Abby has learned her ABC song. Most of the time she gets it all except for TUV… for some reason that one seems a bit hard to remember. But, every now and then she gets it all. Day by day it sounds better and I can understand more of it. Here is a video of her singing for me…
Tag: Milestones
Smiles and New Baby Sounds
Ellie is starting to give us some big smiles and testing out her sounds. I love all of her squeaks and cooing noises. Who wouldn’t?! Just watch this and see if you can resist smiling…
Almost a Whole Year and a Half!
On the 1st of March, Abby had her 17 month birthday! Can you believe it!? She is almost a year and a half old! I cannot believe that soon we will be celebrating her second birthday and before that happens she will have a baby brother or sister. Time certainly flies!
Abby is growing and learning so much. She talks all the time and while most of it is still not in a language anyone can understand, she has added a lot of words to her vocabulary. SO far she can say, but is not limited to because my memory is terrible, these words… Jack, Moon, Tree, Kitty, More, Dog, Piggy, Mama, Dada, Grandpa, Nana, Star, Shoes, Fishy, Bye and just last night she said Kings while we were watching the hockey game! That’s our girl! There are more, but its hard to remember them right now.
She understands so much now which is so nice, but now we are hitting some of the reasons for those terrible twos. Mainly the whole concept of “Mommy, Daddy I know what I want, why cant you understand me!!??”. It certainly isnt anything I cannot handle!
Abby is eating like crazy again, which means she is taking another growth spurt. During her last check up Abby had grown quite a bit in length but there wasn’t much of an increase in weight. She is too busy running around everywhere! She burns it all off too fast. I guess we will see what changes she has made at her next big appointment.
Another big change, which mommy loves, is that she Abby now has enough hair to put into piggy tails. Even more important is that she now keeps them in and does not rip them out right away. Her hair isn’t long enough to cut yet and she certainly isnt old enough to sit still long enough to have it cut, so its nice that I can finally do things with her hair to keep it out of her eyes and face.
Abby is growing and changing every day and as far as I am concerned, ups her cute quotient with each passing day as well! She always does something to surprise and amaze me. I cant wait to see what the next few days, weeks, months, and years bring us! We are so blessed!
These Boots are Made For Walkin’
Well I think the videos will speak for themselves…
Abby is on the move! Mommy and Daddy are very happy and excited!
Abby is on the move! Mommy and Daddy are very happy and excited!
Happy First Birthday Abigail!
Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Abby! Happy Birthday to you!
When I woke up this morning I could not believe that it was Abby’s first birthday. How is it even possible? A full year has actually gone by? Where did all of the time go? It has certainly gone too fast, but I loved each and every minute.
I cant believe that a year ago today, after what proved to be a fruitless attempt at labor I was brought into the operative delivery room and Abby was born only a few moments later. I remember waiting to hear her first cries and when I did, the flood of emotions that followed. I was happy, joyful, a little nervous and so excited to become a mom for the first time. The moments spent in our hospital room, just Shaun, myself and Abby were some of the most precious to me. Each time I held her in my arms, the pain of surgery and the fatigue seemed to disappear.
Watching her grow over the last year has been a joy and absolutely incredible. Her first smile, her first giggle, her first attempt at crawling and what will soon be her first steps to her first words. All so amazing to me.
While Abby was down for a nap I decided to go through all of my pictures of Abby to this point and I thought I would share some of them with you. Take a look at the slide show below marking Abby’s first year, well her first year plus a little more! Hope you enjoy!
Happy Birthday Little Girl! Mommy and Daddy love you very much!
Abby’s First Kings Game
Tonight was Abby’s very first Kings game! Shaun and I were super excited to take Abby and see how she would do at a game and of course we couldn’t wait to see her in her little jersey!
We headed to Staples for a laid back Pre-Season game against the Anaheim Ducks and after a bit of traffic, finally arrived ready to go. When we made it to our seats, Abby seemed to be taking it all in and enjoying everything that was going on. We watched the warm-up and Abby was completely engrossed in what the players were doing on the ice as well as the lights and noise around her.
Abby was doing fine and only seemed to get upset when people around us would do that high pitch whistle that I cant stand. That set her off a bit, but once her snacks and juice came out… she was ok. That was, until, the Kings scored their first goal of the night and the goal siren went off. This sent her into a full on upset and as a mom I felt terrible. I didnt want to traumatize my child, but I also didnt want to go home. Luckily Abby calmed down and we continued on with the evening.
With snacks in hand Abby seemed to adapt to the noise of the crowd and enjoy life. But then, in the 2nd period, the Kings scored two more goals and those darn sirens just didnt do it for her. By the third goal Abby had had enough and it was time for us to get a move on.
Once we were outside of the arena, Abby seemed to settle down and act like her usual self. Shaun and I watched the beginning of the 3rd period from the monitors out in the hallway and then listened to the end of the game in the car on the way home. Despite the upset from the goal sirens, we had a great night and I am so proud of Abby for making it through two whole periods. I think we will give it some time before we take her to a game again, as we dont want to traumatize her, but I know Shaun and I will be back to see a game very soon!
To make the night even better… the Kings WON! Beat those Ducks 4 to 1. What a great ending to somewhat imperfect but great night. Yes I know its Pre-Season so the games dont really count, but any win against the Ducks counts in my book!
The Great "Abbydini"
Here is a little story for your enjoyment….
This morning Shaun and I woke up to the sounds of our alarm. As with every Monday morning, we take our time waking up, laying in bed hoping for yet another 20 minutes of sleep. But of course its inevitable that we have to get up and start our day. As with most mornings, we can hear Abby chattering and singing to herself in a language only she can understand. We are both half awake but for some reason she seems louder than normal. Finally Shaun gets up to start making her bottle and to get Abby out of bed for the morning. As he walks out of our bedroom towards Abby’s room, he passes the kitchen and stops short and then calls for me.
As I get out of bed I think to myself, great whats the problem now. Is the sink backed up? Do we have ants? Did Jack chew up yet another plastic piece of something? When I reach the kitchen I see Shaun standing there, with a look of disbelief. There sitting on the floor, playing with the foam board pumpkins that we purchased the say before is Abby and her best friend Doggy. We are in complete shock and keep asking one another if we are absolutely sure that we did not get Abby out of bed this morning? While we were half awake and dreading getting up, we certainly were not in a deep enough sleep to do anything with Abby and not remember.
I think most parents are just as shocked and concerned when they discover that their 11 and half month child has somehow escaped from their crib. Luckily something tripped Shaun’s car alarm about 45 minutes before we discovered Abby playing and when we went out to shut it off, Abby was sound asleep in her crib. This gave us the reassurance that she had not been out there for long. Once we got past that though, we then begin to worry about how in the world she got out!!
We decided to check things out in Abby’s room and when we walked in, we started to see what could have happened. Abby had thrown out all of her friends from her crib. But there was purpose in this. All of her friends were in a pile in the exact same area, just under her diaper stacker that attaches to her crib. The only thing we could think of was that she used her diaper stacker to shimmy down and free herself. She piled all of her friends to bring them with her and possibly use them as a safe landing. As my friend Erika put it… “it was a full on jailbreak”! What a smart little cookie!
After a good inspection for bumps, bruises and scrapes, of which she had none, we felt a little bit better. Needless to say we lowered her mattress to its lowest point possible and it took a few nights before I could rest easy again. Ahhhhhh parenthood!
(I am sorry to report that we do not have any pictures from this morning. I think we were in too much shock to think of taking any!)
One Big Step for Abby, Two Tiny Steps for Abby Kind!
Ok…. so any day now! Abby took a few small steps, but I cant say that they are 100% official! They were in her crib, so her feet and balance had a bit of give but hey, it was two steps! Watch and enjoy….
11 Months… Where does the time go?
Yep! Can you believe it? Abby is now 11 months old and time just keeps marching on! Before you know it I will be posting here about her first birthday. What amazes me about the time that has passed by are the changes in Abby. She has gone from a little bitty baby to a little girl with a complete personality. Abby is crawling like crazy, a speed demon to the core. She never slows down, that is until she is too tired and even then she tries. She has figured out how to stand up quickly with the help of any object around her. She has had some moments of standing in her own, but only for a few fleeting moments. At the moment, Abby is trying to stand on her own without grabbing something for help and she is trying to figure out how to let go and take steps all at once. Its a fun process to watch if you ask me, and there are little changes everyday.
That brain of hers is developing quickly too and the changes are amazing! She can point out daddy’s nose when you ask her to and she knows where the birdies are on the Beauty and the Beast picture in her room. Shes working hard on waving hello and goodbye and when given a baby doll to play with, she knew exactly what to do with the bottle that came with her. The wheels are a turnin’ and I have a feeling she will keep her mommy and daddy very busy! I think the next month will prove to be full of big changes! Until then, enjoy the pictures that we have thus far!
New Tricks, No Hands
Abby keeps getting closer and closer to taking her first steps. It wont be long now before she is up and running around the house! Trust me, I am enjoying what little time we have before that happens. Until then, enjoy her few fleeting moments of standing on her own. Enjoy the clip…
Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirates Life For Me!
Greetings again from Disneyland! Yeah I know we are there too much, according to some, but its a happy place and even better now that we have our little girl to share it with. Because of the major heat and the fires we decided to take a night trip and enjoy the park until it closed.
When we arrived on Main Street, Shaun and I began the usual ritual of… so what do we do first??!! We decided to find a seat over at the Plaza Inn to eat and enjoy the fireworks when they started. On our way we saw that Mickey and Minnie were out taking pictures with everyone. So Abby, not even a year old, has her first pictures with Mickey and Minnie Mouse! As you can see in the pictures, Abby was distracted first by Mickey and his nose and then by Mickey walking by while she was taking a picture with Minnie. Oh well, they are still super cute pictures!
After dinner and fireworks, Shaun and I decided it was time to hit some rides before the park closed. We hopped on to Snow White’s Scary Adventure and Abby seemed to enjoy that. Its a fairly harmless ride though, just like Pinocchio or Winnie the Pooh.
After tackling that one, we made the decision to give one our favorites a chance to see how Abby did. Yeah you guessed it… we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. I know I was a bit nervous about how Abby would handle the dark and the drops, but as I learned quickly, I was worried over nothing.
Abby handled the two drops like a champ. She tensed up a bit but seemed to be OK. As we started to just float along, Abby seemed to relax completely and even to bob her head with the music. It was pretty cute! Unfortunately I didn’t even think to take video of it! Sometimes its hard to read her reaction, as she loves to just take things in. Her favorite scene seemed to be the one where the man is being dipped up and down into the well. Pretty funny! I cant wait to take her again to see if she likes it even more, or if she hates it. We shall see!
After Pirates we went on Winnie the Pooh. It was a nice calm ride after something so intense and Abby seemed to be losing steam. After Winnie the Pooh, Abby fell asleep in the stroller and we knew it was time to just walk around and enjoy the last little bit at the park. I love walking through all of the stores on Main Street, so we did that for a moment. After about 40 minutes, Abby woke up with a smile on her face and ready for more but sadly the park had already closed. I guess we will have to save Peter Pan for next time! So we had to say “bye bye” to Disneyland for now but I am sure we will be back soon.
Our Bedroom Stairs… Abby’s Everest!
Shaun and I try to make time together with Abby to just sit and play, without her “saucer”, outside of her playpen and without Jack constantly looking for our attention. Lately we have been working on getting her to walk and stand on her own and she is getting so close. In doing all of this, we have found that Abby has accomplished something else! Stairs! As you will see, Abby has figured out how to climb the short set of stairs in our bedroom. Not only that, but she has also figured out how to get back down them as well! She had a little bit of help from daddy, but that was mainly done to make sure she didn’t fall and hurt herself. What a smart little cookie… and those chubby legs and tushy are pretty cute too!
The Wharton Adventures 