8 Months... hard to believe!!!

Today we celebrated 8 months with Abby. She is finally starting to feel better. Now, we just need her to start sleeping through the night again. Let's see, I'll try to fill you in all the latest on our little "pumpkin." As usual, I will try to do it with a photo because we know that's why you visit the blog. :)

We are so excited about our first Christmas with Abby.
She may not realize what is going on, but she loves the trees
and lights that are everywhere.
We have even put a little one in her room.
Phoebe has been making sure nothing happens to it.

We got all bundled up for the Jefferson City Christmas Parade.
She really liked watching everything go by. She even got a
Santa hand puppet out of the deal.


We have also enjoyed spending time with Aunt Tiffany and
Baby Ben. When Abby isn't trying to grab Ben to chew on him,
she is holding his hand. How sweet!


Abby looks so excited to have a present. I love
the look on her face in this one!


She has been practicing pulling up lately.


This is what we saw the other day when we were
working on something in the nursery. We lowered
the mattress that night.


Trial run for the Christmas dress. She still wanted to
chew on it. This should be fun.


She loves the new way she gets to ride around now.
However, Christmas shopping was wearing thin on
this particular day.


Big News for the month!!!

That's right, folks! We almost have a cruiser on our hands.
She is getting better about getting into the crawling position. We joke with Uncle Tim and say that her transmission and alignment need adjusting. She will usually scoot back and to the side when trying to crawl. She rolls and sits up and rolls more to get where she wants to be. It wears us out watching it, but she likes practicing.

Looks like the Wii is in trouble,
as many, many other things around the house!
(Note the Weapon of Mass Destruction in her hand.)

Our new Christmas Card

Please click here to see the card we meant to send

Polka Dots

This morning we woke up to an unwelcomed surprise.  What at first appeared to be a simple heat rash on Abby's neck soon mutated into head-to-toe red rash.  Bless her heart, it even covers her palms and her scalp.  After a quick visit to the pediatrician, it was determined our sweet girl was not having an allergic reaction to the antibiotics but rather is "suffering" from Roseola, every one's favorite mystery rash. I put "suffering" in quotes because she plays and acts as she always does. We were lucky enough to to skip the three to four days of high temperatures. She ran a small temp Saturday night, but it broke by morning and she was fine. 

Who knows how long the dots will hang around?  I will keep you updated. Otherwise, she is fine. Doc says it is a sort of rite of passage for kids in her age group.  I probably would be freaking out right now, but a couple or three of the Harris quads had a bout with Roseola a couple of months ago, and they are just as perfect as ever.  Nevertheless, if anyone has any ideas about how to make this easier on her, let me know.  This has been the roughest month of her life (fighting colds, shots, antibiotics, rashes, etc.). Hopefully, we will see the light at the end of the tunnel soon!

Here are some pics of the rash. The rash is hard to get to show on some pictures. 

Santa Claus? What's that? Who's he?

Here's how Abby's first trip to see Santa went.  My friends at SDHS were right. He is the tallest one I've ever seen.  

Our little elf has never seen a stranger. 

She took right up with the jolly, ole elf.

She was very eager to get a hold of 

the beard and/or the hat!

Chompers!

As promised, here are a couple of pics of Abby's two pearly whites.  Aunt Tiffany has a really good one that I will "steal" and post soon. 

The Pink Stuff

On Monday, we went to the pediatrician for Abby's lingering congestion.  He put her on amoxicillin (sp?) since she has been battling it for over three weeks.  None of the tricks we tried worked. The bed tilting came the closest. (Thanks, Kristen). However, she still was not eating, sleeping, or playing like herself.  At first, it took Grandma, Grandpa, and Mommy to give her the pink stuff (Steve was in Cleveland), but now she is a pro. She enjoys chewing on the syringe I think. She is doing MUCH better now.  

Inspecting the contraption. 

After the first couple of tastes, she is eager to get the 

stuff down.  There is only a little mess to clean up.

Game On!

Things are starting to return to normal a this White house. We have the new laptop up and running, which means we will be able to update you easier and more often. Also, Steve has just returned from a snowy trip to Cleveland, OH.  This was the first time Abby and I have been by ourselves at night. I am proud to say that we did fine. I didn't freak out and run to Grandma and Grandpa's house like I figured I would do. I must say that even though I was raised by a single mom for 11 years, I now have a totally new appreciation for it.   Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to come over and keep up company in the evenings.  

Abby has had a cold, so we have been staying in a lot. Here is what we've been up to. 

Sleeping inclined has been her favorite lately.

Here she  is sleeping on a stack of pillows in our bed.

She has become reacquainted with old friends.

She still does not take a paci on a regular basis.

We took some more Christmas pictures one afternoon

when she was in a good mood.

She was still a little sleepy from being congested the night before.

FRIENDS> > >

She loved playing with Kristi in the nursery

during Lilli's birthday party.

Our neighbor, Elijah, dropped by. They got

along famously. 

BEING SILLY>>>

All dressed up and waiting to go.

One must always take precautions when Mommy

is cooking!

Her favorite activity lately is playing on the floor. 

We think she is going to be crawling soon!

Technical Difficulties & Turkey

We have a lot to report on this week. Not only was it our first Thanksgiving with Abby, but also her 7 month "birthday." We have so much to be thankful for this year. It was great to be able to share it with family. Abby didn't sleep much on Turkey Day because she was so excited about everyone around her, but we are recovering nicely. :)

On an semi-unrelated note. I haven't updated in a while because our laptop died. I'm not not just talking about wouldn't work right. I mean that it is nothing more than a glorified hard drive. Thankfully, we were able to retrieve our files, including 7 months worth of photos of Abby. I am using the iMac downstairs, and it is not as easy to update since I can't update while Abby sleeps next to me. Hopefully, we'll be back on a good schedule of updating when Mommy and Daddy's Christmas present arrives. Let's take a minutes to remember the iBook and all the fun we had with it.

Okay, now to the real nitty gritty of our week! To prepare for the upcoming holiday season, Abby has been. . .

learning to drive
Gee, that holiday traffic can be rough.

getting some early shopping done
Here, Ben naps peacefully while
Abby does not seem impressed with
the sales at the local mall.
(A glimpse into the future perhaps?)

and

napping on chilly days.
She slept like this for two hours.
How she didn't get a crick in her neck, I'll never know.

Turkey Day

We started the day with the traditional
sausage ball & strawberry jam breakfast
while watching the parade.
Here Abby gets her first taste of jam.

Then, she and Aleigh got some
girl time while. . .

the boys solved some major railroading crisis.
Here are two of the six boys, Mathew and Quentin.

Then, she had some fun with Uncle Tom.

And watched the game with Uncle Tim.

A family first. . .
Thanksgiving marked the first time my brothers and I have all been parents and had our kids together. It was a blast to be together and give thanks for our great family!

What started with this. . .

Daddy and Mom on their wedding day in 1960.
The Puckett clan begins!

Here are all 15 Puckett kids and grandkids.

From left to right, front row to back row, I give you the

Puckett grandchildren:
Abby, Quentin (the great-grandchild), Aleigh, Mathew, T.J;
Ethan, Joey, Jennifer (Joey's fiancee), Michael, and Rachel (Michael's girlfriend)

So Sorry!

I am so sorry I have been slacking in my blogging responsibilities as of late. It seems my free time has been drastically reduced. Abby is doing great! She has two bottom teeth now. She keeps rubbing her tongue over it and giving us a confused look. She isn't at all into showing them off, so it may be a while before I get a picture up of the little chompers.

Here is what we have been up to. . .

For my birthday, Steve took me to Granny Stone's in Bristol for the weekend. (Something I wanted to do since before Abby was born.) As a result, Abby had her first overnight trip. She did great. She didn't sleep well the first night, but we blame her never-ending stuffy nose for that.

We also tried out our new travel booster seat.

We set it up in the swivel chair. We think
she thought she was on a fun ride.

Made new friends we did... yeeess!
(Note to our cousin Ted. If Granny takes you to Bonnie's
restaurant, go next door to the comic book shop. They will
let the girls get their pictures made with Yoda!!!)

Here is Grandpa and Abby all dressed up for church.
They clean up pretty well!

Upon our return home, we found the house was pretty chilly.
Abby made great use of the hat Cousin Katie knitted for her.

Here's a sneak peek of what's in store for the holidays.

"Mommy, isn't a little early for Christmas?"

"Exactly how big is our tree going to be?"

"I can't wait to chew on this dress!"

Other than that. . .

She's been getting better acquainted with little Ben.

and GROWING, GROWING, GROWING!
I think she looks like such a big girl in this picture.