Forward Movement!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a crawler!!!

We knew this was coming sooner or later...Abby has been up on all four for awhile now and just needed to figure out what to do to move forward. Yesterday she made her first forward movement and today she seemed to be becoming an old pro at it:

Crawling is not the only new skill that Abby has developed this week. Abby signed her first sign today while playing on the floor with me and her Aunt Wendy. Abby clearly signed "milk" then tried helping herself to the stash. Wendy and I laughed and agreed that she wasn't waving bye-bye that time.

Swim class brought another first today too. Abby has really warmed up to swimming, she only cried for a minute or two then started splashing away. When the time came for the little swimmers to go under water, Michael decided that today would be a good day to try. He had Abby jump from the edge of the pool into the water and...woosh, under she went. When she popped up she looked at Michael with wide eyes at first, not too sure of what just happened, then finally burst into tears. No worries, she was quickly distracted by the other swimmers and stopped crying.

Abby never ceases to amaze me and weeks like this just make me smile! I love being a mom and experiencing these things with my daughter!

Nine Months

Nine months have passed oh-so-quickly!! Abby is not growing a whole lot physically--she is still able to wear her 6 month Carters clothing but I'm putting her in her 9 month stuff because I am SO VERY SICK of her 6 month stuff--but her repertoire of skills are almost multiplying by the day! Here's what is new in the last 30 days: She is clearly waving "bye-bye" with out a doubt, pulling up on things without assistance, has graduated real/table food, is pushing up onto all four and rocking...crawling is in our near future, she has been healthy for more than 2 weeks for the first time since Christmas which also meas that she is sleeping through the night again (Sooooo happy about that!), has developed what we call a "scrunchy" face and took her fist swim class.

Pulling up to her favorite toy:

Almost there....


Standing tall!

Squirmy-worm:

Just has to coordinate movement now:

Determined:

Making it hard for Mommy to get a good picture:

The world must feel better without socks...

Break time:

Just practicing...

Got a good one, finally!!

Abby and Peanut at 9 months

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

Michael LOVES to swim. Every time we go to a hotel, he makes sure to pack his swim trunks, just in case. Every summer (and winter too) he talks about how great it would be to have a pool the proceeds to plan where he wold to put it. When we found out that we were going to have a baby, he talked about taking swim classes with our little Peanut and just how much fun that was going to be.

Well, that day has come! Today, Daddy and Abby's took their first swim class together! So off the the high school we went. We got there a little early and had to wait for the previous class to finish before they could get in. Abby was VERY interested in what was happening in the pool. She seemed to be watching every kid in the pool, not sure what to think.

Here she is in her cozy robe checking things out:

Abby waiting and wondering:

Then it was time for them to get in. They started by sitting on the edge and Daddy poured small cups full of water onto her legs. Daddy said the water was rather cold. This wasn't going to be as warm and cozy as the tub! Abby didn't seem to mind the water from the cup; she was still pretty busy checking out the other kids. Next, Daddy got in with Abby...

I wish I could say that she had a blast at her first swim class, but this photo pretty much sums it up:

We have devised a new plan for the next class: Dip Abby in up to her neck for 30 seconds as soon as they get in. We are hoping that this will get her used to the water temp and that way she can enjoy her time splashing around instead of working at keeping her arms out of the water. Wish us luck! Hopefully, by the end of the summer we can call Abby our Little Fishy :)

Ain"t Taking This Lying Down

Well, when I went in to get Abby from her morning nap she wasn't in her normal position: on her belly, pushing up on her hands. This time she was chilling in a sitting position. It was a bit surprising, but not the first time she managed to get into this position. I grinned and scooped her up, enjoying this moment because I know moments like this will be gone much too soon.

Then came the end of her afternoon nap. I let her hangout in her crib for a few minutes before I went in to get her (I had to get the laundry switched and a few items put away before play time could begin). She was talking up a storm...I guess her conversation with her Glow Worm was a good one because I was able to get the entire load folded with out an insistent grunt, cry or scream. Then she got quite...hummm. I walked in and found her STANDING and smiling as to say "look what I can do Mom!". All I could think was "Wow, two first in one day. I wonder what the rest of the week will bring!". With Abby pushing up to all fours and rocking back and forth, I'm sure crawling is on its way sooner than later!

Spanx a Lot!

For the love of Spanx!!!

Like most of you, I have been wearing Spanx for years now (I wore them while pregnant...no worries--they make maternity Spanx --and refuse to wear dress clothes with out them post baby and I assure you that they were worth EVERY PENNY--check it for yourself!!), but today Spanx took me to another dimension...QVC!! Yes, I have placed my fist (and only) order on QVC because of Spanx....YIKES--does that make me old???

QVC debuted a ruched, lace trimmed cami today (and is only avalibe via QVC til October) and I just had to have it along with another pair of my must have item-Higher Power--which I seemed to have lost since Easter....hummmm! Now that I think of it, Spanx Higher Power is defiantly a Product I Can't Live Without!!! I will let you know if the new cami is worth ordering on QVC ;)

Drop It...

I did not realize that this day would come so soon...but just yesterday I put Abby in her crib while I opened a few window around the house only to come back into the room to see her with both hand on the crib side and her butt in the air! Scary! So when Michael got home today we dropped her crib to the lowest setting. I guess I was living in my own little world in thinking (or not thinking I guess) that her crib wouldn't have to be lowered until her first b-day or so...First time motherhood is funny like that!