All about Abby

Life has been pretty crazy the past few months - as you can surmise from the fact that until yesterday I hadn't written any posts since early August. That just so happened to coincide with the start of the school year. Coincidence? I think not.

Right now it is 3:30am and I'm sitting up listening to a coughing baby and feeling pretty helpless. Every few weeks or so Abby develops what I like to call "Daycare Kennel Cough". She'll cough and cough all week (worse at night), but not spike a fever. I think it has something to do with the weather changing and her drainage. So, while she coughs, this mama sits up all night and plies her with cough syrup and cuddles. I think the worst feeling in the world is when your baby is sick - even when it's minor - and you can't do anything about it. *Reminding myself that she would either build up her immune system NOW or later in preschool. Daycare Kennel Cough does not make me a bad mommy. Rinse. Repeat.*

We've fallen into a pretty good routine with me going back to work this year. I am teaching half-days at EC - 3rd and 4th block AP European History. I really couldn't have asked for a better schedule. Abby and I get up around 7am each morning, breakfast together and play for 2 hours or so. Then she toddles around the master bathroom with me while I shower, dress, and get ready for the day. If I'm lucky, she naps from about 10-11 (if daycare is lucky, she doesn't and she naps there instead!) We are dressed and headed out the door by 11am, so that I can drop her off with her teacher Mrs. Cindy and be at school by 11:42 for class change. I start off the week arriving at school about 20-30 minutes early to get some housekeeping done - but by the time Thursday rolls around, we are usually pushing it just to arrive on time!

Abby's daycare is about 2 minutes from my school, which I think has really helped me with the transition. I know that at any moment I can drop what I'm doing and be at her side in no time flat. It makes it easier for me to concentrate at work and not worry about what she's doing and when I'll see her next. It also helps that Abby ADORES her teacher, Mrs. Cindy. She didn't feel like this the first 2 weeks, and we had a rough time saying goodbye in the morning - but then one day everything changed and now she actually grins and reaches out to Mrs. Cindy when we arrive. I have to admit, the first time I saw her reach for another woman, I just about lost it. It does make me feel good to know that she's staying with someone who will love on her and play with her almost as much as I would.

There are usually 2 or 3 other infants in Abby's room on any given day. Right now Abby is the oldest since she is over 1 and not yet walking. They will not move her into the 1 Year Old room until she's walking well - which is just fine with me! That one year old room is crazy! Babies walking around everywhere and getting into everything. No, I much prefer her to explore in her cozy little infant room where she can be Queen of the Cribs! She has some boy friends that are a little younger than her that she likes to chase around and play with. There are also tiny twins who just started a few weeks ago. Abby is learning to get used to hearing newborns cry and learning not to crawl over them or poke their eyes out: two skills I'm sure Monkey appreciates her learning NOW. She's a very empathetic baby (she can always tell when I'm not feeling good or having a bad day) and she has been known to bring piles of toys over to any baby who is crying at school to make them feel better.

I teach until 3:30, then am usually at her school for pick-up around 4:15. 99% of the time she's happily sitting on the floor reading a book or crawling around on the baby slide with her friends. Her entire face lights up when I walk in and it makes my whole day. It's like we had never been apart for those 4 hours! Every now and then I'll show up and she's had a bad day - which leaves me feeling sad and guilty the rest of the night, wondering if going back to work is really worth it. Of course, it IS worth it - seeing as how I had no financial choice this year. In addition, those bad days are few and far between - I just love seeing her grow and learn in ways I couldn't teach her by keeping her cloistered at home. She's really opened up to people in the poast few months and is learning to socialize with other children. She came home blowing kisses this week - talk about melting a mama's heart! - and she is really pushing to learn to walk since she sees the boys doing it at school.

When we get home around 5 each day, we play in the living room while we wait for Daddy to get home. Right now Abby's favorite thing to do is push things from the living room to the kitchen and back again...over and over! Although she has a baby doll stroller, little car, and scooter we specifically bought for this purpose, she would rather push chairs, boxes, and Ginger instead. Matt usually arrives home around 6pm - you should SEE her face light up when she sees her Daddy! - and we all have dinner. Abby gets into the big tub in our master bath around 7, where she splashes around for a good 15 minutes or so while I try to wash her slippery self, then we do pajamas. Matt alternately reads her Pajama Time or Goodnight Moon every night while we sit in the rocker and have our "Nigh-Nigh" bottle. Then down she goes until (hopefully) 7am...when we will start it all over again!

Is it routine? Yes. But I love it, and so does Abby, I think. We could continue this routine indefinitely, but something tells me that everything is about to change in 2-3 months' time. And it will be rough for a while - I'm completely expecting a mommy-meltdown for the first few months of having 2 under 2. But I think we'll fall into a new routine soon enough. And it will probably be even better.

Grow, Monkey, Grow!

23 Weeks pregnant:

Me and my Boo-Bear (23 Weeks):

27 Weeks pregnant:

After realizing I am entering 3rd Trimester...already....

Happy Birthday, Gummybear!

Abby turned one at the end of August and we had a Ladybug party for her at the local park. It was so much fun and turned into an all-day event! She had such a great time eating her first bites of cake, playing with her cousins and friends, and opening her presents. Here are some pictures from the big day:


Cousins!!

Thinking about eating the cake off my daddy's fingers...

Cheesing it up for the camera:

4 Generations!

I love my Granny!

My first taste of cake!

Hey...What's going on??

Abby's 1st birthday cake - made by her Aunt Cheryl!

Abby and Kat:

Becca looking pretty as always:

Raine and Jake playing at the park:

Rebecca and Baby Ian - our Babytime friends!

Abby and her Mimi:

Gigi and Grandy soaking in the day:

The two lovebirds:

Caroline - Pretty in Pink:


Me and my grandparents!

Mary June and Brittany:

What do you mean Birthdays only come once a year??!

Mother of the Year

So I'm usually very attentive and all, but since Abby has started crawling, she's been getting into a bit more mischief than usual. Take today for example:

While I was getting ready in the master bathroom this morning, Abby was sitting on the floor and playing with my hair brush. She likes to watch me dry my hair every morning before we head out to our "schools". I suddenly realized I had not heard from her in a minute or two (she's always holding conversations with inanimate objects. It's really quite darling) and looked around to find her standing up, gripping the toilet seat, and trying to peer inside the bowl. Eww. BUT it did lead to a "teachable moment" - that's teacher-speak for a chance to dazzle her with information she never asked for. Our teachable moment consisted of "what a potty is for" (with full demonstration of the flush feature) and how we "wash, wash, wash our hands" after touching the potty.

Later, we were in the kitchen making our lunches when Abby crawled over to the cat food bowl. She looked up at me and said "uh uhh uh uh" (which is what I always say to her when she gets too close to the animal food). I smiled and nodded and said "That's RIGHT! Going near the cat food is a no-no!". I smiled at my genious child and she smiled back...right before putting a fistfull of cat kibble in her mouth.

Blessed...not stressed!

We have had a great last few weeks of summer, and now we're heading into the final countdown before Abby turns ONE. Yes, I'm holding back tears as I write that. It seems like just last week we were bringing her home for the first time after all the weeks of back and forth to the nicu. She was so tiny she fit in the palm of Matt's hand and we just all laid on the bed when we got her home and looked over at each other like "now what??" And now here we are at 11 months old and 18 lbs. She may be a tiny thing, but she makes up for it with fiestiness! It seems like Abby learns how to do something new everyday - just yesterday she came home from "school" and she was pointing for the first time. Pointing at EVERYTHING - and babbling on and on to let me know what it was she was pointing at.

Abby had a great playdate with Corbin and Ian a few weeks ago. Ian was sleeping when I remembered I brought my camera, so here are some shots of Abby and her "best friend":

Here they are trying to start their own band "The Tiny Teethers". Abby has agreed to be lead singer if Corbin does all the dancing:






Corbin and Cathy - this was just too cute not to add:

Forever Friends:

We crashed Mimi and Papa's anniversary dinner - and Gigi and Grandy decided to join us too! Here we are at Frank's Italian Restaurant:

I got to spend some much needed girl-time celebrating with my friend Kristin at her baby shower. Here are Kristin, her sister Kelly, and their mother. Can you tell Mrs. Ross is excited to be getting two grandchildren this fall?

There are four people in this picture :)

Abigail learned to crawl last month and now she is a mobile machine! She spends her days moving from one room to another and chasing around the animals:

Here she is on her first day of "school"! She was so excited to go and play with the other babies...until she realized mommy was not going to be there the whole time.

Cutest face on earth:

Good news!

Abby's appointment with the neurosurgeon went swimmingly today! After examining her head and the previous scans, the doctor said that her skull did not fuse prematurely and that we are not looking at any surgeries! He also said he wouldn't even recommend a helmet to round out the forehead and that she will definitely "grow into" her skull and look just fine. Now maybe all the doctors will stop trying so hard to find something wrong with my perfect Abby-bear!

What a relief! I am beyond ecstatic...but I am also beyond exhausted, so off to bed I go. We have a puppet show to attend at the library tomorrow morning, and morning seems to come way too soon lately!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Abby's first playdate!

Abby and I went on our first playdate to the park this week! We met up with Cathy and baby Corbin - who we met at Babytime in the library - and had a great time playing on the swings. It was sooo hot, though, so we ended up cooling off a bit in the sprinklers and heading to lunch at Golden's in downtown. Abby thought Corbin was pretty interesting and they both enjoyed some veggies at lunch. I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship :)

Happy Father's Day!

An update

We met with the craniologist for a follow-up scan this week. Abby's skull seems to have a triangular shape to it - coming to a point in the forehead - which may mean her skull-plates have fused prematurely.

Here's what a normal baby's skull looks like (aerial view):

And here's what Abby's skull looks like (ignore the diagonal lines- they are just measurements):

After the follow-up, Dr. Karl noted that her skull really hasn't rounded out or changed significantly, so Abby has an appointment to meet with a neurosurgeon on June 28th. I've done a little bit of research, and it turns out that Children's Hospital of Atlanta has the best neurosurgeons in the world - as in, people from all over the country send their babies to see them!- so that makes me feel confident that they'll know what to do.

I've put the appointment out of my head for the last month, but now that it's coming up, I'm starting to get a little nervous. I just feel like she's already been through so much - what with her prematurity and physical therapy and all of these doctor's appointments. I was really hoping that the tough stuff was behind us. Please be praying that the plates haven't fused early and that all she needs is a little baby helmet to redirect and round out her forehead. I've seen descriptions and pictures of the surgery they do to correct early skull fusions, and I know she's a trooper and we would get through it and she wouldn't even remember it - but I think every mother's heart just breaks when they think of their child having to undergo even the most minor of surgeries. And I don't think that skull surgery falls into the realm of "minor".

Matt's taking off of work on the 28th to go with us to the appointment. I'm not sure if it's just a consultation or if they will be doing the catscan/MRI that day as well. But for now I'm going to stop googling and go play with this little conehead, who is positively perfect in every way.

9 Months Old!

Just chillin' in my new baby pool:

It looks like I'm a nekkid baby in this picture. Teeheehee.

Mommy, I LOVE my new baby pool!

Can you see the itty bitty hairs growin' out my head?!

Abby's 9 month appointment was yesterday and she did fabulously! She was in a great mood and showed off all of her latest "tricks" to Dr. Cheeks (love that doctor) and didn't even cry when they did the finger prick to test her iron.

Here are her 9 month stats:

Height: 26inches - 9th percentile

Weight: 16lbs 14.5oz - 10th percentile

Head: 42.5cm - 12th percentile

Dr. Cheeks said Abby should start on more finger-foods, so she got to have some little pieces of cheese yesterday! She loved it - of course, who doesn't love cheese?? I think a person who doesn't love cheese is a person not to be trusted. But anyways...

After the appointment, we bought a brand new straw-sippy-cup to celebrate and Ab by proceeded to chew on the straw all afternoon and then complain that she couldn't get any out to drink. We also bought a new baby pool and had some sunshine fun.

I can't get her to do them on camera, but here's the new stuff Abby's been up to:

• Clapping her hands- sometimes on demand
• Army crawling backwards (a little)
• Rolling from back to belly
• Rolling from belly to back
• Spinning while on her belly to get a toy
• Trying to pull up
• Saying Dadadadadad when she's mad
• Trying to cruise from one place to another
• Taking HIGH steps
• Eating finger foods
• Laughing like crazy when you play peek-a-boo
• Making little excited grunts when you ask her "are you hungry?" or "would you like some milk/a bottle?"
• Sleeping from 8:30pm - 7am
• Sitting up really well and hardly ever falling over
• Getting little toys out of a box
• Picking up puffs with her thumb and finger
• Riding in a shopping cart
• Sitting in a highchair
• Growing the longest, prettiest eyelashes you've ever seen!
• Growing more tufts of curly brown/blonde/sometimes strawberry hair
• Being the love of her parents' lives

This past month we visited a specialist to see if Abby needed a helmet for a few weeks to help with a little bit of assymetry in her skull. (Insert baby in a helmet jokes here) The scan showed that she does not, but did reveal that she has a triangular forehead that needs to be looked at by a neurosurgeon. That appointment is in late June, and I'm really hopeful that it will turn out to be nothing and that we will never have to go back up to Scottish Rite again. And so that's what the itty bitty bebe has been up to this month!