grunt. me. manly.

Last week, a lovely member of our local law enforcement decided to pull me over.  He informed me that my right brake light was out, gave me a warning and some advice as to how to get it fixed.  He suggested that I just go buy the bulbs and fix it myself - he said it wasn't hard and it would save me money.

Such a helpful fellow.

It took me a full week before I could find time to run this errand.  I left from work and drove to our nearest Autozone.  The guys there found me the right bulb for my car and about $5 bucks later I was back at my car ready to give this a try.

It's not a complicated process.  Unscrew the cover, unlock the bulb, pull out the old one, and put in the new one.  Replace cover.  done.  

The only problem is that I was by myself, so I didn't have a good way to check the brake to make sure it worked.  Hmm.  

Luckily, as I was pondering this - a man walked by and I asked him if he would mind just watching the light.  He did, and the light worked - much to my delight.  So, then the man kinda laughs and says, "So, did your dad teach you how to do that?"  

I kinda laughed and said, "No, I just figured it out" 

Dude was visibly impressed.  It then dawned on me that, coming from work, I was looking a little girly-er than usual in my little wrap dress, knee high boots, dangly earrings.  The guy kinda laughed and said, "Well, wow, most girls wouldn't...ummm, I mean, most women wouldn't want to mess with that, I know my wife wouldn't have even considered changing it herself!"

I smiled and assured him, "well, I sure wasn't going to pay somebody $50 to do it for me!"

He agreed and walked off laughing and shaking his head. 

Who's da man?  Me, apparently. ;-)

Um, I know this picture is really boring, but I had to document something.  I actually asked Karen to take a picture of me holding the old bulb when I got home, but...I just look kinda silly, so instead, you just get to see my tail light. Ha. 

Oh, and one more thing.  No, my dad didn't teach me how to change a brake light.  But, the first time I got a flat tire - at night - in the rain - my dad, brother, and family friend came to my rescue...and they all stood with umbrellas on the side of the road and watched me, soaking wet, change my tire by myself.

He also taught me how to check my oil and other fluids, and how to jump start a car without catching anything on fire and what all the parts of my engine were.  He explained how brakes and brake pads work, and the other basic workings of a car.  I got a toolbox for Christmas one year in high school - it's still one of my favorite presents ever (and I still use it all the time!)

So, just wanted to give a shout out to my pops - thanks dad for taking the time to show this girl how to do the boy stuff too.  Love you.  

testing testing, 123

I just read a quick tutorial about how to make pictures larger on Blogger.  Thought I'd test it out!

*cue Mr. Burns voice a la The Simpsons* 

Eeeexcelent.

Looks like it might crop the picture a little, so I'll have to play around with it, but still, kinda a cool new feature. 

Here's the tutorial if you want to do the same: 

long day

Today was a long day. Not all of it was bad, not all of it was great either. Mostly, it was just long.

It started about 4:30am when I woke up with a bad stomachache. Apparently, I had eaten something that didn't entirely agree with me. I spent the next hour and a half trying to convince myself that I would not get sick and then resigning myself to the idea that I would be sick, and then feeling disappointed when I wasn't sick - because then, I could have at least felt better. A little after 6am, I finally started feeling a little better - at least better enough to relax a little bit and let exhaustion wash over me.

But, umm, it was 6am and I was already going to be late for work. I had to get up. I texted my intern and told her I'd be a little late and decided to take my time getting ready. I didn't quite feel 100% when I left the house, but at least 85%.

Today, my intern and I had to drive down to an elementary school where we're helping cover cases for another psych who's out. It's about a 30 min drive. We got there and we did most of the testing we needed to do. I still didn't feel well, I really really just wanted to go home and curl up on the couch, y'know? I'd been up since 4:30 in the morning, and my body was protesting. But, no rest for the weary.

We headed back to our school and had a quick lunch. I decided that I would be a bit of a rebel and allow us to leave work 15 mins early (gasp!). We'd done our work for the day, and all I could think about was napping. Mmmm. Nap.

Once I got home, I remembered it was Wednesday. This means Kyle has class and I drive him from work to school. I had about 10 minutes at home before I had to go get Abs ready and load us up to pick up Kyle. It was at least enough time for me to change into some scrubs, an old t-shirt and flip flops. So much better. We took Kyle to school and headed home. Then something strange happened - I suddenly didn't want to go home. I knew that if I did, I was probably going to let Abby watch a cartoon while I dozed, and I decided I didn't want that to happen. I only get a few hours with her everyday, so I decided to make them count.

I took her to the mall by our house instead. This mall is pretty nice, kinda upscale with a bunch of snooty stores. I was amused that here I was in, basically pajamas with crazy hair, no makeup and not a care in the world about it. Sue me. Abs and I played for about 45 mins in their indoor playspace. She had so much fun, and she navigates and interacts with other kids really well (knock on wood) She's a little timid around bigger kids still, but you can tell she loves the company nonetheless. She laughed and squealed and jabbered the entire time. Several people commented on what a talker she is - and I laughed and agreed, but secretly my heart was feeling very proud of her. When dinner time rolled around, I decided I was going to do the irresponsible thing and take my girl out to dinner. Just the two of us. Girls night out. Mommy & daughter time.

We went to Bertucci's in the mall, no crowd, no wait, good food. And you know what? It was kinda fun. I actually enjoyed having a dinner out with just me and Abs. Nothing against Kyle, obviously, I don't mean for it to sound that way - but it was kinda special to be just the girls. We played and chatted and ate. We shared soup and salad. I ended up ordering Abby an entire bowl of tomatoes and black olives as that's all she was really interested in.

It reminded me of when my parents would order me a bowl of black olives when we went out to eat at Olive Garden growing up. As I watched Abby clean out her bowl with big smiles and audible "MMmmms" I thought to myself "Geez, she really is my kid, huh? That's utterly amazing"

Anyway. Abs was good for me the whole time we were out. I didn't even bother with a stroller, she just walks beside me. She holds my hand when I tell her to and follows close by my side when she isn't anyway. It was a really nice evening - even if it meant I spent $12 I probably shouldn't have.

We got home and I did let her watch an episode of Mickey while I tidied up things. Then it was time for a bubble bath, books, and bed.

And now, 15 something hours after I woke up, I'm finally relaxing and am very much looking forward to going to bed early tonight. It's been a long day, not bad, but long for sure. I try to remember to be thankful for all my days - even the ones that start out rocky and seem insurmountable. We always get through them don't we?

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great tomorrow.

tuesday

I don't know how it's Tuesday all of a sudden. I feel that with the day to day routines of our work week, things are always kind of normal. Life is good and happy, but I don't have a lot of big "Oh, I should blog about this exciting event that happened!" moments during the week. So, days pass and we go about our day and then I realize I haven't blogged about anything in a week. Not even the boring stuff.

So, when I do sit down to write, like I'm doing now, all that comes to mind are the little things that Abby does that make us laugh every day. But, then I feel like that's all I write about. Maybe you don't mind. I guess that is the purpose of this blog - to keep those of you who care about our little life up here informed and connected. But a lot of our day is routine - wake up, go to work, come home, clean, pick up Kyle, make dinner, eat, put Abby to bed, sit down - maybe watch tv, and go to bed. Rinse and repeat.

Anyway, let's see what comes to mind.

The other day I was going upstairs with Abs and I turned to tell Kyle something. I called for him "Kyle!" and Abby turns around and says "Ky-el!" She kept saying his name over and over. "Kyle, kyle kyle!" When he showed up, I pointed to him and said "who's that?" She smiled and said "daddy!" So, whew, that's good. I didn't really want her calling us by our first names for, y'know, a while. ;)

Once upon a time, the peds office gave us a little board book named "Toby" Its short and about a little mouse named Toby. For reasons that cannot be explained, Abby loves loves loves that book. She is so cute when she picks it out every night. She says "Oh, Toby!" just like she's discovered it for the first time. I point to each letter on the cover and she says "T! O! B! Y!" I say, "what does that spell?" and she says "TOBY!" She gets so happy. I think I'll video it tonight.

Everyday we talk to Abby about her day. I'll ask, "Abby, did you go to the park today?" And she'll go on and tell me all about it. A lot of it is still gibberish, but she uses enough real words that I can usually understand her points. She'll say something like, "Oh, the park! Jibberjabber Swings and slide! JibberJabber a big dog! Jibber Jabber hear birds and a choo-choo!" It's pretty cool.

I wrote about these things on facebook the other day, but for longterm memory's sake, I'll put them here too. After the big Razorback vs. Alabama game last Saturday, we were putting Abs to bed and saying our prayers. We like to recap her day and say Thank You for the various parts of her her day. Kyle ended with saying "...and thank you for a good razorback game. Amen" Abby then crossed herself and said "Wooo Pig!"

We also had our first marker attack. I think a picture is worth more than words in this case.

It was everywhere. On her, on her dress, on her toys, on the carpet, on her table. I came downstairs from getting ready and she greeted me enthusiastically, "HI Mama!!" I started to say Hi back and instead resorted to "Oh no. Where is your father?"

Kyle hadn't noticed her getting into the markers. I didn't yell at Abby. I did tell her that markers were for paper, not arms. The poor kid was so sad for the next 15 minutes or so that Kyle and I ended up doing everything we could think of to make her smile again. You would have thought I'd yelled at her the whole time - not the case. I think she obviously knew it was wrong, and heard me sound disappointed and probably frustrated at Kyle for a moment, and was just sad. Of course, it's funny now. The markers came right off and it's a good memory. And she was back to her happy self in no time.

Ok, I'm out of time for now. I have to go buy a tail light for my right side breaks that has apparently gone out. I'll try to write again soon - hopefully something write-worthy will happen between now and then. ;)

You Capture - Flowers

Oh Beth, you You Capture trickster! You see, she assigned "flowers" this week when there are NO flowers around! I suppose she wanted us to get creative or something. ;-)

Well, I'll be creative. These pictures are mostly reposts for those of you who stop by during the week, but I took a lot of pictures this week and had several favorites I just thought I'd share for the You Capture crowd.

So, here's my official flower entry. Whew, found one. ;)

We went apple picking last weekend, so the rest of these are mostly from that. Apple trees have flowers....sometimes...right? And, I mean, an Apple has a stem, and a leaf, and some color, so if you turn it upside down, it *looks* like a flower. Kinda.

Anyway. Enjoy.

and this one is Abs showing me how good she is at her puzzle (it has a flower piece in it...third piece on the bottom - promise)

Go see other fall flowers at Beth's!

play nook show & tell

We have a small landing at the top of our stairs. If I said it was 6ft x 6ft, I'd be being generous. It's probably closer to 5.5 each way. Either way, we've used it as a (very) small play area for Abby.

Over the past, oh I dunno, 6 months? I've been slowly accumulating things for that space. Mostly I find things on craigslist or at a local thrift store I like. Today, I found a chair for Abs and decided to put it up there - this meant I had to rearrange some other things, but I had fun and Abby absolutely loves it. I'm quite pleased with the space considering how much I spent (or didn't spend on it) Some of these pieces, I've blogged about before when I got them. So, forgive the redundancy.

Here's Abby's play nook.

We have an unwritten rule that no battery-operated toys are allowed in her room or play nook, so these areas are full of other activites that keep her busy - without flashing lights. The exception is a cd player that she uses to play her sesame street CD (over and over and over)

I found this PBK clock at the thrift store. They don't make it anymore, but best I can find, it costs $35-$40 new. I got it for $3. This is one of my favorite finds ever.

most of our books are gifts from others, but the ones I buy are nearly all thrift store finds or from used book stores. I think the most I paid was $2 for the Art book, most of the time I don't pay more than $1. Of course, with books like these, I'm obviously working pretty hard to turn her into an English major. ;)

This chair was my big find today. It's from Land of Nod (which I also love). The chair is $99 new, but I got this one for $4. It's a little more broken in than a new one would be I'm sure, but it's functional, clean, and I love the colors.

This was Abby's favorite addition - a simple stained glass star mobile for the skylight. I've had this for years, just finally found a new spot for it.

We got this bookshelf a while back. It's from Ikea and I think it's about $80 new. I got this one for $25 off craigslist with 2 of the drawers included. We keep some of Abby's art projects on top, she has a dress up drawer, a craft drawer, and there are usually a stack of puzzles there too.

Abby's tea table. I paid $4 or $5 for it at the thrift store. It's a cheap IKEA table that somebody else took the time to decorate.

Free art. :) Abby's Caterpillar book sadly fell apart on us. Instead of throwing it away, I decided to make a collage of it. It adds a nice bit of color

This alphabet poster is another one of my favorite parts of this space. This is actually from a paper/craft/scrapbooking store. The poster was supposed to be used as wrapping paper. I think I paid about $3.50 for it. Getting it framed is on my list of things to do...someday

So, there you have it. A functional and fun, although small, play space on a budget. I did some rough math earlier. With odds and ends included I think I saved about $250 by buying things second hand. Abby doesn't know the difference of course, and saving the money makes me that much happier with it all. There are still things I would like to add and change, but there's plenty of time for that.

until then, we'll be here.

Abbyisms, again.

All weekend I kept thinking "I need to write this down for the blog" Abby was giving us funny moments and one-liners all weekend long. I really wish I had started a list, because at this point, after 4 days of her silliness, I'm sure to forget something.

Let's see what I can remember.

1) When I tell Abby we're going to the store, she says, "beep beep? popcorn?" What she's asking is - are we going to the grocery store where I get to ride in the cart that looks like a taxi and has a honking horn? Or are we going to Target where you buy me popcorn? The good news is, she's happy with either answer.

2) While in Target, she was sitting in the cart, happily swinging her legs and singing/chirping "shop shop shop! shop shop shop!"

3) After target, we drove to another store. When I opened the backseat door I saw that she had dumped all of her popcorn ALL OVER the back seat of the car. As soon as I opened the door Abby, in a very disapproving voice said, "Oh NO! Popcorn - uh-oh! No no no no no!" She said it as if she were admonishing the guilty party. As if to say, "Mom, I don't know WHO did this - but they are in BIG trouble!"

4) I took her to lunch and she kept stacking, and counting, the salt and pepper shakers.

5) During lunch, Abby could see a busy intersection out the window. She watched as the cars went by and said - in a kind of bored voice "car. car. car. more car. more car. (SIGH) more car. more car. OH! TRUCK!!! (sigh) more car..."

6) When we were done with lunch and I said, "ok, let's go" She immediately turned toward the restaurant kitchen and waved and said "bye bye food!" She then proceeded to add, "bye bye chairs! Bye bye tables! Bye bye yummy food!"

7) The other day she took an extra long nap. When she woke up, the first thing she said, after a big sigh and obvious stretch was "Eye-yie-YIE!" Maybe you had to be here - it was pretty funny.

8) Yesterday she hit her head and came to me to comfort her. I picked her up and she saw some cookies on the kitchen island. She stopped crying and said "COOKIE!?" So, I broke off a small piece of one and offered it to her. She frowned and said, "No mama." She pointed to the bigger piece and said "dis cookie." Smart girl, no?

9) After her nap one day, she and I had a tea party. She told me to sit, she handed me my cup, she poured pretend tea into my cup, and hers. She sat down next to me and we both pretended to sip our tea with very exaggerated "Mmmmm!" sounds. Later, I poured water into her teapot and helped her drink water from her tea set. I don't know that I've ever seen her happier. She was so very careful about putting her teacups down on their saucers on her little table and so very proud of herself for drinking out of a "real" cup.

10) While walking across a parking lot, two little city birds were hopping in front of us. We followed them for a little ways and the whole time Abs was saying "Oh, birts (that's how she says birds). Birts jump! Birts jump! Birts flyyy. Hi birts. Fly birts..."

11) I wasn't here for this one, but Kyle said when Karen came over in the morning Abby greeted her at the door by saying "Hi Charen!" She then followed up with a very clear "Oh, you have coffee!" Karen and Kyle were both floored.

12) Since she's started to speak, Abby has always called milk "Doh" No matter how many times we've tried to teach her otherwise. "Abby, say MILK" Abby: "doh." Out of the clear blue sky on Saturday night, she said "Muk peas!" Kyle and I both stopped and said "What did you just say?" Abby repeated "Muk peas." Since then, she hasn't said "doh" once. It's been either Muk or Mik. I won't lie - part of me is a little sad. At least she still calls diapers "dit-dies"

Abby is doing a million billion things everyday that are new, and often entertaining. She makes us laugh all. the. time. She sings more, she recognizes more, she makes awesome connections between things that baffle me. She's a dancing fool, she's outgoing and social and sweet and chill all at once. She's amazing. I'm her mom, I say so. ;)

apple picking 2010

What a fun Saturday we've had. :)

We decided that we would go apple picking this weekend. We went for the first time last year and just LOVED it. So, we were all pretty excited about going again today. Our friend, and Abby's nanny Karen came along with us again this year as well.

The day was nice. It was overcast, but not too warm and not too cold. The overcastness made for better picture lighting, but no pretty blue skies. But, that's fine. We drove the 45 minutes to the farm and headed straight for the apples. We had a good time just wandering around, eating apples straight off the tree as we pleased and, of course, taking pictures.

Abby loved it. It took her no time at all to get the hang of picking the apples and putting them in the bag....or, more often, picking the apples, taking a bite, and then trying to put it in the bag.

After we'd picked our 20lbs full (and eaten nearly as many on the way) we headed up to the other areas of the farm that house a petting zoo, playground, and kitchen where they serve up yummy seasonal treats. Abby was curious about the goats, but not really up to petting them. She was way too distracted by the possibility of swinging in the playground next door. So, after some playtime and some apple donuts, we headed home.

We were all pretty worn out and spent the rest of the day just hanging out at home and playing with Abs (oh, and watching a little football of course). Really, it was a nice day. We may go back before the seasons over...we'll see. It's so much fun.

I took around 670 pictures, I pared them down to the best 150. I posted about 50 on facebook and have chosen 19 of my favorites for you here. I know it's different when it's not your child, but goodness, I just loved so many of these that it was hard to pick! Enjoy. :)

first bite of the day

You Capture- Photographer's Choice

This week's You Capture theme was photographer's choice.

I intended to do something different this week, but as this morning rolled around, I realized I hadn't gotten around to that project. So, after a little bravery pep talk, I decided to share this one.

Before you were conceived I wanted you
Before you were born I loved you
Before you were here an hour I would die for you
This is the miracle of Mother's Love.
Maureen Hawkins

Yes, those would be my mommy tattoos. And, it's taken me the better part of 2 years to come to terms with the fact I did not win that particular genetic lottery. But, you know what? It's ok.

Because every time I see the part of my skin that was stretched and torn beyond it's limit - I remember that I was blessed enough to experience pregnancy. Every mark is a reminder that my body did an amazing job growing a child, which, when you think about it, really is incredible. They're a part of me now - part of the story of my life. If my body were a book, these marks would represent the most interesting chapter by far.

I don't believe moms should look like super models. I think we should look like moms. :)

Go check out the wide variety of pictures today at Beth's site I Should Be Folding Laundry. And, if you have a camera (any camera), think about joining in next time!

wednesday.

Just wanted to give a quick hello while I had a moment here. I don't have anything much exciting to share, but I figure I need to keep in the habit of writing even when our days are a bit mundane.

I guess the only thing we've been dealing with this week is Abby's continued separation anxiety. We tried a few different things. It's hard to tell if they're working or not because I think, for the most part, this is just a phase that will work it's way out. We tried putting a night-light in her room to see if that cut down on her night screaming. She made it until 5am that day, but then woke up screaming and crying. That was the first day I went in (because I knew she was awake and not just crying in her sleep). She leapt into my arms and calmed down. Eventually, she told me she wanted the light off. So, we haven't tried it again.

Last night, Kyle put her down by himself and I didn't even go upstairs with them. She went down much easier - no crying, no clinging, no screaming....although she still didn't want to be tucked in. She still woke up, at 2am and again around 5am.

The screams don't last long. Usually somewhere from 1-5 mins. And they stop very abruptly. She still wakes up happy as a clam in the mornings. I've been trying to make a point to see her before I leave for work - I'm hoping that will lessen some of her anxiety about me not being around all day....if she gets to tell me bye-bye in the mornings instead of me just being gone.

So, we'll see. Like I said, I think it's just something that will work it's way through over time. And 99.9% of the day - she's still happy and cheerful.

What else?

This morning Abby, as she often does, pointed out the numbers on the digital clock in her room. She said, "Oh, a 6! Oh, a 3! Oh, a 5!" I told her she was very smart and she beamed, patted her chest and said "IIIII'm Smark!" Sigh. I just love her.

Work has been good. It's still a little slow right now as I wait for cases to come in and for kids to get settled in their routines. I have an intern 2.5 days a week this year and she's lovely and I believe she will enjoy working at Brighton. I'm pleased with how she's worked out so far. I feel a little bad that it's been pretty slow the last few days, but I've warned her that we should enjoy the quiet while we can, because we may not see it again till next July.

I guess that's all for now. I'll leave you with a few pics of Abs playing on the deck the other day.

21 months

I've said it before, but at 21 months, I still have to remind myself that Abby isn't 2 yet. She seems so very much a toddler now, that I forget that she's still only 1. She's growing faster than ever and is constantly amazing us. I'll try to record some of what she's like here at 21 months old.

Physically:

- I haven't measured Abby's height or weight in a while, but if I had to guess, I'd say she's probably about 26 lbs and around 33inches. I could be way off on that, but it's a guess.

- She wears mostly size 18 month clothes, although we're starting to introduce more 24 month/2T things in. They're big, but mostly wearable. She also still wears some of her 12 month stuff. Her most recent shoes are a size 6. Geez.

- Still in size 4 diapers.

- her hair is longer than ever. When it's wet, I can comb it down to her shoulders. But, most of the time, the ends curl so that it stays shorter than that. We can now put it into a pretty good ponytail.

- She's trying to learn to jump. It's still more of a skip, but she likes to bounce in her crib and on the couch. She's always trying to walk across and jump on/off the couch.

Foods:

- Abby has a lot of favorite foods, and they change relatively often. But, at the moment, some of her favorites are: tomatoes, black olives, pickles, cheese, any kind of cookie/candy, and tomato sauce, watermelon (and most fruits really). Of course Milk is still better than anything. And, she still calls it "Doh"

- Foods she doesn't like: ice cream (too cold for her). I can't think of any other right now, although there a many vegetables that are hit or miss. Sometimes she'll eat broccoli, sometimes not. Same goes for peas, green beans, etc. She likes corn, but only on the cob.

- She has a hard time eating things with tough skins, tomato skins I have to peel. She loves to eat chips, but she has never had more than a few without gagging and choking on them. The little pieces get caught in her throat and she gags - she won't drink to wash it down so she just ends up throwing up. Every time. I know I know - that's not the glamorous detail you were hoping for, but one day when she's 15 and wanting to get something weird pierced and wants to know why I said no, I want to be able to say "Because I used to catch handfuls of your vomit every time you tried to eat chips and you owe it to me"

Abby's first chips & salsa

(she ate several and almost had us convinced she was going to be ok...but, nope, not so much)

Vocabulary:

- I don't know how many words Abby has, I've never tried to sit down and count them. She has a lot. She communicates well and we can nearly always understand what she's trying to tell us. Most of the time, her words are still mixed with babble, but we get ever 3rd word or so and it makes it intelligible.

- She can sing her entire alphabet. On occasion she gets in a hurry and leaves out a letter or two, but most of the time, she can sing the whole thing.

- She can recognize most of the letters. If I write them down she can tell me what they are. Sometimes she mixes things up. She likes to call Q's - O's. And if she can't remember the name of a letter, she usually defaults to "A" She loves to point out letter though - on your shirt, on the computer, on random signs. It's common for her to suddenly say "Oh, a T! Oh, a W!"

- She likes to sing and she likes us to sing to her. She often requests songs and bops her head as we go through them. If we pause during a verse, she'll often fill in the blank with whatever word

- I suppose, technically, she has said a sentence, although they're very simple. Most of the time, she speaks in 2 or 3 word phrases, like "Mama, up please" or "Book? Read? Chair?" Typical for this age I believe.

- She counts to 15, although things after 12 still sound kinda the same. She's pretty good up to 12. She's really starting to like to count and counts random things all day.

She wanted to see the letters "right side up"

Other Stuff:

- She can climb up stairs and down stairs as long as she is holding on to a rail, wall, or hand. She'll step off small ledges without help.

- Every time we get home in the car she says "We're Hoooome!"

- She's a great helper. I've mentioned it before - but she is great at unloading the dishwasher, and cleaning up her toys. She'll even make sure she cleans up her room in the morning if she's thrown all her toys out of her crib.

- Kyle taught her how to use the CD player so that she can play her Sesame Street CD whenever she wants - which is all the time. She loves it. She sings along and dances. She LOVES it. Kyle and I are kinda looking to expand her horizons.

- She loves animals, all of them and has quite the arsenal of animal sounds. Some of our favorites are: iguana, beaver, squirrel, quietbug, and she does a really good horse.

- She's still very social when we go out to the store. She says Hi, enthusiastically, to everyone she sees. She's always making people laugh. Of course, if I try to introduce her to somebody specifically, she'll turn to little miss shy in a millisecond.

Abby's first pony ride today. She had a great time!

We are loving watching Abby continue to grow and develop. We're so proud of her for a million different reasons. I think I speak for Kyle too when I say - we feel pretty lucky to be her parents.