A Day in the Life of a Two Year Old

Well, believe it or not, our little Abigail turned 2 a couple weeks ago.  We had a fun week of celebration, though it was slightly hampered by Abigail having a stomach bug.  During her birthday week, mommy and Abigail went to the Aquarium with some friends.  Abigail loved seeing all the different fishies.

For her gift, we got her a mini trampoline.  She has been loving to jump, walk around in circles, play Ring around the Rosies, and sit to watch movies.

Daddy took her birthday off from work, so we were able to go to the Thanksgiving Point Farm to celebrate.  Abigail loved all the animals, the wagon ride, and especially riding the pony (she rode twice).  During the pony ride, she would say, "Hi horsey," neigh, and pet the pony.

The next day we had her party.  Mommy was a little frazzled trying to greet people, help Abigail open presents, and do cake.  And Daddy was exhausted from being in Abigail's room since 3 AM helping her sleep and getting everything set up for the party.  But all in all, the party turned out well.  It was a Zoo themed party that we held at the neighborhood park.  For decorations we had some of Abigail's stuffed animals in cages with corresponding snacks.  There was Elephant Snacks (peanuts), Tortoise Food (Swedish Fish), Hare Treats (Cadbury Mini Eggs), and Monkey Chow (dehydrated bananas). We had a young man from our ward doing balloon animals.  I made a zebra cake and giraffe cupcakes (very amateur looking, but still was fun).  So many family and friends were able to come and it was so great to see them.  We are so grateful for all the fun gifts and time spent with us.

Since her birthday, we have had some fun water play dates.  Abigail is becoming more brave when it comes to getting in the water and splashing around.

We also had a fun 4th of July celebration at Great-Grams (Alison's Grandma Furse).  We went to the local fair, where Abigail met one of her favorite Disney Princesses: Ana of Arendale.  We played at Grams and Abigail even got to stay up and watch fireworks.  While watching she would go over to Grams and ask to sit with her, which was so sweet to see.  She also clapped and said "yay!"  When the fireworks were finished she said, "Again!"  All in all it has been a busy, but fun month.

The Circle of Life

A few weeks ago we had our 20 week ultrasound for baby number 2.  The ultrasound technician took her sweet time looking at all the organs and so forth before revealing the baby's gender.  Everything looked like it was developing well and baby had a strong heartbeat. It was such a miracle to see that little heart fluttering away.  Our little one was very active--moving around, waving, and making it a bit challenging to capture all that needed to be seen.  But in the end, we were able to find out...

It's a girl!!!  Here's how we announced it via picture:

We are each holding up the type of chromosome that we gave to baby #2 (i.e. XX=girl).  I was a bit surprised to learn that we were expecting another girl because I kept getting boy vibes.  But, we are so excited to be having another girl.  We love the idea of Abigail having a sister and hope they will be the best of friends, roommates, and sisters.  It's also nice to already have all the girly basics, because we totally went all girl when buying for Abigail.  We have decided on a name for baby also.  We will be naming her Bethany.  We are still deciding on a middle name, but some of the top contenders are Kae (to rhyme with Abigail's middle name of Mae, and also as a tribute to our 3 wonderful mothers: Shirley Kay, Kathy, and Kim), Kate, or Rose.

The same day we had our ultrasound, we also received the news that our dear Great-Grandma Luella (Steve's great grandma) had finally passed away.  She was 97 and had lived a long and happy life.  The past few years have been a struggle for her as she has suffered with Alzheimer's. Of course it was sad to hear the news that she had died, but we were mostly happy for the reunion she was having with her loved ones that had already passed years ago.  Thankfully we were able to travel down to Ramah, NM for her funeral.  It was a beautiful weekend spent with family as we remembered her life.  Many of Grandma Luella's descendants were able to come.  It was also Abigail's first trip to the little town of Ramah, where Steve spent many childhood summers.  It is a special place to our family, especially to him.  Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Laughing in the car

Sleeping in the car

Fun with cousins in Grandpa and Grandma's trailer

Some of the boys (L to R: TJ, Steve, Nick)

Abigail playing at Papa and Grams

Our family in front of Papa and Grams house with the beautiful blue sky

And for those of you who want to see, here are is the weekly progression of my belly (minus week 20, when we were too busy/forgot):

 
  

Is it just me, or did my belly totally pop out at 23 weeks!

Our Growing Girl

Abigail is at such a fun age: fun, but challenging.  It is hard to believe that in a few weeks she will be turning two! We haven't posted about her growth for a while, so we thought we'd dedicate this blog post to some of the exciting things that she is doing.

One of the biggest changes is her growing vocabulary.She is talking most of the time.  She loves pointing things out, such as truck, tractor, plane, flower, doggy, trees, phone, girl, boy, friend.  She wants to know what everything is.  She will point to people or things and say, "this?" (i.e. who or what is this?).  Abigail is even starting to put words together into phrases: "I love you," "big sister," "It's pretty," "You ok?," "Come 'ere."  Every day she surprises us with new things that she is saying.

She is also developing much more pretend play.  She loves her baby (doll).  One of the first games she started playing with baby was to put baby in her shopping cart, push it over (resulting in baby crashing to the floor), and then rush to baby's side saying, "You ok? Come 'ere, come 'ere" while patting baby on the back.  I wasn't sure whether I should think it was cute and endearing that she wanted to comfort her baby, or be a little worried that she would push her over first.  She will also ask baby (or monkey, or turtle, or other toys that she is carrying) if it wants a snack when she has one, if it needs to go potty when she is sitting on the potty, or if it needs a diaper/clothing change when she gets one.

Abigail is starting to exert her independence in many ways.  She likes to help choose her clothing for the day.  Sometimes I am a little more lenient than other times in her clothing array.

She also insists on trying to put her own shoes on and throws a little fit if mommy or daddy step in to help.  She love to choose other things too: breakfast, lunch, and snack options; what we play; shows to watch. She still won't sit and watch, but loves to dance to the music. Incidentally we have watched Tangled and Little Mermaid multiple times.  It is so fun to watch her dance around to music.  She also loves to sing along (still mostly the last few words of a phrase).  She is adding Disney songs and songs from our iTunes to her Primary and Glee line up.

It is fun to see her personality develop.  She is still a little timid in trying certain things, but can also be wild and crazy.  On Memorial Day we went to a family BBQ.  There was a kiddy pool set up.  She kept wanting to try it, but whenever I would lift her to put her feet in the water, she would quickly pull them out and refuse to get in.  When I tried to set her down on the grass, at first she just walked on tip toes and wanted her shoes on.  But then she would also run wild on the trampoline (as long as the big kids weren't jumping).

This week we went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.  Abigail had a great time despite the crowds.  She liked dancing on the stage, building with the legos, climbing around on the little kids area, and placing fruits and veggies in baskets.

She still needs mom's help a lot when playing and exploring, but she is getting braver each day.  It is nice to witness her growing independence, but also bitter sweet that our little girl is not so little anymore.

Easter

Last month Abigail celebrated her second Easter.  It was definitely a busy, fun-filled weekend.  On Saturday morning she did her first ever Easter egg hunt at our ward party.  Daddy was able to help her find and pick up eggs, while Mommy helped make loads and loads of pancakes for the breakfast to follow.  She seemed to like the hunt.  When Mommy showed her that there were treats inside the eggs, she was even more excited.  From then on, she has been a treat monster!

Later that day Abigail searched for her own Easter basket at home (we try to keep Easter Sunday just about Jesus' Resurrection, so extraneous events happen on other days).

 That night, we hosted a Birthday dinner/Easter celebration for Grandma Kathy (Alison's mom).  Grandma brought cupcakes to decorate, butterflies to create, and little Easter baskets for the grand kids.

Sunday was a wonderful day. Abigail wore her special Easter dress and we had a nice time at church.  That evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa Harris's for ham and funeral potatoes.  The cousins did a mini Easter Egg hunt.

As or kids get older we hope to add more Easter traditions to our celebrations, especially teaching them about our Savior Jesus Christ and how He lived and died for us that we might all live again.