2010, signing off!

Just a few more things that we did last week-

On Christmas Eve we went to see Carrie, Daniel, Chloe, and Colton.

Chloe was napping for part of the time, but Colton was very excited to see us! (Especially Abby.)

This is his excited face.

He and Spencer had fun talking to each other while we were there.

Mom, Abby has been having fun with her tea set that you sent. All parts of the tea set.

The other day Spencer and I went to a few stores for a little after Christmas shopping, and we got these pretty dresses for $8! They are 18 month sizes- I am looking forward to Abby being able to wear them next year... maybe this one can be her Christmas dress if she still fits it by then.

Aunt Keena came to visit us too! Unfortunately, that is going to have to be another post. Abby and I have come down with another cold, so we are ringing in the new year by ourselves this year, as a little family (I'm probably going to be a party pooper and go to bed early- I'm not feeling too hot.)

We have had a crazy eventful 2010, and we are looking forward to a fantastic 2011! Happy New Year!!

Christmas Day Sampling

Just a few highlights from our Christmas Day. There are lots more- I'm sure you can imagine as it was our first Christmas with Abby.

She had a lot of fun eating her wrapping paper and then discovering her toys underneath.


Loved that wrapping paper!

This delicacy was from Abby's cousin Brookie, who lives in Virginia.

I was there too.

Abby received this dress from her Nana, Marti. She wore it to church today!

Picture taken amid our Christmas carnage.

I was also threatened by Andrea to deliver pictures of the baby in the dress on the blog by the end of the weekend. Or bad things would happen.

Here you go! She loved the dress. Thank you Marti and Dennis!

Merry Christmas

Hope yours is merry and bright. And I hope you can look past the incredible obvious fake-ness of our fake tree.

8 months old

The babe is 8 months old!

She is such a big girl!

She is so smiley and loves to scrunch up her face. She does it sometimes when she has boogers in her nose that are bugging her, but it seems she does it other times when she wants to make a goofy face at us.


I love that she has her own little personality that is coming out, and I can really see it all the time. She's growing and changing in little ways that I can't really pinpoint or articulate. I just hope that I can remember how it feels when I watch her and play with her now. She is changing so subtly that when she exhibits these new little behaviors I sometimes can't distinguish exactly when it started, and I soon forget what she was like when she was a newborn and slept in my arms all day.

We took Abby to see Santa at the mall this week too. Yeah, I guess that's a little creepy, but I so did it.

She was such a good girl, and didn't cry at all. She was very interested in him, particularly his beard. She just kept staring at him, then at us, then back at him. I was allowed to take one picture with my own camera, but was offered to pay $13 (!) for one 5x7 that the helpers took. Um, no thanks.

So there it is. I should have gotten one of them staring at each other, instead of trying to get her to look at me and smile.

He was a great Santa, and when we took her back, he said "She is so cute, thank you so much for bring her in." I thought that was nice that Santa thanked us for bringing him a child, when he sees so many children at Christmastime.

I've been doing a lot of baking- sugar cookies, reindeer munch, toffee squares, fudge, more sugar cookies... caramels are coming soon.

I also made cinnamon rolls. They are currently residing in our freezer to eat on Christmas morning.

Who is excited for Christmas?

That 70's Christmas

We just thought we'd jump on the bandwagon and share a video of our sweet dance moves. (Idea stolen from Shannon- thanks!)
Merry Christmas!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

It's beginning to took a lot like a talking baby

Abby has been accused by some of being a non-talker. It really depends on her mood, and she will yell and grunt and, as of late, say "mama mama" (the noise, not to be confused with Mama, the person) one day or even for one or two hours, and then be mute the next. As she gets older every day, though, her enthusiasm for talking grows and just this last week she has been more vocal than ever. She is also eating like crazy and sleeping like a champ.

[She always sleeps like a champ, sleeping over 12 hours the last 5 nights in a row, but that is another topic for another time. Talk about a growth spurt with that amount of sleep- she'll double in size pretty soon, I think!]

Anyway, I have tried to get some good talking videos for our skeptical family members, and while most are lengthy and always makes me sound dumb, here is one from the last few days.

This is Abby and her dad watching the Patriots game yesterday afternoon. She was yelling so much that I finally grabbed the camera, and of course as soon as I did, she stopped. Spencer issues the warning that he sounds ridiculous in this video, but for at least 10 minutes he and her were bantering back and forth, his noises encouraging her noises, and so forth. She inexplicably stopped when I started filming, so he is left randomly yelling and waiting for her to reciprocate. Nevertheless, she had a very fun time watching and playing with him.

And finally, this was taken this morning. She was getting a little tired of the bananas and pears I was feeding her (she loves her veggies, and not so much the fruit... perhaps I should try fresh fruit next- it has to taste better than the baby food jars.) While she does comes across as slightly ornery, she is still talking quite a bit. She also loves to blow raspberries, which is what she is doing at the start of the video.

None of these are any substitute for hearing her yell in person, as she always tones it down as soon as the camera makes its appearance. I can't quite believe that in a few months she will be able to communicate with us. It seems so crazy to me that she is getting so big (big to me, anyway- she's about 16 lbs right now) and she is going to be able to give me a name and tell me what she wants to play with... but I guess that is what it's like having a baby. They seem so small and fragile and it seems like they will stay like that, and all of a sudden they are sitting up on their own and standing on a chair without your assistance.

Speaking of...

Bonus if you like to see a baby naked in a diaper.

P.S. No teeth yet.

Sorry this is an Abby-heavy post, but I'm sure that is the main reason anyone looks at this blog anyway. Meanwhile, we are very excited to be spending our first Christmas with this little girl!

Camera

I want a new camera. A big, awesome, pretty one.

But when I went to download the pictures on our current camera, I saw these.





I assume these pictures were taken as these two were watching the Patriots game together while I was at work the other day.

They are best friends. It made me smile.

Our camera works well... for now.

Teeny Tiny Thanksgiving with a side of 7 months

Teeny tiny post for a tired mama.
We went to Spencer's parents house for Thanksgiving. The Patriots were playing and were on in the morning. We may have dressed up for the game.


In case you didn't already know, Spencer is a Patriots fan. He's from a little city called Boston.

We didn't stay like that all day. Someone pooped in their outfit, not gonna say who. You know, protect their feelings and all.

Abby has officially decided that she doesn't like bows on her head, by the way. She has started taking them off whenever I put the band over her head.



After all day of sleeping and playing and being held by cousins, Abby finally got to spend some time with her Nana and Papa. They were previously busy cooking our wonderful dinner and cleaning up and washing dishes. Thank you!

The night before we got to see Carrie, Daniel, Colton and Chloe at a family gathering on the Hamill side.

It was fun to see so many cousins, both mine and hers.

And for the old news, that Abby is 7 months (and 10 days) old!

She is so good at sitting up- but don't necessarily go by these pictures- she was trying to eat her toes, which she is also pretty good at.

• She loves carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes. We are going to start fruit soon.
• Still a very good sleeper- she now goes to sleep around 8:30 and wakes up around 7 or 7:30.
• She loves to pull off her socks and put them in her mouth.
• She loves to read (still) and I keep mentioning it because she loves it so darn much.
• She's on the downward end of her first year- newborn no more!

Can I totally wear hats?

So, I am having a hard time figuring out what I want for Christmas. I am liking hats at the moment, but I don't know if I can wear them without looking stupid. What do you think?

Please consider this question while enjoying this gem from Target:

It isn't too late, is it?

I am sure you all know that we are super fun people and are cool enough to do activities in November.


In actuality, we never got around to carving our pumpkins during the Halloweekend, so we did it the other night after Abby was in bed.

Spencer did a Celtics shamrock (you can see his inspiration flung over the swing in the background.)

I did a turkey! Do you like it? Does it look like a turkey, or just a peacock with a mohawk instead of plumage?

My favorite part is its skinny little legs.

I'm pretty excited about toasted pumpkin seeds. I like them. A lot.

We bought Abby stacking rings that she seems to like. She is so good at sitting up too!

She also loves carrots, as it turns out. She has become a really enthusiastic eater over the last few days.


Are you having a fun November? Thanksgiving is only a week away!