A Brighter Bathroom

Ever since we moved into our house Nate has been wanting to add a window to our guest bathroom. It was one of two dark spots in the house (the other being the front entry-way until we replaced the door with one with a window built in), which seemed doubly so on a bright, shiny summer day. Our family (finally!) seems to be leaving behind the cold season and Nate hasn't had to travel for work in a while, so the time to install a weekend had arrived.

First up: Lots of lots of measuring and drawing to make sure the hole for the window was exactly centered in the doorway (my request) and not hitting any wires, pipes, or other important stuff (Nate's request).

Once the hole was cut it was pretty easy getting the insulation out.

Then when had a hole in the house! It was a little weird walking through the house and being able to see out from that side. Particularly when Nate and my Dad were on the outside and asking my Mom or I to pass tools to them from the inside of the house.

Here's a view of the beginning of the window's frame, which I guess was to make the window more secure so that we wouldn't have any future sagging issues.

The window fit in beautifully! It's true that measuring twice and cutting once saves work in the long run.

Finally, my beautiful window! (With centered towel bar as Nate forgot who he was married to for a second and put it back up right next to the shower!)

Now that we have a window in the bathroom it's amazing how much more light we get from that side of the house. Just a few days after putting the window in Nate covered it up to touch up the trim work and walls with a fresh coat of paint and we really noticed the lack of light. The only downside to having a window on the West side of the house is that when the sun sets it can get almost too bright for the hour or so when the sun is directly in the path of the window. But we're hoping to solve this problem by installing blinds in the next few weeks (on order!) so that we won't need sunglasses just to open the door.

Once again I'm impressed with Nate's handiness around the house. But I'm also thankful that our 'To Do' list for the house and yard is almost completed. Hopefully I'll have a blog post up soon regarding the removal of the remaining sea grass bush and the revamped sand box. Yeah for Spring, warm w

A Big Girl Bed

A momentous occasion has occurred in our house! Abigail has officially transitioned from a crib to a toddler bed. I was kicking and screaming the whole way, but Abby navigated this change like a champ.

It all started because little Miss had learned how to climb out of her crib. I figured that I was the Mom, and therefore much smarter than she, so I knew I'd solved the problem when I put her in a sleep sack for naps as well as night-time. Two days later my smartness badge was removed as Abby, while in sleep sack, climbed out of her crib and met me in the living room one day during nap time. At this time it was very apparent that I'd have to follow everyone's advice and asked Nate to bring down the toddler rail from the attic.

Doesn't she look so sad at the thought of leaving her crib behind forever?

Yeah, I didn't think so. Girlfriend was so happy!

Our first night was a resounding success as Grandma and Grandpa Carstens were over for the weekend to celebrate her birthday (nothing like having Mom have emotional freak-outs over turning two, and then adding in moving from a crib to a toddler bed at the same time!) and wore her completely out by the time bed time arrived. After laying her down I don't think she'd completely rolled over before she was snoring. Our biggest hurdle came the next week when suddenly there was no rail barrier to keep a little person confined to a bed during nap time. Abby was always one that, after milk and a few minutes of rocking, I'd put her in her crib where she'd hang out for a few minutes before settling down and falling asleep. Without that confinement she realized that she had a whole room that could be destroyed explored during nap time and naps started to go out the window. With that horrible possibility in mind I began to hang out with her during her naps, eventually realizing that if I laid directly on top of her so that I kept her still, instead of rolling around everywhere in bed, she'd soon fall asleep. Once we were successful with this strategy I altered it a bit to where my arm would rest on her but nothing else. Eventually it became that I could just sit beside her without touching and she'd go to bed. We've successfully moved on to where naps and bedtime are a snap. We read from our Jesus Story Book Bible, she has a last bit of milk for the night, I sit beside her for about five or so minutes, and then I walk out the door. Sometimes we hear a few minutes of fussing but more often than not she just rolls over and goes to bed. Two weeks of hardship and now this is just another milestone that we can check off as having successfully met and passed. 

Now we just have to work on keeping this little monkey from climbing up her changing table/dresser and playing in her hair bow drawers!

Her first night in her Big Girl/Toddler Bed. I love how she still likes to nestle her head into the corner. She may be a big girl but there's still little glimpses of the baby she once was inside.

Abby's 2 Year Stats and Pictures

Here are Abby's 2 year stats:

                 Height          Weight               Head CM
Birth           19.5 in.         7 lbs. 0 oz.
1 Week       19.0 in.         6 lbs. 9 oz.         33 cm
2 Months     22.0 in.       11 lbs. 6 oz.         38 cm
4 Months     24.75 in.     15 lbs. 6 oz.         39.5 cm
6 Months     26.75 in.     18 lbs. 6 oz.         41.5 cm
9 Months     28.25 in.     21 lbs. 3 oz.         44 cm
12 Months   30.0 in.       23 lbs. 0 oz.         46.7 cm
15 Months   31.20 in.     26 lbs. 1 oz.         47.5 cm
18 Months   32.80 in.     28 lbs. 14 oz.       48 cm
2 Years       34.50 in.     31 lbs. 2 oz.         49.3 cm

My big baby isn't so big anymore. She shrunk from the 85th percentile in height down to the 73rd percentile, while weight went from the 92nd percentile to the 85th percentile. Even her head stopped growing as much as she dropped from the 85th percentile to the 77th percentile. Honestly, with all the moving and grooving she does I'm not surprised that she's burning so much of herself off. I'm reminded daily of the Olympic Dad who tried to mimic his son's movements for a day and only made it half-way before calling it quits as he was too exhausted to continue. The only time Abby's sitting down is to watch Shaun the Sheep or Thomas the Train. Coloring or Play-dough is done with standing on a chair or running around the table. It's also funny to think that at 2 feet 10.5 inches she's over half my size (5 feet 3 inches), but when I'm holding her you can really tell that she's catching up on me. Another good moment at her appointment was that, unlike previous appointments, she's actually on-track (or a little advanced) developmentally. Her talking has improved tremendously where she's already on three-word sentences, knows how to count from 1-10, can say her ABC's up through J then skips to "LP" before calling it quits, has her colors down pretty well, and is now working on recognizing shapes. She's a hoot to watch play as she loves to mother her babies, gets pretty upset if we don't let her turn the lights on and off herself, and races around the house begging us to chase her. She's such a fantastic little person that there are moments where I tear up while watching her and have to send a little Thank You prayer to God for giving me such an awesome daughter. She is truly a blessing of joy in our lives!

Here's a link to Abby's 2 Year Pictures. She was a little stinker in that she would not sit in the position the photographer put her in to save her life, but I think we got some super adorable ones that showcase little glimpses of her personality. The legs-crossed thing...that's totally how she sits! And I love the close-up of her with her face shows how she does a little impish grin before turning on the full-blown smile.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Abby!

Sniff. My baby girl is now two. Two! When did this happen? One minute she was a little, bitty thing barely able to crawl across the floor and now she's a running, jumping, giggling, talking, toddler. This year I decided to celebrate her birth in a different manner than the people explosion of her first birthday and instead have it a family focused event. Even with the celebration being family only we still have 15 people in our tiny house. But that just meant that there was lots of chatting and laughing going on in all the main rooms of our house while everyone ate our Italian feast.

Trying to shove as much spaghetti in her mouth as possible.

The 'Akers' girls - Katie, Mom, Abby, and Haylee.

Abby kept trying to share her spaghetti with Grandma. For some reason Grandma didn't want to eat Abby's spaghetti. :-)

After sitting down to dinner we had a specially prepared cake for dessert. I was particularly proud of my endeavor as it was the first time I attempted to actually decorate a cake beyond just topping it with frosting. While the cake definitely looks as if a beginner did it, I'm still proud of making the cake all by myself. I had a lot of fun and it was special that I was making it for my own daughter. I had so much fun that I'm looking forward to next years!

Abby's birthday cake. I was giddy when I found a cake pan that matched the flowers of her birthday decor. Not too bad of a job, if I do say so myself.

Someone got super shy once everyone started to sing Happy Birthday to her.

Since Haylee's birthday was only four days earlier (February 6th) and we missed her birthday celebration as we were out of town, I thought she'd enjoy having her own Happy Birthday song and time to blow out candles. From the smiles on her face afterwards I'm glad I did this.

After smashing her cake she then started complaining about the 'uh ohs' on her hand. Yep, she's my kid!

After cake Abby opened up her presents. Oh, my goodness. If the gifts we received are evidence of people's love for her then she is very loved indeed. Abby got a buggy car to ride in, an art easel with chair, Thomas the Train books and a bath kit, a cute barn animal set, a great assortment of various books, a cabbage patch doll (which she sleeps with every night now!), college money, and a lovely handmade sweater that is just adorable. Oh, and we recycled an unopened Christmas gift and regifted it for her birthday. Hee! Best $20 I've spent on her in a long time. :-)

Abby, with Haylee's help, opening presents.

Haylee also enjoyed all the presents Abby got.

Abby thought Haylee's present (which she'd picked out herself) was fantastic! A Thomas and Train shaving/bath set. Abby loves to 'shave' her legs just like Mom does.

Lately she's been enamored with blowing her nose. So I had to capture this!

All too soon bath and bedtime arrived and family started trickling home. It was at the end of the day that everything really hit me. My baby wasn't a baby anymore (Overboard, anyone?). I didn't think that this would have bothered me so much, but frankly I had two crying bouts during the day as it just felt like time was rushing too fast past me and my baby was growing up before I was ready for her to. Nate spent this entire time teasing me on being so silly, but I think that he also was a little sad that our baby has grown up so fast. As I look over this past year I remember learning to walk, getting teeth, dropping to one nap a day, 'jumping' (motions are made but no feet leave the ground), spinning, running giggling and naked through the house, leading us by the hand to play a game, lovingly putting babies 'night night', and all the other hundreds of things that she's learned to do. I absolutely love our giggle fests and it makes my Momma's heart just grin with joy when she leans in for a kiss. I have so much enjoyed our two years together and eagerly anticipate all the marvelous and wonderful things that we'll get to experience together in the year to come. Happy birthday, baby girl! I love you!