Sweet Girl

Today our precious girl woke up at 5:30....mama not happy about that....Then, I went in there, picked her up and she snuggled right onto my shoulder.  This girl melts my heart.  I can deal with being up early one morning because of those incredible cuddles.

Besides waking up at 5:30 today (she went back to bed until 7:45......) Abby has been an absolute delight these past few (like 10-12) days...I am loving every minute of being her mommy.

Some things she does:

• Says more and all done with sign language (that REALLY helps during breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
• growls like a lion
• points to her head and mouth when asked
• starting to stand all by herself!  She will be at the couch and then will let go of the couch and pick up a toy with both hands.
• She LOVES crawling up the stairs and will do it at any moment she sees a free "passageway" (we block off the stairs with the ottoman)
• She is SUPER flexible..She goes everywhere with us
• She loves to get the remote
• She is an eating machine and always blows us away by how much she eats - favorites are peas, carrots, bananas, cheese and bread.
• She hums along to the songs we are singing
• she dances all the time (even when a commercial comes on - or to the ticking of the scale while mommy is watching The Biggest Loser)
• She is starting to be more cuddly and will lay her head on mommy and daddy's shoulder
• she LOVES drinking water when she is in the bath.  We turn on the shower and she sticks her entire face in the flowing water and drinks.
• She says "dada" all the time, when Steve walks into the room, when she sees a picture of him, when I go to get her in the morning, when he gets in the car...She is a daddy's girl.
• She is only the 50% for weight and height but is wearing size 24 month clothes...Something is wrong with this system.

I guess that is it for now, I just want to remember this.  Being Abby's mom is so much fun!

Running

Recently, I have been running.  And although I really never "want" to run, once I get on the treadmill (yes, it is cold in MI, no outside running for me...) I sometimes actually enjoy it.

One reason I really enjoy it is the treadmills at our gym.  We go to Anytime Fitness.  Now, it is not a fancy place, literally, it is a gym with equipment...no classes, child care, etc.  However, it is close and that enables me to run up there, workout, and get back before Abby wakes up from her nap (Steve is home, of course....).

Anyway, the treadmills are great they each have their own TV (with cable...) and a docking station for my phone.  I can charge my phone and listen to the pandora station titled "Pop and Hip Hop Power Mix"  Wow, that is a good one!  I actually smile when I run listening to this station!

And, listening to this station allowed me to run 7 miles yesterday...That's right, 7 miles, no stopping...I even felt good enough to speed it up to 8.2 for the last minute of my run.

And, as a side note....
(In heaven, I think God is going to give me rhythm....My secret goal in life is to be a back up dancer....Whenever a good song comes on, I think through the "moves" as if I was someone dancing in the background).  I am sure I look hilarious on the treadmill as I am just slightly moving my hands to my own "dance"

Her new favorite toys....

For Abby's birthday, Grandma and Grandpa got her magnets so we could put pictures of family on the fridge...She LOVES them!  

(I know this because she has been playing in this exact spot for the last 30+ minutes).  

I love Uncle Andy...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last year...This was our little girl (I seriously didn't think I would have her by Valentine's Day last year...And surprise, surprise, she came 12 days before Valentine's Day!)

 Aww...Our little cross eyed girl!

and now....

 Yes, those are sunglasses...She is learning from her friend Alice on how to be a diva...Alice likes shoes....Abby likes sunglasses.

This is when the picture taking got tough...This is Abby crying.  In my mind she is saying, "Mommm...This is not fun for me, please stop!"

 "That's it, I've had it...Headband is coming off..."

Happy Valentine's Day from our family to yours!

Cooking Machine!

In the last two days I have been a cooking machine!  All because of our new freezer!

I made:

Lasagna

three batches of Tuscan Soup

three chicken pot pies

AND

four trays of enchiladas

Stocking up for the winter?  Kind of...Making meals for two other families and an extra one for us!  I have really enjoyed it!  And, I love that we have a place to freeze and store it all now...I did have to shop for this food extravaganza...But our meals for the next two weeks are all from what we have stocked up!

This means...One happy mama, because she doesn't have to go to the grocery store 

(maybe for produce...)

A day in our life....

The cutest girl ever...(I'm the mom, I can say that) In a puma jumpsuit!

"Hey, look what I found!"

"Mama, don't tell me NO"

"This is soo cool!"

"Whaat? I didn't do anything wrong!"

Blue Eyes

We had naked time when Abby spilled her milk on her shirt....

Then momma was a cooking machine....We got a new freezer in the laundry room and it has changed my life! I now can plan ahead for meals, shop the sales, buy in bulk!  It is great!

So, one thing I HATE doing is cutting onions...I always end up crying and then the house smells like them all day.  Now, that I have room, I can spend a ton of time cutting up onions, freezing them in baggies, and then when I need them to cook, I already have them all ready to go!

Onion madness......(it is hard to tell they are onions because there are SO many! - or it is a terrible picture....)

Mascara face.....

And...we call this the lego train....Abby stands up on to reach in the box, pulls out a block, then as she stands up again the box slides....She made a lego train of all the legos she pulled out while playing...

That's a day in our life!

Abby's first birthday party!

The birthday girl! (I think she is getting more teeth...In almost every picture she has something in her mouth!)

 Goodie bags for the cousins!  I wish I took a picture of the butterfly hair clip I made them!  Bummer!

 Before the fruit was cut up for a fruit salad...the caterpillar says, "On Monday she ate through one apple, but she was still hungry...On Tuesday, etc."

 Flowers and a butterfly cake

 Mama and her baby

 Dad-o and his baby

 No big deal, just chewing on a hammer.

 Sam LOVED reading with Lynn...I mean, look at her face!

 Nana and the Bubba

 The God parents!

 Uncle Andy drove all the way in from Chicago.  We missed Auntie Brittany, but will see her soon in DC!

 The game show host...Holy cow!  Those are Uncle Steve's pants (Yes, Steve has an uncle who is also named Steve) from when he was younger!  This is his shirt too...the blazer was a goodwill find.

 Craig and Lynn

 The cutest outfit ever from Great Grandma Klenke!

 Grandpa Paul

 Grandma and Grandpa

 Yum, I could get used to this sugar business...(She is wearing a very hungry caterpillar onesie!)

 The prizes for the game show winners.  Baby food jars with M&M's in them.  The lid of the baby food jar has a magnet on the outside and on the inside is a picture of Abby....So when they are done with the M&Ms they can use the top as a magnet with a picture of our sweet little nugget!

 A book for everyone to sign so we can remember her big day (The Very Hungry Caterpillar was our theme)

 Decorations and the slide show...Dad made a great slide show of all sorts of pictures of Abby...It was so cute!  

 All the food before I got it all ready...we had pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and fruit salad.  I am glad I took a before picture because once we needed to eat, I never had time to take a picture of it all put together nicely....So, this is what you get :)

 Sam is in LOVE with Abby!  Abby loves her too...Whenever we go over to their house Sam comes in the kitchen, Abby starts jumping around in my arms and laughs...It is so cute!

 Love from Auntie Jen

 Auntie Jen is so much fun!!!

All in all it was a fantastic day!  We loved having family over to celebrate our little girl!