New Favorite Food

Abbie has a new favorite food, graham crackers. They follow her everywhere in the form of crumbs. We vacuum more often.

"Yummy in my Tummy."

Happy Holidays!

Whew! The weather proved to be a problem this Christmas. We were planning on leaving to go to Grand Rapids on Sunday morning, however the heavy snow and high winds prevented us from leaving as scheduled. In order to arrive in Grand Rapids at a descent time, we left the Twin Cities at 8am Christmas Eve morning. Almost 6 hours later we arrived safe and sound (albeit very road weary) at Great Grandma Wilma's house just in time for the traditional ground pork sandwiches.

Throughout the entire trip, Abbie was a trooper! She didn't fuss much and seemed to enjoy her first trip to McDonald's even though she didn't have any fast food, we were able to have a quick snack, give Abbie lunch, and take a much needed break. The weather itself was crisp and clear on Monday, however the previous rain/snow made the roads a bit slippery in places.

It was a good thing that Abbie had a very long nap before all of the festivities began. She openned many presents, tried new foods, and stayed up much later than her bed time...but as you can see below...she had a Fabulous Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! We wish you all the best for 2008!

Love,
Sarah, Ed & Abigail

Just for Grandpa Brian

Thanks for teaching me about Hair...

Abbie can point out her nose and ears. Recently, someone taught her all about hair. Unfortunately, Abbie usually likes to point out her newly learned body parts at dinner time. So it goes a little something like this....

"Isn't someone going to CLEAN me?"

"Hair."

"More hair."

"Nevermind, I found something to eat in my hair."

"All done. Bathtime."

Did somebody say Cake?

Abbie's First Birthday party went something like this......

"This is new....are you trying to scare me with that?"

"Hmmmm......"

"I have a pretty hat!"

"What exactly do I do with this?"

"What? I'm not that messy."

"And now I will eat the plate."

"Did you take away my cake?"

You say it's My Birthday...?

We cannot believe that Abbie is actually 1 year old today! The year has flown by!

Today we (the three of us along with "Auntie" Teresa) went and got Abbie's official 1 year/Holiday pictures taken. They turned out a bit better than her 9 month pictures, but she really wasn't in the mood for the really peppy blonde girl at the photo place. Either that or she just wanted to stay in home in her jammies all day with Mom and Dad, it's a toss up. Then Abbie and I went to lunch with "Auntie" Teresa. Abbie had a blast and even got free toast and a cookie out of the deal (yes it was a weird combo, but hey it was free!).

After a busy morning, Abbie and I went home for a much needed nap before our trip to the Pediatrician. Abbie took a 95 minute nap, which is unheard of these days! After waking her up to get to the doctor's office on time, Abbie proved to be a Queen of Crankville even before the shots came.

We were very excited to bring Abbie to the doctor on her birthday because of the whole car seat phenominon. For those of you that may not be aware, infants need to be in a Rear Facing car seat up until the time that they are 1 year AND 20 pounds. Rear facing car seats are fine and all, especially when you have a handy mirror set up so you can actually see the baby in the car seat from the drivers seat, EXCEPT that when your baby gets to a certain age...looking at the back of the back seat just doesn't entertain he/she like it used to. We are definatly at that stage and we were SOOO EXCITED to bring Abbie to the doctor on her birthday to confirm that YES we can turn that dang car seat around.

At least that was the plan.

Abbie was a whopping 29 1/2 inches long and NINETEEN POUNDS!

Needless to say she will be REAR facing in her car seat for a little while longer.

I rationallized my disappointment by telling myself that it is just too cold to be outside trying to turn that carseat around anyways.

All in all it was a great birthday! And tomorrow we'll eat CAKE!

And I forgot to mention...

Abbie finally has enough hair to put in a cute little 'Pebbles'- like pony. She now has 10 teeth (two more on top over the past couple of weeks and I swear 2 more are just about ready to break through on the bottom). AND she is walking like a champ...here's a little snippet.

Busy Day!

Abbie had a very busy day....

First she finally figured out how to hold the cup herself (although daycare says she's been doing it there for ages!).

"I could do it all along!"

Then she read a book...

went for a walk....
laughed and giggled...
went upstairs to play in her room......
played with some toys...walked around for a little bit.....
looked for some new toys to play with (ok..looked for dust bunnies).....
and finally....sat down to rest.
WHEW! One day with Abbie can be pretty tiring.

Just like Mamma.

"Just a minute...almost done."

Back to Normal

Well, things seem to be back to normal in the Baggenstoss house. Abbie is now going to bed after 6pm and Ed isn't quite as crabby at the early setting sun.

Last weekend we were able to get in both a walk and a visit to the Motorcycle store. Of course, Abbie had a blast at the Motorcycle store, but I think it is more because of all the shinny chrome and not the actual motorcycles (although Ed strongly disagrees with me!).

Abbie had a blast in her stroller walking...she was all smiles!

"Hello Papa!"

"CHEESE!"

"Still not sure about this grass stuff."

Abbie still doesn't really know what to think of the ground and grass. She loves to pull the grass out of the ground, but other than that she really doesn't do anything else or even move from the spot she is sitting. Hopefully, for Dad's sake, she is a little bit more outdoorsy than her mom...I guess we'll see!

Can't You Read My Shirt?

"I said READ it!"

Daylight Savings, what?

Not only does Ed complain EVERY SINGLE year daylight savings time rolls around, but this year proves to be especially difficult to deal with. Not only is Ed complaining about the early darkness, but Abbie doesn't seem to be dealing well either. Last night and tonight she has gone to bed at 5:30pm. We thought that her normal 6:15pm - 6:45pm bed time was a bit early and now it is even earlier! Hopefully she adjusts in a few days and we get to see some of Abbie's walking (ok, stumbling).

" "

Babble..Babble..and more Babble

Just a quick update. Today Abbie said "Bye" for the first time (she already says "hi", "Dada" and "mum")! I was picking her up from school today and just we were waving our goodbye's to the ladies and she just said it! It was pretty cute! The head teacher got all excited, much like when she walked for the first time for them. It is nice to have another word into Abbie's new, and very short, vocabulary.

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Abbie in her 'costume'. Scary!

"Raaahhhrrrr!"

Cheap Toys

Who needs to spend $20-$30 on a walker-toy for your baby when a laundry basket turned upside down works just as well.

Abbie's been taking some more and bigger steps these days, however we have not managed to capture it on video yet.

Abbie seems to be enjoying fall with all of the leaves and pumpkins, and oh yeah, the hats and mittens!

"Here I come...watch out!"

Quite a Busy Few Weeks

Well, over the past few weeks we've had a lot happen. Ed's brother, Shelby, came into town to meet his niece. Abbie took her first steps and I got my tonsils out. Right now, Abbie's at 'school' and my mom is here taking care of me (and trying to figure out what type if kitchen faucet we have in hopes of not breaking everything when I have to replace it). The past 48 hours have been pretty crazy and we still don't have hot water!

"Another picture?"

"Let's go, Shelby. Hurry up!"

Hopefully once we get our plumbing problems solved, I'll be able to get some good video of Abbie walking (which is more like 3-4 steps and then a dramatic leap into Papa's lap or fall to the knees).

And who needs to spend $20 on a walker/baby shopping cart toy when an empty tipped over Landry basket does just the trick!

Random Apples

Abbie has decided that she really likes apples. Ok, that's not entirely true. Abbie has decided that she likes EVERYTHING I am eating (or trying to eat). This evening I was trying to eat an apple, but she had to have a taste as well.

"Um"

"Well.."

"Ok..I'll just take this over here..."