We've Got Ourselves A 14 Month Old

Abby is now 14 months old. While I still consider her a baby, I suppose technically she is a toddler. I will most likely be in denial about that for the next few months. Probably until she is married.

Abby is the biggest most cutest little stink. She is growing so fast and I can't believe the things she is doing and learning.

At 14 months old, Abby babbles like a crazy girl. She tells me the cutest stories. She knows what she is saying, even if I don't. Her face is so animated and she points different directions as she is talking. She is also really starting to love TV, especially Blues Clues, and when Steve sings his farewell song she waives at the TV or computer. It's a good 20 min distraction while I clean something, or get a minute to myself.

Abby prefers floor food better than highchair food, especially if I am trying to sweep it up and it's mixed with other delicious dirt. It adds flavor. (hence Blues Clues while I clean) And speaking of eating, she now refuses to be fed usually. She just has to do it herself, or she simply won't eat. Which brings us to the fact that she is the queen of throwing fits. No, don't let her cute innocent face fool you. She will arch back and roll around sometimes in a fit of rage. (rage she unfortunately gets from her mother.)

About to throw a mini fit when she didn't get to feed herself yogurt. 

Cute messy face; a mixture of snot and graham cracker.

Abby has silly little quirks already. She LOVES to sit on stairs. We discovered this Saturday when we sat her on the bottom stair and she just grinned and sat there for a good 15 min. (until I got the dishwasher out) So if she is upset about something, we sit her on the stair and she cheers right up. She LOVES to put her toys and binkies into anything-gaps between the changing table and wall, boxes, old ice cream buckets, the tub, baskets, her play pen, between the couch cushions-you name it. Also, every night when I leave to work, her and Sam walk me out and she starts to waive and blow kisses almost immediately once we are outside.  And sometimes her kisses are from her eye, forehead, or cheek.

We noticed recently she is starting to give us things when we ask. We'll see how long that lasts. Abby crawls like a maniac (which I was told means she'll be a good reader? Huh?) and has no interest to walk on her own. Oh sure, she'll walk along furniture, walls, and when we hold her hand, but sure as we let her go, she will drop slowly to the ground. She even dislikes walking toys. And my most favorite thing? Dancing whenever music comes on. Can't wait to teach her some of my tricks! (or get someone else to teach her. Whatever.)

Last but not least, she is a whole 19 pounds. Come on Abby, gain some weight so you don't hate getting into your carseat so much.

Boy oh boy do we love this child.

Oh and speaking of love, after journal searching (because we forgot the exact date) me and Sam found out we officially met for the first time on September 21, 2001. Abby's 14 month mark hit on our 11 year mark. Coincidence? Absolutely.

Stoplights

When me and Sam were dating, we took every opportunity we could to kiss. Standing in line, going on walks, and especially at stoplights. We would kiss until the light turned green, or until someone honked at us to go. :) They were little gestures to show our love to each other.

Well then we got married, got over the honeymoon phase, had a baby, and kissed less. Oh don't get me wrong, we still show each other affection, we still kiss, but as you know once you get married and move on with life, things tend to change a little bit.

Yesterday, the primary presidency took the kids to look around the Temple grounds. As we were waiting to pull into the parking lot, there was an old couple in front of us. You could tell they were enjoying each others company, the way they were looking at each other in their over-sized sunglasses and laughing. As the light turned green and they pulled out into the intersection and waited to turn left, they leaned over and gave each other 3 pecks on the lips. My heart melted. Here they were, probably with 50+ years of marriage behind them, and they still kissed at stoplights. They still adored each other. Whatever happened in their life, they were still so in love.

I want to be like that with Sam. It seems like there are just times when life gets in the way. He gets home from work, we have a few hours together, then I leave to work. We don't get evenings together without Abby, we don't get pillow talk. We get very few moments together just us, and often times by the time Saturday comes, we feel disconnected with each other. Point is, marriage takes work. Every marriage will get busy, and you'll feel separated from each other.

So when our life gets even crazier with kids, work, school, house projects, church callings, sick babies, etc, I still want to find time to laugh with him, to go on dates with him, and especially kiss him at stoplights.

Happy Weekend!

Our little family had a great kick start to our weekend. 

And even though she has a bad little cough, it doesn't stop her from playing some Just Dance with daddy.

Have a fabulous weekend. I know we will!

The dealio of life: I have one cute baby.

 Life has been taking important phone calls at Walmart, laundry at Grammy's til we can get our washer fixed/replaced, and brushing teeth with crazy hair at bathtime.

 It's been my new clearance shoes I got from Old Navy, eating healthy, fun pictures with a fun little girl, and going shopping at our old ghetto Walmart on 13th south,

 It's been a fun weekend at the State Fair, the Avenues Festival, and the Greek Festival. Even though we bought fair food, we still ended up not spending too much money. 

And lastly, it's been having one cool kid, pointing at things on our walk, and throwing her toys in a draining bathtub. (ya, we need some Draino)

I really love my life.

The Princess & Her Glass Slipper

Once upon a time, not so far from here, lived a beautiful little princess named Abbigale.

The little princess had parents who loved her very much and wanted the best for their only child. So, they did what any parents would do and bought her some beautiful glass slippers. Princess Abbigale loved these slippers more than any other treasure she had, and wore them almost every day. Anyone who looked at the slippers looked at them in 'aw' and knew she was a special little girl.

The only problem with the slippers is that they wouldn't stay on Princess Abbigales feet, and unbeknownst to her parents, they would slip off at the most inopportune places. Thrice she lost one of her slippers, and twice she received them back.

The first time Princess Abbigale lost her slipper, her frantic mother checked every nook and cranny in the castle, only to find it wedged under the seat of her carriage. Relieved, her mother carefully took the slipper inside the castle, and stowed it in a safe place, vowing to make sure she always knew where the slipper was.

The second time, the slipper fell off while they were dining. Princess Abbigales mother and father did not notice until they got home. Once again, a frantic mother checked everywhere, but alas the slipper was nowhere to be found. However, upon calling the restaurant, her father located the slipper and had them hold it. Abbigales heroic uncle was able to go rescue the slipper and once again, it was safely at home.

However, having the slipper back in their possession was short lived, for once again, unbeknownst to her parents, the slipper fell off. This time, they did not know where they lost it. Even calling around didn't solve the problem, and the poor little princess no longer had two glass slippers, just one.

Devastated, they placed the other slipper in a safe place. A place where they could always remember what beautifully intricate slippers they were.

Not all tales end happily ever after, but they have since moved on and found other slippers in hopes that one day, the glass slippers can be replaced and all will be happily ever after once again.

The End.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was sure a fun one for us. The only thing that would have made it better was no work last night. Oh well. Can't have everything in life right?

It all started Friday when, once again, me and Abby ventured downtown for lunch with grammy and daddy. Since we are out a car, I decided to wait for Sam to get off work at a park near our old apartments. Abby fell asleep on the way over, so I found the perfect reading tree and read my book for a half hour before Abby got up to play. It was perfect.

I felt as happy finding the perfect reading tree as Rory did when she found her study tree. (and behind that tree is our dream house)

Saturday after a day of lesson-planning and cleaning, me and Sam dropped of Abby at his folks house and headed to the Bees game. It was pouring rain, so the game was delayed 2 hours, but it was fun to just people watch, eat a big pretzel and talk, without worrying about keeping a very active 13 month old entertained.

Sunday we had dinner with my family, where Abby enjoyed eating playing in her food. After dinner, we all sat outside while the kids played and the adults talked. Abby and her cousin Brae are becoming quite good friends. It is one of the cutest things in the world.

Monday, after yard work and cleaning, we again met up with my family at Copperton park for a BBQ and a friendly game of kickball. Abby enjoyed the toys, being pushed around by her cousins in Brae's truck, and kicking the ball and running base to base with Auntie Chels. Even with the fit she threw that lasted forever, and despite almost dying while she choked on chips, I think she had a blast.

And now that Summer is over, I say bring on cooler weather. I love fall!!

Inspirations

Well, my 31 day challenge is over. Near the end I'll admit, I didn't do so well. BUT I still did lose some weight and that was my ultimate goal.

While doing this challenge, I found some inspirations that helped me. First and foremost, my sister is a big inspiration for me. Since January, she has lost so much weight. She didn't go on a fancy smancy diet, she simply just started working out and watching what she ate. She has a body bug that helped her a lot, but for the most part she did it on her own. Seriously, you should see her now. Not only that, but she is a rockstar when it comes to working out. Saturday I noticed not only did she run 4 miles in the morning, but she did 4 hours of Zumba that night. Wow. I hope to someday be just like her.If you want, you can read about her story here.

Another thing that has helped me do better this month is my BFF8's Weight loss Wednesdays. She did a segment on the gym, how to work out at home, Weight Watchers for free....all sorts of things. Since Wednesdays are REALLY hard for me to work out, because it's usually when I'm the most tired for some reason, reading that did the trick and before I knew it I was working out, and eating right too.

Jillian Michales. Really, that is all I have to say. She KICKED MY BUTT with her Cardio Blast workout. Seriously, if you've ever done Jillian Michaels, you know how hard she is. Not only did I do 40 min cardio with her, but I did ALL of it, and didn't have to stop very often. I was SO proud of myself. Seriously.

I have this awesome app on my phone that my sister and brother-in-law introduced me to. Nike+ has really motivated me to run. It keeps track of your run and calories burned for you. So nice. It also gives you rewards, like if you've ran farther than the last run or have been running 7 weeks straight. Even if you do a crappy run that day, it still tells you you did a good job. What I love most about it though is I can get cheers just by posting on facebook that I started my run. For example, Saturday while I was running I was about ready to stop and walk, but my sister 'liked' my activity then commented on it. I got two cheers and it kept me going for a while longer. Helped SO much. So next time you see it, please cheer for me. :) Also, you can post your time on facebook. Some people might think by doing that I am bragging or whatever, but it helps me keep going if I know I am going to post my mileage on fb for all to see. Besides, it's not like I'm a fabulous runner so really, posting that def. isn't bragging.

But this may be a little...this time is REALLY unheard of for me.

Lastly, I found this awesome app (again, with the help of my sister) called MyFitnessPal. I was doing Spark People, but I found that hard always having to log in on my computer. (i'm sure there is an app though.) But I really like MyFitnessPal. You can have friends on it so help you lose more weight. They don't see your weight or anything, but it keeps you more accountable. Also, it gives you your allotted calories for the day, but if you work out it gives you more depending on how hard you worked out. Not saying you have to use all the calories, because the goal is to lose weight, not work out just so you can eat, but it is nice to see a surplus of calories at the end of the day. Also though, if you really have a bad eating day (like me last week) it gives you a bit more room so maybe you don't have to be that strict. And then at the end of the day after you finish logging, it gives you an estimate on how much you would weigh in 5 weeks if you ate like that every day. I love it, and it's super convenient to have it in my pocket.

So August, you had a good run. Lets see how we do with you September.