Camping with Baby

Eric finally had a Friday off of work and so we jumped at the chance to go camping (it's usually Mondays that are the holidays so we can never go those weekends). We haven't been since before Abby was born, since before I was even pregnant. So it's been way too long.  We didn't even realize that with it being Spring break week places might fill up... but they do. So we weren't able to go check out a new area like we'd hoped. Instead we went back to Cuyamaca State Park, where we had gone before.

I was a little nervous about going with a baby, but overall it really was just fine. Except the night, that was terribly uncomfortable!  I had Abby with me in my sleeping bag and as a result I could move hardly at all and I was constantly waking up to check that the top of the sleeping bag hadn't come over her face. We'll have to figure out something better next time.

Abby helping Dad set up the tent.  She thought all the dirt and pine needles were just so great.

We did some hiking while we were there.  Not as much as pre-baby, but still enough to make our legs quite sore. She did well taking her normal naps in the Ergo, and for the first time we tried out the back carry.  So much better for hiking than the front!

Taking a break on our way to the summit!

We found a small patch of old, hard snow that Abby got to explore.  Now she has seen snow! (well, sort of)

  

Someone had carved the huge tree trunks to look like a table with chairs around it. Abby lounged for a bit in one of the chairs. (About 2 seconds, then she was off)

We brought Abby's eating chair with us for our campsite meals.  Worked so good!  We had some yummy camping food and Eric got to experiment some with his dutch oven.

We both loved our foil dinners!

Having fun at our campsite

Story time! Notice how we camp in our beach chairs. Perhaps it looked a but odd, but it was sure better than no chair!

Abby also helped to take down the tent.  Such a good helper! ;)

Had to throw this in.  This is in sequence showing Abby's reaction as I walked away to wash our dishes. I'm guessing she wasn't too happy...

And finally, we stopped in Julian (a mountain mining town) for some apple pie. You can tell we were very excited. And then Abby got to eat cucumber and orange slices. :) 

Such a fun weekend!  Hopefully we don't wait 18 months before we go camping again!

Abby's first Easter

I don't think Abby is big enough to understand the explanation I gave her of why we celebrate Easter but she was sure old enough to understand that when you shake an Easter egg it makes noise. So it was fun doing some Easter things with her since she could actually participate a little bit.

We had an Easter activity with the ward last week. We stayed away from the egg dying table, but Abby sure had fun eating the bananas and oranges and hunting for eggs. Luckily all the bigger kids ran in one direction so Abby and I took off in the other so she actually  had a chance to find some before those other kids snatched them all. Finding the eggs of course consisted of me finding them and putting Abby right in front of them.  But she picked them up and shook them all on her own!

Perhaps I was just a tad more excited than Abby was...

Abby reluctantly shared her eggs with her friend Jude.  You can tell she really wasn't too sure about it!

On Easter itself, we put together a little basket full of bath toys, bubbles, and plastic eggs (filled with a little candy which we made sure she didn't realize was inside) and hid a few eggs strategically on the carpet.  She liked the bath toys, or at least the tags on the bath toys, and shaking the eggs of course.

This is a longish, but awfully cute video of Abby's egghunt at home. 

Abby playing with her basket and the dinosaurs her Grandma Anderson sent to her. (She loves them!)

Abby also got to wear a pretty new dress given to her back at her baby shower. She has decided she does not like wearing headbands anymore (sad!) so the cute headband she was wearing didn't last long enough to make it into a picture.

What a fun day!  And next year we will be able to do even more!

Breakfast with Abby - video

Just a cute video of Abby finishing up breakfast. We had a good conversation but I think my favorite part of this one is how she just zones out at the end!

Almost Spring!

The past few days have been absolutely beautiful!  70s and 80s weather - this is why we live in San Diego. Only 2 more days until it is officially Spring, but it's sure been here for a while now!

Abby and I have spent some good time out in the sun. Which we always do anyways, but now it's warm and Abby can wear shorts! (or a swimsuit!).

While we were at the beach yesterday there were a couple girls from Turkey who fell in love with Abby and spent at least half an hour playing with her. Abby sure isn't shy and loves attention from anyone!

Abby 9 month numbers

I forgot to add in Abby's nine month stats with her post the other day, but we had her 9 month check-up last week and so got all the current measurements. Our baby girl is sure growing!  Though she is still on the long, thinner side. I think its great because it means that at nine months she is still fitting all of her 6 month clothes and several 3-6 month clothes as well.

Weight: 16lb 8oz (15th percentile)
Length: 28 1/4 inches (75th percentile)
Head: 17inches (25th percentile)

Abby - 9 months

Dearest Abigail,

Well, little girl, it's been nine months!  It's crazy to think that now you have been alive for longer than you were in my belly.  And you are only going to get bigger. You have grown so much these past nine months and it amazes me every day to see you and your smiles and adorable personality and think that less than a year ago you weren't in our lives yet!

Overall this has been such a fun month. You can officially crawl now which we are both so happy about. I've decided I don't know why people say they don't look forward to having a mobile baby.  It's so great! You are much much happier being able to move on your own and I will take a happier baby any day.  You don't have to scream when I move away, you can just follow (though I admit, sometimes you follow and scream). You don't seem to ever get bored crawling around and exploring every corner of the house over and over again. It seems like it is new to you each time with how excited you get.  Even more than crawling you love walking along furniture, walls, toys, or whatever you can get to work for you. You still very frequently ask for Mommy's hands so you can walk around the room.

Along with becoming more mobile, you have perfected your ability to pull yourself up to standing on pretty much anything and hardly fall down. You can purposefully go from standing down to crawling, you can go from crawling to sitting, and you very easily change directions while crawling.  It's so fun to watch you.

You love pulling yourself up on the bookcase where all your books are and then pulling them all down. You absolutely love playing peek-a-boo and riding on Dad's shoulders. You do not like your door jumper. At all. Good thing we got it for free. You think the vacuum cleaner is fascinating.  You are so bouncy when you get happy and excited. You do cute little dances with the music at your little activity table. You have the most adorable toothy smile. You are just too cute.

You are finally starting to get some hair too! And it is coming in blonde. You still have the dark little tail in the back of your head that is the last remnant of your newborn hair, but the rest is all blonde. Your eyes have turned into such a pretty color, not brown, maybe hazel-ish?

You still love to talk and jabber away.  And it is still da-da-da-da constantly.  When you are cruising around you talk softly to yourself as though you were chanting. It is adorable.

You love meal-times, though you make the funniest noises the whole time. You are getting so much better at picking up foods of all sizes and have tried pretty much everything. Today at lunch we had some millet and you surprised me with how well you were able to pick it up. We are teaching you to drink from a cup (hoping to skip the sippy cup), which is going really well.  Though sometimes you decide the cup is just a place to rinse your hands off. 

This month has also brought the more unwelcome increase of your separation anxiety. It amazes me how little it takes for you to get so upset, me turning my back sometimes sets you off. And I think it is the reason your sleep has become worse. That and your new ability in the past couple of weeks of standing up in your crib. I leave, you get super upset, you stand yourself up and it just seems to make you even more awake and you cry even more. You used to go down so easily for naps, but this past week you've had more than one day that you never did fall asleep, even with me leaving you in there for a while.  In fact, right now you are crying instead of taking your morning nap. Baby girl, why do you have to do this? Your sleep at night has also gotten more difficult. You have still been waking up twice per night, but always go right back to sleep after me feeding you. But you have started doing the same thing that you are doing at nap time when I put you back down. We've got to figure something out! You and us both need our sleep!  Maybe you just need some more loving at nap times and night time.

And we sure do love you. So very much. Thank you for the added joy and happiness you have brought into our lives.

I love you.

Your Mamma

And because we have too many cute pictures to choose from, here are some more from this past month!

Abby kissing her twin in the mirror. 

Crawling!

Abby has been very close to crawling for a few weeks now, moving herself around with a determination that doesn't always match her speed. It wasn't full out crawling, though.  In the past few days, however, she has got it down!

Here she comes!

It might be about time for some baby proofing...