and Abby was cracking up. What a nut!

Abby has recently discovered lotion and is now obsessed with getting it rubbed onto her. I think she likes the rubbing more than the lotion feeling, but I'm sure that the lotion feels good on her dry skin (I know... I have terrible dry skin in the winter too). She keeps finding me bottles of lotion and bringing them to me. I now have quite a collection of lotion bottles. She is going to be quite a girlie girl someday I am afraid.

We are waiting for the little princess to wake up from her nap. She has in the last week been putting herself in bed. I just place her in her room, get told to "go away," shut the door and leave. She plays for a little bit and then makes her way into bed. I always go check on her within 30 minutes to make sure she got into bed and to leave her door open so she can escape when she wakes up. It's been working out well so far, which will be a big help when I have a second kid to put down for a nap too.

Boy or Girl

We have been asking Abby lately whether she wants the new baby to be a boy or a girl. So far her answer changes daily (today we are back to girl). So does her proposed names. I'm pretty sure we won't be naming the baby Maize, or number, or baby, so she'll have to keep thinking up ideas. So, in the spirit of Abby's answering ability, we will put the poll to you - boy or girl. You have less than 6 weeks to make your best educated guess.

Good luck!

P.S. According to the Chinese birth chart Abby will be passing her clothes down to a little sister.

18 Months Old!!!

Where has the time gone?!? We hope the next 16 1/2 years go as smoothly as the first 1 1/2. Abby has sure been a great baby and toddler.

I tried giving Abby her first hair trim today. We got it a little shorter than I would have preferred, but I was cutting wet hair on a wiggly kid. Next time I'll have to remember to dry it and then trim it. But, as you can see from the pictures we took afterward, she is still the cutest girl in the Upper Peninsula. Now we just have an ear length bob instead of a shoulder length mullet. We will have to see what dad thinks when he gets home.

Abby finally will tell you that she is "one" when she puts her finger up. It took a lot of practicing, since she was pretty set in holding up one finger and saying "two" instead. She certainly has a mind of her own when she gets an idea into her little brains.

Along with the haircut today, we also got Abby a new set of blackout curtains to try and help keep heat in her room. We picked out a curtain liner that we can reuse no matter how many times she switches her exterior curtains, which were pink this time. She thinks it is a princess room and was very impressed with her upgrade. We are hoping it saves us a few dollars in heating too, or at least keeps her toasty warm at night.

Our Baby - Week 14

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy cover of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

(from: http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-14-weeks_1103.bc)

In other news... we had our 14 week checkup and things were looking good. Abby and Steve came too, so Abby could learn that not all trips to the doctors office result in shots and other pain. She even warmed up enough by the end to give Dr. Mackie a high-five. And she was pretty impressed by the baby's heartbeat - which was 144 beats per minute. We will be checking in again at 18 weeks and will have to do the glucose tolerance test that visit, so I am not looking forward to that fun, but I figure we might as well get it out of the way.

Lion King Sized Success

They had one copy of The Lion King at Goodwill and it had just come in today. It is Abby's best day ever. She said sweet 27 times when we started the movie.

Hurricane Abby

Our house is looking a lot like a mega hurricane hit and I'm not too sure where to start in attacking the mess. I'm sure I had this place pretty much spic and span Friday, so it appears we have one fast mess maker. I guess we will be spending at least part of the next few days cleaning up the messes.

Abby and I took a trip to the library today. She was very excited to be coming home with 3 books. Unfortunately, we were unable to find one of the things I really wanted to pick up - The Lion King. Abby has been obsessed with The Lion King ever since we let her watch some of the songs from the movie on youtube. Unfortunately for her our local movie rental store doesn't have a copy, the library said it has a copy, but it was missing in action, and the movie is currently locked in the Disney vault, so I can't even buy her a new copy. We are heading to Goodwill in a little while for Angel Food, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will have a copy there. If not I guess I will be hitting ebay and half.com later this week.

Abby wore her puffy, fur trimmed coat this morning to play group. She thought she was sure hot stuff. And she had a great time playing with her friends. I'm glad that we have the opportunity to get out and play with other children. It is really helping with her friendliness.

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.