Family Pictures

We had our first official family photo shoot done a couple weeks ago. I think they turned out nice. I wish Abby was smiling in more of them, but what can you do. Fifteen month olds don't always smile on cue.

Photos by Kallina Smith Photography

No more Bah Bah!

Abby has been sick for the past week and she hasn't wanted her bottle like she usually does, so we decided maybe we would try weaning her. The last couple days she has been fine. She really didn't seem to care if she didn't get one before her naps and bedtime. We will see how long she lasts. I am going to put all the bottles away tomorrow. She still has her binks though. I don't know how we will take that one away.

Trying to be crafty

I wanted to make a cute dessert for a Halloween party we are going to on Saturday and I found this cupcake idea on Disney.com. So, I thought I would try it out before Saturday. What do you think, can you tell who it is?

...Jack Skellington

~ Disneyland in October ~

Pumpkin Mickey in Town Square. (Abby liked to point at this every time we passed)

Abby all ready to go to Mickey's Halloween Party!
Grandma and Abby standing in front of the castle.
The castle all decorated out for The Halloween party
The crew waiting for the parade to start.
Abby lying in the middle of the street at Disneyland.
Abby pointing to the big ghost Mickey.
Abby on the Tea Cups
Abby and Grandma Trick or Treating by Innovations.

Grandma and Abby in front of Main Street.
Waiting for the World of Color to start. (Abby loved the Mickey on the Farris Wheel)Disneyland Main Gate decorated for Halloween.

Abby trying to get to Dumbo.Right before our Flight!
Abby pointing at the Small World dolls.
Abby on It's A Small World.
Jack Skellington
The Haunted Mansion
Abby giving Pluto and Mickey loves.

The past weekend, Abby and I went to Disneyland with, Grandma Jo, and my sister Emily and her little family. I was so excited to take Abby to Disneyland because of how much she loves Mickey and his friends. She loved it. She especially loved the Tea Cups, It's a Small World, Winnie and Pooh's Adventure, Dumbo, and she didn't seem to mind Pirates. I love Disneyland in October. We went to Mickey's Halloween Party and had a great time Trick or Treating throughout Disneyland. Abby look pretty cute in her ladybug costume - she knew it too. When we were waiting for the Halloween Parade to start she kept walking up and down the road in front of everyone strutting her stuff. Everyone kept saying... Oh look to the cute little lady bug. She would stop and dance to the music and talk to people, then at one point she just stopped and laid down in the middle of the street rolled around a bit and ate her chicken nugget. It was pretty funny. She really enjoyed the parade. She like seeing all of the characters. When the parade was over she started screaming and wanted to follow it. We rode the Tea cups a few times that night because there was no wait and Abby kept wanting to go again and again. The fireworks were amazing as usual. Abby liked those too. The park was decorated to neat. I love what Disney does. The Haunted Mansion is better during Halloween. I prefer it done as the Nightmare before Christmas. I wish Stu could have been there with us to see it.
Abby loved riding all of the rides, but didn't understand the whole waiting in line thing. While we were waiting in any line, she would try to climb through fences, and crawl through people trying to get to the ride. She knew what she wanted and she was going to get there herself. Saturday was extremely busy so we didn't get the chance to go on as many rides as we would have liked to but I am pretty sure there will be many more chances. On Saturday night went to see World of Color in California Adventure. It was absolutely AMAZING. I can't wait to take Stu back to see it. Abby even loved it. She just laid on my shoulder and watched the whole thing.
Abby didn't sleep very well on the trip so we were all a little tired and grumpy, but we still had a great time. Thanks Grandma for letting us crash in your room, and thanks Em for letting us tag along with you!

15 months

Trying to put her band-aid from her shots on her doggy.
We went in for Abby's 15 month appointment last week. All is well. Abby didn't wanted to leave the room the entire time we were there. She stood at the door trying to open it. She is still over 100th percentile in height.

• She is 32 inches

• 24.5 lbs.

• Her head circumference is still right at 50th percentile as usual.

Dr. Cramer said she is as tall as a 21 month old. Now I see why I have to buy everything in 24 months to fit her. We still don't know were she is getting all this height from.
When we were leaving the exam room she stopped and walked in to Dr. Camer's office and before I could grab her she started talking and pointing at his desk. I realized what she was point at, on his deck he had a statue of a head that he put Mickey Mouse ears on. She loves Mickey Mouse and all of his friends (especially Pluto). She points them out everywhere we go. When we pulled into the parking lot for the appointment she was pointing at something outside. I pulled her out of the car and didn't know what she was looking it. Then as we got closer to the object she kept pointing and screaming louder. It was a golf ball with Mickey Mouse ears on the antenna of the car next to us.

A few things about Abby at 15 months.
She is so much fun right now, other than the occasional grumpy days and tantrums. She Still loves Mickey Mouse Club House and Baby Einstein. She loves pushing things around... strollers, laundry baskets. She likes to empty cupboards and play with anything that is not a toy. She LOVES to brush her teeth and would eat toothpaste if we would let her. She loves the five little ducks song - sometimes she will do the quack, quack, quack part. It is pretty cute! She loves Patty Cake and does all the actions to it. She could eats treats and McDonald's Chicken Nuggets all day long if I would let her. Tortilla's, Tortilla chips, Rice and beans, Chicken, Rice Pilaf, canned Green Beans, Peas, Corn, Bananas, Apples, Peaches and cereal are some of her favorite food right now. She has to dip everything! If there is any kind of sauce around she has to dip what she is eating in it. She loved drinking out of a straw and taking off the lid and playing in the drink. She is quite the walker now. Crawling is a thing of the past. She would like to be naked all the time. She can make a few animal noises, meow (so cute), woof, woof, quack, quack, sound like (cack, cack), and occasionally, a horsey and elephant sound. I might be missing some but I love to hear her try and talk. Shopping/grocery shopping will never be the same. She keeps us on our toes.
We love you to pieces munchkin!

Always entertaining!

Mommy I won't let you put clothes on me, but I really want to wear these fancy shoes!

He thinks my tractor's Sexy!

These were taken in July, but I thought they were too funny not to post.

Never knew a clothes hamper could be so much fun!

If Grandpa is putting on socks I need to put on socks too!

We thought she kind of looked like a centaur.

Time to celebrate!

Abby had a Cheese Quesadilla today and had no reaction to the cheese! I really hope she is growing out of her milk allergy. We are going to try Pizza tonight!

Always on the run!

I love my little girl! She makes me smile. I get so excited to see her after I have been gone. Lately she has become even more fun! She is becoming a very good walker and she is always going somewhere. I love to watch her walk, though her walk is not quite as funny as it used to be. She is getting good. I love to listen to her talk. She tries to mimic EVERYTHING we say. She know all of the Disney characters (she is going to love Disneyland next week) and can say so many things. She is still not consistent but she knows so much. Tonight I was doing Patty Cake with her and she did all the actions and would try to mimic what I was saying. It was so dang cute! The other day grandpa showed me that she can give high fives. I never new. So that is something new we do. We can get her to do pretty much anything if I tell her she can watch Mickey Mouse Club House while she does it. Changing diapers just got so much easier. She follows direction really well, especially when there are fruit snacks involved. She is becoming a little more picky eater, but she still loves rice and beans, chips, Bananas, shredded wheat the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms, Raisins, Green beans and chicken of any kind the best. A week of so ago we took her to Morelias to get Mexican food and she just wanted to eat the salsa. She started by dipping her chip then she began just dipping her hand and scooping it out and ate it. When she decides she is hungry she will go into the pantry and try and find herself something to eat. So we have to keep anything we don't want he to have out of her reach. To day she walked out with a potato. Not quite sure what she was going to do with that. If she wants a drink she knows where the bottles and sippy cups are and she will go and get one. So independent! The other day I got her a ba, ba (bottle) and she took it and went straight for the door leading down stairs, she got down stairs and when straight to her room, I laid her blanket on the floor and told her to lay down on it she laid down with her ba, ba I wrapped her up, rocked her and off to bed she went. It is so nice, she never fusses just goes right to bed. I could go on forever she just gets cuter and cuter everyday. I love her to pieces.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Another year older! Stu and I celebrated our birthday's together since they are only a week a part. We enjoyed two weeks of celebrating and to top it off we had our favorite a Dairy Queen ice cream. cake.

What Abby is up to...

Abby loves purses. Stu showed her the other day that she could put her bib over her shoulder like a purse, the next morning there she was with the bib over her shoulder. Anything that can be a purse, is a purse: a bucket, a pair of pants, mommy's purse. Today I gave her one of my older purses that is a little smaller and she put it over her shoulder and put her Mickey and Minnie figurines in it. She also loved bracelets. She likes to get into my jewelry drawer and put my bracelets on. I can't believe how much she understands. I said something to her the other day not expecting her to understand and the next thing I know she went and did it. I asked her if she was poopy today and she pointed to her diaper. It is so crazy to me how smart little ones are. I only let her have her Binky's in her bed or in the car and today she found all of her Binky's on the floor by her crib (because she throws them out when she wakes up) and she picked them all up and threw them into her crib. I asked her yesterday if she wanted to go take a bath she got all excited and said tub, tub and went straight to the tub. She surprises me everyday with something new. I just love her to pieces even if she has become a little monster lately. She still loves Josh Groban We get in the car and she points to the stereo. The other day my mom had her. They were driving and Abby kept pointing to the stereo and getting kind of fussy so my mom turned on Josh Groban's Christmas CD because that was all she had in the car and Abby fell right to sleep. I need to write to Josh and let him know he has a 14 month old fan.

Here's a funny story, I was sitting on the toilet, minding my own business and Abby came walking into the bathroom. She walks over to me and starts talking to me, then slides in next to the toilet and the next thing I know her hand in reaching into the toilet behind me. I grabbed her hand but it was too late, it was all wet. SO Disgusting! I started washing her hands in the sink and she grabs the toilet paper roll that is on the counter (because if it is on the roll she unrolls it) and put it in the sink. She is too busy for me sometimes, and I know it is only going to get worse.

Another story, Lafaunda informed me that earlier that day she squatted down and her shirt came up a little and Abby started putting cereal down her crack. What a little stinker. Sorry Lafaunda hope you don't mind me telling that story.

What a Mom!

I am such a great Mom, my daughter has 3 molars and I didn't even know she had them. She got an ear infection a couple weeks ago and had a couple bad nights and that was probably them. I just blamed the ear infection. I was waiting for more of her front teeth to come in before the molars so I haven't even looked. Poor thing. I think she might be getting the 4th one, now I am a little more observant.

Too Cute!

Abby's favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Tonight she was watching it with her Daddy and Mickey kept calling for Pluto and suddenly Abby started saying Pluto. It sounded more like Poodo, it was pretty cute. She just kept repeating it. After that I went to put her down to bed. I was rocking her while I gave her a bottle and she just kept on talking and saying Pluto so I said to her Shhhhhh! She looked up at me and took out her bottle and said Shhhhhh! I couldn't stop laughing so of course she continue to Shhhhh, me. I just love her sweet little personality. I don't know how we ever lived with out her. She still doesn't say too many words, but she is getting a lot better at walking. We love watching her she looks like a little Frankenstein. She cruises around now thinking she is hot stuff. Pretty soon she will be running.

She's a Walkin'

Abby took her first steps a couple days ago, now she is a walking machine. She still is quite tipsy and sometimes would rather crawl if she need to get there faster. I love holding her hand and walking by her side. Being a Mommy is the best thing in the world. I just love her to pieces! Way to go big girl!

Here is a short clip of her walking. Sorry it is sideways I don't know how to turn it.

MSA Playgroup!

Abby checking out some animal!

All the ladies and all the strollers.

Today we had our first of many MSA (Medical School Alliance AKA, the spouses club) playgroup.

I was so great to go and meet with a bunch of other women who understand what it is like to have a husband in Medical school. I met a lot of new friends, got to spend time with some old friends - Miss Natalie Demill - and got reacquainted with friends I haven't seen for a long time that I didn't know were even in MSA - Megan Lindsey, sorry Meg I don't know your married name. Abby had a great time watching all the kids, she could care less about the animals. I thinks we were the only people at the zoo to day. It was quite cold! I am so excited to be a part of MSA for the next four years. I just wish we had playgroup more than once a month.