Happy Birthday to me!!!

Today I am old...as in..25! Yay...I can finally say that I'm in my mid-twenties.

Abigail, Tupac, and I decided to be adventurous this weekend and drive up to the grandparents place! We got here Thursday afternoon, and, boy was the traffic bad. I guess everyone is taking there vacation now!! Thankfully Abigail slept the entire time, and, Tupac stayed on the floor instead of the seats for the majority of the trip.

We had some yummy speghetti last night and CAKE!! I love Lynda's cakes...she makes angel food cake for everyone's birthday, and, then fresh stawberries and whipped cream! It's so yummy and refreshing, well...compared to the heavy icing covered cakes. Abigail was so happy to see her Oba and Ogi, as well as Tupac!

This morning we went to eat at The Delectable Egg. Yummy yummy yummy!! Abigail of course put on a show, and, had the waitresses coming over to gush over her! It's got to be that big ole bow, haha. Anywhoo, afterwards, we came home to chat briefly with Christian and then headed up to Boulder. We went to Starbuck's and then hit the used bookstore to search for books for Abby. Her birthday is in August, and, while toys are fun...I think we will be sticking to books and balls, haha. She's more interested in the untouchables anyway!! It's impossible to hide all of those electrical cords, hahaha...WHY ARE THEY HER FAVORITE TOY!?!?!?!?

Moving on, after we found a few good books, we came back home. Lynda prepared an AMAZING dinner of STEAK (if you know me...you know that this is my weakness), potatoes, mushrooms, yams, collard greens, corn on the cob, broccoli, and MORE CAKE!!! Let me tell you...it was delicious. I could eat this everyday...but, that wouldn't be very healthy, teehee.

Well...moving on to Abigail updates...this child is seriouly beginning to scare me. Christian, you need to come home NOW, because, you left me with a wild child!!! She is beginning to experiment with PULLING UP ON FURNITURE! She's not quite there, but, she's dangerously close. She gets onto her knees, and then puts one foot flat on the floor. YIKES! And, let's not even get into her talking back! Haha, she's a chatterbox. I'm terrified of when she actually starts talking in sentences, and, even worse, asking questions! God help us, I don't think we knew what we were getting into!








Juuuuuuust kidding, she's a peach! I'm excited about all of these progressions, but, they really are scary. She is keeping me on my toes! The higher she can reach, the more dangerous things she can get into! I really need to finish that baby proofing! Anyone want to come over and help, haha? Anyway...please be kind about the pictures I'm in. I looked especially..."special" today after dinner.

Well, I've been bad and haven't updated much, but, here I am, hehe. It's been a rough couple of weeks between Abigail's teething and me being sick. We're better now and all ready to blog, though.

Abigail is still doing her Army crawl, but, she's added a new feature. She now stands on her feet, with her hands on the floor for about one minute while she tries to figure out how to stand up all the way. She doesn't really care to pull up on furniture...so, I think it will be LOOOONG time before she walks. Especially with these odd methods that she's trying out.

The naked and bath pictures are from last week when Abby had a horrible blow out. I changed her cleaned her up, and filled the tub. She heard the water, so, she scrambled down the hall to the bathroom. (She likes bath time!) She had her very first bubble bath, and, she had so much fun. I let her soak in there for a good hour!!!

The pictures of her in the blue dot dress are from this past Monday. When we came home from work, I hopped on the computer to check out some things. While I was online, Abigail decided that she was hungry and rummaged through my diaper bag. Inside, she found 1/2 a banana, a bag of saltines, her sippy, and, mommy's water bottle. She had a feast!!

The other pictures are just from a random day of cleaning at home...she really likes playing with the vacuum cleaner cord, yikes!

I love meat!

If someone was to come up to me today and tell me, "It's illegal to eat meat and you now have to become a vegetarian, " I would fall to my knees and cry out in sadness. It's an odd thought, I know, but, I was just thinking about how much I love meat, beef primarily. When I was pregnant with Abigail, that was all I wanted. Poor Christian probably had at least 40 steaks during the duration of my pregnancy, because, it was what I NEEDED! I know that it's horrible for my health, but, I just can't do away with it!

Well, I found myself really starting to want pot roast this week, so, that is what I made today. After work, I ran by the grocery store to pick up my treasure of top roast, carrots, and potatoes and headed home to begin cooking. After three hours in the yummy, out came a DELICIOUS dinner that I get to have for three days in a row, teehee. I don't think I'll let Abigail eat the meat, but, I'm sure that she'll love the carrots and potatoes. I do have to say, I'm quite proud of myself! I know have a new dinner that I can add to my repertoire to make for my wonderful husband. I always prefer his cooking, but, I can stand to give him a break once in a while, haha.

Abigail is starting to get so cute with her toys. Lynda pulled out a doll for her, and, did she ever love it! We've been playing with it everyday since then. It comes with a bottle, and, she even knows how to give it to the baby...sort of. She just hits the baby in the face with it and looks at me with this huge grin. I keep telling myself that she really is trying to feed the baby. She's even tried drinking from the bottle, herself. My mom had gotten this doll for Abigail this past Christmas so that she would have a lovey like my Shelly doll. When I was a baby-toddler-child, my favorite toy was this doll with a cloth body and plastic arms/face/legs. She went with me EVERYWHERE! I had hoped that I would be able to give her to Abby, along with a few other childhood treasures, but, I found her in our garage without a head. We searched through EVERYTHING in the garage, but, sadly, her head was not to be found. Oh well...so, this doll shall do, hehe.

In the last few pictures, Abby is taking a short nap. This is the only way that I have been able to keep her calm and asleep at night since she's been teething this past week. Well, tonight I am going to be a mean evil mommy and make her cry it out :-(. I hate hearing her cry, but, I haven't slept well in 5 days, and, that takes a pretty good toll on the body. I know that it was similar when she was first born, but, I was letting her co sleep with me as soon as Christian left (wish I never did that). I have learned a lot from this...attachment parenting is NOT my friend!!! I love baby wearing, but, I also love strollers. I love cuddling with Abby while she sleeps, but, I also love to sleep too, haha.

This weekend has been wonderful!! Lynda came down just in time! I was seriously about to lose my sanity from the lack of sleep I was getting. Not to mention that I felt like a terrible mommy since I couldn't make Abigail's teething pain go away. I was so nervous that since Abby stopped nursing and was refusing every other liquid under the sun that she was going to be dehydrated. I scheduled a doctor's appointment.

I have to say, I was slightly excited that we were going, because, I had NO CLUE how much Abby weighed. She came in at 15 ibs 10 ounces (fully dressed). Geez, she's tiny. She's also 26ish inches long with a head circumference of 18...ish. Haha...I had to do those last two measurements on my own...they didn't think that was very important at the docs. This brings her in at a below the 5th percentile for height and weight, but, over 75 for that head. Maybe that's the reason she has a hard time holding her head up, haha. It's so heavy for that body! She really does look like a bobble head. Her appointment went great, she wasn't dehydrated, and, then dr. said that she was fine without the milk. As long as I kept her on a well balanced diet and gave her lots of fluids, she would be peachy keen.

Afterwards, we all went to eat lunch at Panera Bread. I was STARVING, so, I got a salad and bread bowl. I was so dissapointed to see that they barely filled that bread bowl. I should have just gotten a bowl of soup...it would have been cheaper, more satisfying...and, I never eat the bread bowl..just the top. After lunch, we came home and pigged out on the usual: Chips, Sinton's Dip, Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper, and Haagen Das...yum.

Today we went to breakfast at the same little place as usual. It was so good, but, Abigail was not on her usual best behavior. She didn't fuss, but, she had a lot of fun throwing her food (as well as mine) all over the floor. I couldn't keep my plate far enough away from her, so, she kept grabbing the hashbrowns, trying them, disliking them, and then throwing it on the floor. I feel so bad for the poor waiter who had to clean it all up. After breakfast, we came home, and, I was able to get four loads of laundry done! Abigail took a nice long nap on my tummy while Lynda went and picked up some Jimmy Johns for lunch. Abby then took another long nap on Lynda's tummy. Here's to hoping that she dosen't really think this is how she should sleep.

Happy Birthday Grandmom Trickey and Mom (Abby's Mee-Maw!)

Before I post, I have to say: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMOM TRICKEY AND MOM!!!!!

This week has been.....a special one. Abby is getting her top two teeth in, I believe, and let me just say, it's been pure torture!!!!!!! I don't know what I was complaining about with those first two teeth, compared to this time around, Abby was sweet as pie! She has been crying for the past two and a half days!

At first, I thought that maybe she was just sick, but, all day yesterday and today she has been biting me, chewing on her hand, and almost clawing at her gums. I have given her EVERYTHING that she could possibly take for teething (minus the highlands teething tablets that are hiding around this apartment somewhere...). She's had alternating doses of tylenol and motrin every two hours (every four hours for each...they can overlap :-P), frozen chew toys, cold wet washcloths, a numbing ointment for the gums, and popsicles. That list exludes my own fingers and hand, haha. She'll calm down for up to an hour, but, then we are back to square one. I just feel so bad for this poor child!! She has been taking a lot of naps, though!!

The saddest part of it all, she is refusing to nurse completely and eat most of the time :-(. I'm so scared that my milk is going to dry up. We were starting the weaning process, but, I wanted it to go on until she was one. Pumping doesn't work for me either :-(. I'm a little nervous, also, because she is refusing formula!!!! What do you do in these crazy situations???? I might have to call the pediatrician tomorrow, because, I'm afraid that she is going to be dehydrated and malnourished. I did get her to eat a few bites of yogurt and she attacked my pizza from lunch. At this point, I don't care what she eats, as long as she is getting something!!

Earlier today while she was having one of her good hours, she decided that she would crawl under her activity table to play with the toy bins behind it. I noticed that she was under there for a while, and, it turns out that she was taking a little snooze. I picked her up and rocked her for a little while and then put her down for nap number two. After she woke up, we played for a little while and watched planet earth. We then headed to WalMart to pick up some more popsicles, formula for another desperate attempt to feed her, and rotisserie chicken for me, because, if I wanted to eat today, it was going to have to be precooked and ready to eat.

Oh, and, Abigail really REALLY likes popsicles...we've had four today (shared, of course)! The pictures of her crying are when I told her that we were done, haha. She wanted more and kept making the "uh uh" sound that indicates, "um...next bite, please!" When she realized that it was not coming, she started to fuss, and, then got distracted by Planet Earth playing on the television. Ahhhh, the joys of motherhood.

This past weekend, Abby and I headed up to Lynda and Bruce's. Lynda was going to be singing in a concert that weekend, and, we didn't want to miss out. It was such a great concert, and, Abigail was such a good girl. She did get very verbal in the beginning, so, we had to hide in the cry room. I'm so thankful that they have this at Lynda's church. I was able to still listen to the choir sing while Abby happily played on the floor with her toys. She loved talking to a little girl who was also in the room playing.

On Saturday, we headed over to Boulder to eat lunch. We stopped by the farmer's market, where, I grabbed a few bags of AMAZING popcorn. I still haven't made it, since, I want Christian to try it. If I start making it now, it might be gone by the time he comes home. After the farmer's market, we walked over to Pearl Street Mall to eat lunch. We picked out an Italian restaurant that had shaded outdoor seating. We sat down next to an older tourist couple, and, they couldn't get enough of Abigail. The husband even took a picture of Abby.

After lunch, we walked around for a little while and stopped into a Children's Boutique. I don't know how I've missed this store every time I've come to Pearl Street, but, I'm thrilled that I found it!! There were all sorts of goodies, such as: Robeez, Tutus, Pedipeds, Wooden Toys, Pillowcase Dresses, etc. etc... I found a couple of things for Abby's birthday, and, then we headed out. Once we got back to their apt., I pretty much had to pack up and head back to the Springs. It was such a fun trip up!!

Spaghetti Day :-)

Today, Abigail and I just hung around the house. I was supposed to do laundry, but, we were having too much fun playing. For dinner I was wanting Spaghetti, so, I thought, "Hey, why not let Abby try some." I layed out her plastic tarp, put her in her bumbo and let her have at it. She LOVED it...even though a lot of it ended up on the floor.

Yesterday was an exciting day. I traveled to Denver with my friend, Jessica, and her family. We went to the Children's Hands On Museum (or something to that affect, haha.) It was so neat, even Abigail had fun since they had activities from ages birth and up. I found a play area just for babies. Abby had a blast crawling around and interacting with all of the other babies her age.

I also walked around with Jessica and the boys to see what else they had. There were all sorts of activity centers where children could do crafts. There was a little grocery store area where they had shopping carts, play food on shelves, a check out area, and a cooking area. It was so cute. It would have been a little more enjoyable if it wasn't so crowded, but, since it's free on Tuesday's and that's when we went, that's what we got.

They have yearly memberships and I thought that it might be fun to get one when Abigail is around 2. We go to visit Bruce and Lynda often, so, we can go there whenever we see them. Lynda actually told me that she used to take Christian and his brother there when they were little. I mentioned it to Christian, and, he told me that he remembered the kitchen, because, he and Justin found a small box of Cheerios there. There were still some Cheerios, so, they ended up eating them (gross gross gross!). Anywhoo...that was our Tuesday :-).