July update

I know it's August already, but I typically let my pictures fall a month behind, so these are July's pictures (and some of June's too. I was running behind, if you can believe that at all!)

In June, we attended a friend's wedding, so it was Abagail's first wedding and gave us all a chance to dress up. She was so well behaved during the ceremony and the reception. The best thing was seeing that little girl dance. We typically have the TV on when we're at home, so the only time she really gets to just listen to music is in the car. Evidently the kid loves to dance!

These pictures are actually from late May, but they were taken at daycare, so it took a bit to get a copy of them to share. No, I did not put that bow in her hair, but she does look pretty cute. Where she is raising her glasses? That's my favorite!

My mom had this high chair/booster seat that Abagail had outgrown to sit in comfortably, so she brought it back to our house. It hadn't made it back into the attic yet, so she decided she wasn't quite done with it. She initially placed her babies in the seat to feed them, but quickly displaced them. I guess she hadn't outgrown the seat like we thought. She's quite the little mother. She loves to feed her babies and put them to bed at the end of the day. Lucy is her current favorite. She puts Lucy to "night-night" every night on the arm of the chair as we read her bedtime story. Evidently her nurturing qualities extend past dolls though. Ms. Torsha, her daycare teacher, tells us that she is almost always the first one to try and bring something to one of her friends when they are crying.

We finally made time to have a playdate with our good friend Jennifer and her daughter Zoey. Zoey is exactly 1 year and 1 day older than Abagail. We had an amazing time at the splashpad, at the playground, then back at our house. They were getting comfortable in Dad's chair while Zoey was making a very important phone call.

I do have to say that we've got quite the bossy kid on our hands. Even though Zoey is older and much more articulate, Abagail bossed her around quite a bit. Sounds like her mama . . .

Bear is still not in love with his sister. Toleration is really the name of the game for the poor dog. She loves him though, to say the least. He is so patient with her, but I do feel bad for him when she lays all over him, pulls on his tail, or covers him with a blanket for a hat. She is just trying to love him though with the big "Bear" hug. She also loves helping us make his dinner and taking him his Milk Bone. It kills her when he gets to go outside and she isn't included!

Clutched in her hand is her Bible. Ever since she moved up to the toddler room at church, she gets a sticker for bringing her Bible. That means she wants to carry her Bible everywhere. But, as cute as that is, even more endearingly is if you ask her where Jesus is, she'll respond by tapping her chest and say "my heart." Awww . . .



She as always been very vocal, but in the last 4 months, it is getting more and more understandable. She will tell us in 2-4 word sentences to get her point across. She can correctly count 2 objects and she is starting to count and do her ABCs. Not accurately yet, but starting. Not to say she doesn't still make some of the cutest inarticulate sounds ever. She's got a habit right now, as you can see below with one of my headbands, of sounding out her extertion. It doesn't matter if she's trying to stretch that headband, open a lid, push a door, or whatever, she lets you know how hard she's working. She does this "arrrr" to vocalize her efforts. Sometimes she even shakes her little hands and arms. I'm not doing it justice, but it's so stinking cute!

George and I are sucker for bath pictures. And, she loves the water, so she's always cheesing it up in there. I totally see this picture or one like it, making it to the Senior Slide Show in about 16 years. Embarrassing your kid is one of the joys of parenting. Come on, am I right?

August and September should be big months for us. George and I are mattress shopping because we think she is ready to transition to a big girl bed. We'll see how it goes. I'm repainting a bench that she can use to get up and down, so between waiting on that and I haven't actually ordered any safety rails, who knows when it will actually happen, but we are getting ready anyway.

Her pee/poo cues are getting better every day, so when she moves to a new room at "school" in about 2 weeks, we're going to jump into potty training. We need our carpets cleaned at home, but I told George that even as overdue as they are, we aren't doing them now just to have accidents to clean up when we get into no-diaper territory. If anyone has any tips, let me know. And I'm not interested in the M&M or other food bribery methods--the kid gets enough calories as it is.

Her birthday is just over a month away. No one ruin the surprise, but the grandparents have gotten her a tricycle. I'm not worried about her balance, as she walks on her knees and jumps all the time, so I know that is all there. But, we'll see how she does with her short little legs!

Cakes

On a completely selfish, non-Abagail note, I've had several people ask me about the cakes I've been doing. I took a buttercream decorating class before Abagail was born and am slowly teaching myself how to work with fondant. It's challenging, and something I would like to continue to work at, as I'm having quite a bit of fun.

This was a cake I did for a friend's baby shower. She did her son's nursery in sock monkeys. It was my first fondant cake. I made marshmallow fondant to work with. It tastes so much better than the store bought, ready made fondant. I was really pleased with the monkeys, but the cake was definitely rough upon close inspection. It taught me alot!

The same friend later asked me to make a cake for her daughter's birthday. They were doing a "Minute To Win It" themed party. If anyone has ever seen the show, the two girls on the cake are playing "Junk In the Trunk." If you haven't seen the show, you have a ping-pong-filled Kleenex box tied around your waist. Whoever can shake loose their ping-pong balls first wins. My "people skills" still need some work.

I was then asked to do a pink and zebra cake for a wedding shower. When I'd gotten done, I realized I should have done the whole cake in pink instead of white. That would have been alot more fun.

A friend was having a surprise birthday party for her husband. I volunteered to make a cake for the occasion. Mitch can take some ribbing, so I let Margie beat him at fishing. Notice Margie has the big fish and all the fish for the day. Poor Mitch has one little fish to his credit and (thanks to George's suggestion) a tire.

If I'd had more time, I would have written "Goodyear" on the tire, but just didn't get that far.

Last week was Vacation Bible School at church. We had a family night Friday night so the kids could perform the songs they'd learned all week and show off for their families. We fed everyone hot dogs, chips, lemonade, and cake and cupcakes for the conclusion of the "Big Apple Adventure."

This was my biggest project to date. I made a full sheet cake, so sandwhiched 4 9x13 cakes together. My hand resembled a claw and I was pretty stinking sleep deprived by the time I was done, but all in all, was really happy with how it turned out.

For all my projects, I am my mother's daughter. All the cakes are baked from scratch and the frostings are homemade too. I know the box mixes and ready made stuff would make things more convenient, but in my opinion, it just doesn't taste as good as scratch.

Mid-year update

Hello all! I really miss blogging and sharing the cuteness that is Abagail. Life is crazy busy, but who can't say that? I'm doing more and more cake decorating, so that whittles away at me "free" time in the evenings once she goes to bed. But what I have resolved to do is to not wait so stinking long to do this. I put it off because it will take awhile to post the pictures and to write, but if I would just do it more often, it wouldn't take so long. It doesn't help that, since I wait so long to log back in, I forget how to do anything in here to make this blog look nicer. On to the updates!

I had a conference in Denver in March, so we went out a few days early to enjoy Pike's Peak, the Royal Gorge, and some of the other sites that Colorado Springs and the Denver area have to offer. That was Abagail's first flight and she did amazing! She didn't cry once, and we didn't even drug her with anything. :)

In April, she took school pictures. Didn't she do good? When I saw these, they just made me realize--like I needed the reminder--that time is just flying by way too fast. Look how grown up she looks!

This kid loves being outside. She's obsessed with bubbles and chalk. She's not really blowing any in this picture, but she sure tries hard. It won't be much longer before she gets control of that action.

We became OKC Zoo Friends this year and took Abagail for the first time in May. We'd been to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo when we were in Colorado. It was pretty neat to see the difference in her ability to identify animals in March and then again in May. Her vocabulary is pretty incredible. Well, I have no idea how her 22 month old counterparts are, but I think she's pretty advanced. Parents get to think that about their own kids. It's our right, right?

Grandma Thelma (Mom's mom) had moved from Arizona to Noble back in August. She was doing well in her own apartment, and at the age of 89, really only had memory problems. But, then she got shingles. She had to spend some time in the hospital and in a skilled nursing facility. After that, she couldn't stay in her apartment anymore. She is now living with Mom and Dad and seems to be thriving in that environment. She has a routine now and enjoys the company of the 2 ladies that sit with her all day through the week.

To make it easy on Abagail, I started calling Thelma GiGi. She wasn't exactly getting "Great Grandma Thelma." Needless to say, Abagail is in LOVE with GiGi. They look pretty cozy, don't they? She was having trouble calling Mom Grandma and Dad Grandpa. I took the liberty of introducing Nana as Mom's name and Abagail latched onto that. Dad's name she came up with all on her own. Grandpa comes out as "Baka." For those of you who know my dad, would you ever imagine him as Baka?

We finally made it to Noble's splashpad a few weeks ago. It took about 30 minutes for Abagail to warm up to the water. It was pretty cold water, and even with her friends there, encouraging her, she wasn't too hip on it.

By the time George and I were ready to leave, she was having a blast. She never got comfortable enough to actually run through the jets of water, but she had a great time chasing that ball around and splashing in the water.

She's still a pretty amazing kid. If it were totally up to us, we would probably be ready to start potty training soon. She's giving us quite a few cues, but I don't know that she's quite ready yet. Because I am absolutely the expert in potty-training-readiness, what with all the kids I've potty trained in the past. However, until she moves up to the next room at daycare, in September, they can't accomodate potty training in the current room. I figure there is no point in rushing it anyway, as that seems to sabotage efforts anyway.

So that's our life in a nutshell right now. George and I just blown away by her still. We can't believe she'll be 2 in about 2 months' time. Holy cow!

Long overdue update

This face just about sums things up. Abagail has grown into be quite the ornery, laugh-loving, little girl that every parent could hope to have. She's keeping us running. Between keeping up with her at home, busy work schedules for both of us, George keeping his nose to the grindstone to get another semester under his belt, and trying to squeeze in some sleep occassionally, needless to say we don't slow down much. I haven't been blogging for a number of reasons. I love doing it, just finding the time is hard. I can't get anything done at home, so it's just not happening there. Work keeps me jumping, so it's hard to find the time to write anything there either. And besides, I always average 2-3 months behind on dumping pictures off of the camera, so when I do get to catch up, I usually spend it dating pictures. Heaven forbid I actually want to DO anything with the pictures.

This shot is from Abagail's birthday. We took her out on the back porch, expecting a huge mess with the cake. Evidently, she really didn't know how to dig in, because this was the extent of the destruction. And George really did alot of the damage himself, as he "helped" her put her hands in the cake. Of course, we took the cake away from her after a couple of minutes, just because we didn't want to encourage her to make too big of a mess.

The outdoor pictures are family pictures that we had a friend take in late September. They were meant to coincide with Abagail's first birthday, and for once, we were pretty much on time. We did these about 2 weeks after her birthday. As you can see, there is Abagail, George, me, my mom Jackie, and my dad Don, but also featured is my grandmother, Thelma. She moved here from Arizona in mid-August. After spending my entire life there, she has finally moved around some family. It's been great spending time with her and knowing that she and Abagail are getting to spend time together as well.




Mom made Abagail this adorable chair for her 1st birthday. The girl is obsessed with books and shoes. She loves to climb into her chair with a book and flip the pages. You'll notice the book is upside down, but that's OK. Got to start somewhere, right?



We had ourselves a ladybug for Halloween and she was just about the cutest thing. She even left the hood on her head at Truck or Treat. See that little basket she's holding on to? That has become the purse that she still carries around. She puts all kinds of things in that bag, slings it over her arm, and acts like she's 14. Scary!



George is her personal gym, so she routinely climbs all over him. Of course he loves it. That girl has had him wrapped around her finger from day one. He was in Indianapolis for a week in October and I chose to break her of her pacifier while he was away. It was tough the first 2 days, but really, after that it wasn't bad. But, I did it while he was gone because he just cannot stand to hear his little girl cry. Evidently I'm the tough (or mean, depending on your perspective) mama because while I obviously don't want to hear her cry, for that, I knew it was necessary.

As you can tell, Abagail is no petite little thing. The girl has 12 teeth at the moment and knows how to use them. Her front teeth, top and bottom, came in, and then she started working on molars. Those are in and she is now filling in the gaps. It's a pretty cute smile when she opens her mouth. At least we have some of the tough teeth over with, and it's easy to keep introducing new and different textures and sizes of food, knowing she's got some good chewing power.

She started walking when she was 11 months old. By now, she's got that mastered so she's working on picking up her pace to run and to climb. She's still pretty short and her short legs are slightly limiting for climbing, but she really doesn't let it slow her down much.

We can feed her anything and she devours it. You'd think the girl was starving, which she obviously isn't. She took to 2% milk without any real problem, so between not being a picky eater, not having to break the habit of the bottle because she went straight to a cup, the pacifer-breaking went relatively easily, and the fact that she is still remarkable healthy even though she spends 8 hours a day in daycare, George and I still thank God every day for the blessing of a healthy, happy, wonderful baby. We are incredibly lucky to know that, while all children are a blessing, we're getting to enjoy it all. Most people deal with ups and downs between health and behavior issues. For us--knock on wood--we've only had the good things to experience. I figure she'll have alot of trouble to make up for when she's a teenager . . .

Oh, hello. I’m supposed to be blogging? Ugh. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you all—whoever you all are reading up our Abagail. I think about how behind I am on this blog pretty much every day. But, to be honest, it’s just on a laundry list of things I feel behind on these days.



First of all, let me tell you that little miss is doing fabulous! She is 4 ½ months old and is great. We had her 4 month check up on the 15th and she weighed in at exactly 14 pounds, measured 23 3/4”, and has a head circumference of 41 centimeters. This puts her in the 55th, 30th, and 55th percentiles of each measurement. Her gains in size have been consistent, and that’s all that really matters. She is wearing 3-6 month and some 6 month clothes at this point, so I’ve had to put away quite a few outfits that she has outgrown.

We got the OK at the doctor’s visit to start cereal, so she’s been eating a few spoonfuls of rice cereal every evening. The first 2 nights were a little lackluster, but once I finally figured out that she likes her cereal warmed up, she’s taken to it much better. It continues to surprise me just how quickly babies move through the learning process. Watching her figure out how to take a spoon and swallow food is just too cool. Those first few spoonfuls were entertaining, as she’d just sit there with the cereal on her tongue with the priceless expression on her face of “and what do you expect me to do with this?” By the 3rd or 4th night though, she had started to lean in towards the spoon, expecting another bite. It’s awesome!




We really did get lucky with Abagail. Well, of course we got lucky, but it’s just that she is such a happy, well adjusted baby that we truly are blessed. She rarely fusses, so if she does, it’s because she’s hungry or tired, not just ‘because.’ I can set a clock by her feeding schedule, we’ve got such a good routine going. For any parent that needs advice trying to establish a feeding and napping routine, I can’t recommend “On Becoming Babywise” highly enough. While Abagail continues to be a terrible daytime napper (apparently she must think that naps are for wusses as she just doesn’t like to miss out on anything through the day), her feeding routine works like clockwork. Upon returning to work, predictability is helping maintain my last little bit of sanity. She’s a bad napper, but she consistently sleeps through the night. George will sometimes have to get up and settle her back down once, maybe twice, through the night, but that just consists of a hand on her chest or plugging the pacifier back in her mouth.

She is a joy to be around and doesn’t mind showing off her beautiful smile to anyone. She always gets passed around at church and doesn’t mind a bit. Her smiles just light up her whole face, which in turn, can light up your soul. No bad day at work is a match for the joy you feel when she smiles at you. As happy as she is, you’d think she’d be laughing her butt off, wouldn’t you? Yeah, that’s what we think too, but apparently she’s just not ready yet. George got her to giggle a precious, breathy little giggle last Friday, the 15th, but she hasn’t done it since. We’ve made such fools of ourselves, trying to get her to do it again, but no such luck, so Operation Giggle Watch continues.

Her reaching and grasping abilities continue to improve as she takes an interest in more and more things. On her tummy, she can support herself with one arm while she reaches for things with the other. She can roll pretty well from her tummy to her sides and she can swivel her hips, like she is trying to roll, when she is on her back, but she hasn’t quite figured out how to roll her shoulders, so she isn’t rolling from her back to her sides just yet.

If you set something in front of her that can help support her, she is sitting up fairly well. I actually think her torso strength is there and ready to make her sit up, but her balance still needs work. She’s got quite a bit of leg strength too, as she loves standing up, whether it’s in your lap or standing on a countertop as you play with her. Every day, she shows signs of becoming more and more independent.

We can leave her in her crib for longer and longer stretches of time now as she loves playing with some toys in there and she loves what we call her “bouncy thing,” for lack of a better name. Her feet barely hit the ground, but she really is trying to bounce. When you bounce for her, she absolutely loves it.

Everything goes in her mouth right now. I'm surprised that more of her pictures don't have her hand in her mouth, as she continually tries to shove that whole fist in there. She's got a ridge on her bottom gums where her teeth will be coming in, but they don't seem to be bothering her yet, so I don't think the chewing is actually related to teeth just yet.

I returned to work full time at the first of December and that’s been the real reason for the protracted delay in posting. Until George gets done with his degree—which should probably take another year—we’ll be working until 6 every night because this allows him to take Fridays off and get his homework done over the course of his 3 day weekend. Well, let me clarify that. While WE used to work until 6, he now works until 6, as I leave my office at 5, nurse Abagail and then she and I go to pick him up at 6. By the time we get home at nearly 7, we have just enough time to eat a fairly crappy dinner before it’s time to feed her again. She then is ready to eat again, get some cereal, get a bath, have some playtime, eat yet AGAIN, and go to bed. By the time all that gets done, her clothes get picked out for the next day, bottles are prepared, our lunches get thrown together for the next day, and dinner dishes get done, George and I are wiped out for the evening. He’s been lucky to get a few pages of reading done and I make an attempt to pick up a little bit, but all in all, we’re lucky to watch the 10PM news these days!

By the time the weekend rolls around, we’re ready to spend some good, quality time with her but still try to catch up on all the million things we didn’t get done through the week. Needless to say, I’m not cooking the way I used to or would like to, the house is a continued dirty disaster, and free time is a thing of the past. Granted, this isn’t anything unusual for any parent, but it’s still something George and I are trying to get accustomed to. I’d like to think that it’s something that takes every parent awhile to get adjusted to and it’s not just us. Right? Of course, because I can’t seem to get anything done, I was finally decorating the Christmas tree on December 22nd, but she didn’t know the difference.

Christmas and our break from work were both fantastic. We weren’t planning on going anywhere, so the snow and bad weather didn’t affect us any. We got to enjoy 10 days off with our baby and just catch up on a few things. I battled 2 bouts of mastitis (a breast infection) so I lost a couple of days feeling like absolute crap and worried that breastfeeding was drawing to an end, but antibiotics and bed rest cleared it up and I’ve been fine since. I just hope I don’t have to go through that ever again. I have never felt that bad in all my life. I still keeping thinking that if that is the worst I have to deal with after my easy pregnancy and labor (if you can call a c-section labor), then I’m OK with that.

All in all, we have absolutely nothing we can complain about, even if we wanted to. Yes, we’re tired, frazzled, and overworked, but that’s the life of a parent, isn’t it? But, God has blessed us with a remarkably happy, healthy baby who, in her 4 ½ months here, has already made us ask a million times, “what did we do before we were parents?!”

So, while I am now 23 days late in doing so, let me wish everyone a happy new year!!

2 month update

Ms. Abagail had her 2 month check up last Friday—she actually turned 2 months last Wednesday, if you can believe that! She is now weighing in at 11 pounds, 5 ounces, is measuring 21 3/4” in length, and has a head circumference of 38.25 centimeters. That puts her in the 60th percentile for weight, 25th for length, and 50th for head circumference. So, with my genes, it is no surprise her weight is keeping up, but the kid has got to put on some inches. She’s got to get that basketball scholarship in the years to come (with George’s athletic abilities, not mine, for anyone who ever saw me play) if college is going to get paid for, so hopefully she’ll hit that growth spurt soon enough for height.

At least one of us was paying attention to the camera.

Watching her progress is just evidence of God’s amazing work. That we all started out that small, helpless, and cute, is just wondrous to me. To think that when she arrived 2 months ago, she couldn’t hardly hold her head up, but to watch her today and see that she can hold her head on her own and only occasionally looks like a bobblehead is amazing.

She is tracking things with her eyes really well and will actually turn her head toward the sound of mine or George’s voices sometimes. The discovery of her hands is pretty cute too. Just to think about the fact that she evidently didn’t realize they were there, and now she does, is funny to me. Does a baby just wake up one day and say to herself, “hey, what are those things waving in front of my face? I think I’ll taste them. Oh wait, they must belong to me!” It’s so cute!

Abagail is also quite the chatterbox. Her vocabulary includes any number of coos and gurgles that you can imagine—if that actually counts as a vocabulary. I think it does! However, the 2 most major developments have been the fact that she now sleeps through the night and smiles with abandon. The child doesn’t seem to require all that much sleep, as she doesn’t nap all that well in the afternoon and won’t go to sleep until about 11PM. But hey, she doesn’t seem to need to get up until anywhere between 5AM and 6AM, so that makes us happy! Her smiles just melt your heart when she turns on one for you. Now I just can’t wait to hear her laugh too!

Needless to say, the doctor’s appointment was uneventful. Since we’ve been blessed with such an easy baby, we didn’t even have too many questions for the doctor. All of her physical, mental, and social progress seems to be right on track with where a 2 month old should be. She had to get 3 shots, but beyond a 30 second crying jag immediately following the pokes, she was fine. We gave her 2 doses of Tylenol that day, but luckily, didn’t develop any fever, fussiness, or have any reactions to the shots.This was taken one of the first days she was home, so she's only 4-5 days old.

And while this isn't a flattering picture in the least--look at that belly!--it does show her growth really well when we took it just a day or so ago.

I had to return to work last week and it wasn’t as traumatic as I expected. The grandparents kept her on Wednesday and that went well. Mom was a bit tired and she made me laugh when I asked her how the day went. She said she just hadn’t gotten anything done all day. That was the validation I needed. I’ve been feeling terribly unproductive and disorganized, but to know it’s not just me made me feel so much better! Friday was our 5 year wedding anniversary and Grandma and Grandpa kept her for a few hours while we went out to enjoy dinner and one another’s company. We made a rule to not talk about the baby. Sadly, it was hard at first, but totally worth it to catch up on things with one another.

I’m lucky enough to be easing back into work on a part-time basis. I won’t go back full-time until the first week of December and George is off for the next 2 weeks, as Grandpa Schmerer is in for Thanksgiving. It’s been tough not spending all day with her, but it feels good to be back and part of things again. I don’t even want to talk about how far behind I am, but I was off for 8 weeks. I can’t expect to catch up in just a day or two.

Check out the last post. It shows her progression in this same pose from her first night at home, to her one month birthday. This was from her 2 month birthday. I put this outfit up already-look at the highwaters!


Finally OK with the Bumpo. At least most of the time.

And this is now our favorite. George and I are kind of slow sometimes. We'd forgotten our camera also takes video . . .

About time!

As you can see, my blog updates just seems to get progressively slower and slower. I’m still off work, so you’d think that being home all day would allow me to keep it going at a more regular pace. You couldn’t be more wrong! I don’t know where my days seem to go, but I continue to be amazed at how quickly each day disappears and how little I seem to get done. The flowerbeds are out of control, the bathrooms are disgusting, the house needs to be dusted, few real meals are cooked as cheater meals have become our staple diet. While I do get a shower and make the bed every day, I consider it a banner day when 4 loads of laundry get done and we take a walk. Beyond that, the average day consists of feeding, changing, and holding Abagail. Not getting work done, and by that I mean work-work, goes without saying. I have now not checked my email in over a week’s time, when I did the last time, it was just quickly enough to clear out the junk, but I didn’t actually get anything accomplished. I am also embarrassed to say that I’ve got a project that should have been done before going on leave and to know it still isn’t done is really starting to annoy me.

We were really pleased with how our family portraits came out. Thank you, Target!

On the upside, Abagail is doing amazing. We’ll go in for her 2 month check up on November 13th and we’ll get her official weight, but we know she’s gaining weight steadily, as you can see it on her and in her pictures and George is a big fan of stepping on our scale with her, just to get an idea of what she weighs. The last time he did it, we decided she’s about 9 ½ pounds.

This pink dress was actually one of mine that Mom had saved all these years!

I’m still not convinced she’s smiled her first real smile, but George and Grandma have both claimed she’s smiled at them. Me, I haven’t seen a full on, eyes light up, and mouth break out into a grin kind of smile yet, but I know it’s bound to happen any day now. Her eyes are tracking things better and better each day. She already stares up adoringly at George when he holds her. She still looks at me with something more like anticipation for her next meal than real joy, and seeing as how I’m her meal ticket I can’t blame her, but I’d like to believe that will change soon enough. She’s also beginning to grasp things better and better. That’s cool and all, but usually that means she’s yanking on my hair or she’s pulling the pacifier out of her mouth, with that result being crying, as she really wants it back in her mouth. Needless to say, I’m already thinking of getting a short and simple mommy-hairdo and am looking forward to the day when she realizes, “yes, I pulled the pacifier out, but hey, look at me, I can put it back in as well.” Of course, that may also be the day that I realize she’s getting too big for a pacifier anyway, as I’m not a big fan.

We'd taken the above picture the first night she was home.

Then we decided to take the picture again on her one month birthday. Look how she's grown!

My oldest friend, Lesly, came in to surprise us with a visit. She came all the way from San Francisco to meet Abagail. She usually doesn’t get to come home until Christmas, but she couldn’t wait that long to meet her, so came in for a quick visit a couple of weeks ago. She’s got a lot of people to see when she’s here, so it was a brief stay with us, but I still can’t believe she came in—and her and George managed to keep it a surprise!

We still haven’t made it to church yet. We have good intentions every Saturday, through the day, but then the child manages to be cantankerous that night, keeping us up even later than normal. While we miss everyone there and miss going, and we know we’re going to have to get the morning routine down soon enough, we also know our days of taking it easy and napping are numbered.

She's starting to enjoy bath time. Look at that face!

Daddy giving her a manicure!

Hmm, looks like we're going to have to ease her into getting used to the Bumbo . . .

That’s the word from here. Hope you enjoy the pictures!