Happy Baby

Abbie in her bouncy seat

Here's a couple of pictures of Abbie smiling in her bouncy seat. She likes the bouncy seat and swing, as well as her activity mat. I love putting her in my baby b'Journ carrier because she usually goes to sleep. So far, she does not like taking baths! Hopefully, she will enjoy them soon! Sophie loved taking baths!

A Childlike Faith

One morning, Paula was about to change Sophie's dirty diaper. We've been wanting to get her potty trained for a while and we keep working on it but it hasn't happened yet. Anyway, on this particular day, Sophie's diaper was very stinky. Paula was making faces showing that the diaper smelled bad and being dramatic about it. Paula said, "Sophie this diaper smells really bad" and she backs up stalling from changing the diaper. "You need to learn to use the potty." Sophie says, "It's OK, Mama. God is with you." Paula just started cracking up. Recently we've talked to Sophie about how God is always watching over you and you can pray to him anytime, etc. He's always with you, etc. It was just too funny!

Another time last week while Sophie was riding with Nana down the interstate, Nana saw someone working up on top of a tall building. Nana said, "Sophie do you see that man up there? I wouldn't want to work up on top of the building like that man." Sophie said, "Why not?" Nana said, "because I'd be scared that I would fall." Sophie said, "You not need to be scared Nana. God is watching over you." Oh, if we all had such a precious childlike faith and would entrust our lives to God like that! I believe this is why God wanted us to have a childlike faith.

Fractured Fairy Tale

Last week, one of my friends came and visited. She brought Sophie a new fairy tale book that includes several popular fairy tales. Sophie has enjoyed hearing the story of Cinderella recently and watching the movie. So, one day as my mom is driving down the road with Sophie my mom asks her about her book. She asks Sophie if there's a queen in the book. Sophie says, "yes, she's mean. The fairy godmother is too." My mom says, "she is? Why is she mean? I thought she was nice." Sophie says, "No, she's mean. She tore the girl's clothes all up and turned the dog into a couch." Obviously Sophie was a little confused. I think she meant a coach. Ha, ha, ha!

Just the Girls

Abbie smiling at Aunt Martha

Sophie w/ Paula & Abbie

Sophie with her Barbie doll

This has been a very unusual week for us. Matt has been out of town for several days visiting his family in VA and now in NC for business. The trip to VA was an unplanned emergency kind of trip because his dad ended up needing to have quadruple heart bypass surgery this past Friday! Thankfully, Matt's dad, Tom, went to the doctor shortly after experiencing tightness in his chest and the doctor did an EKG. He was scheduled for the stent procedure the next day but during that procedure, they realized that he needed bypass surgery. Matt was able to change his travel plans and be in Richmond a few hours before his dad had the surgery. We are very thankful that Tom came through the surgery just fine and was able to go home today. I was so glad that Matt could go and be with his Dad but also nervous about being alone with a newborn and 2 1/2 year old for a week.

I just have to say "thank you, thank you, thank you" to those people who have really helped out and been lifesavers for us this week, especially my mom but also some of my good friends and other family members (you know who you are). Thank you so much for everything! This week has been so much better because of you.

OK, on a different note, Abbie has been smiling more and more and she's even laughed a couple of times! Poor thing, she's got a little cold right now. Plus, she's broken out pretty bad with baby acne and has cradle cap. This too shall pass! Her hair has looked like Tweety Bird the last couple of days because part of it sticks straight up in the back.

Sophie received a Barbie kitchen playset for Christmas and I put it away for a while. We got it out today and she loved it. One thing great about having children is that you get to go back and play with all these toys that you loved as a child (and you don't look crazy). Usually, they are made even better than when we were little. Like the Little People. I loved them when I was little but they came out with a lot cooler stuff later.

Abbie and her "twin"

Sophie's doll (her twin) and Abbie

Abbie and her smaller "twin"

Well, I just took these kind of as a joke. Sophie has this doll that's her favorite (alongwith her giraffe) that she received for Christmas. She does everything with them. The other day I looked at Abbie and looked at Sophie's doll and thought they were close to the same size. Plus, that day their outfits were similar. Anyways, from the second picture you can see that Abbie has definitely outgrown her twin.

I'll try to get better pictures of Abbie soon. She is growing very fast.

Snowy Morning

On Wednesday, we were surprised to hear that many of the schools around here had been closed because there was no snow on the ground that we had seen. Then, it started to snow. I didn't expect it to do anything but it did begin to stick to the grass and to our street after a while. Sophie and I headed out in the snow for about 5 minutes. (She didn't like her shoes being dirty.) By the way, she did have her gloves and hood on for the concerned grandparents. I let her take her gloves off for a second so that she could feel the snow. She was really funny though. She was so fascinated that the snow was on our patio table, the grass, etc. She wanted to see if it was in the garage but I told her that it wasn't. When we walked down our back steps to the yard and she saw the snow on the grass, she goes, "Oh, it's on the grass. How cute." You probably had to have heard her saying it but it was funny. =) The snow didn't last long. It started melting and was all gone that afternoon.

Abbie's 2 week update

Here's a couple of pictures of Abbie in her bouncy seat.

Happy girl in her cute little pink outfit!

Aunt Martha on her birthday

Abbie is growing so fast! On Monday, she was 2 weeks old. She's started smiling some over the last several days-too cute. It's probably mostly just reflexive but it still warms your heart to see that smile. We've been keeping Abbie in but on Sunday we did get together with Paula's family to celebrate Aunt Martha's birthday and overall it went pretty smoothly getting out with 2 kids.

Abbie and Paula went to the M.D. today for her 2 week check-up. She had gained about 1 1/2 pounds in just 12 days! Way to go, Abbie! She weighs 9 pounds and is in the 70th percentile for weight now (last time she was only in the 44th). She had grown lengthwise too and her head circumference had increased. She is now 21 1/4 inches long and in the 82nd percentile! We are glad that she's healthy.

Also, thankfully, we are all OK after all of the storms that came through TN. Matt was in Memphis and he was able to make it back today.

Habla Espanol?

Earlier this week, Sophie and I were playing her Dora the Explorer Candyland game. I had almost won the game and I checked the directions to make sure that I had won the game (because Candyland is oh so complicated-just kidding!). Well, since I'm sleep deprived I guess, I totally missed the English directions that were right there and only saw the Spanish ones. I looked at them and realized I couldn't read them. I said, "well, I think Mama won" and I finished my turn. Sophie picks up the same directions and says, "no, mama. You not pass the game. It says you not win." It was really cute!

On a different note, I saw Abbie's first smile last night when she was awake! She's smiled before in her sleep but not when she was awake. We'll try to post more pictures soon!

Sophie sings and dances

Lately, Sophie has been showing off some interesting dance moves so we tried to capture some of them this week. Sometimes, she's very distractible but here's a sample of some of her dancing. These moves aren't as funny as some of her dancing.