Congrats!

Congratulations to our very good friends John and Becca! They welcomed their son Wesley Andrew into the world on Wednesday, June 27th in Germany where they are stationed. He came early (37 weeks) he weighed in at 6lbs 13 oz, and 19 inches. Both Mom and baby are home doing well. We are so happy for them! Congrats!!!

Bye, bye Paci!

Well, Abby hasn't had her paci in a week now. I finally got fed up with the thing and bit the bullet and took it away cold turkey. She was down to just using it in the car and at bedtime for a while now, but it was just time to get rid of it once and for all. I hit my limit when she kept throwing it in the car and then whining till she got it back. I finally told her that the paci is all gone and she hasn't had it since. She has asked for it, mostly in the car and nap time has been hard on both of us but we are getting through it! The side effect of no paci is oral diarrhea, she talks non-stop in the car now. For a few days she would talk about her paci the whole time. "Bye, bye paci" "Paci all gone" "I throw paci, paci all gone"! It is actually pretty entertaining hearing what she has to say, but I am sure it will get old eventually! Wish me luck, and with some willpower the paci will be a thing of the past!

Splashing with the hose....

Here is Abby in the "little" pool playing with the hose. She would much rather be in the "big" pool, but the baby pool is much more relaxing for Mommy. The hose kept her busy for a while, but it was back to the big pool right after!





And here is Abby being more brave than I would really like her to be in the BIG pool.

The final Supper

On Tuesday I started a diet and I wanted to go out with a bang, so on Monday night my sister Greta, her boyfriend John and I all went out to the Melting Pot for dinner. I left Abby at home with Grammy and we had a very nice evening. For those of you who don't know The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant and it is out of this world. It takes about 3 hours to get through the entire meal and by the end of it you can barely walk. We were just going to have the cheese and chocolate courses but Greta had never been there and she insisted we go all out! It was so yummy, and Greta paid for it which made it even yummier. Just thinking about it makes me hungry...although I have been hungry since I started my diet!!! (We will see how long it lasts)

Me and my sister Greta

A self portrait

Greta and her boyfriend John

The Finale.....the best dessert in the world Ying/Yang chocolate fondue. Yummy!

This girl can accessorize

Here is Abby with my sister Ana's goggles on, what a goofball!


And here are a few of her in her hat. Her scalp was starting to get burnt so it was a necessary addition to the wardrobe. She didn't really like to wear it at first but after I told her it would keep the sun out of her eyes she was all for it. (She hates when the sun is in her eyes!)

Snuggle Bug

Here are a few pictures of Abby all snuggled up. She likes to be "cozy" as she says! The first one is of here and my brother Mikey cuddling after her nap. The rest are her all bundled up in a towel at the pool. She will tell me know while we are swimming when she gets too cold and she asks for her towel.

Happy Father's Day

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fathers Day. Ours has been bittersweet. We miss Andrew and really wish we could have spent the day with the best Daddy in the world, but we were happy to be able to spend the day with my dad! Eventhough we aren't with Andrew I hope he is having a good day. Anything is better than his last father's day. I was sick (too much wine the night before) and we were flying home from Wisconsin with an ansty baby, our flight was delayed and to top it off.....Abby had a blow out diaper which ended up all over Andrews jeans! I guess he can't do much worse that that!! Happy Fathers Day Andrew....Abby misses you terribly! (so do I). I am amazed and impressed with what a wonderful Father you have become. I am in awe with what a wonderful job you do with our daughter. I love you!!! Happy Father's Day.

Do you miss Bucky?

I did. But, I don't anymore. He arrived in Colorado safe and sound late last night. Since we have decided to stay in Colorado for the better part of the summer, we thought it would be better for Bucky to come stay here with us rather than stay in the kennel for so long. Getting him from the kennel in Florida to my moms house in Colorado has been a logistical and financial nightmare! In order for him to fly, he needed a health certificate from a vet, he needed a flight out here and he needed someone to take him to the vet and the airport since I am already in Colorado. After going back and forth with Sam and Brian and my neighbor Patti, we had it all figured out. It was going to be a pain in the neck, but my friends are awesome and were willing to go above and beyond to help me out. After everything was figured out, I called the kennel where he staying to let them know what was going to be happening. That's when they told me that they would take him to the vet and drop him off at the airport for a small fee. Great!!! I wish I had known that before!!! So, I called up everyone who was going to help and told them the good news...they were off the hook! (Except Sam, I still needed her to do a few things including drop his crate off at the kennel). So, on Wednesday he had his vet appointment and I thought everything was going fine till I got a phone call. It was the vet and she told me that I had forgotten to have his shot records faxed over from the base vet. What a ditz I am!! I was freaking out because I didn't think they would give Bucky his health cert. that was required for him to fly because the base vet was already closed for the day (that's another story!). Luckily, she was very nice and just gave Bucky his rabies vaccine again and it was all good.

On Thursday, Bucky headed to the airport. I was all set to pick him up at 8:30pm...and like a good little girl, I called to check on his flight. And wouldn't you know it...Bucky has the same luck with flying as I do. His connection in Texas was delayed due to weather. His flight wasn't going to be in till 10:30. Poor dog, at this point his has been traveling since noon. That is a long day for anyone! Anyway, my sister Ana and I headed out to the airport to pick Bucky up. He was VERY excited to see us! We arrived home after midnight and we went for a walk so Bucky could do his business and then we went to bed. At least, that was the plan. Bucky had so much energy from being caged up all night he had a different idea. The only problem was, everyone else in the house was asleep and I was exhausted!!! He was going CRAZY in my room and wouldn't settle down to go to sleep. I guess I can't blame him...but I was tired and I just wanted to sleep! So...about 3:30am I finally fell asleep for a little while till Bucky woke me up yet again. All in all I probably got about 2 hours of sleep.

This morning he is doing better. He has been able to explore the house and he had some food so he is much more calm. Abby was absolutely ecstatic when she first saw Bucky, it was very cute. Now we just have to get settled in and hopefully we will have a better night than we did last night!

Parker Days

Last Sunday, after Abby's nap, we went to Parker Days. It is a local festival with tons of food, rides and people selling stuff. Basically it is a money sucker!!! We went with my step-mom, my mom, Mikey, Ana, my friend Jen, and her baby Trevor. We only stayed for a couple of hours, but believe me...that was more than enough! It was a bit on the scary side. It was crowded, and dirty, and the people ranged from hicks, to bigger hicks! My brother and sister rode some of the rides and I was hoping the whole time that they wouldn't fall apart....they were quite scary looking and the people running them were even scarier! Despite everything I said, we did have a good time. The kids were entertained and us adults got quite a laugh out of it!!! Afterwards we treated ourselves to a little Dairy Queen, just what we needed after eating carny food....oh well!!

The Baby Horse

The other day we took Abby to the Equestrian center to see the baby horse. He was only about a month old and he was VERY cute! Abby liked looking at all of the horses but only for a distance. She was a bit leery of them when they would get close to her. She only touched one to pet it on the side of the face for about 2 seconds! She loved the baby horse though. She would say "baby horse, cute!"

Abby heard the horse right before the picture was taken and had to make sure he wasn't going to get any closer!

Here is the baby horse, isn't he cute..he was exactly one month old.

Abby Latin

As Abby has begun to speak more and more I have seen a strange pattern in her words. I hope it isn't cause for concern, I guess I will have to ask about it at her next doctors appointment. But, until then, it is kind of cute. The mix up seems to be with words that start with the letter "s". She drops the first s and adds it onto the end of the word. I call it Abby latin (kind of like pig latin). Here are just a few examples:

Spoon = poons
start = tarts
store = tores

You get the idea, its pretty cute....and my family gets quite a kick out of it. On a more normal note...she has been putting words together in little sentences pretty good now. She will say "bye-bye Grammy", "Go Duke" (she says that a lot when she is watching my brother play hockey), "Daddy work" is also another frequently used sentence. It is amazing to see her language skills develop as well as her comprehension. Yesterday, she had a boo-boo on her foot and she was having a fit when I was trying to put a band-aid on it. So, I looked at her and said "Abby, just let mommy put the band-aid on for a minute and if you don't like it I will take it off" She immediately stopped whining and wiggling around and say ok and she let me put the bandaid on her foot. She left it there for a minute and then said, "no, all done" and I took it off. I was pretty surprised she had understood what I said. Toddlers are amazing creatures, and Abby continues to impress me everyday!

My little fish

Abby started the summer out terrified of the water. Now, I can't keep her out of it. She loves the wading (baby) pool and she has gotten very brave. I think she may be too brave for my taste now. There are 4 or 5 community centers here in Highlands Ranch and each one of them has different things at their pool. Today we went to the pool that has a lazy river and Abby loved going "around and around". It also had a poll that starts out very shallow and gradually gets deeper. Well, with her new found bravery she doesn't even want to hold my hand and she goes deeper and deeper. Of course I am right there behind her. I am glad she is enjoying the water now and it makes for some really good naps in the afternoon!

I didn't get any picutres from today at the big pool, I was too busy chasing my little fish around. But, here are some pictures from the other day when she was playing with her Grammy and the crocodile in the wading pool.

Circus, circus

Last Friday afternoon, my dad, my sister Ana and I took Abby to the circus. It wasn't the Ringling Brothers, but it was good all the same. It was a more of a traditional "big top" circus inside a tent. We got there early to get seats and I was a bit nervous when I asked one of the vendors how long the show was and he said 2 hours. I figured Abby would last 45 minutes, an hour tops. Boy was I wrong...she absolutely LOVED it and we stayed the entire 2 hours. I think she was a bit intimidated at first, but after a little while she was clapping and dancing and she had the biggest smile on her face. She was totally in awe of all of the acts, the music, the animals, the vendors....everything! Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of pictures and the ones I did get didn't turn out very good. I was too busy watching Abby enjoy the circus to think about pictures! It's days like this that make me realize just how innocent and easy to please little kids are. It was a day that will forever be burned into my memory and my heart!

Ana got a snowcone and Abby just thought it was the coolest thing ever. After her first bite she wouldn't let go of it. Every time Ana asked for a bite she would just lift it up to her mouth for her. It was so cute!



This isnt the best picture but its the only one we got of me and Abby

Hot Tubbin'

The other night, all of the kids wanted to go in my dads hot tub....and of course Abby wanted to be just like the big kids. She insited on going in too. She didn't get all the way in but she loved sitting on the side of the tub and spalshing her toes in the water! Here are a few pictures of the evenings festivities: