Friday, April 26, 2013

11 months

Time is flying by way too quickly for me! I just can’t get enough of sweet Abby Mae!

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As you can see, Abby has mastered the ability to stand, squat and stand some more. She shakes her arms and dances in place. But, despite predictions that she would be an early walker, she still only takes two steps before dropping to the ground to scoot.

Abby is a little dare devil, and anything Benjamin does, she wants to do too! And I mean everything!

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So, this week, I have had to spend a lot of time prying her away from the toilet. Her knew fascination stems from all the time Benjamin has been spending there. My biggest fear is that she will try to climb in it…and also that she might teeth on it. EWW

Abby is becoming quite chatty. She loves to talk and talk and talk in a sweet, or sometimes very loud, voice. Her clearest words that she says are, “all done,” “car,” “hi,” “Mama,” and “Dada.” I would add “Daisy” to the list, but I need to see if she will repeat it in Daisy’s presence next weekend to make it really count. We are working on “Papa” and “B” at the moment.

Abby loves her brother, even if at times they are at each other’s throats…

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Benjamin took an interest in feeding Abby recently. She happily complies if she is hungry enough. Though, lately, she hasn’t wanted baby food very often.

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In fact, this week, she hasn’t wanted any food really. I thought she had an ear infection, but it turns out she is just a REALLY cranky and pitiful teether. She has her eight front teeth, and her two top molars are wrecking havoc on our lives at the moment. I had to wrap her crib with fabric, because Abby gnawed/gouged the paint and wood from an entire side. Every time I got her from her bed, her mouth was covered in white paint chips.
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Despite the pitiful complaints of teeth pain, Abby is such a happy girl.

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She loves to get into trouble, and one of her favorite pastimes is digging through bags and boxes. The bigger the mess, the happier she is!

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Abby is about 20 pounds now, and she is wearing 12- to 18-month clothes. Her hair is getting really curly in the back, and while it seems to grow like crazy, her feet are still itty bitty. We bumped her up to a 6-12 month shoe, but it is still pretty big on her.

Abby loves bath time, especially with Benjamin. She plays with all the bath toys, and when she is not eating all the bubbles, she gleefully pulls Benjamin’s hair.

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Abby loves her Dada. He dotes on her, and they love to play.

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She also loves cars, trucks and trains. She pushes them across the floor and under tables. She especially loves her Cozy Coupe car, which she climbs in and out of all day long.

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Playing outside is a new favorite pastime, and Abby keeps me on my toes!iphome 017iphome 014

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While Abby isn’t fond of letting many people hold her, she occasionally grants temporary permission to a few special people. 

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I can’t say enough about this precious baby girl! We are looking forward to celebrating her first birthday at her party (a little early) on May 5.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Potty Training

Grrrrrrr. Exasperated sigh! AHHHHHHHHH!

There are other words and expressions of frustration that might better illustrate our feelings on potty training, but we don’t want our children growing up to be “potty mouths.”

See? See what endless hours locked in a bathroom is doing to me? I am resorting to making awful puns!

After months…and I mean months…of trying to get Benjamin to use the potty, I snapped. Halfway through the day last Thursday, I said “Diapers no more!” And, I meant it, much to Benjamin’s surprise. There were plenty of arguments, tears and tantrums…from everyone in this house during the ensuing days. We were giving up all hope, when suddenly… “**it” happened. Yes, ladies and gentlemen… Benjamin finally pooped on Monday!

So, we immediately packed everyone into the car and drove straight to Chic-fil-A for a milk shake. I don’t care for alcohol, but I probably could have been driven to drink if I had been locked in that bathroom much longer than those miserable FOUR hours. Instead, I indulged in a large chocolate milk shake and fries. Benjamin slurped happily on his milkshake, insisting that Papa would have gotten him one, even if he hadn’t pooped. He happily told anyone who would listen about his good news. “I pooped on the potty!”

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I wish I could say it has been smooth sailing since Monday. But, it has not. Benjamin refused to poop Tuesday, claiming he had already accomplished this task. Wednesday, we argued all day about it until he pooped (after I put him to bed) in his pull up. Today, we are back to no poop. To his credit, he went all day today without any accidents. So, perhaps we are making progress. If not, I may develop a nervous twitch…or be forced to join chocoholics anonymous. My name is Lindsey, and I just ate a half gallon of ice cream in 48 hours. If I had a bag of dark chocolate covered pretzels right now, they would be gone.

To be continued…

Zoo Blooms!

We love April at The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens! It is so beautiful with all the tulips in bloom. It is also a comical time, with droves of parents hauling their kids – cooperative and uncooperative – around for photos. Mine, unfortunately, erred on the uncooperative side today.

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Thrilled. Yep. Don’t they look thrilled to be plopped down on mulch and asked to smile? Picture perfect scenery…and all I can get are shot after shot of this…

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Nope. Not happening.

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Not amused.

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This is Benjamin’s new “smile.”

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“Please stop Mama!”

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But wait…is that a smile?

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Halleluiah!

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“OK, I am done now. Back in the wagon please.”

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Granted, it was 80 degrees and nap time…and Daddy was home sleeping. So, I consider myself lucky to have captured the moment on film…even if it wasn’t all smiles. Plus, we got to see this precious baby giraffe, Lulu. I can’t wait to see the baby gorilla and cheetah when they make their debuts!

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Benjamin admired the elephants and the tigers before we left our shortest zoo trip on record.

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Abby was so happy to hear we were going home to nap.

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Thursday, April 4, 2013

Easter Sunday

We had an exciting Easter weekend. Benjamin and Abby went on an Easter “bunny, chick , daffodil and chalk egg hunt” with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Joe. Then, Aunt Keri, Uncle Aric and Uncle Brian joined us for lunch.

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We had to promise Benjamin these bunnies weren’t real. They look real enough, though! Abby didn’t really want to get to friendly with the fur ball.

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So silly!

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Isn’t Benjamin so handsome!? My baby boy is growing up so fast!

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It was such a nice visit. Unfortunately, Benjamin caught a stomach bug that struck the next morning. He threw up all over Great Grandma Hilty’s floor. So, we drove back to Cincinnati early Monday. We all seemed to stay healthy, but now Abby has a bad cold/cough. So, we are sticking close to home!

Easter Saturday

I love Easter dresses. The moment I found out I was having a baby girl, all I could think about were the bows and dresses she would get to wear.

And, when I found a matching outfit for Benjamin, I was thrilled.

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Unfortunately, Abby was cutting a molar and was fighting off the start of a bad cold. So, she didn’t want smile or be held by anyone but me or Jeremy. And, she wanted to be held most of the time. So, here is what we got…

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She did get distracted by an Easter basket from GG and BobBob for a few minutes.

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And, she did go to Papa for a while…

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Benjamin enjoyed an egg hunt outside, with eggs filled with matchbox cars and chocolate. GG and Bob Bob know him so well!

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Great Nancy and her friend came too!

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I ordered non-traditional baskets for the kids, and I just loved how they turned out!

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GG and Benjamin read a lot of books!

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That night, we went to church at Gateway with the kids. We got so many compliments on their matching outfits!

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