Do Not Adjust Your Computer Screen

Abby has decided that being upside down is much more fun that being upright. Seriously, is this normal for a 10 month old? It starts out with her putting her head up and then leaning back. She then stiffens her back and arches it to force herself backward.She loves it- I'll pull her up by holding her hands and she comes up laughing with her fine hair all over the place!

Mind you, she wants to do this after finishing her night-time bottle. You'd think it wouldn't go well, but it does. Look at that happy girl!

Mexican Food

This past weekend we had Mexican food for lunch one day. Since Abby eats ground up red beans and avocado, we decided to feed her some refried beans and guacamole. She loved it!
She also have a new game and played it at the table- if Marcus turns his head to the side, Abby shows him she can do it too. She will turn her head and just smile!

Tales from the Scales Update

I love that you all are dying to know what is in the package- sending me emails, comments and texts. Even discussing it at church! ha!

Thank you for encouraging me- I so very badly wanted a Round Rock doughnut yesterday during our bible life group. But, the shame of eating it in front of everyone knowing they are dying to know what is in the box kept my hands clean of the sugary goodness!

Here is your clue- the box contains something from this brand. A brand we all loved in the early 1990s. They still have some cute things! Check out all the items sold by D&B on Zappos. My weight loss present is listed on these pages!

P.S. I lost .5 pounds this week according to my official Monday morning weigh in. So, just 1.5 pounds until I open the box!

Abby's Mustache

I have become THAT parent letting Abby Lu try foods that she really shouldn't eat yet. Uh yea, like licking whipped cream off the spatula. I am certain before I was a parent I told myself I would not do that.

Baby Brady's Baby Shower

Our family spent the day in Kerrville for our cousin Susan's baby shower. It was a wonderful day to sit in the backyard and we did just that! This same weekend last year was my baby shower and Susan was a hostess. To reverse roles this year was so much fun!

Me, Mary (the new Mimi), Kristi and Marissa (new aunts) and Susan the Mom-to-be

My Dad and Mary Mom are siblings. Kristi and I grew up best friends and Marissa and Susan are married to Kristi's twin brothers. Got all that?

One of baby Brady's gifts was this super fun pony bouncer. Abby tried it out and loved it. She bounced, played with the little toys and laughed at the horsey sounds.

Since the shower was outdoors and there was a light breeze, we had one happy baby!She was held by most everyone, sat in her stroller forever, and enjoyed smiling, cooing and laughing at everyone. She really is a HAM of a child. Here are some of Brady's gifts and the monster theme alive. Check out the cool cupcakes Mary made! Love them! To see more details on the shower decor, visit Your Little Birdie.

Funny

Abby finds that baby in the mirror HILARIOUS!Funny thing is, so do we!

Stevie Wonder Dance

Marcus played with Abby and her laptop and we found her new move- she will put her head down and swing it from side to side, he labeled it the Stevie Wonder dance. She'll do it at the end of the video!

Surprise Package

Look what UPS delivered tonight?
I didn't order anything, but Marcus did!

When I started losing weight in August, I set a couple of goal numbers to motivate me along the way. I am within 2 pounds of hitting a major goal. With this goal came a present. I picked out something I really wanted and since I am close, Marcus ordered it and now it sits on the fireplace. The moment the scale tells me what I need to see, I get to open my box! I am hoping to wear the contents at Thanksgiving!

Wanna know what is in the box? You'll have to wait and see! I promise to blog it as soon as it happens!

Is that my Oranges?

Abby was crawling around the kitchen the other night and discovered the inside of the refrigerator. She kept hitting on the drawers and we realized she could see her mandarin oranges, but couldn't reach them!
She also has learned how to open and shut doors. I am awaiting the first finger slamming!

Eating Kiwi

I honestly can't imagine her getting cuter than this!She has got to lower the cuteness level before she becomes a toddler and I have to look into that sweet smiling face and tell her no.
Seriously, she enjoyed 1/2 a kiwi and wanted to feed it to herself. We were of no use to her...

... until she was out of kiwi and needed some meat!

Happy 10 Months Abby!

As you would imagine with an active 10 month old, I could not get a good picture to save my life. She discovered that her big fuzzy chair rocks when she lifts her legs and slams them down on the seat which led to the funny angles of some of these pictures!

Happy 10 Months Old Pumpkin! Here are some of our favorite things about you at this stage-Your whole face smiles, called a "snarky grin" by Daddy!

You found your voice and make a million different noises!

Your hearty appetite, especially for foods you can feed yourself!

Your pretty blue eyes!

Your ability to put yourself to sleep without a lot of fuss and your ability to play solo in your bed when you first wake up!

Your joy in chasing kitty!

Your loud belly laughs when being tickled!

Your ticklish neck!

Your love of the yellow dangling ball in the garage (tells me where to park)!

We are pretty sure you love us, too and can't wait to hear you say it back!

Our Little Worm

Our little worm did a great job treating the neighborhood to her happy self! We got Abby dressed in her outfit about 5:00 and took a couple of pictures before loading up in her stroller and visiting a few of our neighbors. She loves a late afternoon stroller ride and was happy to hold a noisy candy wrapper until we reached the next house. I did wear my Tinkerbell t-shirt and Marcus wore his new glow in the dark Green Lantern t-shirt. We wanted to be festive too!It did feel really silly to T or T with a little baby who couldn't eat anything. So, we used the opportunity to meet more of our neighbors and chat. We did collect candy, but since we are both dieting tried not to get too much!

Check out the back of this cool costume- it was perfect for keeping Abby adjusted to the temperature which fell rapidly as the sun went down!

Our neighborhood seems to love Halloween. I wonder if that was in HOA paperwork we should have read? They decorate like most people do for Christmas. There were lots of cars in the 'hood, so I can only assume people join up in our area to T or T or people from other areas come to our area.

Our across the street neighborhood had a big front yard party with tables and chairs. They grilled hot dogs and had homemade cheesecake to share! Another neighbor decorated her complete garage for the kids to enjoy. She played Michael Jackson's Thriller!

Here are some pictorial examples- our nearby neighbors dressed up their pets for the kids. This is Molly and she is a Bichon. I have never wanted a dog until I met Molly. She got dressed up while we were there and had a witch hat complete with green hair. She liked licking Abby's feet and Abby giggled at her!

This house put bloody footprints in their driveway leading to the front door!

Can you tell how HUGE this spider is? Abby liked the grass as much as the spider! Notice the noisy candy wrappers she is holding in the pictures!

Finally, this is Haunted Donna. Our neighbor said she scares the kids and often has to give out candy away from Donna. Donna has a motion sensor and will begin to squirm and talk when you walk by. Since Abby doesn't seem to be afraid of anything, we let her activate Donna. She liked her! She wanted to get real close and study her- no scared faces or tears!

We were done T or Ting by 6:15 and ordered pizza for us and fed Abby on the driveway in her stroller while passing out candy and listening to the UT game on the garage radio.

Marcus juggled for the kids and adults that walked by. A few people remembered him from last year and if he wasn't juggling when they came up, they asked about it! Abby got to see him juggle for the first time and she smiled and clapped for him. I put Abby to bed about 7:30 and she didn't make a sound. We gave away our candy by 8:15 and came inside for the night.

Happy Halloween!

Meet Ms. Piggy

When I was in Houston, I bought Abby a stuffed pig pillow. It is flat like a small pillow about 8x8 and then it can be folded to stand up like a stuffed animal. She loved it immediately. She just giggles when I tickle her face with it!

We snuggled with piggy while watching TV last night.
I just love those sweet pudgy piggy fingers!

DJ Hero

We own guitar hero which is lots of fun for Marcus. I enjoy watching him play it but don't know much of the music. DJ Hero came out today and Marcus bought it at lunch. Oh so much fun! Marcus gets to blend 2 songs together, scratch the records and I get to hear music I know. So, help us out, what is Marcus DJ name- DJ Marky Mark, DJ Daddy, M-Jay?

Where is the Cat?

This is by far Abby's favorite book- Where is the Cat? She loves it- smiles when we read it, crawls to pull it out among her other books, and is now a nightly staple. Every other page simply asks, where is the cat? When you turn the page, you find him in various places- on the chair, by the sea, under your hat, etc.

I am pretty certain this book was from Jennifer at my PEO book shower. I love the variety of books I received and having such wonderful women behind each of the books.

Halloween Party

Marcus and Abby attended a Halloween party on Saturday night. Her shirt says "so cute its scary". Marcus has spent the past 3 days with Abby while I am out of town. My Mom was planning to join them and assist, but she hasn't been feeling well and since we didn't know if it was allergies or the flu, she didn't come. Big points to Marcus for feeding, changing, bathing, entertaining, shopping and photographing as a single Dad this weekend. He is amazing for taking care of her and of me by sending me multiple pictures per day.

I haven't spoken to Abby since my voice on speaker phone has confused her previously. I am just dying to see her smile, hear her babble, and get a big wet kiss!

I am in Houston at a hotel attached to the Galleria Mall. It is dangerous- we end each night about 6:30 and end up shopping for 2 hours before eating dinner. I found a cute store- Crazy 8. Anyone ever heard of them? I think they are part of the Gymboree family. They had great sales! I bought Abby this cute sweater dress, the giraffe dress, next years coat, and a fun Christmas onesie. I also bought the best Daddy a flash t-shirt to match Abby's shirt and found the green lantern shirt Marcus has wanted to find. It'll be fun for Halloween since it glows in the dark!

Abby's New Wheels

I have seen this Playskool toy on numerous other blogs and when my friend Meg blogged about it with a $5 off coupon, I rushed to Wal-Mart to pick it up. Look at how proud she is- I love that smile and hope that she always feel confident in herself and her abilities.Abby is pulling up on lots of things and sits very stable now, so it was the perfect ride and walker for this stage. While sitting on it, she enjoyed checking out the spinners, lifting the hood, and shifting gears.
I think it exhausted her- she wanted up after a few minutes.

It does roll, making it a ride for her, but she wasn't too happy with it moving. I think it'll take a little more time before she can ride happy.

The blue part she is sitting on will also lift up and lock in place. This allow Abby to hold the yellow handle and push the toy as she learns to walk. She wasn't ready for that yet. She would stand holding the handle and put her weight on it which pushed it forward and she didn't know to move her feet to prevent herself from face planting.

Mmm, Mmm, Good!

This week we introduced Abby to Stage 3 foods. These are the last step before table food. They are not pureed as long and therefore are much chunkier. It was also the first time we mixed so many flavors into one item. This was turkey, rice, peas and carrots all together. Can you tell how much she liked it?This is what the jar looked like- yea, real yummy! It did smell good however. It smelled like chicken noodle soup that needed to be watered down.

Sweet Smiles and Wet Kisses

Abby has been so happy lately- she will just watch us talk and smile. I think it means she love us, too! We've also found multiple tickle spots- her neck is super ticklish. It is funny to watch her squirm to avoid us tickling her neck!
Abby has also learned how to give kisses. I have to make the kissing sound for her and be close to her face. She'll stare at my lips and then open her mouth and fall into my face with the biggest grin. It makes me laugh! She was recently kissed by our friend Blythe and Abby responded by licking Blythe's face. Nice!