Eight Months!

Time is flying by! When I see "new" babies I am surprised to see how tiny they are-Abigail used to be that tiny!

We figure Abigail tips the scales at about 18 pounds now. She is a pro at the army crawl. She also likes to pull up and stand when we're holding her hands. She gives mommy and daddy the biggest smiles-the kind when she squints her beautiful eyes. She is a joy-it is wonderful watching her grow and develop.

Family Fun!

Abigail has had tons of fun with her Uncles this weekend. It is nice to see her interact with all of them. She loves playing with them.

Uncle Nate enjoyed Abigail's stacking cups-he managed to stack them on Abigail's head:


Here she is with Uncle James:


Here she is with Uncle Michael:


We even snapped a rare photo of Abigail with her Uncle Aaron. Uncle Aaron helped lull Abigail to sleep Thanksgiving night.

Abigail also slept in Grandma's arms:


Here she is playing with Papa:

First Thanksgiving

Early Wednesday we headed down on a 9 1/2 hour drive to Northern Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Jonathan's family. I was so surprised by how little traffic there was along the way for us-we made really great time.


Abigail celebrated her first Thanksgiving the way most of us celebrate every Thanksgiving-she ate more than she usually does. She started off with a bottle followed by a combination of sweet potatoes and apples. After that she took a nice nap (which is also something a lot of us like to do on Thanksgiving after a nice big meal).

We are looking forward to future Thanksgivings where Abigail can feast on big girl food.

Here are a few pictures of Abigail playing with her second cousin Zachary:


Here is Abigail eating her Thanksgiving feast:

Stay-At-Home Update

This weekend marks the end of my second full week as a stay-at-home mom. I must say that this week went so much better than last week. I think Abigail and I are getting used to being around each other all the time. We are starting to form a pretty consistent schedule/routine. The mornings are set: get up around 7, play around for a little bit, eat, play, and nap. After that it isn't as consistent, but we're working on it!

Abigail is doing really well with her solids at breakfast time. She'll have fruit and cereal, and then baby yogurt-which she really seems to like. At lunch time I really have to work at getting her to eat her solids. At dinner time-forget about it! I think I've discovered though that Abigail may prefer her veggies without cereal mixed in. We'll see how that goes.

Now, for the icing on the cake-what made this week so wonderful: naps! Up until this point Abigail wasn't much of a napper. When she did nap, we usually had to lull her to sleep. On Monday I put her down for a nap. Due to my laziness I waited longer than usual to "comfort" her (a.k.a. try to lull her to sleep) so she ended up falling asleep on her own! She has had a number of naps this week where she pretty much fell asleep on her own. One time she even fell asleep gabbing rather than crying (and that nap lasted 2 hours when they average only 30 minutes!!!) I am so glad she call fall asleep on her own, I thought this would take a lot of work.

So, that's my week in a nutshell. Now, here are some cute pictures as requested by JoAnne:

Here is a picture of her eating yogurt:


Here is a picture of her trying on her hand-me-down snowsuit-it makes me think of A Christmas Story when Ralphie's little brother couldn't get up or put his arms down:

And here is a picture of Abigail looking cute:

Da-Da-Da-Da-Da

On Monday I had a frustrating time feeding Abigail her breakfast. So, after we both got messy, I decided to leave her in her chair while I cleaned up a bit. I was in her room putting her clothes away when I heard her gabbing. Up until this point her "talking" was limited to squealing. Well, now she moves her mouth more and is forming sounds. First it was da-da-da-da, but her favorite now seems to be bla-bla-bla-bla. It is so cute to see her moving her mouth. She seems to concentrate when she does it-maybe she is interested in how it feels to move her tongue and gums around. This makes her a bit more drooly now. The first thing Jonathan and I thought: we really need to watch what we say around her :-)

Last night Abigail spent a lot of time getting up on her hands and knees. Up until this point she gets from point "a" to point "b" using an army crawl. Anyway, last night she even rocked back and forth on her hands and knees. I really need to finish baby proofing!

Abigail also learned how to open coffee table drawers. She started this at Nonna's Monday afternoon and continued here at home last night. Man, she is becoming a cute little handful ;-)

We Made It!

Abigail and I made it through our first week together with Jonathan at work. Things went well generally. We had a few tiring moments (when will she appreciate how wonderful naps are???). We also had nice bonding moments (mommy found new ways to make Abigail giggle).

This is a full-time job! Even though I'm home most of the time I find myself looking forward to the weekend-that's when Jonathan will be around all day!

I was able to mix things up a bit with visits with family and friends. It has been great to see Abigail open up to people more. Last night I was at my parents and I spent little time playing with her. She was too busy playing with Papa, Nonna, Auntie Laura, Uncle Nick, and her cousin Constance.

Overall it has been a great week. I think as time passes Abigail and I will get used to each other and will develop some sort of schedule/routine.

The pictures below let you all know what happens when you leave me alone with Abigail and a camera:

Election Day

Today is Abigail's first Election Day. We made an outing of it. The weather today was beautiful-sunny and mild. Plus, our polling place is around the block. So, we decided to walk. I dressed Abigail in red and blue for the occasion.

Jonathan and I will probably be up late tonight to see how things turn out. Plus, we may be up late anyway because Abigail is sick.