Avery Brooke has arrived!!

Our friends Bobby and Lori had their little girl Thursday, Avery Brooke. We stopped by to see them today and it was so sweet to hold a baby again. You can see more pictures at www.ackertexas.com.

She LOVES to be swaddled!

I couldn't get over how small she was. She weighed 6lbs and 8oz. It's so hard to think that Abby was that small, actually smaller.

And yes, we definitely have baby fever in our house. :)

We missed the deadline!! :(

Jess and I planned on taking Abby and Christopher's picture for Regis and Kelly's Cutest Baby Contest yesterday. But the weather was bad and the two little ones desperately needed their naps. Since the picture had to be taken in the past month, we wanted to take new ones. We KNEW they would WIN, but I missed the deadline. Just tried to go online and submit one that I had taken this month, but it wouldn't let me. 5pm, EASTERN time. Ugh....oh well. Maybe next year.

Don't you think this girl would have won? LOL!!

Happy Birthday sweet Christopher!!

Last Saturday was Christopher's 1st Birthday Party! I can't believe this sweet boy is 1!! Jess and I have been best friends for at least 2 DECADES now and it has been so fun to through this season of our lives together. Our babies are now both one!! Time flies when your having fun!

Jaelan and her friend were really funny according to these 1 yr olds.

Thanks Aunt Sarita for our Old Navy gift card. We bought this adorable outfit just for the party! Here's Little Miss trying to pull the bows off the shoes.

I'm not sure why my camera is crazy and sometimes takes pictures in ORANGE, but anyways. Here's Christopher in his super sweet Birthday outfit!

The triplets came!!! Greg and Kelley just announced that they are pregnant AGAIN! With a little boy this time! June will be a fun month as their family increases by one.

Someone took this picture of me feeding Abby. This makes me laugh. Look at all the strawberries on her plate. And yes, she ate every last one of them. :)

It's cake time! Look at C's face. Hehee....sweet boy.

"Mommy, why is everyone singing to me?"

It took him a little bit, but he dug right into that cake.

The cake wore him out. Here he is cuddling with his Aunt Jodi!!

Oh my.....yes, she refused to wear her cute shoes that day. She took them off immediately. She would walk around and get the smallest crumb on her foot and she would sit down and inspect it and ask me to pick it off.

Here's the last picture of the day. We forced them to stand by each other. They weren't feeling it, but at least they stood there and didn't fight it or cry.

Jess did such a great job with decorating for his party.

Such a sweet boy! Happy Birthday Christopher!! We love you so much!

15 month stats

Weight: 19lbs 13oz - 10th%

Height: 31 inches - 75th%

Head: 18 inches - 50th%

Overall, she received an A+. Thankfully, he doesn't take into consideration her screaming throughout the entire visit. Otherwise, she would have failed! Poor girl. She has been to the dr so many times that she knows exactly where we are when we go back into those rooms. Usually the moment she sees the table with the paper on it, she loses it. AND, she doesn't stop crying until we leave. Thankfully, he is extremely patient with her and with me.

We learned that she has more teeth than we thought. 8 teeth are showing and 2 more are cutting through. Her weight is low, but he isn't worried. I told him that she refuses her milk in her sippy cup and she just doesn't eat much and he isn't worried. He says she'll get used to it eventually and her appetite will pick back up. I'm not exactly sure how he can say this with such confidence, he isn't the one trying to get her to drink/eat everyday. But we are going to start her on a vitamin drop to help with her nutrition. Our homework with her for the next three months....disciplining when necessary, brushing her teeth every day, work on walking and work on increasing her vocabulary by pointing and saying what things are. She wasn't able to show off anything to him that she CAN say or do because she was screaming crying the whole time. I'm sure he's wondering if she even can talk. LOL! Our sweet girl. What a blessing to be reassured that she's healthy!

She's caught red-handed!

Friday morning, I was cleaning the kitchen and realized that Abby was awfully quiet. I started looking for her and found her in the far corner where we hide our Coke Zeros and bottled Waters. I quickly grabbed my camera and crawled on the floor to sneak some pictures of her "pretending" to drink the Coke Zero.

We definitely drink too many of these if she knows right what to do with the can.

I feel a little bit better here. At least, she is grabbing a bottled water to "pretend" drink.

And, she caught me!

Who knew she could do this????

We went to Jessica's recently and Abby started playing with Christopher's "cone" toy. You know the ones that you put the colors of the rainbow in order largest to smallest on the cone. I'm not sure of the offical name of it. Anyway, she sat right there and put it together and started clapping! She knew exactly what she was doing and how to do it. I almost cried! I could not believe it!! She would take it apart and put it back together over and over. She must have learned how to put this together at school.

When we got home, I got out her toy and let her play with it. She did the same thing. Ours must be a little different than the one she is used to playing with at school. It took her a little bit, but she has it down now.

Just because she's cute!

I was taking Abby's picture this week before school and Stan asked, "Why are you taking her picture?" I could NOT believe he just asked me this. I simply replied, "BECAUSE...JUST BECAUSE she's CUTE!" He just doesn't understand some things. Her cuteness is all the reason I need to take her picture. :)

She was trying to lift her lunch sack with one hand.

"Let's go Momma."

"Whew....it's heavy."


After these shots of her trying to lift her bags, I realized she was matching her bags. LOL!! So I quickly ran to get her brown sweater and made it super duper matchy!

"Momma are we going to Joyland.....aka Sunday School?"

She looked adorable all dressed in pink and brown!

"A happy heart makes the face cheerful" Proverbs 15:13

Abby's Granny in OK is one of our most faithful readers. This is just for her!! :)

(PS...others are allowed to enjoy it to)

Day at the Park!

The weather was so pretty today that we headed out to the park after school.

Christopher loved the swing!

I agree with him....swings are pretty relaxing!

Abby, on the other hand, was NOT feeling the swing!

Two pushes and she was grabbing for us to get her out!

Then the tears came. So, out she went! poor baby.

Time for the group shots!

Don't you think they kinda look like brother and sister??

Of course, Jess and I needed to join in on the photo fun.

Again....we can't ever take just one. ;)

Ummmm......Christopher, what are you doing?

Oh.....I see. The mulch goes ON TOP of the slide.

"What? I just had to. I'm a boy!"

Such a great day for the park. We realized that today was the FIRST time that either of us took our babies to the park. Abigirl was sleepy and wanted to be held the whole time. And Christopher wanted to play in the mulch/dirt. Just the perfect girl/boy combo.

15 months old!!

She's 15 months old today!! For the record, I asked for help this morning with taking these pictures, but my "helper" had to go to work. So, I did the best I could. She's getting so big and is on the move so much these days.

She took her bear out into the hallway, I think she was trying to get away from the camera. She kept touching his nose and saying, "noooose".

Then she saw I had a bracelet on and she immediately wanted it for her bears nose.

I put the bracelet on her and she didn't care for it much and wanted it off. :)

Here's my 15 month old baby and her 15 month old bear!

Oh sweet girl - I think the same thing every month, "you grew so much this month". One of the biggest changes this past month is that you started walking. You still prefer to crawl, but you will walk if we beg. :) The cutest thing is when you crawl to the middle of the room and stand up to see what you want, you find it and walk towards it. Then you decide to crawl because that is much faster and safer for you. With walking also came dancing. So sweet. I can tell you've gotten stronger too. I love it when I carry you and you'll wrap your arms around my neck and hang on like a little monkey. I love it so much!!

Dr. G told us to kick the bottle by 15 months. So, on Sunday we decided no more bottle, nothing like waiting until the last minute. ;) I think it has been much harder on me than you. I offer you milk in your sippy cup and you have yet to drink it that way, but I will keep preserving. You will push it as far away as you can reach. I'm planning on putting up all the bottles just so that I'm not tempted to give in. Hopefully, when we go to the dr on Friday, he'll reassure me that we are doing the right thing for you in the long run. You are still a very picky eater and it worries me everyday. Your diet consists of only a few things, but this week we have added a new food....refried beans! You also know when I (or your teachers) want you to eat something and you don't want to. Like when your teachers were feeding you sweet potatoes and green beans at school. They turned their backs and you swept all your food in your cupholder and put your sippy cup on top of the food. Trying to hide it from them.

You are such a great listener. Well, by "listener" I mean, I've noticed this month more than any other, that when I tell you something I can see it in your eyes that you know what I'm talking about. You also know how to ignore me too. I can say something and call your name and you keep at what you are doing. Just until you hear frustration in my voice, then will you look up at me and smile. You've also become quiet the talker. "Bye Bye Daddy" is your favorite. You love it so much that you say it to everyone and everything. Like the people who pass us in the aisles at Wal-mart. Or when your watching Mickey Mouse and the show has ended. You've been an expert at saying "No" for a while now. But, this month, you finally started shaking your head "yes". Even though it is in super slow motion, we still know that you are saying "yes" to us. So sweet! until next month Big girl - I love love love you!!! - love, your Momma

Sorry Cowboys.... :(

Sorry Cowboys that you lost, but you had the cutest Cheerleader cheering for you!!

Getting her to sit still and smile for the camera is soooooo hard these days.

Abby, will you walk for me?

"Uhmmm...I'll think it about it Momma."

"Okay, I'll show you one more time, but please don't ask me again."

Stan taught Abby how to raise her hands when anyone says, "TOUCHDOWN!!" Then she'll start clapping.

My sweet girl.

Here's a couple of video's I took of her during the game. You can see her walk some, say touchdown, and even in one watch what she does when commercials are on. :)

Pigtails

Can she be old enough to wear Pigtails?? I read in my friend Jessica's blog that her daughter, who is weeks younger than Abby was already wearing pigtails. So, we just had to try them out. I did have to put her in the laundry basket to keep her in one place, but we succeeded with the new do! :)

Of course, she won't look at the camera anymore, but you can still see how cuter than cute she is!!

"Mommy, quit taking my picture and watch Mickey Mouse with me!"

sweetness

I tried to get one last picture as we walked out for school. No luck in her smiling at the camera.

We were going to surprise Daddy at work, but she took both piggies out during nap time at school. Her teachers did mention to me that they caught PJ pulling her today in the wagon in the playroom. He was "whisking" her away. He must have really loved the pigtails too! :)