Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Here a picture from Sunday night of me and Abbi. Jenn is upset that the picture is a little blurry on her face, but oh well. Abbi looks incredibly cute in the picture, so of course it needs to get posted online!

Update on the bottle - yesterday went pretty well with Grandmom feeding Abbi. I mean, i say it went pretty well, I'm not entirely sure what words Grandmom would use to describe it though. She did eat about 4 ounces throughout the day, which isn't much, but she didn't scream the whole time, so that is improvement.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Today is a big day in our house. Jenn headed back to work this morning after taking an extra 4 weeks off from school to spend some extra time with Abbi. Because of Jenn going back to work, Grandmom is watching Abbi this week, and then next week we'll be taking her to both Debbi's and Grandmoms to be watched.

Jenn was more than upset this morning to leave Abbi behind. I think the only thing that made it any easier was that I was the one dropping her off at Grandmoms. Since Jenn works so close to the school and both places that she'll be going are on my way to work, I'll be dropping her off each day and then Jenn will pick her up.

Last night we worked with her some more on taking a bottle, and she did show some signs of minor improvement. I've found that putting her in the bouncer helps keep her a little happier, and as such she doesn't scream as much. So hopefully she'll do better today with Grandmom and as the week goes on, hopefully she'll stop fighting the bottle so much.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Jenn got Abbi dressed up real pretty yesterday for church so of course a few pictures were taken. She ended up keeping the outfit on all day, choosing not to support either NFL team yesterday, which is of course why the Redskins lost. Either way, she was looking cute!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Sleeping. Peacefully. That is until I knocked the cradle getting down from up high where I was photograph'n her from.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Angela and Jake were nice enough to let us borrow a few essential beach items for our first trip with Abbi to the beach. They lent us a sunshade tent that we were able to put Abbi in to protect her from the sun. They also lent us a little pool that we put some ocean water in for Abbi to dip her feet into. Check it out!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

After yesterday's long post, how about something short. Here's a shot of Abbi enjoying the Ravens game on Sunday :) She watched the Redskins game with me first, then we watched the Ravens together as well. Lucky for her she's got onesies for both the Redskins and Ravens. We can't raise a biased child now can we?

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

This morning I was thinking that I wanted to write about how things are currently going with Jenn, Abbi and I and then I realized that I hadn't reflected on the past month of Abbi's life, like I wanted to. So today is kinda of a double dish of information!

As for her current status - Abbi is growing just like she should and last week I posted her new stats, she is still in the 95th percentile for her age which is awesome, even if its completely meaningless as a comparison statistic. Jenn will be starting back to Jacobsville next Tuesday and she is not looking forward to it. Not in the way that most people don't look forward to going back to work (I mean we all hate Mondays), but more because she doesn't want to miss Abbi growing up. She doesn't want to miss the first time that Abbi rolls over, or crawls, or laughs hysterically out loud. So Jenn is definitely feeling the sadness this week as she enjoys her last full week with Abbi.

Jenn has mentioned to me many times recently about different jobs and such, and one thing I remind her of, is that as a teacher she will get to spend a TON of time with Abbi. She'll get all those snow days, holidays, and of course summer break with Abbi.

So because Jenn is headed back to school next week, we are working with Abbi to get her to take a bottle, otherwise she'll starve to death while Jenn is at work. Things haven't been going well with it. I've tried. Jenn's tried. Its not going easy. About 5 weeks ago Abbi took a bottle just fine. Problem is, she hasn't taken one since and now she's not interested in it at all. Sunday we tried for about 3 hours to get her to take a bottle and both times she chose to cry herself to sleep rather than take the bottle. Last night we had some success, she drank about 1 oz., but that's not nearly enough. So..the battle continues there.

As for me and Abbi, things have changed in the last month. I went back and read what I wrote the last time, and I definitely feel things differently now than a month ago. Even though overall I would say she doesn't do much, she does a LOT more than she used to.

The other day we were in a store and Jenn as looking for things so I was entertaining Abbi. We were talking together, and she was talking right back to me. In her own way of course. But I can see the determination in her eyes that she really wants to sound like we do. While I know she can't really talk, she can make a sound that sounds like either yellow, or hello. Take it how you will. I'm working with her to say hamburger. She's almost got it :)

In addition to all the talking sounds she working out, this girl can stand strong. I like to hold her up and let her use her own legs to support herself, and she's really good and holding up. I'm excited to she her progress with it.

Then of course there is the smiling. A month ago, if she smiled it was because she was farting, or some other random thing that we had no control over. In the last month she has grown to the point that she often smiles at things we are doing to or with her and its awesome to see her smile.

Finally, in terms of growth, reflection and all that. When Abbi was born she had these creepy eyes. Steel gray. I'm sure some people looked at them and though they were so beautiful, me - I found them creepy. Just like that umbilical cord. But now, now they are turning an absolutely wonderful shade of blue, and honestly they are starting to look just like her mothers, which in some ways, make me love them both even more.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Abbi seems to like being held up in the air. I hold her up with both hands and with just one. Using one hand to move her up and down she seems to like as well. She is smiling, which tells me "i like this", so I keep doing it. One time while being held up, I took this picture of her.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Abbi has been growing for sure, and this morning Jenn took Abbi to the doctor for her two month checkup. We were able to get exact numbers for her growth, not just Jenn's over estimations. Abbi now weighs 13 lbs 1 oz and she is 24 inches long/tall. That's a weight gain of 2 lbs 11 oz and a growth of 2 inches in length.

This picture is from the beach on Sunday when it was cloudy outside so we had to keep her bundled up for warmth. We propped her up in one of the beach chairs and took this picture.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

I asked Jenn if she enjoyed having Abbi with us down at the beach this year and why. One of the reasons she did is because she said she was able to experience things she is used to new through new eyes because she is getting to do them for the first time with Abbi. For example, this is a picture of Abbi when Jenn took her down to the ocean water for the first time, ever!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

So Sunday was Abbi's two month birthday. Since we were down at the beach, I was unable to print up a card with the date information on it, but still wanted to have something that showed it. So, thats where the laptop comes in to help out. I was able to re-create the card real quick, and then full-screen it on the monitor for the picture!

In Abbi news, she did great down at the beach, and then last night we had an awesome first. Abbi slept all night long. She went to bed around 9:45, and then woke up this morning at 7 am. Its awesome. Jenn was incredibly excited this morning that Abbi slept through the night. Lets hope this is the start of something consistent!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Continuing with the family pictures, today is a picture of Abbi and Jenn's mom - or nana. I've heard nana used to address Jenn's mom probably 10 times more often that the word mom or Nancy, her name. Jenn took this picture (like many of the others I've posted recently) the last week when her mom was down to visit her mom (Jenn's grandmother).

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Jenn recently saw her parents for a bit, and of course that meant time they got to spend with Abbi. Here is a picture of Abbi with Jenn's dad, or pop-pop as I here him more commonly referred to these days.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

I love this picture that Jenn took. Abbi looks like she is laughing up a storm in the picture and looks to cute. Also be sure to note the little Minne Mouse onesie she's got on.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Sunday we went out to grab some Labor Day desert at Rita's and since it was windy and little chilly outside, we put Abbi in a coat. I'm pretty sure this was the first time she had to get a coat on to head outside. She looked pretty cute too.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Yesterday at church after the drums were setup I was waiting to get started with practice and Jenn came over with Abbi. So of course I put her on my lap which resulted in this video. Enjoy!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Jenn has powers that I don't know if I could ever possess. That being the love of a mother. Abbi cries and Jenn deeply cares about Abbi. I hear Abbi cry and I wonder whats wrong and why she's crying, and then I start to wonder what I need to do to get her to stop. If it came to it, and she needed to "cry it out" I could deal with it. Jenn could not, and that I beleive i because she just loves Abbi to much to let her cry. Jenn is a great mom for those wondering :)

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Here she is, smiling and seeming to enjoy life. Wait about 10 seconds and its a good chance she'll start crying for reasons I have yet to be able to figure out. She's been real up and down and inconsistent with her sleeping during the night this week. It has been taking a toll on Jenn, certainly wearing her out a bit. Last night she was up around 3, and then up at 6, 7, and 8 this morning, so last night wasn't to good. But she is definitely growing, and getting stronger and more responsive each day.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

This is how Jenn had Abbi dressed the other day. All dressed up in her pink duds. Cute as ever!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The other day Jenn commented to me that we hadn't been putting Abbi on her stomach to much recently, so we put her on her surfboard play mat and she loved it. She didn't exactly surf around, but she did seem to have an enjoyable time.

Yesterday I got a comment about updating photo galleries - I want to let everyone know that I am now using a new site to host my photo galleries and as such, there is now a new link to get to the photos. HERE is a link to the new website.