Cheers to a New Year

So, here we are kissing 2015 goodbye and I haven't posted hardly anything since Abby turned one. There are a couple reasons for that.

1. I started a new job. My time as a part-time work-at-home Mom came to a close and I was offered an awesome new job. I jumped at the chance for more dollars in my pocket and a shorter commute. I have been there a month and I am really enjoying the work! But there is not very much time for blogging ;). Abby also went back to "school" as well. She is really enjoying her new school and her new friends.

2. We found out a close family member is very sick. And I have not been sure what to say, or not say, about it. I strongly dislike when people post vague or confusing statuses on Facebook that seemingly beg for attention. So that's not what I'm doing here. I'm being vague out of respect for the privacy of that person and if you would like to e-mail me I would be glad to fill you in on what is going on! It has thrown our family for a loop to say the least, so the thought of blogging has been difficult. Because what do I say? Or not say? Ugh.

Looking on the bright side: It HAS been a wonderful year, full of awesome things like getting to work from home for 6 MONTHS, spend 2 weeks at the shore with my baby (and my Mom!), traveling to Disney twice, getting a super new job, and more recently, a new ride! My brother and his wife are also expecting their first baby in March, and Joey's brother Jason was recently engaged to his long time girlfriend, Lydia. 

As the year draws to a close, I have a new found appreciation for all of the people in my life. I would like to wish each and every one of you a happy new year. I truly wish the best for each of you out there reading this- no matter how I know you or what we may have been through in the past. I'm certainly not perfect and have made my share of mistakes, but a new year is always chance to start fresh so I invite you to do the same! 

So: enjoy your holiday, hug your loved ones, and toast to health, happiness, and good fortune in 2016!

Cheers!

Love,

Sarah

13 months on the 13th

Monthly updates from here on out are not promised. But since I had the time I thought I'd update and say holy cow, they turn into toddlers fast. I definitely thought I'd have a good 6 months before I felt like she was really a "toddler". Nope. The tantrums came on fast. The frustration with not being able to communicate combined with growing/teething is really rough.

Some positives- she gave up the bottle REALLY easy. And we're 100% done with formula. Whole milk does the trick and her stomach is used to it now. That did take a couple of weeks though.  It also took a couple of weeks for her to drink milk out of the sippy cup.  I was convinced she'd be 3 and taking calcium supplements.... but alas after trying just about EVERYTHING (yogurt, ovaltine, death stares) she actually drank it.  I had mixed in some ovaltine and then over the next couple of days I gradually lessened the amount of ovaltine until she was drinking straight milk. I'm SO glad we got that taken care of before our upcoming Disney trip!! (<-more on this later)

I also took her to her first dentist appointment and she did great! Even got to pick out her own toothbrush.

She's still working on learning to walk. She can and will stand on her own but is still chicken about taking any steps unassisted. And if I try to put her down in the middle of the floor her legs turn to jello. I guess she will walk when she's ready... We've been baby-proofing like crazy in the mean time though.

She still says "dog" and variations of that but that's it. Again, I'm not expecting mountains to move in one month's time.

So really, nothing new to report other than a few more tantrums. She's still overall a very happy baby and easy to please.  Eating at restaurants is a little more complicated now, but as long as we are shoving food in her mouth she stays relatively quiet..... ;)

I'm hoping to get more posts up this Fall (we'll see).. starting with a sneak peek of Abby's 1 year photos we took on the beach on her birthday. I don't have them yet... so I stole one for you but never fear.. there will be TONS more!!!

12 Months: The Last of the Monthly Posts

Better late than never, right?? With our two week beach vacation, I was already a week behind in getting the 12 month update done. I also wanted to wait until Abby's 12 month appointment. And then life got in the way.  This morning I put my 12 (and a half) month old into her white onesie and stuck on her last sticker.  How bittersweet. I guess I could continue to do monthly pictures but... I'm kind of glad that I'm out of stickers ;)

Our trip to the beach was awesome. Relaxing, tons of me-time (thanks Mom!), family-time, BIRTHDAY TIME, and new things for Abby to experience and explore. I am excited to get her 2nd year off to a great start- beginning (of course) with another trip to Disney which is on the horizon!!!!


How many?
12 whole months! (and a couple weeks... sorry this is late!) 1 YEAR OLD!

Stats?
I waited until her 12 month appointment to post this because she hadn't been to the Dr. since 9 months and I had no idea about her stats other than I know she has grown a ton!  She weighs 23 lbs 4 oz (89%) and is 30 in tall (75%). Her head is also bigger than 93% of kids her age but hey, her Dad has a big head so I'm not too surprised ;).  Her Doctor is happy with her growth and said she looks great!

Diaper Size?
Still in a size 4, where she will be for a looong time (this range goes from 22 to 37 lbs!).

Clothes size?
Solid 12 month size.  Her legs always grow faster than her top, so I'm starting to break out some of the 18 month stuff. I think we will be in 12-18 and 18 month for a while. (Or maybe I'm just hoping because we have two vacations coming up and I want to order special clothes for her...)

Eating?
Abby is a total experienced veteran when it comes to finger feeding. I have no idea how we got here, but I remember being so scared for her to eat big kid food. I was afraid she'd be allergic to something (she's since tried peanut butter, eggs, fish, etc.) or choke on something (she did, and she survived). We are working on weaning off the formula and bottle- and her Doctor encouraged us to get on that ASAP at her appointment. We have been working on switching to cow's milk.  Actually, I switched and she never noticed. GOODBYE, FORMULA. The only problem is that she doesn't really like to drink milk out of anything but a bottle. We are down to 1 bottle per day and she hasn't really noticed getting rid of the others, so... it's only a matter of time.  It makes me sad to see her becoming such a big girl, but I know these are necessary changes!!

Here's an idea of what she's eating these days (more for my own information later down the road):
Breakfast is usually some cheerios and banana, or some eggs and toast.  She also likes pancakes, various fruit (especially strawberries), turkey sausage, etc. Lunch is some kind of sandwich- faves are peanut butter or grilled cheese, a veggie (LOVES broccoli and cauliflower), a fruit (grapes or berries) or a "snack" like goldfish or puffs.  Dinner is usually whatever we are eating, unless we are eating something totally weird/unhealthy.  Last night we had fresh fish, rice, and salad so Abby had fish, rice, and a bunch of veggies chopped up to the right size. We also went to Dairy Queen for dessert and she had a few bites of my sundae ;).

Sleeping?
Always my good sleeper, Abby sleeps mostly through the nights. Some nights are weird or sometimes she wakes up at 5am crying because she is cold or lost her paci. For the most part, she does great sleeping in her crib at night time. She also takes two naps per day- one around 9am and the other around 2pm.

Teeth?
12 teeth! 6 on the top and 6 on the bottom. 4 front and 2 molars on each. We try to "brush" teeth every night before bed. Some days it goes better than others...

Eye color? One year later, they are still blue/grey and change to blue/gray/green based on what she is wearing. I'm still watching them to see what happens!

Milestones?
The big milestones of walking and talking hit around one year.  So far, Abby can pull to stand, cruise around, and stand unassisted, but she's kind of a chicken and sits down/crawls to get from A to B. She will walk soon, I think.

Talking: She still says "Dog"/"Doc" and enjoys pointing out everything that is a "Doc". Going to the Zoo was entertaining, since every animal was a dog. The seagulls at the beach were also dogs. ;) She's starting to babble differently so I'm guessing as soon as she gets walking down she will start talking more. But that's just a guess... I have no idea.

Other fun things:

Favorite Animal: Dog (Duh)

Favorite Color: Blue (Always gravitates toward blue things!!)

Favorite Books: Pat the Bunny (she has it memorized), Sally at the Seashore, Hide and Seek Harry at the Beach, and her board books about Mickey Mouse, Disney Princesses, etc.

Favorite TV Shows (Bad Mommy): Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Jake and the Neverland Pirates (def my kid)

Mom's Corner
Well it's been a year and now that I have had an entire year to reflect, I think I can say that the first 3 months were the hardest (for me). You are still healing and the baby is still so fragile and everything is stressful.  As the baby gets bigger, so does your confidence and eventually, you'll find yourself taking her for a walk at 7am at the beach because she woke up SUPER early and there are 12 people in the house and you don't want to wake them up- and you end up at Bill's Pancake House and you take her to breakfast BY YOURSELF with no diaper bag, nothing for her to play with, not even a sippy cup to drink out of. And you survive!!!!! (<-True story.)

July Stitch Fix

Wait whaaaat?!?! This is not a post about my baby?! Who am I and what have I done with Sarah?!

It has been over a year since I last had a Stitch Fix. I think the last one was in Fall of 2013, before I got pregnant with Abby.  Since she was born, they have actually started offering maternity clothes which is very exciting! I did not want to do another Fix until I was back into my pre-pregnancy size and/or feeling more confident.

Fast forward to now and I finally decided to bite the bullet (with some inspiration from my friend Noelle).  The way Stitch Fix works, in case you forgot, is you provide your size and style preferences and a stylist sends you 5 pieces that you can try on, and keep or mail back.  I made sure to leave a note on my profile that it was my first Fix back from having a baby and "please be forgiving" with your choices.  I also asked for things I could wear at the beach, since I no longer need work clothes (YIPPEE) and we're getting ready for our beach trip! I honestly had really low expectations.  I was worried about things fitting correctly or looking like I'm trying too hard to be 20 again.

Well, I have to say that my stylist HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK. I loved everything, well, I loved 95% of it and really liked the other 5%. Everything I tried on went straight from the box into my closet without hesitation.

It's 2015, we've lived here 4 years, and I still don't have a full length mirror. So, back to the guest room we go:

1. Red/Orange Beachy Dress

Love how it makes me look so tan (confession: I've been working on my tan). I don't think I would have picked out this color/pattern on my own. But I am surprised at how much I like it. Also, need to clean that mirror... yikes.

2. White/Blue Top

I have seen variations of this top everywhere this summer and I have considered buying one but never did... until NOW!!

Bonus zoom for detail

3. Navy Shorts

If there was ever the perfect cut for a pair of shorts (and my chunky upper thighs), this is it.  I'm super impressed with these. They are so slimming! And they are very comfortable.

Shameless plug of my stomach. Hey. I've been working hard.

4. Grey/Lace 3/4 Sleeve Top

I'm into lace, so this one also majorly wins. Also, it's multi-seasonal. Expect to see this one quite a bit!

Close up for detail

5. Black/White Cocktail Dress

This is the only one I didn't L-O-V-E. But I still liked it. And since I was keeping everything, it mathematically did not make sense to send one thing back (they give you a huge discount if you keep everything). I asked for a dress because I have a wedding to go to this Fall. While I like the dress, I don't think I will wear it to the wedding. Doesn't mean I won't find other events to wear it to, though!

And there you have it!  I honestly can't wait for my next Fix. Here is the link to sign up if you are interested:

https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3076424 

And yes, if you get friends to sign up you get a $25 credit.

Hope you enjoyed this non-baby post!  We have been having a ton of fun and we are rapidly approaching August! And you know what that means!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

~SG

11 Months!

And suddenly... there is only one sticker left. Where has the past year gone? Truthfully, sometimes it has not felt like it is flying by. I think the adage is true- "the days are long but the weeks/months are short". The first few months are really tough. Then it slowly starts getting more fun. Then, things start happening in rapid succession. Over the course of a few months, Abby learned to crawl, communicate ("doc!"), and began pulling to stand! I cannot wait to see what we are doing this time next year! But... let's focus on the present:

Our beach vacation is around the corner and I could not be more excited. I have been looking forward to this for MONTHS. I'm especially excited because Abby and I get to go for an extended time, because I am able to work remotely. We will be celebrating her first birthday while we are there, and I am trying hard not to go overboard in the party planning department... It's difficult.

Oh- one quick thing. If you notice a scab on her nose in these pics you are not imagining it! Girlfriend learned the hard lesson that if you pick up one hand while crawling and use it to pick up a toy while continuing to move forward, you faceplant.

How many? 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stats? She won't be weighed and measured for another month. But I think she's definitely gotten taller, and of course she's nice and chunky ;)

"Where's your belly button?"

Diaper size? Wearing size 4 and comfortable.

Baby curls!

Clothes size? She can still squeeze into some 9 month stuff but let's be honest- she's wearing 12 month clothes.

Eating? Our adventures in solid food continue.  I'm less worried about choking and allergies now and more worried about her eating healthy food.  I actually find myself buying organic stuff, which a year ago I would have rolled my eyes at. But I worry about her getting proper nutrition, especially when she doesn't eat a huge variety of food.  We are working on that slowly!  Typically she will eat a mini waffle or some cheerios in the morning accompanied by some fruit (banana or strawberries). For lunch I'll give her some turkey or chicken, with some cheese (she LOVES cheese), veggie and/or a fruit. Snack time is mini goldfish (they make them in baby size! I die.) or some other Gerber baby snack. Dinner can be yogurt, some combination of the lunch options, whatever we are eating (if appropriate), or sometimes I TRY to give her dinner from a spoon but 95% of the time she rejects it, hits the spoon, and splatters food everywhere.... I find that I am not as adventurous as other parents I see on Facebook giving their much younger kids things I am terrified of feeding Abby. But I am learning slowly! It is a learning process both for the parent and the child.

Also to note, she is down to 4 bottles a day (5 if she wakes up in the middle of the night). I'm going to start weaning her off the bottle very slowly and replacing one bottle per day with a sippy.  She does great with the soft spout sippys but has trouble with the hard spout ones. Also, she usually rejects formula if it's in a sippy cup. Weirdo.

Sleeping? We have been dealing with night awakenings for the past month. I recently was able to identify the cause when she leaned her head back with her mouth open and I saw the molars that are beginning to pop through.  We have been giving her a bottle which helps her go back to sleep.  I'm not ready for the Ferber method, to be honest. And she does okay. This is usually a phase anyway, and she will go back to sleeping through the night.  The past several nights she has actually gone back to sleep on her own, with the exception of paci- replacement. Something we will have to deal with soon is when to take away the pacifier. It's going to be rough, but necessary.

Nap times are getting much more consistent now that I'm working at home.  She takes two naps per day- one in the late morning and one in the afternoon.  And goes to bed between 7-8pm.  She wakes up later now too- between 6-7 instead of 5-6 (thank goodness!!). Wake time is usually about ~3 hours, give or take. But she can rock for much longer than that. We are very lucky to have such a flexible babe.  It makes vacations a breeze.  And we've got two big ones coming up!

Teeth update: 4 on the bottom, 4 on the top (they are not 100% in yet but they are more than halfway), and MOLARS starting to poke through on either side on the top and the bottom.  I have started brushing her teeth with a little baby toothbrush, and no toothpaste-just water. Just basically to get her used to the toothbrush. I doubt it's doing anything but it makes me feel better that her teeth won't rot out.  I'm also holding back on the juice for as long as I can. She LOVES drinking water from the sippy (or my water bottle, or my cup) so I don't see a reason why I should give her anything other than formula and water ;).

Eye color update: Still blue.  I can't believe it.  They are bluish-grey and some days they are more blue, sometimes (like today, when it rains) they are grey, and sometimes when she wears green they look green. I'm not 100% convinced they are staying this blue, but I can say with some certainty that I don't think they will turn brown. How crazy!

I like this one because it shows the major difference between my eye color and hers.

Milestones?
Kept another list this month for ya!

-She knows what to do when I ask her to "Take out your paci" or "Leave the paci here". (Step one of giving it up is only using it upstairs/in the crib.)

-One day we were sharing a banana and I asked her to show me her mouth to prove it was empty and ready for the next bite. I was shocked when she opened wide and stuck out her tongue.  That was the beginning of this month and my realization that she understands MUCH more than I give her credit for.

-She knows where her belly button is, and will pull up her shirt to show it to you.

-She started rejecting being put in the jumperoo/walker/etc. If she doesn't want her legs forced into the little leg holes, she picks them up and bicycles in the air. It's frustrating but hilarious at the same time.

-About a week ago, I looked over at the pack n play and she was standing up. She had pulled up all by herself.  Since then she's gotten quite good at pulling up on various things around the house. VERY exciting but also scary... walking is happening... soon!

-I was reading her a book called "Are you a cow?" and it asks if you are every kind of animal and you say "no" each time.  I noticed Abby was shaking her head "no". I have no idea where she picked that up because it wasn't something we taught her!

-She was playing with my phone and started holding it to her ear, as if talking into it. Another shocker since I don't talk on my phone that much!

-She is OBSESSED with dogs.  Every dog (or animal) is a "doc".  She will point and yell DOC. When she sees a real dog, or a dog on TV, she yells "DOC" and pants like a dog. The other day, we were taking a walk and she was frantically yelling "Doc! Doc!". I looked around, saw nothing and told her "Abby, there is no doggie, honey." Well wouldn't you know, two seconds later a man walked around the corner with two dogs on leashes. I was flabbergasted. It's like she's the dog whisperer.

-Abby gives "hugs". Except her version of a hug is leaning her head over and touching you with her forehead.  This is especially adorable when she hugs pictures of animals (mostly dogs...) in books.

-The last thing on my list was a few days ago when we went out to get the mail. We came back in the house and the dogs went nuts because they are stupid. I told them they needed to chill. And I swear Abby repeated me. Sounded like she tried to say "chill". I guess we better watch what we say.....

Giving me some attitude about this photo shoot.

Mom's Corner:
Since the beach is around the corner, I've been working (not exactly working hard) on getting my beach bod ready and I am pretty pleased with the results. Taking Abby for daily walks, drinking more water and adding a short workout into my day have resulted in the loss of ~5 lbs. I'm not perfect but I'm more confident and ready to take on a couple weeks at the shore!!!

So over this photo shoot.

I have plans for a post to summarize our summer so far (SUMMERize.. bahaha) and I will hopefully get around to doing that soon!!

Hope everyone had a great July 4th.

In other news, my 31st birthday is this weekend.. :-O

~SG

10 Months!

I can't believe that summer is here and we are well on our way to Abby's first birthday. Plans are obviously in full swing. I think I mentioned before that we'd be at the beach during her birthday and I am trying not to wish away summer while getting VERY excited for my first long beach trip in quite some time.

Taking the month to month pictures has become somewhat interesting now that Abby is on the move. She has also started making these incredibly cute/ugly faces which are hilarious, but not so good for picture taking.  I did my best, with the iPhone, on a crazy Saturday. At least I got one good picture:

How many? 10! Double digits!

Unintentionally seductive. Yet hilarious.

Stats? No recent stats to share. But she's definitely growing!

Diaper size? Comfortably in 4's. Hoping to stay here for a while.

Clothes size? 9-12 but mostly 12.

This picture sums up life lately!

Eating? We are getting so much better at solid foods.  Abby finally decided she wants to eat with her fingers and she has gotten very good at eating cheerios, puffs, pieces of cheese, various berries, pieces of banana, avocado, etc. I have been so cautious with foods because I am so afraid she will choke.  And you know what? She did choke.  And instead of freaking, I grabbed her out of her high chair, turned her over, slapped her back a few times and she coughed and was fine.  And that was it. Won't be the last time she chokes on something I'm sure.  And I'm just glad I knew what to do. She has also started to get MUCH better at actually chewing her food.  For the longest time, I was breaking up her puffs into pieces and now she is eating whole ones and chewing them up. Improvement!  We have also been embracing the sippy cup, although she drinks only water out of it. She still drinks formula every ~4 hours or so from a bottle.

Sleeping?
Abby has pretty much dropped her 3rd nap at this point, although sometimes she needs a quick one. Because of this, her bedtime has moved up from 8pm to 7pm.  It is crazy putting her to bed when the sun is still shining! Her morning naps are usually around 8am and her afternoon is at 1pm.

Milestones?
Another month flew by and Abby made incredible strides once again!
This month, she mastered getting into a sitting position from laying down.  She also began crawling normally (as opposed to the tummy slither).  Besides eating finger foods, she likes to "share" her food with the dogs by intermittently tossing things off her tray. She is actually OBSESSED with the dogs and actually says "Dog".  Well, actually she says "Doc".  We did a good job of confusing her since Dog and Doc are so similar.  She also calls Chloe "E Doc" (Chloe Dog). She also says "Dada" and has even said it a few times when he's walked into the room so I know she's got it down.  Today I asked her if I could take out her paci before lunch and she reached up and took it out herself.  Made me wonder what else she understands! Another crazy thing we did this month was put peanut butter in her mouth.  I was TERRIFIED. Our doctor told us to go for it.  And we did. And she didn't have any reaction at all. (Not that I was expecting one.) Another fun thing is that she discovered our belly buttons.  Not hers, just ours.  She's always pulling my shirt up looking for it. Awkward.

How I feel on Mondays

Mom's Corner:
Not much else to add this month since I just did a little write up of how working at home is going. (See previous post!) We have been having a ton of fun this summer and I hope I can get around to blogging about some of it!!

Til then, enjoy your summer!!!

~SG

Working At Home

I'm just finishing my second week of working at home part time while simultaneously taking care of Abby.  It has been an adjustment for both of us, but we are starting to get into our routine.

Something that has surprised me (and this is because I am a total idiot, I guess) is that I haven't had the time to feel lonely or bored.  I worried that I would feel so lonely, being here with only Abby every day.  But working 6 hours a day and taking care of Abby really does not leave much time for that!

Another adjustment that I've had to make is dealing with my a$$hole dogs.  Min Pins bark when a leaf blows down the street, so I've had to work on keeping them quiet (or outside) during phone calls, or during nap time when I know the mail man or UPS is coming. They also bark at trash trucks, school buses, neighbors, children, loud vehicles, etc.  Honestly that has been a bigger adjustment than Abby.  She's really easy going.

Most of the time, she is napping while I am in meetings or working on important things.  When she is awake during my work hours, she plays in her pack and play or watches Mickey Mouse from her walker or jumperoo.  Now that she's mobile, I can't just plop her on the rug anymore!

I do feel bad about her watching TV.  Earlier this week, I was working on a huge project and she was stuck in front of the TV watching Sesame Street and Baby Einstein while I sat on endless phone calls. I also feel bad when I am on a call and she is crying and I can't go comfort her immediately.  That is a hard pill to swallow.  I'm hopeful that won't happen too often.

But with these negatives there are so many positives.  We can take our time in the morning.  Eat breakfast, drink coffee, go for long walks in the stroller. I don't have to wake her up if she is still sleeping at 6:30. I am getting more exercise and eating less junk. I'm not sitting in the car for 3 hours a day, or paying $200 a month in tolls to avoid that traffic.  I get to see my baby girl all day.

Overall, I am happier.  My paycheck might be smaller now, but the trade in my happiness makes it 110% worth it in the end.

9 Months Old

Yet another month has flown by and here we are at 3/4 of a year old! The past month has seen a flurry of development and changes.  I feel like she is a completely different baby than she was just a few weeks ago.  Abby is flourishing at her new nanny's house.  She and her new friend (our nanny's 5 year old daughter) love to play together.  Abby rides along when they take the little girl to pre-school and gets to participate in fun events, such as a recent performance by DinoRock.

Abby learned to do so much this month that I actually had to keep a list on my phone so I would remember it all.  It started with a cute little Monkey See, Monkey Do game which I think I wrote about last time.  She would tilt her head to the side and wait for you to copy her, and then move her head to the other side.  Then, one day she was holding her Taggie blanket in front of her face and jamming it down into her lap.  Over and over.  We realized she was playing peek-a-boo!!! I about died the day she played Peek-a-boo with Chloe. She held the Taggie in front of Chloe's face and pulled it away, laughing, over and over. She also has mastered clapping her hands.  Clapping her hands is one of her new favorite tricks.  She also knows what to do when we say "clap your hands!".  There is a bit of confusion, however, with the word "quack" (like a duck) vs. "clap". Playing with her little rubber duck sometimes gets confusing when we say "quack quack!" and she claps her hands... but hey... it's cute.

More recently, she has started waving "bye bye", but I have only seen her do it a few times.  She and her nanny wave bye bye to me every morning as I leave. My favorite recent development is that Abby now gives "kisses"!!!! She leans in with her mouth open and kind of just puts her mouth on your face... super adorable until she leans into Chloe with her mouth wide open and gets a mouthful of nasty dog tongue. She still loves her doggies but she wants to be all up in their grill and they really don't want her anywhere near their grill...

Lastly, Abby isn't exactly crawling but she definitely isn't staying in one place.  She can easily get to the floor from a sitting position and she can army/belly/awkwardly "crawl" across the room to whatever it is she wants. She hasn't mastered getting up on all fours, or sitting up from a laying down position.  But I'm sure it's coming.

Also, I know it's bad for babies to watch TV but you haven't seen anything until you see her face when Mickey Mouse comes walking up the path and invites everyone to play at his clubhouse.  I have the series DVR'd and I put it on for her in the mornings while I'm packing my lunch.  She doesn't usually make it past the Roll Call in the opening credits but she LOVES Mickey Mouse.  I also put on Sesame Street for her sometimes.  I mean, I'd rather her watch that than Castle...

How many? 9! NINE!

Stats? Abby now weighs 20 lbs 8 oz and is 28.5 inches long. She is in the 80th percentile.  Last appointment (at 6 months) she was in the 60th percentile.  Her Doctor is really happy with her growth and development!

Diaper Size? We recently moved her from a 3 to a 4. It was a suggestion from her nanny after a few blow outs and I think we made the right call, even though they start at 22 lbs and she's not quite there yet.  I also tried Pampers cruisers instead of swaddlers and I really like them (thanks, Melissa!).

Clothes Size? 9-12 months. Some of the 6 month stuff still fits on top. She's wearing a 6 month onesie today. It's a little tight, though. The 9 month pants are a little short but now that it's hot out I just act like they are capri pants...  I also started putting her in shoes. She likes to stand up and hold onto the coffee table and I feel like she needs support on those little ankles.  Plus baby shoes are so cute.  She's somewhere between a 2 and a 3 with 4 inch long feet. I read that bare feet are best when learning to walk, so she doesn't wear them all the time.

Mom. Take this stupid thing off.

Eating? Still going strong with our eating schedule.  Oatmeal with fruit in the morning (dumped into a bowl and mixed w/formula), Gerber veggies for lunch (level 2 and she is starting to want more than just 1 container), and Gerber meat with veggies for dinner.  (Same thing, level 2 and yes I know it is gross but I'm a little weird about feeding her. Plus I only really give her the ones with turkey and chicken because...the beef one was absolutely disgusting.) She still does not do well with finger foods like little pieces of banana, avocado, cheerios or puffs. Just doesn't want them. Not interested.  But she LOVES rice rusks. (Baby Mum-Mums are her jam right now.)  I'm, of course, terrified she will choke because she loves to bite off a huge hunk of it, but it gets mushy really fast and she is starting to get better about "chewing" and she does a good job feeding herself. So I think there is hope for the future after all.  She actually just started letting me put little pieces of food in her mouth. Slow progress. We haven't done too much work with sippy cups but I will start working on that this month. She is also still taking 3-6 ounces of "milk" (formula) 5-6 times/day.  Finally, she has four teeth now. All on the bottom.

I LIKE YELLING

Sleeping? Still a rockstar sleeper.  ~3 naps per day but sometimes more and sometimes less.  She usually has a good, long morning nap and a long afternoon nap and sometimes a short evening nap. If her morning nap wasn't long enough (i.e. the dogs woke her up) she might need 2 morning naps.  We just never really pushed a nap schedule with her. I'm kind of indifferent about it. She sleeps well at night, although she does wake up between 5 and 6am.

Milestones?
-Extremely vocal. New one is "DoiDoiDoiDoi" but she'll blabber on to anyone that will listen (or to herself...) Also loves to be LOUD.
-Pincer grasp- got it down! (picks up all the little pieces of dirt on the carpet and makes me feel like I should vacuum more) (but doesn't put them in her mouth!...yet)
-Sitting to tummy/laying down (but can't sit back up again and gets sooo mad)
-Tummy slithering ("army crawl")
-Has started climbing on me (i.e. to get across my lap to the remote control) and pulling up to her knees on things she can reach. Great.
-Loves to stand up and hold onto things (only stands with help)
-Fart noises.
-I don't know if she understands "no" but she definitely knows tone of voice.  You should see her face when Joey yells at the dogs.

Mom's Corner
Well, enough about Abby.  Here's a fun fact about ME! I am very excited to announce that starting at the end of May, I'll be a Part Time Work-at-Home Mom. In the government contracting world, there is always uncertainty.  When our customer wanted to scale back our contract a little bit, I volunteered to work part time in order to help out.  Bonus- I get to do it from home.  I know it will be a bit of a juggling act at first while I figure it all out.  But I am so excited to get to see my daughter all day.  I am also a little sad, as I absolutely LOVE her nanny. We will not be ending our relationship with her and we plan to get the girls together often. I'm thrilled about this opportunity and I'm really lucky to be part of a company that has had my back for 6+ years. So everyone just wish me luck.  And I know there are some work-at-home Moms that read my blog so please let me know if you have any advice!!!

Here are some more pictures from the last month! :)

She loves putting things in her bucket.

We had some HOT weather this month! Hello, Summer!!

Practicing standing up and being a boss and not holding on, either.

This outfit is so cute.

Nobody puts baby in a corner!!! ....except baby.

Chloe didn't see it coming...

T-r-o-u-b-l-e

You may have noticed that our living room got a bit of a makeover.  It's not ready for a blog post yet, but here is a sneak peek.  I re-did the cornices, we got new furniture (new coffee table not pictured), and soon all the A/V equipment will go to its' new home in the basement.  We also re-did the side porch. So I guess I owe a house post at some point to show off all our fun activities.

Hope everyone has a FABULOUS start to their summer.  I can't believe it's summer once again. We're counting down to our beach trip for Abby's first birthday.  Don't even get me STARTED on that... where has the time gone?!

~SG