Thursday, July 30, 2009

Fun Week

I cannot believe it's Thursday already!

On Tuesday, we went to Coffee Park and while we got there early, Abs decided she wanted to have a meltdown instead of socializing so we dipped out early. We slowly made our way home and were just hanging out when Elisha (a Marietta Mom) called and invited us over to go swimming. I was excited to try Abigail in the pool (esp after she got overheated at the beach Memorial Wknd). Abs was still groggy since I woke her up from snoozing on the car ride. Abs was very much entertained by Maddie (she's 2mo older than Abs).



Elisha thought we could come swim again today, but it's raining outside! The pool fun reminded me that my brother's place has a pool, so we're going to go swimming over there when we are in Tampa in a few weeks.

When we eat dinner at night, we put Abigail in her highchair and let her play. We were amused with what she did with these...


...it looks like this is all I have time to blog today...

Monday, July 27, 2009

Playing Catchup...

Wow, has anyone else noticed how fast this summer has flown by? We're in the last week of July already, which is just absolutely insane. Good thing we're still trying to make the most of our time. It's been about a week since our last post, so here's a little catchup on what we've been doing...

On Abby's 7 month birthday we had a little picnic on the back patio. Jill sat out a blanket and the 3 of us just enjoyed the incredible July weather we've been having. There was food, music, and even a little dancing...

Led Zeppelin 07-20-09 from Jill Barnes on Vimeo.



The next day the new 7 month old was caught enjoying some Yum Yum for dinner:



On Saturday, we made the trip down to LaGrange to spend a little time with all of my side of the family. All the great grandparents were able to meet us for lunch where Abby enjoyed being held and passed around. After lunch, we walked a few doors down back to Mom & Dad's ice cream shoppe (Scoops) for some sweetness and more chill time with family. Abby even managed a nap on her great grandma, Myra. :-)



After hanging out at Scoops for a while, we headed over to see our nephew, Gavin. He's already changed so much since we last saw him, and his cousin Abigail loved spending a little time with him.



On Sunday, we went to church and then decided to take a little afternoon trip over to Stone Mountain. We didn't have a whole lot of time to spend there, but Abby did get to go on her first train ride. It was a little bumpier than I remember (um, prob 20 years ago), yet I managed to get a few photos to share.



And finally, tonight Abby decided to confiscate my beer bottle after dinner. It was empty I promise! :-)

Monday, July 20, 2009

7 Months

Just wanted to quickly make a post since Miss Abigail turned 7 months old today. On the heel of that is news that Abby now has a 2nd tooth coming in right next to her first one. Looks to only be about a week or so behind the first one, so it won't be long before she's got those two bottom teeth ready to show. I guess that also explains why she's a tad irritable at times. :-) Have a great week, everyone!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

más fotografías

It's late Sunday night, and here I (Matt) am ready to post some more photos of Miss Abigail.









First up, Abigail eating. This has really become an adventure as she learns to eat solids and all the flavors out there. We haven't branched out too far yet, but with faces like these, I'm guessing it'll take some time for her to actually enjoy what she's eating.

Next up, just a few photos in a slideshow titled "Teething & Bandaids." This past Tuesday, Abby had her 2nd round of 6 month shots. Add in the ongoing teething pains, and Abby was both cute and irritable altogether. :-)

For those who don't know, I picked up a shoe-mount external flash for my camera a few days ago (in non-photographer terms...it's more of a pro-style flash). I've been wanting to add one to my arsenal for some time, and when a used one came available for under $100 on Craigslist, I decided to go ahead and get it. Anyways, it should really add another dimension to my photography, so I'm excited to put it use. Thankfully, with the help of the beautiful young model in our home, I already have a few shots worthy of showing. Enjoy!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Scootin'

Ch-Ch-Cha-Changes

My apologies for not being a better blogger lately. After reading this one, you'll understand why blogging hasn't been anywhere near the top of the priority list.

Towards the end of June, Abigail started reaching. At first I thought it was a fluke, but she kept doing it. She'd reach when she wanted to get out of the jumperoo or bouncer, or reach from whomever she was with out to me. I LOVED IT! I actually tried a mean little game. I gave Abigail to my mom, then opened my arms back to see if she'd reach back at me (she did). Then I tried it again with Matt, and she did again. Adorable! Then the downside of the reaching began when she gives you a sad face and reaches. It's the "Mommy, save me" face. I cannot resist it.

The "Mommy, save me' face has been brutal. Last week, I got it almost every time I tried putting her down. My mom said Abigail missed all the attention because last Monday was when my parents and Abuela went back to Tampa. She wasn't getting full naps in while our visitors were here and therefore her night sleeping was affected. We spent the rest of last week trying to get back into a semi-routine. Then we spent lots of fun time with my grandparents this last weekend.

Monday was an extra snuggly day, Abigail took two short naps (both on me). I didn't mind because she had not been napping well so much, I was willing to do whatever worked. We ran to Publix and cooked dinner for a mom friend that recently had a baby. That night, Abigail spit-up, quite a lot while Matt was playing with her. We shrugged it off until she projectile vomited all over me. I called my cousin to get some advice, and decided I needed to go get some Pedialyte. Before I got off the phone, she puked again. Seriously? I called my mom, then the pediatrician and while waiting for the on call nurse to return my call took her temperature. Ear and arm pit temps were completely normal. Trying to get her to drink the Pedialyte wasn't easy, she still doesn't like bottles (my fault, I know). Eventually, she slept fairly well considering.

Tuesday morning she seemed completely normal, back to her happy self. We had coffee with mom friends at Coffee Park, went to get me a GA driver's license then had Abigail's 2nd half 6mo immunization. The Pediatrician checked her over and even did a Strep swabbing (it was negative) before we continued on with the three immunizations. While Abs was screaming from her shots, I spied what looked like a tooth! It all clicked...the two nighttime feedings, the night terror-ish screams, no good naps, wanting to snuggle...poor girl! Post tooth discovery, Mom said that the vomiting was probably from the tooth too, crazy. I had been checking her gums daily and never felt a thing!

Wednesday, we trekked to Babies R Us. I stocked up on Baby Orajel and more teethers, so we can keep a good freezer rotation going. I also picked up a tri-lingual octopus and a shape sorter. I was using the Orajel, Little Teether Tablets, Tylenol in slow rotation and as you could see from the Wednesday night videos, she was feeling fairly well at the time. (We wait for the good moments to get her on video. No need to catch her screaming for the camera, esp when Janet cannot get the full effect watching the videos without sound at work.)

Thursday, the tooth is sharp and has pierced the skin. She's quite protective of her tooth, she's working hard for it and doesn't want to share it yet. We have not seen it, and she doesn't like it when we poke our fingers in her mouth to feel for it - I have no idea why she doesn't like it!?! After numerous attempts to get her to nap, I had to let her cry it out (CIO). It only took her 8 minutes before she fell asleep, but my head had been throbbing for hours so I gave into the CIO. Unfortunately, for both of us, the nap only lasted 20 minutes. Matt eventually got her down for another nap, but again it was barely long enough for me to get a quick shower, so she got a shower too. She played well and enjoyed rolling around on the floor. Matt and I let her play solo, as we didn't want to spoil her good mood. Matt rocked and read her to sleep again last night. I got to hear him read to her through the monitor, he was reading The House of Many Colors with lots of fun Sesame Street voices...SO CUTE!!!

I woke Abigail up earlier today, and she was happy and played for a couple hours before I put her down for a nap. The tooth must not be bothering her as much yet today. She's actually been snoozing for about an hour (hallelujah! - I think this is by far the longest nap this week!).

Tonight, we're heading to have dinner with Adam, Elaine and Evie! Now that Evie is walking and Abs is on the verge of crawling, Matt should be able to get some really good pictures.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Videos from July 15th





Thursday, July 9, 2009

Ketchup

Here's a bunch of stuff we've been meaning to catch everyone up on...







Images from an impromptu photo shoot in the sunroom on Monday...





Abby kept fighting sleep yesterday evening, so I broke out the camera and caught her playing around at the window...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

More Daddy Time

Matt was so successful last night putting Abigail to sleep by reading her books he wanted to do it again tonight. After a while I heard my name being called. Turns out Abigail did a messy poo, I guess the way she was sitting let the poo go straight up the back. Daddy decided to 'hose her off in the sink' and then enjoy watching baby dance in the mirror.


(P.S. Kristi, I swear this is not an often occurrence! I'm trying to use up the rest of the 1-2 diapers, and she should be in 2s. If she was in the correct size, it wouldn't matter how she was sitting/positioned for everything to stay contained. Honestly, it's much less gross than cleaning up dog vomit.)

Monday, July 6, 2009

Proceeding With Caution

I don't think we've really mentioned how extremely active Abs is becoming. She rolls so much! She will haphazardly roll where she ends up at another angle than where she began. If we take our eyes off her momentarily, we'll find that she's no where near the center of the blanket where we left her. She does this funny banana pose, her head/neck are lifted as are her legs; we think she's trying to sit up. Here is a video from sometime last week when Abuela was here, it's after Abs rolled off her cushioned blankets to kick on the floor. She still loves to kick, especially when it makes noise; she kicks hard but it never seems to bother her.


Abs is sitting SO extremely well and is balancing better (and staying sitting up longer) each day. She has figured out she can get what/where she wants with the haphazard rolling if she's determined on a toy or blanket fringe. We have caught her scooting backwards and actually did a one-two crawl for me this evening, but then wouldn't do it again when Matt was also watching. While I went out to water the compost and our little grass sprouts, Matt moved Abs to the Woodsy Room in attempts to try her crawling on carpet (instead of the layers of blankets in the Living Room). She can get better grip on the carpet, but I don't want her to get rug burn on her cute little knees! Abs was getting fussy, so we didn't play there long. When Matt changed her diaper a bit later, I glanced over at her and noticed she was reaching for the open box of wipes (Matt had walked to the bathroom to flush the gDiaper). I stayed put, but watched her intently while she managed to roll over until Matt walked back into the room. He was surprised to say the least, and enjoyed patting her cute naked bottom while I couldn't help but make it a Kodak moment.Abs had been fighting another nap for a while, so Matt took her upstairs to read a few books. Not long after Matt was upstairs, it sounded like he was stomping on the floor (Abigail's room is right above the Living Room). I went up there to check on him and stumbled upon another Kodak moment! He said she fell asleep before he finished the second book, she was exhausted!

We do have more video we'd like to eventually post, but we reach our maximum upload (for our FOUR Vimeo accounts) very easily! I think Matt has some Forth of July pictures to post too, maybe tomorrow! And as soon as we're able to capture Abigail crawling you'll see it here first! Oh, I failed to mention she sort of waves, but I haven't been able to get that on camera yet either.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

New Nephew & Independence Day

Hello all and Happy 4th of July. Of course, today everyone is celebrating with fireworks and cook-outs, and it looks like we'll be doing the same this evening here in Marietta. We've got a house full with Wayne, Anita, Abuela, Bob & Sharon all here for the long weekend. Normally this weekend's festivities would be enough to blog about, but we actually have great news to share. Yesterday, we got to welcome our nephew (and Abby's 1st cousin) into this world. That's right, baby Gavin Edison Daniel has arrived. My sister Valerie had gone into labor sometime during Thursday night and finally gave birth at 5:47pm, with Gavin weighing in at 6lbs, 15oz. (which I called before delivery).

The Friday for all of us here in Marietta started out with plans to go antiquing in the small town of Madison, GA (East GA). We made the 1.5 hour drive out that way while getting word sometime along the way that Valerie had been admitted into the hospital. We stuck to our plans, though, and did a little walking around the small downtown of Madison. I eventually got bored and jumped in the car to look for things to photograph on the rural roads of Morgan County, but not too far outside of town my Mom called and said things were progressing. Jill and I decided it'd be best if we started heading that way, so in the car the 3 of us went and made the drive to Piedmont Hospital in Fayetteville (south of ATL). Once there, we met up with family in the waiting room and just awaited the arrival of baby Gavin.

As I already mentioned, Gavin Edison Daniel arrived at 5:47pm and it wasn't too long before Uncle Matt had a camera in his face to capture his first moments meeting all the family and friends. If Abby is the most photographed baby, trust me that Gavin will be the 2nd most. It's going to be so fun to see the two cousins (and hopefully future cousins) grow up together over the next several years. Here's some photos from yesterday:



Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Dear Janet...

Dear Janet (and other blog readers too!),

I apologize, Janet, for not being there for your AM procrastination. It's been a week since our (MY!) last post. (Janet's getting called out for "harassing" me today about no blog, TWICE. *smile!*) Last Wednesday was Matt's 29th birthday, I'm sure everyone is annoyed the picture of the delicious cookie cake I made; because that's what you've been seeing as you sigh to yourself 'no blog update, ugh'.

Last Thursday, Mom and Abuela arrived just in time for Matt's company kickball game. Matt and I had worked hard last week to get the guest bathroom back into working order. Unfortunately, it was not finished before our first guests arrived. Mom was able to help me paint, while Abuela watched Abigail play and roll and scoot backwards on the giant cushioned blanket I've built on the living room floor. We didn't do much other than work on the bathroom over the weekend. Oh, we made a trip to IKEA Saturday (Abuela's first trip) to look for bathroom fixtures. I was VERY disappointed with their selection and was annoyed we wasted so much time and didn't buy what we needed. It would have been quicker if they had a wheelchair available for Abuela (as my phone call to IKEA had me expecting), oh well, that's what we get for going on a busy weekend...that and dealing with silly people who enjoy going the wrong way in the IKEA maze.

We attended church on Sunday, our 2nd visit to this particular church; Matt and I both seem like we've finally found a winner since B'ham. Cumberland Community Church is the place, and I was actually brave enough to allow Abigail to hang out with the other babies for most of the service. I did check on her frequently. Towards the end I could tell she was tired and fussed a bit. The woman picked her up and rocked her, and let Abigail run her fingers through her hair. She was completely passed out when the service had ended. I felt bad waking her up so we could leave.

As part of Matt's birthday gift, Mom & Abuela watched Abigail while we went to see Transformers 2. I had a much harder time 'relaxing' (if that's the best word for it) for the movie than for church; at least at church I was still in the same building. This is also the first movie I've seen since Batman Begins or Step Brothers, whichever came out last. When we moved to ATL I learned that movies here cost $10/person, completely outrageous. We had a free popcorn coupon and paid $5.50 for a soda, you can't just drink smuggled bottled water with salty, buttery movie popcorn. The medium popcorn was so huge we barely were able to finish half the bag, and I felt completely nasty and buttery. The gi-normous soda was only a buck over the small and it came with ONE free refill. They do fail to remind you that the movie is 2.5hrs and will also require you to take a potty break. During my potty break I got that one refill, I was going to get my (Matt's) money worth. I really want to know how much cash the movie industry is making these days...taking advantage of all the people being affected by the crappy economy. We paid $8/person (matinee prices) so our movie cost us $21.50, the theater was very full. Rudely enough, I had someone kicking me from behind, another RIGHT next to me, then someone sat in front of me where my feet were so comfortably propped. (I know feet propping is not good, but I'm short and if I sit back, partially reclining) in the seat (made for someone twice my size) my feet don't touch and it's very awkward.) Remember that quirky music that used to play in the theater before the previews began? No longer! You are paying to watch commercials; and those companies are paying to show you those commercials. Add it all together, I couldn't relax at all, thinking why I was indulging Matt in this 'experience' when I could be home with Abs perfectly happy with adding the movie to our Netflix cue...that only costs $18/month. And when did it become necessary to need earplugs at the movies? The volume was turned up WAY too loud. It did take me at least half the movie, a million glances at my cell, and one phone call home during my potty break to finally help me enjoy the rest of the movie. It was a decent movie (Matt will rave much more about it) and a good sequel to the previous movie released a couple years ago.

Monday, Matt trekked back to work while we continued working on the bathroom and running around some more. Mom, being the perfectionist that she is, decided she wanted to also paint the baseboards and cabinets, meaning we also needed new hardware for the cabinets. It felt like the never ending project! On top of it all, the A/C started failing late Monday (seriously, A/C is not even a joking possibility with us). I dealt with the home warranty company first thing Tuesday, after a few phone calls and lots of waiting I was able to schedule a company for today, so no A/C last night. Perfect! Just perfect timing for Dad to arrive with cousins Sharon & Bob. No A/C, but the guest bath was back in working order...and looks AMAZING! The A/C repair guy arrived today at 10 (to my shock) and replaced some wire that had gone bad, and in time for us to leave for a 'pedicure' appt for Toby and Mom, Dad, Sharon and Bob to head to SC for tonight.

Yesterday was also Abigail's 6mo check-up. She weighed in at 13lbs and measured 25.25in. Abs is still in the lowest percentile for her age, and Dr Clements said I could feed her more IF SHE WANTS MORE (Grandma)...well, I'm still nursing on demand and supplementing (SLOWLY) with cereal. I want her to be a pro at swallowing before we move on to more exciting, flavorful and healthy foods. The key word there was healthy, the cereal has basically NO nutritional value. Matt and I aren't worried about her weight, she's super happy (as you can see from the pictures and videos) and has plenty of 'chunk' on her cute little thighs. Abs is also a very active baby, like I said earlier, she's rolling all over the place...and you have to watch her carefully because she usually rolls off that wonderful cushioned mat. She likes to hear the noise her feet make kicking on the hardwood floors. She can push up into the crawling position and even can poke her booty in the air (on her toes), it looks like a yoga pose. We've seen her slowing scoot backwards, so it's not going to be much longer for her to figure crawling out completely. She's also sitting up for longer periods of time and is getting that balancing thing figured out too. In the last week or so, she's started reaching for us to hold her (which is SO cute). She's a pro at putting the pacifier in and out, and likes chewing it on the side gums...but still no signs of teeth (THANK YOU JESUS!). Abs did have one crazy poo today that ended up more outside of her diaper than in - I thought it was hilarious because it made me believe she was showing her dislike for the outfit (just like her mommy). The only possible clean-up for this was the bathtub, and I did consider taking a pic of it (mostly for Janet - you know, a 'take that!'). Lucky for you all, the camera was downstairs and it wouldn't have been easy (or quick) to explain to Abuela where it was and to retrieve it for me. I blame the cereal from last night for this wonderful surprise. And because I know you're wondering (Grandma), I did try to give her some cereal again today, this time plain and with pureed banana (Thank You Grandma!!!) and she didn't want any of it, either of them) today.

Well, there you go Janet...I hope you enjoyed your week long update. Now get to work woman (hugs!), you don't get paid to read our blog!
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