What a difference 365 days makes!

Today is Abby's birthday! All day we've been playing the "what were we doing at this time last year?" game. I just can't believe it's been an entire year. It doesn't feel like it's been that long.

We had a party with her friends on the 19th, and then we did a family party on the 24th so Aunt Kelli & Uncle Kyle could be there--they left Christmas afternoon to go to Kelli's parents' place and won't be back till January. Even after all that present opening she still doesn't really get the concept--we'd end up unwrapping everything and trying to get her to take some interest in it when all she really wanted to do was play with the gift bags or scraps of wrapping paper. Figures, eh?

In the last few days she's really turned a corner with her eating and sleeping. Two days in a row she went to sleep in the house instead of needing to be driven around in the car. Three days in a row she's actually let me feed her, and she's eating 1.5-2 jars of food at every meal. (Although she just now ate FOUR jars for dinner!) And for the last couple weeks she's been sleeping for 1-1.5 hours at naptime, which is a welcome improvement from the half-hour to forty-five minute naps she's been taking for months. And the other night she slept for seven straight hours before waking to eat! A dream come true! 'Course she didn't do that the next two nights, but who knows, maybe she's slowly turning towards that. (Please, God, let her be turning towards that!)

Here are some pictures from the last few days. Enjoy!


Her first kilt, courtesy of our Scottish relatives (who had a grandson born on the same day as Abby last year!). She wore this on Christmas Eve.


She's been so good with the tree--she got the concept of being gentle with the ornaments, although she really liked taking them off, too. Then one day she started trying to put them back on. Adorable!


"So what's the deal with this unwrapping thing again?"


Abby's first cake! I'd tried to make some oatmeal apple muffins instead because I really didn't want her having the sugar of a cake, but they didn't turn out and I ended up having to run to the store the morning of the party to get a cake. Turns out she only stuck her fingers in her mouth once and wasn't at all pleased with the taste--thank you, God!

So funny I can't think of a proper title for the post to do it justice

This is from a message board for women who breastfeed. It is HILARIOUS. (It's also British, so for those who don't know, Tesco is a grocery store.)

Went to Abigail's school Christmas concert (no "proper" Nativity this year). Each class did a little something followed by a song or 2. Anyway, Ab's class did a Nativity scene, with Ab as Mary (How proud was I?). A few mins into their bit Ab promptly lifted her dress & shoved baby Jesus up it. The script then wandered away from what they'd learnt & goes as follows....

Joseph: "What are you doing?"
Mary: "I'm feeding our baby"
Shepherd: "Have you got a bottle up there then?"
Mary: "Don't be silly, he's having milk from my booby"
Joseph: "That's disgusting"
Mary: "No, that baby milk they have in Tesco's is disgusting. My baby's having proper milk"
Shepherd: "What's a booby?"
Mary: "Those sticky out bits ladies have"
Shepherd: "They're not boobies, they're nipples"
Mary: "No they're not, they're boobies"
Joseph: "So why can't Jesus have milk from a bottle then?"
Mary: "Because I haven't got a breast pump with me - you forgot to put it on the donkey"
Shepherd: "Can't you ask the teacher for a bottle to feed Jesus with?"
Mary: "No because this is the best way to feed Jesus. Anyway bottles haven't been invented yet & even if they were I've just had a baby so if you think I'm faffing about round Tesco's to buy baby milk when I make proper milk in my boobies you can think again"

I felt a teeny bit sorry for their class teacher - she did try her best to steer them back towards their proper lines but she was laughing so much she didn't really stand a chance. The line about Joseph forgetting the breast pump finished her off - she slid to the floor & couldn't get up for laughing....

Closing in on one year

It's a real shocker to think that I'm pretty much the mother of a toddler already. Now a whole lot that's still babyish about this baby, other than perhaps her inability to talk. She walks like a pro (although is still unclear on the concept of looking where she's going), dances to anything that vaguely resembles music (my cell phone's ring, me making senseless "do-do-dee-doo" ditties), and is frighteningly fast at mimicking anything we do. For example, she and Dan were playing with a ball the other day, and when he hit it with his hand, she'd hit it back with her hand, and when he hit it with his foot, she'd hit it with her foot, even if she had to grab it from somewhere else and put it on front of her foot to do it.

And the other day, Dan was trying to dress her while she stood up, and when he said, "Lift your foot" so he could put on her pants--she did! And she did it again for the other foot, too! So stinkin' cute. And handy.

If only we could tell her, "Lie down and rest" and have her do it. I'm praying for that day.

Technical difficulties

First of all, whoa. Sorry it's been for-freaking-ever since I posted. Time moves too fast, man. Grr.

Anyway, my main blog is experiencing technical difficulties, just so you know. Going to it will bring you to my website. Hopefully we'll be back up again soon. Keep checking back, things happen quick!