A Most Egg-cellent and Egg-citing Easter Weekend

Abby's first Easter was so much fun!  Abby and I stayed up in Bethlehem at Nana and Pop Pop's house from Friday - Sunday.  They had my old crib set up in the bedroom for her which worked really well, and we used my old umbrella stroller to take her on walks which she loved. 

We had fun at Nana and Pop Pop's as well as at Granma and Grandad's place.  There was egg dyeing, Easter baskets, Lawrence Welk Easter shows, yummy meals, and more.  Abby finally got to meet her Great-Grandmother, Nana Rhines.  We walked over to Aunt Sharon's house and they all got to meet her.  Ages spanned from 11 months (Abby) to 90 years (Nana).  It was also an exciting (or should I say egg-citing) weekend because Uncle Aunt Jessie got engaged to Justin!  Yay!!!  A September 2012 wedding is possibly in the works.  

And now for the pictures:

Climbing on Pop Pop

Check out my big, round belly!

Abby the Easter Bunny

Wine and eggs

Having fun with a hard-boiled egg

Pretty eggs

Going through her basket from Uncle Jessie

Bunny butt!

Abby says Hoppy Easter!

Meeting her great-grandmother!

Going for a stroll around the neighborhood

Deep thoughts down at the park

That's all folks, Easter makes me egggg-shausted!

Spring Has Sprung!

The birds are chirping, the sun is shining (er, sometimes), the buds are blooming... spring is in the air!

We are all so happy that spring has arrived and that things are looking up and the sun is out longer during the day.  The end of winter can just be so blahhhh.

Spring means walks in the neighborhood, getting fresh air, playing in the yard, enjoying other colors besides slushy snow and bare brown trees, and swinging in the baby tree swing that is on its way from Amazon (yay!).  

 

Abby Road

Abby is growing and getting closer and closer to turning 1!  She is doing well with her formula and her food but we do need to get going on trying the sippy cup more and more finger/table foods.  She now has 4 teeth on the bottom and 2 on the top with more coming soon.  She moves a lot more but still no crawling (seems so close at times though).  We "walk" with her from time to time too so that she gets the hang of that. 

Ok, enough with the small talk - here are pictures.

Soft kitty...

Climbing around in her crib...

Polka dots!

Having a fun day with Mommy!

We got one of those crib railing covers so she doesn't bang her head, mouth, or teeth on it...

What a silly ducky face!

Wearing her Abbey Road onesie which is too small for her...

Out for a walk with Pop Pop!



Finally - Formula Success!!

I think I just gained about an hour and a half of my life back.  Abby is finally taking formula alone, not mixed in with breastmilk. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I chose to breastfeed and have done so for as long as I have.  And mind you, I've exclusively breastfed this entire time.  It zaps up lots of time, lots of energy, and I had to limit or omit many foods that I ate so that it wouldn't affect her (more so in the first 6 months).  I had to increase my calorie intake which I found very difficult (I am a light eater and I get full easily since I eat slow).  I haven't been the most active in terms of real exercise since I'm busy working and busy being a mom (and then sleeping when I can), so trying to eat more foods and not exercising has been interesting.  I bounced back quickly to a pre-pregnancy weight after I had Abby - breastfeeding sure does help with that... but then things do slow down, I'd say 6 months and after.  I want to run now though and shape up! 

Pumping twice at work had its own issues and awkward moments, I'd have to save that for a whole separate blog.  Let me just say that I had to be a pain at work in order to get a proper (or, as proper as it can currently be) mother's room set up, and had to be a pain to get a second room set up since there were definitely more people than just me who needed it.  One room is a little "quiet room" with brown paper covering the glass (all the rooms in our buildings have glass), and the secondary room is a cleared out facilities closet.  Hm, cozy.  For a large company, I guess my expectations were bit higher.

Once (at our previous building), I was pumping and got a knock on the door from a male teammember asking, "When are you going to be done?  I have a meeting saved for this room."  Boy did that just screw up my milk flow right then and there.  Another time, I was putting my milk away in the bistro fridge and these guys hanging around asked, "Hey do you know where I can get some milk?"  I about died.  Turns out they were making coffee and were just referring to the freakin' creamers.  My face was probably the color of Elmo.  Another time, when I was trying to request a second room to be set up, the mail guy took me downstairs to the women's restroom and women's shower areas and asked if that was a possibility for a place.  Umm, NO.  So weird.  A bathroom of any kind is not acceptable for a place to produce your baby's food - would you eat your food in a bathroom?!

Well I said I'd save that for another blog but I guess I just lied.  So Abby started taking Nutramigen formula for a little while now but it always had to be mixed with my breastmilk, otherwise she wouldn't take it.  And we had tried numerous formulas before that but either a) it was milk-based and she'd throw up a LOT, or b) it was soy and she just refused it all the time when we tried.  Nutramigen is one of the most expensive kinds of formula of course, but I'm just glad it works for her.  She has now gotten to the point where she will take the full bottle of formula without breastmilk.  So we figured that weaning is finally possible and currently she'll get 3-4 feedings a day and I will still breastfeed the 1st and last feeding of the day, cutting out the pumping at work (happy dance, happy dance!).  Eventually I'll take one breastfeeding away each week, so that she gradually takes all formula and I don't get any pain or discomfort either.  Whew!  

Oh and I won't have to clean those pump parts anymore either (more happy dance!).  24 less pieces to wash (although now there will be more bottles).



  

Boohbahs and Mexican Fiestas

Abby was going to bed the other night in her soft, blue sleeper and Peter said she looked like the blue boohbah.  What do you think, see any similarities?

We also got a chance to go hang out at Laura and Todd's Mexican fiesta get-together in Philly on Sunday night.  Despite being overwhelmed when we first got in and scrunching up her cute wittle face and crying, it was baby friendly and she did ok.  She's just not used to having so many people around and everyone was staring at her.  She got a little shy/scared.  :)

Here she is on the way over, obviously pretty excited about it (I loved how she fell asleep still hanging onto her birdie):

Also, no babies were harmed when a margarita was accidentally spilled on Alicia:

Abby loved the disco ball in the living room:

She stayed out well past her bedtime and when we put her down in her crib at home, we mimicked the disco ball by putting on her constellation turtle, which turned her room into a magical night sky:

In other Abicus news, she likes to pull up in her crib now (from a sitting position):

And she loves splashing around at bathtime and is obsessed with her red water scooper toy and rubber ducky:

Here's just a recent, cute picture of her:

And here she is on Phillies opening day, showing her support of the Phillies of course!

She liked looking at herself in the mirror of her catepillar toy to see how beautiful she is and how awesome her clothing is:

Lastly, just some quality time spent with mommy and daddy:

(Watching the history channel most likely)

(Thank goodness for self-timers on digital cameras, otherwise I'd have no pictures of me with my daughter)

Oh, Toooodles!

Toodles is Mickey's helpful buddy on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse if you are wondering what I'm talking about in this next video...

Chris and Jennifer - sorry it has taken so long to post a video of Abby playing in her jumper!  She loves it and has the most "jumpability" in the morning after waking up.

Her hair goes flippity floppity.   

Fashion Blog

Abby told me she wants to turn her blog into a fashion blog... ok, not really but she did want to model her cute bunny slippers:

Already showin' some leg...

And she also wanted to show off her long, flowing locks; fairly Lady Gaga-esque, no?

Even naked in the crib...

And this is her while watching Fashion Police on E!





Can you tell I've discovered the fun of Pizap?  (thanks Kermit the Blog!)