This just in. . .

Abby is not a fan of green beans.



We will try again tomorrow. Maybe she won't gag next time.

Five Months Old

Abby was five months old on Saturday. It hard to believe it has already been five months. We celebrated by going to Bristol to see Granny. She had not seen Abby since early July. Lately, Abby has been getting chatty with everyone. She loves to tell stories and knock,knock jokes. At least, that's what we think she's trying to do. She has even taken to humming herself to sleep at times. Toes are still fascinating to her, but her greatest laughs and shrieks of joy come from watching the cat.

Here are a few quick pictures from this weekend.

Abby and Boppy on April 23rd

Sept. 23rd... she's grown a little, don't you think?

Great times at Granny's:

Granny couldn't get over how big Abby is.

Abby has lots of stories for Granny!

She even "read" a couple to her.

Phil was not amused.

So, Abby tried to make friends.
Abby's favorite place. She can see everything from up there.

She coached Grandpa through the repairs to the kitchen sink.

Our Goldilocks had to try out the bed.
(Never fear... she was too excited to take a nap.)

She's never too tired to eat, though.

She caught up on the newest best seller while we ate.

This is how she looked during lunch
on our last trip to Bristol in July.
The sock for the seat doesn't even fit
that well anymore because she is so tall.

Upon our return home, she wanted to bond with
Phoebe a little.

We're thinking about building her a saddle.

JUMPEROO!!

You may be wondering what exactly is a jumperoo. Well, it is like a free-standing Johnny Jump-up that plays music and makes animal sounds. ( Our favorite is the monkey.) It also has various toys on the tray. The music is activated when Abby jumps or plays with toys. Oh, yeah, and there's lights. And there's animals above her head for her to watch. There's just so much going on it is hard to remember it all. Grandma and Grandpa found it for her, and she LOVES it. THANK YOU, GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!

I will now attemp to use blogger's video feature to share the fun. Keep your fingers crossed.

Take 1. She's not too vocal in this one, but it's still fun to watch.



Take 2. This one is a bit longer, and she's more vocal. Please pardon the laughs in the background. We can't help it; it's just too cute.

Typical Day

I'm so sorry I haven't posted since Labor Day. It has been pretty crazy around here. Abby is changing so much that I find it hard to keep up. Steve is back to work, and things are getting back to normal. We actually kind of have Abby on a schedule, or rather she has us on a schedule. I thought I'd share it with you as a way of catching you up to speed on things in our White House (get it?!?). Sorry, I don't get out much.

Our usual day:

6:30ish a.m. (sometimes this could be postponed to 8 if it was a hard night)
Wake up! Abby has been in her own bed now since the night I posted that I was going to have to put her there. She woke up three or four times in her pack and play, so I took her to the nursery to rock her. While there I looked over and there was a heavenly glow around the bed. I like to think that God was giving me a sign. (Actually, it was her crib turtle that Uncle Jared and Aunt Chris got her. It has a nightlight on it that I turn on so I don't have to turn anything bright.) I put her down, and she stayed there until the morning. I didn't cry or anything.

This is how I usually find her. Her turtle is on the right.
They have many staring contests. He also plays music!

8-8:30 a.m.
First Nap! She will go back to sleep for an hour to an hour and a half. This nap usually takes place in our bed. I sometimes join her or use the time to read/surf the net. (Don't worry, I don't leave her alone when she's napping in our bed.)

She's quite the bed hog!

10 a.m.
Abby wakes up to eat again and start the day. I get her dressed for the day's activities and we get a little playtime.

She has discovered her feet and loves to play with them.
Reagan helped her figure out that it is a lot more fun
without socks!

11 p.m.-2 p.m.
We sometimes get to get our for lunch. We have a standing lunch date with Grandpa on Thursdays at the Cookhouse. We also try to eat lunch with Aunt Tiffany, my best friend who is about to have a baby boy, at least once a week. Abby usually takes a quick ciesta during lunch. She'll want lunch usually between 12:30 and 1:30.

This past Monday we had a play date with our favorite
quads. Left to right: Jonathon, Zachary, Reagan,
and Thomas.

While the quads dined, Abby checked out their jumpers.

Jonathan gave Abby pointers on sitting up!

Reagan brought her toys to play with.

Zachary wanted to play, too!

Miss Allison and Jonathon helped with the dreaded
tummy time.

(I don't have a good one of Thomas because he was jumping the whole time and all the pictures look blurry. Sorry, Thomas! We had fun watching you play.)

3 p.m.
Big Nap! By this time of day, she's pretty tired. She'll sleep for a little over an hour before she starts to stir.

Such a tough life.

5 p.m.
Cereal time! She loves her cereal, but I think she loves her bib more. Maybe she's trying to clean it off for me... who knows?!? Daddy usually gets home in time for her cereal and she loves to smile at him with food from her eyeballs to her chin.

Bib... yum. (Note the foot, again.)

6-8 p.m.
After Abby is fed and and cleaned up, the adults get to eat. She loves to watch us. We think she is making plans for when she gets to eat "real" food. Once dinner is cleaned, she plays with Daddy, usually showing him her new tricks in the jumperoo. Grandma and Grandpa often come by for a visit. Abby gets a bath a puts on her "jam jams."

Jumperoo!

8-9 p.m.
Winding Down. She plays quietly, sits with Grandma and Grandpa, snuggles with Mommy and Daddy, etc.

She is smiles all day long!

9 p.m.
Bedtime. We read a book, usually "Guess How Much I Love You," which she loves to chew on. Say our prayers and go to bed. By 9:30, she is out for the night. I'll try to get a picture for this one. I coudn't find one that was recent and would fit here.


*****All times and activities are subject to change without notice according to the mood of the baby and/or the plans of the mommy.*****

DaddyFest 2007

This is known to some as SteveFest. This past week, Steve took a much deserved vacation from work to hang out with me and Abby. We loved having him around. Abby is now officially a daddy's girl, which is okay because I'm one also. The latest developments during SteveFest are as follows: Abby can now put the pacie in her mouth by herself (notice how we didn't say that it always went in correctly); we had to drop the mattress in the bassinet because she exceeded the weight limit (I know the day is coming that she will sleep in her room. . .I keep saying, "maybe tomorrow night."); she started on rice cereal (see pictures below); she has two new "hangout" places, her new highchair and a jumperoo (also see pictures below). All in all, it has been a busy week, but we took it at a casual pace. Steve returned to work today, and we miss him bunches.

Daddy and Abby look through a catalog. He's
teaching her that it's never too early to start the
Christmas list.

So many toys, so Little time.

My favorite thing! Sloppy kisses from my Abby.

JUMPEROO!!! ('Nuf said.)

It's time to celebrate!

Abby spent some time with the guys while celebrating
cousin Ethan's birthday. She loves to go to Uncle Tom's
house and play with Ethan and Mathew.

And hang out with Aleigh.

Then, it was time to celebrate Aunt Tiffany, Uncle Mike,
and Baby Ben. We are so excited about Baby Ben's upcoming
arrival. We can't wait to give him hugs and kisses.

Well, Abby chose to show her excitement by
taking a nap on Tonya. Thanks to Tonya, who is an OB nurse,
we have a whole new bag of tricks for calming our Fussy Gus.

First Feeding!

The new highchair.

She's trying to figure out the new bib. It was
not even that full when we finished our cereal!

Rice Cereal... YUM!

Here is the other use of the highchair. Please notice the foot
on the snack bar. Our little lady.