As always, a lot has changed since my last post. For starters, Erin and I put an offer in on a 26 acre property with a cabin on it located near Ottumwa, IA and it was accepted. We should be closing on the property in the next few weeks. I look forward to having a place for Abigail to go to experience nature as she grew up. For me, it was Grandma and Grandpa Zobeck's farm when I was young and uncle Bruce's farm as I got older. I hope that she will have even more great memories then I have.
We have spent a lot of time at home over the past couple of months, but time still seems to be flying by. Erin's parents came for a visit the first weekend of February to celebrate Erin's birthday and they ended up staying to watch the Super Bowl as well. Abigail take her 2nd trip to a restaurant that weekend (Rock Bottom Brewery) and did very well sitting in the high chair with us at the table.
At the beginning of February, Abigail came down with Hand, Foot and Mouth virus. What a nasty illness that is, sores all over her body as well as in her mouth and throat. It hurt so much to swallow that drool would run out of her mouth at an alarming rate. Erin and I took turns staying home with her that week and for the most part she was a trooper and gave us plenty of smiles and giggles between all of the sleeping that she was doing.
Abigail and I enjoyed several days together by ourselves as Erin had conferences in mid-February and spent all day the following Saturday at a scrap booking retreat. Unfortunately, Abigail had some sort of stomach bug that was causing her to projectile vomit on occasion that week. It got to the point that I was nearly afraid to feed her at all. Luckily, that passed after about 4 days and many rolls of paper towels later. Yuck!
The last weekend in February we made a trip to my parent's house in Evansdale. Erin was having a girls weekend with my high school friends and we got our taxes taken care of. I also did some shopping with dad for some items we need for the land/cabin. Abigail did great showing Grandma and Grandpa all her new "tricks" and of course did her best to get at everything she shouldn't.
This past weekend, I worked in the garage on building a toy box for Abigail to give to her for her 1st birthday. So far it has turned out great! I just have to complete the staining and put on a couple of coats of polyurethane and it will be finished. It is a large toy box, 36" X 20" X 20" so hopefully it will hold most of her toys for awhile.
Abigail has made some big strides over the past couple of months. She started with being able to scoot backwards while on her belly (but she still can't go forwards). She then figured out how to scoot around on her bottom using just her legs. Now she is on the go all of the time and we have to block her in whatever room we want her to be in. She is doing well standing while holding onto things (i.e. the recliner, couch, etc) and is starting to try to pull herself up. Ironically, she now does not like to lay on her back at all and immediately rolls to her tummy. Her favorite sleeping position is on her tummy, up on her knees with her arms tucked under her.
Just in the past week or so, she has started to get up on her knees while on her tummy and rock back and forth so I think crawling is not too far in her future.
Oh, and I almost forgot. Abigail had a great 9 month well baby visit at the doctor. I don't remember the exact measurements off the top of my head, but she has gone from 13% to 31% in weight and 1% to 30% in height as well as 30% to 63% in head circumference. The doctor is very pleased!
