Monday, October 26, 2009

Trooper

Abby was a trooper today. Joe had to take her in to get her second dose of the flu shot and also to get some blood drawn. Normally I would take her to the appointment but I had to work, so Joe gets a lot of dad points today. We were lucky and got a great nurse at the drs office who was really quick about the flu shot. Joe said she cried for a second but once she realized it was over she stopped. Then it was downstairs for the next appointment. Joe had to hold her for this one. He realized at that point how strong a little 21 pounder can be. But he said that once the needle was in and the blood was going Abby stopped crying and watched the blood... I don't know if that is wierd or what. I think she didn't know what to do about that. He said that when the nurse was done with her she reached out and wanted to give her a hug. The nurse said that she had never gotten a hug from a baby she had just taken their blood from! I am sure it made her day =)

Fair

Just catching up on some old posts - We went to the Calvert County Fair a couple of weekends ago. Joe loves the fair for some odd reason I still have not figured out. We didn't even get any food while we were there so it must not be for that anymore. We went with another couple from church who have a little girl Abbys age. So the girls got a big kick out of seeing the animals and the people and the rides. But the most amuzing thing was the little dancing area that was near the stage. It was gospel music day when we went, so the girls were getting down to some classics =)


Caroline (aren't her overalls cute)


Abby getting jiggy with it!


Cow says Mooo!


Abby and Daddy on the John Deere! (Keep dreaming hunny)

How many KIX can you fit in your mouth?

Abby is teething ALOT! I think she has about 4 or 5 going at once now so it is a whole lot of fun in the Garner household lately =) One thing I have found that helps is giving her KIX. They help to massage the inside of her mouth...especially when she sticks about 10 in at once ;)

Here is a video of her in the act!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Look who's talking now!

So Abby has upgraded from babbling to trying to talk in sentences (well kind of) =) She has started staying "what is that?" (when we are in the car and she is looking out the window) "piece please" (when she wants more of something) "sited" (when she is excited about something) Those are the only ones we have actually heard repeatedly - the rest of what she talks about, only she knows!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Funny little stories of Abby

So Abby is coming into her own now that she is a whole year old =) There are 3 little stories that I wanted to share.

"In Control"
So Abby is really fascinated with the remote control for the t.v. and she knows the difference between the VCR remote and the TV remote. She knows the VCR remote does nothing so therefore she will not be fooled into playing with that! And don't even try to give her, her toy remote - which by the way speaks 3 languages, sings, talks,etc. - still NOT good enough. So the other day she got a hold of the remote and managed to change the channel. It landed on a music channel which had the Beatles singing Twist and Shout. She was so excited with her selection that she started dancing with remote in hand. She would turn around to look at Joe and I with the biggest smile on her face. Then when I joined in to dance with her she was just cracking up! It was so cute. Of course by the time we got the camera she was pretty much done with the whole dancing part and had moved on to playing with her toys.

"O.C.D."
So there are times when I can see Joe come out in Abby. The other day I was putting laundry away in our room and Abby was with me "helping". I had put a basket of dirty clothes near the door to take downstairs and had emptied another basket that was full of folded clothes. So Abby began to take the clothes from the basket of dirty clothes and take them piece by piece over to the empty basket. If a piece of clothing did not make it all the way in the basket she would not leave until she had put it ALL THE WAY in. She was talking the entire time to herself because she did not notice I was watching her. I was just staring in amazement at how much time and effort she was putting into transferring the clothes. It was almost as if she was saying, "mommy you did this all wrong...I would have done it this way!"

"Kiss Me!"
The other day I went to pick Abby up from school and Joe has been doing it alot and he has a routine that he does with her (which I found out later). I went into the classroom and said Hi! and picked her up. Then I started talking to her teacher. Then I felt a hand grab my face and turn it to look at her then she gave me a big kiss! It was so cute. I was laughing all the way home about that. I asked Joe what he does when he picks her up and he always tries to give her a kiss when he picks her up. So being so routine like her father she was expecting the kiss =)

Monday, September 7, 2009

Hike to Calvert Cliffs

We went to Calvert Cliffs with the Metz's the weekend before Abbys party. We had never used the backpack we had gotten at a yard sale for Abby yet so we were prematurely excited to use it. I am sure it is great for a 1-2 mile hike but the hike to the beach ended up being 2 miles there and 2 miles back. And with a 20lb baby on your back it starts getting heavy =) It was interesting as well to go with a 3 yr old (Peyton) and a 5 yr old (Carter). Joe and I were going to be watching the two of them on August 29th. So this was just a taste of what we were in for. The boys did amazingly well for their age. They really didn't ask to be held too much. The water was nice to look at. There were people on the beach because it was a really nice day to be out. The big draw for Calvert Cliffs is the Sharks Teeth. So that was what the boys wanted to go and do. Abby just wanted to pick up every piece of trash, shell, sand...didn't really matter and try and stick it in her mouth. After the hike the Metz's came back to our house for pizza. I was sure that the boys were going to be tired, but I was wrong - they still had energy after that hike. And that is when we realized we were going to be really in for it!









When we watched the boys on the 29th we were prepared with a lot of activities. After they had some play time at the house - which 3 and 5 yr olds still get a kick out of baby toys, we took them for a walk. We went to the Fire Department and they got to get on the truck and sit in the driver's seat and then the jr. fireman that was giving the tour opened all of the compartments and showed the boys everything inside. It was really pretty cool. Then we walked to Papa Johns and picked up a cheese pizza and took it to one of the picnic tables near the boardwalk and ate. Then we walked to the water and let them play on the "pirate ship" then we walked back home. Once we got home we had them take a break and they watched Toy Story. Joe and I are not quite ready for a little boy! They are non-stop energy.

Abby's 1st Birthday!!!

We are so far behind in our postings and I am going to kick myself later because of it. I use this blog to remind myself of when things happen and I am about 2 months overdue. Poor Abby will have a gap in her first year! I am going to attempt to remember everything.

So starting with her first birthday!!! Of course poor baby had to start teething and get a cold right before her big day! So she spent Thursday and Friday home with mom and dad. She also spent all weekend in her pack and play which we had to rig in order for her to have an incline. She was so stuffed up it was pitiful and it was also keeping her up. She really has been a healthy kid considering she has been in daycare since she was 8 weeks old. But thank goodness for Motrin and Orajel. There is nothing else we could give her for the little cold. So on the day of her party she was a little doped up. And in some of the pics you could tell she was a tad out of it. And the other part of the Motrin is her equilibrium is off so she falls more - which for her is frustrating!

Her theme was "on the farm" and let me just say Oriental Trading Company is the best for little themes. They had some of the cutest stuff! So I went a little overboard with the theme - she had two goats come to her party, Ziggy and Rascal (the party animals as their owners called them). Some of our friends from church have goats as pets which they were really great to bring them. The kids loved them because goats eat NON-STOP so the kids got a kick out of feeding them. And they were still babies so they were just about the same height as the little ones. Abby had about 15 kids total at her little party. We had also ordered this Ball Pit/tunnel castle (didn't go with the theme - but the kids loved it). Abby loved the ball pit and she was short enough she could walk through the tunnels. Lucky for us Joe is a "weather forcaster" because he had the insight to have them set the ballpit in the basement. At 12 it was sunny and warm so I was thinking it was kind of silly to put it inside, but by 3:30 it was raining sheets, we had a waterfall coming down our backyard. I had never seen it rain so much.

For her cake, it was my first attempt at using Fondant icing. I got some pointers from a friend on which brands to go with and what to add to the cake mixes to make it a little more sturdy. It turned out a lot like what I had envisioned. And best of all it was edible =) Some of the layers were strawberry with strawberry icing and others were lemon with cream cheese icing and then the pig pen was yellow cake with chocolate icing. The silo and hay bales were made out of rice krispy treats. Abby slowly but surely tore into the cake. Then she was trying to share with everyone around her. She didn't get to wierded out with everyone singing Happy Birthday (probably because of the Motrin =)) She was such a good sport about everything. I think all of the people and the activities it really helped to get her mind off of the teething pain.

For the kids we had a egg hunt in the living room and craft time out on the deck. They were able to make barn photo holders. They could decorate them with all these little farm animal stickers. Then just for laughs I had gotten a John Deere tractor pinata. The kids got a kick out of it.

We had attempted to control the gifts by asking people to donate to the Weirs mission trip to PNG. We understand it is hard not to get stuff for the little ones. So it fell on deaf ears for some people =) But from what we know about Abby was able to give $180 to the Weirs, which is great for a one year old =) No one is to little to give!

It was a lot of fun. Joe and I looked at eachother when it was all done and said family party next year =)