compuglobalhyperBABYnet

What You Doing?

2012-01-31T15:55:00.001-05:00

Abbi often asks me and Jenn "What you doing?". I expect thats what she was saying here. She's been in an extremely inquisitive phase for the past few months, and she just keeps asking more and more questions. She loves to sit on this stool and either eat her snacks, watch and talk with Jenn, or just in general wreak havoc. What gets me is that she'll ask a question, then ask why, and even with the answer to her question, she'll ask again "Why?". Gotta love it.

Crazy Sunday Eyes

2012-01-30T16:25:00.000-05:00

I took this picture, and a few others, for my parents. They bought her this dress, and when Jenn put her in it and reminded me who purchased it, I figured I should take a picture so they could see her in it. As for the crazy eyes, that's her things at this point. If you ask her to smile she closes her eyes up real tight, so when you ask her to open them, well..you get this.

Snow Face

2012-01-24T16:35:00.001-05:00

Saturday, after the snow was done coming down, I went outside with Abbi to take some pictures down along the path that runs behind our house. Abbi was completely involved in the idea of eating the snow/ice. As you can see here, this is just one of many pictures I took of her eating mouthfuls of snow. We had a good time running around with Max and playing in the little bit of snow we got. The amount didn't seem to matter at all to Abbi, it was just as fun as if there was 4 feet. Which hopefully she won't get to experience for a long time.

Two Half Celebration

2012-01-20T13:48:00.000-05:00

Last Friday Abbi turned two and a half. So we decided after dinner to head out and celebrate with her. We didn't really have a reason, or need, but it was fun to celebrate with her. We went to a local Ice Cream shop, Daily Scoop, that serves in-house made ice creams. Jenn got something peanut butter, and I got black walnut, which they never have, so it was delicious. We asked Abbi what she wanted and she choose to simply get gummy bears, no ice cream. But of course, Jenn shared with her and as you can see, she enjoyed some ice cream!

Helping

2012-01-18T18:19:00.001-05:00

Last week when I was working in the new nursery getting it painted and setup, Abbi wanted to help paint, of course. So Jenn got out some clothes for her that would be ok with paint on them, and Abbi helped me paint for a little bit. I helped her paint a bit on the wall, and then I let go and she went on her for for a minute. She enjoyed it, but also go bored quickly. This is one of those pictures I'm glad to have so that in the future I'll be able to show her how she helped paint her little brothers room.

Ravens Fans

2012-01-17T15:28:00.000-05:00

Sunday we had the Sofinowski's over to watch the Raven's game with us, which of course meant that the girls were off and playing most of the time. The bulk of their time was spent down in the basement, wrecking the place. They had a great time, and it was nice for us adults to have some time, well, as adults.

I took this picture after the girls exchanged Christmas gifts with each other. Its a cute pic, but I can't get over their immense desire to squint their eyes this ridiculous amount.

2.6 Years

2012-01-16T11:16:00.000-05:00

She's 2 ½, and she can tell you that she's "two half". Its amazing. I'm constantly amazed and proud of her, all at the same time.

She's really starting to latch onto some of her colors, which I think is due to the fact that she is now obsessed with the Disney princesses, especially the ones that she met. She has various toys with them on them, like a memory game, valentines, and other toys. She will sort them based on who she met at Disney and who she didn't. And she's very specific about it. If a card has two people on it, one she met and one she didn't, then she will put that in the "didn't meet them" pile. As for colors, like I mentioned, because of her obsession, she's really keen on blue, pink and yellow.

Also in the last month was another Christmas with Abbi. This was her first Christmas in which I think she was "aware" of what was going on. We had played up Santa, and she had seen the presents slowly mounting under the tree. Christmas morning she was excited to get downstairs and open stuff up, and just like every other kid, she wanted to open stuff and play with it if she found it particularly interesting.

We've also been working with Abbi on different things to try and get her ready for her brother's arrival/presence. About two weeks ago I started putting her to bed each night, in the hope of getting her ready for the fact that Jenn will most likely be busy with the baby more often. We also tell her that I'll pick her up when she asks Jenn. This is more because Jenn's not supposed to pick her up, but also because she won't really want to hold both kids at once. I think regardless of what we do its going to be an interesting transition for Abbi, hopefully a painless one.

Finally, since I figure this is the last month that I'll have just one kid, my little girl. It causes some reflection. I can't really remember life before Abbi, and I'm sure once our son is born, I won't really remember life with only one kid. But I want to. Hopefully when I go back and look at these posts that I've written over the last 2 ½ years I'll be able to remember what it was like. Jenn likes to say that Abbi softened me up, which I definitely agree with. I'm glad that we're having a son. I'm really happy that Abbi will always be my little girl, and that she'll be the only one I have. Not to say that I wouldn't have loved to have two little girls, but this way she doesn't have any competition. And I like it that way.

Bundled Up

2012-01-11T10:47:00.000-05:00

On Sunday Abbi and I were outside taking down the Christmas lights (she was helping collect the light clips). After we finished she wanted to play to we played with chalk, rode her bike, bounced a ball and played some basketball. Since it was kinda chilly out she was bundled up nice and warm. Also cute, is how much she loves her "rainbow" hat that you see here. As she says "my daddy picked this out."

Smiling

2012-01-09T18:28:00.001-05:00

The other day Jenn and Abbi were playing in Abbi's "house", which at the time happened to be our mud room. Abbi was sitting on the little piece of furniture we've got in there, and Jenn was on the floor. Thankfully Abbi let me in with them so I could take some pictures. This one she's looking at Jenn and I just think its a really nice picture of Abbi.

Tearing In

2012-01-06T09:28:00.000-05:00

I shared a picture before of Abbi at her play table, but I like this picture of her unwrapping that gift. The table was surprisingly easy to get into the giant bag. It was one of those bike bags, and it was more than big enough to hold her table and chairs, that she loves.

Princess Abbi

2012-01-05T16:35:00.000-05:00

Our last day at Disney we spent the afternoon at Magic Kingdom. After seeing Santa we did a quick change of clothes for Abbi and put her in her princess Belle dress she wore for Halloween. We then stood her up in front of the castle and I took some pictures. As soon as she was done, back into her t-shirt she went. We wanted to get a picture of her with it since we brought it with us and she at different times did express "some" interest in wearing the dress. Either way, I think its cute.

Camera Time

2012-01-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve was spent at my wife's grandmothers house and I took my DSLR with me in case I wanted to take pictures. I then left it at her house and had no nice camera for Christmas Day at our house. So Christmas Eve night was a scramble to find one of our older cameras and get it working. In the end, I went with my iPhone for ease instead of one of the older cameras.

I say all of that to explain that the camera in Abbi's hands is one of those cameras. She then decided to take pictures of everyone after dinner on Christmas. The funny thing to me was that when I offered to show her how to use it properly she wasn't interested, and when I offered to put batteries in and make it actually work, she was again, uninterested. Also amusing, she insisted on using it somewhat backwards. The looked through the actual lens as the camera hole, it was very cute to watch.

Carousel

2012-01-03T17:58:00.000-05:00

Abbi loves the carousel. LOVES it. So we rode it several times while in Disney. This one at the Magic Kingdom was no exception. Thankfully the lines were short while we were there, and she rode it I think three times. Clearly she loved it, check out that smile!

2.5 Years

2011-12-30T16:06:00.001-05:00

My person philosophy, so long as I make this post within the month in which it belongs, I'm okay! So here it is, my update on Abbi for 29 months, or 2.5 years.

We had one holiday (Thanksgiving) and a big vacation (Disney) happen during the past month. Thanksgiving was good for Abbi because she got to spend some quality time with my parents, as well as time with her cousins. Its always nice to see her play with them. Especially Attila. They play really well together, and really seem to enjoy one another's company.

Obviously the big even over the past month was our trip to Disney. It was so amazing to see Abbi's face and watch the pure joy she expressed as she got the opportunity to meet the different princesses. The same goes for watching her meet Mickey and Minnie. It was pure joy on her part. I can't really imagine what it would be like to meet something from TV and believe that its really them, like she probably did.

She did fantastic on the plane, on the bus ride to Disney, on the bus rides to the parks, sleeping in the hotel. I mean she was fantastic. I'm sure we had some bumps in behavior, but on the whole, she was a fantastic little girl, and I know Jenn and I had a good time with her because she had such a good time.

As for Abbi every other day. She still as sweet as can be. When I get home each night she's happy to see me, and after dinner she wants her Daddy time. So we play, usually rough since Jenn can't do that at 7 months pregnant. I enjoy our time together, and I really think Abbi does too. I can't wait to spend more with her!

Her Table

2011-12-27T15:34:00.001-05:00

I spent a good bit of time leading up to Christmas putting together this table for Abbi. Its a basic IKEA table that I painted and changed somewhat. The standard top I painted with chalkboard paint, then I took 1/4" plywood and created two more "tops" for it. One is LEGO that you see her with here, and the other is dry erase. As you can see from her smile, she loved the table, and I can't wait to play with her at it.

My Cuttie

2011-12-22T17:55:00.000-05:00

Here's a cute picture of my little girl. Not much else to say I suppose. I took this picture after the stunt show at Hollywood Studios. I'm confident we bribed her to get this shot, but regardless, she looks cute and has a great smile on her face!

Her Tat

2011-12-21T15:23:00.002-05:00

The first day in Disney World Jenn decided to let Abbi pick out a temporary tattoo. After much deliberation on Abbi's part, she decided on a baby Sleeping Beauty one. She loved it. She talked about it during the day, and the next and the next. It was a good icebreaker for her and the actual Sleeping Beauty princess she met the next day as well. What I found really "funny" was the stuff written around the choices stating it was good for a week. Not really. By about 2 days later, it was seriously faded and a good bit gone. Abbi didn't care though.

Map Skills

2011-12-20T10:55:00.001-05:00

Our first day in Disney World we went to Hollywood Studios and after getting sunscreened up, Abbi was taking a look at the map. I love this picture. It conveys they she has some kind of idea what she is looking at it, and I just love it.

Snow White

2011-12-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

The last princess we met was Snow White. The other three are all indoors in this "princess room" that you wait to get into and then you can see all three one at a time and then you're done. Its really nice to only have to wait in a single line to see three people. Once we were finished with them, we headed outside and noticed Snow White who Abbi was very interested in meeting as well.

Once we finished waiting in line, about 15 minutes in this case, Snow White came over to Abbi and took her hand and walked her over under the tree she was hanging out underneath. Abbi took her hand and walked with her no problem, it was really cute. Snow White talked to her and gave her a hug, which now that I'm thinking about it, all the other princesses did as well, I just didn't photograph that aspect. Abbi really seemed to enjoy meeting the princesses, and I know she's excited for me to print her up some photos to play with.

Cinderella

2011-12-15T08:50:00.000-05:00

Last in line to be met was Cinderella. Abbi talks about Cinderella but I don't know if she's ever actually seen any portion of the movie, but she's got paper dolls and stickers and princess books that talk about her, so she clearly knows who she is. The woman portraying Cinderella, just like the other women was very nice to Abbi and again got down close to the ground and talked with her and tried to make her feel comfortable. This is the only princess she actually smiled with too.

Belle

2011-12-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

Today we've got Belle. She's from Beauty and the Beast in case anyone out there didn't know. She is Abbi's favorite princess by far (even though she opted for a different tattoo). She was super excited to meet her, but very nervous to actually get close to her. This Belle got down on the floor to her level and talked with her and tried to make her feel comfortable which was really nice to see. The reason her mouth is open here is because she's exclaiming that she's meeting Belle. I'd prefer a picture of her talking to me than not smiling or crying and such.

Sleeping Beauty

2011-12-13T08:52:00.002-05:00

So the next few days I'm gonna share pictures of Abbi and the princesses she was able to meet last week, and maybe give a little more insight into each one and Abbi's experience.

So first off was Sleeping Beauty. She had it easy with Abbi. The day before Abbi got a temporary tattoo on her hand of "Baby Sleeping Beauty" and so that was an easy starting point for her to work with. With that as an in, Abbi was a little more open to her and willing to be photographed with her without Jenn next to her. Abbi didn't really smile in any of the pictures, but thats not the point. She's still talking about meeting them, and thankfully unlike last time at Disney, this Sleeping Beauty was very nice.

Jewelry

2011-11-30T12:15:00.000-05:00

When we were visiting my parents last week, my mom gave Abbi some jewelry that her sister had sent to her to give to Abbi. As you can see here, she loved the necklaces and bracelets, and rings. So much so she had to wear them all at once. She did after a while decide that Jenn should be wearing the silver portion of the jewelry, so she shared that part of her stuff.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T14:52:00.001-05:00

Last Friday for Thanksgiving we went down to see my parents and after dinner, my dad wanted to show Abbi some lawn decorations that they had put up. Abbi was definitely interested in seeing them, but not so interested in posing next to them. I managed to snap this picture off before she started to stand behind the figured and hide her head between them. I found it particularly funny to watch, and she of course had fun playing hide and seek.

2.4 Years

2011-11-23T13:37:00.001-05:00

The biggest development for Abbi in the past month, especially a parents perspective is that we're "done" with the laser treatments for Abbi's birthmark. I remember the first day she was alive in the hospital and the nurse came in to talk to us about our options and how to move forward. I'm very thankful that we live close enough to a fantastic hospital like Johns Hopkins that was able to treat her and work with us to reduce the presence of her birthmark. Even though its always there, after almost 2 and half years it is a lot harder to see at times and I'm incredibly thankful for it.

Abbi is also old enough now that I'm pretty sure she understands that we won't be going back to the doctor anytime soon. She at least seems to understand, and be happy about that fact.

This past month we got to celebrate another Halloween with Abbi and now that she's older that means more that she can do. This year she got to decorate and help carve our her first pumpkin. Once I cut out the top of the pumpkin, Jenn and Abbi were going to clean out the insides. In a classic face of "no!" Abbi was grossed out by the pumpkin insides and wanted nothing to do with cleaning them out. She did however thoroughly enjoy putting her stickers on her own personal pumpkin.

Also, with it getting into the holiday season (especially since its taken me an extra 10 days to write this), Abbi is very aware Santa now. Being the twisted person I am, I like to tell her things like "Santa will eat your brains" and such, to which she doesn't understand, but still tells me "no". When asked what she wants for Christmas, she goes on a long story about Mickey, Minnie, Goffy, Donald and so on, and usually repeats herself a few times. She's even a little afraid of Santa coming to our house and leaving presents. And I'm not entirely sure why, because I haven't made any jokes about that...

Just like the other months, she keeps growing and getting bigger and smarter. Some days she's got this nasty little attitude and others she's the sweetest kid you'll ever see. I love her the same both days, I just hope for less attitude and more sweet as we go along!

Cousins

2011-11-22T16:42:00.001-05:00

I post pictures of these two somewhat frequently it seems. Probably because they get photographed together pretty frequently. Regardless, here's a shot of Abbi and Attila that I took Saturday at Brandon's championship football game. If you're curious, Brandon's team lost :(

Cards

2011-11-18T20:14:00.001-05:00

The other night (last Sunday I think), Abbi helped me print out a set of pictures of Jenn's students to be hung up on her bulletin board. Abbi played with the pictures, sorting them and laying them out over the next two days. Once the pictures were at school permanently, Abbi decided to get out her cards and do the same thing. Here she's in the process of cleaning up her cards after having spread them out all over the floor. With the student cards she impressed us, because without our suggestion she chose to sort the boys from the girls. And on top of that, she gave me the boys and Jenn the girls. I love my little girl!

Writing

2011-11-14T15:26:00.001-05:00

Yesterday while we were watching the Ravens game, Abbi decided that she wanted some paper so she could draw/write for a while. I thought she looked really cute hunkered over the paper working so intently on writing things down. Just prior to this I had traced around her hand to draw a turkey, so I think she was mimicking that behavior and making her own again.

Friends

2011-11-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

I know I've said this before, but pictures like this make me glad that we have friends like Ange and Jake, and I hope that as the girls grow up they'll continue to be good friends a have a lot of fun together, just like they did last week on Halloween.

All Smiles

2011-11-10T14:49:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday, a week ago today, Abbi had her "final" laser treatment to try and lighten/remove her port wine stain birthmark. I'd like to think that we've had really good success over the past 2 years with her treatments. She went a total of 11 times for treatment, plus our initial visit when she was just a few months old. Its crazy to me now to think about how long ago it was, and all the emotions that Jenn and I felt when we first took her into the see the doctor.

The doctor that we saw each time was amazing. She was always very caring and took time for both us and especially Abbi. There's not much you can do to calm down a 2 year old, but they did the best they could and they always made sure to help accommodate Jenn and I as well.

Abbi did about as well as usual this last trip. She's fine in the waiting room, but once she heads back to the actual treatment facility she realizes what's up and get upset and starts to cry. Then of course she absolutely hates being strapped down, which I know has always been the hardest part for Jenn to watch. We've clearly had success in removing the part of her birthmark that ran up the center of her forehead and there's been significant lightening on her cheek.

Moving forward, we just kinda keep a watch on it and if we think she needs to go back, take her back and let the doctors take a look at it. They recommended that we bring her back in before she starts school if we don't end up bringing her in before then. It has certainly been an emotional process over the past 2 years with Abbi, but I know I speak for both Jenn and I when I say that I'm glad we did it. I'm also very thankful to have such great doctors nearby and so readily accessible to us.

As for this picture, as you can see, with or without birthmarks, she's a smiler. She loves to smile and does so all the time. I can only hope that as she grows up she continues to have such a happy personality.

Her Pumpkin

2011-11-02T15:00:00.000-04:00

In addition to carving our family pumpkin, Abbi got to decorate her own little pumpkin. At a recent birthday party she got stickers to decorate the pumpkin and we put them to good use on hers this year. She really seemed to enjoy putting all the little stickers on the pumpkin and in her words, giving it a "scary face".

Grossed Out

2011-10-31T15:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Abbi's first foray into carving a pumpkin and the case of this picuture, her first experience with the inside of a pumpkin. As Jenn was cleaning it out so it could be carved she asked Abbi if she wanted to help pull the guts out. No interest from Abbi, and as you can see, she was actually quite disgusted by the thought of it.

Braided Tails

2011-10-27T17:13:00.000-04:00

I took this picture specifically to highlight Abbi's little braided ponytails. I'm not sure if they are any kind of specific braiding, or just braided in general. Regardless of my understand of this, I do know she looked super cute. And I like this view of her with the pumpkin in her hands. She had fun looking for a pumpkin among all the choices. She understood clearly when we told her she needed to pick one that she could cary herself, which she did.

Flashlight Nose

2011-10-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

I love this picture of Abbi. When we were cleaning up the trailer before heading home after vacation she was in the bedroom finding different things to play with, this was one of them. She on her own put it up to her nose and made this incredibly cute face. These day (and then too) Abbi has really started to develop quite a vivid imagination about things. I commented to Jenn on the way home Sunday that Abbi was talking up a storm, and it happened to be to herself. Just having her own little conversation.

Two Piece

2011-10-24T17:04:00.001-04:00

Jenn loves to buy Abbi two piece bathing suits. Each year we've gone to the beach, Jenn has made sure to have one ready for Abbi and this past summer was no exception. Here you can see our little cutie smiling away in her little two piece. Also notice the heart tattoo on her arm.

Waterpark

2011-10-21T16:33:00.000-04:00

Abbi LOVED Frontier Town this past summer. I mean she LOVED it! That was the day that we devoted to her enjoyment, not that the other days weren't for the entire family to enjoy, but our trip to Frontier Town was really for Abbi. She spent the majority of her day playing in the 18 in. deep pool area that is enormous. She could go down water slides, jump off things into the water, and just lounge around if she felt like it. There's also a lazy river that we navigated a few times, but since its just sitting and floating its not the height of fun for a 2 year old. And as you can see by her smile, she had a great time.

2.3 Years

2011-10-18T10:45:00.000-04:00

Another month gone by and my little girl is that much bigger. This past month we had the opportunity to take Abbi to her first amusement park, and she had a fantastic time. She was slow to get started, very cautious about the rides but once she rode her first one she couldn't wait to get on all the others that were nearby. It was really cute to watch and fun to see the amusement park experience through Abbi's eyes.

As Abbi gets older, its interesting to me to see her establish opinions and routines for things. She definitely has learned behavior from Jenn and I, but at the same time, there are things that she does, that are all her. When she says bye to people, she runs up and gives them hugs around their legs and says bye, very clearly. We didn't teach her this, its just what she does. She's also a fantastic mix of both Jenn and I. She has her calm, contemplative states sometimes, which are very Jenn-like, and then she's got other moments where she is just wild. Very Drew-like. She'll run around the house for 5-10 minutes straight, just running end to end, and we wonder where all the energy comes from.

She's also become a little repeater factory. Almost anything she hears she tries to repeat it back. I shared a video the other day showing her saying the word paradiddle. She's still saying it, even though she has no clue what it means.

As for development, she's finally nailing down some colors. She's got orange, pink, green and purple all down. If you show her something that is one of those colors, she can recognize it and tell you that's what it is. She's got her numbers, up to 12 now, but she still hates 8. I'm not entirely sure why. She's tons of fun to play with, and I find myself truly enjoying the time I get to spend with her each night, doing something with her. If its playing LEGO's with her, eating pretend waffles, her helping me build a 6ft. storage rack, racing around the house, or her just sitting on my lap playing a game on the iPhone. I enjoy my time with my little girl.

Big Sister

2011-10-12T13:31:00.000-04:00

Here's another picture of Abbi related to her new baby brother. Before opening the bag of Hershey kisses to photograph them, I had Abbi hold up the bag, and what I love about this picture is her smile and the words "its a boy" written on the bag. She of course loved being photographed and eating the candy!

Paradiddles

2011-10-11T08:33:00.000-04:00

Last night Abbi, Jenn and I were playing in the office and I asked Abbi if she could repeat the word "paradiddles". Its a percussion term for one of the basic rudiments. She repeated it back to me fantastically and then proceeded to say it numerous times. I was incredibly proud as you can imagine, so I had to get a video of her. This is her rendition of paradiddles using plastic frying pans.

Baby BrudderSiter

2011-10-10T15:12:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that we are trying to educate Abbi with regards to the sex of the coming baby, she still refers to the baby as her "Baby Brudder-Si-ter" all the time. I took this picture of Abbi after we were finished with the sonogram two weeks back, and from that point have been trying to tell Abbi that he's just her Baby Brother, not sister too.

Cotton Candy

2011-10-07T15:32:00.001-04:00

After we finished up one of the rides at Hershey Park, Jenn and I headed over to the get some lemonade. This lemonade stand happened to also sell cotton candy. Once Abbi saw it she decided she had to have it. So I told the attendant that I wanted some and he asked what color. Abbi was saying blue, but once he saw she was a girl, he offered her to choose between pink or blue. She choose pink. As soon as she had it in her hands, she started to wail because she actually wanted the blue one. So a quick switch and she was elated, and had a blue mouth, as you can see.

Drummer Girl

2011-10-05T15:12:00.001-04:00

The other night while Jenn and I were working in the office to get it cleaned up Abbi pulled out the drum pad and started playing. She's really quite good, especially for her age and the weight of the sticks. I really hope that as she gets older she'll want to get involved in music, and hopefully she'll want to be a percussionist. There aren't enough girl percussionists in high schools these days.

Abbi Wheel

2011-10-04T19:42:00.001-04:00

This post title is apparently Abbi's new name. We've been working with her on her last name and tonight she decided that her name was Abbi Wheel. So there you have it, introducing for the first time....Abbi Wheel. At Hershey on Saturday, Abbi had her first chance to ride the Ferris Wheel. She was a little apprehensive at first, but by the time she actually got into the car, she was fine. She loved the ride. As you can see here in the picture she was clearly happy. She talked about seeing her wheel all week and when asked what her favorite part about Hershey Park was, it was of course - the wheel.

My Little Skins Fan

2011-09-29T17:40:00.000-04:00

Not that Abbi knows the difference between the Redskins and the Ravens, but she's my little buddy. I also have a #47 jersey and happened to be wearing it the same night Abbi wore her jersey. She seemed to understand that we had matching jerseys on, and she liked that. I liked that she was supporting the skins for once, and not just the Ravens. At this particular point she was playing around in the kitchen in one of the cabinets, not for any particular reason, other than she felt like it.

Water Kid

2011-09-28T14:40:00.000-04:00

Sunday the Ravens had a late game. The Redskins didn't get a chance to loose until Monday night, so I had some spare time. Abbi and I went out to wash the car. She didn't really last long with me before she was enthralled with the puddle at the bottom of our driveway. Once she was into the puddle, there was no getting her out. She proceeded to play in the puddle and subsequent spray from the hose the entire time I washed the car. I took this cute picture of her at an earlier point, before she was completely soaked.

Pig Tails

2011-09-26T16:29:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to finishing the edits on Abbi's two year pictures. Its been a long process, mostly because I haven't been able to dedicate the time necessary to getting through all the pictures of her that I took. We went out in two different sessions to get pictures of her back in early July. One evening we took her out by the water near our old townhouse and took some pictures of her at the beach. This is one of those pictures. What I love here is her smile and of course the pig tails.

2.2 Years

2011-09-22T17:00:00.000-04:00

This past month we had a development with Abbi that Jenn and I hadn't really dealt with before. A sick little girl. Abbi spent the better part of a week sick. She had a high fever for a day or so, and then that translated into sluggish behavior and just overall quietness. You know when Abbi doesn't feel good because she gets really quiet and lethargic, and for almost a week thats all we had. Thankfully though, that is past and she's back and better than ever.

Abbi's continued to make strides in her speech and memory. She typically uses 5-6 word phrases as this point, and sometimes rattles off huge long thoughts that make you wonder where its all coming from. Just like before, her memory is amazing. She's been coming up to me in the evening and saying "sing my song for me daddy". I have a song that I'll for her that she likes to dance around to. She'll clap her hangs, stomp her feet, spin around, and jump. All kinds of fantastic kid things.

The other big moment of this past month was Abbi's transition into a big girl bed. Jenn and I decided that she was ready for the upgrade so we moved her into a full size bed. She certainly seems to sleep better with the new bed too. She's always been a big mover and roller, and now with more space she seems to sleep better. That's not to say she doesn't still join us at night, but its less often.

And then finally, not so much an Abbi only development, now that we've had another month in our new house as a family, its awesome to see Abbi have a large amount of space to play and grow up. I'm incredibly happy that she'll have the space to grow and a place to call her own from now on.

My Girls

2011-09-19T18:00:00.001-04:00

Friday we all went to an Orioles game and of course that meant a few pictures. I took this one of Jenn and Abbi later on in the game once they had both put on their Ravens sweatshirts.

Hurricane Ready

2011-09-12T16:03:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks back when the hurricane hit, we got Abbi in her rain coat and headed over to the townhouse to make some last minute wind preparations. She loved wearing her raincoat as you can see here. She didn't actually head out in the rain with this on, we instead wore our matching Niagara Falls ponchos for that, but she does love her raincoat.

Happy Girl

2011-09-02T11:21:00.001-04:00

This is one of the cutest pictures of Abbi from her birthday party. I was sitting quite a few feet away from her as she opened up her presents, and at one point towards the end, she looked up at me and smiled real big like this. Perfect picture!

Summertime Favorites

2011-09-01T18:48:00.000-04:00

Abbi loves her slip and slides or as she calls "sip and side". At her birthday party we set up a pair of them so that the kids could enjoy themsleves and get nice and wet. What I found interesting about Abbi was that she didn't really do to much with them until a lot of the kid had left (after opening presents and eating cake). Then she was all about playing on it with Audrey and Anna.

Making Faces

2011-08-31T13:33:00.002-04:00

The other day Abbi and I were playing together after dinner and I asked her if she could mimic a facial expression. As you can see below she was easily able to recreate the expression and then add to it some of her own personality!

Jenn and Abbi

2011-08-29T17:12:00.003-04:00

Sunday morning after the hurricane rains had passed but the winds were still wiping around we went outside to assess the damages and I took this picture of Jenn and Abbi. Sometimes, like this picture, Abbi actually smiles when you ask her to, and she of course looks super cute at it! You can also see her wearing one of her favorite shirts, her "Oriole" shirt.

Her Chair

2011-08-25T14:12:00.002-04:00

Sunday after church I wanted to get a picture of Abbi in her dress since she looked super cute. I wasn't having much luck getting one of her while she was wandering around the yard, so I got her up in one of the patio chairs we have. She loved that and I was able to get a nice smile out her.

Cake

2011-08-22T17:18:00.001-04:00

After Abbi finished opening up her birthday presents we headed into the kitchen for some cake, obviously. We got Abbi a little ice cream cake for her birthday and then made cupcakes for her party. Since it was "her" cake, we let her have at it after she blew out the candle!

Belle Shirt

2011-08-19T15:02:00.001-04:00

I've finally gotten around to posting some of the picture of Abbi and her birthday. I've started by posting pictures of her from her actual birthday when she opened the presents that we got for her. One of which was this Belle shirt that she loved that day, and has loved wearing it since.

Hats

2011-08-17T17:04:00.001-04:00

Abbi loves the new house. We love that she gets to have her own room that has some good size to it too! The other night Jenn and Abbi were in her room putting things away and Abbi put 4 different hats on her head at once. She of course found me to show me her success and I of course took a picture to preserve the moment!

2.1 Years

2011-08-16T17:49:00.003-04:00

So with Abbi turning two, I'm still going to write about her from my perspective each month, but I'm no longer going to count the months, I'm moving more towards a decimal system, so this month, she's now 2.1 years old. I realize she's not actually 1/10 of a year older, my system will go up to 2.11.

So, with that - she's still a ton of fun. I think each month she gets more and more fun. This past month we had the opportunity to take Abbi to the beach again and over the course of the week she got more and more brave and had a fantastic time out on the beach. She was fun to watch, play with and especially take out in the water. Its fun watching her experience new things that are old to Jenn and I.

Last month I commented that she's like a sponge, well now she's like an even bigger sponge. She's graduated way past 2-3 word sentences and will now often rattle out 4-12 word sentences. Complete phrases. Her memory is amazing too. She remembers vividly our trips to baseball games, me skydiving, a friends pool party 2 months ago. Its absolutely amazing.

I thought that when kids were this young they weren't very smart. I was wrong. She constantly amazes me and makes me an extremely proud father. She's very loving and recently we seem to have had a breakthrough with some of her more violent lashing out moments. Which is always good.

Today was Jenn's first day back at work as well so it starts another year of day-care for Abbi. I haven't mentioned before, but one of Jenn's summer goals was potty training Abbi and she was very successful. I'm wary of talking much about Abbi and this only because stuff on the internet lives forever. So I'll say in short, she's good to on all fronts and learned it incredibly quick. We're very proud of her!

Shopping Day

2011-08-15T10:38:00.001-04:00

When we were at the beach I woke up one morning to Abbi telling me over and over that it was going to be a "shopping day". So that evening after the beach we cleaned up and headed out to go shopping. She had her own little purse with money of her own to spend. Very cute.

Her Hat

2011-08-11T13:09:00.002-04:00

Down at the beach Abbi wore this hat that Jake and Ange got for her from Sesame Place when the visited recently. She wore the hat our to dinner and "shopping" but before we headed out she was playing with me by hiding her face under the hat and I was going over and moving it back up. This is the resultant smile I got from that playing.

Lawnmower

2011-08-10T13:31:00.002-04:00

Last week when we were refrigerator shopping, Abbi and Jenn wandered off to look at the lawnmowers at Sears while I talked to a salesperson. Once I was done I came over to see her sitting on one, and so of course I had to get her picture. This one is for you dad.

Her Dog

2011-08-08T15:34:00.002-04:00

Recently Abbi has started calling Max, Maxy as Jenn and I often call him. I suppose it just took her time to realize how we referred to him. I took this picture yesterday of the two of them lounging on the floor together, Abbi eating some pretzels.

Friends

2011-07-20T17:26:00.003-04:00

This is a picture of Abbi and Audrey playing in a chair together. At the time they were rocking in the chair and kicking their feet furiously all while eating cheese wheels. I'm really glad our good friends have a daughter that's close enough in age that her and Abbi can play together. They really seem to enjoy one another's company and I hope as they grow up they can stay good friends.

Moonroof

2011-07-18T16:02:00.001-04:00

This pictures a little old, its from back in April when we visited Philadelphia. I was wandering around and Jenn and Abbi stayed back in the car. I looked back and this is what I saw. Jenn had opened up the moonroof on the car and there was Abbi, sticking her body out enjoying herself!

Two Years

2011-07-13T17:47:00.002-04:00

I can't believe another year has gone by. My little girl is two years old today. She's so much more a little person than she was this time last year. Last year she had just learned how to walk, was working on basic talking skills and looked like a toddler. Now...now she looks like a kid!

She is so active and fun, she certainly keeps Jenn and I busy all the time. With me she gets her rough playtime in. She likes to sit on my lap and jump, use my legs as a balance beam, race me through the house, play in a house fort, chase the dog, help me wash the car and all kinds of other things.

Now that she's able to communicate with us pretty well using words, its even more fun with her. You can actually have a semblance of a conversation with her. She's got a fantastic memory as well. She'll start talking about something and it will take Jenn and I a couple of times before we realize what she's talking about because its from a few weeks back or so. Amazing!

She's extremely loving at this point in her life. I've worked with her for 2 years on hugs and I think the effort is paying off. Often when I ask for a hug she tell me "no", but if I offer one up like a pink one, or a blue one, or a "bone crusher" then she'll often relent and wrap her arms around my neck. She's also pretty helpful around the house, and does fantastic keeping things relatively clean.

Like I said, speech-wise she's doing fantastic. She's reached that "sponge" state and just everything that you say to her she repeats back or at least she tries to repeat it back to you. Its awesome to hear her talk and watch her learn new things and words.

In short, I love my little girl. She amazes me every day and I'm very excited to watch her grow up and become an amazing woman!

Reflecting: 1 Year

2011-07-12T21:46:00.001-04:00

So here she was a year ago. For me, the most striking contrast to now is her hair. The difference of hair for her makes her look completely different from how she does now. This time last year she was already walking, but pretty slow at it. Similar to the "baby" year, I don't particularly miss her toddler year either. I've loved watching her grow up, but at this point, nothing can beat where's she at now. She's been amazing over the last year, which I'll talk more about tomorrow.

Reflecting

2011-07-11T19:51:00.002-04:00

This is a multi-part series that I'll wrap up on Wednesday, which of course just happens to coincide with Abbi's second birthday. I thought I would reflect back on how different Abbi is in just two short years. This is a picture from about 10 days after Abbi was born. She is laying on Jenn's shoulder sleeping away. Something she rarely does now, and never willingly volunteers to do. Not like back then. I don't particularly miss these days, but its nice to go back and see what she used to be like. I know Jenn misses the actual "baby" days.

Bodysuit

2011-07-06T17:54:00.001-04:00

This one is for my parents. Last year they got her this swimsuit/bodysuit thing that would allow her to float, given that she had any idea what she was doing. Jenn got it out this summer and Abbi HAD to wear it. So this Monday at our friends pool we put her in it to see how she'd do. She liked the suit, but now how she did in the water so it was back to the basic swimsuit for now.

Holiday Weekend

2011-07-05T17:58:00.001-04:00

Our weekend looked a lot like this. Abbi spent a good bit of her time wet. I love the camera that I have because it enables me to take pictures like this of Abbi with the water splashed up all around her. This was a couple of weekends back when she was playing in the front yard. I love the smile on her face here.

Obsessions

2011-06-30T16:41:00.002-04:00

Jenn commented to me last night that she wants to write down the different things that Abbi obsesses about. For example, she slipped and cut one of her toes about a month ago and all the time she tells us about her "boo-boo" that she has. Last night she got a splinter and then she started obsessing about that. Typically its her boo-boos that she obsesses about but not always. She's also obsessed with Mater from Cars at this point.

My Girls

2011-06-23T16:40:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we took Abbi to her first Orioles game of the season and she had an awesome time. Its always fun to do things like that (things that we've done for years) with Abbi and see it all again in a different way. She claps whenever people around us clap and she cheers. Overall though she just had a good time playing with Jenn and I and eating her fair share of peanuts. Unfortunately she likes to eat them like Jenn, with the skin on. Ugh!

Playing Outside

2011-06-22T08:30:00.003-04:00

This video is from Fathers Day. You can see Abbi falling into the pool and at the end you can hear her rendition of Father's Day.

Trapped in a Box

2011-06-20T17:46:00.001-04:00

I'm using the word "trapped" here very lightly. She got into this box herself and then proceeded to close up the sides. So we played that angle together for a while, I even picked up the box as if to take her off for shipping somewhere. She does the cutest odd things sometimes.

Shower

2011-06-17T14:22:00.002-04:00

This picture was taken back on Memorial day, its just been to hectic for me to get it online much sooner. We setup the kiddie pool and water activity center for Abbi but about 2 hours in she wanted to play with the hose. She grabbed it and then decided to soak me, and she loved every second of it. Once I was able to get the hose from her and see again, I proceeded to spray her back of course which she then ran from and towards for quite a while.

23 Months

2011-06-15T16:36:00.002-04:00

23 Months! If you ask Abbi how old she is she will tell you that she is two. Its awesome. Hopefully we'll be this lucky next year at getting her to say that she's three. Only one month to go before she's actually 2 and I can't believe how quickly its approaching.

Her speech seems to have taken additional leaps this past month. Just this past weekend, she finally said Mommy. She's called Jenn, "mom" since she could talk. She calls me Daddy, but refused to call Jenn mommy. But then over the weekend, something clicked for her and she started calling Jenn mommy. She also started calling herself Abbi instead of Abba finally.

She's also learning all kinds of other things. She's finally grasping how to brush her teeth. She's learning her alphabet and numbers. She has a toy that sings the alphabet that she sings along with. Its very cute. She like to sing at random points about who knows what, but like I said, its cute.

Like I wrote last month, she's all over the place. She's outside. She's inside. She wants to play in a pool. She wants to go to the park. She wants to play in the basement, or in her room, or somewhere else. All the time this kids plays. She's awesome.

I can't believe she's almost two. And next month when I write about her, it will be pretty surreal that she'll be two. It really seems like yesterday I was writing about her only being one and how monumental that was. I love watching my little girl grow up and become and awesome little girl. She's tons of fun and incredibly sweet to spend time with. I'm just a proud father.

Crazy Ride

2011-06-14T13:21:00.001-04:00

Last night Abbi was playing around in the living room and then decided she wanted to empty out the blocks from the cart that they sit in. Once she had them all emptied out, she then proceeded to sit under the basket area and then arch herself back in a crazy way. She did this numerous times, enough for me to actually catch a picture of her. I have no idea what she was thinking or trying to do, but she was having fun and looked very cute.

Game Time

2011-06-08T17:33:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we went to two baseball games. Friday we went to an Orioles game and then Sunday we went to a Baysox game. This picture was taken of Abbi at the Phillies game we went to back in April. At each game she always get real into it, and when people around us clap, she claps along with them. She cheers and claps as if she fully understands what is going on. I love it. I love that we can take her to do things with us as a family and she truly seems to enjoy them.

Sitting Pretty

2011-06-06T09:13:00.001-04:00

In Philadelphia we visited a kids play place called the "Please Touch Museum". Abbi had a great time running around playing with all kinds of different things. There was a little community area, with a few play houses, a play garden and such, and she loved it. This is her sitting inside one of the houses on the bench.

Straws

2011-06-02T09:03:00.002-04:00

Monday we went to McDonald's for some free Strawberry Lemonade. It was free and it still wasn't worth the money. I rode with Abbi in the back of the car and on the way home we both had straws getting ready for what we hoped would be tasty frozen treats. They weren't. But it at least made for a cute picture. What I love is that she mimicked my behavior and facial expression perfectly.

Pools!

2011-06-01T15:27:00.001-04:00

This past weekend Jenn busted out the pools for Abbi to relax and cool off in. Saturday we did slip 'n slide and then Sunday, Monday and yesterday we've done combinations of the pool you see here and her water play activity center we had last year at her birthday. Regardless of the water container she's having a ton of fun playing in the water. Check out that smile!

Phone Calls

2011-05-31T11:39:00.002-04:00

I don't know why but Abbi loves the phone. If Jenn and I ever use the phone she has to see it and try to use it. She'll walk around with our phones up to her ear and fake talk to different people (mostly Grandmom or Grandpa) or gom and pop as she calls them.

You can see her here rocking her first nightgown instead of standard pajamas. She of course loves it.

American Girl

2011-05-25T14:26:00.001-04:00

In front of the Betsy Ross house they have a couple of these old style american flag banners drapped across the railing outside. I managed to get a very busy-body Abbi to sit still long enough to get this picture of her!

Hiding

2011-05-24T12:05:00.001-04:00

I took this picture of Abbi hiding behind a door stoop in Philadelphia. We were walking around Elfreth's Alley (an area of super old buildings) and she started playing in the doorway of one of them. She was hiding from us and then popping out and playing. Always fun!

Kaat

2011-05-19T15:31:00.001-04:00

Two doors down lives a little girl, Katelyn who loves to play with Abbi. And based on Abbi's reaction to her, she loves to play with her too. My parents watched Abbi Monday for us, and since Abbi was home Katelyn was apparently thrilled to have Abbi to play with. This is a picture of the two of them, Katelyn pushing Abbi in her swing.

By the way, "Kaat", or something like that is what Abbi calls Katelyn.

Lovely Ladies

2011-05-18T16:14:00.002-04:00

I took this picture of Jenn and Abbi I think after they went to a ladies event together. Jenn wanted me to get a picture of the two them dressed up together. I think they both look beautiful. Like mother like daughter.

Snoozin

2011-05-16T16:07:00.001-04:00

Jenn took this picture one morning. It could have been one of many lately. As I mentioned last week, she makes her way into our bed almost every morning by 5 am. If Jenn is up before me, she often stays sleeping next to me, in this case she happened to mosey her way over pretty close.

22 Months

2011-05-13T14:24:00.001-04:00

22 Months! Its been a long month with Abbi. The transition for her into the big girl bed has not been an easy one. She sleeps fine, but she doesn't sleep through the night anymore. I really couldn't say the last time she actually slept all the way through the night, and even if she does, she's usually up around 6 to join us in the bed. So its been rough, especially for Jenn who gets up with her because I never hear her cry.

We're also pretty confident Abbi is into her "terrible two's" because she acts pretty terrible sometimes. She decides without reason or warning to be super pissed and cry relentlessly until she's done. This obviously makes it hard to deal with her at times. Adding to that, she's also become somewhat of a picky eater, at least when she's with us.

With all this, she's still tons of fun and a wonderful little girl. I don't think a day has gone by in the last month that she hasn't played outside a little bit. She loves to play with Max, or us, or the neighbor kids, doesn't matter to her. She loves to be out playing, and doing stuff in general.

She's got all of her "2 year" molars in. She's saying more and more words, and putting more and more of them together all the time. We've been working on colors and numbers the last month, and Jenn's been working specifically on teaching her how to spell her name. She can say "A B", so we're half way there! I love my little girl to death, but I gotta say, 22 months in - she's certainly more work than either of us ever expected. But its ok, because she's worth it.

Big Smile

2011-05-12T15:29:00.000-04:00

While down in D.C., we had rounded the corner of the Jefferson and we were headed towards the FDR Memorial when we stopped off for a lollipop and diaper change. I asked her to smile big for me and I'd give her a lollipop. As you can see, she obliged me and we both got what we wanted.

Tree Blooms

2011-05-09T14:40:00.002-04:00

Back when the tree in our front yard still had blooms (which are now long gone), we went outside and took some pictures of Abbi. This is one of them. You can see her thoroughly enjoying the blooms falling towards her. What I love about this picture is the pure joy that you can see in her smile on her face. I just love it!

Train Ride

2011-05-06T11:13:00.000-04:00

When we went to D.C. about a month ago we rode in on the metro, of course, because I won't drive down there. So Abbi was very excited to get to ride on a "train". She enjoyed her ride, and since it wasn't very crowded she even got to have a seat all to herself.

Treatment

2011-05-05T17:40:00.002-04:00

Today we took Abbi for her 9th laser treatment at Hopkins. She did very well, and was only super pissed off for the short time it took them to wrap her up and do the laser, maybe 3-5 minutes total. Again, the actual laser treatment only takes about 1 minute, but to get her wrapped up to prevent movement takes a few minutes.

This time through, the doctor upped the power to target a specific spot on her cheek, in the hopes of having better progress in that area. Then dialed it back down to "normal" for the rest of her cheek and some around her nose and inner eye (by the nose). So she's on the road to recovery and our next appointment isn't until September. Only 2 left!

Climbing

2011-05-04T09:13:00.003-04:00

One of Abbi's recent new capabilities is her ability to climb up things. She's always been a climber, but recently she's really harnessed her ability to climb up ropes and vertical things. Before they had to be on an angle, easier to work with, but now, as you can see here, she's able to go straight up. This kid is a barrel of energy and she doesn't stop. Most nights when I get home from work she's wired up and running around the house or outside until its time for bed. Its crazy to me just how much energy this little girl has.

Hunting Eggs

2011-04-29T14:19:00.001-04:00

It happened quite a few weeks ago but its taken me forever to get the pictures online. A few weeks back we took Abbi to an Easter egg hunt hosted by one of our friends at PAG. We, especially Abbi had a great time, and Abbi was able to go around and look for eggs. She pretty much understood the point, go and look for eggs, put them in the basket. What she didn't know though was that they were filled with delicious candy. That enjoyment came after the hunt, but since she's still so young, she pretty much forgot about the candy after a little while and we were able to reuse the candy for the basket we put together for her!

Summer Shades

2011-04-28T13:59:00.001-04:00

I cannot believe how quickly our little girl is growing up. She runs around like a little kid, no more toddler, no more baby, just kid. She wears her sunglasses because she understands their purpose. She wears her hair up because she wants to. She just amazes me. Each day she's saying more things and remembering even more. Jenn took this picture yesterday on their way home from day care. They are both ready for summer and the playing outside it will mean.

Look

2011-04-27T10:59:00.001-04:00

Sunday Abbi spent a lot of time playing with one of her cousins outside. They really seemed to have a good time together too. In this picture you can see them showing off their Easter gift slinkies as they are busy playing in a bucket of water.

Jump

2011-04-26T08:50:00.001-04:00

Abbi loved to jump. On everything! Last week in Philadelphia, one of her favorite things to do was jump on the bed. In doing so, what she really likes to do is jump up a little bit and then throw her legs out and land on the bed. A few weeks back she was outside playing with the neighborhood kids and they had a playmat setup outside that she was able to do this on. So I was able to snap a picture of her mid "jump" as she would say.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-25T10:35:00.001-04:00

Since yesterday was Easter we of course had a family pictured snapped of us. Grandmom was nice enough to get this picture of all of dressed nicely for Easter Sunday!

Talking

2011-04-22T08:05:00.001-04:00

Last night Abbi decided she was ready to start talking in HUGE chunks. I mean huge. She sat with Jenn and I and talked to us for about 30 minutes straight. She was telling the story of how she kicked her feet in the water at the pool, and about how my co-worker Chad has stopped by and talked to me by the door and had pet Max. We are very proud of her!

Vintage

2011-04-21T07:52:00.002-04:00

Abbi wore this dress two weeks ago to church, and Jenn made sure that a picture was taken of it. This dress was made by my mother in law, and was Jenn's when she was about Abbi's age, which is obviously why Jenn wanted me to get a picture of her in it.

21 Months

2011-04-15T08:42:00.001-04:00

Abbi is just keeps getting older and cuter. She's 21 months now and steamrolling her way towards 2 years. She's definitely developed herself a cute and very particular personality. With us she's very outspoken and very quick to tell us what she wants and how she wants things to go. With others, such as Grandmom, Debi or workers at the church nursery she's different. Especially at the nursery. There's she's a quiet little angel who likes to help out. To me its interesting to see how she adapts to different enviornments and how she's learning to fit in.

As she's creeping up on two years, her "two year" molars have been creeping up on her. Of the four, one is totally in and two more are about halfway or more in. The other one we haven't seen any sight of yet, but she's been doing well with the teething. Not like it was a year ago!

With the warm weather she wants to get outside or "side" as she says, and play at every opportunity. So we've spend considerable time outside on her little playset, the tree swing and the elementary school playground. She absolutely loves slides going down normal, on her back, face first and any other way she can think up.

Jenn and I comment to each other how "toddler" she is, and now she's transitioning into that "little kid" mode. I personally classify toddlers as not babies, and then little kids as not toddlers. She's out running and playing with the neighborhood kids in the afternoons and running around our house playing with us the rest of the time. She's at a great age, and we love her to death!