Sharing, Thanksgiving and New Things...

Every night before bed, I pray specifically for Abigail's salvation and her character. I pray that she will be a godly woman, selfless and meek. Though she is young and a while yet away from exhibiting a godly heart, she is already learning to share. Unfortunately, Abigail shared her cold with her cousin Ellie, and both girls weren't their happy selves all week. Note, on Wednesday night Rodney and I took her for a drive to get her to fall asleep, something we had never done before...But it was a blessing to share the holidays with the Harms and Day families. I am truly thankful to have such a great family!

On Wednesday night, I discovered that Abigail's first tooth popped through. Finally! I think she's still working on some more teeth. It was special to share a first with more of her family. She turned 10 months over the holday weekend, and she continutes to enjoy cruising around the house.

Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

oh the weather outside is...

Well it's not quite "frightful", but the weather here in Houston has certainly not been warm the last couple of days! We even dropped into the mid forties (at night of course) several times this week. I was sitting with the other women in a church small group, and I was surprised to hear that everyone has turned on their heat for the year here in Houston. For the record, we're still keeping our master bedroom windows open, and the house drops to a chilly 71 at night. It is a chilly 71, though, and to keep Abigail from waking up in the middle of the night from a chill, we got out the fleece pajamas this week. Here are a few pictures of Abigail sporting her fleece pjs.

I celebrated Christmas in November a couple of days ago when I went through my winter clothes. I pulled out sweaters that I forgot I even had, since I didn't get to wear them last year (due to my baby bump). I've been back in my pre-pregnancy clothes now for a while, so it was fun to discover a whole "new" wardrobe. But my doctor was right, though I didn't believe him at the time. Even though the scale says one thing, my post-Abigail body isn't quite the same:) C'est la vie.

The Lord has been doing a lot in my heart over the past couple of months, and it's never a pain-free process. I'm learning that I have a lot to learn about grace, but more to come on that in the weeks to come...

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (Abigail's awake...gotta run)

So Big!

(a special Abigail update for the Grandmas and Grandpas)...

Abigail is starting to make some big leaps forward in her development, which is reassuring for me. She's never been ahead of the curve developmentally, so I get to wait patiently for these milestones. In the past few days, she just started pulling herself up to a stand, cruising in her crib, and taking baby steps while holding on to my hands. She is also scooting more on her butt, and still has her favored roll and twist technique to locomote around her crib and the house. She's still not crawling and still doesn't have any teeth:) We're also still working on getting from her tummy to a sitting position. Since she's not crawling and doesn't stay on her tummy for long periods, this will be a bit of a challenge:) She's not proficient at any of these milestones yet, and I still hear plenty of whining when I don't immediately jump up to help her. But she's making good progress.

Abigail also just started eating finger foods. As of today, she's still not a fun of anything squishy, and makes funny faces when I put bananas, fresh pears, bread and cheese on her tray. But she is a big fun of Gerber sweet potato puffs and cheerios. We'll just have to keep working on all of those new textures.

My hubby has now been home about 20 minutes, and is in bed for a morning nap, hoping to get rid of his sore throat. I pray that some extra rest will rejuvenate his travel weary body. Abigail isn't quite ready for her morning nap, but when she lays down, I think the whole Harms family will enjoy some shut eye.

Daddy's Girl

Wake up, Dad. We have the whole day to spend together!

the Jeep wave...(who knew there was such a thing?)

Alright, I'm going to have to try my photography skills again and capture "Scrambler" in the photo. But this was a first try...and Abigail was done taking pictures:)

Rodney is actually traveling again this week but will only be in OKC for a couple of days. He has had a very long four weeks, split between travel and late nights. We're all excited for some R&R over the holidays. We love and miss you and can't wait for you to come home to your girls!

our little lady bug

Miss Abigail had a most excellent first Halloween. We all helped set up for our church's Fall Festival and then enjoyed a feast of coney dogs, cotton candy, and nachos:)Yum! Abigail was quite the cute little lady bug.
And then we got to enjoy a 4th quarter victory for the Hawkeyes, who are 9-0 this season. Rodney kept telling Abigail that they were dressing up in their scary costumes, but deep down, we really are excited for the Hawkeyes. So we'll root for your team this season, Grandpa Hekel! Go Hawks!