Finally!

After almost 6 months of living in this house, we finally got Abbie's name up in her room. Actually, I wanted to do this in our house in Salt Lake, but never got around to it. So anyways, one more thing to check off the list!

We had a fabulous weekend of nothingness here. Beautiful weather yesterday, so we gardened and grilled and just piddled around outside. Abbie is pure genius. She is saying everything we say, seriously. Tonight I was telling her to be gentle with Brandy, because she tends to hit her right on the nose, and although Brandy tolerates it very well, it's not nice, so anyways. She proceeded to repeat the word "gentle" to me - it was more like "getle" but hey, I was impressed. And she is also saying shoe, chair, turkey, teacher, thank you (sounds like "tick u"), the list goes on. Like I said, if she hears us say it more than a couple times, she is saying it. I am struggling with Wes to not teach her choice phrases at such an early age. I told him he'd be sorry! ( :

Yes, No

I stole this idea from Stellan’s Mom, MckMama.

Yes, Abbie is 11 months old today.

No, I cannot believe it.

Yes, she is talking more than ever.

No, she is not sleeping through the night yet.

Yes, she is doing better than she was.

No, she is not in our bed anymore.

Yes, I am still nursing her.

No, I will not do it forever.

Yes, she loves strawberries and mac and cheese.

No, she will not eat her veggies.

Yes, she is the sweetest thing on earth.

No, I do not say that EVERY post. Just most.

Yes, we have one more month before her birthday AND our first beach trip with her to Hilton Head.

No, I will not be having a big birthday bash.

Yes, I may be the only Mom I know that doesn’t do this.

No, I don’t want all the planning stress only to not have her remember it or be fussy that day!

Yes, we will be having a family party at the beach and another when we get home, and we will have cake at both!

No, I am not a mean Mommy!! Just practical : )

Let's Compare!

I thought these pictures would be fun to put next to each other to see how much Abbie has grown! It amazes me that our little baby is almost 1. She will actually be 11 months old this week so I'll post an update then, but for now, let's compare!

R U there?

Just making sure!! Anyways, just wanted to share this sweet little video of Abbie talking - she has been saying lots of words lately - apple, ball, baby, and of course the old faithful mama and dada. We love hearing her sweet voice and watching her learn to talk!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHlscBrxlH4

Please Pray for Stellan!!

Okie Dokie

So I am a little late posting Abbie's 10 month update - but hey, I've had the week off work and I have managed to stay much more busy taking care of the little pooh than when I am working full-time outside of the house! It's been fabulous though - Eaton made us take a week off unpaid, and even though the $$ part kind of stinks, it was worth it. The good news is that for now, our plant in Asheville is doing well - it was just a company-wide thing and our plant was not exempt. But I feel like my job is pretty secure for the time being, and for that I am thankful.

So Abbie is the cutest thing ever. She is seriously talking non-stop - NON-STOP!!

She says Dada, Mama, Baba (f0r Brandy) uh-oh anytime something drops, and she is imitating sounds and noises we make. She has conversations w/ us all the time now, and Wes says she sounds like a Chinese ambassador. She has the sweetest little voice though.

She is not walking yet, but her little legs are getting stronger. She is waving bye-bye, blowing kisses, giving us kisses and hugs, pointing at everything....

Her eating habits are changing. She is no longer interested in baby food/cereal/oatmeal. She is eating yogurt, and that's about the only thing in the puree form that she will do. She likes mac-n-cheese, bananas, peaches, pears, toast (but not wheat toast much to my dismay), Kraft singles. And that's about it so far. I am always trying to get her to eat new things, but she shakes her head and waves her hand in front of her face. Oh, and she has learned to spit food back out of her mouth. Fun stuff. Oh yea, and this little girl would live on Puffs if I let her. She is also drinking out of a sippy cup very well. I tried a little juice but she seems to enjoy water more than anything. No complaints here.

Sleeping - well, we are still working on that. She is taking better naps though.

For some reason 10 months seems like a really big milestone - maybe it's the double digits??!!

Sleep Like a Baby???!!!

Ha! Since I have had Abbie this phrase has cracked me up. Every time someone says it, I say DON’T say that! It’s ridiculous! Babies don’t sleep - or at least, not that good like the saying implies! I have to face the fact, I have not been given a baby that sleeps really good. Sure, she’s gone through some phases where she has, but they haven’t lasted long and I am just learning to accept that! It’s really ok – I mean, I have a beautiful, healthy child and she makes life worth living. And I have gotten used to about 6 hours of sleep a night, much to my surprise. Now all of a sudden though she is not taking naps! I truly hope for her sake that this is a short-lived stage, as most things seem to be. And honestly, even if she sleeps one hour at a time, it’s better than nothing. She will sleep in the car – like for a couple hours. AND she will sleep in the bed with me if I lay down with her during the day. But obviously neither one of these situations can happen all the time, and so she sometimes she just doesn’t sleep. My grandmother keeps telling me she doesn't want to miss anything. So today as I wrote this, I found some pictures of this little girl when she did sleep – everywhere, anywhere, on her own, for at least an hour at a time. Of course she was so little and everything was different then. It so crazy to see these pictures, really. I just can’t believe she was ever this tiny!!



In other Abbie news, her 9-month check up was last week. She weighed in at 16 lbs, 14.5 oz and was 27” long. Her hemoglobin (iron) was 12, which Dr. Morgan was so happy with! She is also, just in the last week, blowing kisses, imitating us when we blow kisses by saying “mmm-wah” like you would when you blow a kiss, eating cereal bars and some other "adult" foods, drinking from a sippy cup, and SO much more!

Check out this video of her – it’s SO cute!! I have no idea where she gets these moves from – must be her Daddy!! ( :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADVleamcPWc