It's a .....

Hi! Thank you to all who participated in the poll! We had fun watching the numbers change. Well, the technician looked and she kept saying things like, "come on, move just a little," and "stop doing that!" We have a very active baby in there, but ony when the baby wants to :). Abi was too! The same technician used to say the same things to her. I told her I wanted her to put the answer to the burning question into an envelope and seal it so that Mark and I could open it together. She did just that, but not before she accidentally turned the screen to me, showed me everything and explained her guess. Yes, I did find out that day.... by mistake. For those wondering, I did tell Mark when I go home. We kept it to ourselves until Christmas morning though!

The technician was only committing to 80% accuracy as the umbilical cord was there as well. When I heard that, I was hoping for a story like my friend Jessica where they weren't100%, but at the last second everything was clear as day! However, not the case. The umbilical cord just didn't want to move that day. Have I dragged it out long enough? ;P It's a girl! We will know 100% toward the end of January, but after comparing pictures online and knowing what Abi's picture looked like, I would be surprised otherwise.

Onto the next burning question many seem to have. Yes, we are thrilled! We would be thrilled either way, so I guess I didn't need to say it :) However, many are asking if we are okay with that since we already have a girl and the answer is, "of course!" We are blessed with the opportunity to raise another child and are humbled that our Heavenly Father would bless us with this gift. He has a plan for our lives, our children and all the details in between so we get excited about the reveal of every detail along the way. This is one of those exciting details!

Happy New Year! Have a wonderful day, evening and night, be safe and we will check in next year!

Fun in the Snow

As promised, here are some pictures of Abi's first snowman, along with her first ride on the lake across the street! We have some wonderful neighbors and Abi loves to watch and play with the neighbor boys. I know that she would play with the girls too, but there aren't any! :) One of the boys came and helped build the snowman on our porch. Then a few more joined in the fun on the lake, all taking turns pushing her n her sled and then giving her a turn on the "big boy" sled. She had a ball! And boy was it cold out there on the ice. Daddy even made a snow angel. Enjoy!

Sunny Florida

We are in sunny Florida and I must say it is nice to be able to take Abi for walks to the park in December! I promised pictures of Abi's first snowman and will get that up this evening - I am a little behind!

I wanted to pop in for just a moment to ask you to join in a ittle fun! If to look to the right --> you will see a poll. Please let us know if you think we are having a boy or girl! This will be fun to track and then we will let you know the results when we find out :)

I need to run, but will be back soon!

Yikes! A New Cry!

It's 4:50 a.m. The house was quiet, peaceful, everyone sleeping when all of a sudden....... a strange, unknown cry from the nursery! Yes, Abi started crying in a panic, a cry that she has never done before, and scared me right out of the bed (not to mention startled me out of a deep sleep)! I ran down and had to make a quick pit stop, so I talked to her from around the corner so she knew I was there. Mark had just fallen asleep before the cry, but also came to the room as he noticed the strange difference in her cry as well. He asked me if I was going to get her before he went in (we have been letting her work through most of her nighttime wake-ups - which are few these days).

"Yes," I said, "she sounds scared and I think we need to let her know we are here."

Mark went in and got her, she grabbed all of her animals and when I saw her and started talking to her she kind of looked dazed - like she was trying to figure out her surroundings. Then she came to me and after a few minutes, I just brought her to bed. I asked Mark if she was shaking when he picked her up and he said she was. Could it be possible she has started having bad dreams? After some milk and a little awake time, she went back to sleep at about 6:45 a.m. and woke up with smiles and talking up a storm at 7:23 a.m. - her usual time. So scary! She is fine though. I think mommy and daddy are okay too :) We just don't wake up quite as refreshed as Abi does when sleep is interrupted ;)

Next post will be about Abi's first snowman! I just have to download the pictures. Stay tuned!

Let the Pregnancy Blunders Begin!

Many who know me know that I am not the most graceful when I am pregnant. Some would clarify that I am not the most graceful, especially when pregnant. Yes, the past proves this through the many trips on the stairs, the fractured ankle at 26 weeks, falling into walls, tripping on my own feet (who doesn’t when you can’t see them?)… I think you get the picture. None can compare however, to the trip and fall on the main stage at Willow Creek last year … I was one week from my due date and I gracefully caught the toe of my shoe on the top step and fell forward. Yes my whale-self fell, I got some help standing back up, smiled and walked to my spot right on the end of the first row! Sometimes you just have to laugh and chalk it up as a memorable experience. What did I learn? Find out ahead of time which way the choir will be entering the stage and make the walk BEFORE you actually file on in front of an audience of thousands :)

It doesn’t seem that this pregnancy will fall short of the amusing blunders of the last pregnancy. :) It seems I may be a disaster in the kitchen this time around! At least a disaster to myself. It seems I have lost my ability to drain pasta water, pour coffee or stir something hot without burning myself. This is not in place of the two left feet mind you, but in addition. Yes I continue to trip, bump into walls, put the whole coffee beans in the basket of the coffee pot instead of the grinder (that is new this time too!), etc. Abi is confused and Mark seems to be getting a good laugh out of it – after he finds out that the burn is not serious of course. I have abandoned slippers and replaced them with slipper socks (I kept catching the toes of the slippers on the stairs last time), so hopefully I won’t be quite a disaster on the stairs. We’ll see! Now it's the slipping I need to watch - we have hardwood floors and stairs. I may have a whole new set of blunders to keep everyone entertained!

Stay tuned for more entertainment! :)

WOW! I can't believe it has been almost a month since I have written! Time sure does fly by. We were out of town for a bit for Thanksgiving and now I am getting back into the swing of things. So much to catch up on! I guess we will start with Thanksgiving.

We first went to NY to visit most of my family and they had snow while we were there! Abi got to wear her snowsuit for the first time and go sledding with her cousins! Every time she went down the hill and we pulled her out at the bottom, she pointed to the sled and grunted to signal it was time to go again! As hard as it was for her to move in the suit, she wouldn't have been anywhere else. She is an outdoor girl for sure!

From there we went to CT to visit some of Mark's family and we had a wonderful time there as well. Abi had some live music by Uncle Bob and experienced her first high school football game. The fields are right behind their house and on Thanksgiving, they had a game so we walked over to see all the excitement. And the drive? We made both long drives in one day! Abi is a star traveler. What a trooper! She rode 12 1/2 hours to NY, 4 1/2 to CT and then 15 back to home! The meltdowns were minimal (really just one on each long drive) and can we get a Praise the Lord for Little Einsteins? Yes, she watched the same movie the whole way home... 15 hours of helping the caterpillar get to the tree so he could get a new outfit and then helping the butterfly find his invitation. However, it kept her happy and she loves the music! We are now taking a break :)

So, now we are home and have had some snow here as well. The first snow of the season came on Saturday. Did I tell you about the story of the neighborhood boys? One thing we LOVE about our location is that the neighborhood kids (mostly boys) play in our backyard. They are middle school and high school age, so their games are a little more intense (but still fun to hear them laughing at each other). So one day they were playing in the back (Abi wanted to play too) and Abi and I had fun watching them run around trying to hit each other with whatever they were shooting. I saw that Mark had pulled out some of our storm windows back there, so I let him know the boys were back there. He sometimes likes to go and say hello. A couple of hours later, we were back outside and all of a sudden Mark looks back and says, "No way! There is no way they did that." I wasn't sure what happened, but the next thing I know the boys are following Mark into the back, all looking a bit somber. Turns out they were using the windows as shields.... ummm yes, glass for shields. Too funny!! We weren't upset that it happened, just that no one said anything. Mark handled it very well and just explained that when something like that happens, they need to tell the homeowner. They agreed to come and help Mark with the leaves in the yard one Saturday. The day they picked was the day of the first snow storm. Yes, they came to rake just as the snow began to fall. So five boys had a blast raking leaves in the snow, at least what they could find. The snow was falling so fast that they began to have a really hard time seeing where they were! AND it was freezing outside!! I think it turned into sleet before they were finished. I made hot chocolate for them when they had done all they could do, but they did have a good time jumping in the leaves and throwing each other in the piles as well. It wasn't really about getting the leaves up, but rather following through with what they had agreed to do. They are great kids! We hope they will still come utilize our backyard. I am sure they will.

During this time, the neighbor's dog was also playing with the boys and Abi was watching from the front door. She was so excited to see the dog and watch him zip back and forth that she was screaming at the top of her lungs! I asked her if she wanted to go outside and she squealed with even more excitement. I explained that she had to put on all the gear, including the snow pants, and she actually helped me put them on. I couldn't move fast enough for her! We got outside and the dog came and zipped past her a few times, knocking her down a couple of times, and she just started laughing. Didn't matter that she ended up face-first in the snow - she was playing with doggie! I guess this answers our question of "how will Abi like the cold and wearing the suit she can't move in?". Mommy is going to need to get some warmer clothes for her legs!

Well, I will try to be back again later today or tomorrow. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Funny Weekend Isms

Okay, so I am going to call this a long weekend as these things started on Thursday. However, some of them too funny to let pass by!

So, Abi and I went for a walk to go see the duckies. When daddy got home I said, “Tell daddy how many duckies you saw!” Daddy asked her, “How many duckies did you see?” She then leaned over and gave him a kiss. Because it was funny, daddy asked again, and again, and again, and again…. I think you get the picture. Yes, every time daddy asked the question, he got kisses! I wanted to get some kisses too, so I asked Abi the same question. She leaned over and gave DADDY kisses! Hmmm… maybe I will try later. So I did. I made sure daddy was way on the other side of the room when I asked. She actually ran to the other side of the room to give daddy kisses! No kisses for mommy. However, if I ask when no one else is around, I get kisses. :) She is something!

Next, all three of us went for a walk to see what else but the duckies. To keep things simple right now, all the hundreds of geese who are taking over our little lakes (they are really ponds) are also known as duckies. They happened to feel like crossing the street, so naturally cars have to stop and wait…. and wait. No, they are not what you call “birds on a mission.” The first car in line was honking trying to get them to move faster, but no luck. He actually jumped out of his car, cell phone still to the ear, and ran after them yelling, “get out of the road you crazy geese!” They all went running and everyone was on their way. Too funny! Oh to have had the video camera!

This next one was not funny, but kind. As Abi and I were returning from a walk, we heard sirens. Abi whipped her head around and was looking to see what the noise was. We waited at the end of the driveway so that we could see and a fire truck was coming over the hill and headed in our direction. When I saw that he was coming right by us, I started backing down into the driveway a little as the sirens are very loud and I didn’t want it to scare Abi when it went by so close. The fireman saw me and turned the siren off as he passed my house, waiting to turn it back on until he had reached the cross street just past our house. Even as he is rushing to help someone in need, he was still aware of his surroundings and responded with such quick kindness!

Okay, back to funny. Abi LOVES to ride in daddy's truck. Whenever we are outside she points to the truck and wants to go for a ride. Today, Mark was cleaning out the bed of the truck, so we weren’t going anywhere. That did not stop Abi from wanting to at least sit in her car seat in the truck! Yes, I put her up in the seat and she watched daddy clean out the bed of the truck. It took her wanting milk to get her out of the truck. She cracks me up! And yes, I sat with her, rear-facing as well, and watched the waterworks.

Abi started blowing kisses this weekend! So cute and she is so proud of herself every time she does that and anything new :)

I will end with this. Abi has been surprising us with signs that she hasn’t done before. We are teaching her some basic sign language to help bridge the gap between her knowing what she wants and actually being able to speak her needs. The first of the newer signs was for “more.” So exciting! The only problem is that sometimes, like tonight, she finds something, eats it and then asks for more. Fortunately it was a cheerio that has gone overboard (they are all over!). Cheerios are always a good guess! The most recent was just a little bit ago. You may wonder why I have all this time to write all of this in one sitting! A whole new entry along with finishing one I started last week. Well, that is because at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Abi pointed upstairs. We have relocated the play room, so I wasn’t sure if she wanted to play or go night night. I asked her both verbally and with signs if she wanted to play or go night night, and she did the sign for night night! Both Mark and I were floored as I have not done the sign very much and she has never shown signs of picking it up. She was asleep before I sat down to rock her. For those of you wondering why the time is so shocking, it’s because she normally goes to bed between 9 and 9:30 p.m. (at least the past few nights). Anywhere between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. is the norm. Looks like an early morning!!!

Little Helper

Hello! It's been a while since I have popped in. I have so many stories to tell, but every time I start to type Abi pushes her way between me and the counter, starts pulling on my pants and whining!! She is teething .....

On the upside, she does love to help around the house. She is a copycat, so she likes to do what everyone else is doing. She loves to help cook in the kitchen:

Concentration before the cooking begins, please.....

Okay, not exactly in the kitchen, but you can sample your food anywhere, right? Have pot, will travel!

She is also a BIG help with the laundry:

Looks innocent enough, right?

"What socks? I don't have any socks...."

Yes, she is a daddy's girl, but mommy's little helper :)

Fun Conversations of a One-Year Old

I am standing here making breakfast and am enjoying the "conversation" that is happening between daddy and Abi. Daddy is asking a series of questions like, "Did you have a good day yesterday? Were you a good girl? Did you walk to the store with mommy yesterday? Did you get a good night's sleep?" and so on. After every question, Abi gives an answer, followed by an explanation as only she can do! We so wish we knew what she was actually thinking and trying to say. However, we also realize that the day is coming when we will wonder if the talking will ever stop! We are enjoying every stage. She continues to keep us on our toes! Like last night, for instance....

We have a refilled water jug in the corner of the kitchen for our water cooler. Because it is a refilled jug, the hole in the top is currently open - just a small hole. Mark asked me the other day, "Hey, she isn't dropping things down in there, is she?"

"No," I replied. "She just looks at it and puts her mouth on it."

Then there is last night. Mark is at a meeting, we just finished tubby time, I am getting her milk ready and I look over and notice her behavior around the water bottle is a little different. I quickly retrace all the previous steps in my head to remember if she had anything that would actually fit through the hole....

We had ducky, but too big for the whole. Besides, he is sitting right there on the floor.

Horsie, froggie and doggie are all way too big and they are still downstairs.

We were brushing teeth in the tubby and the toothbrush is right....ummm... where is the toothbrush!?

"Abi, where is your toothbrush?"

She looks at me, looks into the water jug and there it is! Floating in the water! "Great," I think. "How on earth am I going to get that out of there? I'm creative," I encourage myself. "I can come up with something."

I start looking through the kitchen drawers for something long enough, yet still thin enough to fit in the top of the jug. I found the tongs for the grill! Let's see if those fit! Sure enough, with a little jiggling of the water jug and a couple of tries with the tongs, out comes the toothbrush! The top has now been taped in hopes of preventing another "accident" in the water :) We'll see how long that lasts. She was already trying to figure out how to pull it off last night. Such a smart girl!

Free Basket Rides!

What do you do to entertain your one-year old when it gets dark at 6:30 p.m.? Turn the laundry basket into a mobile vehicle, of course! Abi is ready and daddy is driver number 1 ......

So basket is going around the room at a pretty good pace! Lots of laughter, smiles, no casualties and daddy adds a pillow behind the back for comfort. You have to be comfortable when on a basket ride, right? What happens next? Mommy takes a turn in the control seat. Let's let the pictures tell the story from here....

For those who didn't follow the visual, here is the play-by-play:

Mommy takes the driver's seat and all is well until....

.... a corner comes and YIKES! The basket tips over, game paused, baby on the floor..... still laughing though :)

Abi gets out, gets another pillow, climbs back into the basket, puts the pillow in front (now cushion both front and back), looks at mommy, looks at daddy, sees a blanket, gestures to daddy for the blanket and stuffs that down on top as well.

Now that she can't possibly move anywhere, she smiles, looks at mommy and is ready to go again! GAME ON!

Honestly, is mommy's driving really THAT bad? Okay, maybe that question is better left unanswered. BUT, wasn't it fun?

Addicted to Blogging!

My friend Jessica had this on her site and I thought I would see where I stand in the world of blogging....

62%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Pretty scary since I just started on the blogging scene a couple of weeks ago.... :P

Early Morning Visitor

Abi absolutely loves to sit in the window each morning to look for doggies, cars and any other creatures that happen to come by. This particular morning, we had a squirrel visit! We think he may have wanted to meet horsie! Abi sure did enjoy watching, waving and talking with the squirrel. We have looked every morning since, but no more squirrel visits. we did however have a chipmunk come up to the window! He actually ran into the window, I guess hoping to come in! Silly chipmunk....

Joys of a Copycat

Okay, so our 12 month old continues to surprise us and make us laugh. Both my husband and I have always been around a lot of little children, but I guess until you are around them 24/7 you don't fully grasp how quickly and fully their personalities begin to develop!

The other day, my husband was outside working on the lawnmower. I took our daughter out to play as well, and she immediately saw dad working, her red car and proceeded to push her car over by the lawnmower. She then lifted the trunk, pulled a couple of treasures out, put some more in and continued to inspect the rest of the car. Then she pushed it around a little, brought it back and repeated the same inspection. Too funny!

She would periodically look over to see what dad was doing just to make sure she wasn't missing anything, and would occasionally go over to see if she could help. Just to make sure everything was in good condition with the mower, she decided to go in for a closer look...

"Everything looks good, Dad!"

Then ..... nap time! Total meltdown. What happened to the happy helper? Mean Mommy! Mean Daddy!

Nap time over, game on!

Yes, the ups and downs of a toddler's life - so rough!

Later that day, she stopped the car on a walk with daddy, sat down to inspect the front wheel, scooted to the back (while still in the seated position) and proceeded to check out the rear wheel. A daddy's girl for sure!

Sleep? What's that?

My bedtime seems to be getting earlier and earlier. I am not sure if it is the fact that it gets dark and 5 p.m., that I have a 1 year old or that I am pregnant. However, most nights early-to-bed seems to work well for me. Except for last night.

When my husband finally came to bed, I got up to go to the bathroom, as all pregnant women do all night. "Bang, bang, bang, bang!!! Slam! Shuffle, shuffle. Slam! Bang, bang, bang!" Yes, that is what I was hearing. Now keep in mind we still have a baby sleeping and I was sleep walking until then. I came back and he was all tucked in the bed - like nothing just happened.

"What was all the noise?"

"What noise?" he says.

"Ummm.... all the banging," as if I would be referring to the quiet noise?

"I was plugging in my cell phone."

Perfectly logical to make that kind of noise plugging in a cell phone, right? Was he building a special box for the phone too? I was too tired to ask any more questions, so I rolled over still wondering how anyone could make that much noise plugging in a cell phone. Then.... toss, turn, toss, turn... then talking? Yes, the man can't sleep so he decides to start talking? I just start laughing, he turns toward me and BAM! An elbow directly into my upper back! Pain would now be the understatement of the night. I believe the bruising is still boring its way deep into the muscle and tissue in my back. The comedy of errors continues and then.... he sleeps! I am wide awake, pain throbbing in my back, and am up for the next 2 hours! Then I wake up about every hour or so after that for the rest of the night until our baby wakes up.

Who needs sleep? Overestimated, right? There's always tonight.....