Belated Thanksgiving

So I know it is a little late, but it has been a crazy week! This is my favorite time of year! I love everything about this time of year. I love Thanksgiving dinner, I love Christmas decorations, Christmas music, Christmas lights, spending time with family, and on and on...

It was so fun to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with Abby. Next year will be more of an adventure since her food won't be out of the jar! Of course this is the time of year that we are encouraged to think about what we are thankful for in our lives.

There is just so much to be thankful for right now! I have tried so many times to start this list and I just have so much trouble putting it all into words. God has blessed us so much, where do I start?? I don't have time to list them all, but here are just a few things I am thankful for:

-God's presence in my life
-My amazing husband who is WAY too good for me!!!
-My beautiful daughter who is so fun to watch grow
-My awesome family who loves me no matter what
-My too good to be true in-laws! We wish we all lived closer. We miss you guys!
-My great friends who keep me sane as a new mommy…
-Abby’s giggles
-Beautiful weather in November
-My husbands job which allows me to stay at home with my baby

Hope you had some time to reflect what you are thankful for as we head into this amazing time of year!

Chores, Chores, Chores...

Everyone has chores to do!! For example, Seth has to take out the trash, and I have to fix all the meals. Well Abby is 6 months already so we figured it is time for her to start contributing to this family... Up until now she has been taking and not giving back!! Well she has officially been placed on the chore list! She is now in charge of the laundry and seems to be enjoying it!!

Abby 6 Months

We can’t believe we are halfway to her first birthday! This was a big month for Abby. She is rolling over all the time now, can sit up all by herself, and she has started eating rice cereal! She saw her Doctor this week and she is 13½ pounds and almost 26 inches long. The Doctor said her bottom teeth are ready to pop through any day now (I am not looking forward to that!!) She is such a happy baby! Enjoy the pictures!!

Please Read Disclaimer First...

DISCLAIMER: ABSOLUTELY NO ANIMALS WERE INJURED IN THE TAKING OF THIS PHOTO!!!

Seth was being a great hubby and shampooing my carpets. They needed it BAD!! There is only one word to explain the reason they look so awful even though we have not lived here very long: AURA.

I love my dog. She really is a great dog. Before we ever got a dog I told Seth I refused to get a dog that sheds. Well as luck would have it, we didn't get to pick our dog, as I stated in a previous post, we got this dog when her owner joined the Army. Well she definitely didn't fit into my requirement of no shedding!! So after Seth had spent many hours working on making our carpets look decent again he decided it was time to do something about her shedding...

Yes, that picture is what you think it is. He is actually vacuuming our dog! Considering the fact that she hates the vacuum already, one would think that she would have been mad at Seth and would have stayed away from him. Oh no, there is nothing he can do to make her mad. She didn't enjoy her "cleaning" at all, but hey at least we had clean floors for a day or two!

By the way someone should tell her that she isn't a small dog... (I NEVER let her on the couch, but I figured with the trauma from her "cleaning" just this once it would be OK...)

I Loved that Show...

Do you remember that cool show with the cute little woodpecker? I used to love watching "Woody Woodpecker." I was willing to get up early to make sure I could watch that show. How could you not love that cute little bird and the lovely song/laugh he was famous for. I remember as a kid thinking the woodpecker was such a cool bird. Man I loved that little bird...



Well, Mr. Woodpecker pecking on my house, you are no Woody! You are not cute! You don't have a cute laugh, and I am no longer willing to get up early to see you! I no longer think the woodpecker is a cool bird. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, but I am grown up now and I am ready for you to move on, the sooner the better.

What a night

It was my year to plan our anniversary celebration. This is our 4th anniversary and the past 3 years we have celebrated in a different state. For our first anniversary we celebrated in North Carolina, for our second anniversary we went to Nevada (Vegas), and last year we celebrated here in Arizona. This year I wanted to be able to do something fun like go to California to keep up the "tradition" but I figured it just wouldn't be much fun to celebrate without a babysitter. I decided we were going to have to do a repeat. Oh well, we knew we couldn't keep up the different state celebrations very long anyway. I have been having some difficulty with Abby's feedings, so I decided the best plan was to do a final feeding then go for a late dinner. Aunt Whitney came over and played with Abby and put her down for the night and Seth and I headed out to the Compass Restaurant for dinner. The Compass Restaurant is in downtown Phoenix and is Arizona's only revolving restaurant. Neither of us had ever been there but I have always wanted to. At first Seth thought it was going to make him sick to eat while spinning, but you spin so slowly it wasn't an issue. We had great views of the entire city. It was a great night with excelent food and awesome company. Can't wait to see what he has planned for next year!

Abby had a blast with Aunt Whitney and left us a message on our camera.

Of course she had to taste it to make sure it was a good messgae...

Yep, that's a good one!!

Big Week Continues...

As I was looking at the calendar this morning making sure I put all Abby's new milestones on it, I was reminded of the importance of this week for Seth and me. Monday was the Marine Corps Birthday. I know that may not seem like a big deal, but as I have heard so many times from so many Marines or former Marines, "Once a Marine, Always a Marine." Seth had guys call him on Monday just to say Happy Birthday...

Today is Veterans Day. This day means so much to me now. I am forever grateful to all the men and women who have served our country. Three years ago this holiday took on an even greater meaning for me. It was three years ago today Seth returned from serving in Iraq. Words can not express the feeling that I felt the minute I saw him walking through the airport. You can tell by the smile that was plastered on my face! Thanks for serving babe, and especially thanks for coming home safe!!

Then tomorrow is our four year anniversary! It is amazing to think that it has been four years already. So much has happened in such a short time. I remember the day we were married and I would do it all over again! I am so blessed to have an amazing husband/soldier/ father and best friend. Wow, four years. We have only just begun!! I can't wait to grow old with you! I LOVE YOU BABE!

Big Week!

What a week!

This has been a big week at our house. Abby hit a few milestones all at once. It is so fun to watch her grow before our eyes!

First Abby started sitting up on her own. She still falls over some, but she is getting better and better. It has been hard to get a good picture because when she is sitting up she wants to look anywhere but the camera so this is the best I could get of the first time she really sat alone...

Then later that same day we FINALLY started her on rice cereal! I have had excuse after excuse to put it off, but finally I ran out of excuses, so we did it. She seems to love her cereal and is doing such a good job eating. We will be adding veggies next. It does add more time to her already long meal time, but I am preparing myself for a lifetime of slow eating. Apparently she likes to savor her food. Nothing wrong with that, unless of course you are in a hurry... She is teachin me to slow down...

In fact our child is so advanced she is ready to feed herself!

OK, so the reality is she is now grabbing EVERYTHING in her reach and everything she gets in her hands go straight to her mouth. Still, it was so cute to see her taking the spoon from Seth and "feeding" herself! She is keeping us on our toes because we are not used to keeping things out of her reach. We are getting ready to child proof our house, yeah, can't wait!

Then to top it all off tonight she FINALLY rolled from her back to her tummy. She has always hated being on her tummy. In fact she has hated it so much that she started rolling from her tummy to her back at exactly one week old! Recently she has started looking like she might give it a try, but she always stops trying once she gets to her side. I was beginning to think that she was never going to make it from her back to her tummy. She still doesn't like being on her tummy much, but tonight she did it. She wanted her toy bad enough to figure it out. (Sorry no pics of this one)

Such big milestones and happening so fast. I have to say I am a little scared because a couple of her next milestones are teeth (just one word OUCH!) and becoming mobile (can't wait to chase her AND the dog around all day!) I can't believe she is almost 6 months old already, where does the time go. We went to the hospital this weekend to see our friends new baby and it made it seem like it was yesterday that we were there!

It's finally here...

We voted today, did you??

We are so ready for today to be over. It seems like this election has been going on forever!!! I have to admit the thought of either of them winning scares me a little, so now it is time to just wait and see...

Abby is starting to giggle more and more. It is so fun. Seth had never heard her giggle until this week. We were sitting on the couch trying to make her laugh, we tickled her, blew raspberries on her belly, made all sorts of silly noises and faces, you name it we tried it, but nothing. She would smile and sometimes give us her lovely high pitched scream, but no sweet giggles no matter how hard we tried. After finally giving up she was sitting on my lap and Seth was sitting near us and he started playing with Aura. Well apparently Aura is much more amusing than us!! We got the camera and Seth played with her and the dog and this is what we got...



I just love to hear her laugh! By the way, she is finally starting to giggle at us more, but the dog still seems to be funnier than us...

Thanks Aunt Whitney!!

Today was a busy day for Seth and me, we both had places to be so we had to call our babysitter Aunt Whitney! Abby is still nursing, which means it is a pain for me to leave her, so we don't leave her very often. It is nice to have family always willing to help when we need a break. It was great to come home to a sleeping baby. Thanks Whit!!

Here is what happens when you leave your baby a camera and Whitney home alone...

it's not easy to take pictures of yourself with a baby :)

Thanks Aunt Whitney!!