First Steps!!!!!!!!!

Its official!! Abby took her FIRST STEPS this past Thursday! All of a sudden she just tried standing from a crawling position, and on her feet she went....over and over. She isn't fully walking yet, but she tries over and over, and takes a few steps here and there. She is still working on her balance and understanding how it all works! Luckily Mike is home now so he is enjoying this "first" for the first time (since he's missed most of the others!!).

Ahhhhhh!!!! Here comes the Abby monster!!!!

Aunt Amy came to visit us

Aunt Amy came to visit us this weekend...and we had a blast!!!

We visited Petco to see the birds, snakes and fish!! Abby was so curious to watch the fish swim around in front of her.

Sharing some rice with Aunt Amy
On Saturday we drove up to Santa Barbara and spent a few hours walking around the shops on State Street to browse!! Abby did great and snacked as we shopped! It was a beautiful day in the sun! And these are the shots we got of her in her stroller while we ate lunch.

BIG BLUE EYES!!!!!

Still loving her bananas......most days she eats at least a whole banana, sometimes 2!!!!

Silly monkey!!

Look at all my teeth on display!! They help me eat my bananas everyday!

Messy guacamole face!! Her new favorite dip....the yummy (and expensive) green stuff!!
At the end of our day in Santa Barbara, this very nice couple wanted to give Abby their romantic balloon creation that they bought. They insisted, so we accepted, and she had fun....til it started to pop piece by piece......and into the garbage it went!

Hats are cool

Abby saw me wearing a hat the other day and wanted to try it on for size! She couldn't quite navigate with it on, but she loved being just like mommy.

Alone with Daddy...

Hmmmm......This is what happens when you leave daddy in charge one night to go out and have fun with the girls!!! Mass yogurt chaos!!!

He must have forgotten how to use a bib and Abby didn't remind him! Good thing we do laundry quite often in this house! Abby loves to self-feed yogurt and oatmeal....and ice cream when she gets the chance!! The spoon is her best friend for dipping.

Happy as a messy clam!!

Read, read, read!!

Abby loves to read her books. And the other day she discovered one of daddy's books! Boy do his books have a lot of soft pages to rip (I mean flip!!). Mike donated this one to the Abby reading cause!"What mom?? Can't a kid read without photos??"

She loves flipping those pages
Getting deep into her first novel!

Sitting like a big big girl

She's getting to be quite the dare-devil these days....thinking she can climb, sit, and even stand on anything! The fearlessness is quite scary for mommy and daddy....but she has to learn somehow!! Nothing better than teaching yourself I guess!!
Cracker in mouth....life is good!!
"Don't watch me mom.....I'm eating!!!"

Go daddy go!!!

Abby's new favorite thing is to crawl onto us, in any way possible! So she loves the chance to climb on our backs for a ride of sorts!! Even half dressed!!

Silly outside girl

Well Abby and I have been flying solo (no pun intended) this week, as Mike is in Fallon, NV for training this and next week! So we've been spending a lot of time outdoors with this fabulously warm weather we've been having. Here she is from tonight as she crawled around the backyard. She chases Roxy here and there, mostly to offer her toys, so Roxy has a good time too!

Trying to catch bubbles in her mouth (YUCK!!!).....most of them landed in her hair, hence the soapy residue left behind and the soapy bubble smell that remained all night (bath tomorrow sounds good)!!! Always a good time with the bubble gun (it dispenses bubbles fast and is battery operated....no tedious blowing of bubbles for this mommy!! I could never keep up with her demand!!)

To the beach we go....

Grma Donna & Auntie Sarah and I took Abby to the beach this morning, it was a warm (almost hot!!) day, and the santa ana winds were picking up again! But she enjoyed watching the waves crash and wash ashore, creeping up to where we were standing. Auntie Sarah held her hands and helped her walk to the water as it rushed up and down the sand!

The winds were blowing pretty strong, so you can see the neat spray off the waves!

Shaken snowman syndrome.....

Abby gave Grandma Smith's snowmen a good shaking over the holidays, so we captured some of the fun! I'm sure they had a headache afterwards, because we sure did after listening to the music over, and over and over....!!!

Tire Swing!

My girlfriend Janel & I took Abby & Jack to a park on base after our workout class this past week and they got their first ride on a tire swing! Amazingly they held on tight and kept their little tushies on the tire just right! She's getting to be such a big girl!!

Give a kid a basket.....

Here she is showing off in the basket she got into all by herself after pushing it on her knees across the living room.....
Multitasking....here she is eating a can of fake beans and posing
"Where's Abby?????"
She even managed to play "peek-a-boo" while in the basket....she's very good and completely covering her eyes with her little hands. Though it usually involves a good smacking sound when they "hit" her face....but she doesn't seem to mind! Its all in good fun.
"There she is!!!!!!"

And of course...........this is what happens when you are too daring and you fall OUT of the basket!!!! Not to be the last time I'm sure! The tears didn't last very long, but the photo captured the moment of emotions!

Toy Zone

Well, the holidays have come and gone, leaving WAY too many toys behind!!! So we expanded the toy corner in the living room to adapt to the growing amount of toys that she likes to play with regularly (and believe it or not I have sorted and already stored a good amount of the toys for down the road....). Here are some shots of her playing recently. She loves to play on her own, and gets on her zebra bouncer daily to jump around!

Playing with Elmo on her zebra bouncer....Elmo weighs a good amount, so it was amazing that she was able to sit on the zebra and pick him up all at the same time! Eventually Elmo fell down and asked repeatedly to be picked up!! (thats what he does....he talks!!)
"Eating" with her new play food! She is quite the multi-tasker. Stirring her pot and riding the caterpillar at the same time.

The "Toy Zone" shot! Yikes!!! But it keeps it all in one area and keeps me sane!

She loves to eat!

Abby has discovered that her new hobby is eating. Until recently she had been a fairly light eater, but now she devours her favorites and is always asking (signing) for more!

We've been working to teach her sign language basics for now, so she knows "more", "eat", and "all done"! And last weekend she learned "cracker" (see her cracker photo below....Ritz are her favorite, but any kind will work). She cracks us up as we walk down the baby-food aisle at the grocery store now, because instead of whining for the baby food items, she just does the "eat" sign repeatedly and stares at the boxes on the shelf!!

Miss Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head has met his match!! Abby's favorite potato-head body part are these silly glasses. She laughs at me when I put them on, and then wants me to put them on her!