Grami's Visit (continued)

As promised, here are a few pictures from Mom's visit last weekend. We had a great time with Abby Kate out on the beach. It was such a nice day... perfect for lots of picture-taking! Abby Kate and I loved having Grami here. We miss you already, Mom! Thanks again for coming to visit.

Look at those chubby legs!

Mom brought Abby Kate a Johnny Jump Up. Here she is giving it a test drive. She likes it, but doesn't really know how to "jump" yet. She just sort of swings in circles, watching Junah wherever he goes.

Four Months

Abby Kate turned four months old on Sunday. I feel like we've had her for so much longer for some reason. I guess it's because she grows and changes so fast that it seems impossible for all that to happen in just four months.

Mike and I took her to her 4-month wellness checkup this morning. She weighed 13.5 lbs and is 24.5" long. This puts her in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. Her head, on the other hand, is in the 75th percentile. She must've inherited her daddy's brains! Dr. Branton said she is right on track and is in perfect health.

Again, she was all smiles for the doctors, right up until the first shot went in. I couldn't watch. But then I did anyway, and it was so sad. She cried huge tears while I tried to hold my own back. I nursed her afterward and held her for a bit before putting her back in the carseat. Her smile returned and then we headed home. Now she's resting in her swing sound asleep.

Since the four month mark, we've given her rice cereal twice. It was fun watching her try to suck on the spoon. Most of the rice fell out of her mouth at first. She got the hang of it fast, though, and seems to really like it as long as I mix it with breast milk instead of water. If it tastes like it smells, I don't blame her!

Grami's Visit

Mom was able to come down for a visit from Thursday until Monday, so I was elated! Abby Kate and I got to spend a wonderful four days with Grami! We picked her up at the Pensacola airport Thursday morning at 8:30. It was a beautiful day: sunny and in the 70's. We spent the next four days playing with AK, taking long walks, going to the beach, out to dinner, shopping and just talking and basking in the warm sun. Mom soaked up the time with her granddaughter and Junah and me. Abby Kate had tons of smiles for her everyday.

We took lots of great pictures of AK on the beach, but they're in Mom's camera, so I'll upload them when she has a chance to send them to me.

We had such a nice time. I really hated to take her back to the airport on Monday morning. It sure is hard living so far away from home. I miss my family so much. I'm looking forward to several trips home this Spring and Summer.


Mike was out of town on a cross-country flight to Santa Fe, NM. It was an opportunity for him to get in several graded flights in just a couple of days. He got to ski while there, so he had a good time. He brought back gifts for Abby Kate and me - this adorable little maraca for AK and a beautiful turquoise bracelet for me (which I'm wearing as an anklet because it's too big, but I love it!). Thanks, honey!

Pawpaw's Motorcycle

I wanted to share this clip I took back in January because I think it's hysterical. It's of my 8-month-old nephew, William, on my Dad's knee. Dad pretends his leg is a motorcycle and William just LOVES it! He laughs and laughs, and then sighs real loud each time the ride is over. Enjoy...

Welcome to the World

Madeline Grace Brooks

My cousin, Jonathan, his wife, Lori, and their daughter, Hannah, are celebrating the birth of their newest family member, born yesterday at 5:32 p.m. Madeline weighed 9 lbs. 1.9 oz, and measured 20 inches long. Congrats guys! She's beautiful!

Our Valentine

Abby Kate received special cards and gifts from us even though she didn't know what they were for. Really more for Mike's and my enjoyment I guess. She wore her denim dress that Grami gave her. It'll probably be the last time she'll get to wear it though, because she's growing SO fast!

Thank you Mike for the very sweet cards, beautiful flowers and candy! I love you!












I decided to go back to my Kindergarten days and make Mike's Valentines myself. One from me, from Abby Kate and from "The Kid" (Junah). I covered AK's right hand in white paint for the inside of the card. It's taken me two days to get it completely out of her fingernails!

And this is the face that Daddy taught Abby Kate to make at boys...

We stopped by Sommer's house to give Griffin a Valentine. Griffin is growing fast, too! He's now almost 7 months old. Can you believe how tall he's gotten?! He is so cute. We can't wait until they'll actually be able to play together.

Just Call Us Fred and Ginger

Yep, that's right! We can Tango, we can Rumba, we can Mambo and we can Foxtrot with the best of them... or at least with some of them.

Mike gave me ballroom dancing lessons for Christmas and we took our fifth and final dance lesson with Rachel at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Pensacola on Friday night. We really enjoyed ourselves and were surprised how fast we learned the dances. And we only stepped on each other's toes once or twice. Rachel was especially impressed with our Tango. Well, she may just have been flattering us so we'd buy the next "advanced" dance lesson package for an affordable $1,300! Needless to say we didn't sign up for that. But we still have four "parties" to go to at the studio. They host one every Friday. Next Friday they have a Sweetheart Dance. So we're going to try to make that one and practice our stuff!

We are very thankful to our babysitters... Buddy and Debbie (our wonderful neighbors and friends) and Chad and Sommer (who I've never mentioned on this blog before. Oh, I have? Kay, so you know who I'm talking about then. ha, ha). Thanks, guys for taking care of Abby Kate all those times!

Busy Baby

Some days it hits me that there is this precious little girl and she's MINE! I'm so excited that I get to show her everything. She was watching me get ready the other day and I realized, "oh, I get to show her how to do makeup!" But lately I've been focusing on just getting her to recognize her feet. Feet first, mascara later. (MUCH later if it's up to Mike. ha, ha)

I'm so excited to play with Abby Kate everyday. She doesn't do much since she can't sit up, but just watching her concentrate on grabbing something and then smiling and making those "wet" sounds is enough to entertain me for hours. She is all about the gurgly noises she can make now. She is infatuated with the way they sound. She does it all day. Even when she cries, she stops between sobs to make a few gurgles before screaming again. It's hilarious. She's like "oh, I'm so mad, Whaaaaa! But oh wait, I forgot I can make these sounds... but no, no, got to keep crying... but I like to gurgle so much... "



She is growing and changing so fast. Now at 3 1/2 months, she holds her head up well and enjoys being on her tummy much more. She rolled from her stomach to her back all by herself today for the first time. We bought her a Bumba, which is this little seat that supports her back. It's supposed to help her strengthen her back muscles and show her how to sit up on her own. I like it because she can now play sitting up instead of always being on her back. It's a good way to avoid a flat head, at least!



She donned her first pair of tennis shoes this week. Aren't they cute? They're still too large. I'm not big on infants wearing shoes before they can walk, but anything that keeps her socks on while we're out and about works great for me. And these do the trick.



Her daddy has fun with her when she's in a playful mood. He plays with her and talks to her. She even had her first ride on Daddy's shoulders! But lately, she prefers Mommy. We've heard from lots of people that this happens in the early months. It's frustrating for both of us at times because Mike wants to spend quality time with her when he comes home, and I need a break for a while each day! We're told they grow out of it, though, so we're not too worried.



Her nights are still inconsistent. Sometimes she'll go 10 to 12 hours without waking once, like I told you about in the previous post. Other nights she wakes up every 4 to 6 hours. So we still haven't quite figured her out.

She is definitely showing more and more personality and alertness. When she's awake, she wants my undivided attention. This makes it very hard for me to work. I end up sitting her in her bouncy seat ontop of my desk. My left hand bounces her and holds her toys while my right hand works on my design projects. I've become an excellent multi-tasker!

Sleeping Angel

I'm posting this morning after having 10 wonderful hours of straight sleep. Oh my, it felt so good! Abby Kate didn't make a sound all night. This morning I looked over at our video monitor to see her still sleeping so soundly - so soundly that I had to stare at it for a few minutes to make sure she was still breathing! Sure, she has "slept through the night" before, but the previous definition of that for me was that I didn't get up to FEED her all night, not that she didn't wake up all night. Last night I didn't get up once to put her pacifier back in, to move her away from the side of the crib or for any other reason. So anyway, SUCCESS!!! I hope tonight is a repeat performance!

Where in the world have I been lately?!

Sorry for not posting for such a long time. So what's new? Well, Abby Kate and I just returned from a trip to Kentucky where we spent some quality time with her Grami and Pawpaw and some family and friends. It was a great visit. The only bad part was the airline travel. AK didn't like to sit for that long without anything to look at. She hardly cried, but that's because I was working (and sweating) the whole time, trying to stop her cries before they started. And trust me, they were going to start. She had all kinds of grimaces going.

On the way back, Mom went to the airport with me and helped me all the way to the gate because she had to fly out of town for business the same day. (Thanks, Mom! I wouldn't have made it without you.)

So we're sitting there killing time at the Starbucks in the Louisville International Airport. I decided the ask for a cup of hot water to warm AK's bottle before we boarded the plane. [I still breastfeed Abby Kate, so I had spent the last few days pumping extra milk for our air travel. It was especially important to have it on the plane as it stops her crying immediately.] So anyway, I took the bottle up the the counter and asked for the hot water. The worker (a young woman) took the bottle and said, "oh you're like the third person who's asked me to do this today." So I figured she knew what she was doing. Wrong. She unscrewed the top before I could stop her and half the bottle spilled out all over her and the coffee machines. Wonderful. I was so sick to my stomach! But there was nothing I could do. She kept apologizing (not really meaning it). She said, "was that formula or just milk?" I guess she thought she could just fill it back up with milk or something. I smiled and laughed a little inside before telling her it was breast milk. You should've seen the look on her face! She started screaming, "Oh my God, Oh my God!" It was priceless. I just walked away with my half empty bottle.

All that to tell you I ended up having to let AK stuck on an empty bottle for 50 minutes(!) to keep her quiet on the last leg of the flight. It was one of those Playtex bottles with the plastic baggie, so she wasn't sucking air or anything. It's just that she knows the difference between the pacifier and the bottle, so I had to trick her!

But we did have a wonderful visit while in Kentucky. We hung out at home with my mom and dad and Brian and Carrie and William. It was so cute to watch William and AK play together. Here are a few pictures from our visit. I have more to post, but a lot of them are on my mom's camera, so I'll have to post them later...






I also drove up to Lexington for my friend Kate's baby shower and to visit my friend Julane.







Abby Kate got to meet her maternal great-grandmother for the first time.



She also saw her other great-grandmother, my dad's mom.




A few friends came by to see her including my long-time friends, Sarah Kinser and Lyndsay Smith. On Sunday, Abby Kate had her second photoshoot with my friend, Sara Floyd. I'll be posting some of the beautiful pictures she took in a later blog entry.

<< REWIND TO BEFORE OUR KY VISIT
Before we left on our trip, Mike and I took Abby Kate to the beach for the first time. She liked it, we think. We put her toes in the sand - and in the (freezing) ocean for a second. Watch for yourself! (Presenting my first ever uploaded video...)








And you're probably wondering what Mike's been up to lately since all I've posted about is Abby Kate since she was born. Well, he's been doing a lot of studying and a lot of flying, too. He had his solo flight a few weeks ago and did great. He's been learning aerobatics and formation flying for the past couple of weeks. We're still not sure when he'll be done with this part of his training, but we expect we'll be finding out where the next move will be by Mid-March. So stay tuned!

Vanity

Abby Kate has no self-esteem issues, I'm glad to report. Even with spit-up all down her shirt, she was delighted at seeing her own image for the first time. I held her up close to a full-length mirror to see what she'd do. She just stared intently at first at the baby looking back at her. She looked herself up and down, and then a slow smile started to creep across her face. When she saw the baby in the mirror smiling back, her smile just kept getting bigger and bigger. She started to coo and laugh and tried to reach out and touch her own hand. So cute! Now every time she looks in the mirror she grins from ear to ear.

(click on the image for a closer view)

Two Months

Our baby is over two months old now. I feel like we've had her for so much longer. Pregnancy, labor and delivery seem like so long ago. Longer than two months, anyway. She is growing so fast - already pushing the limits on some of her 0-3 month clothes! I love caring for her and I love watching Mike care for her, too. Watching her learn new things every day, even the simplest things, makes me smile. She is the greatest joy!

Mike and I took Abby Kate to her 2-month wellness checkup yesterday. She weighs in at 11.5 lbs and is 22.5 inches long. The doctor told us she's in the 50th percentile for height, the 50th for head circumference and the 60th for weight. She was all smiles for Dr. Branton while she looked her over. After that part was done, Mike and I wrapped her in a blanket and took her down to Immunizations for her first round of shots. She was still smiling right up until the first needle went in her upper left leg. They used one of those air-gun things. It scared her so much. Her beaming smile was replaced with huge fearful eyes and then tears ran out as she screamed until she choked. I was so sad for her! I could hardly stand to watch it. After three more shots, she was done, and to my utter amazement, a great big smile spread across her face before the doc was even finished putting on her Tweetybird Band-Aids. That-a-girl!

Christmas in Texas

We traveled to Texas this year to celebrate Christmas with Mike's family. Thanks to Lee (Mike's dad), we were able to cut a 12 hour trip down to three as he offered to come pick us up in his plane. It was a very smooth flight. Mike sat up front with his dad while Abby Kate, Junah and I sat in the comfy middle seats. We landed in no time at a small airport near Tyler, waited for Bill (Mike's younger brother) to arrive, and then drove to the Wallace's ranch where the rest of the family greeted us. Abby Kate was quickly passed around to everyone, meeting Mike's brothers and sisters-in-law for the first time.

We went to church the morning of Christmas Eve. After the service, we had Abby Kate christened. She cried the whole time! It was out of character for her to do that considering she sat quietly through the entire hour-long service just before that. Oh well. We went back to church that evening for the candlelight service. Again, AK was an angel and didn't make a peep. I was so glad. It was hard to concentrate on the message while worrying about my infant making a scene.

We came home and opened gifts after that. Everyone gave such great things! My favorite gift this year was what my dear husband gave me... Ballroom Dancing Lessons!!! Isn't he thoughtful?! The best part about the gift is that he'll be learning with me. We have four "learning" sessions and several [dancing] "parties" set up for us. Thanks, honey! I can't wait.

Abby Kate had a nice first Christmas, I think. Of course she doesn't have a clue about the importance of Jesus' birth or of family togetherness, but I think she enjoyed the change of scenery nonetheless. I look forward to next Christmas when she'll be walking and talking and helping with the tree and ripping into wrapping paper!

Thanks again to the Wallaces for such a nice holiday!

AK with Daddy, getting ready for her first plane ride!
Me and AK, getting ready to board. Junah has already boarded, as you can see. He's poking his head out to make sure we're coming.
This picture cracks me up. This is as we were taking off. She's like "Wheeee, Mommy, I'm flying!" Of course in reality she never knew we left the ground.
AK meets Aunt Beth (Matt's wife)
AK meets Aunt Amber. (CJ's wife. They're expecting baby boy Luke in March!)
AK with Grandma Wallace.
AK with Grandpa Wallace, both tired from a long day of traveling. Grandpa entertained her with her singing dog (a gift courtesy of Grammy and Pawpaw Carnes).
AK meets Uncle Bill.
AK meets Uncle CJ.
AK meets Uncle Matt.
I was sad to see that she did not like her Christmas outfit. :)
After the christening.
The boys entertain.
Ginger and Lee treated the girls to a full day at the spa. We each had a massage, a facial, a pedicure and manicure. So relaxing! I started missing AK toward the end, though. It was the longest I'd spent without her. But it was nice to have a few hours to do something just for myself without having to worry about her. Thanks to all the guys for babysitting!