Way...Too....Fast....

Lately, I have found myself saying these phrases to people around me:

She is growing up SOO fast!

It seems like she does something different every day!

She comes up with the funniest things to say!

I love this age!

Here are a few examples - Last night, as I was rocking Abbie to sleep she popped up, looked at me (I had my eyes closed because I typically get tired way before her) and she said "Mama, wake up". It was so funny, I have no clue where she got that from, because God knows we have never said "wake up" to her. We've never had to!!

Tonight at the Outback, we were leaving and Wes got her out of the high chair, and the next thing we knew she had her shirt off, and her belly was just hanging out. Never done that before.

And this week she learned how to OPEN the doors in our house. Craziness.

So in short, there is never a dull moment in our house. Wes and I constantly find ourselves laughing out loud at her and she just brings so much joy into our lives. I did miss her 17-month update on the 13th, yep, one more month and she'll be halfway through ANOTHER year!

We love her.

Early Morning Update

Greetings! It's Sunday morning, and Abbie and I are the only ones up. It's still dark outside, meaning she woke up WAAYYY too early, but such is the norm these days. She is sleeping better overall though, which is a good thing.

I just wanted to post a quick update to say that things are going good around here. I really like my new position w/ Eaton, and more importantly Abbie has adjusted well to being back at Pam's. I did quickly forget how hard it is to do things in the evenings, like um, make dinner for instance, but I just bought a Slow Cooker cookbook yesterday so I plan on using it all winter! Let's see, what else. Oh, October has brought my 32nd bday already, which ended up being a great one(see Wes and I before my bday dinner above) and then some of my family from VA came in. Then at the end of this month, my family from Florida is coming up for a week! Oh, and I purchased Abbie's Halloween costume already too. It is the CUTEST ladybug (or bebug, as she says) costumer you've ever seen. Yay for Cracker Barrel. Lastly, stay tuned for some professional pictures coming soon! Well, that might be a little premature, but we are having them done the last week of October. Here is my little ballerina...

Hard

Hard. That's what this week will be for me, no doubt. See, in case you haven't heard, I am entering the outside working world again, starting Thursday. In some small ways, I am excited, partially because I knew I would have to do it sometime, and partially because job hunting sucks. Sorry, it just does. So anyways, notice I say "small" ways. Because in every other possible way, I want to stay home with Abbie and raise her and be here with her all the time. But one thing I do know is this - when I am working outside the home, I do not take the time with her for granted. I do not lose patience with her nearly as easily, and I truly do cherish each minute. Please know that I am not saying this about other Mom's, I am speaking of myself here. So in that way, maybe it's not all bad. I still really believe that for me a mix of outside work and being at home is ideal, but as I've said before, we aren't quite there yet. So for now, I will be content with the situation given to me, because as a friend reminded me this morning, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. For now, I will be satisfied.

And on a lighter note, I MUST get some drawer locks today. As I was writing this post, Abbie has retrieved a lighter, some neosporin lip balm, and as I type this she has matches in her hands. (She is in Wes's fishing desk). Gotta run!!

A little bit of this and that

Do you ever write blogs in your head? Like have one planned out, title, pictures, and everything, and then just never get around to it? Well, that's what I've been doing for weeks now, and of course now that I am getting around to it, I don't have anything planned to write! Oh well.

I feel like the past few weeks have flown by. The three of us took a trip to San Antonio to meet up with some friends from Salt Lake City, and then Labor Day Abbie and I flew down to FL to stay with my family. Both trips were wonderful and a nice escape from reality. I'll share some pictures below. As we already knew, Abbie is obsessed w/ water so our FL trip was right up her alley, with the beach, the pool, and the splash park. She absolutely loved it!

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since we moved back to NC. These friends in the picture above were the ones that got us through some hard times out there, when we felt lonely and homesick (me especially) and we did things with them on a regular basis. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you'll recognize them!

It's been two months today that I have been out of work. I am enjoying being at home w/ Abbie more than I can express. I really truly love it. Of course, it's the hardest thing I've ever done, but I feel like whatever time I get to spend with her is worth it when all is said and done. I promise you that if I thought we could work it out where we wouldn't have to sell everything we own and have me not go back to work, we would!

I don't know if it's her age or not, but I really enjoy my days with her, but the nights are what is hard. She fights going to sleep like crazy sometimes, and the fact that she has TONS of teeth coming in AND a sinus infection right now probably aren't helping. But man, my patience has truly been tested with that lately. Oh, and one last thing, if anyone has any words of advice on weaning a 16-month old, could you leave it in the comments? I really think I am ready. I really don't think Abbie is. It might be tough. Do you think it's worth it? Or should I just wait til she is done? I mean, I don't want to nurse her til she is 4, ya know? I just am not sure what to do right now.

Abbie-isms

Doesn't this picture just crack you up?????????

So since I posted last, I realized there are SO many more things Abbie is doing, and that you were probably dying to know about all of them, so here is another list:

- She says "I'm sorry" all the time now. If she hurts herself, or if Brandy steps on her toe or anything like that, she says it. It is very cute.

- She gives you five, then says up high, lifts her hand, then down low, and lowers it. No clue where she learned this!

- She likes to flip the light switches and says up, down when she does it.

- Oh, this one is funny. I think I mentioned before that she talks in the 3rd person a lot. So she was saying "I love you Abbie" there for a while. Well now, she says "I love you Elmo" when she hugs Wes or I. So it's like she is saying it to us, but Elmo is at the end.

- Brace yourselves for this one...She counted to ten this morning! I heard her in her room, and she was reading a book and there she went. She'd probably never do it when I asked her, but I heard her count to 6 yesterday, and this morning it was ten!

- Now when she gets the cell phone, she holds it to her ear, and says Hello, Hey! just like we do when we answer the phone.

I seriously can't believe the things she picks up on. She is like a little sponge!

I am going on a month and a half of being home with her, and I have to say it was a little hard getting adjusted but I think I am getting there! I am enjoying it much more now that I feel like we have a little routine going. Still job hunting. No bites yet, so we will see. I am taking her to Pam's once a week though, which is nice because it gives me a little break and gives her a chance to interact with other kids and not forget Pam!

I swear I take less pictures of her now that I am at home, but seriously, I cannot get her to sit still! I literally have to chase her to get her picture nowadays. Here are a few recent ones- she rode on the lawnmower yesterday w/ Wes and I have not seen her so giddy in a long time. She loved it!

Fifteen

Abbie is 15 months! Here is what she is up to these days:

She is becoming quite the little monkey. She likes to climb on things, countertops, chairs, her changing table, etc. Basically if we are holding her she lunges for whatever is around to climb on. We are going to have our hands full with this, I am afraid. One of her favorite games is for us to chase her. She says "I'll get you" and then starts running. It's something Wes started and she just loves it.

She is so smart, it just amazes us. She identifies everything, and can follow commands and do things we ask her to do. She knows what everything around the house is, and likes to tell us.

She loves water and has learned to flush the toilet, and turn the water in the tub on. She will go in our bathroom and do this and play in it. I know, what a waste of water, but you know, sometimes it's worth it to keep her occupied for a little while! And I cannot keep Brandy's water down, or else she will play in it or try to drink it. Yea, as you have probably noticed by now, I am not really concerned about germs! She is so healthy and I just think a few germs here and there are ok!

She has such a mind of her own, and definitely knows what she wants. If she gets it in her head she wants something, and she can't have it (like the cord from the iron, for example) she will keep going back to it. After a couple days of this, and us telling her no and pulling her away, she finally gets it now, but she can be very stubborn.

She loves her baby, Abby Cadabby, whom she affectionately calls "Abby-Dabby Doo". We aren't sure how she came up with that, but that is her name. She gives her the bottle, rocks her, puts her in the Boppy, and even gives her baths in the toilet sometimes. ( :

Being at home with her for the last month has been great, but my patience has been tested a lot the last few days with her refusal of naps! Thankfully today she is taking one, but she fights it now and I am getting scared that she might just flat out refuse more and more. We'll see.

I found out yesterday that the opportunity w/ Eaton is not going to work out. I could vent, bad mouth, do things like that, but I won't. I don't know what the future holds, and that is certainly difficult to stomach, but God has His hand in this and He will take care of us - that is my belief, because I have no other hope but in Him.

Oh yea, one more thing. In my last post I mentioned CORE4, the weight loss program I started. Well, it's been a week, and already my clothes are looser, no joke! And I have only been to the gym once, and am still eating ice cream and cookies. Amazing! If you clicked on the link last time, do it again, because they have just launched an awesome new website with a lot more information out there, sort of like a facebook. Pretty cool. Here is the direct link.

www.irepcni.com/sledford

And here is Abbie with our neighbor, David, on the John Deere!!

Picture-less Tuesday

I just made that up. You've heard of Wordless Wednesday, all you blog readers? Well, I don't have any pictures of Abbie to share. I did go to the lake with some girlfriends this weekend, and it was fabulous, but I know most of you come here to see Abbie! She had pink eye last week, and then my camera battery died. But I just wanted to update everyone on my job situation. I am still waiting. I really should know something Thursday or Friday, so as soon as I find out what's going on I will post. Good or bad, I promise. Other than that, I can't believe I am going on one month of not working. It has flown by, and I am not even sure what I do every day! Oh, and also you may have noticed the little gadget at the top of my blog about weight loss. Well, check it out if you want. I just started this program. It's called CORE4, and my friend Lynette introduced me to it. Wes is doing it along with me. It's for people who want to lose any amount of weight - 5lbs, 25 lbs, etc. It has 4 parts that work together to get you lean. And the more you exercise and the better you eat the quicker you will see results, but it's not completely necessary that you stick to a really strict diet. After all, diets fail, right?! So anyways, I hope you will check it out, and please let me know if you are interested!! Abbie will be 15 months this week too, so I promise to post later about her. Bye!