I am thankful for...

First off I have to say that I DO have new pictures but I forgot to bring my camera downstairs where the only working computer is and seeing as how everyone else in my home is still asleep, I don't want to go rustling around upstairs to find it. They shall be on here shortly! But, I figured what better way to start off Thanksgiving day than listing all of the things I can think of that I am grateful for.

1. My amazing husband and my beautiful little girl. Sometimes I just feel so lucky that I married such a wonderful man and that Heavenly Father sent me such an amazing child! It is amazing the love a parent can have for their children.
2. The new little bundle of joy we are expecting in about 3 and 1/2 months! Wow, that soon already? Can't wait to meet you little one! (I have some great ultrasound pics to post of our new little girl but they, too, are upstairs on the fridge)
3. Our home, sure I can find things I don't like about it- mainly it's size but it is OUR home (more to come on this in an upcoming post- yep, need the camera for that one too!)
4. That we live in such a great country as well as in such a great period of time. Jason and I are agreed, if I had been a pioneer I probably wouldn't have survived! I'm kind of wimpy. The same is probably true if I lived in a third world country. How lucky we are to live in a country and an age where we have SO MUCH!! The only downside to this is that I think it is human nature to want MORE so sometimes it is hard to see how truly lucky we are!
5. For great family and friends I have who accept me for who I am, faults and all, and still somehow like me!
6. All of those little things in life that make it enjoyable yet we often don't think of them. Things like apple cider, a good book or movie, hugs, catching up with a good friend...all of those small things that happen that bring a smile to my face.
7. Lastly, I am thankful for the lessons that can be learned from trials. I'm not saying that I like trials or that I want any more of them but it's like that saying "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger". I have learned a lot from the trials that I have had over the years and that experience is needed to continue in life, hopefully not repeating some of my own past mistakes.

I am sure that I am missing so much from this list and I will probably think about them during the day today but this list is what I can come up with at 7:00 am. Love you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Growing Up!

So Abby has been going through some miraculous changes lately! It is like she realizes that in a few months there is going to be a baby and that if she started (or stopped) doing certain things, life would be a lot easier for mommy and daddy. The first thing that happened was about a month ago. Up until then, the specialist said that we could increase her fasting time at night by 15 minutes at a time until she reached 10 hours (they do the 15 minutes at a time because while most MCADers can eventually fast 12 hours there are some who start to go into a crisis at shorter intervals so you need to make sure what exactly your kid can handle). We had successfully made it to 8 hours! Teething and a few different small illnesses had set us back several times. Well one night she straight up refused to eat during the night. That night (and the next few) were a little stressful where I was getting up every hour or two to try to get her to drink some milk. However, she was always fine in the morning. Fortunately, she had a specialist appointment the very next week and when they examined her and I told them what was going on, they said not to worry about it. Her body was realizing that it could go longer without waking up to eat! As long is she is healthy, we can let her go 11 hours but then have to feed her immediately when she wakes up. When she is sick though is a different story. We will have to go get her to try to eat then.

On to success number two! Sleeping through the night without waking up! I am convinced that MCAD sets kids up for bad sleep habits. (That is why I HATE when people ask if your kid is a "good baby". I mean, really, is there such a thing as a bad baby? And you don't really want to explain to every stranger that you meet that your 3 month old is not sleeping through the night because she has to wake up and eat because of a medical condition). So even though Abby wasn't eating at night, she still usually woke up at least once. And then, all of a sudden last week, she just started sleeping through the night without waking up most of the nights! I say most because she has woken up a few nights but they are far outnumbered now by the nights she sleeps the whole night long!

Now on to number three! We have a potty chair here that one of the boys that I babysit was using when he was potty training. His mom told us we could keep it so I cleaned it up and left it in the bathroom. Abby has now been wanting to sit on it. A few days ago, we started putting her on it several times a day bare bottomed. She hasn't actually "used" it yet but she wants to keep trying. She has even been saying potty and pointing down the hall a few times like she wants to go use it so we take her. Unfortunately, she has already gone but she is making progress! I don't want to rush her too much but this is pretty good success since just last Thursday!

When you add all of this to the fact that this sweet little munchkin seems to learn something new every day, it just amazes me at how fast she is growing up!

"I just love being a girl"

For those of you who don't know, Abby is a major tomboy. She likes to wear her daddy's hats, play with cars and play ball. Jason even joked with the ultrasound tech when we found out that the next baby was another girl that he already had his tomboy so that was OK, (he was kind of hoping for a boy like all daddy's do, which he will hopefully get another time :) If she is ever lucky enough to live near all of her Albert cousins, she will fit right in! Part of this tomboyishness surfaced when Abby was just a few months old. As soon as she could reach the cute headbands on her head, she started ripping them off. I am lucky to get her hair in ponytails for church each Sunday! Even just brushing her hair is sometimes a challenge. As soon as I finish, she will rub her hands in her hair making it all wild and crazy! This being known, I was a little surprised when Abby started bringing me hair clips this morning and wanted me to put them in her hair. She started quite the collection so I decided to add a few more and take some pictures.

She actually left them in until they started to fall out on their own (I don't think little heads were meant for so many accessories). Hopefully this is a sign of change. Maybe, just maybe this sweet little girl will let me start doing her hair!

Blessed!

(Note: The above photo is several months old, while my husband does possess amazing beard growing skills, they don't work that fast!)

Sometimes it takes a day of not much going on to really realize how great your life is. Yesterday was one of those days. The day started out not that exciting. It was rainy, we had zero errands to run and I wasn't going to be babysitting the boys. We started the day by getting ready and doing the morning chores. Then I decided that it was the perfect day to watch a movie so I put one on while I folded laundry. I sat down with a bowl of popcorn, turned on the movie and smiled as my sweet little girl came and snuggled up next to me. Granted, she probably only sat still that long so she could eat some popcorn but I couldn't help but think about all the years to come when I can snuggle with my children on the couch and watch a movie together!
After the movie, I started putting the laundry away. Here came Abby walking down the hall, carrying a pile of folded laundry. Of course the whole pile was unfolded by the time she got where she was going but she was so happy to help, it just melted my heart!

After lunch came Abby's nap time. I love how she just wants to give me hugs and kisses before her nap. I don't know how the change occurred but a few weeks ago she went from screaming at nap time to giving me hugs and kisses then saying goodbye as I leave the room and blowing several more kisses!

A little bit after nap time, Jason called to say he was on his way home and that we should get bundled up and meet him outside. Yet another thing that melts my heart is to see how much Abby loves her Daddy and how much her Daddy loves her! I feel so very very blessed to have this wonderful family!!

As we were getting ready to go to bed last night I started thinking about all that had gone on that day and how lucky I am to be able to be a stay at home mom. Each month when I am going over the budget there is a small part of me that thinks about how less stressful the budgeting would be if I were to go back to work full time, maybe even part time. Then I think about all of the things I would miss. I would miss all of the cute little things Abby does. I would miss all of the things that she learns how to do (it seems lately that she learns a new word every day or two!). I would miss welcoming my husband home from work. I would miss cooking my family dinner and then spending the evening together. Each of those things is worth so much more than anything we could buy with the extra money I could get from working. There may come a day when I have to give these things up for things to be different in the long run but for now I consider myself unbelievably blessed!

Halloween Pics!!

Abby was a flower for Halloween and I have to say that I thought she was adorable! She loves her costume and whenever we put it on she danced around! Unfortunately it was raining unbelievably hard on the night of the trunk or treat but I did dress her up Halloween day and we went trick or treating to one house.

She finally gave into temptation. She has a weird fascination with Jack-o-Lantern lids. When we were carving them, she kept grabbing the lids and would try to eat them. I can't imagine that they tasted that good.

Trick -or-Treat!

We were done after this house because right afterwards Abby found the only mud puddle on the street and fell in. Oh well, she definitely didnt' need more candy and she had lots of fun!

Pumpkin Carving

Here we have just a few of the 20 pumpkins we grew!! We would have carved more if I had planned ahead better but now we just have Thanksgiving decorations. (I did give away 6 pumpkins). Note the pumpkin in the middle, I will tell you the story in just a minute about that one!

Abby had a ball carving the pumpkins!

So this is the pumpkin we affectionately call the "butt pumpkin". We had a little wire fence around our garden that was originally meant to to keep little feet from trampling the plants but alas, it didn't work. However this pumpkin started to grow in part of that fence, thus getting it's fabulous shape! Our original plan was to dress it up and put it on the porch but between not having pants that really fit it and the fact that it was raining so hard, we kept it inside. It is now adorning our kitchen table sans pants and shirt.

The End!

I want to be a cowgirl!

About a month ago I found this fabulous rocking horse, almost like new, at DI for only $10!! What a deal. Well we hid it away thinking we would give it to Abby as a Christmas present but the little turkey found it! Yesterday we heard some music coming from somewhere in the house. Abby had found the horse and also figured out how to turn it on. It plays carousel music and lights up. Well, even if she doesn't get it for Christmas it is still a hit, she LOVES it! She also likes to wear Jason's cowboy hat (which is in dire need of cleaning and reshaping) while riding her horsey! She even learned how to say horsey in one day!

Some happenings from the past few months!

My how it seems time flies by without me posting so much as a word on here! Between being exhausted from pregnancy and having some other things going on, it seems hard to find the time. For those of you who don't know yet, we are having another little girl in March and we are SOOO excited!! I have some cute ultrasound pics but I still need to get them scanned. Well here are just a few snapshots from the last few months!Abby loves to wear her daddy's hats! You can't really see in this picture but she also has a bandana tied around her neck. I have a better picture of the bandana but Abby also has her finger up her nose in it and I figure in 10 years she won't forgive me for putting it online.
Abby hasn't mastered pedaling yet but she is a happy camper just sitting on her tricycle.

This is what happens when you don't go out and check your garden as much as you should! I had MANY of these massive zuchini's. (Also, can I just say that squash, zuchini and pregnancy don't mix. I don't know what it was but so many went to waste because they just didn't sound good,)

Abby also has a new found love for pudding!