Reunion with Shelby

Tonight was a fun night! I got to catch up with a high school friend whom I haven't seen in three or four years. (I honestly can't remember what year it was that Karen and I flew down for a visit.) I've known Shelby since I was about five years old when we were both in the same Daisy (Girl Scouts) troop. We then separated for a bit as she went to one elementary school and I another, but we met back up in Junior High and have been friends since. There's a lot of miles between us now (she's the co-owner of fitness gyms in Nevada and I a stay at home mom in Washington) but we'll always be friends.

A whole group of us met up at Hubby's Pizza to gab, drink, and enjoy each other after not having seen Shelby for so long. In this group were almost all of the Fab Five, as we liked to call ourselves in high school. Caren, Karen, Shelby, and I were all able to attend. Celeste has recently given birth to her second adorable son, so I suppose I'll give her a pass for not flying out from North Carolina to attend the three hour event. :-) It was fun to see the changes in Shelby (so stylish!) and to hear directly from her how her life has been. All too soon the evening was over (having a tired 5 month old made the night even shorter) but it was great while it lasted. Hopefully it won't be another four years between visits! (In either direction!)

Karen, Shelby, Me, Abby, and Caren

To Move or Not To Move

To move or not to move? That is the question.

Abby passed out completely face down.

In the end I moved her. Well, I turned her head just a bit so that her little nose was facing open air as opposed to mattress. Thankfully she didn't wake up.

The Ants Go Marching...

I've discovered a funny way to get Abby to stop crying when she's unhappy which, fortunately, isn't very ofen as my little girl seems to be one of the happiest babies I've ever known. When Abby's fussy I sing The Ants Go Marching (no other song will do) and she brightens right up! I was finishing breakfast this morning when she got fussy to have her diaper changed so I began to sing the song which got her to quiet right down and so I stopped singing. She started fussing again so I started singing again. After a few minutes of this back and forth I thought I'd record it for my later viewing pleasure and to share a funny with you.

I Miss My Brain

I miss my brain. Before pregnancy (or as Nate like to call it BP) I had a mind like a steel trap. If I was told it, read it, or heard it I remembered it. Numbers, lists, birthdays, appointments, get-togethers...you name it, I got it. Then I got pregnant and my quick little mind slowly started fading away. Everyone told me that this was just a part of being pregnant and I'd return to normal after a bit. Then I had Abby and my brain was still like a leaky sieve. People then told me that this was due to sleep deprivation from having a new baby and I'd be like my old self in just a bit.

I think these people lie (not lay, as chickens lay eggs) because they know that my brain will never again be normal and don't want to be the ones to dash my hopes. Tonight my adorable four-year old niece had to remind me that I was supposed to take her home from my parent's house party. My 4 year old niece! It was too adorable. I told Haylee that she needed to say good-bye to Abby as she and Auntie Teresa (or Annie as she likes to call me - she learned to call me Auntie Teresa when she couldn't pronounce her t's so the mouthful of Auntie Teresa became Annie) anyhoo, where was I? Oh, yeah. So I told Haylee that she needed to say good-bye to Abs as she and Annie were going to head home. Haylee turned the saddest, most confused face to me and said "But, Annie, you're supposed to take me home?!". I could only laugh. Yep, she was right. I was supposed to take her home. Sigh. Maybe when Abby sleeps through the night I'll get my brain back. Maybe.

My Little Mermaid

Abby learned a new bath trick. She swims!

Abby Rolls Over!

Abby rolled over from back to front! It's funny how I've been trying to show her how to do this for weeks now and nothing. Yet today she looked at me, grinned a big grin, and then just rolled herself like she'd been doing it for forever. She's definitely showing Momma that she'll achieve milestones when she darn well wants to and not before. :-)

Abby is 5 Months Old Today

As the title says, Abby is five months old today. My little girl is getting so big! Where she was once this tiny newborn just needing the world to take care of her, she's not this fun, spunky, smiley little baby that's getting to be such a big girl. Abby's latest milestones of development include rolling from side to side while on her back, squirming around to do full 360* turns on her back, grabbing and playing with both feet, almost sitting up on her own, a few giggles!, and talking, talking, talking in her adorable baby talk. Another big thing is that Abby realizes that her hands can grab things and put them in her mouth! So far we've kept all unwanted objects away, but we're starting to have to 'battle' the Grandmas against giving her tastes of goodies. I know she's watching us eat and it'd be fun to give her a pickle or a taste of frosting or even a drink of Diet Pepsi, however she's going to only have Momma Milk until AT LEAST six months. My line is drawn. :-)

Some Mom successes include getting Abby to sleep in her crib for naps. We're still working on being down for extended periods of time, but 45 minutes seems to be where she's happy right now. Maybe someday we'll get a good two hour nap in. We're also working on sleeping in the crib at night. This is going so-so. Abby goes down great for about 2 hours, but then is up to feed or have her back rubbed or to have a paci put back in about every 2 hours as well. We're working on soothing ourself down instead of always needing Mommy's help.

My Giggly Girl

Grabbing her toes

My little girl is getting so big! So big, in fact, that Nate's started to make little noises about seeing when we should start thinking about adding baby #2 to our family. We're not there yet, but I can tell that we're getting closer!

Abby Fell

Well, we had another first for Abby on Tuesday. Although not one I wish to repeat! Abby fell off the bathroom counter. Eek! Thank goodness she only had the tiniest bump on her forehead and, after a few minutes of crying, was back to my happy little girl.

When we first brought Abby home we intended to use a co-sleeper to have in our bed for her to sleep in when she slept with us. It soon became apparent that we both wanted her sleeping in our arms rather than this co-sleeper so we repurposed it as a bathtime station. As we got Abby undressed and redressed before and after bath we would put her in this co-sleeper which was kept on our bathroom counter. It was padded so it made for a really nice spot to keep her. We made sure that it was pressed as far back on the counter as it would go and as far away from the side of the counter as possible. It worked great!

Tuesday night we were getting her ready for her bath and put her in the co-sleeper as we normally do. Nate was sitting on the side of the bathtub testing the temperature of the water and I was getting a glass of wine for us to share. When I got into the doorway of the bathroom my heart stopped and I shouted "Nathan" in a truly panicked tone. I saw that Abby had wiggled her way to the bottom of the co-sleeper and had just tipped over the stability point for her weight and was falling feet first towards the floor. I rushed to try and catch her but she was on the floor before either of us could get her. I guess I put the wine glass down (as it was later on the floor - it appears from the amount of red wine on her pajamas, co-sleeper, and counter that I had attempted to reach for her glass in hand and ended up spilling wine everywhere and not catching Abs) and picked her up as quick as could be and hugged her tight then tried to look at her face sure I'd see blood. What I saw was a very scared and hurt little girl but no marks anywhere. Thank you, God!

It took a bit to rock her down to being calm again and check arms, legs, eyes, and torso for broken bones, bruises, and blown pupils for concussion but in a bit Nate and I declared her right as rain. We got her into the bathtub and after a few minutes of fussing (normally Nate goes in the tub first and I hand Abby to her, but this time he tried getting in after her causing what I assume to be fear of Dad falling on her) she was happily kicking and splashing in the water. We checked again the next morning for ouchies but there were none to be found.

We feel VERY fortunate that she hadn't come to any harm. The co-sleeper is now put away in the attic for whenever baby #2 makes his/her arrival and we prep Abby in the changing table in her room. We don't believe either one of us was to blame for this as this was a routine we'd done many, many times before but we both agreed we needed to modify our routine.

Looking back (now that she's okay) there was some comedy to the way she fell. The expression 'limp as a rag doll'...I totally understand it now! When Abby slid off the co-sleeper she fell feet first to the floor. Her feet couldn't hold her weight so then she fell to her knees. Her knees were no better at holding the weight so then her head tipped forward and fell. At this time her body started sliding backwards so when her head fell it bunched up the rug on the floor (probably providing the much needed head cushion that she needed) until she lay sprawled face down on the ground. I have no desire to repeat this event, but I can see the humor in it after the fact.

So I guess this is another chain in the ouchies and boo-boos of Abby's life. Hoping the next one isn't so exciting!

4th of July

This 4th of July the family headed down to Portland to spend the extended weekend with Nate's parents. (Nate got both Monday AND Tuesday off!) Our first day in town was spent apartment hunting. Dave and Linda (Nate's parents) are looking to downsize out of their current house, but before they get into a new house they want to do a bit of apartment living. This is a little difficult as Linda requires an apartment with no steps due to frequently using a wheelchair, but we were successful! We found a really nice apartment in a pretty area for a reasonable price. Now we just need to sell the house. If you're in the Portland area and looking to buy, let me know!

The next day was also a busy day as we spent almost six hours canning asparagus and making strawberry jam. The start of the day was pretty chaotic as we had five people (plus Abby!) trying to do two huge projects with one project (asparagus) not having been done before. We soon got a system figured out and cans and jars began rolling off the assembly line. I'm looking forward to tasting our endeavours in a couple weeks.

The 4th itself was pretty low-key. Originally, the plan was to head over to Vancouver, WA to see the big fireworks show that they put on. However, we soon found out that the show had changed a bit and was no longer a barge show over the water but in a park. After a bit of discussion we changed our plans and had a little fireworks display in the back yard. My big thing was wanting Abby to see fireworks, but I didn't care how big they were so long as she got to see some. So off to the fireworks booth! This was actually a first for me as I'd never been in a fireworks booth before. Growing up my Mom was not a fan of fireworks so other than the sparklers I don't recall us ever getting any. I do remember a few block parties where fireworks were lit but I assume they were purchased by another family and we just joined in. In later years we just went to the displays that the parks had. So upon going into the fireworks booth I realized that I had no idea what each item did. I knew the sparklers and saw a few of those snap pops (or whatever they're called - the ones that 'pop' when you throw them on the ground) but other than that I was clueless. I finally asked a worker-bee for his recommendation on items that had colors but little to no sound (trying to not damage Abby's ears), and was directed to a package of an assortment of fireworks. Holy hannah! These things are expensive! One assortment and a few sparklers and we're $40 poorer. Thank goodness we didn't spend the HUNDREDS of dollars that some packages cost. Ouch!

After returning to the house we had a bar-b-que with Nate's Grandparents, Parents, Scott (a friend from high school), and Stephanie (Scott's fiancee). Then it was time to light the fireworks! Below are an assortment of pictures taken during our fun fourth celebration. All in all a really nice afternoon and a really enjoyable first fourth for Abby! Enjoy the pictures!

Abby holding her very first firework sparkler. I kept worrying that she'd try to eat it!

"Grandpa, what are those things they're setting on fire?"

Scott had firework lighting duty. Nate and Stephanie are chilling in the background.

"Hi, Daddy! You're the best!"

Abby's new favorite sitting position.

Mommy and her honey bunny.

I think we all had more fun watching Abby watching the fireworks, than watching the fireworks ourselves.

This was one of the cooler fireworks.

"Woah! That was cool!"

There's my smiling girl!

Abby and Grandpa enjoying the porch swing.

My family

Three generations!