I'm so grateful for the beautiful, sweet little spirit which has entered our home. I know that she is literally a gift from our Heavenly Father. There's no way we mere mortals could have created such a wonderful person. Every day, I find myself looking at her in awe. But time is flying. Abigail recently had her six-month doctor's appointment. I've discovered that parent time goes about 100 times as fast as nonparent time. It seemed like in the space of about a week, she started crawling, got her first two teeth, and began holding her bottle. When I first saw her holding her bottle, I said, "Sheesh! Slow down kid, before long you'll be heading off to college!" And that's the way it feels. I'm afraid her entire childhood will go by at warp speed and I will spend my later years struggling to remember all of the special moments. So, to that end, I have decided to write down my favorite things about Abigail so I can look back and remember the dear, cute things about my Abi.
1. I used to hate mornings. Now I look forward to them. When I go into Abigail's room at about 6:30, she's usually sitting up in her crib quietly, playing with her doll. When she sees me come into her room, she lights up like a firefly with a big grin and bounces up and down. We then share hugs before getting her changed and ready for the day.
2. Abigail's big grin. Especially now, with those two bottom little teeth. Sometimes she sticks her tongue out while she's smiling and that brings a giggle from me every time. What a cutie.
3. I spend about half of the day putting Abigail back on her quilt next to her toys in the livingroom. But if mommy leaves the room, she follows. And even if she does stay put, she periodically looks around to see if I'm still in the room and if we make eye contact, she smiles.
4. "Blah, blah, blah. Da da da!" These are Abigail's favorite "words". She loves nothing better than to bounce on her tush and talk loudly to herself. I've often found her doing this and having a ball. (I still can't convince her to say ma ma.)
5. I'll be sitting on the couch and she'll come over to me, pull herself up, and put her arms up to be picked up. Of course, I'm more than happy to!
6. She often puts her arms up toward the sky for no apparent reason. When she does this in public people thinks she's asking them to pick her up and get a real kick out of it. I keep quiet. :)
7. Raspberry blowing contests. She usually wins.
8. She often tries to put my entire face in her mouth. I know it's because she's teething, but I choose to think of it as a big, wet kiss. When I then gum her cheeks, she giggles.
9. She is fascinated with toes. (But we don't let her put them in her mouth!)
10. She likes to sit on my lap as we "read" a baby book together.
11. She's incredibly curious and tenacious. When she discovers something of interest, she stays with it and goes back to it, no matter how many times mom takes her away from it.
12. She makes friends with strangers at the grocery store, the library, restaurants, Target, Costco, etc.
13. She's very independent, but if I catch her when she's tired or has just finished a bottle, I can get her to cuddle with me.
14. Mostly, I just love her sweet, even-tempered, precious personality. Yes sir, that's my baby!
Abigail turned eight months old yesterday and she's wasting no time in getting ready to walk.
She even gets brave sometimes and moves her hands around.
Grandma Nancy was very helpful with Owen.
I was able to get Abigail into a really cute Minnie Mouse costume this year...
For approximately...
Because she was still anxious and impatient about the fireworks, mom and dad decided to let her try her hand at driving her cousin Caitlin's car. She did pretty well, but isn't ready for stick shift yet!
Finally, it's dark and mom holds Abigail while dad kindly gives mom a shoulder rub. Abigail handled the fireworks pretty well. She tensed up a little at first, but then she relaxed and enjoyed a few fireworks, before she fell asleep. :P Must have been worn out by all the pre-fireworks activities!
