The 2^nd trimester was pretty uneventful, except around 27 weeks when I slipped on some ice and fell on my tailbone and back (twice)!  I went to the hospital per my midwife’s request so they could monitor the baby and make sure everything was fine, and it was.  I was in a lot of pain for a while, sat on a donut the rest of the pregnancy.  I was able to go to a chiropractor weekly though, which helped a little.

My 3^rd trimester was very interesting.  At 32 weeks I went into preterm labor, I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes for 3 hours.  I rubbed some lavender oil on my belly, laid down and relaxed, drank water and had Joe give me a blessing, and they finally stopped.  A couple days later at my midwife’s office, they checked my cervix and I was at 2 cm and 80% effaced.  So I got the cortisone (steroid) shots to make sure the baby’s lungs would develop faster in case I did have him too early.  And my midwife put me on modified bed rest and prescribed Nifedipine, which is a blood pressure medicine that prevents contractions.  I hated this medicine that I had to take 4 times a day; it gave me bad headaches and made me feel weak and shaky, and made my heart race (which was weird considering what the medicine is for).  It gave me several panic attacks, where I’d hyperventilate and my hands and arms would go numb, not fun!  Because I complained about the medicine, my midwife said I could go down to two a day at 34 weeks, and one a day at 35 weeks, and stop at 36 weeks.  Within those weeks, I went into the hospital a couple more times to be monitored because of preterm labor and was given the Terbutaline shot once to stop the contractions.  My midwife and the rest of us all thought for sure I’d go into labor as soon as I was done taking the meds, because once I was taking the Nifedipine less often I was always having contractions except for a 4 hour window right after I took one.

At 36 weeks, I was taken off of bed rest and off the meds…..and nothin’!  There were contractions, but they always stopped. I know it’s not something to be upset about, but when you’re huge and pregnant and in labor on and off for over a month, by the time you’re “allowed” to go, you just want to go!

On March 14^th at 12:45 AM, my water broke! I immediately texted my mom (who was part of my labor support team), my friend Amy (who spent the night at our house to watch Abby), and my friend Megan (who took the professional pictures during labor and delivery).  When Amy came over, she brought her boyfriend with her to hang out.  This was the first time we met Mark, who is now her hubby! About 15 minutes later I realized I should probably call my midwife, duh! So I called and they told me to head straight to the hospital. Fine.  I originally wanted to do most of the laboring at home until I couldn’t walk or talk through a contraction, but since my water broke they needed to monitor me right away.

I got checked in and the midwife on call gave me a ring in my room, the first thing she said was “We’ll start your Pitocen at 5:30.”  I said, “No…” and continued to explain my plan to do this all naturally, and that the Pitocen would make that more difficult so I didn’t want it.  I explained that I wanted to be allowed to walk around the hospital to encourage my contractions, and that I wanted only intermittent monitoring as my birth plan outlined.  She said that wasn’t allowed.  Now, I was being not so nice when I explained that when I discussed my plan with Jana, the midwife I usually met with, she said that was perfectly fine, and I reiterated that I needed to be allowed to walk around.  She was kind of taken back and said, “I guess I can call Jana in the morning and ask if she wants to come in.”  I agreed that that would be a good idea.  I feel really bad for being so bratty now, but at the time I was pretty upset that all my plans might have gone out the window.  So of course my contractions slowed way down, and almost stopped completely.  Through the night, my mom, Megan and I watched movies (Joe slept), while I walked around my bed or rolled my hips sitting on the birthing ball, trying to get the contractions going again.

At about 5 AM, I got a call from Jana apologizing that she was out of town, explaining that if she weren’t she would definitely come in.  She encouraged me saying that even if I have to have Pitocen that I could do it naturally, saying that contractions are contractions, Pitocen doesn’t make them stronger, they just make the strong ones come sooner.  I wasn’t convinced, but she said she could have Jenn, the midwife student come in and help.  I had met with her before once or twice, so I knew her, plus I heard only amazing things about her from everyone at the hospital.  Jana said having her would be like having a doula there, and it was!

Well they pushed the 5 AM Pitocen deadline because of Daylight Savings, and eventually started me on it at about 7:30 AM.  At this point I was already exhausted from standing and pacing and staying up all night, blah.  Joe was the only smart one to take a nap.  They agreed to start me off slow, and when my body realized what it should be doing it would take over and they could stop the Pitocen.  I started at a 2, and went as high as 8, but stayed at 4 or 6 the majority of the labor, and needed it up until he was out.  Every time they tried to back me off, my contractions slowed way down.  What the heck!?!? Haven’t I been in preterm labor for the last 5 and a half weeks!? Why couldn’t I be in labor now?!  Makes no sense!  But as a side note: the same type of thing happened with Abby.  I went into labor the day before I was 36 weeks, they stopped it, and I had tons of contractions almost every night for the last month that always stopped.  Then I had to be induced and finally had her at 40 weeks and 4 days.  Back to the story.  I was doing pretty well at first, Joe massaged my back, I tried the hands-and-knees and side lying positions, and used aromatherapy heat packs to help with the pain.  A few hours later, though, I asked for Jenn’s help and she was amazing!  Did you know the pushing on your knees cuts the pain in half? Crazy!  Jenn, Joe and my mom made the perfect team; I couldn’t have done this without them!  Jenn encouraged me so much, really made me believe I was doing a good job.

The book “Birthing From Within” I read while I was pregnant to prepare me described a phase called “laborland” which is a phase I definitely was in for a while.  I wasn’t really aware of what was going on around me; I was just trying to breathe to survive the next contraction.  I remember being told to relax my body, then forehead, then eyebrows; I remember that helping.  I remember silence most of the time, but maybe that was just in my head.  I remember listening to Alanis Morisette did NOT help, haha!  I remember slapping Joe while trying to cover his mouth and telling him to shut up because he was talking too loud and right in my ear.  Sorry honey!  I remember breathing very loudly (moaning) through each contraction; I remember it helping if I started moaning right when I felt the contraction coming, rather than waiting until it really hurt.  I remember being told “Good job!” the louder I moaned, and being confused.  The louder I was the more I thought I had lost control, but I was later told that wasn’t the case.

I remember the midwife coming in several times and always saying, “The baby’s not happy, he’s not happy.”  They wouldn’t tell me that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck until several hours after he was born.  Pretty early on, they refilled my amniotic sac with saline to give cushion to the baby, so the cord wasn’t so tight around his neck.  I can’t remember what excuse they told me for doing this at the time. They also hooked the baby up to internal fetal monitoring, and put in the internal contraction monitor.

I remember getting checked and being at 7 cm…..again….and again….and again.  My uterus was tilted to my left throughout the pregnancy, which made the location of my cervix up and to the right.  This means that the baby was not putting weight on my cervix to help move things along.  I was stuck at 7 cm for over 4 hours!  Jenn helped me try all sorts of different positions to help move my uterus’ weird position, but I was still stuck.  Being on the Pitocen made the contractions stronger and closer as time went on, but I was still at 7.  This was the most psychologically challenging part of the labor!  I started asking for an epidural but Jenn said I couldn’t ask for one during a contraction, I had to ask in between contractions.  So in between she’d ask, “OK, do you want an epidural?” and I’d say, “No”.  I somehow forgot how bad the pain was less than 30 seconds ago! Finally, the midwife came in to repeat that the baby was not happy, and pretty soon I’d need an epidural to get him out quickly, otherwise I’d need an emergency cesarean.  There was my out!  It was an epidural or cesarean, so I agreed to the epidural.  At that moment, my state-of-mind totally switched from “I’m going to do this naturally” to “Where’s the epidural!?!?”

Joe told me later that I started asking where the Anesthesiologist was right away, and he kind of laughed and said that they just called him; he needs time to get to the hospital. It was miserable waiting for him!  I was lying on my right side – still at 7 cm last they checked – hanging on to Joe’s neck, screaming in his ear.  Well, I thought I was screaming, others claim it was just the moaning but much louder, which was a good thing I guess – a sign of control.  At this point, I felt like I had zero control.

My state-of-mind switched right back during the next contraction.  My body started pushing, and I screamed, “I’m pushing, I’m pushing!”  Still laying on my right side, someone lifted up my leg and checked me.  I was at 9 ½ cm!!  My birth plan specified that I wanted to push on my hand and knees, or in the squatting position, but everything happened so fast.  They rolled me from my side to my back, yelling in my ear (needing to be louder than me), “You need to let go of your husband now!”  I released Joe from the choke-hold I had him in.

They checked me again and I was at a 10!  All of the sudden there were what seemed like dozens of people in the room.  I wasn’t aware of what they were all doing; I just knew that I was pushing! My birth plan specified that I wanted to push at my own pace, how my body told me to.  But again, “the baby’s not happy” so I needed to get him out fast and listen to their instructions. Fine, whatever, here comes the contraction, PUSH! I was aware of the nurse screaming in my ear.  I was aware of the “ring of fire” I was feeling.  This was good; I had read about this, I wasn’t afraid of this.  This made me feel in control; it made me feel powerful.  It almost didn’t feel like pain.  PUSH, PUSH, PUSH….STOP STOP STOP!! The head was out, they cut the umbilical cord.  I still didn’t know about the cord, but I wasn’t asking questions right now either. PUSH, PUSH, PUSH….STOP STOP STOP!! I started tearing…{up}! They gave me an episiotomy {down} to prevent further tearing. PUSH, PUSH, PUSH, PUSH!!! Joseph Jason Hall was born!

And he was blue.  And he was having a hard time breathing. I asked why and they said it was because his lungs were underdeveloped because he was early. Well that didn’t make sense, he was only 2 ½ weeks early, plus I had those steroid shots to ensure his lungs WOULD be developed enough.  I don’t know why they didn’t tell me the truth at this point.  I didn’t get to hold him right away; they were trying to make sure he was OK.  Then I held him and he was still blue and still barely breathing.  I was so scared I didn’t want to hold him; I just wanted the medical staff taking care of him.  So when they took him back almost right away, I was relieved.  He spent two hours in the nursery hooked up to a CPAP.  Joe was in there with JJ the whole time, keeping a close eye on him.  I went to the nursery for a couple visits, in between showering, napping, and eating. JJ recovered quickly, and when he was able to come back into my room, he remained on a heart rate and oxygen monitor, just for good measure.  The first time breastfeeding him, the nurses said he might have a hard time because of his “breathing problem”, but he latched on perfectly, immediately, and aggressively!

We stayed in the hospital a couple more days.  A lot of people came to visit and meet our new angel!  The first day, my dad and his family brought Abby in to meet JJ.  And the next day, Joe’s cousin LaChelle was watching Abby, and she brought her in again.  We missed our Abby so much!  We had so many friends and family members helping us with everything, and making it such a wonderful experience.  Thanks so much

Joseph Jason Hall was born on March 14, 2010 at 2:14 PM. He was 6 lbs 7 oz, and 19 ½ in long.  He was named after his dad, who was named after HIS dad, Joseph.  His middle name was given to honor Joe’s best friend Jason Brown, who passed away on March 2, 2010.  JJ was born on Mothering Sunday (Britain’s Mother’s Day), which is appropriate considering Joe’s English heritage. 3/14/10 is also “Pie Day” so we’re convinced he’ll be a genius.

Professional photography was provided by Meg Hall Photography.  Visit her site at www.meghallphotography.blogspot.com.

The end of September was crazy and busy, full of packing, canceling utilities, price checking and booking moving trucks and storage units, etc.  I had to keep the packing organized into what I could keep in storage long-term, and what we would need right away at Grandma and Grandpa Hall’s.  All I kept thinking the entire time I was packing was, “Where the heck did all this crap come from?!”  Who knew two people and one baby could accumulate so much stuff in such a tiny house and small amount of time!  We FINALLY got it all loaded onto the moving truck hours after we wanted to be on the road.  Our wonderful friends and next door neighbors, Mike and Chrissy, helped us so much with the packing and loading, along with our friends Carter and Jason.  Brother Shumway from our ward was also a HUGE help with the loading, and he and Sister Shumway came back after we left and cleaned the whole house!!!  A couple other friends from the ward helped with watching Abby so I could get lots of packing done without Abby “helping” by unpacking.  We are so grateful to have had such wonderful friends nearby in Arizona, and we miss them so so much!

During the last couple days of packing, I was in my doctor’s office several times and the ER once due to some light spotting.  The baby was found to be healthy and so was I, the doctors simply asked that I stay off my feet as much as possible, which I tried to do as much as possible.  The spotting stopped a couple days after we arrived in Utah.

On October 2nd, the 11 hour drive went very smoothly and quickly.  We thought it would take longer with the dogs and Abby, but we made great time.  Our friends Jason and Bailey drove the big 24 foot moving truck, towing the Malibu; and Joe, Abby, and I were in the Jeep with Bauer and Edward.  The poor dogs got sick all over each other, which was no fun for them and no fun for Joe who had to clean it all up.  The next day, my dad and siblings and Joe’s Uncle Jason and cousins were there to help us unload the truck into the storage unit and unload what we need at Gma and Gpa Hall’s.  The following week I was busy unpacking and making us comfortable because we had no idea how long we would be there.  Joe got right back to job-hunt.  He had plenty of interviews and was constantly applying for more jobs.  Whenever he wasn’t job hunting, he was with Uncle Jason working on the new business.  I was also going over to the office to help with the business for the first few weeks, but Abby was not OK with knowing we were in the same house and leaving her downstairs to play with Aunt Melanie and cousins.  She loves playing with them, but hates that mommy and daddy were ignoring her.  So now any work I do for the company, I do from home while Abby naps or after she’s gone to bed for the night.  I got busy with applying for Medicaid that Abby and I were approved for.  We were prepared with enough savings and credit card availability to survive 3 months without a job, but hoped we didn’t have to spend all of that.

There was one company we had particular interest in that Joe had a phone-interview with while we were still living in AZ.  After several interviews and tests with them throughout almost 3 weeks, Joe got a great job offer from DirectPointe!  It was an answer to so many prayers!  We were so blessed to have found a job so quickly considering the way the market is here and all over the nation.  Not only is it a great position in the company, but we didn’t have to sacrifice very much in salary, which we were sure we would have to because Utah generally pays a lot less for IT jobs than Arizona.  And the job is literally walking distance from the new company.  Joe started almost immediately at the end of October, and benefits kicked in December 1st, hooray!

The same weekend Joe got the job offer, we got an offer on our house! We have been so blessed!! As I had mentioned in previous posts, we’re short-selling our home, so it wasn’t a great offer but it’s one we think the bank will accept.  We signed a few papers and sent the offer to the bank along with the stacks of paperwork we did before we started the process.  The BPO was ordered on the property about 5 weeks later, and now we continue to play the waiting game.

We were out looking for a house or apartment once we got the job offer.  We were hoping to get into a house with a yard for the dogs.  It was difficult to find homes or apartments or condos that accepted any pets at all, let alone large dogs.  After lots of searching, we settled with a small condo (apartment layout) for rent by the owners.  We chose this place because it’s walking distance from Joe’s job and the company, it was the least expensive place we’d found, and they were OK with our dogs with only a small pet deposit.  It’s a very cute little place, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms.  The owners have an 18 month old daughter so Abby’s room was already painted really cute, with some vinyl lettering and a cute shelf built-in.  The 300 square feet that we lost are most noticeable in the kitchen, living room, and master bath, while the bedrooms remain a pretty good size. Also, it’s very difficult not having a garage or yard to store our crap in, and it’s all been stuffed in the 3rd bedroom, AKA the office and baby’s future room.  There is a small storage closet out on one of the two balconies, which helps a little.  The dogs remain not allowed on the carpet, so they’re in the small kitchen and dining area, or in “their room” (the laundry/2nd bath), or out on the balcony.

We are so grateful to Gma and Gpa Hall for their hospitality during the 5 weeks we stayed with them.  They were very easy people to live with, and the dogs loved having their huge backyard to run around in.  We moved into the condo the first week of November with the help of my dad and siblings again, and our friends Jaron and Heather.

Because of the size of our place, we have had to be very creative in our furniture placement and organization.  We moved some covered shelves that were in our garage in AZ into the dining area and were able to finish unpacking our kitchen into those.  We also sold both our bedroom sets and grandfather clock, which enabled us to close the storage unit and save that monthly cost.  We then went to a Black-Friday sale at Shopko and found awesome prices on two nightstands ($40 each) and a dresser ($90) for our room, an armoire ($90) for Abby’s room, and some covered storage shelves ($60) for the office.  We grabbed a couple of over the toilet shelves at Walmart for both the bathrooms at about $15 each.  So we are making due, but it’s definitely cramped.  The dogs are only getting bigger, and this baby will be here April 1st or earlier.

Speaking of this baby, about 5 weeks ago, we went in for an ultra sound to find that we are having a baby BOY!! We are so excited!  We’ll be calling him Joseph Myles Hall.  Myles was my dad’s dad’s name.  We can’t decide what to call him for short yet.  When we’re around Joe’s family, his dad is called Joe, my Joe is called Joey, so this guy will be baby Joey, or Myles, or something to that affect.  I found a midwife group that I love, recommended to me by Aunt Mellanie. They are so great.  They noticed right away that I have a hernia that I’ll need to have fixed with surgery.  I got it when I was pregnant with Abby, I know because I noticed it, but no doctor that I asked knew what it was!  And they’re not too hippie, most midwives won’t allow an IV or child monitoring during labor, but this group requires it.  I’ll be delivering at Orem Community Hospital which I’ve only heard great things about.  I have an option for an epidural if I want it, and they’re affiliated with a great OB/GYN’s office (one that was recommended to me by a lot of people).  They’re the back-up doctors that are notified as soon as I go into labor, so if anything goes wrong, they’ll be there just as quickly as if they were my own doctor.  Don’t judge me, but I’m going to try to go without an epidural this time, only because my experience with Abby was so traumatizing!  (Epidural wore off at 9 ½ cm and I stayed at 9 ½ cm for another 4 hours approx, was refused any more medicine, felt everything, very scary!) So I want to go in prepared mentally and physically to feel the pain so it’s not such a shocking and horrifying experience.  The midwives have of course been very supportive, and my midwife will be there to help coach me almost the entire labor, not just show up when I’m pushing.  This pregnancy has been great, I only threw up twice total!  I felt really nauseous the first trimester and had to wear a mask sprayed with perfume during diaper changes, but after that first trimester, I felt fine.  Compare this to when I was pregnant with Abby and threw up for 6 months until they finally gave me Zofran so I could start gaining weight.  I have felt SOOOO tired though, much more than I had with Abby.  I think this has a lot to do with chasing Abby around, moving, moving, etc.  I’ve just felt like a zombie the whole time.  I want a clean house but I don’t have the energy to clean as much as I’d like, it’s pretty awful.  But baby and I are healthy, so I shouldn’t complain.  I’ve of course grown faster than I did with Abby, but it’s a steady and gradual growth (compared to gaining the entire 50lbs of the whole pregnancy in the last 3 months like what happened with Abby).  I just can’t believe I still have 3 months of growing to do, I feel so big already!!

We’re unpacked for the most part; the place is functional at least.  Christmas decorations are up, and we’re preparing our house for lots of visitors during the holiday season!  Our live tree died, which is pretty annoying, that’s never happened to us before.  It just stopped taking water.  Home Depot guarantees all their trees with a free replacement; however, I don’t have the time or energy to undecorated the dead tree and redecorate a new one.  So we’re sticking with the ugly dead tree for the next week.  Joe’s parents and sisters came into town this weekend, and we’re excited to share the holidays with them!  Joe’s mom Sam will be here tonight, and will be staying with us for about a week.  It will be so fun to celebrate Christmas with so much family around.  My dad and step-mom and siblings will be out-of town for Christmas, but we did a mini-Christmas with them yesterday and will be getting together for a full-blown celebration on the 29th.  We’ll be spending Christmas Eve with my mom so we can continue the tradition we celebrate with her.  And Boxing Day (day after Christmas, English holiday), will be celebrated with a nice English Dinner with whoever wants to come.  We definitely have a busy week ahead of us, but all the shopping is done, all the gifts are wrapped, all the baking is done (16 loaves of banana bread baked in one day!), and the Christmas cards – courtesy of Meg Hall Photography – were dropped in the mail yesterday!  Phew!

Abby Update:

We are more and more stunned everyday by our beautiful, smart, and strong little angel!  She has adjusted so well each step of this move, and we are so grateful for that.  When we were living with Gma and Gpa Hall she at first thought we were visiting again I think.  There was a lot of visiting my mom, my dad, our friends, Joe’s Uncle Jason and Aunt Mellanie’s, etc.  But she warmed up to everyone very quickly.  I usually only allow her to have her teddy a bedtime and naptime, but I let it be a comfort to her during these changes.  Because of this, she has definitely come to rely on her teddy and binky!  Her eating and sleeping schedule was thrown off a lot, but once we got back into our routine once we moved into the condo, she quickly adjusted again and is doing a great job with her schedule.  Also, now that we’re back in our routine, she’s not relying on the binky nearly as much!  In the midst of all these changes, the poor darling was cutting her one-year molars, all 4 of them, and another two bottom teeth, totalling 12 teeth now!  (Top right molar 10/4, top left molar 10/5, bottom right 10/30, bottom left 11/18, tooth #11 on bottom right 11/21, tooth #12 on bottom left 11/27.)  She’s had a couple colds and one ear infection, but nothing serious.  No swine flu for her, even though Joe’s cousins had it.  We all went on got our H1N1 shot back in October, so we we’re good.

She definitely loves her teddy! It’s one of her favorite words, and she’s adapted her own sign for teddy, which is a snuggle-type sign.  Well, the dogs that she loves so much got to her teddy and tore it to pieces!  I flipped out!  Joe contacted the Prestige Toy Corp. who created it but they weren’t selling the teddy anymore.  However, they happened to have one left in the warehouse that they shipped to us free of charge!  Joe sent them a courtesy product from the company as a thank you.

I used to only have the TV on for 1 or 2 shows a day max.  Well Abby has fallen in love with Dora the Explorer, and that’s all she ever wants to watch!  I hate that the TV is on so much throughout the day, but she’s not yet at the age where she just sits and stares.  She’s still very active, and will come in and out of the living room playing with toys and reorganizing mama’s shelves, then when a song comes on the TV she’ll watch and dance.  The last week or so, any time the TV is on, we HAVE to be watching the Christmas episode of Dora the Explorer!  She hands us all the remotes and begs for “Dora, Dora, Dora, Dora!”  So funny!  So I’ve cut down the amount of time the TV is on at all.

I thought that the move and all the adjustments would slow down her progress in developmental areas like speaking and signing, but she has been progressing faster than ever before!  Her new pediatrician who I love is very impressed with her.  One of the reasons I love him is because he doesn’t accuse me of starving my child like everyone else.  At her 18 month check up on Dec 2nd, she measured 33 inches in height which is in the 75th percentile, and 21.2 lbs which is in the 5th percentile.  He said so she’s tall and skinny, but the fact that she’s so tall means that she’s still growing, so I’m not worried about her weight.  Thank You!  She went to her first dentist appointment last month and the dentist was very impressed and pleased with how clean her teeth are.  Yay!

Abby’s so great at listening and understanding:  The other day she asked for water by signing water and saying, “wa, wa”.  So I told her, “Your sippy cup is out in the hallway on the floor.”  She said, “Oh.” And walked out of the room and grabbed her cup.  So when the doctor asked, can she follow simple commands, that’s a definite yes!

She’s definitely still a daddy’s girl….try daddy’s most precious princess!  She’ll actually be more fussy when daddy’s home because she knows that all she needs to do to get what she wants from him is fuss and whine *rolling eyes*.  He’s such a sucker for her, it’s adorable!  She’s really at the age of fit throwing in general though, if we say no or if she’s frustrated with something.  Our little drama queen.  She’s also not so great at sharing her toys anymore, but the doctor said it’s the age she’s at.  So when she’s playing with her cousins she can get pretty possessive, which has been a struggle.  This is usually the age that children adapt “no” as their favorite word.  Luckily for us she never says “no”.  Instead, she says “ow!” for no or anytime she’s frustrated.  It’s hard not to laugh when you tell her not to do something and she puts on the saddest face and shouts “ow!”

Abby knows when she’s being mischievous and she has this silly little laugh that’s hard to explain.  It’s just a mischievous, deep, drawn out laugh.  She also will use this laugh when she’s just trying to be silly, or give you a pity laugh.

One of her favorite things to do is look at pictures.  Whether they’re hung on the wall, or on the camera or computer, she could look at pictures of dogs and family all day long!  She’s still always happy with a book in front of her, and she loves to color!   Abby’s great at her little “projects”, she’ll sort and reorganize my cabinets, collect crayons in our shoes, make piles of anything then put them back….such a busy baby.  One of the cutest things she does lately is talk on our cell phones to nobody.  She’ll just walk around the house with the phone to her ear and chit chat forever.  When she does this, she’s got a casualness to her walk and swings her free arm, it’s adorable!  Unfortunately, whenever we actually have someone on the phone like a grandparent she gets shy and just stares and the phone, instead of talking.  Haha!  For some reason she’s been very interested in plugging her ears with her fingers, it cracks her up, I don’t know why.  She loves prayer time, which is just so precious.  During our bedtime routine, after story time we tell her it’s time for prayer and she immediately folds her arms and bows her head, and usually sits on daddy’s lap.  She doesn’t try to say the prayers yet or say “Amen”, but I have a feeling that’s around the corner.  Recently she started saying calling for me and waiting for an answer.  She’ll be talking my ear off, then say, “Mama?!” and pause…then I say, “Yes, darling?” and she’ll continue with her story.  She’ll do this several times in one conversation, so cute!  Abby loves hiding in enclosed places like closets, or behind curtains, but then she can’t help but laugh like crazy when we say, “Where’s Abby?”  Then she’ll come out and scream or laugh!  As soon as we have a little extra money we’re going to be putting this goose right into dance classes!  She LOVES to dance!  Anytime we put music on or if a song comes on TV, or when we’re watching So You Think You Can Dance, she’ll just get the biggest smile on her face and dance and dance!

Abby is a great communicator, with all her new words and signs she can almost always tell us what she wants or needs.  Back in September and October she would also take our hand and lead us to what she wanted, which was so adorable!  She doesn’t do that anymore for some reason.  Here’s the list of her newest signs and words:

September: 1st – says “tea”; 7th – signs <hungry>.  October: 19th – says “cracker”; 21st – says “dora”; 22nd – says “please”; 25th – signs <binky>; 26th – signs <cracker> and <juice>; 28th – signs and says “water”; 29th – signs <thank you>.  November: 1st – says “shoes”; 3rd – signs and says “eat”; 17th – says “coat”; 24th – says “color”, “babu” (what we call babushka), and “backpack”; 24th – signs <diaper>; 27th – says “soft” (when touching mama’s pregnant belly); 29th – says “papa”.  December: 1st – says “potty”; 3rd – says “book” and “bath”; 4th – says “go”; 5th – signs and says “cookie”; 8th – says “hot” and “cold” in context; 9th – says “that’s me!” when pointing to herself and seeing a picture of herself; 9th – says “bauer”; 15th – says “bubbles”; 15th – signs <potty>.  She can also point to her nose, belly button, eyes, ears, mouth, and toes when asked.

Abby shocked us on November 29th by peeing in the potty!  She had been showing signs of readiness for a couple weeks by signing diaper when she needed to go or when she needed a change, then she kept trying to go in the bathroom.  She can’t open doors yet so she grabs our keys and pokes the doorknob to try to open it.  Finally we sat her on the potty twice that day and the second time she peed!  We were so proud!  I’ve since gone out and bought all the potty training essentials, and she sits on the potty all the time, but nothing else has come of it.  After the holidays I’ll be concentrating on doing my part to potty train her.  Things are just too crazy right now.

I can’t believe how much of a big girl she is now.  She’s so independent.  A lot of times she doesn’t want to eat anything unless she can feed herself!  She loves to brush her teeth, but hates when I brush for her.  My little grown up!

Bauer and Edward Update:

In Arizona we had the puppies trained to be inside and outside, and they were trained to sleep in their kennels at night.  When we were living with Gma and Gpa Hall, they were outside full time.  This made me worry about bringing them back inside.  When we found our condo, we had decided to sell them because of the small space and no yard.  We weren’t getting any bites, and we were about to move so we put them up for free.  After Joe had dropped them off at the lady that contacted him about the ad, he had a bad feeling about it.  It was suspicious that she didn’t invite him in and her neighbor asked about if she had sold the puppies she had before.  Joe got home and Googled her and saw tons of ads for dogs for sale, including her precious beagle that she claimed would be so excited to play with Edward and Bauer.  It looked a lot like she was running a puppy mill.  Joe and devastated and worried like crazy!  He called the lady the next morning and asked to take the puppies back claiming that his grandparents were willing to keep them in their yard and our daughter missed them too much.  She was kind of confused but allowed it.  Thank heavens!!  Needless to say, we have them back and we’re managing in our tiny place with these big growing dogs!  They were immediately comfortable being inside again, and remembered the off-the-carpet rule.  They tried to literally dig out of their room (the 2nd bathroom), so there’s a nice hole in the wall, and scratches and bite marks all over the walls and doors.  We put this “bitter-yuck” spray all over and they’re not interested in doing that anymore.  So it’ll be a nice pricey project for us to repair the room.  Now they just occasionally get into the diaper garbage or tear up a dozen rolls of toilet paper, and so on.  We bought a dog litter box that we have out on the balcony that they learned to use pretty quickly.  It’s pretty disgusting to upkeep the litter box so Joe is just taking them on more walks.  He works close enough that he’s able to come home for lunch every day and is able to walk them before work, at lunch, after work, and before we head to bed.  It’s working I think, but they still leave plenty of surprises for him to clean up.

We are so grateful for our beautiful, growing family.  We have been blessed in so many ways, and we’re grateful to be so close to our extended family.  We love you all and hope you have very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

As many of you may have heard by now, we are finally moving back to Utah!  Oct 2nd is moving day, which is a week and a half way, which kind of stresses me out to think about.  It’s very bitter/sweet because we have a lot of really good friends and neighbors here that we hate to leave.  We’ll miss our first home that we built here in Maricopa, that we unfortunately have to short-sell However, we have been trying to get to Utah since January of this year to be close to family, and we’re so excited it’s finally happening.  We can’t wait for 4 seasons again, and everything that comes with them.  We’re excited to have Abby (and baby #2 on the way) grow up near all of her extended family, including one cousin so far, aunts/uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.!

Here’s the update on Abby:

Her newest thing is fitting her feet between the bars in her crib and kicking her feet really loud against the wall, over and over again, to let us know she’s awake!  She also loves to sleep with her legs sticking out of the bars of her crib, and her knees resting on the bumpers, so funny.  Joe and I always go into her room right before we go to bed to put the blanket back on her, make sure her binky is within reach, and we usually have to make sure all body parts are in the crib, haha!

Like I had mentioned in a previous post, Abby has switched to one nap, but toward the beginning of Sept she went back to 2 naps, and now she’s back to one.  It just depends on how cranky she gets in the morning.  I try to be consistent and keep her up until her 1 nap nap-time, but some days she just won’t have it.    Part of her fussiness lately has been due to her teething her one-year molars, no fun!  The poor lil goose!  Her gums are so swollen and it just looks so so painful.

I’ve also mentioned before that Abby LOVES to read!  She reads during diaper changes, in the middle of play-time, and of course we have our family story time before bed.  One of her favorites is Baby Elmo.  It’s a story about “how big is baby elmo?” and goes through all the big kid things he can do.  Then the second to last page, it asks again “how big is baby elmo?”, and the last page is a big pop up of a giant elmo and it says “baby elmo is SOO BIG!”  It is so funny to read this book because she knows when that part is coming and she gets all nervous and giggly and hides her face and laughs.  And lately she’s acted that way throughout the entire book, just waiting for the scary SOO BIG elmo!  So funny!

Not only does this smart girl love to read, but she loves puzzles too, and she’s good at them!  She matches up the horse to the horse, and the sheep to the sheep; and the right shapes together on the shape puzzle.  She knows if it’s upside down and everything.  Then she claps because I clap cause we’re so proud of her!!

A few cute new things she does:  She walks backwards sometimes, so random!  She just started doing it one day, and now she walks in backwards circles sometimes.  I had read that it was a milestone she’d reach in a couple months, but was curious as to if/how/why I would help her reach it, but she figured it out on her own I guess!  She also will walk around with her hands held behind her back, all innocent and cute….little squirt!  She still does a lot on her tip-toes, as if she’s always in heels.  She used to do this when she was smaller and couldn’t reach a lot of things; and there are some things she still can’t reach, but sometimes we’ll see her on her tip-toes for no good reason, it’s pretty cute.  And of course she climbs into and on top of anything and everything she can!  She gets stuck sometimes, falls down others, but she’s so fearless!  What’s cute is when she climbs into something really small like her toy train and tries to sit in it, when she’s twice the size of it, so funny!  And you can imagine with all the packing going on, she’s climbing the mountains of boxes everywhere!  She also loves to help mommy pack and unpack boxes, such a big girl helper!  Oh and we got her a pink toy laptop, which helps distract her from the real laptop sometimes, but will really be helpful for the road trip to Utah!

A couple cute things that are almost daily routines with daddy: Checkin the mail, Abby helps hold it on the way home.  And sitting on the kitchen floor to share a pickle.  So cute!

I think that’s all for now.  I will most likely not post anything until we’re in Utah again, so I’ll see ya’ll there!!

Other cute pics:

Well I’ve been telling you all a lot about what’s going on in the world of Abby-May, but some of you may be wondering what’s going on in our lives besides developmental stages being reached. Well I will do my best to provide a short summary of 2009 for us so far.

Joe is still working his IT job and is still part owner in his business. I am still watching the two boys throughout the day regularly. And I don’t do any work for the business any more – I quit a couple months ago. Joe is a Sunday School Teacher for the youth, and I am still the assistant secretary in the Relief Society.

My little sister had a wonderful baby boy in January, so we flew out to Utah for the blessing the end of February. It was fun to see everyone, even though it was just a quick trip.  Oh, and little Matias is such a cute bubuh!

January through mid-April, we were busy with our next-door neighbors’/good friends’ backyard wedding. Abby was teething, and I was still working for the business, and was making plans for the bachelorette party (also super fun), so it was a pretty busy couple months, but tons of fun! They were married April 11^th, and it was beautiful and flawless! The evening flowed perfectly, the food was great, and there was a lot of dancing!

Our little town of Maricopa celebrated the opening of the first Walmart!!! It was very exciting stuff people. Now if we need baby supplies, or clothes, we don’t have to drive 30 minutes to get there! It’s right around the corner from our house!

Abby May turned 1 year old!! I made a big deal out of it. Everyone warned me she wouldn’t remember it, but I always replied that I would! There were a good 30-35 friends and family members there for the backyard BBQ. Joe made his delicious ribs, we set up a fun sno-cone station, everyone swam, my friend Rebecca put together an awesome mix of music that we blasted, and my friend Kellyn made Abby the most beautiful tutu! Our friends Mike and Chrissy bought the perfect, most gorgeous cake! We hung a banner, pitched the umbrellas, filled the balloons, Abby stuffed her face with cake, and we had a blast! Abby got TONS of presents, toys and clothes galore!

When I was pregnant with Abby, everybody else I knew was pregnant too! So naturally, the month of May was full of friends 1^st birthdays to go to. Babies everywhere!

The end of June/beginning of July we drove out to Utah for another trip. This was Abby’s first road trip ever! I was so worried (as always), but it wasn’t too bad. She wasn’t feeling great and was kind of out of it the whole time, which was sad for her but kind of nice for us. She was like that both ways. We drove our new Malibu because it gets better gas mileage, and broke that puppy in! It was a super busy trip! We went out for Joe’s Gma/Gpa Hall’s 50^th anniversary!! It was a fabulous party, and tons of fun to see the ENTIRE family all at once! Joe and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary while we were there. Since we share our anniversary with his mom and dad (Lucretia and Joe) AND his aunt and uncle (Mel and Jason), we tried to plan something for all of us. But we ended up going out with his aunt and uncle to dinner and a movie, which was fun. We stayed through the 4^th of July, going to the balloon launch in the early morning, then the Provo parade, more family/friends visits, then fireworks at Thanksgiving Point! It was tons of fun, and a very busy day. Every day we were visiting with someone else, we have so much family and so many friends in Utah, we miss living there so much! So it was hectic and busy busy, but apparently, that’s how we like to live (go to our flickr site for all the pics!)

Our A/C broke….AGAIN! This is the 2^nd summer in a row, and the only two summers it has ever performed! What the heck!?! It’s getting up to 120 degrees around here outside, we need it to work. And it’s overworking to try to stay cool which is making our electric bills sky high! What a pain. They’ve had guys out here to fix it a good 5-7 times just this summer!

The end of July we made another very short weekend trip to Utah for our buddy Jason’s wedding!  That’s two road trips in a month, Abby was not happy, so nobody was happy.  I’m done with road trips forever!  Not really forever, but for now forever.  The weekend wasn’t really busy until the actual wedding day.  Joe and I helped out a lot and chased Abby all over the property, it was very exhausting.  But we’re happy for Jason for his engagement finally turning into a marriage.  They recently bought a nice house in AZ too, so lots of milestones for them this year!

Coming up, I’ll be preparing my body for another change as baby #2 is on the way! We found out July 20th.  So far I’ve been feeling nauseous but I haven’t thrown up once.  With Abby I was throwing up for the first 6 months, ick!  So I’m very pleased about that.  I am 100 X more tired and 100 X more emotional though, blah.  Very little house work is getting done each day, which bothers me a lot.  We had the first ultra sound last week, we’re 3 days further along than we thought, wahoo.  This changes our due date from Apr 1st to Mar 29th 2010.  Abby came to the appointment with us and was very interested in the black and white screen, hehe.

The beginning of August, the shipping and customers service department moved out of our house, wahoo!!  We have a little more space available for US in our tiny house.

August 3rd we bought 2 Australian Shepphard puppies!  Two boys named Edward (for Edward Cullen) and Bauer (for Jack Bauer).  They’re cute, but since I’m the one home training them all day every day (which I didn’t want to do) they’re kind of getting on my nerves.  Oh well, hopefully they’ll grow out of their puppy-stupids.  Joe and Abby are head-over-heals for them, so that’s what matters.

Sat, August 8th was my 22nd birthday.  Friday night Joe took me to a night-time water park and it was so much fun!  And Joe bought me a fabulous pastel PINK Dyson vacuum!  Don’t worry, it’s not like it sounds.  Our old one crapped out, we needed a new one anyway. Joe found an awesome deal on a refurbished one, and it was pink! I’m very happy with it.

Quick Abby Update:  She got another cold and ear infection right after our 2nd trip from Utah (the first infection one was right after the first trip  to Utah).  So she got stronger antibiotics and is doing fine now.  We moved her next weight check up to her 15 month regular check up since she probably fell behind in her weight goal due to another cold.  The appointment is tomorrow, so cross your fingers!  Abby switched from 2 naps to 1 on Aug 13th.  She all of the sudden just stopped sleeping during her first nap time and I had to move her second one up.  Funny how things like that just happen automatically.  She was already saying “doggie” but right before we got the dogs and Joe was getting her all hyped up for them, he taught her to kind of bark after saying doggie, so now she says “doggie, whoo whoo!”  So cute!  Aug 19th she started saying “cheese” and not in context with the food cheese, but when I’m taking a picture and I say “say cheese!” she says “cheese” and smiles!  Also on Aug 19th she started pointing to her nose when I tell her to.  Such a smart-goose!!

Yay, I think I’m finally caught up! Visit our facebook pages and our flickr site for more pics and info!

We love you all!

Other cute pics of the goose:

mama/mom

dada/daddy/dad

hello/hey/hi

more

teddy (6/20/09)

ball (7/4/09)

doggy (week of 7/4)

what’s that/what is it (week of 7/4)

oh/woah/wow (week of 7/11)

And she’s just learning so fast.  Such a smart-cookie!!  The first time I held up a ball and said very clearly “BALL” she said “bah!”  I’ve also been signing with her since she was about 3 or 4 months old, and she started picking it up a couple months ago.  It really helps with the stage she’s in, because if she’s screaming, I just ask her what she wants and she can tell me.  So far, she signs <more>, <all done>, and <milk>.  She thinks everything is <more> haha!  But I’m trying to teach her <bedtime/night night>, <hungry>, <eat>, <thirsty>, <drink>, <water>, <juice>, <diaper>, <help>, <scary/afraid>, <please>, <thank you>, <mom>, <dad>, etc.  But I think we’re off to a great start.  She also nods <yes> and <no> so it makes it easy for me when I ask her what she wants to eat or drink and so on, so she can answer yes/no questions.

She’s a much pickier eater these days.  And she’s almost completely off the jar foods – she mostly just has pureed fruit with her regular breakfast, and that’s about it.  It’s a different and more difficult world for me to have to find or cook real food for her 5 times a day.   I’m getting better at it even though it’s a little overwhelming.  And like I said she’s picky, so if I go through the trouble of making her something and she refuses to eat it, I have to make something entirely different – AND try to keep it as healthy as possible.  I usually feed her what I eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner – so that means I need to make sure I’m eating healthy too!  At Abby’s one year check-up, the doctor voiced concerns about her weight.  She hadn’t lost any, but she’s gone down in her percentile (I wanted to say “hello!  look at ME”).  So we had a follow-up appointment set, before which I was to work on getting her weight up, giving her pediasure, making sure she eats plenty, etc.  Well right before the follow-up on her weight, Abby and the whole family got a cold, and Abby got her first ear infection: (  Poor little goose was not a happy camper.  When I went into the doc’s office and explained the symptoms, she said it probably wasn’t an ear infection as I had feared, probably just a sore throut, but she’d take a look anyway.  “Oh yeah, the right side is pretty bad!  Good intincts mom!”  So that made me feel a little better (I have good instincts?  Where did that come from?  I didn’t even know!)  She was given ammoxicilin and she had lost her appetite during the sickness.  So when we went in to follow-up on her weight, Abby had actually lost 0.3 pounds!  I had to defend myself and remind the doc about the cold.  The doc didn’t kill me, but gave me another three weeks to get Abby’s weight up!  I asked what else I could possibly do to make her gain weight?!?!  She said to give her fatty meats, add lots of butter in her veggies, increase the pediasure shakes to 2 bottles a day, no juice (unless she gets constipated I added – because 1 of those shakes per day were making her constipated), plenty of ICE CREAM, lots of cheese, etc.!  Wow.  So that’s what I’m doing, and Abby’s loving the daily ice cream, I’ll tell ya that!

She’s stepped up her mobility from a beginning walker at 10 months, a pro walker by 11 months, and a runner by 12 months.  She still trips and falls every once in a while when she runs, but just says “OH!” and gets back up!  And of course, because she’s so mobile, we can’t take her to the movies with us anymore   She does not want to sit still at all!  Church is a work out also, chasing her around for 3 hours.  And grocery shopping is sometimes a nightmare.  Her new physical challenge these days is climbing everything she possibly can.  She climbs up onto the couch, up on top of the toy bins when they’re upside down, up onto the the ottoman, and stands up straight on the seat of her ride-along bike/car thing!  She’s a little dare-devil!  Some of these things are not easy to get to, and some are very small so she has to balance herself.  When she gets up there, she’s just so proud of herself and starts clapping, and we all start clapping for her too, if we weren’t already!

Oh! I almost forget to tell you about how the weaning went!  The hardest part about the whole thing was how much I worried and stressed about it – of course!  It went so well!  My biggest fear was that Abby wouldn’t get enough nutrients and she wouldn’t get full enough.  So I started giving her cow’s milk May 13th so she could try it, made sure she didn’t have any allergic reactions (because technically I should have waited another 2 weeks to give her any cow’s milk).  I just wanted to start the process and have her done by the time she was one.  I had been breastfeeding a ridiculous number of times per day, I knew I wanted to be done by a year, and I knewAbby was ready cuz she barely fed at all when she went on (it was just a comfort boob), and she was biting after EVERY snack!  So I went from 7 feedings down to 4 for almost a week, fed her extra solid foods, and juice and cow’s milk.  Then every few days, we went from 4 to 3 to 2 and 1.  Stayed at one for almost a week, then May 31 was the last time I breastfed her!  Since it was a slow process, I didn’t get too uncomfortable until about 6 days later, when I could tell I was starting to get clogged ducts and started worrying about an infection.  So I finally pumped (I had to use a heat compress for 20 min because nothing was coming out at first!), and no milk came back since!  It was wonderful! And ever since we weaned, Abby’s been extra extra snuggly and she’s been sleeping 12-14 hours straight at night, I love it!

A few last little Abby notes:  She’s got the funniest smirk these days.  She scrunches up her face and her eyes and tilts her head back, starts out with her lip pursed in a smile, then opens up and chuckles!  It’s so cute!  She’s also been rolling her eyes lately – not in an annoyed way, just….I don’t know why.  She just does it sometimes and it’s so funny.  She’s developed a bit of a raspy laugh which we just think is adorable!  Abby’s the best snuggler in the world.  She has a major shoe fetish – loves all shoes and has to have them on all the time!  She LOVES her teddy, it comforts her immediately!  She fake laughs if anybody else is laughing, hysterical!  If we can’t find our phones or a remote, we check inside the seat of her ride-along and what do you know – Abby hid it in there!  And she is just the best thing that ever happened to me and Joe!  I can’t believe she’s my little toddler now and not my baby anymore!  How did that happen?

Now for some special news: we’ve been trying for the last month for another baby, I just took a pregnancy test today, and I’m pregnant!  Took another one a few hours later, still pregnant, haha!  Joe and I are thrilled!  I’m a little worried about getting sick again and turning into a whale, and giving birth again, but it’s going to be great!!

Mobility:  The princess stood up on her own for a long time on March 3rd.  Then Abby took her first stumbling steps in front of daddy on March 19th.  Mommy missed it (was at a Relief Society activity), and cried.  Then on March 27th, she started taking her first real steps (I didn’t miss it that time)!  So she’s a 10-month walker   We were so proud!  She started out slow, needing a lot of encouragement, and still only doing it every now and then.  But about a month later she started walking more and more, standing herself up on anything she could reach, and then of course stumbling after a few steps.  Now she’s practically a pro!  She’s walking everywhere, from room to room without falling!  And today was the first time she stood up with no help from furniture or a wall, just went from her hands and knees to standing up!  She’s so big!!

Teeth:  Abby cut her first tooth (top left) on March 23rd – almost 10 months old – the same week she started walking!  It was so painful for the beautiful little darling dear   There was a lot of not sleeping, painful screaming, diaheria, sore red bums, Tylenol, teething tablets, teething gel, the works.  And it was actually her bottom teeth that we’ve been expecting since January because we could see the whitish gaps in her gums.   So we were surprised her top tooth came in first, it only took about 3 days from when it started really bothering her and we saw it swelling up, ’til it broke through.  It broke my heart, but the one tooth was adorable!  Two weeks later, on April 4th, her bottom right tooth came in.  This wasn’t nearly as painful for her.  Then April 8th, her bottom left came through, again not too painful.  Another week later, April 16th, her top right tooth showed up.  That one was as painful as her first, with the same 3 day story.    So within one month, Abby went from no teeth to 4 teeth!!  And we had an adorable 4-toother walking around here for about another month, then May 11th came her 5th tooth: top left.  Again, it seems like it’s her top row that’s much more painful for her.  Yes, she still bites when she’s done nursing.  Yes, it kills!  Yes, I’m working on weaning her, read on for details on that.

Food:  Abby has mood swings with her eating habits.  What can I say, she’s female!  Sometimes she’ll eat really well, sometimes she won’t.  These mood swings can fluctuate throughout the week, or within a day.  This is part of the reason I’ve had a hard time cutting out breast milk meals, because I’m afraid she’s not getting enough other food, and I want her to get all the nutrients she needs.  Again, more on that later.  She’s come around to jar food more and more lately, but she’s always a fan of something she can pick up with her fingers and feed herself.  So cut up bits of food from our plates always seems to go well.  The thing we’ve noticed with her is that she’ll go from “mmm, nummy nummy food, gimme more” to “I don’t want to have anything to do with this, get it away from me” in one second!  No warning, like slowing down or anything.  And she won’t just turn her head away and not open her mouth if she doesn’t want something, she lets you know.  She waves her arms about, slapping food away or throwing it across the room, while screaming!

Her first success with the sippy cup was on Feb 5th.  She started drinking straight from a cup on her own on April 16th!  (We’ve given up on the bottle, and we’re moving on).  The princess will take juice and water from cups, sippy cups, juice boxes with straws, cups with straws, etc.  but will not take breast milk from anybody holding any of the mentioned devices.  She will only take breast milk straight from the breast.  I’ve tried leaving the room, and leaving the house so she doesn’t smell me – as all the articles advise – but it doesn’t work.  So within the last month I’ve really been trying to feed her more solid foods and juice and water to fill her up, taking away a few breastfeedings.  She has breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same time we do, then a snack before and after lunch.  It’s like she all grown up *tears*!

Sleeping:  I think I mentioned in the last post that Abby has been sleeping in the “family bed” since January when she got all thrown off her schedule from the Utah trip and when she started getting fussy with teething and separation anxiety.  She would go to bed in her crib at 8 PM, but I would bring her into our bed for her 2 AM feeding and be too tired (or fall asleep) to put her back in her crib.  Well that lasted a good few months.   Weaning her off of the family bed was tons of fun! (Sensing the sarcasm?)  Of course her 2 AM feeding was just a comfort, so I started just giving her a snuggle and a binky, putting her back to bed, and letting her scream.  This was especially hard for Joe.  As he says, “I’m weak!”  She’s got him wrapped around her little finger!!  But it wasn’t too long before she stopped waking up at 2 AM all together, yay!  Now that I’m starting to wean her, I’m trying to cut out her 10 PM wake up, and just sticking with her 5 AM.  And ever since we got rid of the 2 AM wake up, no more family bed!  I’m glad we only let that last a few months, rather than a few years.

Weaning:  Because Her Highness, The Princess Abigail May, doesn’t take breast milk from a sippy cup, bottle, or regular cup – from anybody, under any circumstances – we thought we’d have to wait until she was officially one year old and could have cow’s milk as a replacement.  Well I’m cheating:  We gave her cow’s milk for the first time yesterday May13th, and she actually took it!  I figure two weeks before her first birthday isn’t going to kill her.  Like I had said earlier, I’ve been afraid to cut out breastfeedings because she sometimes doesn’t eat a lot of solid foods.  But I’ve been talking to a lot of people, and the thing I needed to hear, I heard Tuesday from my friend Sarah, “She’s not going to starve.  If she’s hungry, she’ll eat.”  So true!  Now, people have said this to me before, but this was the perfect time to hear it, and it finally sunk in.  Because the thing is:  when she’s been nursing the last month or so, it’s barely anything!  Now, she’s always been a light drinker (tee hee), but now it’s only one side, two minutes each feeding!  And the biting!!  I’ve had it!  Also, it’s been extremely rare that we’ve been able to go on dates alone or go to the temple since we can’t leave her for very long with anybody, which is really hard.  I love that I’ve chosen to nurse her the whole first year, it’s been so rewarding for both of us, and I will miss it, but it’s time.  As of a couple days ago, she was nursing at 5 AM, 8 AM, 10 AM, 2 PM, 5:30 PM, 8 PM, and 11 PM (she’s almost one, this is crazy, I know).  I have already cut out her 8 AM, and her 5:30 PM.  She’s taking cow’s milk during snacks for now, then I will start replacing her remaining breastfeedings with cow’s milk.  I just have to cut down her number of feedings first.  I’ve read that doing it like this will also prevent me from getting engorged, and Abby should barely miss it.  I’m optimistic that she’ll be weaned by her 1st birthday, but won’t set my hopes too high.  Wish me luck!

Terrible Two’s:  The past few weeks, Joe and I have noticed that Abby’s officially a toddler!  It’s like out of nowhere her cries went from sadness, pain, or needing something, to brattiness, wanting her way, and frustration!  It’s super funny to watch sometimes, but not too fun other times.  She’s not very good at sharing.  She’ll take other kids’ toys (like the boy her age that I watch twice a week) just because they have it.  Then if she gets it and the other kid gets something else, she’ll scream until she steals the next toy from their grasp.  Rude!  My dad brought up a good point the other day: “terrible two’s” start after the child’s 1st birthday because they’re going into their 2nd year at that point.  Makes sense, and Abby’s just about there.  You can take my word for it, that girl’s got quite the set of lungs!  And she’s a good actress, she’s great at the fake crying – that’s what’s funny to watch.  The fact that her hair is so long also helps make her look older.  I can put it in pony tails and pig tails, and she looks 2 years old!  Oh, our little goose!

Snuggle Bug:  During this time of tantrums and attitude from the little one, there’s also been a new wonderful snuggly side to her.  She just comes up to you and lays her head down on your back or lap (if you’re sitting on the floor), or on your foot or leg (if you’re standing up), or on your head or tummy (if you’re laying down).  IT’S SO DARN PRECIOUS!!  I just love that she’s a lover and loves loves.  She just comes up and gives snuggles and kisses and coos while she does it, so cute!!  And she takes it just as well.   I’m so grateful she’s such a loving little girl.

Nick-names:  By the way, the “goose” nick name came from a long while back.  I would call her a silly goose so much, then I would just tag goose at the end of everything.  Like, sad-goose, happy-goose, silly-goose, strong-goose.  I don’t know why.  And now we just call her goose a lot.  Other nick names include: scooter, lovely, baby, your highness.

Abby’s big into waving at everyone, unless she gets shy – then she’ll waive after you leave.  She has such a little precious princess wave, it’s so cute.  She’s working on blowing kisses, but so far she just puts her hand to her mouth – and sometimes she’ll do the whole tribal song thing, when you sing and put your hand over your mouth over and over.  She started clapping the first week in March, and she does it all the time – recently she’s added a really cheesy face and a chin tuck to it as if she’s bashful, haha!  She’s developed a fake laugh, kind of like a pity laugh.  I think I have some of those on video, you have to hear it!  Her wide range of laughing is just so hilarious!  The chuckle, to the deep inhale, to the high-pitched tee hee hee’s, it’s great!

I need to get to bed, but I will be back to post pictures soon.  And update you on what’s been going on in our lives other than Abby’s development.  (I just had to get my version of Abby’s journal writing in).

Love you all!

Abby started standing herself up using furniture or my body or a wall on Jan 22nd.  She even walks along furniture!  I just can’t believe it.  She is everywhere and into everything!!!  Her newest favorite trouble to get into is standing up against the TV stand and hitting the TV with both hands!  She gets very excited about it, while mommy and daddy have mini heart attacks.

Abby said “mama” first a while ago, I think Oct-ish?  Then very soon after, she started saying “dada”.  Now she doesn’t say anything but dada dada dada all day.  She’ll do her other goo’s and ga’s, but whenever we try to get her to say “mama” or anything else, she just says “dadadada”.  Awe well, I know she loves me.  She has the sweetest little voice, I love listening to all her little stories. She’s figured out how to smack her lips just right to make a soft popping sound, so funny!

A few cute new things she’s doing:  She’ll wave both her arms in the air and twirl them about when she’s excited, she’s been doing that for a month or two now.  Abby will hold toys in her mouth, and crawl around with them just hanging out of her mouth, she looks like a lil puppy dog, it’s so funny!  She’s graduated to the big girl bath as of 6 weeks or so ago, she loves it but won’t hold still for a second!  And the last one I can think of right now: we have all the toys in a bin and we’ll dump them out and leave the bin on its side, and she’ll take out all the toys, crawl into the bin and bang around screaming, listening to her voice echo.  So precious!!

Abby’s also been doing a lot of thumb biting, not sucking, biting.  In fact she doesn’t suck on anything other than her mama and occasionally her binky.  That’s right, she’s still not taking a bottle, urg.  I’m working on that more lately, the past week or so I’ve been asking and reading around to see what I can do.  Abby’s also been biting on her sippy cup.  We bought the cup like a month ago but she still hasn’t quite figured it out.  I was reading online and tried what someone suggested: I took off the lid and poured some into her mouth.  She was a little alarmed at first but realized that she liked it.  A little more of that, then I put the lid back on and had her watch me suck on it.  Then I gave it back to her and made the sucking noise and she did it!  For a little while, then she was done with it.

But she is eating a lot of other foods now.  Well, she’s had a weird appetite.  She did so well for a good six weeks, starting at six months with her solid foods, then when we got back from Utah she didn’t want to have anything to do with it.  Now that she’s old enough she can have all sorts of different foods, and the variety has helped a little.  One day I literally had to feed her food through a syringe, and she actually liked it!  She smacked her lips and tried to suck on it.  But she LOVES her cheerios and disolvable puffs!  She’d live off of that and breastmilk if she could.

Abby still has NO TEETH!  But in all honesty, I’m OK with her being a late teether because she bites when she’s done nursing most of the time.  I do, however, see the gaps where her two bottom teeth are about to come in.  She’s been very upset, but has all sorts of teething rings (including a cool vibrating teether) and Teething Tablets, Tylenol, etc.  Poor baby.

We believe that it’s a combination of her teething and the separation anxiety that’s common at this age that is the cause of her ABSOLUTE NON-SLEEPING AT NIGHT – NESS.  Let me just tell you that she was sleeping from 8 to 8 before the Christmas trip, that’s 12 HOURS!  Now she’s up every 2-3 hours at night, just screaming.  It sounds like she’s in pain (teething), and the only thing that’ll calm her down is a little comfort nursing (separation anxiety).  Mommy and Daddy are very tired lately.

I’ve switched her from 3 to 2 naps during the day, but she still only power-naps.  I guess that’s just the way she is.  She still does a great job putting herslef to sleep though.  Now she goes down awake and puts herself to sleep WITHOUT crying.  It’s much less heartbreaking this way.

Awe, our sweet little darling dear!  We love watching her grow, even though it’s going by way too fast.  And now my little sister and my cousin have babies, both born in January, both beautiful boys, both in Utah!!  We’ll be back soon enough!  We love you all!

Hello!  Sorry it’s been so long…again!  I promise I’ll get better, at least I’ll try.

As you know we were lucky enough to take a trip to Utah for the Holidays!  We were so excited to go and had so much fun!  We stayed at my dad’s house and he was nice enough to loan us his vehicles when we went to visit everyone else.  My dad and step-mom Marie and my siblings in their family hadn’t seen Abby since Julyish , so they loved being able to see her so much.  We went to church with them the first Sunday we were there and it was so crazy to see all these people that I haven’t seen since I was 16!  I had lots of fun introducing my new lil family that they had all heard so much about.

My little sister Danielle, who was pregnant at the time, was moving so my dad and Joe helped her move in with my mom (while Abby and I watched).  Seeing her about to pop brought back painful memories from when I was in her place.  I felt so bad.  This was the first time Danielle and my little brother Alex (still living with my mom) met Abby, and the first time since Abby was one day old that my mom has seen her.  It was a sweet reunion!

We did a lot of Christmas shopping there so we didn’t have to ship tons from Utah.  That basically took up the first few days we were there!  That’s what we did with my friends Amy and Megan: shopped all day long.  No complaints here, it was tons of fun! Plus they got to meet Abby finally!

Christmas Eve dinner was at my dad’s, all my siblings got together there.  Now my brother Gabe and sister Karina (with her bf Marcus and his daughter Ali) got to meet Abby for the first time!  They served delicious prime rib, then the younger kids involved us all in a nativity play, so cute!  We all opened a couple presents and watched Mr. Bean’s Christmas.

Abby’s first Christmas morning was so great!  We got some wonderful pictures, this one’s my favorite!

We were very blessed with a white Christmas!!

Christmas afternoon we went to Gma and Gpa Hall’s, Joe’s brother Dan and his gf Cassie were there, and Joe’s parents and sisters were there, and of course all the Aunts and Uncles and cousins!  Dan and Cas announced their engagement!  We’re all so excited for them.  We got some cute pics with the other babies Abby’s age.  Joe’s cousin LaChele and Aunt Jen both had a baby within a couple weeks of the time I had Abby.  Big families are fun like that!

The day after Christmas my siblings all got together at my mom’s house for dinner and presents.  Earlier Joe took Alex sledding for the first time!  He had so much fun!!

The next day a bunch of the Dustin family and the Hall family met up at the 7 Peaks skating rink, we got some super cute pics there!  We got some delicious Krispy Kreme donuts afterward, YUM!

All-in-all, the trip ended too soon and we realized how home-sick we were of Utah!!   We’ll be back soon!

Before we had figured out the rash, we thought it might be Abby’s crazy hair that’s always getting in her eyes that was irritating the area.  Cuz unless her hair is sticking straight up, it’s down in her face.  So I cut her “bangs”.  Of course she didn’t stay still so her hair looks even more funky!  That’s OK, it’s always in a bow if we go out in public, haha!

On Oct 25, when she was 5 months exactly, was the first time she was able to stay sitting up on her own.  She still loves to sit up, but what she loves more is being on her tummy!  She used to hate tummy time, now she won’t stay on her back for the life of me!  Which is fine unless I’m trying to change her or syringe her nose or something.  Abby is SO CLOSE to crawling, and she hates that she can’t — but that doesn’t mean she can’t get to where she wants to go.  She scoots sideways and rolls to her destination…and I need to babyproof this house!

Last month she also discovered that she can fit her feet in her mouth.  She mostly likes to just hold on to her feet, or take off her socks though.  It’s so crazy how babies can just lay on their backs with their feet in the air – without grabbing them – just legs straight up.  For me that’d be quite the ab work out.

This lil girl is no longer content sitting somewhere.  She’s always trying to sit forward and out of her high chair, carseat, and swing!  One time when I couldn’t get her to stay asleep, I put her in her swing to do the job.  She was sitting forward as usual and the next time I looked up she had fallen asleep with her head resting on the tray in front of her, swing still going!  Haha, I’m mad I didn’t snap a pic before I sat her up to sleep comfortably!  And of course she wants to get into everything!  She wants to grab mommy’s food, type on the computer, drink out of my water bottle, touch everything, hold everything, eat everything! It’s so cute!!

Abby’s new thing (well new since I last posted) is bending backwards and playing upside down – she thinks it’s hilarious!  Sometimes it’s scary cuz she try to shoot right out of our arms.  Other times it’s funny cuz she cracks herself up, haha!

Remember how Abby started rice cereal at 4 months but then we stopped after a couple days?  Well we started again at 5 months, and she did a lot better.  We started that twice a day but she would only have about a half an ounce at a time.  She was having a hard time figuring out how to swallow so I’d always have to snap my fingers or shake a toy so she’d look up wihch helped her swallow.  My friend Kellyn said that those puff snacks that dissolve in babies mouths helped her son figure out swallowing, so she gave me a bag full and have been giving them to Abby.  She puts on the funniest face like, “What the heck is going on, what’s in my mouth?”  So cute!

Then yesterday, her 6 month birthday, she had her first try at green beans and she loves them!  I prepare about half of the lil gerber containers at a time and she eats it all – and enjoys it!  Once at lunch and once at dinner (I mix in some rice in her dinner).  Her first feeding she pulled the funny faces, but now she really enjoys it.  Once she’s had green beans for 3 days and I know she’s not allergic, I’m going to start some fruit for breakfast.  Such a big girl!!

She’s now addicted to her binky.  Not my fault!  I was surprised because I never really tried to give her the binky very much except when I was putting her to sleep–an even then she wouldn’t always take it.  But all of the sudden, one day a few weeks ago, she had to have it.  And it soothed her fussiness, it was all she needed.  It’s been like that ever since.  She’s slowly figuring out how to put it back in her mouth if she loses it – such a smart girl!

At 5 months almost exactly (it’s weird how so many things like this seem to happen over night), Abby stopped being able to soothe herself to sleep.  We still did our routine and everything, but she wouldn’t stop screaming.  I read into it.  Earlier I had read that at about 5 months is when some babies start their separation anxiety.  Then when I was reading more into this sleeping problem, I found that so many other moms had my problem with their babies at the same age!  One person wrote about how the separation anxiety could contribute to it.  They miss us and our scent and sleep better in our arms.  This article also pointed out how medically, there’s no such thing as too much skin on skin contact and that it actually helps develope babies’ brains.  So if sleeping in my arms is what Abby wanted, I gave it to her.  Even though I was swamped with work, I would take an hour break (that I was grateful for) to sit in the rocking chair while Abby slept.  Sometimes I’d put her asleep on my lap so I could work on the laptop sitting next to me.  She’s been doing better in the last week or so.  I still have to wait to put her down until she’s completely asleep.

Another thing that happened overnight: sleeping on her belly.  I thought this was so bizzare because she’s always slept on her back.  Then she just started fussing when I would put her down and she’d turn on her side.  I finally flipped her to her belly, and she was out like a light.  Hmph.  Whatever floats her boat.  This has been the last couple of days.

I can’t believe how fast she’s growing, how big she is!  She’s got such a spunky personality and is so funny!  I love that she’s also so cuddly and sweet.  We love this little angel we’ve been blessed with, and can’t wait for Christmas so you all can see her too!

with a little Abby to love all day; I basically didn’t sleep   Conclusion: I love Edwar

Gramma Sam came to visit over Halloween for about a week (she had just started reading Twilight while I was finishing the series – she was like, “Don’t tell me, don’t tell me!” Haha!).  Abby was in her cute lil Bee Happy costume, adorable!

Abby went on her first camping and fishing trip before it got too cold last month.  Even though it was pretty cold at night, we snuggled her in like 10 blankets and she was fine.  She went on the lil fishing boat with us.  I kept her covered with a blanket the whole time and put sun screen on her twice – but right under her eyes (where I didn’t put sun screen cuz it was too close to her eyes) she got burned!  I felt so horrible.  The doctor was like, “Next time use sun screen.”  Friggin idiot!  Of course I used sun screen!  I cried when the doctor told me that anyway.

We’ve all been sick – here in perfect weather Arizona!  First Daddy got a cold, then Abby got it, then Mommy.  It was hanging around with Abby for a while so she got some antibiotics.  While Abby was still taking her Amoxicillin, Mommy got sick again with Pharyngitis.  I got some antibiotics pronto, but unfortunately, the day Abby was done with her meds, she got sick again with what I had anyway!  I feel terrible!  I gave her two colds within her first two months.  Now this is her fifth cold in six months!  Poor baby probably just thinks that half of her life she’s supossed to feel like she can’t breathe.

I am very excited for my new calling as the Assistant Secretary in the Relief Society Presidency.  Now I just have to remember names and faces of everyone, which I am horrible at!  So that’s a little scary

AND I’ve taken on more with our business.  I always do customer service emails, HR paperwork, and payroll; now we’ve moved shipping to our house, just to make sure I go completely nuts!  Not only that, but sales have exploded since we put up the Blackberry Storm pre-order.  We’re getting about 20 times as many sales as usual, which is good!  But now my house is covered in spray bottles and squeegees and envelopes; dishes are covering the kitchen; I have no clean laundry; and Abby’s been left at the babysitter named the Jungle-Jumparoo all day!  SO I decided that there must be someone in the ward that could work from my house, and it turns my job offer was an answer to her prayers!!  (and she has been an answer to mine).  She has also come at the nick of time: before all this came up, I had agreed to watch the kids of a family in the stake.  We were waiting for the dad to get a second job, and he starts Dec 8th.  So as of next Monday I will have 2 little boys joining my household during the day!

We’ll be home for Christmas!!  We are going to Utah for Christmas (Dec 19th-28th) and we are so so so excited!!  Excited that Abby gets to play in the snow!  Excited that Abby gets to see Papa Santy!  Excited for Abby to meet all the family and friends she hasn’t met before, and see the ones she hasn’t seen in a while!  And of course we’re excited to see everyone again!

Baby Mania continues with two of Joe’s uncles, Chris and Glenn having baby’s…well they’re not doing all the work of course, their ladies’ are.  Here’s a pic at Chris’s wife Brooke’s baby shower for little Sawyer due this week!  From the left: Julia -Glenn’s fiance-due around Christmas, Anne-Brooke’s mom, Serena – Joe’s aunt, and Brooke holding Abby.  Let’s see, there’s also my lil sister Danielle due the beginning of January, my cousin Kaylee’s due soon thereafter, Joe’s Aunt Melanie is pregnant with her 7th, babies everywhere it’s great!