Brrr....It's Cold!

Christmas Cookies

It's An Old-Fashioned Blizzard!

The blizzard hit as predicted! It started yesterday evening and is going strong. Church, of course, was canceled, as was the start of our student council trip to Bismarck for the state convention. The call I got yesterday from the school said it's still not out - we might leave early Monday morning. We'll see what the elements say about that! Here is Abby, examining the drift that's blown up on our balcony.

Stay warm out there!

Christmas Cookies!

It's Been a Blur Lately

I have no excuses for not posting except that life seems to be passing incredibly quickly right now. It's Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday kind of like one continuous day right now with naps in between. Teaching is the easy part, I realized; it's the extra "stuff" that kills you - student council concessions, the spelling bee, hall duty - lesson plans are really the least of it. Last year since I was part-time I had NO extra duties ... it has been a bit of an eye-opener this year!

I checked out a new store this weekend when Eric whisked me away to Fargo for a [kind of] surprise bday trip. It's "Once Upon a Child" and is a store for used children's clothing and accessories. They have everything neatly hung by racks so I could shop an entire aisle of 2T clothing. I found a pair of pink snow boots and a pair of brown dress shoes - for just $5 total! Plato's Closet happens to be right next door, too, so it was a good stop. I LOVE finding bargains! It's my new hobby.

New Things

Abby started this new thing where she squinches her eyes shut in anticipation of the camera's flash.

Actually, she has started so many new things! More than half of her communication, I'd roughly estimate, she tries to put into words now. It's no longer the ba-ba-ba nonsense; she really tries to make us understand what she's saying. We get a lot of one word commands now that we either hop to or lovingly ignore ... Examples: "Milk;" "Open;" "Go;" "Help;" "Shoes;" "Nuk;" "Mmmmm (that's "I want to watch a movie; put one in right now");" "Eat"...

Tonight Abby unloaded the dishwasher for me and stood on her tippy-toes to drop the silverware into the correct drawer. It was touching except for one small hitch: the dishwasher had not been run yet. But I just didn't have the heart to refuse a willing helper. For the benefit of those of you who drop by occasionally, let me clarify that once she went to bed, I reloaded the dishwasher.

And Time Moves On

This morning Abby was eating her usual half an apple for breakfast - plus bites of whatever we're having - and I realized her bangs needed cutting yet again. I've now officially lost count of how many times we've cut her hair!

Resourceful mother that I try to be, I ran to get the cutting shears that came with the kit for cutting Eric's hair (which is SO much easier, by the way, because he holds still except when I nick his ear) and snipped across her bangs a few times while she shook her head cooperatively.

I finished, surveyed the uneven result, and looked at Eric. He addressed Abby: "What did Mommy do to you?"

She looked from one of us to the other and then broke into a big grin, "PRETTY!" I could have kissed her. Indeed, I did.

I am so thankful to have our little girl. Some of you may have heard already that we have lost the baby ... and in the midst of accepting that loss, we're all the more thankful for what we have.

Positive ID

Something blogworthy happened this morning as we were getting ready for our Bismarck trip to meet Grandma and Great-Grandma!

Abby has a new habit of sitting in my lap while I put on my makeup in front of the full-length mirror. I sit cross-legged, and she fits herself into the space that's left and "helps" to touch and inspect all of my makeup as it goes on.

Anyway, up until today every time she has seen her reflection in a mirror she has said, "Baby!" But today she looked in the mirror and said, "Abby!" (Actually, "App-bee").

Testing her, I pointed to MY reflection, and she said, "Mom." I made her name both of us again, and then we threw our hands up in a cheer (well, I did, first, and she copied).

What we have here, folks, is a positive ID. :)

Still Sick

We just can't kick the germs at our house. Abby has a double ear infection. She got two shots today and then threw up from the experience.

Nana was watching her today, and it was a good thing she was not at daycare, as it turns out. Eric met them at the clinic and held her through the shots ... and the aftermath.

She perked up for just a few minutes tonight when my dear ex-coworker Sue visited and we all sat on the floor and played with the classic stack-the-rings toy. Abby stacked them exactly backwards, smallest on bottom and largest on top. I was pretty proud.

No new pics. What I really want to do is figure out how to upload video clips. Right now the problem is getting the video from the camera onto the computer. I think I'm missing a necessary cord.

Check Out These Profiles

Well, now I'M the one who is sick! I am at home with chills/aches/sore throat while Abby is at daycare and Eric is at work. I have to admit, besides the obvious drawbacks, it's nice to be at home during the week for once.

I unloaded the pics from this weekend's parade and couldn't believe this picture! Look at their profiles and expressions! Like father, like daughter.

Temp Outside; Temp Inside

When I picked Abby up at daycare on Friday, I found out she was sick. She had been running a temp all day, not eating, and only wanting to be held - SO NOT ABBY. We had to cancel our weekend plans including lunch with friends from Fargo (we were so disappointed!) and nurse our sick dolly back to health. She kind of perked up again Friday night, but she was subdued all day Saturday. We did take her out to the VCSU homecoming parade all bundled up just for an excursion out of the house.

New words:

Pop-Ice (a favorite at daycare, apparently)
Mmmmmmm = movie, please (I'm certain she means please)
Kitty
Shoes
Eat
Hi

It's getting fun now because she will just repeat a word out of the blue! That word does not automatically embed itself in her vocabulary, though. It seems to stay in the "repeat only" heading while her own words often appear spontaneously. I could do research on this! It's fascinating.

I also like when I turn to her and converse in an adult voice and she seems to know it. She locks her eyes on mine and listens and when I pause, she feels a reply is required, so she often shakes her head and says, "No." Yesterday, for example, we got groceries and I turned around in my seat and asked seriously how she'd like a trip to the park with a kids' meal. She listened intently and then responded with a decisive head shaking and a "No."

Ironically, if we as adults don't understand all of what is said, we say no, too. It's safer that way.

Mommy and Me

This Seems Smaller Than It Used To!

Pink Shoes and Parks

Wedding Weekend

This weekend we got to break our twice-a-year tradition and travel to Bowman to attend Ali's wedding! It was a beautiful fall affair graced with beautiful flowers, many guests, and, of course, a beautiful bride (there's something about brunettes in white!).

Abby didn't enjoy the road trip, and telling her it was two hours shorter than it used to be meant nothing to her. We stopped frequently to let her stretch those little legs.

Picture the following on one such stop: We're in Walmart and Abby's in a cute little pink and brown dress that happens not to come with underpants to fit over the diaper. Big deal? Big, big deal. Eric and I are agonizing over which prepaid phone plan could possibly make up for the dollars we've handed over to Alltel for the past five years. We look down the aisle to keep Abby within sight and there is a lone diaper in the middle of the aisle. She is running away, giggling. Eric catches her, I retrieve the diaper, and he hands her off to me so I can run to the nearest bathroom and get it back on her! Run I did, even though I was still in heels from church and I was probably flashing people as I carried a protesting baby by. From past experience, I knew there was no time to lose.

It gets worse: We came out with the diaper on and I was trying to think where I could get some tape to tape it on so she couldn't pull it off again and, zoom, she rounded the corner into the men's bathroom. There was no door, just that curved entrance way. I yelled, "Oh, my gosh! Stop! Oh, my gosh!" as a warning as I chased her in.

Thankfully, it was empty.

Splashin' at Lake Ashtabula

Abby loves water. This picture was taken when my mum visited a few weeks ago and we ventured to "the beach" nearby.

Free Twirls by Tara!

Dance Anyway

This is it! It's Sunday night and summer is over. School kicks off for me with two days of workshops tomorrow at 8 a.m. I am ready for routines I can control again . . . A 15-month-old has a routine, I guess, but it's not like I can write in my planner: Nap 1:00 - 2:00 and have it happen. I CAN write in my planner: Staff meeting: 8:00 - 8:30 rain or shine.

Abby's starting to try more words now. She gets out the first letter/syllable and stops. Keys are "kkk" and bath is "baa." Oh, I guess you probably need two full-size front teeth to get that "th" on there!

Eric helped with harvest all weekend so Abby and I visited our first church in Valley City (besides Lake Chapel) alone. She was an absolute terror, and their nursery was under contruction so I couldn't use it. She went up and down our mostly empty pew, pulling the offering envelopes and pencils out. If I picked her up, she'd scream, and it was a church with a really open floor plan (which is good, most of the time) so even if I took her out of sight to the side her little running feet and protests echoed on the hardwood. I thought about just leaving and going outside with her, but then, what was the point of trying out the church if I missed everything that happened?

On a more positive note, she loves to "dance" now. A little girl at daycare loves to sing and dance to CDs, so now when Abby hears music she stamps her feet really quickly like she's putting out a fire. :) Someone should probably break it to her that her chances of being musical are around 0, but as they say, we all should DANCE ANYWAY.

Helping Daddy at Work

Eric started this past Monday at VCSU as the business development director. This photo, though, is from his last day at UND when the grants department threw him a farewell luncheon. I thought this picture was priceless.

Oh, by the way, we found the best deal on non-dialup internet that we could in Valley City, and it's slower than our cable internet in Grand Forks. SO there may only be one picture per post from now on!

Tis the Season...

for corn on the cob! Eric's family has a big patch that is ready, so it's all-you-can-eat right now!

Baby Einstein is in the Apartment!

My latest love (thanks, Melanie) is the line of Baby Einstein DVDs. They are DVDs with little 10-second plots strung together with classical music (think, a horse puppet trying to reach an apple and finally succeeding) to keep a baby's attention and, good grief, do they work! Each DVD runs about half an hour, and I just got a great deal on a 26-pack on Ebay. Now, for those of you who were concerned with my drop-in daycare post, let me assure you that I only play one . . . twice a day . . . that's all, for real.

And may I remind you that before I had a child, daycare and movies were from the dark side. My friends, I have crossed over.

Here is my doll enjoying popcorn and a Baby Einstein DVD.

Back on Monday!

We are going off-line until Monday when our internet is set up in our new apartment in Valley City! Have a good weekend!

Noodles? No, Thanks!

Nana's Dress

We spent part of this past weekend in Valley City driving up and down streets, trailing our fingers on the window glass, whining, "Why can't THAT house be for sale?"

We spent another part of the weekend in Jamestown, combing thrift shops for the collection of young adult books I envision in the corner of my classroom-to-be (it's still missing ceiling tiles, right now; I check on it every time we're in town). Nana graciously kept Abby out of you-break-you-buy trouble while I scavenged.

Then we spent the last part of the weekend snapping photos of an unwilling subject in my mom-in-law's dress from when she was a baby. It fit Abby just perfectly!

Brownie Taste-Tester

The Trash Can Takes All

On a whim the other day, after 400+ days of taking diapers to the trash can after changing Abby, I handed a tightly wrapped diaper diaper to her and said, "Please take this to the trash can." To my amazement and delight, she took it, made a beeline for the trash can, and dropped it in with a plop! This is cool, I said to myself, and potentially time-saving.

Later we worked on other things. I showed her the toybox and explained how toys should go there; I showed her the book basket and how books go there. Then I picked up a book lying in the middle of the floor: "Abby, please put this book with your other books." No problem, her look said. She snatched it up immediately and headed ... straight to the trash can, where it met the previously disposed of diaper with a thud.

I rescued a Little People chicken yesterday. I think we have a problem.

Drop-In Childcare

We discovered something wonderful tonight: drop-in childcare. I know, I know, some of you out there are thinking that there is no way you'd leave your precious girlie-o with people you do not know. I would have said the same thirteen months ago. :) We dropped Abby off tonight to play with trains and blocks with other kids and, $4.50 later, we walked across the parking lot to Denny's to enjoy appetizers and talk about ... Abby. How does that work???

I've been making a list in my head lately, titled, "Things I Love About Abby at 13 Months."

1. That I turned my back for three seconds yesterday and a fistful of unfrosted raspberry Jello cake for the church BBQ was MISSING.

2. That she can communicate perfectly clearly - all nonverbally.

3. That I answered a phone call last night then looked over to find her perched on the HIGHER step of the elliptical just before it descended.

4. That she grins like Miss America when she's standing ON the seat of her rocking chair.

5. That she opened her mouth for a kiss today while eating lasagna.

6. That she insists on shoe-wearing. She will carry my flip-flops from room to room for me so I always have them with me.

7. That she makes a forced "ha, ha" sound when she hears us laughing.

This weekend we are looking at houses and apartments! We have a crazily booked schedule, but maybe, just maybe, something will actually turn up. Wish us luck!

Let's Go!

When we say "go" now, as in "let's go to the library" or "let's go and get the mail" Abby toddles to the door and bangs her palm against it! Today she even brought me my flip-flops. She has a decided preference for being OUTSIDE the apartment rather than in it.

On a more patriotic note, here are some snapshots from the 4th of July with Eric's family.

An Apple a Day...

...keeps Abby busy so Mom can clean up the kitchen!

"Dnoh."

Usually when I hold out my arms to lift Abby out of her carseat, she reaches up for me. Today she pulled her arms in tightly and said, "Dnoh."

I tried again and got another "dnoh."

I perched precariously, then, on the edge of the floor of the car (a tight fit) and looked her in the eye. "What are you saying to Mom?" I asked.

She blinked and then repeated "dnoh" while shaking her head solemnly.
6125

Across ND

Abby and I have been to one side of the state and back again. We spent a week in Bowman and a weekend in Medora before slowly making our way home, stopping at malls and zoos along the way! Since Abby will be getting up from her a.m. nap any minute, for now I'll let the photos tell the stories of our adventures far and wide.

CA Knows How to Party

Plane Rides and Sunshine

Oh, did we have fun in Sacramento visiting Uncle Lee, Aunt Barb, and cousin Kyleigh!

Abby pretty much stopped napping and just had a blast for three days straight. The night before we came home, she hit the wall and threw about a two-hour tantrum which could not even be assuaged with food (unusual, for those of you who know her eating habits). The poor little girl: we were just too busy to keep a routine. We got to shop, eat out, swim, visit San Francisco, ride a trolley, go to the zoo, have a birthday party, watch a play that Kyleigh starred in, and, finally, crash around a fire pit and catch up.

The plane ride went all right. Sigh of relief.

Abby went to sleep last night at 8 p.m. It is now 10 a.m. and I still haven't heard a peep. Um, that's fourteen hours as of right now...

A Day with the Girls

Tara and her friend Erica showed Abby a good time on the town in Jamestown last weekend while Eric and I revisited a few well-loved places from college! When we met up again, it sounded as though Abby had the better time!

Havin' My Cake

I'm One Today!

I walk, I talk (sometimes), I weigh 23 pounds, and I'm one year old today!

Nana came up to meet me for a birthday lunch with Mom and Dad and some other family members! She brought presents and a cake, and Pastor also met us at Perkins with gifts for me! Too bad this only happens once a year...I'll write more later after I've tasted the cake.

Picnic Weather

It's Official!

Big news here: we are moving to VC because I just accepted an English 7-8 position at the junior/senior high school. It will be a busy summer as we look for a job for Eric AND look for a house!

Oh, and Abby is walking now! It's official.

Playing with Nana