Happy St. Pattys Day!

I made rainbow color pancakes for breakfast in celebration for St. Patricks Day for the kids, Abbey LOVES pancakes. I also made an attempt at appliqueing each of the kids t-shirts. They came out ok. Anyways, Luke ended up taking the kids to Ft. Worth to spend with his family, since I has a prior engagement (consignment sale shopping, woowoo!). From what I hear, they had a great time and Abbey enjoyed her Corned Beef & Cabbage!

Abbey & her Pops:

River Legacy Park with our Cousins

As you can tell, the weather has been unbelievable here. Really we had no winter, which was great, since Summer was absolutely brutal and we weren't able to go outside much then (with the heat and Abbey being so little). Now that the weather is REALLY getting nice we are thoroughly enjoying spending our time outdoors. One of our favorite places to meet Abbey & Dylan's cousins (Max & Miles) and aunt Tracy, is the River Legacy Nature Park in Arlington. It's awesome! It's a great meeting ground in between Dallas & Ft. Worth and it has a nature center w/ pond, and great walking trails that lead to huge grassy fields with pavilions and a playground. Besides Abbey trying to eat grass the whole time and Dylan peeing right in the middle of the playground, it was a fun day!

Arboretum with our friends!

Spring is here at the Dallas Arboretum, and we love that place! It's only $68 a year for a membership and we tend to go a lot in the spring/fall so we take full advantage of it. On Mondays & Tuesdays they have toddler activities such as kindermusic, face painting, puppet show, and a petting zoo. We love to bring our lunch & picnic blanket and hang out! Check out the post I did on Dylan's blog when I took him at 6 months old. He was about the same size as Abbey at 9 months(and definitely chunkier!) http://www.babydylanhalliday.blogspot.com/2010/03/playgroup-at-arboretum.html

Anyways, here are some pictures of Dylan & Abbey with their friends Morgan & Owen:

Happy 9 Month Birthday Abbey!

Another month has gone by....how do they pass so quickly?!? Not too much has changed since the last month, other than she's definitely getting more mobile! Loves going up the stairs and then playing right next to them but not able to go down! Keeps us on our toes making sure she doesn't fall down them! She loves to wave hello and mimic what you say like crazy. It's fun to try and translate what she's saying. She is finally sleeping through the night I THINK and napping better. Either a long one in the middle of the day (same time as Dylan) or two naps. She nurses (or takes a bottle) about 5 times a day now, and eats 3 solid meals plus a snack here and there. It's so nice to not have a picky eater, she eats pretty much everything! She is still wearing 9 months clothes but really fits better in 12 months! I think since eating so many more solids these days, she's starting to chunk up! She is the sweetest little baby and so forgiving of her brother. He loves playing with her and helping to take care of her, but definitely can get a little too rough or stubborn with his toys. He's so lucky she loves him so much that she always forgives him! It's so funny when we are out, if I have to yell (or call out for) Dylan and I am holding her, she yells for him after I do. It's really cute. At her 9 month pedi apt she weighed 17lbs 10oz (25 percentile) and is 28" long (60 percentile). Anyways, I didn't get a chance to take her bear photos this month, hopefully I can get them on her 10 month!

Valentines Day fun!!

We had TWO playgroup Valentines Day parties and they were so much fun. Abbey is really enjoying being around others and interacting/watching other kids/babies. It's neat to observe her learning from others. For actual Valentines Day we decided to avoid the crowds at any restaurant and decided to stay home and make good old homeade pizza! I thought Dylan was going to really enjoy making it but he turned out to be super cranky that night. However, Abbey did enjoy eating it!
Playgroup #1 Party:


Abbey and her buddy Owen:

Valentine's Day Craft:

Playgroup #2 Party:

Abbey with her friend Ava:

The boys (Cooper & Conner) hanging out with Abbey:

Happy 8 Month Birthday Abbey!

Baby girl has been busy!! She is fully crawling and pulling up on everything. She doesn't venture far and stays pretty close though. It's so sweet, she likes to follow me where ever I go. She's figured out how to crawl up the two stairs in the living room pretty well, we haven't attempted going down much though! She is a BIG talker. Almost more than Dylan was at this age. Of course I think she's repeating things I'm saying, at least it sounds like it! She definitely says "mama" and "daddy." It's so cute to hear her call out for us in her crib when she wakes up. "Nana" is a big word/syllable she says a lot. I think because it's one of her favorite foods right now!

Abbeys new nickname is "miss piggy." The girl could eat all day long! When most babies get full, they sit there and play with there food, she doesn't. It ALL goes in her mouth, and it can't get there fast enough! She is still nursing well (and incredibly quick, like a few minutes!) but will also get a bottle of formula when we are out or in the evening. She also pretty much eats anything we eat, as long as it's in diced pieces or think slivers.

She hasn't been sleeping as well. I'm not sure if it's the new development of crawling/pulling up, but she will barely nap! Only 3 30 minute naps during the day and she is waking up multiple times at night. I really hope this is a quick phase and she returns to her good sleeping habits soon! I know her noisy brother doesn't always help as well.

She's wearing 9 month clothes mostly but a few 12 months and size 3 diapers.

I think we've finally turned the corner with the stranger anxiety! She is finally letting others (including her maw maw & pops) hold her without crying out for her mommy the second they take her. It makes me so happy because I want them (and everyone else) to get to experience what a fun and happy baby she really is!

I love seeing her love for Luke grow as well, she just lights up when he gets home from work. Dylan is of course her favorite as well. She not only tries to copy everything he does, and play with everything he's playing with, she just really loves being with him.

She is super ticklish and loves being tickled! She has also learned how to wave hello. She's trying REALLY hard to clap, but keeps getting it mixed up with waving. It's pretty cute.

It was hard to get her "bear" photos because she kept leaning forward to fall off the couch! She wants to be on the move! Anyways, enjoy!

So see what dylan was doing at this age feel free to visit his blog at http://www.babydylanhalliday.blogspot.com/ and check out the month of May.

A day at the Dallas Zoo!

We had so much fun taking a family trip to the Dallas Zoo on Martin Luther King Day since Luke had the day off from work. I'd been to the Dallas Zoo before and really did not like it (especially compared to the Ft. Worth Zoo, which is amazing) but since they have added some new things (including feeding the giraffes, AWESOME!) I really enjoyed it, well, we all did! This was also our first trip where we put Abbey in an actual "seat" in the stroller too. Normally her carseat just snaps in. So it was so fun seeing her in the double stroller with Dylan. Another thing that just proves she's growing. Bittersweet! Anyways, here are some pictures from our day!

My sweet baby girl.

So lucky to be this sweet little girls Mommy. Love watching her grow!

We've got a crawler! EEK

It's been a slow start for Abbey (which is fine by us!). For a while now she had been getting to the crawling position and rocking or scooting and then going back into the sitting position but not full on crawling. She also has become a pro at yoga poses including the downward dog position. ;)
Until about a week before she turned 8 months. Then she really started moving around! Watch out world, (and Dylan!) this little girl is on the move! Love seeing her face light up with pride when gets to move around and find new things!

Such a big girl!

One of the most exciting milestones of a baby (in my opinion) is when they start eating real foods! (and can sit in a highchair while out to eat). To me, that's one of the first BIG things they can really do before taking off into indepence (crawling, pulling up, walking, etc.) and quickly turn into a toddler and no longer a baby! Abbey is a champion eater. She never was crazy about purees, I think because she didn't have the patience to wait and be fed. She loves feeding herself (sometimes to the point of overeating!). Anyways, here is the big girl drinking out of a sippy and sitting in a high chair while out to eat!

Flashback!

Abbey doesn't get to "re-use" many of Dylan's clothes, one because they are all boy clothes (which means blues/greens but also sized a bit differently, they seem wider than girl clothes?)...BUT I do let her wear some of his baby pjs (who cares what color those are right?) as well as some pants. Dylan was 3 1/2 months on his first Christmas but wearing size 6 months clothes, Abbey was 7 months on her first Christmas and wearing size 6 months, so I got to reuse some of his Christmas pjs! Because of this I was able to recreate a photo that I took with Dylan (and loved) to compare the two. Here they are!
Abbey & Mommy Christmas 2011:

Dylan & Mommy Christmas 2009:

Brother/Sister Love

Love these two little munchkins so much. Dylan is so eager to be able to play with Abbey it's cute. He often forgets how little she is and gets too rough, but Abbey tolerates it pretty well. I think she's going to have a high pain tolerance. She just lights up at Dylan and mimics his good and bad behaviors already!
Zany Zoo Cube Morning:

Kisses:

Abbey gorilla face:


Bathtime Fun!

Visit with Santa!

I didn't expect any more than was is depicted in this photo! Since Abbey wont even let her grandparents hold her, I knew Santa wouldn't be any better! Makes me giggle!

Abbey's first Christmas!!!

Nothing makes the holidays better than kids, especially when they are your own. This year was really fun. Dylan had somewhat of an understanding of that it was all about and thoroughly enjoyed it! And we loved watching his excitment. Abbey had no idea what was going on, BUT did enjoy the sparkly lights, wrapping paper and family surrounding us! Personally, I think she actually opened presents better than Dylan, she tore right through them! Her big gift from Santa(also Dylan's) was the Zany Zoo cube and she really liked it, epecially trying to pull up to stand on it! She also LOVED getting to eat turkey! We were so luchy to have her grandpa Craig and grandma Joanne in town visiting, especially since we all had a cold! Despite the coughing and runny noses we all had a lot of fun! Here are some photos from our fun Christmas 2011!