18 Months

Abigail is now a year and a half old! She is getting to be such a big girl. It is a joy to watch her develop and do new things.

Abigail had her 18 month check-up today and everything looks good. She's 31 inches tall (25% percentile) and 24 pounds (50% percentile). She had two shots today and did as well as could be expected for such an unpleasant situation. A friend of mine who is a Nurse Practitioner said that pretty much all 18 month olds she sees cry/fuss during the whole appointment. Abigail only put up a fuss when the Nurses/Doctor tried to touch her. She stayed in my lap for most of the exam and for both of the shots.

Abigail loves to run around. We had an outdoor church service last Sunday and, needless to say, she did not want to sit still. She also loves to play with her new 50 cent bouncy ball. Her favorite toys right now are her stuffed animals, especially Elmo. She likes to hand Mommy and Daddy all of her animals so we can hold them all at once and call them out by name.

I still don't think Abigail quite understands what is happening in Mommy's belly. We often show her my belly and ask her to say "hi" to the baby. One cute thing Abigail has been doing lately is gently holding her baby dolls in her arms and rocking them back and forth. I even convinced her to give one of her baby dolls a kiss today :-)

38 Weeks

Sarah and I have reached the 38 week mark. As far as I'm concerned, she can come any day now. I still am not quite ready with a spotless apartment and such, but that is ok!

There haven't been many changes for me as things are progressing. I am still very tired and take naps during Abigail's afternoon nap time. It turns out these naps are a necessity because it takes me so long to fall asleep.

I'll find out if things are "progressing" at my next appointment this Thursday. We'll see how that goes.

Trip to the Aquarium

To celebrate Jonathan's birthday and have one more fun family outing before Sarah's arrival we went into town to visit the New England Aquarium. This was Abigail's first time and she had a great time!

We took the train into town-three different trains/lines to be exact. The excitment of being on a train wore off for Abigail after the fourth or so stop. After that she wanted to sit on Daddy's lap; sit on Mommy's lap; try and climb the poles you hold onto; sit in her own seat; stand on her own seat-you get the idea :-)

We finally arrived at the Aquarium. Near the entrance they had a large tank with Atlantic Harbor Seals. This was probably Abigail's favorite part of the visit.

Abigail became more of a handful inside when she wanted out of the stroller to go exploring by herself. We did manage to get her to stop and see the fish though!

After the Aquarium we had a birthday lunch at Bertucci's. Abigail loved the tomatoes from our salad as well as the pizza we got. You'll notice her wardrobe change in our end-of-the day pictures because of the mess she made.

We took a nice long walk to the T and Abigail fell asleep. She actually even slept on the train ride(s) home! We had such a great day and are happy Daddy was able to take the day off for our adventure!

Apple Picking 2009

Today was our family's second annual apple picking adventure. Abigail had a great time. She was perfectly content walking among the apple trees, picking fresh Granny Smith, Macoun, and McIntosh apples, and tossing them in our bag. She was even quick to understand that she was not supposed to pick up the apples already on the ground.

This trip was much different from our first, but no less difficult. We didn't have to carry Abigail around the whole time like we did last year, but we did have to keep her from running off! While we were on our way back to the car Abigail was distracted by other apple pickers and their companions (see the last picture below). All in all it was a great trip. We're looking forward to continuing our tradition next year when Sarah is with us!

Abigail's Fall Fashion Line

Abigail is nearing the 18-month mark and the weather is cooling off as fall approaches. This meant it was time for me to break out a few of Abigail's Christmas and birthday gifts - adorable clothes! I came close to missing opportunities to use some of her new outfits because I forgot they were packed away.

Here are two pictures of Abigail sporting new outfits. I wish they made the second outfit in my size (minus the onesie) because it looks so comfortable! I also love Abigail's face in the second picture. She is back to smiling for the camera and gets very excited when the flash goes off.

35 Weeks

Sarah and I have reached the 35-week mark. We only have five short weeks until Sarah's due date. I am at that point where I am ready to be done with pregnancy. However, our apartment is not quite ready yet. To start off we will have Sarah in our room in her pack-and-play so at least one Kapaldo can sleep through the night-little Miss Abigail. As of right now, there isn't a great place to put the pack-and-play. I still need to clean things up a bit in our room. I seem to be missing just two tools though: energy and motivation ;-) Once I get those I'll be able to have our room ready.

Here I am at 35 weeks. I thought it would be fun to also add a picture of me and Abigail at around the same time (the picture I have is from just over 36 weeks):