Mommy Roller Coaster

This mommy thing is not for the sissy...  I'm having one of those 'I could be so much better at this mommy thing' day (week/month...)  My brain is still processing all this and trying to figure it out.  It mostly has to do with parenting Autumn - I'm too hard on her and expect too much, yell too much, am not patient/creative/kind/gentle enough with her.  I feel like I've dug a hole in how we communicate that we need to dig out of.  Lord help me, teach me!  Redeem the mistakes, guide me to do better - to be a better person and mommy. 

Abby's 8 months old

 
Another month has gone absolutely flying by!  After you turned 7 months - developmentally you soared through some milestones in the first week - 
May 3rd Crawled
May 4th supine to sit, first puffs
May 5th pulled up to standing in crib
May 9 clapping

Since may 9th  you've just improved upon all those skills and are easily cruising through the house!  Luckily you much prefer pulling to stand on things over exploring - although you have found the bathroom and sisters room.  I baby proofed Autumn's room so you enjoy meandering around in there. You also enjoy the living room and sitting at the fridge playing with letter magnets.  On May 6th you had a Dr check up and were just shy of 14 pounds in the 3rd %ile - I'm eager to see what you are now, it feels like you've grown a ton!  As much as you've been eating and not sleeping at night, I'm hoping there is poundage to show for it!

Everyone comments that you are such a happy baby!  You really are happy as long as you are getting what you want - but you have some pretty strong opinions for a little one!!  If you see something you want you scream until it is in your hands or we hide it if you can't have it! You do not like to be fed by others - occasionally I can sneak something off my fingers, but otherwise you much feed yourself. Luckily you are pretty good at it and we've adapted your diet to be soft things you can pick up.

You can not be in the same room as me with someone else holding you - you screech at incredible volumes.  I handed you to an aunty at a birthday party to put sunscreen on Autumn and you achieved the looks of all 200 people there!!  Pretty funny!  If you want up in our arms you make it known and don't give up your cries until you are satisfied - but you are so happy in our arms!

We are still in our condo - soon to be moving to our new house!  We are eager to get you to the house where there are no stairs and the space is more baby friendly!  Grandma was here with us until the 15th and we all miss her greatly - you got to spend quality time with her and enjoyed sleeping in her arms.  The next week we recruited a friend to help us with you and Autumn until mommy can readjust her schedule to work less and although it has been a little hard for you, you are doing well with Chelsey.  We are ready for the house buying craziness to be over and life to be a bit more routine for all of us!

Things that make you happy!
Playing with or seeing mommy, daddy or Autumn
Finger foods - especially dried seaweed
Playing with cups
Pulling to stand on everything
Pulling your sister's hair
The remote
Unfamiliar toys to explore
Being free if you are in the mood to explore
Watching people, children playing or the ocean

Swimming in the pool and bath time
My necklaces
Baby dolls - you love sucking on their hands and feet and face, Grandma got you your first baby doll
Exploring for short times as long as we are in view

Things that make you sad -
Being confined - initially getting in car seat, the sit and spin, held back from something you want
Being left alone in a room for a few seconds
Being put down most of the time
Being handed to someone other than mom or dad



Other things that make you Abby!
You went through a crazy screeching stage for a couple weeks - is was very joyful, but oh so loud
Now you jibber jabber with lots of aah, ooos
You've started the nose crinkle quiet snorting in and out thing
You are transitioning to solid poops and it has been rough on you - you let out a great Williams sisters yell when you are pushing
You've got the widest cutest smile ever!
Your eyes change between green/brown and blue on different days



You are our sweet sweet girl and these baby months are going by too quickly!  You bring so much joy to our life and fun to our family!
Biggest love,
Momma and Daddy

Abby's 7 months old!

Beautiful girl!! Oh how we love you!  It has been a whirlwind of a month! Day two we flew grandma here to help us and on day 3 I started working full time and on day 5 you got strep throat.  We kind of just survived for about 10 days and then dug ourselves out of the house for swimming, play dates and time in Hilo seeing the zoo and gardens.  You've gone from barely being able to sit up yourself to controlling where you go with rolling and sitting up for minutes at a time.  You are very good at manipulating toys to turn and inspect them, and get them to your mouth. You continue to grab for anything and everything in your reach. 

Food: You started foods last month and continued to enjoy them until you got strep throat. I think the combination of your throat hurting and us trying to get medicine down you kind of turned you off. It took 2 weeks before you would willingly open your mouth for bites. You mostly like being in control of the spoon, and are surprisingly good at getting the food off the spoon in your mouth on your own.  It makes a big mess, but gets the job done.  You've started liking your mesh feeder again too with ice cubes and other soft treats.

Things you love: Standing if someone holds you, blowing raspberries in the air and on our face, arms and legs, neck and tummy tickles, mama's milk, your music toy, being held, sleeping in grandma's arms, playing it the tub and swimming pool

Things you don't love: Seeing me but not being held by me the moment you see me, being put down, being sick, the car seat sometimes, having me hand you to someone else and then walk away or not be in view.

Your temperament is somewhat extreme - you really like what you like and really dislike what you dislike. Your happy screams are really loud - Autumn is constantly telling you that you are hurting her ears.  Your mad scream is even louder and very intense. More than one person has made comment - she is little but she sure has lungs. (this has been true since the day you were born!)  You spend far more time happy in a day and are starting to explore around a bit.

Sleep:  What's that...?  Most of the month you nursed every 1.5-2.5 hours even through the night.  It's amazing how a mama can survive on little sleep - but I'm certain it is impacting my memory, I'm so forgetful lately.

Abby - you are so wonderful - these baby moments are passing by so quickly and we are enjoying them so much!  We can't wait to watch you grow and become interested in more and more of the world!  God has given us such a special gift in you!!!   Loves, Mommy and Daddy

Happy Abby is 6 months old

I can't believe a 1/2 year has flown by already!!  Abby you are such a sweet and adorable baby! We are so blessed! This month has been quite crazy - we went from thinking we'd be in the same home for 12 months to having a contract on a house in Kona!  You have changed so much this month - you now eat solid foods and roll over both directions and sleep on your belly at night.  You flipped yourself out of the swing which we have now given away.  You can nearly lean yourself out of the bouncer and sit up tall in the high chair. You love to suck on ice cubes in the mesh feeder, coo and squeal and blow raspberries at random. You enjoy the sit and spin for up to 15 mins and went from batting at things to spinning your self around and grabbing everything - you especially love the little frog.  You can sit up on your own now - in like 3 days you went from tippy to independent.  At your 6 month photo shoot you sat up well, but kept grabbing the sand and eating it!  You love love love digging in the sand, but it always eventually finds it's way to your mouth.  Bath time is a joy and you pretty much put your self to sleep in your crib after your night time nursing.  Some nights you sleep really well and others you are up 3-4x.  You are pretty happy unless you are hungry or decide momma is too far away.  Your first food was butter avocado with an ocean view! So far you have also eaten Okinawan sweet potato, apple banana, oatmeal, apple sauce, quinoa, and rice.  It is more like tasting than eating as you don't have much at each meal. 
You are quite the messy eater and enjoy taking the spoon yourself each bite, throwing it on the ground and wiping food in your hair!  You shake with excitement for some bites and get so upset when we take the spoon just long enough to put more food on it. You are starting to have more of an opinion about things - your favorite toys are your mermaid and soft monkey rattle.  When things you want drop to the floor or you can't do what you want with them you are easily frustrated.  You are very excitable and will giggle and giggle with neck kisses, peek a boo, and tickles.  You are so motivated to move and really try to get places.  You enjoy being on your belly to look around, but sometimes get stuck and frustrated.    Your naps are short unless you are in our arms or the car seat.  More and more you enjoy watching and engaging your sister - it is so cute when you giggle together.

Things we've spent our time doing this month -
Play dates and beach dates
Going to the swimming pool - the hot tub is too hot and the cold pool is too cold so in the evenings you often times sit on the edge with us holding your hips or kick around as we hover you over the water.  You love splashing

Watching the hula on Fridays
Looking at houses and sitting at the realtor's and loan broker's

Abby it has been a wonderful 6 months! We enjoy you so much and look forward to the coming months - you are going to be crawling, walking and talking before we know it!

Biggest hugs and kisses!
Momma and Daddy 

5 Months

Sweet Abby! This has been one crazy month!!!  You now live in Hawaii!  We arrived on the 9th and your world has completely changed. Before we left we spent a few days in Denver with Nana and Papa going to the museum and zoo. You slept a lot, but did enjoy looking around at things.  Mommy started working so you spend the mornings with your daddy and Autumn. I get home around 9 and we spend the rest of the day unpacking or playing.  You have met many of our friends here in Kona, took your first dip in the ocean and have spent a lot of time cruising around in the car while we run errands. You are content much of the time, but if you decide things are not like you want them you can sustain a full on screaming fit for 20 minutes - all the way from Costco to home.  Although you are not very patient for milk or cuddles, it is made up for with your social coos and smiles! If your current ways continue, I believe you will be a very social extroverted person.  If we put you down you only self entertain for a moment and then want eye contact and attention to continue to be happy.  You will go from crying to laughing with raspberries and kisses.  I am very happy to report that you are being very nice to daddy while I'm at work. You take the bottle after waking up and other than a little bank incident - you don't cry at him too much. 
Development - the first day I went back to work you rolled over from your tummy to back very easily.  You are so strong and love to stand on your feet. When on your tummy you push up and make crawling motions.  I'm hopeful you will wait a bit longer to learn to walk than your sister, but your movements would make us think that it is entirely possible you could walk early. You grab at everything, inspect and handle toys well.  You usually look at them and then see what they taste like. Everything goes in your mouth, you may be teething or just exploring orally.   You can really coo and squeal - it is so precious. Today at a friend's birthday party you squealed loudly at the ocean over the over.  You love watching children or animals.  You are now laughing more often - spontaneous laughs are still infrequent, but kissing your neck or giving you raspberries or tickles almost always produces a laugh.  We got a sit and spin and you love being upright looking at and grabbing at it. You especially like the little green frog that spins on it.  You still enjoy the swing and bouncer chair, but have to be in the right mood for it.  For me to get anything done in the kitchen I have to have you in there with the bouncer on the counter and toys to play with, as you do not tolerate being in the living room alone. 
Sleeping - you take irregular naps and then almost always melt between 8 and 9pm.  You fall asleep easily and then usually need fed 2-4 times during the night and get up at around 6 or 7.  
Eating - you are becoming more and more interested in watching us eat. Even opening your mouth as we bring the spoon to our own mouth. I've given you a little water on a spoon and let you suck on the edge of a water glass.
Diapers - you still a super pooper, but you seem to be blowing out of diapers less often. Today your outfit lasted all day!  Not that you want to know this - but when you rumble we hold you away from us, as you've been known to not only need an outfit change, but make us go change too! (-: 
We are excited to see more and more of your personality! We love you so much and are so grateful you are ours!!! 
Love, Mommy and Daddy

Denver Zoo

Ergo Nap

Valentines

First Dip in the Pacific - Kahaluu

Whale watching!!

Moving

First Airplane ride

4 Months!

 

 

 

Abby! You have been here with us for 4 months and this one has been so enjoyable!  You are mostly a super happy baby enjoying playing with our toes and looking at and talking to people! You love to stand up in our lap, reach for and manipulate toys and pulling and looking at anything with in reach.  The other day I wore my shell necklace and you cooed and cooed at it!  The other day you were 10 pounds 13 ounces, so you are likely close to 11 pounds.  Your sleep is all over the place – but you usually string at least 7-8 hours at night. Sometime it includes a nice 5-6 hours and sometimes you are up every 2 ½ hours.  Your naps are short but sometimes you surprise us with a nice 2-3 hour one. Like your sister did, you usually nap best in your carseat. You continue to reject the bottle or any type of pacifier.  Mommy going back to work will be interesting!

It has been another very busy month for our family!  We spent a couple of nights with your Great Grandma and Grandpa Carvers and celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary in Mesa.  Then we reorganized and packed up at Nana and Papa and headed to Loveland to spend some time with the Browns and friends.  We are in transit for our big move to Hawaii. We’re excited to introduce you to island life and to our friends and community in Kona in a few days.  On your 4^th months birthday we had a big party with friends in Loveland.  You have met a lot of people this month!  Uncle Chad got to come for the anniversary celebration and then you met the Hanfts, Patricks, Eklunds, and Alsums for the first time at our going away again party.  You also met cousins Dave, Kim, Morgan and Kiley, the Osborns and Burkes this month.  

Biggest Milestone: On the 25th you started belly laughing - I wasn't there, but sister dripped water on you in the bath and you busted up. I have some of the  laughs on video! You've been getting closer and closer and we’ve been waiting for it to happen! You haven’t really given us another big laugh, but gave some smaller ones to daddy the other day.  Your smile is contageous and big!   We love you sweet Abby!!!

It's Happening

In less than a week we board a jet plane headed for our island home.  Seems crazy, a bit surreal and so so so exciting!  I just read a post I wrote a year ago about our plans to head back after the 2012 Holiday's and the time has come.  It is a funny thing moving to Hawaii - nooooo one has sympathy for us (which they shouldn't, but if we were moving to Oklahoma or something the comments would surely be different)!  I can't really explain why Hawaii has grown on our hearts - and it isn't purely because of the idealistic weather, warm ocean and year round outdoor play activities.  It is our community, where we belong - we really feel it is where God wants us for the foreseeable future.  We hope and plan to make nice long visits to Colorado when we can and will miss the family and friends we have here. 

Here are the details.  We land Feb 9th and stay with some dear friends that have room for us until the 16th.  I hopefully do an orientation day at my new part time job on the 11th if my background check clears in time.  We are pursuing a rental at this place - Kanaloa - which is walking distance to my job.  I'm feeling blessed and crazy spoiled that it is in our price range!  Other units the same price are not nearly so nice, on the ocean or this close to my work. My good friend will check it out on Monday and give the thumbs up or down - if it looks good it should be ours starting the 18th.  Hopefully we can get settled and find a new groove that works for all of us as we are going to try to not use daycare and have me go in super early.  It should be interesting (hopefully better than we are currently imagining) for Aaron with Abby in the morning.  She is currently not taking a bottle very well and I will be gone for about 4 1/2 hours.  If it doesn't work then I will likely split my day and go back during afternoon naps to finish my hours.  Off we go!!!!  Praising the Lord and trusting him with our next steps!  (oh I forgot to mention that I'm still researching my dream of building a small home on Walua Rd.  - the lot I want is still available - we will be oh so busy if we are able to get that underway!)

Good Bye 2012 and Hello 2013!

2012 Reflection Questions:

1. What was the best thing that happened to me this year? Meeting our 2nd baby girl and the huge amounts of time we have got to spend with family and friends!

2. What did I do this year that I'm really proud of? A second natural birth, relaxing a bit more about money, deciding Kona will be our home

3. Who did I really help? My students in Kona and house projects for my parents (they have been so generous to keep us and I've had fun decorating, fixing and adding here and there!)

4. Who do I need to thank and acknowledge for having been there for me? My mom - she is my closest friend (other than Aaron of course)

5. What are the top three lessons I learned? Life is to short to sweat the small stuff, I still need more Grace toward others and myself, Life is so good

6. What increased my happiness and joy this year? My family

7. What's something I got through that was really tough? I don't think I would consider anything to be really tough this year

8. What did I avoid that I must pay more attention to in 2013?  Eating right - pregnancy/nursing consumption will need to end 

9. What character trait did I develop most this year?  Contentment

10. What new people did I meet that are now in my life? Hogans

A few fun adventure stats from 2011:

States visited: 8
Nights spent in different cities: 18
Days with the Watsons: Not enough (-: 11





Goals for 2013!

1. Back to pre-pregnancy weight
2. Spend 20 minutes 5x a week in God's word
3. Buy or build in Kona
4. Work part time
5. Surf 3-4x a month
6.  Run a 10 k in under 60 mins

Happy 3 months Abby

Christmas - Addy wanted you to try on some doll clothing (-:

Christmas Morning

Belated Christmas with your new Lei's Grandma Nona made

Pretty Girl!!

Family Christmas Photo 2012

Oh - mom...dad...

Santa Train - Georgetown

Grandpa Alfred's 80's birthday celebration

Snowing out side

16th Street Mall Downtown Denver Horse Drawn Santa Sleigh

 Abby! You are now 3 months old and growing growing!  You've nearly made it to 10 pounds - you weighed in at 9 pounds 12 ounces this evening!  You are my tiny tot!!  You are a good baby - mostly eating, sleeping and dirtying diapers!  You have been very tolerant of all the moving about and activity of the Christmas season. Everyday we get to see a bit more of your personality as you calmly coo and kick in our lap. You have a soft laugh when I tickle your neck and ribs.  As the month went on you spent more and more time awake and happy and engaged in face time as well as handling and looking at toys. Unfortunately you have spend the entire last month with a minor cold - it hasn't been too bad except for the couple of days it went in your lungs.  Nana got us an Angel Care monitor for Christmas that would alarm if you stopped moving - it has been nice to have since you have been sick. You have very little patience when you are hungry and go from sleeping to outraged in about 10 seconds.  You are mostly a momma's girl - you do let others hold you, but it is highly dependent on your mood. This month you have decided that the breast really is best and need a fair bit of convincing to take a bottle with pumped milk in it - but you are eventually giving in, even if it takes a few tries.  You are a sweet sweet girl and we love you so so so much Abby!!

Fun things you have got to do this month!
Light Parade in Grand Junction
Go to Grandpa's 80th birthday
Ride the Georgetown Train and have lunch with the Watson's
Spend an evening in downtown Denver and ride a Santa Sleigh
Christmas and Christmas Eve with the Browns
A belated Christmas celebration with the Carvers
Kick your feet in the Rec Center Swimming pool in your swim suit

 Abby on top - Autumn below

The Brown family cousins