christmas adventures

We had a great time in Atlanta with Jamie's family for Christmas . . . Abigail was excited to add Georgia to the list of states she's been to (9, including DC, for anyone else who might be counting). When we arrived Abigail and Richie Bear met each other and became fast friends. They are approximately the same size and stuck together throughout the visit.Richie Bear was occasionally left to his own devices while Abigail went off exploring.

Plenty of new places to roam . . . Abigail sure can zip around!

Abigail with her Grandpa George!

And Grandma Roberta too!

All of the Christmas music inspired some fun dancing times with Papa . . .

Abigail tried some new foods while she was down South . . . including Grandma Roberta's baked beans, which she loved. Here she is enjoying lunch on Christmas eve.

"Hey I said I wanted baked beans, not cheerios..."

The Christmas tree was a very fun object to explore, from a distance as well as up close . . . !

Best of all, Abigail got to meet some of her cousins for the first time! Eva was a great pal and shared her little puppy Star with Abigail.

The Christmas Eve church service crowd gets ready to head out . ..

Here's Abigail on Christmas morning!

Here we are outside on Christmas day . . . it was 65 and sunny...wow!

Just being lovey.

Abigail thinks hard about how she got so lucky to have such a silly Papa.

The four brothers can coordinate their wardrobe without talking about it in advance. No blue shirt memo was distributed, yet look at the results.

Here's Abigail with her cousins who were so helpful and kept everyone amused.

The girls' table.

Enjoying a bottle with cousin Emily.

And with cousin Katie.The whole family . . . together for the first time in 5 years. Merry Christmas to all!

papa's home . . .

Well, Papa went off on another excursion . . . to Russia this time. . . brrrrr. Luckily he made it back, despite several weather-induced airport setbacks. Oh winter storms! Here's Abigail and Jamie over a week ago, right before he dashed out the door on his way to the airport. Someone is sad to see Papa go . . .

Thank goodness Grandma came to help out . . . we could not have survived the week without her! Ankle woes and active babies do not a good combination make.

When Papa came home today he was tidying up and found these bunny ears, which some may remember from this long-ago outing with Abigail. So we put them on before for a few final photos before they found their way out of our house . . .

Grandma brought Abigail some shoes . . . she is a Big Girl now.

Catch her if you can!

Here we are mid-project . . . we're transforming the porch into playroom extraordinaire . . . room for Abigail to roam, and hopefully enough storage for all of her belongings!

More pics from Grandma's camera coming soon . . .

early christmas for abigail

One of Abigail's Christmas presents arrived in the mail today . . . so we broke it out a little early.

The foamy alphabet floor tiles are a big hit, and they make for a softer crawling/standing/tipping/landing place in the kitchen . . . that is one hard floor otherwise. Ouch! Anyways, Abigail was fascinated by the colorful new floor surface and spent quite a while inspecting every corner of the mat. Needless to say, some of you will say that this marks the tipping point where we've officially become one of "those houses" where kiddie stuff takes over every single surface in every single room. Maybe, but we'd been meaning to add some color to the kitchen!

Speed-crawling floor inspector reporting for service.

morning activities

When you're Abigail and you're an early riser, there's nothing stopping you from accomplishing a lot before it's even 7am! Like reading a book while standing up . . .Rear-view.

And playing piano with Papa, a little residual bed-head thrown in for good measure.

Someone was excited to be tickling the ivories . . .

Focused . . .

And a big grin for Papa . . . "thanks for filling in where I missed a few notes!"

And, not really about our morning routine, but we are loving all of the Christmas cards that arrive this time of year . . . and in updating our own list this year and getting newsy bits from friends all over, we've realized that we know a lot of babies born in 2008. 16 (including A) to be precise! Abigail has a lot of buddies of the same vintage, some of whom she has yet to meet in person due to geographical challenges . . . here they are, in order of arrival: Jessie, Georgia, Sahana, Abigail, Lily, Maya, Sada, Kai, Eloise, Clay, Evelyn, Rohan, Charlie, Annie, Grace, and Emilia. Wow. That's 12 girls and 4 boys for anyone counting. And with more friends announcing news of impending 2009 arrivals, we expect another busy baby year ahead!

bathtime

Continuing the hair/bath theme . . . here's Abigail getting a shampoo!

Blogger is being picky about uploading videos . . . so you'll just have to imagine all of the splashing. Wow.

must have bunny

Pink bunny is always causing trouble. Someone has to keep pink bunny in line.

blow dry

Now that Abigail thinks baths are a fun part of the bedtime routine, we've added another element . . . the blow dry!Papa is an excellent stylist . . . if only we could convince him to blow dry Mommy's hair every day too!

Abigail finds the whole experience pretty darn fun, and the cord is awfully interesting too . .. (don't worry, it didn't end up in her mouth).

the boot

Just when you thought things couldn't get any more exciting . . . someone twists their ankle!Mommy got the boot! Oh no..... (at least it is only for a few weeks . . . technical diagnosis for the doctors in the audience: avulsion fracture, fibula)

Someone will never be in a hurry around curbs in the dark again . . . ouch.

december days

Happy December everyone . . .Abigail's all bundled up in her sweater set . . . keeping cozy.

We haven't really mentioned standing yet . . . this is Abigail's new absolute favorite pastime. We'll get some video soon .. . her dismount from standing position is priceless.

"I'm over here now"

She's also starting to get the hang of the rocker. Though sometimes rocking morphs into chewing on the yellow critter's yarny hair....

She's also liking cheerios much more these days . . . in the mouth it goes.

And swinging on a chilly day with Grandma...always fun.

Reading her new book about dogs with her grandparents...an early Christmas present for Miz A!

t-day weekend

Abigail had a great (yet poorly documented) first Thanksgiving. In the words of her cousin Natalie when she learned Abigail would be having sweet potatoes for dinner, "It's nice that Abigail can have something that the Indians ate..."

As you can see, A has been intent on squeezing in a lot of activity this weekend . . . . . . Keeping track of her pal, pink bunny.

. . . Reading FuzzyBee, an all time favorite.

. . . Going out to eat with her parents and grandparents.

Mmmmm brunch....

Abigail tried to stay focused on the task at hand . . . eating her lunch (which also included bread and avocado from adult meals), but it was hard, given all of the other things to look at . . .

Back at home, more time playing with grandma.

And some time for books.

Abigail takes a closer look . . .