On the Verge...

That's a little how our Christmas vacation feels (in a good way). We're sort of all over the place here in Idaho. Lots of different houses, a few different cities, many, many family members. But so far it's been really great. Abram is being a trooper (as usual) and we are glad to get to see everyone. I am also about to lose a bit of my control on this kiddo. Friday he took his first unassisted step. Saturday he did a few one-twos. And by Sunday (Christmas day!) he was looking like this: With that much progress in only three days, I can only imagine that by the time we get home he will be running amuck himself. This is perfect timing for his 5 month pregnant mommy, who is already beginning to have to hoist myself out of seated positions much more slowly that normal. I guess this running man will help keep me in agile shape for at least a little while longer. Selah's getting bigger for sure and I can't believe that I still have 4 more months! I'm alrea...

At the beginning of this pregnancy I was so excited about doing the chronological belly photos thing that I saw all over pinterest . You know, the ones where you wear the same white t shirt and jeans in the same spot in your house with the same sign that states the week number in the same pose every week and then put them all together for this crazy looking stomach growth chart. Like this one . Yeah, I was going to do that. And then I found that I had a hard time getting motivated to get out of my pajamas and take a shower and set up the camera every Tuesday in between all of the other things that I had to do (namely feel sick and tired and make sure my first born got fed). So I've really dropped the ball. Now, at week 21, I have a total of two "belly photos" and I'm not wear even remotely the same thing - which ruins everything. But I figure even though my pinterest worthy belly photo documentation may be over, I can still have lost-on-my-hard-drive-only-to-l...

Many of you may have been reading the updates about Abram's "condition" on Facebook. As I contemplated putting up the information about what was going on for all the world to see, I have to confess that I was thinking that everyone was going to think I was crazy. "Her kid can't stand up for a day and all of a sudden she's going to the emergency room right at bedtime?" Well, I'm here to justify myself (although I realize there really isn't a need for that, based on the amount of wonderful support I got from people) and tell you a little bit of what I learned - for those of you who might be interested in some medical knowledge you may not have known. Just so you know, I did not take pictures of this event, so there are none here to see. Pictorial documentation of your child's first ER visit isn't something you think of until after you leave with the assurance that everything is probably going to be ok. Looking back, there was a lot of ...

Yes. Another one. We just had a wonderful answer to prayer in Abram getting over a snotty nose in a few days after Quinn and I had both been sick with full fledged colds. And now this. "This" (if you haven't read my recent Facebook post), is a leg issue. I noticed/realized tonight that Abram was refusing to stand up the second half of the day. If you've been around this child in the last few months, you know that if he's not strapped into something he's either crawling or standing and cruising. So this was odd. I know that he was standing this morning and in his crib before his morning nap (thanks, video monitor), but when I thought back over the afternoon and into the evening I realized that he had not stood up at all. He normally stands and plays with his nativity from Nana and Papa at the coffee table: The Norm (love that face) But this afternoon he was kneeling on the ground and trying to get me to hand him things that were too far back on the tabl...

We have not cut Abram's hair, ever. It didn't really start growing until he was 6 months old and it's been pretty constant since then. We haven't even thought of giving him a haircut until today when we got him up from his nap and he had this: A duck tail. I mean, it's pretty cute, I think. But then I noticed that the sides are going over his ears and the front looks a little shaggy. If it always went nicely to the side on it's own, it would be one thing. But straight down causes some issues. Some of you may have seen these pictures of Quinn and I from when we were about 2 or 3. Sorry, they are pictures of pictures in frames. I'm too lazy to get them out and take good pictures or scan them. You can deal. So, obviously, Abram got my hair: Seemingly straight until it grows onto the neck, where it curls in weird directions. Quinn's hair was a mess of white curls when he was little and because it grew away from his face (kind of) his mom didn'...

We're doing it! We are leaving the baby overnight ! It's only been 13 months (exactly), but it's finally happening. Quinn and I thought that a fun day in Fredericksburg was in order for our 3.5 year anniversary :) We need to get some Christmas gifts still and thought that Fredericksburg would be the perfect place to look. We'll be staying in a cute little hotel right off main street, right around the corner from the Auslander - a great, authentic German restaurant that we really like - and the Rather Sweet Bakery - a breakfast place that is fantastic. It has been quite rainy, overcast, and a little cold here in central Texas these last few days, so we'll have to bundle up for our shopping excursion tomorrow. We went a few years ago for Thanksgiving weekend and the Christmas decorations were already up and pretty neat. Because I didn't blog about it last time we went, I'll share a few pictures so we can compare when we come back. I like going to Freder...

Some of you may be privy to this information already, but I finally caved and bought a video baby monitor. It only took three times of seeing one for half price on kids woot and a few weeks of erratic naps to eventually justify the $80 purchase to myself. I ended up getting the Motorola MBP20 with the 1.5" color screen and "talk back" feature. It's all good and the reception has been great across our house. One thing they don't tell you in any of the literature and I had to figure out after musing at it for a few hours is that the sound on the parent unit cuts out when the microphone on the baby unit doesn't detect "sound" for 20 seconds. Now, what they apparently think "sound" is seems to be different than my definition. It only really detects his voice or banging. It doesn't detect little feet on sheets, which I was always able to hear on our other monitor and know he was still awake in there. Anyway, it ends up being fine bec...

Abram has been saying Mama and Dada for awhile now. Sometimes he messes with us and when we say "Say Dada" or "Say Mama" he will look right at us, smile, and say the opposite. I know that he knows what he's doing. At least he seems to have an inherent sense of humor. I just wanted to document the fact that his first word, besides our names, was "banana". Now, it doesn't sound exactly like "banana" all of the time. The first time was actually the best. Now it's degraded into "nana" or "manan". But he definitely knows what it is and he loves them. Apparently he saw a banana peel in the nursery at church with the girls last night and he pointed and said "banana". He's usually the only kid at the 7:00 service with at least 3 female nursery workers. The girls were so excited when I came in to pick him up. He loves it... and they love him. It makes me happy. Anyway, they didn't know if h...

Not me. Abram. Update on the last post: I decided to try letting him go to one nap a day (since that seemed like where we were headed). I had my trusty, wonderful babysitter/sister/student Chelsea come over to watch Abram while I went and got my first grown up haircut (meaning I spent more than $20 at Supercuts). This seemed like the perfect opportunity to try to see if he would stay up through lunchtime and go down for one early afternoon nap. Chelsea was full of Abram morning playtime energy, I usually am not. So I thought she would be better at entertaining him for a few hours than I would be. My "entertainment" would consist of some errand running because I was getting tired of chasing him around the house and saying "no". Chelsea said that he started laying his head down on the ground in the middle of playing around 10:50 and she decided to put him to bed. It was a good call. He was asleep within minutes and slept for 2.5 hours. His afternoon nap was c...

Oh, the horror! I have been absurdly spoiled (by God and, vicariously, Abram). My one year old usually sleeps 11-12 hours straight through the night and then takes two 1.5-3 hour naps during the day. Nap total is somewhere around 4 hours on a normal day. I read something posted by a friend not too long ago that had a sleep chart for babies. It said that one year olds should be getting around 13-14 hours a day, I think. Mine is getting 15-16. Like I said: spoiled. Since we've gotten back from Arizona, we've been on a pretty consistent schedule. It is different from before we went to Arizona, but two weeks of sleeping in a pop up tent for naps and bedtime at different times everyday would do that to any baby, I think. I have come to rely on that schedule. I actually count down the minutes until 9:30 when I put Abram down for his first nap and I formulate everything that I am going to do with my 2ish hours in my head: Blog (sometimes), catch up on missed shows (sometime...