Just not feelin it

I KNOW, where are the new posts?... Hmm, I don't know either. I guess I just needed a break. I'll still continue Abigail's monthly posts and maybe I'll get the itch again. It'll probably happen with like 20 posts in one day or something crazy like that. Maybe because it's winter or I just don't have much to say... I dunno. What do you want to see on the 'ole blog? Tell me on the sidebar ---->

Measure Up! Cups

She loves knocking down the cups. I'm sure she'll make some friends cry because of this someday. I can see ruined sandcastles and snowforts and crashing towers in our future. :)

The red cup is stuck inside the blue cup. Her solution: throw it!

Eight Months Old

At Eight Months Old Abigail...

...sleeps 12 hours at night. 8:30/9:00pm-8:30/9:00am. This month she's been up at least once in the middle of the night, sometimes early morning too. She's been working on getting new top teeth and she's been eating a lot of her solid food during the day (growth spurt?) so I think that's why she's up again. She typically takes an hour nap in the late morning and a 1.5/2 hour nap in the afternoon. 

  ...eats lots of new foods and is still nursing. Here are the new ones (all pureed or mashed): plain yogurt, peas, green beans, oatmeal cereal, pears, carrots. She also likes baby Puffs; they dissolve on her tongue and she mashes them with her gums. She's starting to get the hang of bringing them to her mouth and I love to watch her little tongue move them around in her mouth. If she only gets it halfway in, her little lips clench tight so she doesn't drop it and I've been trying to teach her to use her fist to push it in. So cute!  She nurses 4 times a day (breakfast, lunch, supper, and bedtime) and she eats solid food 3 times a day. She cut one more tooth (her left "lateral incisor") so she has 5 total. She knows when I'm going to feed her because she watches me get out her sippy cup (she's started to suck on them now, not just chew them) and starts to get all excited (and mad if I don't put her in the highchair soon enough!). She'll let us know when Daddy prays too long at dinner time too because she wants to eat!!

...plays on her own pretty well. She still loves Sophie the giraffe and Sophie goes with us everywhere, but I think her favorite toy right now is the set of stacking cups she got for Christmas from her Great Grandma and Grandpa Wright.  They're neat because they actually measure (like cups 1 and 4 will fill up cup 5) and they stack and nest and can even be used as Playdough stampers with the animal pictures on them later. She LOVES to play peek-a-boo too. We hide around corners of walls and furniture and she searches for us to pop out. When we fill up the car with gas people must think we're crazy because we walk around the car popping up by all the windows. 

...is starting to move. I'll just lay her on her tummy or have her sit on the floor and spread toys around her. She'll twist and grab at toys and end up turned around and moved back from where she originally was. She doesn't go forward yet, just in circles and backwards.  When we get her from her crib she's turned 90 or even 180 degrees! She can walk around in her walker on the tile in our dining room and kitchen and on the carpet in her living room.

 She is happy all the time and has no fear. She "talks" and smiles at strangers. She watches me vacuum and loves it. She even reaches for it when I come at her with the vacuum (I don't do this to scare her she just watches me with a big smile when I turn the vacuum on). She's ticklish too. Her inner thighs and her back are the most ticklish, and if you bury your nose/face into her tummy she'll laugh.

I think she's trying to say some words but it's still sporadic. Some of the things she mimics right now: dada, mama, bye-bye,  and hi. She kind of waves and claps. She doesn't just do it when we say "Patty Cake" but she'll get very proud when she does clap and we get all excited and so she'll keep doing it. Her wave bye-bye is cute too because she just shakes her arm around.

She rocks back and forth a lot (just like her mama!). I'll start singing or turn on the radio (anything with a beat) and she starts rocking back and forth. Then, if I stop, she sits still. It's really funny! We'll have to catch that on video sometime!

...wears 12 months clothes, size 2 or 3 shoes (depends how thick her socks are), and size 3 diapers (and cloth diapers). 

...weighs about 20 lbs.

Here is her seven month post.

The Blizzard of 2011

We live in Michigan. It's February. Let it snow! I was excited to see the weather forecast actually happen. We received 18 inches of snow.  I had a snow day (my day off anyway) but then another one today (a day I normally work - yay!) Even more exciting though: Derek had a "snow day". His company shut down for the day. The university closed so neither of us had to go to class either. It still felt like we were playing "hooky" from work and school. Abigail loved it because we just played all day!

 We awoke to the sound of snowblowers; everyone was outside clearing snow.

 Oops, she must have blinked!

 Derek and Abigail by the pile of snow we just created.

 We went for a walk in the evening. Neighbors were still working and playing in the snow.

Also, Abigail's auntie is a tv star. Watch her moment of fame at the 1:45 mark here. Yay!