I've delayed this post by about a week just to give Abbi's third birthday the recognition it deserves.

But our little is now 5 months old, and I really mean this - I can't believe it. He's really starting to develop some real personality and its awesome to watch.

The biggest change this past month is that we've started him on "solid" foods. Last month we got the green light and about mid-month we started him on the rice cereal stuff. Jenn's been working with him to get him up to 4 tablespoons at a feeding at which point we'll start giving him some vegetables.

As you can see in this picture, he's getting some really strong arms. We started these pictures by setting him on the couch to take pictures similar to the last few months, but that didn't work to well. So I thought we'd try and put him like this and he loved it. He's good and pushing himself up, another skill he's really started to hone over the last month.

Another skill is that he's now spending regular time in the exa-saucer or sit and spin as I call it. Basically he can "stand"/sit in this play contraption and entertain himself, and it helps promote him using his legs to stand but there's a seat for him for when he gets tired.

He's still sleeping really well, and has actually started to take some "normal" length naps. Prior to this month most of his naps were about 30 minutes long, but he's finally getting into some 1.5 - 2 hour naps which I know Jenn thoroughly enjoys.

Cole really likes to smile and like I know I've said before, he loves Abbi. Really loves her. I don't know what it is, but he loves her a ton. He smiles and laughs at her all the time. Jenn also finally got Cole to give a good belly laugh after I was able to get it from him a few weeks ago.

Cole 5 Months

I can't believe my little girl is three years old. I mean as a parent, you know its coming. Each day she gets a little older bit by bit, but when I sit back today and think about how she got to be three its just crazy. I really do feel like just yesterday we were in the hospital with her. Its nuts!

Abbi has changed in so many ways over the past year. She's moved into a real-deal big girl bed this year, and of course that has proved to be problematic for her and her sleep "issues" as Jenn says. But we'll get through it. She loves the big bed, just not being in it alone.

Her speech is amazing to me. Its crazy to sit back and think about how big her vocabulary is after only 3 years of life. She talks really well, and shes really starting to figure out how some words sound. Simple things like please, now sounds like please instead of "meese". She's really getting good at her pronunciation.

One "new this month" item on Abbi is that this week we started Abbi in her first "group" activity. She started dance class this past Tuesday. She'll be going over the next six weeks, and hopefully she's loosen up and learn to have fun at it. This first time she was definitely timid and reserved, but afterwards, she did say she liked it.

I think the biggest change though for Abbi in the last year is that she's now a big sister. She really seems to love Cole and the fact that he's her brother. What I don't think she likes is all the attention she's lost from Jenn as a result. However, as I've mentioned before, I think Cole's presence has strengthened my bond with Abbi, and so for that I'm even more thankful. Abbi still loves more than anything her time with Jenn, but now she wants to spend her time with me more often. When I come home after work she's always happy to see me and wants to spend time with me.

I gotta say, as a father, its definitely one of the best feelings to come home to your daughter, and for her to want to spend time together. She doesn't care if its Barbie's, Lego's, setting up the water sprinkler, feeding max, changing laundry, vacuuming, cutting grass, anything. If its with me, she's interested, involved and happy, and I love her tremendous amounts for it.

I'm super excited to see how my little girl continues to grow over the years, and just see all the new amazing things she's going to do!

Abbi 3 Years

This was taken at the beach a few weeks back when we went down for Fathers Day weekend. I had Cole in the chair and I was taking a picture of him and Abbi wanted to jump in and get a siblings picture.

Squeezing In

From last Saturday celebrating birthday's the and fourth of July all in one. This is Abbi enjoying one of many sparklers of the night.

Sparklers

Yesterday we were able to spend the day pool-side with our friends the Sofinowskis. This was Cole's first real chance to go "swimming" in a pool, and at times he really seemed to enjoy it. As you can see here with a giant smile on his face!

Loving the Water

I've added a new feature to the sidebar of this site. Just below the "Current Stats" section of the site, I've added a new area called "Abbi Says" and its a pull from my twitter feed where I've been posting things that Abbi says. Now that she's getting older she definitely says some ridiculous things. As for this picture, she's just being a cutie as always.

Being Cute