First Day of School!!!

Abby had her 1st day of "school" today! She is going on Tues & Thurs to Mother's Day Out at Waterview. I think it went pretty well. They had good things to say and I think with time she will get more comfortable about sleeping there and all of that. Needless to say it was harder on me than her. She did cry a little when I left her, but I cried before, during and after! I don't know what was wrong with me! We have never taken her anywhere before so it was just different. Anyway, I think she is going to like it and hopefully will learn a few things and make some friends. Above are a few pictures from this morning!

Sleeping Beauty!

So Monday Abby refused her afternoon nap for the babysitter. Well, when Nathan got home he was wanting to go for a jog. So he took Abby in the jogging stroller ...and this is what he came home with!

It is only 6:15 pm at this point, but the girl is TOAST! Hilarious! We laughed and took her picture. Then had mercy on her and put her to bed. Too funny, it just never ceases to amaze me how kids can sleep anywhere.

On another note we had some our college friends out at the lake this weekend. It was lots of fun! We had 8 adults and 6 kiddos (under the age of 4)! It was wild, but fun. We really wanted to get a group photo of the kids, but as you will see below the kids were not really happy about this! So the moms and the kids tried, but even still not very many good shots. Here are a few funny ones and then the only "good" one I got on my camera.

Back in Blog Land!

Hey - well sorry for the lack of blogging lately. Work was super busy for me the last month - we just had a great show the first week of August! We had over 2,000 people at our show in Dallas. Now that things are sort of slowing down at work, our personal lives have gotten busy. I guess it is always something! :)

Miss Abby is getting so big ... she is so busy and learning new things all the time. We just had her 15 month check up last week. Here are her stats ...

Height: 31 1/2" (80%)

Weight: 20 1/2 lbs (20%)

I think she doesn't gain any weight because she never stops moving!!! She is burnin' those calories.

And the talking has really picked up as well. She now has about 15 words in her vocabulary. For those of you who haven't been around her since the talking began you need to know that her favorite word is "uh-oh." Oh my goodness I bet she says it 500 times a day!!! Even when it is not an accident she still says "uh-oh." For example ... this little mess here ... not so much an "uh-oh" since it occurs several times a week!!!

Organizing her room ...

Super sweet Abigail after church one Sunday!

Abby & Daddy

She is very proud of her new nap mat ... which she will use

at Mother's Day Out starting in a couple of weeks.

Oh so hot Texas summers ... she still LOVES to be outside!

She spends lots of afternoons in her little pool in the backyard.

And She's Off ...

Well Miss Abby is officially walking! She has been taking steps little by little for about a month now and just in the last few days it has really picked up. She is all over the place. You'll see in the video she still sits down every so often ... I think she hasn't built up her leg strength yet. But it won't be long till she is running!
You will also notice all of the "talking" she is doing in the video. Last weekend she started telling me "no, no, no" and pointing at me when she said it! Umm I wasn't ready for that one!
Oh and then there was this ...
The other day we had gotten home from Wal-Mart with our groceries. I put Abby inside to play while I unloaded the car. I get all the bags inside and think ... hmmm I don't see her. Well I found her outside on the deck playing with the leaves. She had used the doggie door all by herself!!! Good girl!!! I of course was laughing b/c I knew this was bound to happen, but I tried to be serious when I told her "no, no" and pointed to the dog door. Hmm wonder where she learned to say the word "no?"

Silly Abby!

This is a fairly new thing Abby has started doing in the last week. She tries to climb into her bed, so I put her in there and then ...

May & June

May and June were pretty busy around here. We have been doing lots of things ... here is a recap.

Park:

We went to a pretty park with Mel and her kiddos one day. We fed the ducks, had a picnic and walked around a little. These are some large bear statues that the kids climbed around on.

Lake:

We were at the lake for Memorial weekend with the Holms and Youngs. Good times were had by all!

Kendal's Party:

Kendal had a very fun birthday party at the Scottish Rite Hospial park. It is a really cool park and perfect for a party. They even had a tattoo artist there ... so Abby got her first tattoo!

Roseola:

Abby had Roseola last week! Yep, started on Monday with a fever and no other symptoms. She felt miserable, it was pitiful. Went to the doctor and they said ... well it must just be a virus. Nothing we can do for that! So by Wednesday fever is gone, she is feeling better, then the nasty rash began to show up. It peaked by Thurs afternoon when we went back to the doctor to find out that she did infact have Roseola and yes, there was still nothing they could do. So lovely! I'll spare you the pictures ... it looked awful. By Friday afternoon she was back to her old self! Crazy!

Motherhood

I was reading back through some old posts and found my 2 weeks old comments. I thought it would be fun to compare what I had learned at 2 weeks old to what I have learned now at just over a year old. Gosh, how time flies and how much we have all grown - physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.

At 2 weeks old:

I have learned a thing or two about being a mother ...

1. Don't rush a diaper change - otherwise you may go through several diapers in just a matter of minutes.

2. My baby does not have narcolepsy ... newborns just have the ability to go to sleep at any moment. Odd!

3. Sleep is now a thing of the past ... sad, sad, sad!

4. Leaving the house takes an act of congress! All that stuff you have to take with you!

5. It's all worth it when she wraps her little hand around your finger!

At 13 months old:

1. Having a baby really puts things into perspective. General life is just not all that important anymore. Things at work or with family or whatever just aren't worth getting worked up over. At the end of the day I am still "mom" to someone who is really special!

2. God is so amazing! From the tiny life he creates and gives to us to raise to all the amazing things they learn to do in the first year, to the way you become someone you never knew you could be. All because God had a plan and knew this is what he had in mind for you!

3. Everything is just a phase. Gosh, how true this is! Just when I think "if she does that one more time ..." then it's gone and your laughing about how annoying it used to be.

4. Time goes by too quickly, I would slow it down if I could! I cannot believe my child, my baby is 13 months old ...where did the days go? I have learned to take time to just enjoy the moments we are together and soak it up, because it just goes by too quickly!

5. It is so worth it!!! I have a friend at work who is experiencing a similar pregnancy to the one I had (not a very fun one) and she keeps saying ... are you sure this is worth it? Oh, I wish she only knew how worth it is! I try to tell her, but until you look into the eyes of your own child you cannot know the deep love you will feel. I never knew how wonderful motherhood would be! I mean look at that face!!!