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.

Me & Abbi

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.

Jenn & Abbi

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!

Sunday Dress

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

Asleep

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!

Pool Time

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?

Ravens Fan

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.

Big Smile