Mommy's Favorite

Abby had my very favorite meal for dinner- grilled cheese and she is her Momma's girl because she ate the whole thing. I really had to coax her into trying it. She didn't like the warm gooey cheese. I kept telling her- you love bread and you like cheese. I promise you will like bread and cheese together. After a few prompted bites, she fed herself.
This is major- we can now eat out with her without packing a major bag of food.

My Husband is Just Like Tiger Woods...

... the golfer that is!Marcus received Tiger Woods PGA Golf 10 at our Christmas celebration last weekend and enjoyed playing it this week. He can play a round in about 30 minutes and was impressed at how far he can drive and how bad his putting is. Thank you Dad and Jacque for the fun gift!

We made lots of Tiger Woods jokes while he played. Feel free to share your best here! Tiger Woods jokes are acceptable, making fun of Marcus in his Christmas pants from last year is not.

Early Christmas Celebration

Sunday morning we celebrated Christmas with my Dad, stepmom, sister and her family. She will be skiing over Christmas, so we celebrated earlier than normal. It was a gorgeous day and we were able to take some great outdoor pictures and play with our new toys!

Abby is wearing the cutest little Christmas shirt with a reindeer and "Dancer" monogrammed on it. It was a sweet gift from her Great Aunt Iva. This is my sister Tiffany with Shaun, Cohen and Kyleigh. This is a great picture if Cohen had opened his eyes! Little turkey!
We bought Cohen a sit-n-spin with my friend Meg's blog of great deals posted a coupon. We are convinced they aren't made to go as fast as they were. Or, kids these days play too many video games and don't know how to play right :) ha!

Abby was given a set of stacking cups that grabbed her attention immediately. Here she is peeking out the hole in the bottom for Daddy.

Kyleigh helped her open an Abby Cadabby doll from Granpa and Ja-Ja. She took to it and talked to Abby Cadabby all the way home. Her only experience thus far was Elmo's Christmas countdown. I'm glad she likes her since her birthday party is all Abby Cadabby!

Look at how handsome and grown up Cohen is. I swear he was a baby just last month. He is growing his hair out and it was all gelled and spiked and made him look older.

We left Dad's house to attend our Fantasy Football party and then went to my PEO party that evening. We were gone from 10 AM to 7:30 PM and sweet Abigayle did wonderful. She slept in the car from home to Dad's house and then from his house to party #2. They weren't long naps, but I was happy she got some sleep in.

We also packed her new highchair for feeding her lunch and dinner at the other's homes. It worked so well. She is becoming messy!

Don't let her fool you- she looks so innocent here!

Fun with Food in the Family

We celebrated Christmas with part of my family this weekend and we gave Kyleigh and Cohen these cool straw glasses. Can you tell how silly they thought they were? I would love a pair! They were laughing so hard we had to compose ourselves and focus on sucking to get a good picture! Abby also has a few new tricks- did you know mandarin orange juice is great for your cuticles?

And, using your hands to eat is so last year. She just bends over and picks the food up with her mouth. At some point, this won't be hilarious to Marcus and I.

Finally, when craisins and yogurt melts don't fill you up, try cat food. Apparently is doesn't taste that bad either. Great!

We'll work on manners next month!

Fantasy Football Party

Our fantasy football team met with afternoon for our annual end-of-season party. This year we met at a local restaurant with a big play area for the kids. It was perfect weather for the kids to play and for Heather, Janell and I to chat! We had the Dallas game on the big screen, wi-fi updating our scores and yummy cheese fries.

Playoffs in this league start next week and Marcus and I are secured a spot. We are just waiting to see who we play!

Last year at this party I was 39 weeks pregnant and the year before I had just driven back from completing a marathon relay. Each year is mighty different. Can't wait for 2010!

Christmas Photos and Gifts

Look at this precious Christmas angel in her Christmas photo. I love the wonder in her eyes and the glee in her face. She is looking up at me (and likely her hedgehog toy) with love. And, this one, I just love. She was crawling all over the photo area and Jenny captured her as she stopped to check out her shoes. Every girl stops when patent leather is involved!
Let me tell you how blessed we are- our good friend Jenny took these photos of Abby in a dress from our little friend Blythe and in the shiny shoes from our friend Andrea! Thank you all for making Abby's Christmas photos so special.

A Long Awaited Day

Today I was able to do something I have prayed about doing for years- I attended the baby shower of our dear friend Jessica. Jessica's daughter Ellie was born at 28 weeks and is 9 days old. She is in the NICU, but is strong, getting healthier and showing God's love to everyone around her. Jessica and I did a book study together a few years ago about second guessing God. We both wanted babies and were struggling with God's plan for our lives and trying to understand why we remained without a child in our arms.

To come full circle with her today and to have my own child there was such a praise. I know God was with us when we cried, when we screamed, but also when we prayed and when we praised. He was always there and cried with us. I am so happy she is with us on the other side of this journey and hope that we inspire others where they are in the long and scary land of infertility.

Office Christmas Party

Last night we had my office's Christmas party. There are only 10 of us on staff, so we had a simple party with spouses and children at our COO's house. A couple of staff bought these crazy hats for our staff photo. You can tell not everyone is thrilled to be silly!

As part of the party festivities, my office bought little gifts for each of the kids. Our Santa did a wonderful job buying gifts that everyone loved. Abby got a stuffed winter bear and a snowman sippy cup. (she did have on a cute Christmas dress, but we changed her into her jammies at the end to make her bedtime go smoother.) She was also given a Santa hit that I couldn't even begin to put on her head! When we were in East Texas, I bought her a winter hat and she wore a 3T-4T. Everyone tells me her head doesn't look huge which I so appreciate.

New Highchair

From the time Abby began eating cereal, we have used our Fisher Price Space Saver given to us by Abby's Grammy, but now that Abby is truly feeding herself, it was become so much to clean up each time. The nooks and crannies stayed dirty. I took the recommendation of my friends Caroline and Judy and bought this inexpensive plastic highchair from IKEA. It is totally wipeable and super easy to clean.
The oilcloth placemat below is also a lifesaver. Easy to wipe down with my Clorox wipes each night. I should buy stock in those wipes!

East Texas Trip: Visiting Family

One of the reasons we selected East Texas for vacation was to see Marcus' half-sister Michelle, her husband Bill and their daughter Aubrey. We haven't seen them in many years and it was a perfect opportunity for them to meet Abby and me to meet Aubrey.

We met in Longview at the mall and after spending time talking in the food court, we went to the mall's glow in the dark putt putt course to play around. Abby loved crawling all over the course. Her pants legs were black when we left the black light!Here is Bill, Aubrey and Marcus after their round of golf. Michelle and I kept score and kept Abby in line :) Marcus, Michelle and Abby

Michelle, Aubrey and Abby

Michelle and Marcus have the same father and didn't first meet until we were in college. Facebook has been wonderful for keeping us in touch!

East Texas Trip: Science Museum

Our plan for Friday morning was to visit the zoo; however, it was just too cold. So, we moved the fun indoors and visited the Discovery Science Place. It would have been wonderful for a preschool or elementary aged child. Most of it Abby missed or could see, but not truly experience. They did have a wonderful little toddler area she enjoyed for a while.

She checked herself out in the mirror. She learned how to crawl up and down the foam staircase. Can you tell how timid Daddy was and how brave Abby was? I told him repeatedly it was all foam and she needed to try it out. He did good backing away and she accomplished the up and down without a major header!

Part of the area was a small town for children to explore. Abby got to drive a car with Marcus in the little town. They also had an ambulance, florist, bank, grocery store, etc. It was cute! Abby and Marcus explored a large "cave" with bats, running water, and more.

We hoped they would have a kitchen for her to play with. Don't tell her, but she is getting one for Christmas and we wanted to see if she liked it. They didn't have a major kitchen area, but did have small food items she could mix.

I'm sad we missed the zoo, but really enjoyed the heated science place!

Abby Lu's Vacation Protest

Oh how yummy vacation food was! I let the diet slide a little to enjoy my sweet tea, hickory smoked bar-b-que, onion rings at Clear Springs and these beauties- fried corn nuggets from the Dairy Palace in Canton. I love fried corn nuggets. Why didn't God make them healthy?

Dear sweet Abby Lu also decided to let her diet change a little this week as she flat out refused to eat anything on a spoon! Seriously child, pick a different week, perhaps when we are AT HOME, to decide you are ready for big girl food. Not the week I have pre-planned and prepared your meals with enough detail a spreadsheet could have been deployed!
We had to go to Target, get highly creative at restaurants and allow bread to serve as a main course. We had hoped the protest would end when we were back home, but it didn't. So, we are trying lots of new foods this week as we transition from pureed food to small soft handheld foods.

She liked most options we gave her.... this is her face trying a pickle! So funny. She made this face and then went back for more!

We bought fruit cups, rolls, raisins, cheerios and Gerber carrots and apples at Target in Tyler mid-week. At restaurants, we fed her sweet potatoes, avocado, grilled chicken, turkey and cheese, from our meals, and even a little plain pasta. She is still alive, so it all worked out.

East Texas Trip: Day One #2

One of the wonderful things about where we stayed was the indoor waterpark! As the song says, "oh the weather outside was frightful, but the waterpark inside was delightful"! It was in the 40s and rainy outside and a warm 85 degrees inside. There were less than 10 people at the entire park making it easy for us to focus on Abby and try out her water comfort levels. She floated the lazy river in a life jacket with us, watched Daddy come down the big slide, and sat in the run off area of the kiddie section and splashed.

Abby's One Year Pictures

Having a Christmas birthday allowed me to do some Christmas photos and 1st birthday photos in one setting! We took them this afternoon to be able to give some as gifts and have them at her party. Luckily without an afternoon nap, we were able to get our favorite expressive, funny, goofy girl to the photo studio. Here are some of the pictures we bought.... others are gifts, so I can't share :)

The big Santa is my awesome husband! We bought him a Santa suit 1/2 price last year with this photo session in mind. Abby wasn't scared and had great fun playing with his beard. We also took pictures in her party dress and then had a cake session. Late last night I looked for a simple cheap cake at HEB and the sweet lady there took a custom order for me. I was certain it was too late. I picked up the cake this morning and with a prayer that Abby would play along packed her bag and headed to Picture People. I don't know why I doubted her!
She immediately crawled across the floor and put her hand in the cake. We sat her next to it and let her go to town. I think she entered cake heaven and forgot we were even there. She licked her hands, smeared it on her face with a giggle and wiped pink and blue icing all over her pants.

I love the colors! They would smear together to make purple! She loved the feeling of the icing and had no hesitation in eating it up!

When her hands were full, she let her feet have some fun! I am so glad I did this one barefoot. I had planned on her having on her new pink Converse shoes.

We even got pictures of her lying on her back licking icing off her feet. Seriously, she has to be the coolest kid! I love her sense of adventure, the stinker in her, and the fun she brings out in me.

East Texas Trip: Pine Trees

W took advantage of the cool weather and the beautiful tall pine trees to take some pictures. I wish I had planned ahead and brought Abby a rich brown dress or some cute winter boots! These pictures were taken on the resort's main drive into the property. There were pine trees as far as the eye could see. Many had lost their needles and leaves creating a brown blanket on the ground.When we packed on Sunday night, the weather was sunny and in the mid 50s all week. It was never in the 50s! It was in the 20s in the morning and cloudy all day.

It did snow lightly during lunchtime on Friday as it did around other parts of Texas. It didn't stick or make much of a mess as we traveled around town.

With the purchase of a pink fuzzy hat and a curly scarf, we were ready for the cold weather pictures.

This area must be just gorgeous in October when the leaves just start to turn. It reminded me of pictures I have seen of the northeast or my trip to Michigan two years ago.

East Texas Trip: Day One

We spent the past week in East Texas on vacation. For my birthday last year, my Dad and stepmother gave our family a one week condo stay and we were able to choose the location. We had to book the trip early this year and with a newborn we were hesitant to go far. So, we selected a small area outside Tyler and have awaited our trip.

Knowing Abby now, we could have gone most anywhere. She is a happy easy baby, but this was a great trial vacation to learn to pack, plan activities, and travel with her. We will definitely do Chicago with her next summer! We fell in love with the area. It was slow, simple, and friendly. The first morning we ran to the local grocery store to stock the condo with snacks and Abby food. Then, we drove into Tyler to Brookshire's World of Wildlife Museum and Country Store.
The store was filled with a variety of animals from the Brookshire families' hunting trips. Abby wasn't fazed by the scariest or biggest.

This hippos mouth impressed and disgusted me.

Check out these stuffed monkeys playing Monopoly. Each is wearing a Brookshires (grocery store) name tag. Funny!

I have tons of pictures to share. There really is some great activities to do in the Tyler area. I'll post more throughout the week including a water park in December!, shopping in Canton, visiting family, 1920's replica grocery store, science museum, and Abby's big boycott of the trip that threw us for a loop!

Stink Eye

This is what we lovingly call the "stink eye". Her teachers at school call it "the look".

Abby makes this face 100 times per day. It isn't associated with an emotion (anger), but just random. This weekend she would do it on command. So, when you see Abby next ask her to show you her stink eye. She is so her father's child!