Midway visit

I happened to find out that the Midway was having a free admission day for everyone wearing red white and blue on Flag Day (yes, this post is that old), so we jumped at the chance.  Visiting the Midway Museum has been on my list of things to do but the steep admission fee has deterred us.  We attempted one other time to go on a free day but that didn't work out. (see here).

We had a great time and Abby especially loved all the planes.  

Flying the plane with Abby

Abby in the cockpit

Patriotic little girl!

On the flight deck

She thought this was the greatest thing. :)

Also loved the mess hall

Yay for big boats and planes! And for free admission days!

Moving time!

Yep, we've moved!  We lived 4 years in our last place, with 2 of those years being in a one bedroom apartment with a kid.  A teeny-tiny one bedroom apartment, only about 450 square feet.  And we made it work.  We were even very seriously considering sticking it out with two kids.  Did lots of research on murphy beds and couch beds.  With rent being so expensive here in SD, it just seemed so unattractive financially to spend that much more a month on rent. But in the end, we decided to move.  

And we are so happy we did!  Our place is about twice a big, and best of all, has two bedrooms!  This has made everyone so much happier.  I was worried Abby would take a while to get used to being so far from us at night, but she absolutely loves having her own room.  And overall, her sleep has improved a ton.  And it's so nice not having to sneak around her to use the restroom or when we go to bed! An extra bonus, for Abby especially, is that we just happened to move a couple doors down from one of her little friends at church.  She is always checking to see if his door is open so that she can run over and say hi!

We've been here a couple weeks now and are pretty much settled in.  Here are a couple pictures from us having fun unpacking.

 

 

Pregnancy #2 Weeks 27-30

This pregnancy is sure flying by!  I am well into the third trimester and past week 30. I almost wish I could slow everything down so I could just focus on this little girl. I couldn't be more excited for her, but often I forget I'm pregnant since Abby is constantly requiring my focus and attention.  I haven't even given any thought really to a name for her!  I want to take time to at least make a few things specially for her, a quilt and some little skirts/dresses are on my list.  Maybe even a blessing outfit??  

I am sure more uncomfortable this time around, so baby girl doesn't let me forget for too long that she is here. She has started making huge kicks and movements, some that are really quite painful.  It feels as though she is punching her arm out and then just keeping it there!  It's fun watching my stomach move up and down as she moves though.  Abby has finally felt baby sister move a couple times.  She thinks it's funny that baby sister is kicking her. 

This pregnancy itself is going great.  For the last few midwife visits, they have been becoming increasingly concerned though about her growth.  I have been consistently measuring small (like one week behind), and then the last two visits, so starting with week 28ish, I was suddenly measuring 3 weeks behind, 25 weeks instead of 28.  They were pushing for an extra ultrasound, worried that she wasn't growing enough.  Now, this happened with Abby too, and I was so worried, but the extra ultrasound showed that she was just fine.  So I was hesitating, really not liking the potential extra cost of an ultrasound when I was pretty certain everything was fine.  They agreed to wait til the next visit (week 30) to see how I measured.  Sure enough, I measured at 27, 3 weeks behind.  So they told me we had to do the ultrasound.  We went in the next day.  The first thing the technician says is, "wow you really are small for 30!"  But as she starts measuring the images, baby girl was right on average.  Just where she should be.  Apparently I have a deep pelvis so my babies just sit further back and so when they measure my uterus, it comes out smaller. It was a relief to know she was fine, but I really had already known that.  Sure was fun to see the little girl though!  

Abby was of course watching the whole time and when the technician had two pictures up on the screen, Abby looks at me and asks, "Two babies?"  It was so cute and funny.  Nope, just one in there!

At 30ish weeks. I feel like I am huge, no matter what those midwives say!

Pregnancy #2- Weeks 21-26

These weeks are kind of blurring together, it's going by so quickly!  

Weeks 21-25

Feeling good, except for the varicose veins that have developed in my left leg.  Sooo uncomfortable, it drives me crazy.  The only times I don't seem to notice it are when I am moving around. Didn't have this at all with Abby and the midwife says it's only going to get worse, and that I am stuck with them for life. Yuck.  And then the dental issues I had with the first pregnancy are back.  Swollen, bleeding gums. Yucky, I know.  And so frustrating as I feel like I am doing and have been doing everything I can to prevent it.  I'm visiting the dentist every three months so they can keep an eye on things.  I figure I will just have to deal with it until the baby comes.  After Abby was born my teeth slowly returned to normal so I am counting on that happening again!

So those are the problems I have.  I know it's nothing compared to what some women have to deal with, but really sometimes it seems like pregnancies just do terrible things to your body! Why do we do this?

On the happy side, Baby Girl is getting bigger and bigger and moving and kicking, which is just so fun.  Abby talks about Baby Sister all the time. I hope she loves her just as much when she is really here!

Week 26

Had a midwife appointment this week. Everything looks great.  The midwife seemed a little worried that I was measuring only at 25 weeks, so a week behind, and kept reminding me that I needed to make sure to be eating enough.  Pretty sure that's not a problem!  Besides, with Abby it was exactly the same.  I continually measured a week small and they even did an extra ultrasound (usually the birth center just does the one at 20 weeks) to make sure the baby was growing.  And she was. So I'm not worried at this point. The midwife let Abby help out when we were listening to baby's heartbeat - she got to hold the stick thingy and move it around.  Abby thought that was just great!

Abby's two year stats

We had Abby's two year appointment at the doctor's yesterday.

Here's how our little girl measures up:

Weight: 24.2 lbs       20 %tile

Length: 34 3/4 in      75 %tile

Head: 18 1/4 in        20%tile

So just about where's she's always been!  Tall and thin.  Developmentally she is right on track with everything, which I expected.  

This was the smoothest doctor's appointment yet.  Probably helped that there weren't any shots this time around...  Abby was perfectly fine this time with the doctor checking her out.  I think it also helped that we had just come from a midwife appointment so Abby got to see mom and baby sister get checked.  So now it was her turn. 

Whatever the reason, it was nice not to have a screaming Abby at the first sign of the doctor!

Letter to Abby at 2

Dearest Abby,

My little girl is two years old now.  What a year it's been, full of mind-blowing growth and changes! This has been especially true in your talking.  Your speech has really taken off and it really makes you seem like such a big girl!  You understand seemingly everything, can follow simple directions ('can you bring Mommy her phone?  It's on the table.'), and can communicate so much yourself!  You love to repeat the things we says, it's like we are watching your little mind take everything in and store it there.  You can say two-three words together ('Abby wash face' 'finger hurt') and your words themselves are changing and evolving as you learn.  For example, you used to say 'b-b' for blanket, now you say 'bank-t'. It's so fun every day as we are surprised by the things you can say!

We have been potty training you for about a month now and it has sure been an up and down journey.  Overall trending upward.  You have some accident free days and then some where it seems every 1/2 hour we have to change underwear.  But you are really doing so good!  You are even waking up from the majority of your naps and nightimes with a dry diaper!  Yay!

One other fun thing is that you are starting to pray on your own.  By that I mean you are starting to repeat after us when we help you pray. :) You are so good at folding your little arms for prayers and you often remind us that we need to go find the scriptures to read before bedtime. Not that you ever pay attention to the actual reading of them though.

You are sure turning into an independent little girl in some ways. You want to do everything 'by self'  or 'Abby self' and you sure make it known! This is everything from building your own towers with blocks to pushing the stroller, to getting into your chair for meals and buckling yourself in.


Speaking of meals, you definitely love food.  Your favorites right now are yogurt and granola (usually with the request of mango!), melons of all kinds, pasta, peas, and squash.  Oh and ice cream.  You've only had it a handful of times, but you sure love it!  We have pretty much finished nursing it seems.  You have almost completely weaned yourself.  I haven't actively tried any weaning, but on your own you've slowly asked to nurse less and less.  Now it is only once every several days.  I expect that you will be completely weaned before baby sister comes, which although it wasn't necessarily the plan, might make things easier!











Physically you are growing so much.  You are so much more coordinated. Your running seems so smooth and you are so close to being able to jump.  You are very good at climbing and seem so fearless in some things at least.  For example, you love to hang on and swing from the overhead bar at the top of slides.  But then you refuse to actually go down the slides by yourself.  You will just hang out at the top while other kids move around you to go down.














Some things you love:

• Trucks, trains, buses, planes. One of your weekly highlights is watching the trash truck pass by in the back alley Wednesday mornings.

In heaven 'flying' a plane on a recent trip to the Midway (aircraft carrier museum)

• Water and swimming.  Considering your fear of water last summer, this is kind of a nice change.  You love baths, love love love the ocean, and love to be in pools.  We aren't in pools too often, but the last couple of times, you really wanted to swim by yourself. Really wanted to.  It took some effort to hold on to you!  Maybe some toddler swimming lessons would be a good thing...

The closest you got to swimming by yourself at a recent birthday party. 

• Puzzles.  I am impressed with how good you are too!

• Books, as always. Going to the library is one of your favorite things to do!
• Your babies.  You have two baby dolls, a monkey, a baby monkey, and a bear that you absolutely love.  You have to sleep with all of them tucked in close to you.  And you love to take care of them.  Just in the last few weeks, one of your new favorite games is to put your babies to sleep.  You line them up in your bed, cover them with a mountain of blankets, maybe read them a few books.  Then you turn on the white noise machine, and close the bedroom door saying, "Night-night, see you later, bye!" You repeat this process over and over. You also love to hold your babies with a blanket over them and bounce them up and down, shushing them. So adorable.
• Stickers

• The zoo.  You'd be fine if we went every day!

• Bags, you love carrying bags.  You recently got a little backpack for your birthday and you absolutely love it!

• You love to have me take pictures with the camera and then look at them.  Especially if they are pictures of you.
• Sitting in 'mom's seat' in the car and 'driving.'

• Walks outside.  And you love to take your little toy dog that you can pull or your dump truck that you can push.

• You are really starting to love your little friends.  You get so excited when we go to play with them and frequently ask for them, William and Sebastian especially. 

With your besties, William and Sebastian

You are just such a fun little girl to be around!  Every day is an adventure, and I'm so glad I can share them with you!

Love,
Your Mamma

Abby turns 2!

Abby's birthday was a week ago, on the 7th, and what a fun day she had!  She was soo excited for her birthday, all week she kept saying, "Abby happy day?!" (She currently says 'happy day' for happy birthday'). She kept requesting me to sing the Happy Birthday song every day and would talk about the monkey cupcakes we were going to make.  It surprised me how much she really understood and how excited she was. Maybe because we had just celebrated both my and Eric's birthdays?

We started the day off with surprising her with a living room full of balloons.  She was in heaven and ran around laughing as she played with them before breakfast.

She opened her gifts before breakfast also.  She was so happy and excited we just couldn't wait!  She got an easel from mom and dad and a pretty new dress and book from grandma and grandpa.

Sporting her new birthday dress as we cut watermelon in preparation for her party.

And then it was party time!  We had a small, simple mid-morning birthday party for her.  It was at one of our favorite parks, Presidio Park.  We had some snacks and cupcakes. (monkey cupcakes!)

 

Eric made this banner - turned out awesome, I think!

Instead of having people bring gifts, we did a book exchange.  Everyone brought a wrapped new or used book, and then every kid picked one out of the basket on their way out.  Great because we didn't  have to bring home a ton of gifts that Abby didn't need (and that we don't have room for!), and we didn't have to worry about party favors! :)

We didn't have any organized activities, which made the party itself so nice and enjoyable.  We had a big container full of balls, a table with crayons and markers set up, a chalkboard mat, and then just blankets for people to sit and hang out.  And lots of grass to run around in!

drawing table with chalkmat in background

Abby loved her cupcakes!  She had probably two before we even sang Happy Birthday to her!

cupcake time with Brooke

After the party we went and had lunch at an alumni thing Eric had, and then we were off to the temple, much to Abby's absolute delight! 

Super fun day!  It was so fun to celebrate our little girl!  Happy Day Abby!