Lightner/Haspels Visit

I haven't posted pictures yet from the visit we had from some good friends of ours (from Kansas). Enjoy!

Melanie, Jaime, Abigail, Jodi

Things To Do!

Our lives seem so busy all the time. Many of the things that I used to enjoy (cooking, scrapbooking, reading, organizing our lives, etc) have taken a back seat to my new most-favorite thing. . . spending time with my precious daughter. I have to continue to brag about Andrew. He cooks most nights and is now doing the laundry, except for putting it away (which is my job, since I don't like his folding!!), so that I have time to just hang out with Abigail. The only thing I have been doing lately is mowing, which I enjoy. It gives Abigail a chance to hang out with her dad, which I think is a wonderful thing. She definitely doesn't get enough daddy time (or Pa, as I like to call him).

We are about to embark on a new adventure . . . flying with a baby. We are flying to Kansas for my cousin's wedding. I am very excited about the weekend. It will be so much fun to see all of my family again, to see my cousin get married, and to actually get to spend some quality time together as a family! I love events where families come together. Yeah! Well, my lunch break is almost over, so I'd better get back to work.

We're getting there!

I am all about this: http://thesoftlanding.wordpress.com/. Ever since I learned I was pregnant, I switched to drinking water from glass cups or my new favorite Klean Kanteen (thanks Mom!), which I use every day. I purchased either glass or Born Free bottles for Abigail and use only Medela products when pumping for Abigail (they use only Bisphenal-free plastic). The only exception we have made to this is when it comes to Pacifiers. Abigail has one Pacifier (her favorite) that is made with Latex. We only use it on special occasions (rough nights) and I have been slowly getting her used to sucking on other Pacifiers. They just don't fit her mouth like the latex one does, unfortunately.

I have done a lot of reading lately about the dangers of infants swimming in chlorinated pools. I had heard about this before having a baby but now I'm looking into it more, now that it is almost pool season. I wish we lived closer to a lake or ocean (something natural) for Abigail to play/swim in! I will post some links to this another time. I think occasional swimming would probably be ok but when you think about it, you are really dipping your whole body into chemicals!

She still has a slightly stuffy nose. When she wakes up it is a bit stuffy and then clears up during the day. It seems like she is improving pretty quickly. Poor thing doesn't know what to do when her nose is stuffy when she wakes up. She coughs and sputters around. I am also SO glad that it is the weekend. She has been getting up 2 or 3 times a night all week long and I feel very very tired! I fell asleep feeding her (in the rocking chair) the other night and it was only 8:30 pm!! I think Andrew may use a bottle that I have pumped and take one of the shifts tonight so that I can get a stretch of sleep. We haven't done this yet, in Abigail's short life, so we'll see if it works. I can't wait to play and take care of our babe all weekend!

I felt like I got so much done last weekend and was looking forward to relaxing this weekend. However, I feel like my time has come and I MUST get an Ohio Driver's license soon. Thankfully it has been a while since I have been pulled over but since we are coming up on being Ohio residents for 3 years now, it's time! I might put it off one more weekend!

Photo Shoot with Mama

Poor sweet baby had a stuffy nose this morning and cried all the way through her diaper change. It seemed to clear a little bit after I fed her. I think she's just wiped out and possibly has a touch of the very minor slight cold or allergies that Andrew and I have had this last week. I hope she sleeps well (deeply) when she is here with me today! Here are some pictures of me and my sweet darling.

She was wearing her Sterling College onesie but it doesn't really show in these pictures.

My little flyer!

Please ignore me and focus on how precious my girl is!!!

Ok, I must remember not to stare at pictures of her when I'm not with her!
I sure do miss her!

:(

Less than a week

So, I can't stay away from blogging! It has been less than a week and I don't feel particularly creative yet but we had a fun filled weekend that I want to post about. We have lots of fun pictures to post. First of all we had a lovely visit from a Haspels and a Lightner (good friends from Kansas) on Friday night. It was great fun to see them and have a chance to catch up. Of course, they received the Schechter family welcome of having photos taken with Abigail in our studio, so I will post those. It was so good to see you Melanie and Jodi!! :)

Friday night, Abigail decided to go through a growth spurt (we think) and wake up four times to eat! Whew! Then on Saturday night, 3 times to eat! However exhausting that was, I am thankful to have such a thoughful daughter who only has gone through growth spurts on weekends, because she knows her mama works (gets up at 6am) and needs to sleep! :) She only woke up one time last night.

On Saturday Andrew took some wonderful pictures of Abigail and me in his studio. I didn't get to spend as much time with Abigail this weekend as I wanted, because I had to run around and do tons of errands on Saturday (David's Bridal, Trader Joes, Grace Chapel (our church), Carters, and Target). Andrew took good care of Abigail and gave her a bottle so I would have time to do all of that. Hopefully next weekend we can just hang out and relax together more as a family without all the running around!

Then on Sunday, the usual, church and lunch at Grandma's house. In the evening hours we got together with our Bradley method class friends for a reunion. It was so much fun to see everyone's babies and to compare notes about breastfeeding, sleeping, rolling over, sitting up, etc!! It is so cute how the babies look like their parents! I guess that's what happens. Andrew forgot his camera, so we'll have to get some pictures from others. Abigail was so tired she slept in Andrew's arms for a while. She was revived by a short 15 minute nap and was pleasant the rest of the evening. It was a busy but fun weekend!

Blank!

I have never taken a blogging sabbatical in my three years of blogging but I'm considering it at this point. It is not like I don't have something to blog about (my darling Abigail)! :) I just don't feel creative at the moment (blah) and there are only so many posts about Abigail's sleep (which is still wonderful) that I can write. Maybe some sun and warm weather will help. I'm also finding myself extremely short on time these days. So, at this point, I'm considering taking a break. We'll see. I may not be able to stay away, especially if we take some cute pictures of our little darling. Comments always help to encourage my blogging juices to flow! :)

P.S. I just have to brag about my wonderful amazing husband. I have not cooked a single meal (on a week night) since I went back to work. He is doing such a wonderful job taking care of me and helping me to have as much time to just spend with Abigail in the evenings and weekends as possible. I am sad that I had to give up doing his laundry. I truly do enjoy doing laundry but it is enough to just keep up with my own and Abigail's at the present time! :(

Our Little Piggy!

We have noticed lately that Abigail is getting quite chunky but we hadn't weighed her in a while. Well, she had her 8 week doctor's appointment yesterday and we found out that she is HUGE! She weighed in at 13 pounds, was 25 inches long, and has a big head. She is in the 95th percentile for all three things (weight, height, and head size). Her daddy said last night that perhaps we have a basketball player on our hands! :) We'll let her decide that, but just in case she is, I've had lots of practice keeping stats at basketball games (right Mom and Dad?). Sorry, we haven't taken any new pictures this week since I've been back at work. Perhaps we'll try to do that tonight.

Abigail had another good night last night. She fell asleep about 9:30 pm (I went to bed shortly after) and she only woke up once at 2:30 am. Since that was early in the night, I wasn't sure if she would make it until morning but she didn't wake up until 6:00 am! Ok, that's all for now!