For starters, A LOT has happened since my last post but I will still try to keep this as short as possible. For starters, we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house this year. My mom and dad came down for a long weekend and my sister Brenda and her family stopped in to celebrate with us on Thanksgiving day. We had a great time and I really enjoyed getting to cook my 1st Thanksgiving meal.
The following weekend, Abigail and I headed to Waukon, IA to stay at my Grandma and Grandpa Zobeck's house for deer hunting. My mom watched Abigail while we hunted and Abigail did very well. Grandma and Grandpa really enjoyed getting to spend a few days with her and she just seems to be the life of the party wherever we go. I think Erin had a hard time with being away from Abigail for so long, but it all worked out and she was very excited to have us come home the following Wednesday. As for me, it was a great experience that built up my confidence in travelling with Abigail. She did so well sleeping and being happy in new surroundings.
Erin's parents came to our house for the 2nd weekend of December to work on stuff for Grandma Engelmann's 80th birthday party the following weekend. I cooked a ham with cheesy potatoes on Sunday for a big meal and a good time was had by all.
The 3rd weekend of December, we traveled to Bettendorf to celebrate Christmas with Erin's family on Saturday and Grandma Engelmann's 80th birthday on Sunday. We some how managed to cram Erin, Abigail, Hunter, me, and all of our belongings and Christmas presents into the Corolla for the weekend. Once again, Abigail did great and the weekend was fun. She didn't quite figure out the whole unwrapping presents "thing", but she really liked to pull the tissue paper out of gift bags and play with the boxes. The one thing I learned from this weekend is how different the holiday's are with kids. I'm not saying it was bad at all, but there is a lot of stress added to the situation and there seemed to be little time to sit down to relax and enjoy the time with family.
For Christmas weekend, we stayed home and it was awesome. On the Thursday before Christmas, we took Abigail to see Santa at Bass Pro and she really enjoyed it. Abigail got a little better at opening her presents too. We made a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas eve and attended 4:00pm mass, something that I will never do again. Mass was crowded and we actually had to sit in the hallway, although we were lucky because a lot of people had to stand. I think next year we will check out 7:30am mass on Christmas morning.
My sister, Brenda, and her family stopped by for lunch on the Monday after Christmas and we got to see how well their baby girl is scooting around on the floor. On Friday, we had my brother, Paul, and his family over for dinner. I made burgers, using the new burger press that Erin got me for Christmas, french fries and corn. We had a great time with them and their 2 kids really enjoyed playing with Abigail. I played a few rounds of Uno with the kids as well.
For New Years weekend we headed to my parent's house to celebrate Christmas. We had planned to have Lori Reynolds and her family stop over for a visit, but an illness in their family put an end to that idea. Instead, dad and I spent Saturday grinding deer meat and we made it to mass Saturday evening in Gilbertville. After mass, we ran into my youth minister from high school and her family so they were able to meet Abigail for the 1st time. On Sunday, my sister, Melissa, and her family came to celebrate Christmas with us. We spent the day eating, playing, opening presents, laughing, and having a great time. With no set schedule, and no where to be, the day was very fun and relaxing. The kids were a joy to watch playing and, as always, it was great to spend time with Melissa and her husband, Mike.
As you can guess, Abigail is doing a lot of new things since the last time I posted. Abigail can now roll over both directions. She is saying both "mamamama" and "dadadada" along with A LOT of other noises. She can reach really far to get at a toy or other object that she is interested in. She really likes playing with the rattle balls that Grandma and Grandpa Weiler got her for Christmas. She can scoot in a circle on her butt and on her tummy. She isn't crawling yet and shows little interest in remaining on her tummy for very long now that she can roll over whenever she wants. She is drinking well from a sippy cup and is now eating 2 meals a day along with her bottles (fruit or veggie for lunch and fruit and veggie for dinner). She can wave hi/bye, do "so big", clap, and give a high five. She giggles and smiles a lot, but still has her crabby moments when she is getting tired. She likes being startled and playing peek-a-boo and she really likes being bounced, jiggled, and thrown around. I have started taking Abigail grocery shopping with me each week and she does a really good job, I think there is so much for her to look at that she is just in awe. I'm sure the ease of shopping will not last as soon as she becomes more mobile.
I can't believe that she is closing in on 9 months old, in fact, Erin and I were already discussing plans for her 1st birthday. Time is flying by, but we are having a lot of fun!
