seven months old

I feel like the week has flown by, which is a blessing considering Abigail has boycotted naptime this week. I've come to the conclusion that either Abigail is working on some teeth or she's just trying to drop a nap. I'm hoping for the former:) She's been sleeping almost a full 12 hours at night, so all in all we're doing alright. And even though she does have her, "I'm tired but don't want to sleep" crabby moments, she has been quite the cheerful little munchkin, as I'm sure you'll be able to see in her pictures. Yesterday at the grocery store, she was chattering up a storm, smiling at all of the people and squealing with delight.

Month seven was fast, and month eight will be even faster, as we'll have friends and family here for the middle two weeks of September. So I'll keep savoring every moment! Happy weekend to you all, since the weekend comes early to us this week. Rodney will be home tomorrow!

one of her many adorable expressions :)

our happy little girl

engrossed...

note the drool -- gobs and gobs of it :)

helping mom in the kitchen!

playing with my food -- "With my cold teether. I'm not ready for these carrots yet, only the really mushy ones!"

I just love my "new" toy. I think Rodney enjoys this even more than Abigail;)

Almost Seven Months, Sleepy and Lots of Tears

Our darling daughter has apparently forgotten how to take naps. At around 8 weeks, she started sleeping through the night and happily and peacefully fell asleep at naptime. She still sleeps well at night and fusses minimally at bedtime. This week, however, she has decided she would rather stay up and be fussy all day than take her much needed morning and afternoon naps. We've been putting her down for twenty minutes, going in to comfort her, and then letting her cry. But even so, she hasn't been settling down for naps. She doesn't appear to be sick or teething, nor is she going through a growth spurt, as she is happy and content as long as she's not in her crib. I have read that at this age (six/seven months), they begin to have separation anxiety, which would explain the out of control crying. But I am at a loss and hoping for some advice...

Thanks! (from a very weary mama)...

......and on another note......

Abigail has done really well with peas and carrots, though I think I may cut the green beans, just to make sure they aren't the culprit for her fussy behavior, and I'll reintroduce them a bit later....

oh the things we do...

oh the things we do for a laugh...

Our third anniversary - sand and the sea

We had a great long weekend down in Port Aransas. We spent Friday and Saturday at the beach - swimming, reading, and going for walks. Abigail did very well and even took a long nap on the beach on Saturday. She didn't like the ocean at first, probably because daddy charged into the ocean and ended up getting hit by a huge wave:) I guess that's the difference between daddy and mommy:) We were all exhausted by the sun and sea and after eating a lovely, late dinner at a German restaurant, we all quickly fell asleep at the hotel. Abigail slept late the next day, so mommy and daddy got to sleep late too, truly a mark of vacation.

On Saturday night, we went to a pizza parlour and then walked down memory lane. Last year, Rodney and I played miniature golf on our anniversary in Corpus Christi, so we made the short drive over to reminisce. Abigail enjoyed her new stroller, and watching all the other little kids with their parents. Meanwhile, Rodney beat me by one stroke by getting a hole in one on the last hole! Grrrrrrr...

On Sunday afternoon, we headed over to Corpus Christi to go to the Texas State Aquarium. We had a lovely relaxing afternoon before heading back to Houston. Abigail enjoyed watching all of the people, while Rodney and I enjoyed the air conditioning and the exhibits:)

We had a lovely weekend, celebrating the three years that the Lord has given us. Our little family has grown, and it was a blessing to share our special weekend with our little girl. We look forward to many more years together.

hmmmm...I don't know what to think about this new experience...

Very tired at the end of the first day...

Last year, we bought a huge canopy to protect us from the blazing sun, and we found it to be a necessity with a baby. We set up our cooler, chairs and our huge beach towel.




Abigail enjoyed playing on the beach towel in the shade and sipping on water...

A rare family picture...

playing at the end of a long, hot day.

Rodney and Abigail waiting to see the dolphins.

Abigail in her new stroller. It's much more compact, far lighter and easy to sling over our shoulder...it was a big hit with our tired arms. Abigail had a doctor's appointment on Monday, and she weighed in at 16lb 12 oz...(75%).

The USS Lexington - Rodney and I toured the boat on our second anniversary. We chose wisely last year, as the lack of air conditioning and stairs would have been more difficult this year with a baby...but the view from the aquarium was magnificent!

Abigail started on peas today -- she made a funny face (which is too hard to capture when I'm feeding her and trying to take a picture...). Abigail still spits up a lot. My mom tells me that I had horrible reflux as an infant, and I seem to have passed on this trait to my daughter. So now I have green bibs and blankets to wash. Yuck!

last minute tasks before we hit the beach

Abigail and I leave today to meet Rodney in Victoria, so I am in the midst of packing and doing last minute loads of laundry. I just downloaded all the pictures from the camera so I could re-charge the battery for our trip this weekend at the beach. So it makes sense to upload a few of those pictures to the blog;) As you can see from the pictures below, Abigail is beginning to master sitting up, standing and got her first taste of apple juice.

She hasn't quite mastered the sippy cup, but she did get a small taste of apple juice. I think the taste will have to grow on her:) She made a funny face and was more content just to play with the cup...

oh how the time flies

In a few short days, Rodney and I will celebrate our third anniversary, and oh how the time has flown by! I sometimes feel as though just yesterday we were talking after prayer meeting, sipping coffee at Panera and Starbucks, taking long walks down by the river and then walking back down the aisle for the first time as husband and wife. And now we have a third member of our little family, Miss Abigail, who is a delight and a blessing from the Lord.

I would usually save this post for our actual anniversary, but we are planning on heading down to Corpus Cristi tomorrow. Rodney has meetings for work in Victoria, where I will tag along tomorrow, and then we'll head down to Corpus for the weekend. Abigail will get to experience the ocean and the beach for the first time, so it should be an interesting weekend:)

We had a great weekend up in Dallas with the Myers. I didn't take any pictures though, as I was enjoying conversation so much that it didn't even cross my mind. The boys worked hard on projects and us girls just talked and played:) I am so thankful that the Lord has put us in Texas at the same time!

So I'll leave you with a few pictures I took of Abigail only moments ago...