Abbys One Month Drs Appt

Abby had a doctors appointment yesterday for her one month. She is in the 90th percentile for height and weight. She was 10 lbs. 4 oz. and was 22 1/4 in. She is almost 2 ft. tall =) The doctor said that she was doing great and that she was going to be a big girl. They had to give her a hepatitis B shot which she turned red and screamed for 30 seconds and then went back to starring at the ceiling =)

We had a little bit of a scare on Thursday night because we thought she might have had a cold. But it turns out she probably just was going through a little bit of an allergy attack. She had the whole runny nose and watery red eyes. It was pretty pitiful. We checked her temperature in all areas (ears, armpit, and butt) 98.8 so she was ok. =)


Abby One Month Big

Daddy teaching her bad habits =)

Visit to Baltimore and the Zoo

We met Aunt G-G (Angie) and Elsa at the zoo on Thursday morning. I had not been to the zoo in year and really miss going. I had never been to the one in Baltimore but it was really nice. The animals were out that morning because the weather was so nice. It was in the mid-60s. They had a baby elephant that had just been born so we were able to see him, and the giraffes and chimpanzees, and penguins, rhinos, zebras, cheetahs, etc. It was also good exercise pushing the stroller up and down all of the hills. ;)

After the zoo we went back to Angie and Daves for lunch and Abby got to hang out with everyone before we had to head back. I had to make a pit stop on the way back to the house because I had dreamed that the diaper bag was stocked full of diapers, but in reality there was only 1 left in there. I also forgot her pacifier which is sometimes a necessity in between feedings so I was kicking myself. So we had to go to Safeway, thank goodness for grocery stores!

Visit at the DEA

We went to my work on Tuesday so that everyone could see Abby. Since she let me sleep on Monday night we were able to make it. If it had been a hard night we probably would have had to reschedule the visit. Everyone enjoyed seeing her. We were there for quite a few hours. There are a lot of people to visit and see! It took us about an hour and a half just to make it from the outside of the building to my cube. (There were a lot of people stopping us to see the baby before we actually made it to my section) She let everyone know she was there when she got hungry so they got to see all sides of her and check out the volume on those lungs!


Mary feeding Abby

Toni having mommy flashbacks =)

Tiffany was a natural she had her knocked out in about 2 minutes

Michele getting to cuddle with Abby

We are missing one SIBer and that is Michelle Bower - I was slacking in the camera department...

Road Trip - Day 4

Monday was our last day. We went to visit Uncle Phil and Aunt Kym in the morning since they weren't able to make it to the shower. Their whole family went to Myrtle Beach for a long weekend and some of them came back sick =(

Then we went to go see Great Grandmother who was also not able to make it to the shower. She got to hold her and said that she was not used to holding so much weight. Abby is starting to pack on the pounds, she is probably a little over 10 lbs. We will find out for sure today at the doctors. We did get to take a great generations picture with grandmother, mama, myself and Abby.

We left around 12 and finally made it back home around 9. We had to make a couple of stops on the way back up and by 6:30 mommy was ready to get out of the car! So we stopped and visited with Aunt Jay Jay (Jayna) in Waldorf. It was a nice break from the car. I had called Joe and said if he wanted to see his wife and daughter before 9pm that he would have to drive to Waldorf. Of course he came and brought dinner as well (great husband!). He even drove home with Abby who was not quite as happy to be back in the car. But we made it back in one piece from our road trip. She stayed wide awake from 9pm to 12:30 am and then gave mommy 5 straight hours! I believe God gave me that because by 12:30 I was about to lose it because I was SOOO tired! Again we have a great baby! =)


Grandma with her second great grandbaby =)

Grandpa getting Abby to cheese =)

Generations picture

Road Trip - Day 3

Sunday was Jennifers shower. Abby and I went to Fayetteville early so we could spend some time with her before everyone else got there. We also were able to have brunch with Sean, his mom, sister and her fiance. It was nice to get to spend some time with them as well.

Jennifer did a great job decorating the house and the nursery. Declan definitely has a posh room that he can grow in. They did a safari theme with jungle animals. I totally forgot to take pictures of the actual room. Abby and I broke in the rocker and the changing table though while we were there =)

It was so good to see all of the family. We got to see almost everyone in one place which makes it a lot easier on me and Abby as well. She was good about being passed around. I think as long as she was being cuddled she didn't care who was holding her.

After the party we went to Greensboro to stay with Great Grandma and Grandpa. It took what felt like forever to get there though. I think we were just all tired so the 2 hour car ride felt like 5!


Mommy and Daddy to be

This was Uncle Sean's first time holding a baby =) There will be a lot of practice coming soon =)

All the girls together!

Road Trip - Day 2

Saturday Abby, Grandma, and I had some errands to run. We wanted to surprise daddy by getting her pictures made for her one month. We ended up going to JC Pennys. They turned out pretty good. I should get the pictures next month so I will post them when the come in. She did fine until the photographer kept wanting to tease her with her pacifier. So we went to the mall and to Walmart which all took about 5 hours. We were gone for quite a while, but Abby was good. She is allowing us to tote her around pretty much anywhere as long as she can eat and get changed out of her dirty diapers =)

That night we finished up the stuff for Jennifers party. I broke out all of my cake decorating kit and made a little tank cake for Declan. It turned out pretty cute and what I had imagined in my head.

First Road Trip! - Day One

Sorry we have been off of the cycle of updates but Abby and I have been a little busy for the past week. =) We took our first road trip down to North Carolina. Joe was wonderful and let us go down by ourselves in order to get to spend some more time with the family and not be rushed. Abby and I left on Friday morning. We made a pit stop halfway in Richmond to see Angela (college roomie) and her new baby boy Joshua. He was so cute. He looked just like his dad. I am not sure how much either baby paid attention to the other, but it was nice for me to get some adult time in with Angela! It was also nice to get off the road for a little while. 2 Hours was actullay the longest I had driven with Abby and we still had over 3 hours to go. Angela and Joshua had a little surprise for Abby. They got her, her first pair of sunglasses, some toys, a pair of duck slippers, and a book. There must be a new Sesame Street character since we were kids. Her name is Abby - that was the book that they had found. My Abby actually loves to look at the book, it has all of the shapes. I have some refreshing to do on my cartoons and childrens stuff in general.

We got to my parents house by about 5:45, so we were on the road from 10am to 6pm. She was a great baby. She slept for the most part and let me know when she was hungry or dirty. At my parents house she of course got spoiled with love from Grandma who grabbed her right when we walked in the door =) Grandpa schooled her on golf while we ate dinner. That night we started getting stuff made for Jennifers shower.


Mommy Angela with Baby Joshua - he only had a couple of pounds on Abby.

Angela with Abby

We did a baby switch - when we were pregnant Angela wanted a girl and I wanted a boy. I don't think that we could pull off the actual switch.

Backed up =(

Abigail had to deal with her first bout of constipation this week. The poor girl would try to push but nothing would come out, so she would get upset. We tried everything. Floor exercise, warm baths, burping, rocking, stretching, etc. I called the doctor on Monday and they suggested the warm bath and then to try a rectal thermometer. I have to admit I was always scared that one day I would have to do something like this. I had to do some research before I attempted the thermometer. I pulled out all of my parenting books and looked on the internet. When I finally got the guts to do it, Abigail was perfectly pleasant. No kicking or screaming like I had imagined, she just layed there perfectly still. I was kind of proud of myself. Nothing came immediately but after her nap in the morning she woke up with a very dirty diaper and we had a very happy baby =) Thank goodness!

Abby gets to meet Mommy's siblings

We had a full house this weekend. My brother Steven, sister in law Christina and sister Jennifer came up to see Abigail. It was so good to see everyone. We were able to take Steven and Christina to the Amish Market in Annapolis. We spent a lot of time around North Beach because Abigail is just so entertaining you don't even need to leave the house much ;) Abby even got to meet her future father in law Caleb too :0 Thankfully no one was afraid of babies that cry. She is a little fussy because I think she might have gas or a little acid reflux. We are going to keep trying some different things to see if anything works. I have been watching what I eat and we have tried some different floor exercises in order to help Abby out. So far we just have to deal with the crying. Poor baby.


Abigail was somewhat confused on the similarity of Aunt Jennifer and mommy =)


We went to the buffet at the Rod and Reel with Aunt Christina and Uncle Steven so we got to take some pictures at the pier.


Uncle Steven got to feed Abby and see how much she gobbles up in a few minutes. She is passionate about her food. Which might be one reason she has so many bubbles.

Ergo Baby Sling

So Joe's one request for baby items was for an ergo baby carrier. We broke it out the other night for a test drive. She loved it and fell right to sleep. She loved the movement and probably for good reason because mommy never stopped moving when she was inside of me. So it was familiar territory. It is just nice now to have daddy carrying some of the load and give mommys back a little break =) 9 lbs can feel like a ton after a while ;)



If anyone knows how to correct the layout of the video let me know. I can't get to the setting to rotate clockwise...

Tummy time here we come!!!

Last night something big happened... Abigail lost her umbilical cord!!! It looks like we might end up with an outie but time will tell.


No ugly black thing on this little belly =)

Sponge Bath Time

Abigail loves being clean (I think I have mentioned that a couple of times). So she really enjoys her sponge baths. We can't start the official bath time until her umbilical cord falls off. Sometimes we will give her a bath because she falls asleep during her feedings and needs a little wake up call =) It works... This is actually her second bath, the first bath pics vanished from the camera and we didn't know how to get them back.

Thank you Grandma!

Grandma had to go home yesterday. =( We definitely enjoyed her company and the extra hands. She was such a blessing during the first two weeks taking care of both Abigail and I. She was always there doing what needed to get done without me having to say or ask for anything. I was able to just focus on the baby and heal myself. Who knew mom needed a recovery time too!





Thank you Grandma =)

Today was my first "official" day as a mom. Abigail was great, she just got a little fussy and clingy in the afternoon which meant she was almost glued to me. Every time I tried to lay her down she either wanted mommy or needed to be changed. So I was happy when daddy came home =)

Daddy's first day back

Yesterday was Joe's first day back to work. We missed him a lot but we were so excited to see him when he got back =) The pictures capture the reunion!

New stuff to focus on...

We got some pointers from Adrienne on new stuff to get Abby to focus on. We made some artwork with babies faces and stripes. She seemed to really look at the stuff and was able to focus. Thanks for the tip =)

Drs. Visit

Abigail had her first doctors visit to the pediatrician the day after we got out of the hospital. She had lost some weight from when she came out. She was about 7lbs 15oz which is down from the 8lb 9oz.

Todays appointment was the tale tale sign to see how things are coming along. Grandma went with Abby and I to the appointment. Abby has actually exceeded her birth weight =) She was 9lbs 2oz when she was weighed. We could not believe it! I knew she was eating A LOT but girlfriend is a chunk ;) A very adorable chunk of course. She is 21 1/2 inches long. She had to have her heal pricked again today which is not fun. But she was a trooper. The doctor was very happy with her progress and couldn't believe how much she had grown in the 9 days it had been since the last appointment. I am so glad that we found a great pediatrician. She is great with Abigail and is very thorough.

Abby is One Week Old!

Time is just flying by and Abigail is changing everyday. It is amazing just to watch her move, sleep, smile, cry and change expressions. The below are just a few things we have learned about our little girl:

1. She loves being clean - cries because of a dirty diaper and smiles when she is getting bathed (that is definitely daddy inside of her)
2. She is a very HUNGRY girl. So there is no doubt she will gain her birth weight back =) This makes mommy feel good.
3. She loves play time when she lays on her mat and stares at her mirror and her little pink bear. She is really trying to roll over, but she is probably just getting excited.
4. She loves noise. (Yay!) We went to church yesterday and she slept through the singing, clapping and sermon. Then we had fellowship afterwards and with all of the talking and people she was just snoring away =)
5. She has two cries one that sounds like a sheep and the other that sounds like a squeeky toy. They both make you laugh. It loses some cuteness at 3am but we still love her a lot!
6. She loves being outside on the porch. All of the birds and the bug sounds keep her eyes wide open. She looks so curious. It is a free nature soundtrack.

I am sure we will continue to observe new and amazing things as the weeks go by!