One Year Old, and Getting Wiser Each Day too!

Well, it's hard to believe, but we are now living with a one year old.  It is so amazing to think of all Abigail has become over the past year and to anticipate her future growth.  We had a fun month.  At the beginning of June, we went to Ouray, CO with Steve's family (those who were able to come).  The drive way a bit long as Abigail is not content to be still for so long now that she can move, but she was a trooper and we made it.

She had fun hanging out with cousins (and Aunts, Uncle, and Grandparents), going on a hike, and going  swimming for the first time.

 

Mommy and Abigail have been on some fun play dates: meeting friends at the Thanksgiving Point Farm, where Abigail rode a pony for the first time; having lunch at Cafe Rio with friends, and going to the park.

 

We also celebrated flag day at Daddy's work with a flag ceremony and J Dawgs.

And one of the most exciting things we've done is celebrating Abigail's first birthday!!! We threw her a butterfly themed birthday party.  Mommy made her a special shirt with a 1 and some butterflies.

There were caterpillar eggs (Starburst jellybeans), caterpillars (Sour Brite Crawlers), and a butterfly cake and cupcakes.  

We had lots of family and some close friends who were able to come.  Abigail did great.  She had fun opening gifts, she was a little mystified by everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her, and she hesitated, but then dug into her cake.  It was a fun celebration!

And finally, an update on all Abigail has been learning and doing since last we wrote: She can walk with a walker, can stand for ~30 seconds without support, loves to climb over or up anything, is experimenting with coming down the stairs on her own, is learning to put shapes into a shape sorter (still needs lots of help, but gets the concept), pushes balls through the hole on her toys, can toss a ball back and forth, and loves getting into anything and everything! Such a fun age!

10 months... and 11 months

Well when 10 months came and went without getting around to posting a blog of Abigail, I figured we'd just have to lump it all in one with her 11 month post.  It has been so much fun to see her blossom over the past two months.  She is a busy little bee, who is up, down, and all around.

Abigail has learned to crawl, and man is she fast.  It's like watching a little turbo-charged robot... a very cute turbo-charged robot.

But she didn't stop with crawling.  She is now pulling herself up on anything that is semi-stable.  She is starting to cruise around furniture... and her crib.  She has also figured out how to climb the entire flight of stairs.  We finally put up safety gates to contain, I mean protect, her :).

Abigail is also growing socially and intellectually.  She loves to interact with books (i.e. lifting flaps, feeling textures, and imitating sounds).  She is taking more notice of other's, especially children.  She is also talking and making new sounds.  She has had DADA down for a while.  Then she started in with ba ba, la la, wa wa, va va, ya ya, and FINALLY MA MA :).  She is still mostly just making the sounds for sounds sake, but seems to be recognizing the meanings of some words.  For example, when we say da da, she will point to Daddy's picture (though she doesn't point to daddy if he is there, and says da da quite frequently throughout the day, but she is getting there).  When we ask if she is "all done," she makes the ASL sign for all done.  And when we say hello or bye bye, she waves (which is the cutest thing ever!)  She loves imitating sounds and expressions, especially ones that dad makes.  Whenever he clears his throat or coughs, so does Abigail.  When he growls like Chewbacca, Abigail tries to also.  When dad sticks out his tongue, Abigail copies.

 

We have also had some fun adventures over the past couple of months.  Abigail has had some fun play dates with friends.

She has had her first exposure to the joy of swings and bubbles (kinda)

And Mommy and Abigail went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.

We love our happy, smiling, emerging independent girl with her cute two-tooth grin.  It's hard to believe she will be one year old next month!  I will definitely make sure to post about that.

9 months - She's on the move!

Now that Abigail is 9 months old, she seems to be more of a kid than a baby.  She has been working really hard this past month and has accomplished a lot. In the food department, she has learned to pick up finger foods and self feed.  She is also drinking from a cup with help (though I think more water ends up down her front than in her mouth). She is eating more of the foods that Mommy and Daddy eat as long as they are soft enough to gum.  Soon she will be chomping with a full set of teeth though, because she cut her first tooth this month.  We'd love to show the tooth off, but she is tight mouthed, so it is experienced more by touch than by sight.
Abigail has learned a lot of gross motor skills this month too.  She started by kicking her legs while on her tummy in an attempt to crawl.  With the right motivation (phones, iPad, light up toys, binkie, and almost anything we don't want her to get in to), she has now become quite the army crawler.

With her added mobility, she has learned to transition from sitting up to tummy and has almost mastered tummy to sitting.

Unfortunately her rolling and transitioning has carried over to the crib.  We have found her in many precarious situations.

Sometimes she will even fall asleep on her side or tummy (yeah the tummy still freaks us out, so we make sure to check on her when we see her face down on the monitor).

Other exciting developments include responding to hi by saying her best attempt of hi, problem solving to get toys that are out of reach, and banging items together and clapping her hands.

It is so fun to watch Abigail grow and learn.  We can't wait to see what the next month brings...

8 months: Growing up way too fast

It's hard to believe that another month has gone by.  When I go back and read the previous months post, I am amazed at how much Abigail is growing and developing.  Sometimes its hard to recognize the progress when little things add up to big things.  When last we wrote, Abigail was still not really rolling onto her tummy from her back and would avoid tummy time when she could.  Now she is not only rolling tummy to back, but is rolling multiple times and turning in place.  She is on the verge of becoming mobile :).  On a few occasions, she has rolled until reaching the wall.

She loves to play sitting up and can grab toys of various sizes.  She has started removing toys from containers (such as taking the shapes out of the shape sorter box).  Abigail likes to knock things down and one of our favorite games is "See how tall Mommy can stack such and such before Abigail knocks it down." She will pass toys from one hand to the other.  She also loves to throw toys.  Abigail has moved up to standing play too.  She loves her bouncer and the exersaucer.  She can stand when pulled up by Mommy or Daddy and can even stand holding onto something without our support for a few seconds.

We had a fun time celebrating Valentines Day as a family this year.  We decided to do "homemade" rather than spending money, which turned out to be wonderful, fun, and romantic.  Abigail and Mommy went to Daddy's work for a Valentines lunch date (we ate homemade Mac and Cheese--one of Daddy's favorite meals).  It was fun to see each other during the middle of the day.

When we left, we put a Valentine in Daddy's car (our hand prints in the shape of hearts)...

Steve's Valentine for me was a cross word puzzle that he made.  The clues were event, special memories, our goals as a couple, etc.  It was so fun to solve and even more fun to remember all the fun times we have had together.

For dinner we had heart shaped Navajo Tacos. Yum!!!

And for dessert... Peanut Butter Bars

It was a very fun day.  It was nice to be able to think of fun ways to show our love for each other. Just goes to show that you don't have to spend a lot of money (though spending money isn't necessarily bad) as long as you give of yourself.  

We love our happy baby!

Yep, We are Still Here!

Dear Family and Friends, we are still alive.  We have been extremely absent in our blogging... but for good reason.  We didn't fall off the face of the Earth, but we did move from the Metropolis of South Jordan to the rural countryside of Saratoga Springs (ok, so it's not that country, but it is a bit more rustic than So. Jordan). We began tossing around the idea of moving in early October.  Things moved much more quickly than we planned and by Nov. 2 our townhouse was on the market.  We sold the town-home and closed on our new home on Dec. 31, 2012.  So on January 1, 2013 we moved into a new home (New home for the new year).  We had help from family, friends, and neighbors and really appreciate everyone's efforts.  We have basically unpacked all our boxes and now we are working on putting up pictures.  It is so nice to have a home that we can grow into.  It is a new home, so we will have to put a yard in in the Spring and eventually finish the basement.

And now to catch you up on Abigail.  She is now 7 months old!  It is hard to believe how much she is growing.  She has become very good at rolling from her tummy to her back, which she quickly does any time Mommy or Daddy try to do Tummy Time with her.  At about 6 1/2 months she started sitting up unsupported and is now quite adept at sitting and reaching for toys.  Abigail's first vowel-consonant is DA DA DA DA (still no MA MA MA MA).  Abigail is also quite the food connoisseur.  Mommy makes home-made baby food and Abigail opens her mouth wide when she especially likes a certain food.  One of her favorite meal time activities is blowing razzes in her food...

We had a wonderful holiday with family.  For Thanksgiving, we had dinner with the Harris/Johnston side of the family.  We were able to see Papa and Gram and (Great)-Great-Grandma Luella.  Here is a 5 generation picture with them:

Alison's sister Jenni got married on Dec. 21, 2012, so we drove to Boulder, CO to participate in the exciting event.  Abigail did wonderfully on the long car ride and we enjoyed celebrating the marriage of Jenni and Noah.

We arrived home on Dec. 22 and geared up for Abigail's first Christmas.  It was strange to not put up our own tree (since we would be moving the following week), but it was still a wonderful Christmas.  We were able to spend time with all of our various families.  Abigail loved unwrapping presents (mostly in an attempt to eat the paper).

Abigail meets Santa

Abigail loves her toes and wants to play in the snow

Now that we are settled in to our new home we will try and post at least monthly to keep you updated on Abigail's growth and other exciting family events.

4 Month Adventures... and Halloween

Well, Abigail is now 4 months old, as of Oct. 20th. At her 4 month pediatricians appointment, she weighed in at 13 lbs. 3 oz. and was 24.5 inches long.

This month has been lots of fun as Abigail has more of a personality developing.  She smiles lots and lots, especially at mommy and daddy.  She has not quite figured out how to laugh, but when we tickle her or give her raspberries on her tummy, she will grin really big and let out a loud AHHH. Speaking of raspberries, that is Abigail's newest trick.  She also LOVES to babble and squeal.  She is really discovering her voice.  One of her favorite times to talk is when she wakes up in the middle of the night.  It is so darn cute to hear her talking to herself in her crib.  She is sleeping really well.  She usually goes to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 PM and doesn't wake up until 4-6:00 AM, then goes back to bed and wakes up for the day at 7:30.

We have had some fun adventures too.  We still go on walks frequently with our friends, but as it gets colder we either go later in the day, or have to forgo the walk all together.

We also took a Fall drive up in the canyon.  The leaves were beautiful.  Abigail was asleep the whole time, but it was still a fun little family outing.

Abigail and mommy have also had a few outings with friends.  We went to the Church History Museum, where they have a special kids section (only until January though).  Abigail had fun looking around and watching the other kids play, and Alison had fun visiting with friends.

On another occasion, we went to Gardener Village to see the Witches and other Halloween decorations.  Abigail loved riding in the carrier and being able to see everything.

For Halloween the Harris' love to wear coordinating costumes (Our first Halloween while dating Alison was a butterfly and Steve a butterfly catcher; next Halloween Steve was a dog and Alison a dog trainer; and last Halloween, Alison was a cat and Steve was a scratching post).  This year we were Lions, and Tigers, and Bears ("Oh my!").

We are excited for many more adventures to come with our wonderful Abigail Mae!