Bennett Blurb

Toddler Bed Transition Part 2

2013-01-22T21:44:00.000-08:00

I went through a whole Supernanny stage a while back while I was pregnant with Abigail, super fascinating show that. I learned a lot, but still felt that I had so long before I was ever going to need to use any of her techniques. Well, 'so long' sure came a lot faster than I was anticipating it to. I didn't really have much time to decide how I was going to handle transitioning Abigail into a toddler bed since it happened so fast. I asked around to other mommy friends, but didn't seem to get the suggestions I was looking for, quite frankly, I don't really think I even knew what I was looking for. [I know now that I was really looking for advice on how ensure that she would actually get some sleep while in this new bed since she could climb out. I was afraid that she would get so overwhelmed and excited about the freedom that she'd just be up playing that she wouldn't get enough rest. Also, I don't want her to climb out of bed and visit us in our bedroom each night either, I'd rather do all I can to avoid that habit from forming in the future.]
So the idea to try the Supernanny approach just came so randomly and instantly as I was laying her down in the toddler bed for the first time. Talk about timing! I really had no idea what to expect, but gave it a shot since I had no other ideas what to do. For those of you that don't know what her method is on how to keep children in their bed at bedtime (I'm also implementing this approach at nap-time), here it goes*:
Do your bedtime routine, and lay the child in their bed. You sit down near the crib where your child can see you, and keep your head down and do not make eye contact with the child no matter what. Keep an eye out, and each time the child tries to climb out or get out of bed, get up and put the child back in bed. And, whatever you do, do not talk to the child throughout the process, they will learn that you mean business through your actions, not by arguing with them (I also found this to keep me calm; if I had been talking to her during this time trying to reason with her, I would have been saying the same things over and over and getting quickly irritated and I would have given into defeat). Leave when the child falls asleep.
Watching the show, I saw some mothers go through this technique with their children for hours the first time they implemented it. I watched one mother sit by her sons crib and listen to him cry and scream for 2 hours while she performed the technique. So, needless to say, I knew I was in for a huge undertaking when the idea popped in my head, but knowing that my only other option was to worry each night if she would fall and break her neck, I was so super charged and ready to try this technique. [I know that my other option probably was to just close the door, and let her have at the room until she tired herself out and crawled back into her bed, but I was just not ready to deal with her sleepless nights the next day, nor the crankiness from probably taking no naps either. I was determined that she be a child that knew how to actually sleep when it was nap or bedtime.]

*I will say that while one might exist, I have not seen an episode of this technique used on a child with a toddler bed, just a crib; but I decided to go for it anyway.

Day One:
Nap: Put her to bed and sat at her door. Eventually I just stood at the door because I was getting up so frequently my knees were hurting. She sat there, talked to herself, to me; jumped around; and tried to climb out many a time. She learned pretty quickly that I wanted her to be in her bed though, because each time I got up to get her, she would run back and lunge into the bed, giggling. Gah! She had moments of calmness and laying down, but she'd get right back up and check to see if I was still there so she could get out of bed I'm sure. Eventually she did give up completely, and laid down and napped. The technique took roughly 20-25 minutes (From the time I put her down to her falling asleep).

Bedtime: We visited family in Bakersfield so she fell asleep in the car on the way home. No technique used.

Day Two:
Nap: Put her to bed and sat at her door. She bounced around and talked to herself, and to me. She was being so cute it was hard not to engage in her conversation. She pulled on the blinds on the window within reach of her (mental note: move bed away from window). But, not once did she try to get out of bed! Technique lasted roughly 20-25 minutes.

Bedtime: Same experience as her nap time, minus the blind pulling. She didn't try to get out of her bed once. Technique lasted roughly 20-25 minutes.

Day Three:
Nap: Sick baby, she napped on the sofa in the living room.

Bedtime: Put her to bed and sat at her door. Several minutes later, I decided I would get my book to read since she was being so good and not trying to get out of bed. I went to get my nightlight from my room, and when I returned she was standing by the door, nervously peering out. Upon seeing me, I didn't even have to say anything to her, she rushed back to her bed and laid down. I laid down at her door with half of my body out the door to read my book, but she could still see that I was there. Again, besides the one attempt, she stayed in her bed the whole time and fell asleep shortly thereafter. Technique lasted roughly 20 minutes.

Day Four:
Nap: Put her to bed, laid at her door and read my book. She stayed in bed and mumbled to herself before nodding off. Technique lasted roughly 15-20 minutes.

Bedtime: Same experience as her nap time. Technique lasted roughly 15-20 minutes.

Day Five:
Nap: Put her to bed, laid at her door and read my book. She didn't even stand up once I laid her down, she just laid there until she fell asleep. Technique lasted roughly 10-15 minutes.

Bedtime: Same experience as her nap time. Technique lasted roughly 5 minutes. I didn't even have time to open my book.

While I was prepared for a very painful few days or weeks of implementing this Supernanny approach with Abigail, so far it has been wonderfully easy. Let's hope that this is a wonderful sign of things to come, like say, smooth potty training experience!

Toddler Bed Transition Part 1

2013-01-22T21:01:00.001-08:00

When Abby turned one back in June, she figured out how to crawl out of her crib. Once Grant and I were able to pick up our jaws from the floor, we lowered her crib to the lowest setting possible, and prayed that she wouldn't figure out how to climb out of it for a really long time to come. That long time lasted only 7 months. oh boy!

Last month Abby figured it out. I had put her in her crib for a time out (side note: YES a time out! Judge all you want, but I did the one minute time out with her several times and it really helped her to stop doing the things that sent here there), and when I went back after the one minute time period to talk to her, she was having a blast running about her room! I was so shocked and baffled that I just laughed and not much time-out discussion took place after that. I think part of that laugh was fearful since I knew that we were in serious trouble at that point. The lowest setting, and she can still crawl out?!

For several days we just hoped and prayed and I tried not to pull my hair out from anxiety that she wouldn't climb out of her crib and fall at a bad angle and hurt herself (of course as a mother I immediately think of worst case scenario, broken neck). Then she began to wake up earlier and earlier each day, and instead of turning over to fall asleep, she crawled out of her crib and came to join us. Thankfully I randomly woke up as she greeted me at our bedroom door. And then came the midnight greeting. I didn't realize it was midnight at the time so I just picked her up and brought her to bed with us, thinking it was around 5am. It was not, and an endless night of feet kicking me and pushing me ensued. Grant and I were fighting for space on the king size bed all night. I knew that could not continue! Nope!

That night, we decided to just put her mattress on the ground to see how that held up. After two days, she figured out how to climb out of that. From the mattress on the ground! She's insanely smart! I hooked her monitor back up, laid some blankets and pillows on the ground, and closed the door in case she got out, and put her in her pack n play thinking she might have a harder time since there weren't any slats to help her momentum. That didn't work either. She still woke up at 3am-ish every night crying and screaming.

So, with much trepidation, we turned to our last resort. The toddler bed. Not only was I not ready for Abigail to be in a toddler bed (besides the whole, she's growing up, and it's too much to handle aspect), I wasn't sure if she was ready (obviously her crawling out of the crib was one sign that she was ready). I mean, she still just does her baby babbling sounds, and while they're increasing tremendously recently, she still doesn't really say any real words yet. She's starting to understand more and more of what we are saying and taking direction from us, which is a great sign. But I can't really explain to an 18 month old that she needs to stay in her bed all night long, yes I know that you can now freely get out without any difficulty or pull-ups involved, but still view it as a crib, and pretend you're locked in tight, and stay there all night. Also, potty train yourself while you're at it! I just felt it was such a difficult thing to expect her to understand at this stage.

But with no real safe options left, and my blood pressure rising each evening as I stared at the monitor all night long, I knew we had to do it...

Our toddler bed transition experience to follow.

Month Ten

2012-07-13T20:44:00.001-07:00

This was one of the most wonderful months! Let's get right to it!

Growing:
You are so becoming such a big girl now! You've been crawling, but this month was your first time crawling around outside, like on the grass! Daddy took you out for the first time on Easter and you seemed to find it weird at first, but then totally enjoyed it! Miss Jackie took you outside one day and took sequential pictures of you one the blanket, then starting to crawl off the blanket, then many feet away; you were on the move girl!

Crawling away from baby Peyton

You have TWO teeth now! Chomp chomp!

You had your first Family Girls Night. Both Grandmas and aunts were there. We all went to the Noodle Bar (Awesome btw, if you haven't been, DO IT!). You had a great time b/c grandmas enjoyed feeding you big girl food from their plates.

You had your first big boo-boo. Daddy brought his Kettlebells in to work out, and left them around the living room. One night while he was at Uke club, mom was cooking dinner and you were playing in the living room, and I watched you crawl right into the kettlebell trying to make your way to me. Oh, it was pretty sad. You had a big bruise immediately!

You also ~~endured~~ enjoyed your first Sunrise Easter service. I was really worried about how you'd handle it. But you seemed to handle it like a pro. It's like you know that your PK (pastor's kid) life is going to require lots of energy, stamina, and events and you're preparing yourself already. We got up super early and went to the sunrise service at 6:30am. You hung out in the little pouch on me while mommy and daddy led worship for those that came. Then we went home and prepared lunch for the potluck @ Aunt Jan's. Then we went straight to church to prepare for the first service. You were such a star throughout both services and then the potluck! This is when daddy took you outside to crawl around for the first time. And you wore such a cute little eyelet dress that mommy's friend Heather gave to you, which was perfect, b/c mommy had just gotten you an eyelet sunhat. You looked adorable!

And b/c we need a picture of you with Mommy too!

Then we did something totally fun. You went with mommy and daddy to the Catalyst conference* for a few days and spent the night in your first hotel room. We were a little nervous about how you might do, and you did such a great job. We were worried that since we'd be sleeping in the same room together, you might be distracted and have a hard time sleeping, but nope, you slept wonderfully. Throughout the whole conference though, you found it a little hard. There was a lot of sitting quietly and listening to speakers and that was kinda hard for you. Mommy took you out several times to let you crawl around a bit. But, of course, everyone there was totally taken with you and thought you were just adorable!

On our way down south, we stopped at Downtown Disney for your first time and had some grub at the wonderful White Water cafe. You had such a great time. Hopefully some day we'll be able to take you to Disneyland for real, cause we were kinda depressed after we left, knowing that we never actually got to go inside the park.

*I would just like to add as a side note, that I thoroughly enjoyed the gourmet lunch trucks that they brought every day. That was so super awesome. The first day we ate at a pizza place. We got some pork sliders and meat pizza. The pizza was okay, Grant thought the sliders were too fatty (I tried to warn him). We were mostly disappointed though since they were out of sweet potato fries. The second day we went to the Bacon Lovers truck... holy crap! super yum! We got some fresh crunchy fries with shredded bbq pork with beans atop. It had a topping of delicious coleslaw with spicy cream sauce and tangy bbq sauce all over it... and of course some bacon. This was so outrageous! I loved it more than Grant did. He got more of a chili cheese fries dish.

Eating:
This month we started enjoying something new! Daddy started juicing and we tried some out on you to see how you'd like it, and you loved it! Flashback: A few weeks prior, we were walking in Target with Aunt Beeb and you wanted to hold my Bucks drink, I turned back around a second later and you were drinking through the straw! I was so shocked! You wanted that Bucks!** Flash-forward: since you had mastered drinking through a straw, we started giving you cups of the juice with a straw and you just devoured it! You slurped that stuff up like crazy!
On that note, you are starting to eat more solid food, like, not liquid foods. You are VERY interested in mommy and daddy's food! You love to drink whatever we have, and mommy has given daddy several dirty looks for giving you a sip of soda.

Can you see my green mustache?

**BTW, best Bucks drink ever: Passion tea Lemonade with Raspberry flavor!

You ate your first cookie, had a few lemons, and also checked the table out

Sleeping:
Drum roll please!!!!!!
You are sleeping through the night now! Here's the story:
Mommy was starting to get uber frustrated getting up every 3 hours in the middle of the night. I was no longer feeding you at these times, but rather going in and trying to calm you. I'd lay you back down and give you your paci. Or I'd try and rock you back to sleep, but of course, the second I laid you down, you'd wake back up and scream hysterically. I just didn't know what to do. If I didn't get up quick enough, your daddy would get up and try his turn at it. I just didn't see any end in site!
I started researching and asking other moms for advice. The general consensus? Let her cry.*** Now, I was totally fine with this. I had done this a few times during the day a few months before and you cried for less than 30 minutes and then fell asleep. I just knew it would work. Your daddy on the other hand, not so convinced about this method. Every time I tried to talk to him about it, he was just nervous because we had always been told that if you were crying, something was wrong. However, you were NOT a baby anymore. You were 9 months old, and we needed a change. Daddy suggested that we get you on a schedule, but I tried explaining that you already were on a schedule, and this method was our last shot. Finally, he caved.
I knew it would be really hard for your daddy, and it was. The next few days were not fun for him. Every time we put you down and you cried, he was just cringing and very restless. It was especially hard in the middle of the night. We were obviously woken up when you cried, and wanted to go back to sleep, and the easiest thing to do would have been to go sooth you, but we knew that that would hinder the method. Those few days saw me sleeping with a pillow over my head.
But, there was light at the end of the tunnel. It only took about 3 days and you were sleeping through the night! Every once in a while you would wake up and cry in the middle of the night, but within minutes you were fast asleep again. And your parents were eternally grateful for solid rest! And you got better rest at night as well.
This had wonderful benefits! Not only were you sleeping roughly ten hours a night, but you were also taking longer naps. No more 30 minute naps, but rather 90 min. to 2 hour naps! It was so great! You were so much happier when you woke up in the morning, and from naps! And mommy had much more energy to play with you during the day! Thank you Lord!
Oh, and when all was said and done, your daddy came and acknowledged that I was right. Which, to any women, is some of the best news to hear!

***I would just like to note that I know that the method of Letting-them-cry-it-out is VERY controversy. I understand that. But at nine months, I had tried everything that I'd researched, and every bit of advice I'd been given by others and nothing was working. This was my last hope. I know that this method doesn't and won't necessarily work for every infant, but for us, it worked like a charm. I would never do this at one or two months just to train them, but nine months is definitely past time for them to be sleeping through the night.

Month Nine

2012-07-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

Growing:
Well, this was one eventful month, that's for sure! Let's see, where to start?

For one, we had a bit of a scare right at the start of the month. You were on the table sleeping in your car seat while the rest of us were decorating the church fellowship hall for our fun dinner. You apparently woke up, and no one noticed, so you decided to climb out of the car seat on your own, and you fell off the table, face first onto the floor. I ran to you and was so thankful to hear your screaming! That was very scary. While checking to make sure you were okay, I discovered that you were cutting your first tooth! Such a big girl!

You can kinda see if there on the bottom

You have begun climbing... on everything. Jackie sent me a picture of you at daycare, you had climbed up onto the children's picnic table! You are fearless child! One day we were cooking in the kitchen and I guess the refrigerator was left open for a second and you squeezed your way in and climbed up into the fridge. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked! Any chance you can get to climb into the fridge you take!

You like to stand up in your bouncer and jump and make it bounce yourself!

Here you are climbing onto the Cornhole platform

This month you also stayed with a babysitter for the first time! You've been to daycare before, and stayed with family and close friends for a few hours, but this was the first actual babysitter we had over to watch you while mommy and daddy went out to see The Hunger Games with friends. Miss Sam, from the high school, came over to watch you, and you had a blast! You were so good. I don't remember if you cried or not, and if you did, it didn't last very long. You were too busy checking Sam out.

You went on your first hike this month! We went with Tim and Marsha Lassen and their big poodle dog, Charlie. You enjoyed it when Charlie would come sniff you out. He is the biggest poodle ever, but you weren't phased by him in the least. This was our first time really getting some use out of the special jogging stroller. You seemed to have a great time. At one point, you even fell asleep, even though the trail was very bumpy at times due to the serious rocks in the way. We brought of sippy cup for you, but it fell along the way, so we let you drink from our water bottles, and you loved it! You don't like wasting time with those sippy cups at all! Afterwards, we went to Cheryl's for breakfast, and you enjoyed your first orange!

Ps. the dog in the first pic is not Charlie, it's another dog we met on the hike

You LOVE listening to daddy practicing his Uke. You take notice right away and start bouncing up and down to the music. It's pretty cute to watch! Daddy's favorite song to sing you is Five Foot Two, except we change it to Two Foot Two since we're singing for you little munchkin! We also enjoy singing you Hello Dolly, but as you can probably guess, we change the lyrics to Hello Abby!

Here's daddy singing/whistling you Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Eating:

You pretty much like to put everything in your mouth at this stage. Now that you've begun eating big girl food and not just oatmeal anymore, you are ready to explore the world of food! The low of this month was when I decided to start giving you some nakey time. You loved it! You occasionally pee... right after I take the diaper off of course. But, you were getting used to nakey time and so you're not so used to knowing that when you don't have a diaper, you don't go to the bathroom... like poop. which you did. several times. and picked it up. and put it in your mouth. CRAP! You also found Anya's food. You kinda made a face at it, so I'm hoping that deters you from it in the future. Of course, I'm sure it won't.

I decided to just post pictures of all the things that you've put in your mouth this month. One of the pictures, you have this glob of dark stuff on your chin. You were crawling around and came up to me and I freaked out when I saw your face! Then I realized that it was just car hair. Since you've been teething, you've super slobbering from drooling, and then you put your face everywhere when you crawl, and apparently you found a patch of Anya hair and... I guess tried to eat it?

Sleeping:

Your sleeping habits still stink! You still wake up every 3 hours. Eesh! But, here's a really cute picture of you falling asleep on your daddy's shoulder!

I just love that squished little face!

Month Eight

2012-05-12T12:47:00.001-07:00

Growing:

Last month you were a scootin' machine, and now this month, you started crawling for real! Everyone thought that your scooting should be classified as crawling, but I refused to believe it to be a crawl. I would consider you crawling when you were on your knees for several crawls rather than just one crawl and then scoots. You had to stay on your knees for a while. And you started doing that this month! Right at the beginning of the month you started takin' off! You were crawling everywhere. You were so happy to be free and started checking out your surroundings. You were so happy that your legs were taking you faster than your arms could carry you. Sometimes your crawl would consist of you keeping your legs kinda straight with your butt in the air and walk/crawling on your hands and feet. You were like a walking tent.
You stood up on your own for the first time this month! On a box...

We tried making a barricade by the door so that you couldn't crawl onto the tile and pick up all the little rocks, that had been trailed in by our shoes, and eat them. You quickly showed us that our measly barricade of a box, and a bag of toilet paper rolls was no match for you! Big girl!

When we went to the doctor for our checkup, you had fun playing on the paper, and you made quite a little mess too!

Eating:
You tried several new foods out this month! Some were:

Yummy Butternut Squash

Bananas were super tasty!

We even started incorporating yogurt to make our food creamier and more filling. You really like it!

Sleeping:
A couple days I tried letting you cry, one day, when you got quiet all if the sudden....

I went into your room...

and his is how I found you taking a nap!

And the next day...

Sleeping still isn't that great. We're still waking up every few hours. Not much more to say about that, we all know how I feel about it! :)

Some other fun things that happened this month:

You love to bounce around while daddy plays his Uke for you!

You discovered the water bottle, and you LOVE to drink from it! And you get soaked too!

Month Seven

2012-03-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

So much for trying to get these posts done on time. Golly gracious! I wish I could just get them done on time and then I could post every few days about fun little things that happen throughout the month, rather than trying to shove it all into one month post. But, when Abby finally lays her head down for a nap, I'm too exhausted to think about blogging and would rather veg out in front of the t.v. or read my book.

This was a pretty big month for you little girl! Let's get right to it!

Growing:
This month little girl, pretty much the beginning of your seventh month, you started the beginnings of a crawl! First you bend your knees and do one little crawl and then you'd straighten out your legs again and kinda scoot for a bit. You'd repeat that for a while until you got where you wanted to go.

You can't keep me on that blanket anymore, I'm free!

You are definitely making razz sounds all the time! And letting spit fly everywhere.
You have been able to put weight on your legs when held up for several months now, I guess you were ahead on that bit, as well as reaching for a toy out of reach. Except now you can go get it!
You can pass objects between your hands, again, you've already been doing that.
You turn when we say your name, or start talking, or singing, or whenever there is any noise.
You have started to say little noises like "ba" and towards the end of the month, the long awaited "da." You string it all together so you're saying "da-da-da-da-da-da," so you're not really saying it referring to your dad, but obviously getting closer! No "ma" in sight of course.
We play peekaboo and you love it. You dad likes to put a blanket over your head or his head and then throw it up and you giggle so hard. You are entertained with that for quite a long time.
We also got you a sippy cup this month, and you've been enjoying trying to figure out how that works. You tend to just turn it around in your hands and suck/gnaw on every part of it besides the spout. Aw, well, you'll learn!

Big girl sippy cup!

Eating:
You are definitely a healthy eater! I breastfeed you every 3-4 hours still, and then I try to feed you oatmeal twice a day. But this month, we got to start eating actual food. So, of course, I was super excited to start making food for you myself. We started out with...

Green Beans, which weren't your favorite. I had to mix them with oatmeal.

Then Pears, which you enjoyed much more! They were so sweet!

Then, Sweet Potatoes, which you learned to like...eventually!

Then, Apples, which you also enjoyed!

Sleeping:

Well, all the wonderful strides we made last month in your sleeping habits have gone down the drain this month. You're back to your awful sleeping habits. Waking up every 3 hours or so to feed. Every once in a while you go 4 hours, which is really nice. But usually you're getting up every 3 hours. I'm not getting much sleep. I feel super exhausted most of the time. It's really hard waking up in the morning with you. You're so chipper and I'm just trying not to hit a wall while carrying you out to the living room. We hope this gets better!

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2012-02-08T10:19:00.001-08:00

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Tsunami 2011

2012-01-14T12:14:00.001-08:00

Tsunami! One of the great, fun, youth events that I used to look forward to each year! Great bands, great worship, great speakers, great friends... great fun! What's even better is that this year I lead a group of my own kids to the conference, and share with them one of the fun events from my past that has helped shape me. Last year, Grant and I took two girls with us and joined with our brother Dave's group from Bakersfield. This year, Grant said it would be a bit much for him, so I decided to take the girls on my own. But, I mentioned it to a friend, and she and her daughter were interested in going as well; the other girls started inviting some of their friends; and one of the new girls at church came with her friend as well. End the end we had nine people going... plus Abby!

I was a little concerned taking Abby with me, but things worked out just fine. Because we ended up taking a few more students at the last minute, it allowed me to take my own car and we were able to fit all of Abby's things in the car; Her stroller takes up so much room. We joined up with Dave's group once we got there once again, and had such a great time throughout the whole conference.
I was introduced to a new artist, Shonlock, a pop-rap artist. He had a LOT of energy and some great lyrics and beats; he even did a little break dancing on stage for everyone. We also saw Superchick, and they were great. Their lyrics are so honest and beautiful. The vocalist also announced that she was pregnant and expecting a baby girl. The speakers this year were really great. Jeff Wallace and Billy Beacham prepared sermons that were funny, interactive, and very relate-able. I was very impressed; it was like I was 15 again! Both speakers really challenged the students there to really step up and live for God.

Travis Ryan was the worship leader again, and everyone went pretty crazy over him. His wife and I became friends at the Ministers' Wives Retreat last May and I ran into her while at the conference as dozens of girls were flocking to Travis trying to get his autograph and take pictures with him. I asked her if all this was weird or not, and she said, "Yeah, to me, he's just normal, but here, he's like this celebrity." It's so true, all the little girls were going ga-ga over him. It was pretty cute. Most important, I really enjoyed the songs that he and his band led us in this year. We did the fun songs like Happy Day again, but he introduced us to a couple new songs that were so encouraging like Fearless! My favorite song though, was Most High. Hearing it again this year reminded me of how much I loved that song when he taught it to me last year. The words are so powerful and really speak to me. I'm hoping I can find the song and teach to the congregation at my church.

Most High

With each rising sun

We're reminded of Your love

How You reach Your hands to save

And You pull us from the grave

With each starry night

We're reminded of Your light

How You lead us safely home

Never leave us here alone

You are the Lord Most High

Strength of our salvation

You will never fail us

You are the Lord Most High

You have set us free

We have found our liberty

There is no life outside of You

There is nothing You can't do

You are the Lord Most High

Strength of our salvation

You will never fail us

You are the Lord Most High

All our hope is in You

You are worthy of it all

All our lives are for You

You are worthy of it all

With all the breathe in our lungs

We will shout for who You are

Lord Most High

You are the Lord Most High

You will run to rescue

Nothing here can stop You

You are the Lord Most High

Enjoy the students clapping offbeat at the beginning of the song, it's quite hilarious! The guy on keyboard had to help everyone get back on beat every time we sang the song. I just loved how enthusiastic everyone was.

Here is a video of our trip! Enjoy!

2012 Bennett Family Reunion/Crazy Family Get-together!

2012-01-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

I'm not like most people.... or maybe I am, but I LOVE my family, not only that, but I LOVE my in-laws! I love spending time with my family! Especially when we all get together as one big group! The fact that you never know what might happen when we're all together is just one of the reasons I love being with my family. This holiday season we got to so many family members, it was so great! Even better, many of them ended up surprising us, which made things even more fun!

Christmas Eve
My aunt and uncle came up from Riverside and surprised us in Kernville for our Christmas Eve service. My mom and step-dad also came up to join them. I sorta figured this one out a few hours before though, which was okay, since I was able to prepare by throwing something together in the crock-pot, and clean the house. They had never really heard me sing before, let alone lead the church, nor had they heard Grant preach before, so it was really neat that they were able to come up. After the service we all came back to our house for some beef stew. We talked, laughed, and watched Abby/Nomi open Abby's first presents!

Christmas Day

The day had finally come for Abby to wear her Christmas dress. I bought this dress before she was even born. I saw it on sale, and I thought, I better get it now while on sale than wait and try to find something later. Grant totally didn't understand, men! But I'm sure he appreciated not having to buy a dress for her at Christmas time though! Abby was not in the best mood when we got home.

Christmas with our Family

On Monday we were able to go down and spend some time with Grant's family at the big reunion party. We were not expecting any cousins to be able to come at all, but, unexpectedly, they were all able to come at the last minute and we so enjoyed spending time with them all! Abby of course was such a hit, everyone played with her and held her to her hearts content!

The party was something that we had been planning for some months. We had a gingerbread house contest which turned out to be such a hit! Everyone had much fun planning their houses out ahead of time, and then finally executing them with each other. The grandma's got together and presented prizes to each house; we had cute little cottage houses, hobbit houses, and so much more. It was definitely a sight to see and watch.

Then we had a delicious lunch/dinner of tri-tip that our friends, the Harkleroad's, catered for us. The rest of us were to each bring a side dish, apparently we all got the same memo... potatoes. Everyone brought some type of potato dish. What are the odds? It was pretty hilarious. Potatoes four-ways. They were all delicious, and gave us quite a laugh.

We also spent some time opening the rest of everyone's Christmas presents, so Abby got another chance to work on her present-opening skills!

We had such a wonderful time with all of our family, and we are very grateful that we were able to see all the aunts, uncles, and cousins that we were surprised by! Thank you for making our Christmas season so wonderful! We love you all!

A White Wedding

2012-01-03T22:03:00.002-08:00

December 17th, our friends Chris and Carrie were married at a beautiful ceremony in Bakersfield. She looked just stunning, and they both looked so happy to finally be joining their lives together after several years of dating (and part of that time spent apart while Carried was teaching in the Philippines as a missionary).

Best friends for 15 yrs.ish: Chris and Grant at the rehearsal dinner

Between the rehearsal dinner and the wedding day we were pretty busy and exhausted from driving down to Bako back and forth, back and forth. It was only made more exhausting by the fact that a beloved member of our church past earlier that week, and therefore, we unexpectedly had a viewing one night, and the funeral the next morning before driving down for the rehearsal. Needless to say, Grant was pretty tired that week. Overall, we are so very excited for our friends, and we wish them many more years of happiness to come.

We were very excited too that some of Grant and Chris' old friends from college were able to come out from Louisiana and southern CA to attend the wedding. After hearing so many crazy stories of their college life, the wives and girlfriends were excited to finally meet everyone and have them all in one spot together. I had a great time meeting Micah and his girlfriend from Louisiana, and spending more time with Jeremy and his wife Tammy.

Micah, Grant, Chris, and Jeremy

Micah and his g/f dancing the night away!

Abigail did a great job at the wedding. I didn't see her much since both sets of grandparents were there as well. I sat with the other girls at the reception while Abby had fun with her grandparents. Her granddad every tried to sneak her some frosting off his cupcake, and succeeded, but not without a crazed mother look from me (The day before at the funeral feast, one of our church members had done the same with every single sweet he had in front of him. He fed her some of everything. I was slightly outraged, therefore not really helping my calmness with it came to granddad feeding her frosting the next day. Whoops).

Bennett Grandparents

Aunt Beeb trying to mimic your face

...and what would a fun event be without Grant making me laugh?

Grant's burp... shocks me into hysterics

Happy wedding to Mr. and Mrs. Chris and Carrie White!

Month Six

2012-01-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

This month we had a lot of fun. Between learning how to roll over last month, and another wedding this month, and Christmas, and plenty of visits from family, we've had one jam-packed month full of fun. December 17 we celebrated Grant's best friend's wedding to his beautiful bride. It's been fun to see Chris and Carrie's relationship blossom over the last few years, and we are super happy that they are finally able to call each other husband and wife.

Enjoying everyone's attention at the reception

Christmas Eve we had a lovely surprise visit from my aunt and uncle as well as my mom and new pops. The came to our Christmas Eve service and had plenty of fun playing with Abigail while I ran around setting everything up at church. Afterwords, we all came back to our house and enjoyed some beef stew and home made pumpkin bread while Abby opened her first Christmas presents.

I love this picture b/c everyone was laughing at... something.

Then, because Christmas landed on a Sunday, and pretty much everyone in our family is in the ministry in one way or another, we met at another time to celebrate together. We had a family party/reunion/Christmas gift exchange. It was all kinds of fun, and I'm sure Abby had a blast because there were SO many more people to entertain her than she's normally used to. She was passed around from aunt, to uncle, to great aunts and uncles, to grandparents, to great grandmothers, to cousins, and pretty much didn't see either Mom nor Dad the whole day unless she needed to eat, in which case I still didn't see her as she was covered up.

Cousin Cayley playing with Abby

Growing:
Abigail, you are growing and growing. You is as beautiful as ever. Grant and I are just in shock and awe that the Lord has given us such a beautiful blessing. We consistently ask each other how we got so lucky.
One thing that is very noticeable is that your hair is getting thicker. You still has a pretty large bald spot on the back of your head, but the top of your head is filling in with beautiful dirty blond hair; matched with those bright blue eyes, you're just too cute!
You can keep her head level when I pull you up to a sitting position. And you love when I pull you up to a standing position as well. We've been working on that one for some time, so you're getting pretty good and standing still, a little wobbly still, but you're getting better and better. I even stood you up in your crib and let you hold onto the side once and you held on real good all by yourself! Big girl!
You are definitely making more and more sounds. This month you are focusing on the raspberry sound, you are getting slobber everywhere as you exercise those little lips. Mommy tries to mimic you, but I don't get very far because that raspberry tickles my lips too much, how you do it so often is beyond me. You also like to make sounds with all the saliva in your throat. You make lots of gurgling sounds. It's pretty cute. Mommy isn't very good at mimicking you on that one though.
You reach for toys that are out of your reach. Not only do you reach for them, but you somehow scoot yourself over to the toys. Sometimes you roll over to the toy, but other times you just scoot around on your belly until you get closer. You turn around in circles while on your belly to look in every direction and see what is most entertaining. You look for toys that you drop, and can pass toys between your hands.
Towards the very end of the month you began getting up on your toes; I call it a tent, since that's what it looks like. There's probably some technical term for it, but I like tent. You basically are doing a push up, except you stick your little booty in the air, it's super cute of course. You began doing this all the time.

More Doctor Visits: You were still sick after your round of antibiotics last month, but things improved slightly, so I just hoped that they would continue to get better. However, one night things just got really bad again, and you could barely sleep at night. You were up every hour, and you would wake up crying because you couldn't breath. Mommy used the little pillow from your activity gym in your bassinet to help elevate your head, but it only helped a little. You were one unhappy baby. I called the advice nurse and she suggested we come down for an appointment. Since we had an X-ray at your last visit concerning your health, this time she did a different test for RSV and we did a breathing treatment. The test for RSV came back negative thankfully. And the doctor had us take home the breathing machine and use it every day as needed. We also took home some more antibiotics just in case the breathing machine wasn't working, that way we wouldn't have to go back down to get the antibiotics. You looked so sad while getting the breathing treatments that week, but they paid off because after a few days, you definitely started improving. You still had a little bit of a cough, but the nasty congestion that I could feel/hear in your little chest before was gone. Because you still had a little lingering sickness I went ahead and gave you the antibiotics and after a few more days of that, you were practically brand new! I don't think you've been that healthy and not congested in several months.

Eating:

Whenever I would sub, I would come back and you would have eaten WAY more than you normally would had I been there to breastfeed you. I kept getting frustrated because I was trying to stock up on milk for you, and yet you were drinking it all. Daddy suggested that maybe you needed more... I mean, you are growing and all. So, I decided to try giving you a little more cereal at night. I decided to try out some baby oatmeal instead of the rice, and you seem to really love it, so I've decided to stick with the oatmeal from now on. I started doubling the amount I give you at night to about 1/3 cup. You still breastfeed every 3-4 hours during the day.

Sleeping:

With that small increase in the amount of oatmeal you have at night before bed, that helps you sleep through the night a little more. Almost instantly I saw a difference. You began sleeping for a little longer at night before waking up to feed. You are consistently waking up about 6 hours after eating at night to feed, usually around 2 a.m. And then you sleep another 5-6 hours. It's been wonderful! Now, if I could just get to bed at a decent time, I would benefit from this long stretch of sleep, however, I take advantage of this time to stay up and hang out with your Daddy watching our ridiculous shows that we can now watch because we have DVR again.

Another change has been that I have you sleeping in your crib all night now. Last month I was having you sleep in your crib until you woke up to feed, and then you would finish the night in your bassinet in our room. But I figured that I should just try putting you back in your room after feeding you, and along with you only getting up once, it's been great. You really haven't had any issues transitioning into your own room or your crib (I think Daddy is the only one who didn't like this change very much). I think you like it more because you can move around a lot more than in that little bassinet. Although, that means that it's much harder for you to fall asleep when you can move around and play. I think you wake up many times simply from turning over and hitting your head on the crib.

What's also great is that if you do wake up in the middle of the night before the 6 hours, I can give you your pacifier and you will nod right back off to sleep. You never used to be able to do that, you would just continue to cry until I picked you up and fed you. This alone has been wonderful. You don't do it that often, but its' so much better than getting up to feed you three times a night when I can just pop your pacifier back in.

If I time it right, I can also get you to take one to two naps close to 2 hours each during the day. This takes a lot of work though as I have to try and keep you up a little longer when you clearly want to sleep so that you'll be tired enough to sleep for a longer period of time. But those few hours of Mommy time is great while you sleep. I have dreams of being very productive during that time, but usually it consists of me retiring to the couch to relax for a moment, reading a few pages of my book before passing out.

Playing with the piano after waking up from a nap

Month Five

2012-01-03T21:22:00.000-08:00

So many things happened this month. (Obviously I'm talking about November, not this last month, because I can't get things together enough to post about one month of Abby's life once a month... cause I'm crazy, and lazy, and busy, and exhausted, you name it, I feel it). Anywhos, this month was kinda crazy.

First things first, Abby was super sick again. So, I ended up calling the advice line and taking her down to the doctor to check it out. She said she had some congestion and gave me some antibiotics for Abby to take. She called a few days later to check in on Abby, and things were fine. But the next morning... Abby decided to explode everywhere, her diaper that is. She had so much diarrhea, which wouldn't normally have been a problem for me, except that it was getting EVERYWHERE! I couldn't control it. No matter what I did, it would get all over Abby and anything she was near to. So it meant not only cleaning her little body, but everything else around her as well. We had many trips straight to the bathtub for a cleaning rather than trying to use the little wipeys. Oi!

Then, my mom got married.... while Abby was still having a serious case of diarrhea, and she was to wear a super cute little dress.... in cream. Great! The whole entire wedding, my worst fear was that she would explode, even worse, that it would happen while I was carrying her down the aisle while 150 people stared at me. Thankfully those fears were not realized. Abby was a little trooper the few days leading up to the wedding as weather conditions forced the wedding inside and we all had to scramble to re-plan/design everything in a few hours. Everything turned out beautifully and we are all very glad that mom is now married to a super great guy. When we got home from the wedding Grant suggested maybe using bigger diapers for Abby..... duh! Why hadn't I thought of that! It did help with the diarrhea, to a point. She went up to a size 1-2.

Growing:

Oh, how you've grown little girl. You are laughing and smiling so much. It is so much fun to watch you. When we had lunch with Aunt Beeb, she was pretty impressed at your skills of putting your pacifier back in your mouth by yourself. I have to say, that's been pretty awesome for me. Now, when we're driving and you start crying, usually you just grab your pacifier on your own. I don't have to pull the car over anymore to give it to you.

The most impressive thing this month that you have learned to do is turn over! That's right! I will never forget Halloween day because you turned your little body over all by yourself! It just happened so quickly. I was so excited and I told your daddy as soon as I saw him that morning and he said, "oh, yeah, she did that this morning." Mommy was less that thrilled that you finally turned over and 1. Mommy missed it, and 2. Daddy witnessed it and didn't tell Mommy. I explained that if anything like that every happened again that Daddy must call Mommy right away to let her know so I can come running to your side and cheer you on!

It only took a few days before you were turning back over onto your back as well. I was pretty much in shock at how quickly you were learning the whole rolling over thing! The hilarious thing my dear, is that you still weren't super thrilled with being on your belly, so every time you would roll onto your belly, you would begin to whine. The length began to widen each time you turned over as you began to realize that it wasn't so awful to be on your belly, especially when you learned how to roll back over onto your back.

Sleeping:

I pretty much revolted against your habit of waking up several times a night to feed. I had had enough. So I asked any Mommy-Friend I could for advice about what to do. One great friend, M, suggested that I get you out of Mommy and Daddy's room and into your own room asap. I decided I would go ahead with this because I wanted to get your room cleaned out anyway, and this would give me a great reason to get my butt into gear to do it. Also, I was willing to do anything to try to get you to sleep a little longer between each feeding, and maybe we were waking you up whenever we turned over. I decided to wait until after mom's wedding to start. To begin this transition, I would put you in your own room when you went to bed, then when you woke up to eat, I would put you in the bassinet in our room for the rest of the night. At first, there wasn't really any change, but slowly it began to pay off. You were still getting up two times at night, but I think it was good to begin to transition you into your own room.

You were sleeping with your feet in the air, super cute!

Eating:

Good news! At our four month check up with the doctor, she gave the go-ahead to begin baby cereal. Because I didn't have any on hand, and forgot to get some while down in Bako for the appointment, I didn't start you on it right away. Thankfully, Mommy's friend had a bunch and gave me some to get you started. Towards the end of the month we started you on rice cereal, and you loved it! You were pretty much upset with me because I couldn't shovel the stuff into your mouth fast enough. You were leaning into it to try and help me. Needless to say it was pretty much a disaster the first time you ate.

You made such a mess (you insisted on holding the spoon yourself and would then proceed to put your hand in the cereal and then everywhere else); I was starting to get frustrated at first because the only place to feed you where you would be upright was your car seat and I didn't want you to get it dirty. But then, I gave myself a reality check and remembered that this would be the only first meal you'd ever have, and messy or not, I should just enjoy this time. We could always take a bath, which we promptly did right after you were finished eating. I ended up taking all your clothes off so that you wouldn't get you clothes all messy too, and I moved you to your bouncer. In most of the pictures you look a little crazy because of the flash on the camera. (I always have a hard time capturing pictures of you for that reason).

You ate every 3-4 hours during the day and eat several tablespoons of rice cereal at night before bed. It didn't really make much of a difference on sleep either. You still got up every few hours to feed.

The main picture shows Abby with her new aunties at Mom & Willie's wedding

Month Four

2011-11-29T20:47:00.001-08:00

Growing:

On October 28th you turned Four Months! My how you've grown Abigail! It's amazing! Things are starting to get really fun with you. While you were super precious your first couple of months, you were pretty much just crying all the time... or sleeping, which was a nice relief from the crying. But now that you're smiling, things are much more fun. Speaking of smiling... you are now laughing... there's no denying it now, it's clear. You are laughing. And it's super cute! I do all I can just to get you to laugh: I sing you ridiculous songs, I make ridiculous faces, and I play with your feet and dance you around, which you seem to really enjoy the most.

You are also enjoying sticking your entire hand into your mouth, it's quite fun to watch. You are becoming more aware of the rest of your body all the time.

While you still don't enjoy being on your tummy, Mommy has made a much better effort at trying to give you more tummy time so you can get used to being on your tummy, in the hopes that you would turn over soon. You hate being on your tummy. HATE it! You cry cry cry. But it's starting to get better, slowly.

You are also starting to drool like crazy! That can only mean one time... teething is coming!

By the end of the month you started to roll over onto your side a little bit. I was so ecstatic! I was even able to catch you on video doing it the first time I got to see you do it. Mommy was pretty happy about this and only slightly freaking out!

During the Women's Retreat this month, Mommy's friend Jackie came to help lead the worship for the ladies and brought your friend Peyton. You guys had fun playing together, and we got to see a little bit of what Jackie tells me happens while she watches you: you and Peyton hold hands. When you guys were hanging out this time, Peyton kept trying to hold you hand and put it in his mouth and you were just all over the place... and eventually turning over! he! It was all pretty cute!

Sleeping:

Last month, you started getting up in the middle of the night again, twice a night to be exact. This month, you graced me with three times a night. How sweet of you darling. I think one difference though, was that I was adamant about me you getting more sleep, so I would put you back down again in the morning to sleep for longer, which meant another feeding. You're so precious when you sleep! And sometimes, you fall asleep with your right eye slightly open. I watch and wonder if you're actually asleep or if you're just trying to keep tabs on me, and make sure I don't go put you down.

Eating:

Your eating is pretty much the same. We have started to get a more regular schedule though. While the times aren't necessarily regular, you've managed to create a schedule for yourself of eating every 3 to 4 hours, which is much nicer than every 2 hours. I think this is partly due to the fact that you have now gotten Mommy's milk supply back up, so you can relax more now.

Month Three

2011-10-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

This is totally late, I'm sorry. This past month has been absolutely cu-ray-zy! I have subbed 3 full weeks, and that has led to many issues in itself, let alone just hogging up all my time and keeping me from doing important things... like blogging, obsvs! Never-the-less, Abby, you have continued to grow and grow at a ridiculous speed; you continue to blow my mind every time I look at you!

Growing:
One great thing that happened this month is that you have begun talking... you make this strange sound that I don't even know how to pronounce! I'll try... it sounds like "khhkhhhkhh." I posted a video a few weeks ago in which everyone else can hear this cute little sound you're making. It's so freakin cute! I am so loving that you're making noises now. I'ts so fun!
You are smiling like crazy! It's unbelievable! You have the most beautiful smile! I could stare at you all day! You smile at everyone! And everywhere we go you are such a hit with everyone that walks by; complete strangers in the grocery store will stop me specifically to look at you. And you just smile and smile and eat up all their praise. You love it.
You found your hand, and you like to stick your whole fist in your mouth, it's quite funny to watch. You make a fist and try to shove it in your mouth, and you must find it to be very yummy because you make very loud sucking noises as well. You've managed a few times to get the whole thing in there pretty much.
With that, you've also started grabbing only other things, like your rattle, and the little hoop on the birdie of your activity gym! You'll grab onto it and just swing it around in your hand while you lay there. You have a very strong grip!
You also started to find your feet this month. You LOVE to bring your feet up so you can look at them and then you grab at your them. You love to pull your socks off. The other day I walked by you and you didn't have your socks on anymore. I was so confused because they weren't by your feet. I thought that maybe I had imagined putting your socks on a few minutes before. Then I walked to the other side of you and found that you had taken off both socks and laid them one on top of the other right by your side. What?! Strange! I was laughing.
Speaking of feet, you have this thing with kicking your feet... constantly! No matter what you're doing, you're kicking your feet. Sitting in your car seat or laying on the ground, you are always kicking your feet. You even do it when something is in your way, like the wheel to the computer chair, or when you're in the tub, you'll kick the bottom of the tub. I'm worried that you're going to hurt yourself, but you don' t seem to be bothered one bit.
Your daddy seems to think that you have some red in your hair. I don't necessarily see it, but that's okay. I think it has something to do with the fact that he comments on it every time you are outside or come back from being outside. But, we still have some pretty blue eyes!

Kaiser Visits:
At the beginning of this month, you got a stuffy nose. It didn't seem to be too big of a deal at first because I was experiencing the same thing from allergies with the weather changing. However, it seemed to start waking you up in the middle of the night. After a few nights of this, I began to freak out, and one morning at around 5:30am, I called the emergency nurse at Kaiser and went through their ridiculously (but necessary) scary list of questions that only serve to freak a parent out more than they already are at the time. She suggested I bring you in, so we made an appointment, I canceled my sub job and we headed down to Bako. It turns out that you just had a little cold. Your doctor couldn't find anything in your lungs, so she didn't seem worried at all.
Then, two weeks later, you started getting all these little spots all over. There were a few on your legs and arms, but none on your torso. I had initially thought that they were bug bites because we had dinner out by the river the night before, and I had some bite marks as well. However, two days later, we woke up to you having a lot more bites. That's when your daddy and I got a little worried. I was getting ready to begin a two week subbing stint and I was worried that maybe you got chicken pox somehow. I was worried that I would have to cancel my sub job (which by the way, I totally would have. I was only concerned because when you had a really stuffy nose two weeks prior, I cancelled my sub job for the day and rushed you to Urgent Care. I was just worried about having to cancel another sub job, and I didn't want the school to begin thinking that I was flaky and couldn't be counted on; man how things change when you have kids).
So on Saturday, after dealing with a flat tire, your daddy and I rushed you down to Urgent Care to check out your little spots. We got down to Kaiser and got your out of the car, and we noticed that you had pooped. So, we began to unstrap you from your car seat to change your diaper, and that's when we realized that yup, you had pooped alright... ALL OVER YOURSELF! We had run out of Huggies diapers, and were using some knock off brand Babies R Us diapers that didn't have a poop catcher in the back of the diaper (New mothers beware: Huggies have a poop catcher which have saved us SO many problems!) Your poop went up both sides of your diaper and up to your chest and up your back as well. It went all over the car seat too. I had the worst time trying to tackle cleaning you up while your dad cleaned the car seat. When I took your clothes off, I had to be so careful, and I still managed to get poop on your arms and feet, but thankfully I was able to keep it off your head and hair. It was a very smelly situation, that's for sure!
Anyway, that's besides the point, but a funny side story that was necessary to tell so that you will never be able to escape it in the future; and that's how much I love you (my mother taught me well; she's your grandmother, so watch out)! So, because you had a rash, we had to use a special side door to get into Kaiser. We rang the doorbell and waited for them to let us in. We went in and saw a very nice doctor who took one look at you and ruled out the chicken pox that we had been so worried about. Praise the Lord! She said that they were just bug bites, and that when we had been down at the river having dinner, that's when you probably got them. Since you weren't six months old yet, she didn't prescribe the ointment she normally would have (because it has steroids in it). So, we just went home to wait out the spots. After they went away, you got some more. Don't know where, but they found you! You just must be very tasty!

Sleep:
When I subbed for the two weeks straight, you pretty much immediately started getting up once in the middle of the night. I was so used to you sleeping through the night that it wasn't that fun, but I didn't complain to much because once a night is still not that bad at all. However, by the end of that two week period, you were getting up twice a night. Gah! Not fun! Mommy wished you'd go back to sleeping through the night. I think it had to do with mommy's milk supply though. I think that when I was subbing, I wasn't adamant about pumping during the Nutrition break at school and so I just began to dry up. Mistake! So I think that you were trying to tell mommy's body to crank that milk production back up! And unfortunately, that meant getting up in the middle of the night to feed again.

Eating:
Well, while your sleeping habits began to get all catywhompus on me, your eating started getting better; well, in terms of spitting up. You really started to spit up less... finally! Towards the end of the month there it started up again, but overall, you've really started holding your food in much better than before! Happy days! I no longer have to worry about you not getting enough because you're spitting it all up... and I mean... you were spitting it ALL up. It was ridiculous! Others that see you spit up get huge owl eyes in shock! I just look at them and say, "It's normal." You're gaining weight normally, so your doctor isn't worried about it, and therefore, neither am I.

Family Dinners

2011-10-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

I love Fridays! And not just because it's Friday, and that means it's the start to the weekend... b/c that's just a given. But, also because that usually means that it's Family Dinner night! The whole family comes together and we eat spaghetti, laugh, and share our lives. I love it so much!
It all began back when Grant and I first started dating 8 years ago. His twin sisters were in college, and we never really knew when they'd be coming home for the weekend, and what friends they might bring along. So, in an effort to always be prepared, Grant's dad suggested that we just always have a Family Friday Dinner and have spaghetti, because you will always have leftover spaghetti for whoever else might show up! And Family dinners were born!
Now that we're all a little older, and married, and have a plethora of other things going on in our lives, it's much harder to meet every Friday, so we've moved it to once a month. I really didn't like this, since I love seeing everyone once a week and catching up, but I understand it's necessity as even Grant and I were having a difficult time getting down there every week since we have moved an hour away and have priorities with our church family on Friday's sometimes.
But last night was one of these wonderful nights were we all came together, and we were celebrating birthdays! Grant's twin sisters, and his grandmother. We all had such a wonderful time talking, laughing, and telling stories about our lives over the last month trying to catch everyone up on the surgeries, new jobs, current jobs, vacations, etc.
What we discovered though, is that we have just one problem. There's only one baby. And not enough time for her to make the rounds between eating and napping. We thought that maybe next time we should have a sign up sheet to determine who gets the next Abby time! That might work better! But she got to spend a lot of time with both Grandma and Nomi, and Granddad, and Uncle Dave. She seemed very pleased all night.

Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to get pictures of her with everyone else. Bummers. Next time.

But until then, here's a video of her shaking the rattle on her activity gym. It's like she's beginning to realize that if she touches it, it will make noise for her! ...and she might also be spitting up a bit!

The Sweetest Sound...

2011-09-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

...is the sound of a baby laughing.

New Friends!

2011-09-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

New friends are great! I'm not great at making new friends, it scares me for some reason. Those that know me, know that I'm a crazy weirdo that's very outgoing. But for some reason, when it comes to new people, I am very shy and scared. Especially with people that I hope will really like me. I can't talk to them b/c I'm too shy, but I'm willing them to become my new friend in my mind! It totally works... in my mind... although, I haven't had too much success with this approach unfortunately. Let me know if you've gotten it to work out for you, I want your tips!
Anywho, a few months ago, Grant and I went to a Pastor's Association dinner for all of the pastor's in the local valley where we live. I was nervous/excited because I heard that this other couple was going to be there, (James and Jacqueline) and I was hoping beyond hope that we would become friends.... mainly because she was young like me, and those are few and far between in this valley! I had heard her and her husband lead worship at a Pastor's Association Service we had a few months earlier and was blown away by their talent (Another reason I knew we had to be friends).
The whole night I was hoping that we'd somehow get thrown together and have a chance to talk, but it wasn't working out. There were assigned seats, and we weren't seated by each other at all... shame shame! But thankfully at the very end... as we were all talking about how we needed to leave, somehow, we got thrown together! And we just started talking... and talking... and talking! And we probably could have kept talking if we all weren't also trying to go home as well.
*As a side note, we were both hugely pregnant and I told her about the Bradley Method of childbirth that I had studied and planned on using, and she was all sorts of interested. Upon talking to her after she did give birth, she said she used the Bradley Method (natural childbirth), and she said that it worked out great! After my childbirth that involved much intervention (unfortunately), I give her mad props for going through with it, especially since she just heard about it through a stranger! She's my new hero!

Jacqueline: 2 days overdue; Me: 8 months pregnant

That night I was so excited that we were able to talk and we became friends on facebook. My good friend Heather came up to take newborn pictures of Abby, and Jacqueline's MIL saw the pictures and basically set up a time for Heather and I to go over to Jacqueline's to have her newborn photo shoot. So we went to her house, we barely knew each other, I was nervous, but it worked, and we clicked, and a friendship began to bloom!
I found out that she opened a daycare in her home and was looking for children, and I was desperately looking for someone I could trust to watch Abby when I went back to work a few days a week. God is so good for setting these things up for us! Many of you were wondering who watches Abby while I'm subbing during the week... so, meet Jacqueline, my new friend! I love to chat and laugh with her! I'm so thankful that God sent a wonderful new friend into my life!

And what's more, our little ones are new best friends too! Here's Peyton and Abby:

I found my hand... and now I'm sick!

2011-09-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

I hope that this new discovery didn't attribute to the new sickness we have! Mommy's allergies are flaring up again, and I think that is part of the reason I started getting sick too! I've been having a hard time getting uninterrupted sleep the past few nights, so Tuesday morning, mommy took me down to the doctor and she said I have a little bit of a cold. I'm pretty congested, but my nose is clear, so try as mommy might to suction my nose, nothing comes out. Mommy has been trying the saline solution with the suction bulb, and that's helping a little, but I'm still pretty congested. I made mommy wake up 3 or 4 times Tuesday night to help me, and she had to sub the next day. Thankfully, she had enough energy to make it through the day without ruining her non-caffeine streak. I hope I get better soon so I can go back to sleeping for 8 hours straight at night; I (mommy) really like sleeping 8 hours straight! But, I think I'm mostly all better now. I slept through the night again last night, without a pillow to elevate my head so I could breathe; and I slept for 9 hours!

How Cool is this?

2011-09-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

Isn't this the neatest!? It's an exact replica of the house from UP!

A Day of Firsts...

2011-09-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is the face of a precious little girl that laughed for the first time!

Here is a video of a precious girl shaking her rattle for the first time!

(Sorry it's turned to the side, I can't figure out how to turn it straight, if you know how, let me know please!)

It Finally Happened...

2011-09-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

yup... my child barfed all over me... This is after I wiped my mouth off.... I now know what her regurgitated meals taste like.... mmmmm!

Oh a good note... (although, the above might be a good note for YOU, but not for me), she is starting to make gurgling noises... saying what I think is a G sound, like "geee."

Also, I tried some more tummy time today, and from the second I laid her down, she held her head for for roughly 2 minutes without laying her head down on the mat at all! Yah! And she wasn't crying, she was smiling at me! Happy Days!

I guess those things make up for being her baby bird earlier today!

Nothing Better

2011-09-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

There's nothing better than the sweet smell of a freshly soaped baby's head! Mmm! It makes me want to give her a bath every day just so I can nuzzle close to her and breath in the sweet smell of her!

Nomi Sarah Visits

2011-09-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

Nomi Sarah paid us a visit over Labor Day Weekend and we had a blast. Nomi Sarah played with me, and made me laugh, but best of all, she sang fun songs to me! I love it when people sing to me! It makes me smile and giggle! And I look really cute when I smile! Thanks for coming up and visiting Nomi!

Month Two

2011-08-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

Oh Abby, this month has been wonderful! Last month, things were a little hectic as you cried constantly. Thankfully, this month, things have gotten a bit better! I am able to enjoy you much more!

Family Fridays!

Sleep:
Cousin J told me about the book she read and the schedule that they put baby A on recently and how wonderful it has been in helping them. I know that Abby is a little too young to put on a schedule, but I thought it would be better to start working towards it now, rather than wait and randomly begin new things one day. So, I started the schedule J told me about: we eat, play, and then sleep. It has actually been helping a lot! I decided to start this routine when I noticed that you were a bit more wide-eyed after you ate (you used to fall asleep right after you ate, sometimes even while you were eating). We started playing in your activity gym once you finished eating, and then once you got a little fussy, I'd wrap you up tight and rock you to sleep. Worked like a charm! You fell asleep much faster that way!

And then a few days ago, we went to dinner at a friend's house, and I noticed that she put her son down while he was still awake (She'd swaddle him, give him his pacifier, and lay him down), and he'd magically fall to sleep on his own. Just to prove that it wouldn't work, the next day I gave it a shot with you... and it worked! What?! I was amazed. Of course, it wouldn't work twice... I just got lucky that time. So, I tried it later that day again, and it worked... again! Shocking! It has worked every time for the past few days! I am forever indebted to my friend Jacqueline for this little tidbit of wonder! I even tried it at night for our bedtime, and while you were awake for just a bit, you fell asleep without crying. This is the best thing to ever happen to me!

Growing:
Everyone has been commenting about how amazing it is that you are able to hold your head up already. You haven't been having much tummy time yet (we're starting that now), but I think that you've strengthened those neck muscles by hanging out at mommy's shoulder. You really liked that spot during your first month... not so much anymore, but thankfully, the result is strong neck muscles. You like to look around and explore everything around you.

You also like exploring when you are playing in your super cute activity gym. You are finally able to grasp the little birds hanging down from the gym. You hold on and shake it back and forth with your strong little fingers! It is adorable! While you play in your gym, mommy reads to you, and you seem to love it. You play for about 20 - 30 minutes and then you begin to get a little fussy and uninterested in the gym and mommy's stories; That's when we get ready for your naps or bedtime.

What to Expect:
Mommy has been reading What to Expect The First Year, and it's definitely been a help! I was wondering how to talk to you, and how to play with you; and of course, I turn the page, and there is a whole section all about those very things. I've learned that I should read to you, so I read to you from the book (and we learn together); I've learned that I should narrate everything I do to you so you can begin to get used to language and conversation; I should talk with you and not at you (I should ask you questions and pause to let you answer, and expand upon whatever cute little noise you make. Yesterday at the grocery store, you helped mommy pick out everything at the store, you were such a big help). I also learned that I should give you your space, this was a new idea to me. I shouldn't constantly be in your face, while that is a very good thing, I should allow you to explore the world around you and become aware of and used to your own body, and how to entertain yourself. And I learned that I should sing to you... no problem... your daddy and I do that constantly already! We sing old songs to you, and we sing make-up songs about what we're doing with you, and how beautiful you are!

Another thing I've learned is that I should imitate you. When you make cooing sounds I should make them back to you, setting a foundation for you imitating language. What's great is that this month you started making noises other than cries! It's been so great! I love it! It takes me by surprise every time you do it. You've only make the cooing sounds a few times, but it's been wonderful! I love that we're getting to the stage where you can make sounds and get my attention through noises other than crying. And of course you're usually smiling as you coo, while is all the more adorable! And, you've been smiling a whole lot more this month as well. You have such a gorgeous smile! And while those smiles tend to come mostly after you poo or spit up all over mommy, they are beginning to come at other times as well. But, even when you spit up all over me, when you smile afterwords, you melt my heart and I don't seem to care that I'm soaked in stinky spit up any longer.

Week 7 & 8

Eating:
Speaking of spit up, you still are spitting up quite often, at least once a day, sometimes twice. There doesn't seem to be much I can do about it. Whether I burp you or not, if you're going to spit up, you're going to spit up, and that's that. Sometimes you have a big burp, and then quite some time later you spit up... while other times I don't even burp you, and you don't spit up at all. I've decided to stop trying to figure it out and not stress about it. I'm still tracking it though so I can see how often it's happening.

You eat less often now, instead of 10-12 times a day, you average 6-8 times a day. Instead of eating almost every hour, you've moved to every 3 hours or so. And within the last few days, your schedule has changed a little more. You have started sleeping through the night, so we get up anywhere from 6-8am and eat and play and take a catnap. You tend to eat more often in the morning, every hour or so, then take a big nap in the early afternoon. Then you eat every 3 hours or so until bed time, with another good nap squeezed in there as well. You have been going to bed around 8-10 each night. (Notice how long of an uninterrupted chunk of sleep this gives mommy! Heck yes!)

Abby, you are such a joy. Mommy and Daddy are so excited that you've begun smiling so much! We have such a blast singing and dancing with you and watching you react. You are one loved little girl! And I can't wait to see what month three brings! We love you!

One Month Pictures!

2011-08-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

I smiled and they got the perfect shot of me! Mommy was VERY pleased with me!

Now this shot was a little more irritating. First, they took off my clothes, and my friend Hez was there... thanks mom! Then, they kept moving me all around, and I showed my distaste by immediately changing positions, HA! To counteract that, they shoved that black fabric up between my legs to hide girl parts, like that was super comfortable! I could tell I was going to have to do something really outrageous to let them get the hint... so... I felt a bit of gas coming... and I pooped on her precious black blanket... not too much to make a scene, but enough to show them that this whole set up they had going on was NOT okay with me! And to give it a little extra punch, I started screaming! Thankfully, they wrapped their little ridiculous game up quickly after that! Ha! That'll show that crazy mom of mine to never try that again!