We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." ~ Jawaharlal Nehru

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Everything from the Dentist to Santa :)

Uh oh! I did it again! I let six weeks slip on by without keeping my blog up to date! I never was that great at keeping a journal, so I guess I can understand where this is coming from, but really? Come on, Christi, get a hold of yourself, you have room for improvement but at least you are trying! J Maybe I will be better the six weeks since Roland is off from school . . . probably not; I am such a slacker sometimes! Good thing that Abby and Roland still love me even if I am bad at keeping up with our family blog!  Let me see, what has happened to us in the last six weeks . . .

41 Weeks
Abby had her very first dentist appointment. Abby did great and didn’t bite the dentist (too much!) Roland’s dad told us that sometime between getting her first tooth and her first birthday we should set up an appointment and then have one every six months (just like the rest of us should). Abby’s teeth are looking great and her dentist is looking forward to seeing her again in six months! I am glad that we have started at such a young age to start bringing her to the dentist; this way the dentist will never be a bad or scary place because she has been there before!

This was the week of Abby’s cousin, Ethan’s first birthday. Our family really missed both Ethan and his sister, Emily, a lot this week! I can’t believe that he would have been a year old already! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be an Aunt to these beautiful spirits; they bring such joy and happiness to our family! This week I was especially grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and peace that it has brought into my life. I have faith in the Lord and His timing of all things. He has a full and complete understanding of all things. In the end, all will be right and we will all understand, but until then, I have faith in Him!
Our happy little girl is always on the move . . . she has two speeds: fast and warp speed! (Sorry, I have been corrupted by my Star Treck fan of a husband!)
42 Weeks
I was having one of those stomach bug things this week so my wonderful husband took over the parenting and let me regain my strength! He really is my hero! On the worst day (it probably was just one of those 48 hour things) he told me to go take a nap while he watched Abby. When he woke me up, he brought in some soup and a book for me to read so I could continue to relax . . . while I did that, he fed, bathed and put to bed our little girl! He is so good to us!

Abby has started to confidently walk if you are holding her hand. Probably my favorite moment of this week was just watching our little girl hold her daddy’s hand while walking down the hallway! They are so cute together, I am glad that I am blessed to call them mine!

Abby found the bread machine that I keep under the kitchen sink. She thinks it is the coolest thing in the whole wide world to play with, I think part of it is because she can crawl into the cupboard with it without getting stuck! This week she kept on pointing at it and looking up at me like she was trying to say, “Mom, can we make bread?” I had to laugh because I do make homemade bread about once a week, only I make it from scratch and do all of the kneading and rising myself. Two reasons: I have the time and I have the talent of making really good homemade bread!
Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkey! :)
43 Weeks
Happy Thanksgiving week! It was a really good week to be my cousin! I had one cousin get engaged this week and another cousin get married this week! I am so happy for both of them! Both of my cousins are getting married/have gotten married to two wonderful young men!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family and we were able to help put on a wonderful feast for my grandma! She loved it and loved having everyone around! I was able to spend a little extra time with Grandma this week because my aunt and uncle were in Arizona with their daughter who got married! Abby and I stayed with grandma until my uncle was home again! My grandma is always amazed at how much Abby has grown since the last time she saw her and is always interested in all of the new things that Abby can do now! J

Fun adventure: I got locked out of the house and had to wait for about an hour or so until Roland came home to let us in. Lucky for Abby and I, my mom was still there and she was able to take us to Target so we didn’t have to stand in the hallway and be bored! The funny thing was that I had thought that I had left my keys in the car so I had Roland leave a key out for me so we could get into the house. Only problem was that he left the mail key instead of the house key on accident! Then to top it off, turns out, I had had my keys with me all along, I just didn’t check the right bag! Oops!

Sad thing about this week was that my head cold from the sudden weather change turned into a nasty sinus infection! Yuck! My doctor took one look at me and said, “Boy, you don’t look that great!” then gave me some good stuff that knocked it out of my system! Lucky for Abby and I, Roland had the day off so he could let me regain my strength and take me up to the doctors! What a great guy I have here, he is a keeper!
Abby has learned how to play "Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker's Man"! This is a picture of her "marking it with a B!" :)
44 Weeks
We put up our Christmas tree with the lights but left the ordainments off it. We have been told that we shouldn’t be surprised if Abby pulls it over onto herself a couple times before learning to leave it alone … only thing is, we have a weird kid, who could care less if we put it up or not! She has no more than gently touched one of the branches a couple times just to see what it feels like, and then has left it completely alone! What a little angel she is!

Abby took her very first steps all by herself this week! Roland has been saying for the past six months that he really wants to be home when she finally makes this milestone and he was! He couldn’t be prouder of our little girl! Maybe she will be walking with confidence by Christmas … and running by her birthday (oh no!)!

We had our first Sunday back in our new chapel! It feels so good to be in a chapel again for church! This also meant that I was back in my calling again as Nursery leader. In our church babies stay with their parents until they enter Nursery at 18-months-old, but since I am the leader in the Nursery, Abby can come in early because I am there! It is only about 7 months early, but there is only one other little girl who just turned 18-months-old this week so the two of them love playing together! I love being able to teach my daughter about our Heavenly Father and Jesus! One of these days she is going to look at a picture of Jesus and say, “Jesus!” And I will cry! Tears of pure joy that I am doing something right! J
Abby: What's that, Mom? You want me to hold still? Here is my two seconds of holding still for you! I will even be nice and hold the number for you!

Isn't she a sweetheart?
45 Weeks
This week Roland took an extra day off so we could go up to the temple with my parents who are now temple workers! I am so grateful to be able to go to the temple, it was a dearly needed spiritual reboot for both Roland and I! It was amazing also to be able to go on a date just the two of us! We really don’t get to do that too often and going to a temple session was pretty much my favorite date night ever! My mom and dad were also able to get Abby girl to sleep, so that means that we can do it again! Yay!

Roland and I also took Abby to the Mall of America … she was a little amazed at all of the amusement rides; someday when she is older she will be able to go on them! We were going to take her in the aquarium but we took too long trying to finish up our Christmas shopping (and it turned out we could only get one thing on our list from the mall!) We will take her some other time, because she loves the water!

We took Abby swimming in the swimming pool but she didn’t really like how cold it was; she preferred the warm bath that we gave her afterwards. Well, she liked it up until the point she thought that the bar of soap was something to chew on … she doesn’t like getting her mouth washed out! Poor baby!
Abby, why are you so happy this week? (Clapping for joy!) Oh, I know! It must be because Uncle Sam came home this week! She is looking forward to meeting him in a couple of weeks!
46 Weeks
This past week was Roland’s last week of school! Starting yesterday is his finals week, at the end of the week the semester will be all over and we can celebrate with Christmas! Yay! Next week is going to be so much fun, but I will save that for another post, I still haven’t talked about this week!

Abby visited with Santa, and because she has absolutely no fear of strangers, she just looked up at him with tired eyes! She was pretty happy about being able to ring his bells too!

Roland watched Abby for the night so I could go and help out at Young Woman’s career night! I was able to tell them how rewarding it was being a CNA! Some days I really miss being able to serve others by working outside my home as a CNA, but nothing is more important than raising our beautiful baby girl into the beautiful young woman she will someday become! I really have been blessed to have my lot in life!

Abby loves it when I take her to the library to play in the kid’s section! This week when we went she was trying to keep up with a couple of the big kids and she even took a few steps towards them before getting down to the floor to crawl after them! She now can take five steps on her own before she gets too excited and lowers herself to the floor! She really is growing up so very fast, I hope that I can capture each moment and treasure it forever!

Abby also figured out how to take off and put back on a lid on a lotion bottle that had a screw on lid! She really is amazing! We are so very blessed to have this smart little girl who is always trying to figure out how the world works around her! She is our little problem solver! J
Look at that excited face, and she doesn't even know yet that Christmas is the best time of the year! :)

Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Last Six Weeks

So, I think that six weeks behind requires me to do an update! Maybe I will actually stick to it this time and it won’t be another couple weeks before I write again! Let’s see what all has happen in the last six weeks? Six weeks makes a huge difference in a baby’s life, and these six weeks have been pretty exciting for our family! I am just going to list some of the fun things we have been up to for the past little while!

Week 35:
Abby started taking an interest in her books and now her books are one of her favorite toys to play with, along with her dolly and her shoes . . . oh and any form of technology!

Abby got her very first scrap! She was helping me with the laundry (interestingly enough she was only pulling out her clothes and leaving mine and Roland’s in the basket) and she scraped her nose on the edge of the basket! She cried a little bit but Roland stopped the little bit of bleeding which made everything all better! Daddy is our hero!

Abby’s beautiful cousin, Emily, lived one beautiful week before completing her journey in this world and returned to our Heavenly Father and will wait in His arms with her big brother, Ethan, until Nicole and Joseph can join them. I know that we will have the opportunity to see these little ones grow up and Nicole will have her babies again in her arms! What comfort and joy does God’s plan bring to us when we have faith in Him! This is a quote that brought me great comfort during this time: "Despite the changes which come into our lives and with gratitude in our hearts, may we fill our days—as much as we can—with those things which matter most. May we cherish those we hold dear and express our love to them in word and in deed." ~PRESIDENT THOMAS S. MONSON. I look forward to the great day that we will all be together again and there will be no more tears of sorrow, only tears of joy and everlasting peace!

Abby and I spent the week down visiting with my Grandma Jefferson while my aunt and uncle were out of town. We went to visit my other set of grandparents and to a doctor’s appointment in Marshfield with my grandma! We had a blast! Abby at 8 months was 28.5 inches long and weighs 16 lbs. 12 oz.! Her heart sounded great so there is no need for any follow up ...ever! Boy was Roland and I relieved that her heart murmur really was nothing to worry about, just her heart beating to a little bit of a different beat! J Before going up to the doctor’s appointment, Abby and I had to stop by our apartment and get the keys out of the car because Roland had locked his set in the car! Silly daddy!
Abby and I are having fun with Grandma Great this week! Their is LOTS of crunchy leaves down here!
Week 36:
One of the coolest things in the world happened while visiting with my grandma; we were able to watch general conference! There were a couple pretty AWESOME announcements made this conference! The first one was about a couple new temples being built and one is going to be in Arequipa, Peru! That is where Roland served his mission! He was ecstatic! The other big announcement was that the mission age has been lowered! Now boys can go at age 18 (as long as they have graduated from high school) and girls can go at age 19! What a big and exciting change! J

Abby finally found a good reason to have pacifiers . . . they make excellent teethers! Yep! That is right, Abby is getting teeth! She is of the opinion that you either do things big or not at all . . . she has spent the past month teething one tooth a week! I loved her toothless smile, but her toothy little grin is so adorable!
With such a cheerful smile on her face, you would have never know that she was feeling quite crummy earlier this morning! I guess she finally realized that she was home with daddy again!
Week 37:
Abby started meats . . . and loves them (obviously she doesn’t think they smell disgusting like Roland and I do!) We again are thanking our lucky stars for not having a picky eater! She started with chicken, then turkey, and  beef! She can’t get enough of them! I mix in some sort of veggie with them so it doesn’t smell so bad to me!

We bought Abby a high chair and now meal times go so much more smoothly! She absolutely loves her high chair and now whenever she is hungry she just goes over to the chair that it is connected to and pulls herself up to let us know that it is time to eat! What a smart little girl!
Abby is super happy now that her first tooth has finished cutting through, she just can't sit still! :)
Week 38:
Abby gave me quite the scare! Two days after her first tooth finished cutting through, she slipped in the bathtub and hit her mouth on the tub. She started bleeding and I couldn’t see her tooth anymore! I called my father-in-law up in panic and he assured me that everything would be okay. The tooth is still there and within the week everything will be back to normal. I am so glad that I have a dentist that I can call up at any time of the day! The next morning, just like my father-in-law said, everything was back to normal! Her gums had just swelled up a little and that is why I couldn’t see her tooth! I am so glad that everything turned out okay! J

It really was the week of getting into trouble for Abby! She got into the one cupboard that I hadn’t baby proofed and ended up getting into some dishwasher cleaner  . . .  so we ended up calling poison control before 7:30 in the morning! Lucky for us, she was fine and nothing bad happened! Needless to say, I finished baby proofing that cupboard before 7:30 also!

To top everything off . . . Abby ended up being the first person to give me a bloody nose! She wanted to wake me up and decided that the best way would be to wake me up would be to stick her figure all the way up my nose! It worked . . . I woke up! Good thing she is super cute!
If you look close, you can see the new additions to my pretty smile . . . TEETH! Daddy had to stop calling me toothless now! :)
Week 39:
Roland and I must be doing something right: whenever Abby hears one of us say, "I love you!" as we are getting off the phone, she will look up at us and say, "Mama?" (if it is Roland on the phone) or "Dada?" (if it is myself)! She is so cute!

Abby and I went down to visit my parents to help celebrate my dad’s sixtieth birthday! We surprise Dad by coming! He had just thought that Katie was going to be there, but Vicki and I (and Abby) surprised him by joining the party! Abby went on her very first hayride in her brand new pink winter coat with matching boots! She was so cute, as always! The only thing better than having my dad as a dad is my daughter having him as a grandpa!
Check out this NINE-MONTH-OLD who is super excited to wish you a very Happy Holloween! :)
Week 40:
Abby learned how to crawl up the stairs that are out in the hallway in our apartment building. I had been putting her down and letting her try climbing up the stairs every time that I did laundry for about a month . . . and one day, she did it! We are so proud of her!

Abby likes using random things, like thermometers, as a conductor’s baton! She is going to do something with music when she grows up! Whenever I have music on she always dances to it or tries to sing along or conduct the music like a band teacher! She has music in her blood!

Abby also had her very first bubble bath . . . and now she doesn’t think there is a better way to have a bath than with a bunch of bubbles! BUBBLE TROUBLE!

My parents took Abby and I on a little road trip up to the temple! It had been such a long time since I ad went, and it was just what I needed! My mom watched Abby while I was in the temple! I am so grateful that we live close enough to go to the temple, and that my family is willing to help with Abby so I can attend! What could be better than that?

Abby had her nine month old check-up and she is now 18 pounds 8 ounces and is 28.5 inches long! She is growing up so fast! I am still having a hard time believing that she is nine months old already! She has officially been alive outside of the womb longer than she was in it! Time sure has flown by!
We went for a little green since it snowed! :)
Well, that is what has been happening in our lives for the past six weeks . . . Roland is still working hard at school and at work! We are so proud of him and grateful for all he is willing to do for us! He really is our superman, my hero!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

New Cousin and Cruising Abby


Have I mentioned yet that Abby is cruising? Remember how a couple weeks ago I said that she had pulled herself up and she had just mastered crawling? Now she is cruising along and climbing over things! Next thing I know, she is going to be pushing things over to help her climb up onto things! Bing a stay at home mom really is a full time job plus overtime! I might not get paid in real money (only Monopoly) and I don’t get real vacation time or weekends off, but with all of the smiles and hugs and kisses that I get, I get paid better than anyone else in the world!

I was pretty excited that I could go to the Relief Society Enrichment Activity this week! Roland had the night off, so I carpooled with another sister from the branch and was able to have some ADULT FEMALE conversation without a baby on my hip! It was AMAZING to have some me time, but kind of weird not to have her with me!  When I came back home, I arrived to a somewhat clean house (no worse than I left it), dinner made, a husband doing homework, and a sleeping baby! What a great husband I have!

On Friday, September 21, our family grew just a little bigger; Emily Evelyn Huckbody was born at 7:20 AM! Emily was 5 lbs. 14 oz. 16 inches long. What a little miracle baby she is and a blessing to us all! I am so proud to be her aunt! Roland’s sister, Nicole, and her husband, Joseph, are amazing people and wonderful parents! It was a very complicated pregnancy and we weren’t sure if she would make it to birth alive, but she is a fighter! We don’t know how long we have with little Emily, but we are going to live life to the fullest and appreciate each and every moment that we have with her! Emily is pretty much the cutest thing ever and I am so glad that she is part of our family! J

One morning this week I went in to check on Abby and I found her sleeping … on her stomach … on top of her blanket … with her head where her feet should be! Has my silly girl figured out how to fall back asleep on her own? I guess only time will tell! Wish us luck!

I think Sunday just might have been one of the hardest days of my entire life … Abby thought it was time to get up and play at 4:30 in the morning! That wouldn’t be the end of the world, if church wasn’t right at the time that Abby usually takes her morning nap! Let me just say, it was interesting and I am so glad that Roland didn’t have to work until AFTER church so he could take over! I was able to get Abby to take an afternoon nap, so it wasn’t a totally horrible day, because when Abby is sleeping, I can sleep!

A happy baby fabric in honor of Abby's new cousin Emily who was born on Friday! :)

Monday, September 24, 2012

Fun With Daddy


This week I learned something new … if you are going to lock your keys in your car, then make sure you lock them in your car while you are in Wisconsin Rapids! The police department will unlock your car for FREE and save you from having to call of locksmith and pay for them to do it!

Also this week, Abby was having fun playing with her daddy and then he had to go to school. He said goodbye to her and then left. Not even a minute later, Abby was at the front door, hitting it, and crying for her daddy to come back! When I tried to have her come to me so I could distract her, she took one look at me and turned back to the door and pouted some more! I determined that someone needed a nap, because Daddy wasn’t going to be coming home for another couple hours! Lucky for me, she agreed to the nap idea! Roland thought it was pretty funny that she missed him!

Abby loves her daddy so much! One day this week, Abby escaped from me after I had dried her off from her bath, but not put a diaper on and she B-lined for her daddy who was grading some papers. I got to her before any messes were made, but as soon as the diaper and sleeper were on, she was back at him and pulling on his pants leg like she was trying to say, “Daddy, let me help!” Roland’s mom and dad say that they remember when Roland was Abby’s age and doing that to his dad too! I guess it must run in the family!

Roland and I took Abby on Saturday to lots of different community events!  First we went to the Farmer's Market, then the annual Arts in the Park, and then we finished up by going to Dozynki Harvest Fest! We had so much fun and Abby had a blast! We are going to have to make a habit of doing this kind of things! At the Farmer’s Market there were lots of venders that were selling some fresh cut flowers along with the fresh fruits and vegetables. Due the all of the flowers, the bees of the whole entire county decided to come check things out, too! One of the venders had a sign up by their flowers saying, “The bee is free. No refund for the sting!” Abby had fun dancing to the polka music with her daddy at Dozynki. I love watching Roland with our daughter; it is fun to see how he tries to help her explore this big world!

So, this week I did bake something, and my helper helped by pouting again! I made some Apple Crisp! I had to call Roland’s mom to find out what type of apples to buy, and this time I used Roland’s sister, Nicole’s, recipe (or something close to it)! Last time I tried to make Apple Crisp, I used the wrong pan and the recipe I used only called for a light sprinkling of crisp topping … it was pretty disappointing! This time, I redeemed myself! Roland said it was perfect! I kept on telling Abby while I was making it that she might not realize it now, but someday she will come home from school and say, “Yay! Mom made Apple Crisp!” Sadly, that day was not today!

It is officailly FALL! Abby is looking forward to those crunchy leaves that her mommy has been telling her all about! :)

Pulling Up . . . Soon to be ON THE MOVE!


Did I mention that last week Tuesday was the first time that Abby pulled herself up to a standing position?  Yep, she just figured out how to crawl and now she wants to walk! Boy, do I have my work cut out for me or what? With both of Abby’s parents figuring out how to walk around 10 months old . . . I just might have a toddler on my hands before I know it! J

This week Abby and I did some baking!  Roland had mentioned (not complained) that I hadn’t really baked anything for a while and hinted that if I somehow could manage it, he would love for me to do it again! J So, I took the hint! Abby helped me bake some oatmeal raison cookies (she was playing at my feet the whole time with some old measuring spoons) then she took a long nap so I could bake some banana bread! Roland came home saying that he could smell something yummy as he was coming down the hall! What a great guy I have there! My baking adventure went so well that day, so I decided that I would save us a few pennies and bake some homemade bread … well, let’s just say that pretty much the whole time Abby was sitting at my feet pouting because she didn’t want Mommy to bake bread, she wanted Mommy to hold her and play with her! Someday Abby will appreciate it that I bake homemade bread for her! J

Roland has started back up with school and Abby and I are starting to get used to his new schedule.  I took Abby down to visit my parents  one of the days that he was gone all day long! Abby had fun with Grandma and Grandpa! They had fun seeing her again and not being completely empty nested, even if it was just for a couple of hours! While visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, Abby had her first taste of “real” food! I gave her a taste of the cooked green beans that I had on my plate, and she was puzzled at first, but then she just chewed it all us and was looking for more! What a big girl she is becoming!

Another thing we discovered this week was that Abby is just as ticklish as her mommy is, and daddy loves it! I think she likes it too, after all, she keeps on laughing and giggling and smiling these great big smiles while pulling on her daddy’s hair! Yep, I taught her well, you can let them tickle you, but you pay them back by pulling their hair or something like that! J

Abby just can't help but smile when her Daddy is around! She sure has become a daddy's little girl, she even cries sometimes when he has to go to school or work . . . it is so cute how much she loves that guy! :)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Update on Abby #2


Okay, here is the rest of the “what is new” with Abby (and her Mommy and Daddy)!

Week 29:
·         Abby pushed herself up from her belly to a sitting position this week.
·         Abby has started to blow raspberries, which is super cute, except when she has a mouth full of carrots! Needless to say, dinner time ended early that night!
·         Abby also has started to really want to try to eat just about anything that she sees Roland and I eating. One day this week I had made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I had for some reason had set it down just for a few seconds to quick do something before finishing it, and when I turned back, she had pulled it down from where I had put it, had it in her lap with her hands full of the peanut butter and jelly on their way up to her mouth ... don’t worry, I got to her in time and washed her hands off so we don’t have to worry about finding out if she is allergic to it … yet! I better keep both my eyes on her at ALL TIMES!
·         One of Roland’s coworkers had a family emergency, so he picked up an extra weekend and ended up working NINE days in a row! By the end, Abby and I were starting to really miss him! J 
Daisies are my mommy's favorite flower, so in honor for Mommy and Daddy's second wedding anniversary (one week late) I am looking adorable with some daisies! :)
Week 30:
·         Roland finished up his nine day stretch at work and had a 4 day weekend, so we did something really exciting! We went to visit Roland’s parents in Valentine, Nebraska! It was great to be able to see his Mom and Dad again, and to have Abby finally meet two of Roland’s siblings, her Aunt Faith and Uncle Jed! Now, all Abby has to do is wait until Christmas, and then she will meet her Uncle Sam who is serving a mission for our church in California!
·         Abby also had her first really crawling steps this weekend, a little in my parents’ bath tub for my mom to see, and again at Roland’s parents’ church building for both Roland and I to see! She was doing a lot of scooting around on Roland’s parents’ hard wood floors! Mostly army crawling and pulling herself forward with her arms and letting her legs slip and slide!
·         We introduced Abby to Sweet Potatoes and I think they are her new favorite food . . . she downs them in no time flat and refuses to eat anything after them in a meal, just more Sweet Potatoes!
Abby is studying (the circle) just like her daddy will be doing next week (when school starts back up)!
Week 31:
·         Roland had another 4 day weekend this week, so on Friday Roland took Abby and I to campus so he could get his books and figure out where all of his classes are before they start on Tuesday! Walking around on campus made me a little “school sick”, but Roland reminded me that I am doing the best thing in the whole entire world; I am being a full time mom to our beautiful baby girl! He is so sweet! Someday, when he is done with school and our kids have started school, I will go back to school! J
·         Saturday, we took Abby down to Madison to check out the Apple Store at West Towne Mall. We had to get my computer checked out and compare the price of iPads. Here is the verdict on my computer: the bad news is that there is something wrong with the hard drive and they couldn’t just transfer the information off of it to something else, but the good news is that the information is still there, we just need to send the drive into a drive retrieval place! Yay! We calculated it out, and it turns out for Roland with his employee discount, it was less expensive to by his new iPad at Target. He is going to be using it as a notebook this year at school.
·         On Sunday, Abby took us over to UW-Oshkosh to help move Vicki into her dorm! Vicki is super excited about being able to go to college! She is going to be great! Katie gave Abby a tour of campus while the rest of us helped Vicki unpack. Katie is trying to convince Abby to go to UW-Oshkosh too (just like she did, and now Vicki is doing)! Who knows what she will decide to do 18 years from now! J
·         Abby really has started to move . . . that’s right, she is crawling! She was taking a few steps up on her knees and then plopping down to army crawl to where she wants to go, but now she has gained her confidence and is moving as fast as she can on both carpet and hard wood floors! Look out world, here she comes!
·         We introduced Abby to Apricots and Squash this week and she loves them! J
·         Today is Roland’s first day of school of his third year of college! He is looking forward to getting back to school and working more towards becoming a pharmacist! 

Today is my daddy's first day back to school! Go Pointers I am trying to tell the world how smart my daddy is and how cool I am now that I am crawling all over the place! :)


Update on Abby #1

Okay, so I have been really bad about updating this . . . so here is part one of the update of what is going on with us! (My computer died so that is one of the many reasons why I have slacked!)

* At Abby’s six-month check up she was 15 pounds 3 ounces and 26 inches long. (She has grown 8 pounds 1 ounces and
 6 inches since birth, inch per month!)
* Abby was consistently sleeping through the night until the doctor gave her the six-month shots …. Now we have to work towards that again. The doctor has suggested putting a blanket with her in the crib. The blanket that Mommy and Daddy have chosen is the same type of material as her Mommy liked as a baby (the same texture as long johns). I am thinking about making my old beloved blankets square again and putting on a silky binding on it again so it can be used again.
* If you place Abby in a sitting position she will remain in a sitting position.
* She is working really hard at figuring out how to crawl. She can get on her hands and knees and even has figured out that the knees have to move forward, but the hands remain stationery, and if she moves them she belly flops! To get to her knees she’ll push up on her toes and do a little jump to her knees. Sometimes she also likes to raise her bottom up so that only her feet and hands are touching the ground then puts her head down so that she can see her feet. Her Daddy thinks that she is trying to figure out how to walk!
* She can roll and scoot to get where she wants to go. Her scoot/creep is kind of funny; she uses her right hand to pull herself forward while her left elbow is used to give leverage then she kind of lunges forward. (Usually this is done with her left hand in her mouth!)
* Abby is trying to add a little variety to her life and has been introduced to bananas, peas, apples, pears, squash, peaches, carrots and prunes as well as the rice cereal. She loves all of them, but, hates, not dislikes, but hates formula! She also enjoys little sips of water. She doesn’t like water from a bottle or a spill proof cup, is okay with it from a sippy cup, but enjoys it best from a big persons glass!
* Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Her visits have included visiting her friend Bryson (14 months old) in Minneapolis area so that Mommy and Daddy could go to the temple. Bryson tried to teach Abby how to crawl. He would get on his hands and knees by her, look at her, crawl a little, look back at her and seem to give the reassurance of, “Come on Abby, you can do it!” Abby would get on her hands and knees and do a wiggle but just hasn’t figured out how to get the hands to move without falling down!
* She has also had a Skype Talk time with Aunt Nicole and Uncle Joseph (they live in Rexburg, Idaho.)
* She had her six-month pictures and they are SUPER cute, we are going to have a really hard time determining what ones we want.
* Abby had a day that Claire, Daryn and Elise Thiel came to play, then three days that Elise came and played. She loved playing with Elise! Grandpa Jefferson was pretty jealous that his two girls were together and he was almost an hour away! Both Elise and Abby rank pretty high on the list of ones he loves to hold!
* Since Abby had so much exposure to children a little older than herself she has decided to be far more vocal! She is jabbering so much that Great Grandpa Bonney has started calling her Gabby Abby!
* Grandma Jefferson came to visit and watch Abby so that Mommy and Daddy could go out and celebrate their second anniversary! They thought the movie and meal were pretty awesome along with some one on one time together. Abby thought that the 1½ hour walk that Grandma and Abby took was pretty awesome!
*  On Saturday, August 11th Aunt Katie came up to Stevens Point to “kidnap” Christi & Abby. Abby was scared by that “big, active dog”who was just trying to give Abby kisses! Helios was okay when he was outside chasing a ball, but that was as close as Abby was comfortable with. After Grandma Jefferson was finished with seminary in-service she stopped in Coloma, had lunch with Katie & Christi then Christi & Abby traveled to Grandpa & Grandma’s home with Grandma. Abby was able to meet her look alike Grandpa Jefferson who goes by the name of Great Uncle Scott! (Having two Grandpa’s kind was confusing at first! She looked like she was trying to sort out if she was seeing double!) Abby was able meet Christi’s cousin, Josh Jefferson and his finacee Mary! I approve of his choice! He finally gave his approval of Roland (before Josh left on his mission he said that I couldn’t marry anyone without his approval! So, it is nice that two years and one child later that I have his approval!)
* Abby LOVES being outside! She enjoyed being on Grandpa’s lap driving on the golf cart! Yep, Grandpa is teaching her how to drive already!
* This month Abby’s visits have also included going to Grandma & Grandpa Jefferson’s home for several days, Great Grandma & Grandpa Bonney’s home, Great Grandma Jefferson, Great Aunt Toni & Great Uncle Rich’s home, * On her 28 weeks birthday, Abby celebrated by having a boat ride on Grandpa Jefferson’s boat! She LOVES it! 

Check out my baby blue eyes! This was the only way that I could get her not to be holding onto the circle! :) 
Can you believe it? I am six months old today! :)
27 weeks . . . how fast she is growing up!
28 weeks old and super excited about taking the picture because she can hold the circle again! :)

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Barnes and Noble, "Dada", and Bananas

Tuesday was a busy and long day for Abby and I.  I was planning on doing this yesterday, but Abby was having a "I only want to eat or sleep in mommy's arms" kind of day! Needless to say, today I am taking the time to post! :)  This week. Let me think, what all has happen this week in the life of the Fuller family?

Last Tuesday, Roland picked up some extra hours! He has been working pretty close to 40 hours a week, something that is really nice (paycheck wise and helping him learn) but also kind of sucks because sometimes I feel like I never see him! The good thing about Roland is that when he is home, he is ours (Abby's and mine) 100%! He might feel like a zombie, but he does his best to be the best daddy and husband he can be, and I think he is doing a GREAT job! :) I love watching Roland play with Abby before he has to leave for work in the morning, and then when he gets home, he will feed Abby her cereal and get her ready for me to give her a bath.  Her face just lights up when she sees him!

On Wednesday, my mom came up to see me! Abby loves spending time with her grandma! We made dishwasher soap from scratch, and so far it is doing a great job at keeping our dishes clean! It was fun just being able to have some grown up time and some girl time!

Thursday I tried to start giving Abby some rice cereal mixed with some formula . . . let me put that feeding this way, it is a really good thing that I was already planning on nursing Abby until she was at least a year old and not giving her any formula, she HATES it! She would get all excited because she would think that it was going to be her yummy rice cereal, and then as soon as she took the bit, she would start to gag it down!  I felt so bad for her, but I kept on trying to give it to her because I thought it might be one of those "she just needs to get used to the flavor" kind of times.

Friday I gave her some more of the formula mixed rice cereal and it was the same kind of reaction, if not worse. So I called in my backup . . . the grandparents! I called up both my mom and Roland's to see what they thought I should do to help this feeding process go a little better (like it was doing the week before). Both suggested that I might want to mix it with water or some diluted juice and see if she likes that any better, or even try mixing it with something like bananas. I figured since Roland was going to be home for the weekend, he could see what he thinks we should do to help our Abby!

Saturday was a fun day for our little family! Daddy had the day off, so that meant that we had him ALL DAY LONG!!!! We "slept in" a little bit, and Abby started playing with her Ds! I might be in compatition with Roland to see who gets the first word! So far she has been saying "dada" a lot, but never to Roland, actully usually to her monkey . . . I wonder if that means anything! :) We had a little road trip up to Wausau to get my wedding ring resized . . . one of the downsides of having a baby is that your fingers can swell up and then NEVER GO BACK TO NORMAL!!!! All I can say is that I really hope my figures don't swell up with each kid I have, that could get pretty annoying! :) Roland treated me to an Olive Garden lunch for a late birthday meal. Then we walked over to Barnes and Noble (my absolutly favorite store) just so I could smell the books! We picked up two board books for Abby because she was trying to eat the normal paper ones we have at home.  When we got home, Roland tried to feed her some formula flavored rice cereal, and after a few attempted bits, he gave up and mixed up a bowl with some of my breast milk! He said that he wanted her to at least get something in her system!

Sunday is one of my favorite days of the week, I know that I will get out of the house, and I have Roland for the day (or at least used to have him every Sunday, now that he is working in a pharmacy, he will have to work every third Sunday). I have been putting flower head bands on Abby when we go to church lately, and everyone tells me that she looks SO cute in them! Aunt Nicole has a friend that made them so we were able to buy some off of her, the ones that we have for Abby her Aunt Nicole picked out just for her! Lucky girl! We (mostly Roland) decided to start Abby on some bananas! He mashed some up and mixed it with the rice cereal, and I think that she liked it more than she did with the breast milk! I am so glad we have such a willing eater!

Monday was just a normal day for Abby and I. Every week someone comes from a Healthy Beginnings program that Abby is in just to help me come up with fun games for Abby that are just right for what stage of development she is at. This week Joanna brought out a little gumball machine from fisher's price. Every time you push the lever, it will make noise and one of the balls will come out. It didn't take Abby very long to figure out how to make the toy work! She really is such a smart little girl . . . I am going to have my hands full with her! When I showed Roland, his jaw just dropped and smiled! We are so proud of our little girl!

Tuesday was my long day with Abby. We went down to a funeral for someone I had know when I was growing up, he was a very good man and had lived a very long life. I will miss seeing him at church when ever I go down to my parents' church, but he is in a much better place now. It was great being able to spend time with my parents and my sisters and see so many of my friends. Abby is such a social bug and didn't want to stop, even to eat! Silly girl! When we got back home, she played with her Daddy for a little bit and then she was out for the count!

Well, that was our week in a nut shell! I hope you enjoy this "relaxed" look of our very active girl, she was really trying to eat the circle this week BIG TIME, so this is one of the only ones that I have that she isn't playing with it! :)





Monday, July 16, 2012

Mommy, wow! I'm a big girl now! :)

All I can say is that it isn't tomorrow . . . yet! :) So, as normal, I am going to write this like I am writing it on the day I was suppose to write it . . . almost a week ago! One of these times I will get it right again! :)

My little girl is a "big" girl . . . she has started rice cereal! Yay! Wednesday was a pretty big day in Abby's life. First of all, Daddy had the day off and that always makes for a fun day (family day)! Roland and I were invited by my parents to join them to a baseball game, so we took Abby to her very first baseball game (and the home team even won)! Then after we got home we decided to start Abby on cereal, something she probably could have done a month a go, but I kept holding off because I don't want my little girl to grow up! Though, the look on her face when we started giving her the rice cereal told me that she is more than ready to start this new adventure! Oh, and did I mention that it was her very first 4th of July?!

Abby's first feeding of rice cereal was done by her daddy with her mommy playing her paparazzi! She took her first bite with a little bit of curiosity, but one taste and she was a goner . . . she just couldn't get enough! We made a nice little mess, but had lots of fun . . . which dinner time is suppose to be: FUN! The next couple days (with mommy feeding her) we started to master the art of NOT MAKING A MESS! Yay for mommy! We mixed it with breast milk this week because we figured that she would have a better chance at eating it, but now I am a little worried that I am not going to be able to keep up with her healthy appetite! Just this Saturday Roland came home from work while I was just getting close to finishing up her 2 tablespoons of cereal, so he took over. Abby was acting like she was still hungry, so he mixed her up another 2-3 tablespoons . . . and she ate almost all of it up, there was probably only a teaspoon left! Next week I am going to try mixing the cereal with some formula to see if she will still eat it that way! Wish me luck!

As for our little mischievous 23 week old picture . . . I don't know if she was hungry or if the paper circle became a new "toy" that needed to be sucked on, but I think it could be qualified now as "well loved"! Want to know how I knew the photo shoot was over . . . she rolled over and started to play with the pile of clean laundry that I had on the other side of the bed. I am beginning to think that Abby really likes the color red. When ever she sees it on a shirt in our laundry, she b-lines for it! I told Roland this and he just laughed and told me that she probably associates that color red with her daddy, after all he is usually in Target "red" when ever she sees him! :)

Num num num! This week's circle is yummy!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Happy (one day early) Fourth of July!

Sorry, I was a little lazy in writing up my blog . . . at least it gets done, right!? (I am just going to write this pretending that I wrote this on Tuesday . . . the day that I was suppose to write it, the day I DID take the picture . . . so, at least I have one thing going for me, I take the picture on the day that I say I am going to take it!)

This week was Roland's first week of working as a pharmacy technician at his new job up at the Wausau Target Pharmacy! At the end of the week, I asked Roland two questions: "what more will you be doing when you actually become a pharmacist?" and "do you still want to be a pharmacist when you grow up?" He answered both with a great big smile, "I will be able to consult both the person receiving the medication and the doctor prescribing the medication, I will be able to . . . (fill this part in with lots of excited jabbering about all the things he is looking forward to doing when he becomes a pharmacist!)" Can you guess what the answer to the other question is . . . can someone say, "YES!!!!" :)

I love that he loves his new job! The only down side to it, is that this week Abby and I really started to struggle with bedtime! I even text my mom and mother-in-law telling them that I had a baby for sale, everything included, no delivery, only downside is that bedtime is a pain! They reminded me that there would be days like today, but it gets better with time! :) And they are right, Abby and I just need to listen more to each other (oh, okay, so I need to listen to her more) and compromise (I need to be willing to go with the flow and not "force her" into things). Sigh, it is really too bad babies don't come with instruction manuals like cars!

On Saturday, (even though we hadn't spent the whole week together) our little family went in opposite directions for the day . . . don't panic, we just did separate things! Roland had been trying to set up a time to go golfing with a couple buddies from work for about a month, and this was the only day that worked out for them! Abby and I went down to my parents' for the day to see my cousin Amy who just got back home from serving a misson for our church in Poland. can't believe that it has been 18 months since I have seen her! I missed my Amy Lee so much! (On a side note, because Amy went out the same month that my brother-in-law, Sam did, that means he will be coming home in less than 6 months! Yay! I can't wait to see him!)

When my cousin saw Abby, she kept on saying to me, "I can't believe we are old enough for you to have a baby!" and "You have a baby!" She just couldn't get over the fact that we really are growing up and old enough to be married with a baby! Since Amy and I are only six months apart, it feels a little crazy to be this old . . . old enough for her to have served a mission and old enough for me to be married with a baby! At my cousin's party, one of our friends came up to us and Amy said to him, "Tyler, can you believe it? She has a baby?!" And Tyler said to her, "If I didn't see it, I wouldn't have!"And then to me, "YOU MADE A PERSON!!!!" hahaha Why, yes, I did! I did make a person, and what a cute little person she is! :)

Since there was no 31st of the month, I just used the end of the month to mark the progress . . . so check out this picture of my FIVE-MONTH-OLD baby girl! She is getting ready to celebrate her very first Fourth of July! :)



P.S. I just remembered something . . . At the other outdoor picnic that my parants, Abby and I went to on Saturday (before Amy's), Abby started sucking on my waterbottle that I had been dringing out of, so I opened it a little bit to see what her reaction would be to when she got something out of it . . . let's just say, she is a BIG fan of getting water out of a bottle, she pretty much drank the rest of my water! Opps! :) Then later at Amy's party, I had to run over some dinner to my sister, Vicki, so I had my sister, Katie, watch Abby for me. When I came back I found my little girl with chocolate frosting smeared over her cheeks! They were trying to pull a fast one over me by telling me that Abby's first REAL food was chocolate cake! hahaha

Friday, June 29, 2012

21 Weeks - Visiting With Grandma Great

Okay, so at least this post is only three days late! This week Abby were able to go down to stay with my Grandma Jefferson while my Aunt Toni and Uncle Rich went out to Utah to pick up my cousin, Amy, who just got back from serving a mission in Poland! We had a BLAST!

On Thursday, my Dad put Abby to bed for me, so I could go to a Relief Society meeting with my mom! They had a fun time and I think now Abby wants her grandpa to put her to bed every night! My grandma loved being able to see my little girl with my dad!

On Friday, Abby and I went with my mom and grandma to get grandma’s blood check out. Before going there, we went out to lunch! It was fun having some girl time out of the house!

Saturday brought for us a free day, so mom took Abby and I over to visit Aunt Vicki at the park and then up to Piggly Wiggly to pick up dinner. Abby had fallen asleep in the car ride over to the park (a less then 5 minute drive) so she was a little grumpy when I took her out of her car seat, but as soon as she saw Aunt Vicki, she had a great big grin on her face! We had a delicious dinner with Klish and the missionaries. It was fun to see “Uncle” Klish again! ☺

Roland drove down after church on Sunday to pick Abby and I up to go back home. It was fun to see baby Kirby again at church, but this time, both of the babies were grumpy and in need of a nap! I think Abby also missed her daddy!

Roland started his new job on Monday and LOVES it! He said that he still wants to be a pharmacist when he “grows” up, so I am more than happy for him! ☺

Momma's happy little girl!

Week 20 - Daddy Gets a New Job!

This week Roland found out that he had been accepted for the new Pharmacy Technician potion that he wanted! He is pretty much over the moon! He is starting up there on June 25th! What a great opportunity for him to see what it is REALLY like to work in a pharmacy! I hope he still wants to be a Pharmacist when he grows up after this! ☺

We found out that our car needs to spend some time at the car doctor before Roland starts working up in Wausau and has to travel about 30 miles per direction to get to work! That is no fun, but I much rather find out before than have him broke down on the side of the road!

This week was also Father’s Day and my birthday! Roland just loves being a daddy to our little Abby, and she just loves her daddy! She is defiantly a daddy’s little girl! ☺ I am so blessed to have so many good men in my life. I have two of the best dads, one I was born to and the other I had to wait 21 years to get, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world! After church we went down to my parents’ home to have dinner with them. The next day was my birthday . . . I really can’t believe that I am 23 already! Crazy!

So, if I had wrote this on the Tuesday that I was suppose to, I would have said that we went swimming with Abby again today. The crazy part of that Tuesday was that we didn’t come straight home after gong swimming; we took a trip to the ER! No worries, everyone is safe and all right! Roland was taking one last dive off the diving board, and on his way up out of the dive; he grazed his face on the bottom of the pool where the pool had an incline. He got a nice goose egg and cut on his forehead, an abrasion on both the brim of his nose and his chin, and a small chunk of tissue was missing from right above his lip, but besides that he is perfectly fine! (Already only a week and half later he is almost all healed up!) The nice thing was that Abby didn’t cry when she saw him, in fact she gave him a great big smile and laughed at him. Maybe this means she is gong to be a doctor when she grows up! ☺

Well, here is Abby’s week 20 photo . . . Enjoy!

Look how good I can hold my head up! :)

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Week 19 - Little Swimming Girl!

I know, I know! It has been FOVEVER since I have blogged, but I lost the cord that connects from the camera to my computer! :( I am right now borrowing my mom's so I can upload new pictures now! YAY!!! Since it has been three weeks, I am going to post them in three different posts, but write them all up right now! Hopefully Abby will let me! :)

Okay, so three weeks ago our lives kind of looked like this: my phone attempting to learn how to swim, a new job interview for Roland, Abby's very first bath in the big tub, and swimming for Abby for the first time!

My phone slipped into the sink of water that I had some of Abby's soaking in to get some stains out of them. I made a quick rescue and had it sit in some rice for about two days. The results are that my phone still works! YAY! The only thing wrong with it is that the water shorted out the Bluetooth. :( The big bummer about it is that the Bluetooth is how Roland gets his schedule over to me, so now I have to put it in manually! Oh, well! At least it works! :)

Roland had the great opportunity to go in for a job interview at the Target up in Wausau for a Pharmacy Technician position! Roland was super excited, because this is in the line of work that he wants to do when he gets done with school . . . he is going to school to become a Pharmacist! This job would be a step in the right direction! :) Mom watched Abby so I could go up with him to the interview. When he got done with the interview, he felt very good about it! They said they had one more interview to do on Monday, and then sometime next week they would hear back from them! So I will put in next week blog the result! :)

I had decided that Abby was making a big enough mess in her little bathtub, so it was worth a shot to try the big one! SHE LOVED IT!!!! Splash! Splash! Splash! That is all she did the whole time she was in the tub! She loved it so much I let her stay in there playing as long as she wanted . . . and she only wanted to come out when that water started to get cold! :) What a cutie!

On Monday, we took Abby swimming for the very first time! We figured since she loved the bathtub, that she would love swimming! We were right! :) She had so much fun, and we did too! It was so cute watching her and her daddy explore the water!

Here is the long awaited weekly picture! :)


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

My oh my what a wonderful day!

This weeks was a pretty great week! This week Abby turned FOUR months old! Where is the time going? Another "where is the time going" moment this weekend was at my little sister, Vicki's, high school graduation! I was four and half years old when she was born so I remember it happening . . . I can't believe that she is already old enough to be going to college!

On Friday, Abby had her four month check up (which brings more shots! Yuck!) Abby is growing like a weed and keeps on meeting those developmental mile stones! I am so proud of her! She also did really good with her shots this time, she hardly even cried! As soon as I picked her up she stopped crying, and that was it!  Abby is now 12 pounds 2 ounces and is 25 1/4 inches long! What a big girl she is growing into! She has gained a whole FIVE pounds since she was born and grown over FIVE inches! :)

On Sunday, we went to church with my parents. In their ward one of my childhood friends lives with his wife and son. His son is only 10 days younger than my little Abby! In Relief Society, Abby and Kirby had so much fun playing together! One of the things I loved most was how when I put Abby down next to him, they had looked at each other, and she got this great big smile. It was the same big old smile that she gets when she see Roland walk through the door, the "I know you and I am so happy to see you" look! It made me smile because she does know him, only four months ago they were both up in heaven waiting for there turn to come down here to Earth! :)

Abby and Kirby on their first play date! :)
My favorite thing that happen this week happened only yesterday! My little Abby rolled over from her back and onto her tummy! I know, pretty exciting! The nice thing, and the big surprise, is that I even have it on video tape! I just happened to be videoing her at that moment, so the whole thing is right there for all of us to see and remember forever! Yay! :)

I picked a green fabric to help celebrate Vicki's graduation . . . Go Green Devils!

18 weeks old and happy as a clam because she rolled over from her back onto her tummy yesterday for the first time!