Our Little Valentine

I love this girl.

Apparently Abby told Eric she would be his valentine, but I'll claim her too. :) 

We had a great Valentine's day.  I completely spaced taking any pictures though.  Eric tried to surprise me by coming home early, but there was traffic so he came right on schedule.  But he came with a flower, so it was okay. We put Abby to bed and enjoyed our Valentine's dinner without baby. So nice! I made a variation on this yummy lasagna recipe (I never make lasagna so it was a treat) with a nice big salad. Good food, amazing company. It was great. And then Abby stayed asleep without a peep for longer than usual, so we were able to enjoy a quiet evening just the two of us.

I love my little family. I am so blessed to be so happy.

Abby - 8 months

Dearest Abby,

Well, pretty girl, you are another month older! 8 months! This has been a really fun month for you. It had a not so fun start though, with you getting sick. Thankfully, you got a very mild case of the cold that hit all of us but it was still heartbreaking to see how hard it was for you to nurse because you had to keep gasping for breath due to your stuffed up nose. That was the first time we have had to deal with that and I am so glad it only lasted a couple days. I had to keep after you with a tissue for a few days though, which you absolutely hated.

You have gotten so much more mobile this month. You still aren't quite full-out crawling but you have been oh so close for a couple weeks now.  You can go a step or too but then just resort to lunging yourself forward and then going back up on your hands and knees to move around. Sometimes you go from hands and knees to straight legs with your cute little bum high in the air which looks awfully funny. You really just want to be walking though.  Most of the time you move around by holding your hand up to me and when I offer you my finger, you pull yourself up to standing and then proceed to take some steps, balancing on my finger to wherever it is you want to go. And you want to do this constantly it seems. Or just be standing, you absolutely love this too.

You can stand for a few seconds on your own now! (Sometimes)

I think you have officially developed separation anxiety. I can't even leave the room for a second without you breaking down in tears. This even happens a lot when Daddy is home too. It seems almost impossible for me to get anything done when you are awake now. Because you do this even when I just leave your side (still in same room! - though I think part of this is due to the fact that you are constantly wanting my finger to stand up).  I am trying to still give you independent play time but it is sure hard to do!

Even with this anxiety, we still left you with a non-family member baby-sitter for this first time this month. It was extremely stressful for me because I was so worried as to how you would react. Surprisingly, and thankfully, you did really well!! I think it helped that it was almost bed time so really you were sleeping most of the time.

One change this month was in how we are feeding you. After doing lots of reading on it, we completely switched over to baby-led-weaning. I had heard it mentioned a couple times before but never got around to looking into it before we started solids - wish I had!  It definitely makes so much sense to me and fits right into my huge belief of intuitive eating. I was a little worried that you would have gotten too used to eating purees and from a spoon after 4 weeks of it, and that it would be frustrating since you would not be actually eating as much right away.  But you transitioned really well! I had been really trying to follow your lead with the spoon feeding and you always took the spoon and put in your own mouth which I think helped with the transition. So now you are completely self-feeding and eating regular foods! Love it.

You are still quite the happy, vocal little girl.  Da-da-da is still your sound of choice, but you also make a ba-ba sound, and a tza (something like that) sound. When you are crying a ma-ma sound also comes out. And lots of other random, babbling noises.

You have finally become interested in mirrors and have fun looking at your twin. You love to play peek-a-boo, almost always guaranteed to get a laugh that way. When you are excited or happy you wave you hands back and forth or bounce up and down if you are standing.  We have discovered a love of (or at least interest in) animals. Whenever we come across our neighbors cat you get so excited. I took you to a dog park yesterday in Balboa Park and you absolutely love watching those dogs. A couple even came by to visit you and you got to pet a dog for the first time! Maybe you will start being more interested in the animals at the zoo now.

Abby, I love you so much! You are a beautiful little girl and I thank our Heavenly Father every day that I get to be your mamma.







I love you.

Love, Your Mamma



And some more cute Abby pictures...

  

Back to where it all began

For the first time since we were married there three and a half years ago, Eric and I visited the Los Angeles Temple. We have been wanting to go back ever since we moved to San Diego, but it is just far enough that it isn't a super easy trip to make (and with horrible city traffic added in makes it no fun).  But last weekend, we made it!

It was so great going and thinking back to our wedding day and what an amazing, special, wonderful day it was. We took Abby all around and took lots of pictures of her in all the spots we took wedding pictures. :)

She is already looking to the temple!

The reason we were able to go was this cute little guy.  Our nephew, Mark, was blessed on Sunday and my sister Tamara and her family conveniently live only 20 minutes away from the LA temple.  Worked out great.  

Abby thought Mark was pretty fun.  They are just 6 months apart so they will be great friends!  Here she is attacking his face.  He can't quite fight back yet. 

What a fun day!  Wish we could go more often! 

Our almost mover

Our baby girl is getting so close to crawling!  It is fun to see her get so excited that she can see something she wants and actually get it herself. She is just so cute! Though, on a not so cute note, the same little girl bit her mamma while nursing for the first time yesterday.  Definitely not nice.  And she just gave me the biggest smile and thought she was so funny as I told her no. Oh dear, hopefully that doesn't last long!

Here is a video of her new moves.  The best thing to entice her to come towards us is to tempt her with a cell phone.  She thinks those are the coolest ever.

A trip to the border

Eric had Martin Luther King Day off which was so nice. After a morning of watching inauguration ceremonies, we headed off to spend some time in the amazingly beautiful 70+ degree weather we are having.  We went to Border Field State Park, which we hadn't been to before.  It is right on the California-Mexico border and is a stretch of protected marsh lands and beach. So pretty!  And completely deserted.  Apparently it is not a place too many people know about or go to.

At the border

This was Abby's first time playing in the sand - we are usually holding her hands when we are at the beach. But we let her on her own this time, mostly so we could get some pictures, and she sure got some mouthfuls of sand. She didn't like that too much! She also didn't like it when the water came up faster than we expected and got her quite wet, oops!

Such a nice day!  And except for the part where she got wet, Abby loved it. Got to love summery days in January!

Christmas 2012

The last couple of weeks have flown by and here it is, already 2013. and Christmas is getting further and further behind us. But, after about two weeks of our whole family being sick, I am just now feeling like my head is not so much of huge stuffy balloon, at least enough to finally blog about Christmas.

We went to Texas again this year for Christmas. Almost two whole weeks of it - good thing I love Eric's family! All of Eric's siblings were there which made for some fun times, and lots of little kids running around.  Abby was definitely a little overwhelmed by all the kids, but at the same time, absolutely loved watching them all. It was also nice in that there were other people around to watch Abby! Eric and I were even able to go watch Les Miserables with his siblings while Grandma (bless her heart) watched all the grandkids. It was like a date! (Eric and I really should try to have some of those without Abby every now and then...)

Having fun with cousins!

Though, most of their time together was like this - not really acknowledging each other...

 Swinging with cousin Hannah. Abby's first time in a swing!

 Abby with cousin Matthew.

And, of course, Abby had her very first Christmas! The kids acted out the Nativity the night before Christmas.  Abby was the shepherd. Might not be too easy to tell from the picture, their costumes kind of all look the same.  But she was the shepherd.

Going downstairs Christmas morning

While we were there, we did a few things, like going to Sea World (which was a miserably cold day for this San Diego girl), and the Lyndon B Johnson Stake Park, but mostly we just hung out with family.  Making Christmas cookies, playing games, and eating way too many of those cookies...

Abby got to cuddle with Grandma and get to know all these new people around her a little better.  I really like this picture of Abby with her Grandma Anderson. 

Eric absolutely loved having a piano to play on every day. Someday, someday I will get him a piano all of his own. Abby also tried her hand at the piano.  She liked it too. :)

 Our little reindeer baby.

A few pictures from the LBJ Ranch. We had been there once before, the last time we visited, and it was fun to go back.

Our little family

The brothers! Neil, Blake, and Eric

And the next President of the United States...

What a cutie.

We came back New Years Day and then it was right back to work for Eric.  And we all promptly got sick. Great way to end vacation. But we had a wonderful time while we were there. Wish everyone wasn't so far away so we could do this more often!

Abby - 7 months

Dearest Abigail,

What a fun month this has been! Filled with lots of traveling and meeting relatives and cousins.  You got a new aunt at the beginning of this month when your Uncle Edward got married, and then it was off to Texas for Christmas with the Anderson side of the family. It was so fun watching you take it all in.

This month was filled with so many firsts for you. Of course, there was your very first Christmas! Not that you seemed to show any indication that it was any sort of special or different day.  But you loved all that wrapping paper and, of course, loved the new toys that suddenly were in front of you.

You tasted your very first solid foods this month. We started just a few days after your 6 month-day. You have liked everything you've tried so far, and I am going to try to get some even more fun variety in this month. You are a very serious eater and have yet to crack a smile while eating.  You also always grab the spoon as we bring it to your mouth and help put it in, and then want to hold it on your own as you get all the food off. You also like it when I give you a piece of something to gnaw on - like a carrot or jicama stick. You can stay entertained and busy for quite some time with one of those in your hand.


You have really mastered sitting up by yourself this month, and rarely tip over anymore. What you are working on right now is pulling yourself up to a standing position.  I've had a feeling that you were getting close to this, since when you are sitting and holding onto my fingers, you pull yourself up to stand without me really doing anything.  So last night we decided to test you.  We put a bin in front of you that was the right height and sat back to see what you would do. You went for it right away and there you were, standing! A little wobbly at first, but you can definitely do it!

You are quite the chatterbox.  Your sound of choice seems to always be 'dadadadada' over and over. So your dad is working on getting you to realize that 'dada' means him, Dad. He's sure trying to ensure your first word will be his name! Although you may say your Dad's name first, you are sure turning into a little mamma's girl. Even when Dad is holding you, your eyes will follow me where ever I go and will get super mad if I leave the room. I think Dad gets a little sad when you don't want him to hold you so I hope you get past that soon!  Though it is so cute to see how much you love your mamma.

I am absolutely loving this stage you are in. You are such a happy happy baby and so fun to play with all day. Evenings are so fun now also.  It used to be that we would say that Dad only gets the worst time with you since he would get home and you would always be so fussy until bedtime.  But now you are usually happy right up until you go to bed.  Which is so wonderful!

 I love you so much, my little girl. I wish I could freeze time and keep you just like this.

Love,
Your Mamma