toddler antics

Yesterday, Kyle and I split the day to stay home with Abs since our nanny's daughter is sick and she needed to stay home. Abby was sick Sunday night, Kyle found that she had thrown up at some point in the night when he got her that morning, but a load of laundry later - and you never would have known it. Abby was being her ridiculous comical self all day. And I took pictures to prove it to you.

Abby likes to carry things around in her mouth. She also likes to pick things up off the floor with her mouth. In a perfect world, I would spread her food on the ground and let her go around sucking it up with no hands - she wishes. Another one of her favorite "toys" is my work ID badge. She routinely wears it while talking on my phone and it always cracks me up. And don't worry, I don't let her have it unsupervised.

Don't let this face fool you. She's only pretending. Abby loves to take things and throw them on the ground. Then, she'll look up at you as if in total shock at what just happened and say "uh-oh!" Like she didn't meant it. This picture is right after she threw a block she was holding down...2 seconds later she looked up and said "uh, oh" yeah, right.

Abby likes to dress up - with hats and necklaces. Mostly hats. She will walk around grabbing all the hats she can find and make a pile, and then put them all on at once. It's funny. In this picture, she only has my ear muff and her hat on, but before this she was sporting 4 hats at once. Talent?

And of course, having a toddler means they get into everything. The ziplock bags have become a new obsession.

Never trust a quiet toddler. Yesterday, I was checking my email and I noticed it was quiet. I found Abby walking from the pantry to the laundry room where she was donating onions to the dryer. Sigh.
Not too long after, I found her trying to get her cereal boxes out of the recycling. You can tell by her face that she knows she's not supposed to be in there.

Here she found her diaper bag, and the wipes. She only pulled out a half dozen before I stopped her.

One of my favorite things that Abby does now is role play with her dolls and toys. She routinely feeds, tickles, rocks, hugs, and kisses them. Yesterday, since she had found the wipes, she made me laugh by helping Clover (the hippo) blow his nose....

...and wash his hands (complete with the da-bu, da-bu, da-bu sound that we make when washing her hands)

and of course changing his diaper.

most of my pictures turn out like this. I've got to get a faster camera.

Of course, Abby loves to get into the cabinets. She often brings me offerings of measuring cups, cupcake holders, and colanders. I'm so lucky.

She's such a goofball, and I love her for it. If you ask Abby, "what does Abby say?" She usually makes a monkey sound "ooh-ooh, aah-aah" We're not sure why...but maybe I'm beginning to understand...

So, my life with my toddler is fantastic and interesting and fun. And sometimes stressful and hard - but mostly - it's fun.

palm sunday

Happy Palm Sunday people. :)

I had a hard time falling asleep last night for no good reason, so I woke up groggy. Kyle was scheduled to get back from Baltimore around noon, so I was faced with the decision of whether or not I was brave enough to try to take Abby to church on my own.

I decided to go for it. I packed our bag with extra snacks, milk, books and toys. We even made it to church a bit early (that may be a first). Church started outside, which was good. We listened to the palm blessing part of the service and then the congregation makes a loop down the street and back up to the church. That kept Abby occupied and interested in things.

Then it was time for the service, and so the baby-wranglin' began. On the whole, Abby did fine. The thing is, if she gets upset that you're not letting her climb under a pew or telling her she *really* shouldn't be chewing on that lady's jacket - she just goes ballistic. I think she only disrupted the service..4...5 times? Like I was counting. I actually had several people comment on how well she did, because, you see friends, I had had forgotten when I decided to brave this service alone that the Palm Sunday Service is Really long. Well, ok, only about 20-25 mins longer than usual - but when you're pacifiying a toddler on your own, that is a loooong time.

Two funny things happened. During the readings, the priest said the phrase "and they cut off his ear" to which, Abby looked up and said " ear! ...uh-oh..." It was only loud enough for those directly around us to hear, but we all had a chuckle. Later in the service, the only thing that was keeping her happy was to let her wave a diaper in each hand. I dunno. She likes playing with the diapers. Whatever works, right? So as the offering basket was being passed by, I took it and before I could pass it, Abby quickly donated a diaper to the church. Really, she's just at that age where she loves putting things in things. So, here comes a big basket - let's put a diaper in it. Obviously, I took it out, but again, we got some laughter on the pew.

After the service - I was exhausted. I let Abby run around outside for a bit. I tried to get her to hold her palm branch, but she wouldn't play along...so this is the best I could do.

Abby (and I) got a nap after church while we waited for Kyle's plane, that had been delayed. He landed around 2:30 and we picked him up and decided to go have lunch together. In Conway, going to IHOP after church was a familiar routine, but we've never been up here. For whatever reason, it had been sounding good to me, so off we went. I hadn't fed Abby lunch yet (just her medicine), so we were all pretty hungry.

When we got out of the car, Kyle gave Abs a big hug and tossed her around in the air a few times, Abby was smiling, but seemed off. We went inside and were waiting for the waitress to bring us a high chair, and Abby, out of nowhere, projectile vomits all over Kyle and the floor. Welcome home, right?

We were completely taken by surprise. Luckily, Kyle had a suitcase in the car and went to change his shirt while the staff helped us clean up. Abby seemed to be feeling fine. I was a bit worried at first since Reese (our nanny's daughter) had a stomach bug last week. But, the more we thought about it, we figured it was probably having the medicine on an empty stomach and being tossed around. She's been fine since, but man, that was an unexpected experience for us all.

We actually enjoyed lunch after that.

Let's see, the rest of the day has been low key. A little tv, lots of playing with the child, dinner, cleaning, and now a little more tv before hitting the grind tomorrow. One thing's for sure, I'm happy to have my husband back home!

mall days

Kyle flew out of town on Wednesday afternoon to spend some time doing NFB stuff in Baltimore. He'll be back Sunday afternoon, but it has meant that Abby and I have been on our own this weekend.

Yesterday, Friday afternoon, it was finally sunny (after snowing & raining all morning) and I was not in the mood to be at home alone. So, I packed Abs up and we drove down to Natick/Framingham (about 20 mins away) and did some light shopping. My mission was to find an Easter dress, but that was harder than I thought it would be. I ended up getting a few items to bolster her spring wardrobe and some odds and ends we needed (and a few we didn't), but no dress.

Abs and I probably hit up half a dozen stores that afternoon. This is a tricky age. On one hand, Abs is easier than ever to take places. I rarely bring in her diaper bag places and it's relatively easy to pick her up and just go. On the other hand, she doesn't want to sit in a stroller or grocery cart while we shop. She *wants* to walk, to explore, to play, to hide. So, she often throws little fits. Sometimes she throws big fits. Sometimes she'll scream at the top of her lungs with tears rolling down her face, and when I pick her up out of the cart, she is instantaneously giggling. Stinker.

Abby playing in a crawl space she found at Babies R Us. She was quite pleased with herself and wouldn't come back out for a while....who needs toys?

I'm usually pretty good about ignoring her whining. I mean, I know there are people looking at us like I'm "that mom" but there are just as many people who have kids that understand. But, I do have my moments of weakness. And sometimes I just give up shopping to let her walk around and sometimes I just leave the store.

Anyway, it was still a good trip - just tiring.

This morning was great. I didn't set an alarm and woke up on my own time to find the sun shining in the windows and filling the room with sunbeams. There were birds singing outside and I immediately checked to see if I had forgotten to turn up the monitor - but no - Abby was simply still sleeping. I can't tell you how nice that was. Waking up on my own time - bliss.

who doesn't love a little diaper reading time in the morning?

We had some breakfast and decided to hit the malls again. Long story short, we tried a whole bunch of stores and finally found something in the last one that will work. Abby spotted the mall Easter bunny (who was super sketchy and kinda dirty looking) and thought he was pretty funny.

Abby lost interest in the sketchy Easter bunny once she saw this glowing beauty

Today was beautiful, but cold. After shopping we came home and Abs had her nap and then lunch and I was trying to decide what to do with our afternoon. We ended up going back out to Natick to their Huuuge mall that I read had a nice indoor playspace for kids. It was so crowded at the mall, and we ended up window shopping for a few hours. They had a really nice Easter bunny there - but I decided to spend that money other things. $17 for one 5x7? Sigh. Abby and I had a food court dinner and she got to play in the kids area for a while. She had a good time. We came home and had a quick video chat with daddy and then Abs was off to bed.

Abby opted to get some bunny ears instead of paying for the Easter bunny picture - wise investment I say. I'm sure you'll be seeing these again in pictures to come.

So, lots of mall time this weekend. Lots of running around and walking. But it was good - I don't like sitting around the house when Kyle's gone and I'm glad he'll be back tomorrow.

growth charts

I forgot to add these the other day to Abby's 15 month appointment post.

weight @ 15 months: 22.5

length @ 15 months: 32 inches

more update later, just wanted to add these before I forgot

You Capture - A moment

This week's theme is "a moment" I love these themes that are wide open for interpretation. I had so many wonderful moments this week and took SO many pictures. It was hard to just pick a few, but here you go.

A moment looking at Boston as the sun set from Beacon Hill

My sweet friend Leah, her baby bump, and her husband, admiring their growing daughter

My husband telling Abigail why she has to hold his hand when crossing the street

and my favorite - Abs and I sharing some ice cream. I love this picture because this is the kind of thing I used to daydream about when I was pregnant and wondering what it would be like to have a child. A simple, wonderful, classic, sunny moment.

There are already so many other wonderful pictures to see today - go check them out at Beth's site.

big long update

Oh boy. Where do I start?

I suppose I'll start by saying that my best friend from high school and her husband came to visit us for a few days this past weekend. Leah, who is 28 weeks pregnant and her husband, Justin, came to see the city and let me stare at Leah's adorable baby belly. I'm so glad they did. It was fantastic to be able to hug my leah and talk without the aid of a keyboard.

Leah has always wanted to visit Salem, so on Saturday, off we went. The day was beautiful - nearly 70 degrees. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Unfortunately, it's the "off season" for Salem attractions and many of the tours weren't open.

Samantha statue

this is every pregnant lady's dream, no?

Abby hangin' out in front of the message board - Abby very much enjoyed seeing all of the dogs out for walks. We saw so many dogs, and Abby didn't pass up a single opportunity to point and follow after them. She's a little obsessed.

This is from the cemetery where many famous players from the Salem Witch Trials are buried as well as other historical figures.

shackled...but happy!

So we enjoyed our time in Salem, even though many of the attractions weren't open. We made our way back home and recouped before heading out to dinner for some yummy burgers. On Sunday, we all got up and headed into the city to walk the freedom trail. We stopped in the public gardens first to let Abby play on the Make Way for Ducklings statues. She had a good time there - and I sat back and took in just how big she's getting. *bittersweet*

We continued through the gardens and I made Leah let me snap a million pictures of her. I'll spare you most of them. :)

how cute is she?

more freedom trail - I love the old tombstones.

brewing indeed!

Cady's mommy & daddy!

So, as we're walking through Charlestown on our way to Beacon Hill, I saw this doorknob and fell in love. I know, I know, that may be a little odd, but it IS pretty, no?

The freedom trail wore us all out. Leah was a trooper though - I remember all too well how difficult just walking can be - let alone 5 miles of it. Funny story: Justin decided that he would climb the 300 steps to the top of the Beacon Hill Monument. We joked that it would happen, and so of course it did - but he gets to the top and his camera dies. Poor guy. :)

Anyway, That night, I took Leah and Justin to their first Cheesecake Factory. The next day, Kyle and I had to work, so our visitors took it upon themselves to explore Fenway Park and some other city sites. We all went out for dinner (thanks Kelly for babysitting!) at a seafood joint we'd never tried. The food was fine, but Leah started feeling bad so she didn't get to eat much. Poor Leah.

The next day was rainy and Kyle and I were running around taking Abby to the doctor. She's had a runny nose and a cough for a few weeks, but over the weekend, she just was not herself. On Tuesday morning, she woke up screaming and was only comforted by being held and cuddled - and even that didn't work all the time. We actually had her 15 month appointment scheduled at 4pm, but we decided we didn't want to wait that long and took her in early.

Long story short, she has her first ear infection, a sore throat, and of course the cold & cough. We got some antibiotics and she already seems to be feeling much better. We went ahead and had her 15 month check up as well.

She's 22.5 lbs and 23 inches long. The doctors were pleased with her development and were impressed with her vocabulary. That made me happy. Abby got 2 shots, and between those and all the poking and prodding - she was NOT happy. The poor child worked herself into a full sweat just by screaming. I had to pin her down several times and it was sad. Kyle and I teased that we were pretty sure she wouldn't be showing off her "thank you" for the doctors. She was, however, very happy to say "bye-bye"

We had a nice time and I was honored that Leah & Justin chose to spend their vacation with us. I wish it hadn't rained the second half of their trip - but, it is Boston... Either way, it was nice.

As for me, I'm sick again. I was on the mend...but tonight, the fever and aches are back. I don't know why I'm getting sick like this. I've never been one to get sick often, yet I feel like I've been sick this whole year. Ugh. Anyway - I'm going to be heading to bed now. I'll leave you with a few more pictures from the freedom trail.

tokens on Paul Revere's grave

I don't know why she thought the cross walk was so fun, but we must have crossed it 10 times for her entertainment.

a sick Abby, determined to enjoy herself. The instinct to play is so strong.

Boston at dusk from Beacon Hill

mommy to be

I'm here

Sorry faithful blog-followers. I didn't forget about you. We've just been busy with my friend Leah and her husband Justin visiting us over the weekend. Add to that Abby being sick and Kyle leaving for the rest of the week - and I just haven't had a ton of time to blog.

But, I have my pictures uploaded, finally, and will find some time today for a big 'ol long update.

Until then, enjoy this.

You Capture - Reaching

This week's challenge was "reaching" You could go many directions with this, but I've been sickly all week and so I chose to keep things simple.

Abby reaching for her first pine cone. Which she then took a big bite out of...and cried.

Live and learn sweetheart, live and learn.

There is just something about baby feet...especially tip toe baby feet.

This is from a few weeks ago, but I couldn't just leave it out

Thanks for stopping by! Go check out all the other wonderful picture's on Beth's Blog.