The Albert Family

And for those who have been asking...

2011-03-05T08:23:00.002-07:00

The belly picture. This one was taken on Abby's birthday so I am about 8 months preggers here. Honestly, I still look about the same now at 39 and 1/2 weeks. And yes, I cut my hair. Yes, I hate it. The girl didn't quite understand what I was asking for and she just kept cutting it shorter and shorter. Oh well, my hair grows fast and I figure this way I can grow it out for a few months after the baby is born and then get it cut how I REALLY wanted. I will try to get Jason to take another picture of me before we go to the hospital. Most likely in that one though, I will be wearing sweats! I'm not one of those women who takes the time to look good when I am in labor :)

Birthday Fun!

2011-03-04T15:40:00.003-07:00

Well, I am a little behind on my posts but here are the pics from Abby's birthday! I had a little party for her and she had a BLAST! I noticed thought that I have to find some girls for this little one to hang out with. All of her buddies are boys. I still can't believe my little baby is 2!!! How did these last 2 years go by so FAST???Here she is waiting for the party to begin with the two boys I was watching, Justin and Kyle. She has really been missing them now that I don't watch them anymore.
Abby didn't quite get the hang of how to use her party horn. She would hold it to her mouth and then make a humming noise!

Umm.. Yeah... We had some technical difficulties and don't have any pictures of her blowing out her candle. But, she did love her cupcake!

It was a pretty good party.. As you can see, she may have had a little TOO much excitement!

(RE)discovering the joy of cooking.

2011-03-04T15:22:00.002-07:00

Once upon a time, I LOVED to cook. And then I became a stay at home mom. I started to get into a rut, making the same meals and getting very BORED!! Then I discovered something here called the Bountiful Basket. (Sorry most of my readers, I don't think they have this where you live). It has been one of the best things that has happened for our kitchen. Once a week you pay $15 and you get a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables! (I usually can't help but order the extras they have too). Well, it has done two things for us. Number one: we are eating way more produce. Number two: It has sparked my creativity. You don't have control over what you get so it is a challenge to come up with recipes to use what we get.

For example, one day, instead of the same old PB&J for lunch, I was able to whip up this!

It is Linguine with Roasted Vegetables, recipe courtesy of my fabulous neighbor with some variation using what we had!

Well, at least Abby loved the noodles but at least the vegetables were there for her to try!
It really is fun to try new recipes using what we get!

"I PRETTY"

2011-03-04T15:14:00.003-07:00

Can I just say how much I love that Abby's "girliness" is starting to come through? Where once she hated me doing her hair, now she sits patiently (somewhat) and once I am done she says "Oooh, I pretty!" She also loves dresses. With all the illness we have had lately she hasn't been to church but she will still get a dress and some church shoes every so often and want to put them on. I LOVE IT! It reminds me that I need to take some time myself too to get "pretty".
Here is the stinker with one of her favorite things, a balloon!

I think she may also be our little dancer. She just loves music and as soon as she hears some, she just starts dancing around! Also LOVE IT! This year we are planning on doing swimming lessons but I think next year will definitely be dance lessons.

And her first pedicure. She also loved it. Let's just say it was a miracle that I was able to reach her toes let alone reach mine!

Easy Valentines Decorations

2011-01-15T09:05:00.003-07:00

Someday I have a goal of having decorations for every holiday. I even want a little sideboard type table that will go next to our front door where I can rotate some of these decorations but I haven't found the perfect table yet and I only have decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well the other day, while shopping at Hobby Lobby, I picked up some their free inspiration pamphlets (I am super uncreative but if you give me an idea or a project, I can usually get it done!) One of the projects totally inspired me to do two projects. The big one I am working on will go with the collage I am going to do on our dining room walls, but I thought "Hey, I can do this for Valentine's as well!" Truth be told, the following two projects only cost me $5 plus a lot of scrounging through my scrapbooking stuff! I had to alter my original plan a little but this is what I came up with! I thought I would share if anyone else was looking for easy Valentines decorations to make! The original project called for a shadow box but seeing as how shadow boxes can cost from $10 to $25, I decided I would use one for my big project but not for the Valentine's one. Instead, I bought a $3 frame from WalMart. Next, I cut the petals off of a fake rose ($2, also at WalMart) and glued them to the backing inside the frame. After doing this, I realized that I probably could have just cut some cute scrapbook paper to fit but I really like the textured look of the petals, which this picture does not do justice too. Lastly, my original plan was to write LOVE in big letters with rub ons but that changed. I bought one pack of letters for both projects and I needed the same size letters for both projects. It was only after I opened the package that I realized that there was only one of each letter in the size I needed and I needed an L for both projects. I then remembered that a few years back, I had bought some clear stickers with black lettering for a different valentine's project for Jason. All of the stickers had quotes about love. So off I went, digging through my scrapbook stuff and what you see above is the finished product! Not counting the time it took me to rummage through my giant box of scrapbook items (oh how I wish I had a room where I could have the space I need to organize it all) the whole project took me all of 10 minutes!

After that, I decided I needed one more item (at least) to go with it when I came up with this which I actually already had everything for!
I had this red votive candle is with all of my Christmas decorations but didn't really have a place to put it. I decided to keep it though because it might be useful later. While looking through all of my scrapbook supplies, I found a book rub on doodles and there was actually a whole strip that I thought would look perfect on the candle! Total time to make, less than 3 minutes!

And here are the two together. Maybe next year I will add to it but seeing as how I only have 8 weeks left to finish everything for the girl's room, this will have to be good enough for now.

Other happenings!

2011-01-15T07:54:00.003-07:00

Abby loves the snow! Well, at least one person in our family does. I had a hard time getting her to come back in the house!
Finally, in from the cold! Can I just say that I had no idea how much hair this kid actually has until I saw this picture!

Abby is going through this phase right now where she loves all her "babies". Here she is watching a Winnie the Pooh movie and she had to have a good majority of her babies gathered around her! It's like this at bedtime, she has about 5 stuffed animals that she HAS to sleep with! (Let me tell you how FUN it is to try to carry her PLUS all 5 stuffed animals to bed!)

Christmas Morning!

2011-01-15T07:43:00.002-07:00

Oh.. Christmas morning! Gotta love it! Abby was totally oblivious to the fact that this was not just any other day. First thing she wanted to do was put on a bib and eat some yogurt! Jason started laughing at me because probably the one and only time in her life I actually said "Abby, don't worry about the yogurt, eat the treats!" And she did, luckily one Santa put fruit leather in her stocking but another Santa put chocolate in their too so she had an interesting breakfast! Present unwrapping took a while because after she opened each one, she wanted to sit and play with what ever it was, or even with the wrapping paper and boxes!

Nothing like break time for an impromptu horsey ride while eating a chocolate Santa!

Abby loves her new fishing hat. I think before she wears it in public though I will have to put her hair in ponytails since she still has such a mullet and it is accentuated even more by hats!

Abby got so many presents! This kid is unbelievably spoiled (and loved!) She loves everything she got! We truly had a wonderful Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like "Christ"mas!

2010-12-10T14:14:00.003-07:00

Okay, before I get into the real part of what I want to write about, I will first tell you about our tree and other decorations! So here is our tree, it may not look like much but I LOVE it, more for sentimental reasons than aesthetic! I think I wrote about this last year but you may notice the blue lights. Yes, I am usually a fan of the all white lights look but the first year Jason and I were married, I had been wanting a Christmas tree real bad but we decided not to get one since we were going out of town. Jason knew I was sad about it so one night, he decided to surprise me. When I walked in from work, I saw our tree with blue lights on it standing in the corner of our apartment! There are few times in your life that you cry from happiness and that was one of those times for me. It turns out, there were only blue lights left when he went to buy some. So, until these lights die, we will probably use them because whenever I see them it reminds me of that night!
Ooops! This one is out of order! Here is the majority of our other holiday decor!

Now back to the tree! No, we also don't have a "theme" or coordinated ornaments, just some regular ornaments mixed in with some sentimental ones. Jason and I started a family tradition on our honeymoon where we try to buy an ornament on every vacation we go on. Granted, I don't think we have been on vacation in a few years. We bought the gold leaf in the middle of this picture in Grand Teton National Park on our honeymoon. Unfortunately it has become a little discolored over the years but I still love it. Some of our other ornaments are ones that have been made by family members and we also have a few that are pictures of family. Also, nothing says classy like the Simpson family hanging out on your tree (Yep, that's Marge in the lower right had corner!) So it may not seem like much, but I love this tree!
Last week, I was asked to give a short testimony/talk at our wards Relief Society Christmas dinner. The theme was "Christ"mas traditions. I was supposed to speak about the traditions we have as a family that help us to remember the Savior and his birth. It made me realize that there is so much more that I still want to do. This year (like we try to do every year) we have tried to keep the Savior at the forefront of our minds. I love that Abby is so curious and she is currently asking me about the Nativity scene we have! I probably tell her the Nativity story at least once a day! I am also glad that the Nativity we have is a cheap $5 Walmart one so she can touch it as much as she wants! A few of my friends have told me about the Fisher Price Little People Nativity which now I really want for my children but unfortunately, it looks like they are sold out everywhere :( Maybe I can find one after Christmas or early next year! We do read from Luke on Christmas Eve and now that I am thinking about our children getting older, I think about how fun it will be to act it out! Most of all, what I want my children to remember about Christmas over the years is not what they received but what they gave. I'm not necessarily talking about presents but maybe what they gave to those in need. Did they share their testimony of the Savior and his birth with anyone? What did they "give" to the Savior? Interestingly enough, this months Ensign contains an article about Christmas Traditions of members of Seventy. One of my favorites was one where each family member places a letter to Jesus on the Christmas tree. I think we will definitely do that one in the years to come! Most of all, I want to live my life in such a way that my children know that I have a testimony of the Savior, His birth, His life and of the Atonement. I love this time of year because it reminds me of what is most important and how I should live my life all year long!
And one more picture just because this kid is so dang cute, even if she does look half asleep!

Making a house a home... On a budget.

2010-12-08T14:32:00.002-07:00

Ever since I became a stay at home mom, I have been bit by the decorating bug. I feel that our house may be smaller than I would like but it is our home and it is up to me to make it as cozy and inviting as possible. Only problem is, I don't have the budget to make all of my decorating dreams a reality as fast as I would like. I often ask my self why I didn't decorate the house when I had a much larger disposable income and then I have to remind myself that I was working full time, going to school full time and doing an internship! I felt lucky just to have the dishes done. Well, the first place I started was the kitchen and here is my progress so far. (Note, this has taken many months and some lucky finds as well as coming up with ideas on how to use items we already had) Above is the before picture, well there was another before that I didn't take a picture of. This one had boxes stacked on top of the cabinets and I couldn't stand it any longer. My ever practical husband however still thinks that I am wasting valuable storage space.
And here is the after, or at least as far as I have gotten. I would still like to make a wreath for the pantry door, I need to put some wood blocks underneath some of the items to give some height variance and you can't see the window but it desperately needs a curtain. However, there are other windows in the house that need curtains before this one. Now, I just have to reacquaint myself with a sewing machine (I haven't actually sewn anything since my sewing class in high school which was too many years ago to count.)

From left to right, the topiary (or whatever it is called) I bought on clearance at Tai Pan Trading. There was just a little chunk missing from the pot in the back which no one could see. I have to say that I love Tai Pan Trading and if I had an unlimited budget, I could probably have my house decorated in a week! Next, (and all along the front) I have some mini trifle dishes that I already had that I filled with these clear stones I bought at Roberts. I still need to get some of those battery operated tea lights to put in those. Next, I have a beautiful pair of candlesticks we received for our wedding. In the middle of those is one of my mom's old cookbooks. Next I have another wedding present, a cake stand, that I filled with greenery. If you wonder what I do if I need to use the cake stand, I can just take it down and wash it off and it is ready to go. On the end is another little fake plant I got from Tai Pan.

On this side, I have a vase we received for our wedding filled with some red tulips I bought at WalMart and next to it is this gorgeous platter I found in a consignment store for only $10!! It all may not look like much but I personally am quite proud of my accomplishment as well as the utilization of some great wedding gifts that would have otherwise been hanging out in a cupboard until I used them. As I find other items that will look good up here, I will add them but it is time to move on from the kitchen to other rooms of the house. My next two big projects are the dining room wall and the girl's room! I have started on both and hope to have them finished before the baby gets here. I hope to someday have my vision complete which mostly consists of a bunch of little projects. It may be awhile however because there are 4 pieces of furniture that I can picture in my head that will make my dream for my home complete. Until then, I will just keep envisioning it the way I want it to be.

Some recent pics!

2010-12-08T14:16:00.002-07:00

Yes, it has been too long since I have posted any new pictures. And, I just realized that I haven't taken any pictures of our Christmas tree yet so the post I wanted to do about "Christ"mas traditions will just have to wait :( We have been so unbelievably busy lately that it has been hard to take many pictures. Jason has been working what feels like 100 hours a week but in reality is about 50 to 60 plus I have been trying to pick up some extra shifts for Christmas money so we honestly haven't spent that much family time together. I think the next day that I know for sure we will both be home is Christmas Eve (unless it snows). All of this said, it was great to spend some time together as a family on Thanksgiving. I didn't really take any pictures of the Thanksgiving table because honestly, I didn't have anything really to decorate with or make it all fancy and I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of food pictures. But, of course, I had to take some pictures of the little munchkin.Abby is saying "i'll be thankful as soon as you fill my cup with some of that pear cider"
MMMM... Food!
I have to admit that we did more of a simple Thanksgiving and I LOVED IT! It gets a little hard to put out some big fancy spread when it is just you preparing everything and you don't have anyone bringing anything. Plus, I am not one of those women who ENJOYS spending the entire holiday in the kitchen. I did try some new recipes that in all actuality were simpler than the traditional ones but were so yummy, they are going to be keepers! (Pumpkin trifle anyone?) Now, on to other pictures!

Here is the sweet little kid, hamming it up like she loves to do!

There isn't anything quite as fun as "playing" video games with Daddy!

Until next time, we love all of you!

I am thankful for...

2010-11-25T06:48:00.002-07:00

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.

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.
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)
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!)
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!
For great family and friends I have who accept me for who I am, faults and all, and still somehow like me!
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.
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!

2010-11-22T06:54:00.002-07:00

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"

2010-11-11T13:42:00.002-07:00

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!

2010-11-09T08:43:00.002-07:00

(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!!

2010-11-01T14:26:00.002-06:00

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

2010-11-01T13:54:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-11-01T13:49:00.002-06:00

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!

2010-11-01T13:40:00.002-06:00

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!

Catching up Part 3!

2010-09-29T11:15:00.003-06:00

The day after Labor Day we took a family drive up to the Provo Falls and Mirror Lake. It was GORGEOUS! For those of you who don't know, Provo Falls is the place where Jason proposed to me. We were trying to make it a tradition to go back once a year but unfortunately we missed two years. Hopefully we will get back up there again next year.
Abby getting up close and personal with one of the falls.

Mirror Lake

After our long day, Abby wasn't ready for her adventure to end. She was ready for another drive!

Part 2 of catching up!

2010-09-29T11:08:00.003-06:00

In the beginning of September Abby had her first camping trip. Unfortunately it wasn't under the best of circumstances. Jason was saving a campsite for the father and sons but we got there much too late. I think Abby was a little scared that we were in a new place in the dark. She didn't have enough daylight time to get acclimated to the place. On top of that, it rained ALL NIGHT LONG and most of the next day. But, we did still get some good pictures.

The view from our campsite.

Abby and Daddy blowing bubbles. Yes that is a massive pile of horse poo to the right. There was a TON of horse poo at this campsite.

Part 1 of catching up!

2010-09-24T14:07:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know it has been much too long since I have posted anything on here. I'm pretty sure these pictures here are a couple of months old. Abby loved to help in the garden. Unfortunately most of the summer I felt much too sick and tired to do much work out there but we still had plenty of squash, zucchini and cucumbers. We also have close to 20 pumpkins. Looks like we will be supplying a few neighbor kids with their jack-o-lanterns.
Abby loves to be outside!

Abby is a total ham!

This here is her favorite toy, her baby stroller. She loves to put her little dolly in there and push it around. From this angle you can't tell what she is doing but she is bending over to give her baby a kiss!

Recent pics of the kid

2010-07-30T12:53:00.003-06:00

Abby says "I want to be just like Daddy when I grow up" Helping Mommy cook breakfast.
The following are all examples of how this little kid is a stinker. I will have the perfect picture shot but as soon as I turn on the camera, she tries to get it and stops doing the unbelievably cute thing she was doing.

Abby found one of Jason's cowboy hats and loves wearing it around the house.

When I got the camera to take this picture, Abby was sitting in her toy box lounging as if it were her favorite chair and was reading a book. Unbelievably adorable but as soon as she saw the camera, she put down the book and tried to get out of the box.

Abby did not love this walker when she was younger but now she loves to climb inside of it and hang out.

A Day at the Lake

2010-07-30T12:35:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know, it has been much too long since I have written on here. The Grandma's must be going into withdrawal, just kidding. Well hopefully today I will be able to put up many pictures and possibly a video if I can figure it out.

A few weeks ago we had our anniversary. Since at the time we had a babysitter lined up for another evening, we decided to spend the day as a family. Unfortunately, our opportunity to use the babysitter fell through, because of us not her. Maybe another time we will be able to have our first date since Abby was born.

Jason took the day off and for part of the day we went up to a lake in American Fork canyon for a picnic and some fishing.

Helping Daddy get his fishing rod ready.

It's always good to have some insect repellant.

4th of July!

2010-07-07T13:45:00.002-06:00

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays! It is so wonderful to be able to celebrate this wonderful Nation that we live in, and you can't beat fireworks. This year we had a barbecue with some of our friends and Abby and her friend Ryder got to play with sparklers and poppers. I think this has to be one of my favorite pictures! Abby did really well with the sparklers (of course with very vigilant supervision)

Jason passing out the poppers to Ryder and Abby

The kids throwing the poppers in the street.

It was a great day spent with great friends celebrating the Birth of this wonderful country we live in!

Water Baby

2010-06-18T13:27:00.002-06:00

Have I mentioned before that Abby loves water? Well she DOES and today she got to go swimming for the first time at our neighbors house. Hey guys, what's going on?

And she also loves cars! She sure does look like a hot rodder here!

So I guess there are two things I need to invest in, a pool and a little kid car.

She had so much fun today! And so did I!

It's about time!!

2010-06-13T21:18:00.003-06:00

I know, it has been much TOOOO LONG since I have posted on here. All I have to say is if I am this busy now, I hate to see what it is going to be like when I have more than one kid and they are involved in sports and other activities. It seems like every day there are errands to run, more and more chores and projects to do and so many other little things that come up. When you add to that the fact that at least one family member has been sick at a time for the past 3 weeks, it makes for some pretty busy days in the Albert house. I truly wish there were more hours in the day but I think even then, it wouldn't be enough. Well here are a few highlights from the past month.

So, we finally got a No Soliciting sign. I had been wanting one for awhile but had been picky because I wanted one that looked nice. I don't know if anyone else will find the humor in this or not but we actually bought this from a kid selling them door to door. All I have to say is either this kid or his mother is a pretty smart business person!

Abby was sick for about 5 days but luckily we made it without going to the ER because she kept on eating still. It was pretty scary because at one point, her fever got up to 104.1! Yikes! I do have to say that there were some tears on both her and my part. Hopefully this kid learned her lesson too that it is much better to take your medicine by mouth.

One "good" side effect of her being sick was that she was much more snugly than normal. This kid is usually too much on the go to stop and snuggle but while she was sick, she couldn't get enough. Here she is snuggling with her Daddy. I just have to add that there are few things as wonderful as when your child starts giving you real hugs. Abby loves to hug now. She will just come up to us and put her arms around our neck and give us wonderful hugs!
Abby loves it when Daddy comes home. She will go and look out the window and say "Dada, Dada, Dada!"

And she is quite the little "helper" when it comes time to fold the laundry. She also loves to get in empty laundry baskets and have me pull her around like she is in a car!

And here, though you can't really tell, she was doing a little dance. I put it up anyways because she has such a wonderful smile in this one!

So those are a few of the highlights from the past month. Hope you enjoyed. I will try to be more on the ball in the future.

Birthday Fun!

2010-05-18T14:31:00.003-06:00

This past Saturday was my birthday and I have to say that it was truly wonderful! First, Jason let me take a bubble bath without little hands banging on the bathroom door while he and Abby made me breakfast! It is so rare that I get to sit in the tub without feeling rushed so this alone would have made my birthday wonderful but the fun didn't stop there!

First though, Abby decided she wanted some dessert with her breakfast. We sometimes forget how well she can reach now and don't put things far back away from edges like we should. On Friday, Jason helped a co worker jump start his truck and the guy gave us some cake. Well Abby, having tasted the cake before and wanting more, saw the cake sitting on the edge of the table. She reached up, grabbed the cake and starting eating the entire slice while at the same time flinging frosting everywhere from the floor to the curtains. She was not a happy camper when mommy took it away. So after she settled down, we packed a picnic and headed up to Provo Canyon. Abby is definitely her parents child because she loves being outdoors as much as we do! So much space to wander in.

And trees to climb!

Fun times with Dad,

and Mom!

Unfortunately, we do not have any more pictures. Someone (me, i'll admit it) forgot to check to see if the battery in the camera was charged.

After our picnic, we walked for awhile on the Provo River trail near Bridal Veil Falls. It has been so long since we have had a little trip like this. It was the perfect thing to do for a birthday because it made me feel like I was young again. Back when we were younger and didn't have things like yard work and house projects to do on Saturdays, Jason and I would head up to the canyons every Saturday that we could! We loved driving, hiking and exploring! I think this was the first time in about 2 or 3 years that we had done this. After this birthday trip, it made me realize that while it is important to do get our projects done around the house, we also need to take some time more often to get out and have fun as a family. It gets so hard though since I have to work every other Saturday and it seems like Jason has something going on the weekends I am home.

The day was ended with a delicious dinner at La Carreta. Those of you who are local, you should go check this place out. If you haven't had Peruvian food before then you are missing out. I feel like it is our little secret too because whenever we go, there is never a wait. Quite rare for a restaurant in Utah County on a Saturday night.

Thank you all who sent birthday wishes my way. It was a wonderful day spent with my wonderful family!

Update

2010-05-12T13:33:00.002-06:00

So it has been a while since I have posted on here. It seems that as the weather gets warmer, we get so much busier here. Jason has been working unbelievably long hours and so it seems like we haven't seen much of him. It also seems like there is some different errand to run every day and then there is always tons of work to do around the house. This little munchkin sure keeps me busy. Her favorite things to do are to pull things off of shelves and out of drawers and strew them all over the house. She also wants to be "mommy's little helper". Our next door neighbor gave us some toy cleaning supplies. Abby just loves the broom and dustpan and carries it all over the house with her! "Uncle" Ryan has been watching Larry the Dog and brought her over the other day (yes, she is a girl and her name is Larry). Larry is the best dog I have seen around kids. I guess her owner has a lot of kids and they all play on her. Abby just loved petting her!

If only we could find a dog this good with kids (and that didn't shed that much) we may just consider adopting it!

Abby has a favorite food, or should I say a favorite condiment! She loves ketchup! Depending on what we are eating, I will put ketchup on her high chair for her to dip food in but she always has to start out by dipping her finger in and licking it off! I usually have to give her seconds by the time she gets to her food.

And lastly, I know this picture is a little gross but I had to share! Poor little kid has been so congested lately. I think it must be allergies because she isn't getting better and she isn't getting worse. She has just been congested with a runny nose for about 2 weeks. Unfortunately, she probably inherited them from her mama.

I still have to figure out how to post some video on here. I recorded Abby dancing and it is the cutest thing you will ever see! She puts her hands near her armpits like a chicken and just twists and picks up her legs really high and turns in a circle! It is hilarious! The other day she was dancing during the credits of a movie and Jason had to rewind the song just to see her dance some more!

Abby has been talking a little bit more too. Unfortunately, her favorite word is "no". I guess I must say it way too much. Not only does she say it, but she wags her finger at you while saying "nononono"

But the best words of all she uttered the other night. Abby just came over to me and gave me a hug. I said "I love you" and she said "I wub woo". Jason and I were so excited!! However, I have only gotten her to say it once since then.

And lastly, there was Mothers Day. It was a simple yet fabulous day. Jason did all the cooking, I got to spend time with my little family (which doesn't seem to happen often enough these days) and to top it off, church was fabulous. All of the speakers and lessons just really seemed to hit home for me. Can I just say that I truly believe it is such a blessing to have this wonderful family. There truly is no greater calling than that of being a wife and mother and I am so thankful for my own mother and mother in law for all they do.

We love you!

Fun at the park!

2010-04-20T12:46:00.002-06:00

I look so cool in my sunglasses!The bark at the park seemed to be the main attraction!

Playing ball!

Going down the slide

I love going down the slide with mommy!

Fun around the house

2010-04-20T12:39:00.002-06:00

Abby has gotten quite good at going up the stairs, it's going down that is the challenge. She always wants to turn around and go head first!

One morning as Jason was getting ready to leave for work, Abby went over to the pile of unfolded laundry (don't judge, I know I'm not the only one). She picked up another pair of her pajamas and handed it to Jason like she does with a jacket. Here she is modeling the "Jacket" that Jason helped her put on. She was pretty disappointed though when he left without her. She thought, "I'm ready to go, don't forget me"

And, here is Abby's first pasta sauce face picture. Gotta love it!

Easter Dress, Pigtails and a Tantrum!

2010-04-20T12:31:00.002-06:00

My sweet little munchkin looked so adorable in her Easter Dress!
And, this is the first time she had pigtails!! I was so excited that she finally had enough hair for little ponytails!! It is so strange though, with pigtails she doesn't look like my little baby anymore. She looks like such a big girl!

Happy Girl....

Happy Girl....

Ready?

Wait for it...

TANTRUM!!

Unfortunately as Abby gets older, these become a more common occurrence. In this picture she was mad at me because she wanted to hold the camera.

Easter Pics!

2010-04-08T14:07:00.003-06:00

Finally! Here are some Easter Pictures!

First, we have the view from our back window Easter Morning. Nothing says Spring like a nice blanket of snow (It is hard when I am typing really show the sarcasm in that). Luckily, it melted pretty fast. It was still a chilly day. Good thing Abby is too young still to want to hunt for Easter Eggs.

Abby and her Easter Basket. As i've said before, she loves Elmo and especially loves this Elmo toy and an Elmo video the Easter Bunny brought her.

"Mom, can I watch this NOW!"

Happy Easter!

And lastly, Jason thought he would take a picture of me working on deviled eggs. It's not fabulous but I thought I would share it with you all. By the way, we learned the hard way that you can't hide the taste of yucky low fat mayo in deviled eggs. We usually use mayo made with olive oil which is lower fat and tastes pretty good. I decided to try out some low fat mayo to see if we could make that switch (for Abby) and it just isn't going to work. It's okay though. The one with Olive Oil is still much better for you than regular mayo.

2010-04-06T13:56:00.002-06:00

Yes, I did take Easter pictures but I haven't put them on the computer yet so they will be on here later. In the meanwhile, I have several pictures that I have been meaning to post for awhile so here they are. There were too many to put in one post so you will also have to check out the next two.

Abby is so happy when her daddy comes home from work!

Trying to read the grown up books.

We call this her shopping cart. Whenever I am about to fold laundry, she comes over and empties this basket. She then pushes it around the house and puts things in it as she goes.

"Daddy gave me an entire tortilla and I actually succeeded at eating some of it!"

So while I don't have the Easter pics up yet, I do have to say how much I love Easter and the chance to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior! It was such a blessing to be able to hear our Prophet and others called of God to speak to us on Easter weekend. I don't ever remember Easter landing on Conference weekend before but it was wonderful!! Jason and I were talking about how Easter is one of those holidays that is so important yet the true meaning is so often forgotten. Hopefully over the years we will be able to develop holiday traditions that will teach our children the importance of the Savior and the Atonement. I thought we could not give our children Easter baskets until after we were home from church but Jase didn't like that idea. Oh well, I have another year to come up with something. We hope that all of you also had a wonderful holiday. Abby will be wearing her Easter dress next Sunday so there are still more Easter pics to take!

2010-04-06T13:50:00.002-06:00

We had some time to kill before church one day so there are a ton of pictures of Abby in her dress. She loves to read and look at books! And, as always, she loves to try to touch the camera.

Even though it has been a few months now, I still can't believe my baby is walking!

Unfortunately, just as I turned off my camera, Abby took off her hair bow and was trying to put it on Jason. Once I turned the camera back on though, she stopped.

Mom, read me a story!

2010-04-06T13:43:00.002-06:00

Waiting to go to church Abby loves her snacks, especially when they are in one of these cups
Watching tv intently

Are you looking at me?

Happy Abby

Look what I can do!

2010-03-17T14:25:00.002-06:00

We have been teaching Abby how to eat with a spoon, and now she has succeeded! The down side? She now doesn't really want to eat anything she doesn't feed herself.And, she would much rather use a "big girl" spoon.

This is why we don't let Abby watch too much TV. She is transfixed. Right now she only really does this for Sesame Street but I try not to watch too much tv because I don't want her to be like this all day. She really likes Elmo!

Bed Head

And here is Abby in her church dress last sunday. Yes she is holding a diaper. I had to give her something to get her stay somewhat still for this picture.

Also, I have to apologize. I have noticed that in pretty much every picture I take there are tons of toys on the floor in the background. I have come to accept that this is just part of having a young child and I just have to pick it up at the end of the day. It is still a little too early for her to comprehend picking up after herself.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when we went out for Jason's birthday last week but we did have lots of fun. It is always good to eat great food and see friends. Thank you all for the birthday wishes that came his way.

I'm feelin' crafty!

2010-03-12T21:23:00.002-07:00

So today I was watching Studio 5 (a local morning show here) and they had the coolest craft idea that I can't wait to get started on!! I have decided that I should watch this show more often because they always have some pretty sweet crafts that I want to try out (I am one of those people that is very uncreative. I can't come up with something on my own but once you show me how to do it, I'm all over it! ) So I know I have some very crafty sister-in-laws out there who may be interested in this one. Check it out at www.houseofsmiths.blogspot.com. Todays post talks about the show and at the bottom you can link to the tutorial. The are crepe paper roses that you can attach to styrofoam balls. I'm totally going to make some for Abby's room and maybe some to use as centerpiece for our dining room table!! If I get it done anytime in the near future, I will post pictures. CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

S-U-C-C-E-S-S and a BIRTHDAY!

2010-03-10T11:04:00.002-07:00

So today is Jason's birthday. Hooray! Can I just say that I am so thankful I married such a wonderful man (who I have to add is the greatest father to our little munchkin).For his sake, I shall not share with you how old he is. We are planning to go out to dinner with some friends to celebrate tonight. Nothing too big but that is just the way

he likes it, low key and with good friends.

Below is a picture of Jason and Ryan on his birthday 4 years ago. Coincidentally, we are going to the exact same restaurant that we did that night (Gotta love the free birthday meal at Tucano's). I will post pictures later of his birthday fun.

So along with Jase's birthday comes my deadline for weight loss goal #1 and I have to say I am pretty darn close. Instead of making one large weight loss goal, I have made small one's. Lose so much by Jason's birthday, by my birthday and then by our anniversary. Right now I am just 1 pound above where I wanted to be by today. Hooray! I also have to say that I am officially one clothing size smaller and 10 pounds less than when I got pregnant. Yes, I know this is bragging but I am pretty excited. I still have a bit of a way to go but at least I know I am making progress!

New Hobby

2010-03-03T13:44:00.003-07:00

So the little hooligan has a new hobby. She loves to throw everything down the stairs. Here she is in action. We are hoping that she moves on to something new soon. It is quite embarrassing when somebody stops by and there are toys everywhere. Also, we have to make sure that we don't slip and fall if we step on one.

Other things Abby does lately:

makes monkey noises "oo oo aa aa" so cute!

she loves to hide things, we are constantly finding stuff in random places like toys in kitchen drawers and cupboards and shoes shoved in the door below the sink

she is a fabulous block stacker

she can put the rings on a ring tower

she loves to sing and dance!

Now, here are just a few of the fabulous pictures Allison took!

Abby the ham!

2010-02-21T13:32:00.002-07:00

So if you are wondering why I don't have TONS of new pictures on my blog all the time, it's because most of the pictures I take look like the one below. Abby knows what the camera is and I think her idea of a great picture is one where her face takes up the entire frame. Actually, she will be doing something really cute and I will get out my camera to take the picture but she comes over to me instead because she wants to hold it.
Here she is with her favorite person, her Daddy checking out her reflection in the window

We had so much fun while Allison and Thomas were out here visiting last weekend, especially Abby. There were so many people to play with and Uncle Thomas is every niece and nephew's favorite Uncle, even Abby's now. He played blocks with her and taught her how to give a high five! I realized I didn't take too many great pictures while they were here so hopefully I will be able to get some from Alli and then share them!

And here is Abby with the Eyeore Jason got her for Valentines! Abby did have a special valentine's outfit but unfortunately it got dirty before I could take a picture. Hmmm, I seem to remember that happening last year too.

We miss Alli and Thomas already and wish that we did live closer! Hopefully someday...

In other news.. there isn't too much going on here. Abby has her 1 year checkup tomorrow with the Geneticist. Also, Abby is learning tons of new stuff all the time. As I mentioned before, Thomas taught her how to give a high five. She has also started stacking blocks and her favorite thing is to "talk" on the "phone" (there isn't really anyone on the other end and she will use almost anything like a phone, usually the remote control). She also likes to dance and the other day she was singing along with the Elmo song. This kid loves music and I won't be surprised if someday she wants to dance, sing or play an instrument.

That is about it for now, hopefully soon I will be able to get some really good pictures for the Grandma's. We love you all!

Abby had a birthday, Shout Hooray!

2010-02-05T08:30:00.002-07:00

Over the years, I have been to a few different birthday parties for one year old's of different cultures. If you have ever been to one of these parties, you may know what I am talking about. The parties are HUGE! There are TONS of people there, family comes from other countries and there is a GIANT feast. All of this is to celebrate the fact that the child made it to their first birthday! Well, in comparison, Abby's party was tiny. Just Jason, Abby and I but the celebration and emotion was probably just as big if not even larger! It was a year ago today that Abby was put in the NICU because her blood sugar dropped to 23. When she was released 3 days later, there was no explanation as to why this happened. Then, 2 days after that was when our lives forever changed. That was the first time that we had ever heard of MCAD. All I have to say is that a lot has changed since then. For the first few days, Jason and I took turns sleeping so that one of us could keep an eye on her and make sure she was okay. That is what happens when you are told that your child has a disorder that is life threatening. It took me many months to really feel confident that Yes, this is something that is treatable, and Yes, she is going to live a normal life. Here it is a year later. She is walking (sometimes on the verge of running) laughing, smiling and "talking" away. Best of all, we made it through the first year with zero hospital trips. She is the picture of health. She IS going to live a normal life, just with some special care and precautions, and that is something we are very VERY THANKFUL for! Not a day goes by that I don't thank Heavenly Father for this wonderful child and the blessing we have to be her parents.

On a lighter side, here are the pictures (as you can see from the picture above, my cake decorating skills need some work!)

Abby wasn't loving the birthday dinner. I got this recipe from Giada De Laurentis when she did her child's one year birthday party. Giada, your kid may love it but mine just likes to moosh it around on the high chair. Also, when we were in California, We learned that Abby loves pineapple. Unfortunately, the pineapple I bought wasn't that sweet.

Abby really wanted to touch the flame on the candle.

She didn't really want to eat the cake either but she did a pretty good job rubbing it in her hair!

Present time, she was more interested in the camera so this was the only decent picture we got. She got stack able rings, the movie The Rescuers and the cutest outfit that I can't wait for her to wear! Also, her Auntie McKenzie, Uncle Carl and cousin Clover got her the coolest blocks that have pockets for pictures. Right now we have pictures of the Joseph side but I need the Albert side to send on some Family Pics so I can put them in the blocks too. That way, she can get to know all of you as she plays. Thank you so much for all the cards and Happy Birthday wishes that came her way!

My little munchkin!

2010-02-01T12:57:00.002-07:00

As Abby gets closer to her one year birthday on Wednesday, you can definately see her personality come out more and more each day! It is also amazing to see the new things she can do each day. It seems like each day she does something different! Here she is in the cute outfit her Great Grandparents got her for Christmas and one of the headbands my mom got for her. She knew that we were about to go out on errands and as you can see, she wasn't too happy about it!
She is sneaky and loves to get into places she knows she shouldn't, like this corner!

This is her kitchen drawer. I knew I couldn't fight the fact that she would open a drawer and pull everything out so after some reorganization in the kitchen, she has her own drawer of things that aren't too dangerous and I don't use too often.

And this is her first walking related injury! She is walking all over the place now and unfortunately, she fell on the kitchen tile!

She has also learned to climb up stairs but going back down is another story! She has also seemed to say a few real words but they don't happen that often (mama, dada and uh oh)! Anyone who has met her though knows that she loves to talk and make noises!

Right now we are just counting down the days until her birthday and we will post all about that then!!

Dentist and Chocolate Cake.

2010-01-19T12:15:00.003-07:00

Abby had her first dentist appointment yesterday. I was planning on taking a picture but, of course, I forgot. Overall, it was a pretty good experience. She cried a little when the dentist was looking in her mouth and applying the fluoride but overall she did great. When I told the dentist that she still has to eat during the night, he was surprised. He said he never would have known because her teeth look so great. He did give me some tips on how to keep her teeth clean during the night since she won't let me brush them at 2:00 am. From what I hear, FODers can have a lot of trouble with their teeth since they have to eat so frequently. Hopefully, we will be able to prevent those problems before they happen! Also I wanted to share this link with everyone. If you are interested in making a low fat chocolate cake, go here http://www.hungry-girl.com/askhg/askhgdetails.php?isid=1915 I made this cake last night and it tastes pretty good! It will take a little bit of practice to perfect the presentation because the batter is a little thicker than normal batter and it is hard to smooth it out but it will be worth it! I am so glad to know that my little girl will be able to have chocolate cake! Now, just to figure out how to make a low fat frosting.....

Early Birthday Party

2010-01-15T20:46:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we took Abby on her first road trip. I was pretty stressed out but all worked out OK. My biggest fear is that she would get sick while we were there, we wouldn't know it and then she would start going into a crisis in the middle of Nevada without a hospital close by. She made it fine though. It was really good to see family while we were out there, we only wish that it could have been under better circumstances. While we were there, my mother in law decided to throw a birthday party for Abby and her cousin Caleb who is only a few weeks older than her. It was GREAT because this way we could have family there versus only Jason and I.Here is Abby before the cake with her cousins Phaedra and Brody
Here is the birthday boy Caleb!

I don't know if Abby really liked to eat the cupcake but she sure did like to poke it!

Abby finally mastered the art of unwrapping presents.

Abby got her first dolly from Grandma Kathy.

Thank you so much Kathy for throwing this birthday party for her!

A New Year, A New Me!

2010-01-01T19:45:00.003-07:00

So first I have to apologize to anyone who has been dying to see Christmas pictures of Abby, we took some pretty good ones before I realized we didn't have an SD card in the camera so now I have to find the cord that hooks the camera directly up to the computer so I can download them. I have been trying to work on goals already for the past couple of months but what the heck, there is still much I need to improve so here are my goals.

1. To become the kind of mom who is pretty good at cleaning her home but also doesn't put that in front of spending quality time with her family. We are at that stage right now where Abby is getting pretty close to walking and needs constant supervision because she wants to get into everything so my house isn't as clean as I would like it to be but then I have days where I have been doing chores non stop and realize that I haven't played with Abby or sat down to just spend time with Jason.

2. Start having regular Family Home Evening. (Yes, I am admitting that we aren't that good at it but that is going to change NOW!)

3. Start working out (again). December was a hard month to stick to my workout schedule and I am ashamed to say that weeks went by without me doing so much as a sit up (Strange though, I have lost 3 pounds since Thanksgiving, one thing about breastfeeding, I definitely have random weight loss)

4. Make time for me! We don't really have anyone to watch Abby so I don't do much that is just for me besides my once a month bunco group. My goal is to set aside some time every Saturday that I do not work and work on my scrap booking and my sewing (Jason bought me a sewing machine our first Christmas we were married. I really wanted it and had so many plans of things I wanted to make but I have not even put thread in the thing yet. I have, however, read the instruction manual!) It is only 2 days a month but it is a start!

5. To put more effort into gathering and preparing the type of meals that Abby is going to have to eat. I only have one more year before Abby has to officially go on a heart healthy, 30% fat diet! (They want us to decrease fat a little between 1 and 2 but not too much so she gets enough for brain development)

That is about it for now. I will still need to probably make small, monthly goals but these are the big, important one's where I really need to change! I hope that all of you have a fantastic New Year!! We love you all and we can't wait to see the Albert side of the family next week!

Sorry it has been so long!!

2009-12-13T11:05:00.002-07:00

It has been a little while since I have written on here! It feels like we have been super busy! Here is a quick update. Abby loves bathtime. Unfortunately, she needs to learn that bath time is not the time to practice her crawling and her standing.

I saw these cute pajamas at the store and knew that I had to get them for my little monkey.

Abby was such a good girl watching me shovel the snow. Luckily a neighbor of ours used his bobcat to clear out most of the snow so I only had to do the stairs to our door, the sidewalk and throw down ice melt.

This is Abby at our friends house on Thanksgiving chasing the little doggy. Too bad she hasn't learned yet how to pet puppies nicely.

And here is Abby with Jason on Thanksgiving. I am really grateful for the two of them.

Our Thanksgiving was pretty good. We had dinner with some friends. It was really nice not to worry about cooking the turkey this year! It has been snowing a TON! Poor Jason has worked so much this past week. He has worked everyday for the past 8 days with at least 5 more to go. On the days that is snows, he has been leaving at 3:00 am so on top of all of the work, he has had very little sleep. We are hoping it DOES NOT snow on Christmas so we can spend the whole day together this year (especially since it is Abby's first Christmas).

Well, I will try to be better at keepin up to date on here. Love you all!

Bad Mommy!

2009-11-22T09:04:00.003-07:00

Have you ever had one of those moments that make you think you are a bad mom? Well I had one on Friday. I was in the kitchen preparing food for the Bunco Party that was at my house that night. Abby was playing in the exersaucer where I could see her. She started to get a little fussy but since I knew that she had just been fed and had a clean diaper I thought she was just wanting attention but I had to finish what I was doing. All of a sudden I realize that Abby isn't making any noise so I look over. She is fast asleep standing up with her head laying on the edge of the exersaucer! I really wish my camera had been handy but it wasn't. I guess I didn't take into account that she might be fussy because she woke up early from her nap. So, yes, I have my bad mom moments. I'm sure there will be more to come over the years but at least I could find a little humor in this one.

This kid is growing so fast!!

2009-11-20T10:45:00.003-07:00

I can't believe how fast this little munchkin is growing up! She loves to pull herself up on the table and anything else she can.

She loves eating her little snacks. Unfortunately she hasn't learned that you don't turn plates of food upside down.

She loves crawling into little spaces and finding treasures. She had dropped my phone on the base of the exersaucer earlier and now was determined to find it.

She loves to "help" me with the laundry!!

It is so much fun to see her personality developing and also see her learning new things every day. We sure do love this little kid!

Update on my goal!

2009-11-02T11:53:00.002-07:00

So a little over a month ago, I made a goal to not say anything bad about my body. I started out strong but then slipped up a few times towards the end of the month. It is a REALLY, REALLY hard habit to break. I did have some thoughts though about this subject.
1. Our bodies are a gift from Heavenly Father (hmmm... I'm sure I had a lesson about this in Young Women's many, many years ago). He created us and our features so it must make him pretty sad when we say negative things about ourselves. I think because our bodies are gifts from Him, then it is also very important that we do what we can to take care of them!
2. Who do I say bad things about my body too most often? My husband!! It is kind of funny that I point out my flaws to the one person I want to think I am beautiful!
3. One thing that helped keep me on track was working out! I am usually pretty good at working out several times a week but there has been so much going on the past few weeks that I haven't really been on top of my game. Interesting correlation, when I stop working out, I criticize my body more.

Well, this is a battle that is going to take longer than a month to fight. But, for both my self esteem and my daughters self worth, it is worth it. Now, just to find another health goal for the next month... Maybe stop baking so much on Sundays so I don't eat brownies for breakfast. Or, eat more vegetables! I think I will go with the vegetables. Here goes nothing!

This is Halloween!!

2009-11-02T10:55:00.003-07:00

As you can see, our child is a party animal!! We put her costume on and then the first thing she did was fall asleep!

She didn't stay asleep for long though as the Trick or Treaters started making their way to our house!

She sure is our cute little mouse! I was really bummed because I have cat ears too so I was going to dress up with her. Of course though I didn't start looking for them till about 5:00 on Halloween and never found them! It was really fun to dress her up but I can't wait for the years to come when we can carve pumpkins and take her Trick or Treating! (We are going to have to get a little creative though in thinking of "trades" since she won't be able to have alot of the candy).

On a side note... If you could keep Abby in your prayers. It seems like she has a small stomach virus. So far she is doing fine but the doctors have said to keep an eye on her. We are going on day 4 here so hopefully it ends soon. If she starts vomiting too then we will have to take her to the hospital. Thank you all!

Fun with Dad!

2009-11-02T10:41:00.004-07:00

One thing is for sure! Abby loves her Daddy!! Sometimes I think he is going to be the favorite parent! Actually, make that I KNOW he is going to be the favorite parent!

So here is the real reason we were taking pictures. We wanted to get a picture of Abby with the Halloween hat my mom made her. She wears it when we go on errands but of course I never have my camera with me then. So, of course, when I want to take a picture of her in it, she pulls it off head. It is really hard to get her to keep anything on her head. She likes to pull it off and inspect whatever it is. We went and took family pictures Saturday morning and it was amazing she kept her hair bow on for the entire time! (her hands were probably too cold to use).

Catch Up!

2009-10-28T16:32:00.003-06:00

Welcome to the wild world of the Alberts! It seems that we have been insanely busy this month but yet it isn't really much exciting to write about! I just want everyone to notice Jason's fantastic art skills in the picture above! I always thought I was the artist in the family but he proved me wrong :)
Abby is getting to that age where she wants to hold anything and everything she can within reach, even our noses!

Here she is gearing up for Halloween!

Abby loves spending time with her Daddy!

Although she isn't looking at the camera, I thought she looked so stinkin' cute in this outfit, had to include it!

So as I mentioned earlier, we have been super busy this month. Last Saturday was the first Saturday this month that Jason and I were both home and then Jason already has plans for this next Saturday. Hopefully we will be able to spend some more time together in November! I did end up making some salsa but I froze it instead of canning it because one canning book I read said you shouldn't can tomatoes that aren't vine ripened because the pH won't be right. It said to freeze it instead. Hopefully it tastes okay! Hopefully we will have some more exciting (in a good way) stuff to write about next time. Read on to the other posts to see what else has been going on! Love you all!

"I love technology" - Abby

2009-10-28T16:23:00.004-06:00

"Yes I love technology,

But not as much as you, you see

But still I love technology..

Always and forever

Always and forever!"

Okay, all of you Napoleon Dynamite fans, I may have butchered the words but if Abby were to have a theme song, that would be it. She likes her toys, but she LOVES anything that has buttons or turns on and off, she even loves the baby monitor receiver. We gave her Jason's old phone as a toy. It is actually pretty funny to watch her. We have been trying to help her learn to crawl better. If she is on the ground and you call her, she will get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. However, if you put a phone or remote control on the floor, she will do whatever it takes to get it!

She really loves the camera, it is hard to take pictures of her because when I do she just wants to grab it. In this picture we were on the floor side by side but as soon as I got out the camera, she was climbing all over me to try to get it!

Our new car

2009-10-28T16:18:00.002-06:00

So, it was overdue yet we were hoping to wait until we had some other bills paid off. However, we couldn't really wait any longer to buy a new car. Sorry the pictures are in the garage but it is freezing here and I wasn't going outside if I didn't have to. It is pretty nice, much MUCH nicer than my old car.

The Sacrifice I can't make.

2009-10-12T16:39:00.002-06:00

If it were possible for a vegetable to be an arch enemy, mine would be carrots. I HATE raw carrots (i'll eat them cooked but I don't LOVE those). I can't even stand the smell of them. Jason makes fun of me to no end because of this. Well, as I was making Abby some baby carrot food today, I decided to try one to see if maybe my tastes have changed. How can I as a mom tell my child to eat a vegetable when I won't touch it? So I took a small, tentative bite. Yep, I still hate them. I guess this just means that if there is a healthy food that Abby tries but can't stand, I can't make her because I would be a total hypocrite. Maybe someday my taste buds will start to like them but today definitely wasn't the day!

Abby is 8 months old!!

2009-10-04T16:19:00.004-06:00

I can't believe this little munchkin of ours is 8 months old already. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home but at the same time it is hard to imagine what our lives were like without her. It certainly is an adventure! She has such a personality and she loves to laugh!! (Good thing she has a daddy who loves to make people laugh) She can now sit on her own pretty well!

No matter how hard I try, this child will only sleep on her stomach. I'll lay her down and she will just roll over automatically. At first I tried moving her to her back but she would just roll over again. It is a hopeless battle. Sometimes she will roll over and stick her face straight down in the mattress! I always have to turn her head to the side. It is kind of hard to tell in this picture but she will also often sleep with her bum up in the air. I think it is hilarious!!

She isn't quite crawling yet but she will get up on her hands and knees. To get around she either rolls or scoots like an inch worm. I push the coffee table to the side of the living room so she will have room to move around but it never fails, that is the first place she will roll too. I read somewhere that kids like to be in smaller spaces. I can remember for a long time when I was a kid (probably till I was in my early teens) my favorite place to take naps was under tables. I know, so weird!

If you look hard, you can see her bottom teeth, I tried getting a picture of her top teeth too but she doesn't stay still for too long!

She is quite the character and we have so much fun with her!

In other news, my brother and his wife had their baby on Saturday so she and Abby are exactly 8 months apart! That is pretty fun. It is the first time I am an auntie to one of my siblings kids so that is pretty exciting. I can't wait to see pictures of her!!

The weather has changed here so dramatically. I think it dropped about 40 degrees from one day to the next. We had to quickly pull all of the vegetables out of our garden. I currently have 35 pounds of green tomatoes that I am hoping will ripen so I will be able to can them. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

There is something so exciting about this time of year. I LOVE Halloween and Thanksgiving but most of all, I love the fall colors and I love wearing my favorite sweaters! (Sweaters are just so cozy and comfortable!) I am currently on the hunt for the perfect Halloween costume for Abby. It is a little hard when you have the perfect idea in your head but can't seem to find exactly what you are looking for. Hopefully soon :)

I will try to get more pictures on here soon! Love you all!

My three hour staycation!

2009-09-20T21:20:00.003-06:00

I have to just say that I have the most wonderful husband!! One of our favorite things to do here is go up into the canyon. We usually do this several times during the spring and summer but this year it just wasn't happening. Jason had gone up quite a few times while he was hunting but I hadn't been yet. Well, one of my favorite things to do is to go up and see the changing colors. Jason tried to get as much of his work done earlier this week so we could go up Friday. He still had to work but he got home a little bit earlier than normal so we went and drove the Alpine Loop. It was just what I needed. This is pretty much the first thing like this we have done since Abby was born so I am calling it my "3 hour staycation". I just love being in the mountains. It is so peaceful and relaxing! Abby must think so too because she pretty much slept the entire time. Hopefully short trips like this will start getting easier. Abby went through this phase where she would get too distracted to eat away from home so I planned all of my outings to fit in between feedings. She is starting to get better though. We really wanted to get out and go for a short nature walk but unfortunately it started raining. On the way home we stopped to get a Maverick Soft Serve ice cream. They are my favorite and in times past when coming home from the canyon, that is where we always stopped.

The view from one of the roadside stops.

A random mama cow and her baby hanging out at the trail head at one of the rest stops.

And in other news......

Prime example of why expensive baby toys are so unnecessary. Abby found this paper towel roll absolutely entertaining, especially when I used it as a telescope or a horn.

This picture truly does not do justice to how messy of an eater Abby is. If you can't tell, Abby has peas on her forehead, eyelids, eyelash as well as up her nose and all over her arms and legs. I even found food in her hair the next day. She loves to try to help feed herself. She will grab the spoon when I am holding it and shove it in her mouth. Unfortunately, she grabs it where the food is so most of the food gets all over hands and smooshed on her face rather than in her mouth. She is getting better at eating solids. So far, plums appear to be her favorite. We are still working with her to try to get her to take a bottle but she now thinks they are chew toys. I have decided to try out a cup with her and she is actually doing pretty well. I decided to try it after she kept grabbing for my cup of water. She can take sips from it and not really spill (while I am holding it of course). She still can't drink large quantities from one yet but we are definitely on the road to success! Hopefully we can just skip sippy cups altogether. (I read that it is best to just go to regular cups because it helps the muscles for speech develop but I have come to the conclusion that no matter what you choose, there is probably an expert out there who agrees and one who disagrees).

So Abby is teething again and she is getting four, count them FOUR teeth. The good news is that it doesn't seem as painful this time. The two front top teeth are poking through and it looks like the ones to the sides of those are close behind. Her bottom two are already all the way in and I can see some white spots next to those as well but they don't really seem as close as the others. At this rate, this kid is going to have all of her teeth before all of her hair grows in. By the way, her hair is getting thicker and longer but it is so light you can still hardly see it. My mom is thinking she may have strawberry blond hair and I think she may be right. In the sunlight her eyelashes have a red tint and her hair doesn't look straight blond. We will see.

Hopefully I will get some more pictures up soon! Love you all!

Answers to Easy Post Questions

2009-09-17T21:06:00.003-06:00

Allison asked who the famous person I met was. I have actually met a few. When I was in junior high, I was friends with Tiffany's younger sister. I went to her house several times (which used to be Sylvester Stallones) and went to her wedding. I helped Marie Osmond find something at Rite Aid once and she called me "hon". Also both Donny Osmond and Lindsey Lohan came shopping at Rite Aid too. (Now you all know where the hot spot in Utah County is). Yes, I was fired from a job. I worked at Farmers Insurance when I was in high school. It wasn't the best job. Once my boss tried to pay me with a dog instead of money so being fired wasn't all that much of a loss. Oh, and if Y mountain really counts as a mountain, then YES I have climbed a mountain (it looks more like a hill to me when you compare it to Mount Timp or say Kilimanjaro).

Goals!

2009-09-17T11:50:00.001-06:00

So I have been a little bit bad at making my monthly health goals. Maybe I should make a goal to be better at making goals :) Well I just want everyone to know I did make it a month with no soda. When I was trying to decide on a goal for this month I considered giving up either ice cream or fried foods but honestly, that would be cheating because I rarely eat those (you think no soda, no ice cream and no fried foods i'd be pretty skinny but oh well). So then I started thinking about what could make a real difference. (Warning, I am about to regurgitate some of my college education) There are 5 areas to health, they are physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social. I decided to do something that would help my emotional health. How many of you out there say on a regular basis "I'm so fat" or "I can't stand my (insert least favorite body part here)". Well, I do and it made me think about what kind of impact this will have on Abby as she gets older. I could go into a lot of detail about different things I have seen and heard but it would take me a long time. So, my goal for the next month is to not say anything negative about my body. This may be the hardest goal ever but I feel it is really important. If anyone is interested in learning more about encouraging our daughters to have healthy self esteem, go to www.dove.com and check out the campaign for real beauty and check out this video http://www.dove.us/#/features/videos/default.aspx[cp-documentid=8354359]/. Wish me luck! Jason will be holding me accountable!

Easy Post

2009-09-16T14:57:00.002-06:00

I got this from my friend Angela's blog. All of the Red/Highlighted are things that I've done in my life. Want to play too? Just copy the list to your blog and bold or highlight your experiences instead of mine. And link back so that I can see your list!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

The Silver Lining

2009-09-11T11:39:00.003-06:00

Before I dive into this post I have to first preface why I am writing it. I belong a FOD Support Group (fatty acid oxidation disorders, a family of disorders that includes Abby's MCAD). In their most recent newsletter, they asked for submissions of our silver lining to the FOD diagnosis. This has had me thinking alot and I decided to share my thoughts on here. In the newsletter I can't share any religious views but as I think about it, many of the silver linings are blessings from Heavenly Father so I decided I would write them here since this is my blog and I can write whatever I want so here goes.

If you had asked in the very beginning to tell you what the silver lining was to Abby's MCAD diagnosis I would have probably given you a dirty look or just started crying but time and education can really do alot to change you perspective. The very first blessing is the obvious, because of the type of diet that Abby will have to follow she will start out her life on the healthy eating path I always wanted my children to be on but I probably would have given in easily to convenience. Our health will also be affected for good by eating a low fat diet. (Jason says he is too far gone but I am going to prove him wrong!!) It is interesting that I always said before that I didn't want to have potato chips and junk food in the house when we had children and now it is not just a good idea but a necessary one.

The next blessing is a knowledge that Heavenly Father really does know what is best for us even when we think we know what is better. I was devastated when we were told that we would not be able to take Abby home at the normal time. I knew my baby wasn't eating well but we had no idea she had a medical condition. There was nothing more heartbreaking than coming home from the hospital and instead of bringing our beautiful girl home, we were just making a quick trip to pick up more clothes. Now I cringe when I think of what would have happened if we had brought her home as planned and had her go into a metabolic crisis at home. She was most likely already in a crisis state that morning because usually a blood sugar drop is a late sign. Now I know that it was better for us to stay in the hospital, for Abby to get an IV and for her to have the time and the energy to learn how to eat properly.

The next blessing is more from just having a child rather than from an MCAD diagnosis. It is a renewed sense of the importance of families being sealed for eternity through the blessings of the Temple. It is comforting to know that as our family grows, we are all sealed together for eternity. I am so thankful everyday for this blessing.

I am also thankful that I decided to pursue my education in the health field. I always found an interest in health, especially in nutrition. I always found it interesting how the body systems worked and especially how what you ate worked in the body. However, if I had become a nutritionist (if I ever get my masters, that is what I want to do) and stayed on my old path, I would have become one of those "practice what I preach, not what I do" nutritionists. Now is the time to put my education into play. Instead of hating to look at recipes and knowing my child can't eat them, I now look at it as a fun challenge to take recipes and make them healthier and also to make meals for Jason and I that are healthy but also so tasty that we won't miss the fatty foods we used to eat.

I think that having a child with any type of a health problem opens your eyes and your hearts to those who have similar or worse trials. Just for example, the very first time we took Abby to her appointment at Primary Childrens, it was like I had blinders on. How could anything be wrong with my child? What kind of life is she going to live? Questions like this flooded my mind. On our second trip, I really saw for the first time all the children who weren't there for a quick check up, the children who couldn't walk and run. It was heartbreaking. Now it makes me want to do what I can to help support the childrens hospital and in turn help those children. It also helps you realize that it could be worse. As long as we fuel Abby's body correctly and take care of her properly when she is sick, she CAN walk and run, she CAN live a normal life!

The last silver lining is a selfish one. I do have to say that now I feel a little vindicated in the fact that I told Jason when we were first married that I didn't want us to own a deep fat fryer. (Fried foods and foods with coconut, coconut milk and coconut oil are the foods that Abby absolutely cannot have).

So while it is going to be a challenge and there are still days that I dread flu season and feel sad for Abby that she may never know the joy of eating an onion ring or worry how she is going to feel when she is older and all of her friends can eat junk food I know that we have been truly blessed by Heavenly Father. I hope this post will prompt each of you to think of the challenges in your life and look for the silver lining.

Long time, no blog!!

2009-09-06T19:09:00.002-06:00

It has been too long since I have written. These pictures came up out of the order I wanted but I will just jump in and roll with it. In the above picture, you can see that Abby loves her reflection. The one on the front of the entertainment center is her favorite because she can get up close and personal with it!!

This is my new hair cut. The picture isn't fantastic, I hate those "self portraits" but it seems like whenever Jason was around this week, my hair wasn't at it's cutest. I love my haircut. I wish I could go back in time and tell the past me to do this earlier. I had been thinking about going shorter for a long time. It is so much easier and faster to do (20 minutes total from blow dry to final hair spray versus 30 minutes just to blow dry it before) I am very happy with it and Jason even likes it even though he always said he liked long hair.

Here is Abby gearing up for the big game! It was a pretty good day since BYU won. Jason was hoping for it but wasn't expecting it! Go Cougs!!

Abby is so interested in the camera lately. She will drop everything (literally) if she sees it out. I was trying to take a picture of the fact that she would rather play with her toy than eat but obviously, she would rather have her picture taken than anything else!

And last but not least, these are the peaches from our tree that I canned. Actually, I should say I helped can. My friend Beth was teaching me how to can but Abby started crying so while I took care of Abby, Beth did most of the dirty work. I mostly just made the syrup and filled the jars. Beth peeled and cut most of them. I have such great friends. So far the plan is on tuesday to make some jalapeno jelly with my friend Erienne. Hopefully those turn out great too!

In other news, Abby turned 7 months old this past week. I can't believe how fast the time is going by! She is learning to do so many fun things I don't even know if I can remember them all. She is almost sitting on her own. I just have to be very close by because she will eventually fall over. She makes these cute clicking noises with her tongue and she can also clap her hands. A few times she has scooted or creeped but not that far. She mostly goes backwards. She will roll all over the place if you let her. I know she is still a baby but it is hard for me to imagine that not too long ago, she was a newborn who didn't smile and play like she does now.

It seems like we have been super busy lately. Jason had been going out most evenings after work to go deer hunting. It seems like for about a week and a half we hardly saw him. I'm glad he gets to go out and have some fum but I am also glad we get to see him again! I have a new job that I am doing from home now. It isn't too much work and I won't be making a ton of money but every little bit helps. I am working for our friend Ryan submitting insurance claims for his business. He always likes to say "Hey Johnny (Jason's friends nick name for me), It's your boss calling" every time he calls.

I'm sure there is other stuff going on but I can't really remember right now. I will try not to let so much time go by before my next post. Love you all!

Calling all family and all cooks!

2009-08-22T11:14:00.002-06:00

Sorry, no new pictures to post this week, we have been a little busy and I haven't taken any this week. I did have two favors I wanted to ask of you. Firstly, family, I have one of those ribbon bulletin boards in Abby's room and I want to put pictures of family on there for Abby to see so she can know who family are. I have Eric and Lauren's Christmas picture from last year and I have pictures of Grandma and Grandpa Butz. I'll have to look through our pictures, I may have others but if anyone has a picture you would like to send me, that would be great. You can e-mail it to caldschick@hotmail.com (yes, I know, my e-mail address is kind of lame but I have had it for 10 years and am too lazy to change it now) and I will print it out. Also, for all of you cooks out there, I am trying to compile healthy holiday recipes. My goal this year is to make an Abby friendly Thanksgiving so we will be ready for next year. I have a few ideas but I am struggling with desserts. I also want to get ideas for other holidays as well as regular every day meals. We can be a little flexible. She can have a total of 30% of her calories from fat in a day. That means if she were to have something that was 100 calories (I know, hardly anything would have 100 calories but this is just an example :) and 40 of them were from fat and then have something else that was 100 calories and 20 were from fat then that would equal 30% total so we have a little lee way but not much. We just have to make sure it all balances out (time to refresh my math skills). Also, little tid bit of information when you are trying to figure out fat calories and it only lists the fat in grams. 1 gram of fat is 9 calories. It is pretty sad that I probably learned that in every single class I had in my major and I still had to go look it up the other day. I really do think my IQ is dropping daily but I still know what DABDA means (the stages of grief). At least I am retaining some of my education. Sorry, strayed from the subject for a moment. If you have recipes, you can also e-mail them to me. Thanks everyone for your help!!

My first bowl of rice cereal (as told by Abby)

2009-08-06T15:53:00.003-06:00

Mom, Help! I'm feeling a little lost in here!
That's better!

I don't know about this weird goopy stuff mom keeps shoving in my mouth but I really like this pretty pink spoon!

All done! I think I fooled mom! She thinks I ate some of the food but it is really all over my face and clothes!

THE END!!

Abby likes Dresses and Puppies!

2009-08-06T15:47:00.002-06:00

What a cutie Abby is in this dress she wore last Sunday!

Last weekend we were watching our friends' dog while they were out of town. Abby was so enthralled, I think this is the first time she had seen a dog up close!

She just kept staring at Lexi, she even petted her once. Well, it was more of a case Abby stuck her hand out as Lexi walked by and Abby's hand ran down Lexi's back. I really wish I had my camera close by for that one!

Cherish the moments!

2009-08-04T11:50:00.002-06:00

So today I had tons of stuff planned to do. It is now almost noon, I have gotten hardly any of it done and my sweet baby is sleeping away on my lap. I tried several times to move her but she is only happy sleeping here. Then it struck me how in just a few short months she will probably be too big to sleep on my lap and how much I will miss it. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day busyness and pass up these sweet moments. Okay, okay I know I am starting to sound really cheesy but I have been thinking about this a lot lately. In the first few weeks of Abby's life, I used to wish that I could fast forward to the future and see that Abby was living a wonderful life despite MCAD. It made me think of that movie "Click". I know, bad movie but it had a great message. How could I miss all of these days that will never happen again? On Sunday Jason and I were talking about how nice it will be when we can lay Abby down with us and all take a family nap (Sunday nap time is pretty much non existent right now) but how when she does get bigger we will probably miss when we could just hold her. I already miss when she would lay her head on shoulder and just relax, now she has her head up and wants to look around. It gets hard at times to balance keeping a clean, orderly house and enjoying your child. Those of you who know me know that I cannot stand messiness and it is extremely hard for me to relax if there is still chores to be done. I've realized though that I need to relax a bit, the chores will never be completely done and I cannot rewind time and enjoy these moments again. So, some chores will have to wait for tomorrow while I let my baby continue sleeping soundly on my lap.

P.S. Abby is starting to get better, her fever is pretty much gone but she still has a stuffy nose and wakes up several times at night. Thank you all for your prayers!

Sick : (

2009-08-03T10:36:00.002-06:00

So today Abby is 6 months old and the poor little munchkin is sick. I have to say that I have been dreading this day ever since we got her diagnosis but knew it would happen eventually. It isn't too bad yet, she has a little cold. Her nose has been stuffy, she has a cough and a low grade fever. The poor kid has been having trouble sleeping at night. I usually wake up after 4 hours for the first night feeding and 3 hours for the second. Saturday night she woke up twice before the 4 hour mark. Needless to say we are feeling even more sleep deprived than normal at our house. The good news is that so far we can manage everything at home. This morning I called the geneticist because her temperature was 100.4. When she was a newborn we had to take her to ER for a temp that high but they said now just to give her tylenol, make sure it doesn't get higher and make sure she keeps eating. Please keep her in your prayers that she doesn't get worse and need a hospital stay. Thank you!

I can't get enough of this kid!!

2009-07-30T15:50:00.004-06:00

Here is Abby before the roll...

And here is Abby mid roll!

How can you not love a face like that!!

Jason just walked upstairs after a long day at work. She sure does love her dad and lights up anytime he walks in the room!

Well it seems like we are extremely busy! Last weekend Eric, Lauren and Hunter came to town and it was so much fun. We really wish we lived closer to family (I know, I say that all the time)

Jason and I got new callings at church. We are now the Young Single Adult Fellowship couple. I honestly didn't know we had any single adults in our ward but they gave us the list and there are 18. It is our job to get to know them all, teach them Sunday School if they are at church and also have activities for them.

In other news I am going to start making monthly goals to improve my health. Goal for this month: no soda! Actually, i'm not a huge soda fan but since it is always in the house I find myself indulging but I always feel like I need a glass of water afterwards. If I could get Jason to go for it, we just wouldn't buy any anymore but I highly doubt that will happen. I think I can accomplish this goal. When I was younger I actually went an entire year with no caffeinated beverages. My downfall was when I went on a road trip with a friend and he bought me a Dr. Pepper, my soda of choice if I am drinking soda.

Also, our little baby will be 6 months old on Monday, I can't believe it has been 6 months already. We love you all and will write more later!

Pictures, pictures, pictures!!

2009-07-30T15:41:00.002-06:00

Abby had lots of fun playing with her cousin Hunter who was in town last weekend. Cute story, Abby has a piglet doll that I will play around with her. Sometimes I pretend like piglet is giving her kisses on the cheek. Hunter saw me do this. Later on when Abby was crying, Hunter brought over the doll and gave Abby "Piglet kisses"
Abby is already drinking her dad's favorite beverage, JUST KIDDING!!! I just saw this shot and thought it would be funny to get her and the Pepsi in the fram. If I have my way this kid won't have soda until she is at least 13, if ever :)

What a personality!

Jason's hat doesn't quite fit her yet!

Just the Facts

2009-07-29T13:54:00.002-06:00

So after talking to my sister in law who was visitng last weekend and fielding questions from others over the past few weeks, I realize that many people may realize that Abby has MCAD but do not know what that means. Besides the Grandmas, there are only a handful of people that know many of the details so I thought I would share some of the facts that I know (I am sure there is so much more I don't know but will hopefully learn)
1. It is autosomal recessive. Those of you who do not remember genetics from school, autosomal means that it affects both boys and girls. Recessive means that in order for a child to have it, they get the faulty gene from both parents. Both Jason and I are carriers.
2. Since both of us are carriers, all of our children have a 25% chance of having MCAD, a 50% of being a carrier and a 25% chance of being completely unaffected. We could possibly have 3 more kids, all fine or all have MCAD or any mixture of kids with MCAD and without.
3. Since both of us are carriers, that means there is also a chance that any one of our siblings could also be carriers. The geneticist made sure that all siblings currently live in states that test newborns for MCAD. (Rachel, i'm not sure about Missouri but you guys are moving to Florida before you will have a kid and they do test) The test normally takes a week to get results.
4. It is estimated that one in 50 people with a Northern European heritage is a carrier. Other ethnicities can also be carriers but the percentage isn't as high.
5. The genetic counselor did some math. Abby has a 1% chance of also having an MCAD child.
6. MCAD makes it so her body doesn't properly produce the enzyme to break down medium chain fats for energy so she will mostly rely on carbohydrates for energy.
7. She DOES NOT have a compromised immune system, however if she does get sick with a high fever, vomiting or diarrhea she won't be able to use her fat stores for energy needed to get through the illness thus needing a Dextrose 10 IV.
8. As long as she is fueled properly through food, she is a normal child and can do the things normal children (and adults later in life) can do. Playtime may mean more snacks and longer resting time but she can still play. Some MCAD kids even play sports.
9. When Abby was a newborn she could not go any longer that 3 hours without eating. At this time, she can technically go 8 hours at night without food but still needs to eat frequently during the day. We choose to go 4 hours because there have been cases where a child goes to bed fine, spikes a fever in the middle of the night and become hypoglycemic before morning with bad results.
10. She will eventually be able to go 12 hours at night when well but still need to eat frequent meals throughout the day (5 or 6 small meals or 3 meals and 2 or 3 snacks). When ill, she will most likely need to eat every few hours during the night as well.
11. And the best fact of all!! Children with MCAD who are diagnosed at birth and get proper treatment can live a full, healthy life and do pretty much anything they want!
(Some exceptions, Jason and his brother were talking about Philmont Scout Camp the other day and how fun it was for them. Unfortunately, if we have a boy who has MCAD that type of trip would most likely not be possible. Jason said pretty much all the food they are served there is very high fat. That gives normal boys energy but not MCAD boys)
So sorry for the lesson but I figured I might as well share some of the facts I know since I frequently get questions.

Hooray!!

2009-07-29T09:57:00.002-06:00

Can I just say how happy I am?? After 3 weeks of teething crankiness, Abby is back to her cheerful self with 2 new teeth! Now to just get her to take a bottle again :)

Looking for some healthy recipes???

2009-07-28T14:25:00.002-06:00

So I just wanted to point everyone to the blog www.healthykitchens.blogspot.com. I just found out about this blog today, checked it out and I am super excited!! It is written by a woman who also has an MCAD child. This helps me out immensely because while I have been working on figuring out healthy recipes and meal plans for when Abby gets older, it is really hard. All of the recipes are heart healthy, the type of diet that Abby needs to eat (incidentally, I was talking to the dietitian at the geneticists office today about starting Abby on solid foods and she reiterated that this is the type of diet that we should all be eating, she has me convinced! Imagine how much healthier Americans would be if they followed this as well as the decrease in the amount spent on medical care). So if you are looking for some healthy recipes or wonder what types of foods you can make Abby when she gets older, check it out!

I am thankful for...

2009-07-23T09:43:00.002-06:00

So I have been thinking about family traditions I want to start and one I came up with is to make a list all year long of things we are thankful for and share it on Thanksgiving. Problem is, now I have all these things I am thankful for and I am just bursting at the seams to share them. So here goes. I am thankful for...
* the Savior and the Atonement.
* the Gospel.
* the Temple and the ability we have to be sealed together as a family forever.
* our wonderful families!
* my amazing husband and our beautiful daughter.
* this wonderful country that we live in.
* the fact that Abby got proper medical treatment in the NICU even before we knew what was wrong (some families I have learned have not been so lucky, receiving the wrong type of IV with awful consequences). I am thankful for this every single moment of every single day!!
* Deb Gould. It is her and her husband who started the FOD support group which has helped me immensely with Abby's diagnosis. It is also because of her and early members of the group that states are now starting to do Expanded Newborn Screening.
* family, friends and neighbors who have either loaned or given us items for Abby to use. Without them we would probably be in a lot more debt!
* Sunshine!!
* air conditioners and ceiling fans.
* my friend Beth who is my walking buddy! I am finally starting to get back in shape and enjoying it because of her!
* that fresh produce is cheap and plentiful here in Utah! (I got blueberries yesterday for 99 cents a pint!)
Okay, I could go on and on but I have to save something for Thanksgiving. This reminds me of when I was in my early 20's. I used to keep a things I was thankful for journal and I was able to fill the entire thing. Granted some entries were "I am thankful for Popsicles" but it is amazing how much my daily attitude changes when I try to think of all the things I am thankful for. I challenge all of you to stop and think of all the things you are thankful for. I know, you weren't expecting homework from my blog but hop to it!!

What a cutie!!

2009-07-15T12:39:00.004-06:00

This is a very blurry picture but I had to put it on, this is the first time I have ever seen Abby so focused on a toy and how it moves!

Abby has found her feet and boy does she love them!

She is also enjoying spending time in her exersaucer!

She is such a fun kid!

I forgot to add in the post about her teething that along with that she is doing a really funny thing. She sticks out her tongue a lot and moves it around. It looks like she has found her tooth and is trying to figure out what it is. She is definitely entertaining!

It's official!!

2009-07-15T12:34:00.002-06:00

Abby is getting teeth!! I was getting sick of putting the blame on teething every time Abby was unexplicably cranky or sad. All of those times I really thought she was teething. After awhile I started to feel quite silly. Well for the last week and a half Abby has been the saddest baby you ever did see. It broke my heart because she would even whimper in her sleep. Well yesterday she chewed on my finger and I felt it, a tooth poking it's way through the gums!! It's broken through the gum but it really isn't that visible unless you look hard. As soon as it really comes in then I will post a picture.

Dedicated to the One I Love!

2009-07-15T12:16:00.003-06:00

Last Monday, Jason and I celebrated 3 years of marriage ( I still tease him though that it could have been 4 or 5 if he had proposed earlier). I am sure that most married women feel this way but I really did marry the most wonderful man! I always thought it sounded really cheesy when other people said this but I knew right from the start that I was going to marry Jason. I knew after one evening when we first met and we had the most wonderful conversation. Looking back now, I can't even remember what we talked about but I do remember that I just loved talking to him and felt like I could for hours! I love Jason for so many reasons, among them are that he is smart, funny, kind and always willing to serve others. I also love him because he is such a great father. Life has definitely thrown us some curve balls but there is no one I would rather have beside me through it all than him.

Happy 4th of July!!!

2009-07-06T12:45:00.002-06:00

So our 4th of July wasn't too exciting but I couldn't resist dressing Abby up for church. I don't know what I am going to do if I have a boy next, dressing girls up is so much fun!!

Allright, I am not the most photogenic person but Abby is so stinkin' cute in this picture, I had to put it on!!

Mindy, thanks for sharing the idea of taking pictures this way, it is fun to have a different pose.

Abby loves to fly (and drool if you can't see it in the picture). This is about the only arm exercise I get but I do it several times a day so you would think my arms would look better than they do. By the way, the combination of drool and flying is very risky for the parent!

Yep, this kid is pretty cute!!

So our 4th of July wasn't too bad. I had to work during the day or else we probably would have invited some people over for grillin' time. We grilled some delish tri-tip and corn and watched a movie. I really wish they had some fire works closer to our house because we didn't really feel like fighting the traffic to go to another town to watch them, especially with a little baby. I also wish we lived closer to some family. I want Abby to have the experience of spending holidays with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It seems like every holiday since she has been born, Jason and I have that feeling inside that we need to see if there is some way we could move closer to Chico. Hopefully in a couple of years it can happen. We also hope that as Abby gets older, we will feel better about traveling across the country with her to visit the Joseph side of the family. It is just so hard right now to risk all those hours traveling on an air plane and not be able to get proper medical attention if she won't eat (right now, it is really hard to get her to eat if we aren't at home so we are pretty much home bodies right now or don't travel too far, she definitely likes to be in her comfort zone).

Something else I thought about this 4th of July is how much I want to impress upon Abby and our future children as they grow up the importance and meaning of holidays. It seems like in todays society, holidays are usually just seen as an excuse to party and eat but each one has a special meaning. We are going to have to figure out a way to start some traditions for each holiday that will teach our kids about their importance. Well that is it for now. We love you all and we will write more later.

Abby is 5 months old!!!

2009-07-06T12:27:00.002-06:00

Abby turned 5 months old last friday, hooray!! As you can see, she definately is a wiggler.

She loves play time!

And she is finally liking tummy time!

This is a rare picture, usually she would rather chew on her toys than play with them. She is such a silly kid!

She also loves to play peek-a-boo! Whenever I am folding laundry I will cover her up with a piece of laundry then pull it away, she always gets a huge smile from that!

She is also going through a phase right now where she loves to hear herself! Usually when she is sitting in her swing or when she wakes up and is still laying in her bassinet, you can hear her either blowing raspberries or a constant stream of "aaahaahaaaahhhh". She thinks it is hilarious if you make the same noises back at her. It is so fun when she laughs.

Another unfortunate phase lately is that she isn't sleeping like she was. It used to be that she would fall asleep at 9:30 and sleep straight till 6:00, she would even sleep while I fed her. The last few nights though she has been waking up at various times of the night, not crying but she wiggles around a lot and coos as well. It's not too bad though, usually she will fall back to sleep pretty fast.

I still can't believe it has been 5 months. It is amazing to think back to when she was first born and to see how much she has grown and developed. I can't wait to see how much she will grow and develop in the coming months and years!

Am I CRAZY or do all mom's with babies have nights like this??

2009-07-01T09:06:00.002-06:00

Here is how the average night goes for us here in the Albert household.

Between 9:30 and 10:00: Feed Abby and put her down to sleep.
Between 10:00 and 10:30: Do my night rituals and go to sleep myself.
Around 12:30: Wake up freaking out because I think I slept through my alarm (I have to set an alarm to feed Abby since she can't miss a feeding) only to look at the clock and realize that I have another hour.
1:30: My alarm goes off, time to feed Abby. Didn't I just feed her though? Then I realize it was just a dream and she really does need to eat.
Sometime before her next feeding, wake up with another freak out. Did I fall asleep while feeding her last time and she is lost somewhere in the sheets and blanket?
4:30: Alarm goes off again, time to feed her again.
6:00: Jason's alarm goes off, time for him to go to work. Just have to get Abby to fall back asleep now for at least another hour.

That is the average night. Sometimes not as dramatic, sometimes more. For example, some times I wake up, look over at her and think something awful has happened to her face and then I realize it is just a bad combination of a dark room, my awful vision (I really need Lasik or those contacts you can wear while you sleep) and the fact that Abby has turned her head to face the other direction so I am in fact looking at her ear instead of her eye. Last night was extra weird. We watched one of the Harry Potter movies before going to bed (I quite often dream about things I read or watch). I had a dream that Abby's baby wash cloths were magic (I know, so weird) and there were a bunch of house elves who were trying to kidnap Abby and take her away. I jumped up in bed and tried to wake up Jason. Luckily I was unsuccessful because I soon realized how ridiculous that dream was and went back to sleep. So am I crazy or do other mom's have nights like this??

Forgot to tell you....

2009-06-29T13:50:00.002-06:00

Oops, there was some more stuff Iwas going to write about. I forgot to let everyone know that the doctor said just to keep an eye on Abby with her eye movements. He said that what they worry about with MCAD kids is seizures but what she is doing doesn't seem like seizures. He said that sometimes little babies do weird things (boy is that true.)
Also, for the next thing I am going to write about I have to explain a little history first. For those of you who don't know, Jason and I dated a LONG time before we got married (extremely long in LDS dating culture). We met for the first time in the fall of 2003, started dating in January of 2004 and didn't get married until July of 2006. I often tease Jason that he should have just married me earlier but things didn't work out that way. Well the other day I was looking at the website www.savebabies.org (it is the website for the March of Dimes which promotes Expanded Newborn Screening). On that website we found out that Utah didn't test for MCAD until 2006!! This just reinforces to me the fact that Heavenly Father knows more than we do and what is best for us. I was surprised to find out that California didn't routinely test for it until 2005 because I had heard they were the first state! Sorry if that wasn't that exciting of a story for you but Jason and I found it very interesting. I will write more later. Love you all!

Better late than never.

2009-06-28T16:55:00.004-06:00

Happy (very late) Father's Day to my wonderful husband!! I have been meaning to write on here all week and here I am a week later, finally getting around to it at 5:00 Sunday evening.
I just have to say that one of the reasons that I married Jason is that I knew he was going to be a wonderful father and he has definitley not disappointed!

As you can see, Abby loves being with her Daddy, and why not? He loves to sing to her, play with her, hold her and yes, even do the dirty work like changing diapers! Sometimes I think Abby might like him more than she likes me but he is probably the more fun parent.

She also would rather take naps on Jason than she would on me (she still does though because most of the time I am the only one here)

Yes, Abby had a lot of fun with her Daddy on Father's day!!

Okay, here is what else is going on. Last Monday we took Abby back to Primary Childrens for her checkup (I think she will have 2 or 3 a year while she is a child). Everything went really well (except for the blood draw, they had to poke her twice and she still has 2 bruises :( . They said that she is growing well and looking really good. At the appointment she weighed in at 14 pounds, 12 ounces (yes my arms are starting to regain some of the definition they once had). They said we can slowly work her time between feedings at night up to 7 hours. I think we might still play it safe though. Many of the people in the support group say that they still feed children older than her every 4 to 5 hours at night. It isn't too bad right now. She sleeps through the feedings so it is usually just 15 to 20 minutes that I am awake each time. Other good news is that instead of having to take her to the ER for a fever of 100.5, it is now 101.3. They also said that if it is during the day to take her to the pediatrician first to see what is causing the fever and then they would decide what to do from there. One hard thing about going to the doctor though is that I think English is his second language and I don't know if he is truly understanding some of my questions. Some people in the support group have said that they have had trouble with ER staff not following the protocol letter we have been given. I asked the Dr. what we should do if that happens. He said we should go to Primary Childrens because they would give her the best care (most likely true). I don't think he was really understanding our concern though because it is an hour away, who wants to drive their child an hour when they could be reaching a metabolic crisis?!? I guess we will just cross that bridge when we get to it. Decide where to go based on weather and traffic and Abby's condition. Jason and I were talking about Abby's future doctors visits. Since we have to go to Salt Lake anyways we think as she gets older we will make an outing of them. Maybe go to the zoo, This is The Place Park, Temple Square and other fun places to visit. I totally enjoy Abby the age she is now but it will be so fun to take her on outings.

Other news, I have a walking buddy, hooray!! It has been great because a) I have contact with an adult other that Jason (since I have been at home, I feel my social skills dwindling immensley) b)MOTIVATION!!! She can't go walking with me everday but knowing me might makes me get up and ready so I go walking no matter what, except for rain and c) I am slowly losing weight and starting to fit into some of my old clothes. It's taking awhile but that is okay because slow and steady wins the race, right? Next goal, get back into my Old old clothes (before mid 20's weight gain). Well, that is about all of the news except that Jason's truck stopped working. All I can say is that when it rain's it pours. Hopefully we can get it fixed without spending too much money. I will try to post more pictures soon. We love you all.

FOD Support and newborn screening

2009-06-16T15:16:00.005-06:00

Just want to let everyone know that Abby's story is one of the newborn screening stories featured on the FOD Support website. You can check it out by going to http://www.fodsupport.org/, click on Newborn Screening and then the stories are on the right. You can click on Abigail's story or read some of the others. To go to her story directly you can go to www.fodsupport.org/abigail.htm. I want to take this moment to stress to everyone the importance of Expanded Newborn Screening. Last I heard only 17 states do this routinely. 17, that's not even half of the United States!! Not only does it test for MCAD but also for many other disorders that can be deadly to children and the test is very inexpensive. Before we had Abby's diagnosis, I didn't think twice about this test but now I am thankful every day for it. I know that California, Utah and Florida are among the 17 states but if you are reading this and live somewhere else that doesn't do this test, I urge you to write to your legislator and request this test be standard for all newborns. Approximatley 25% of babies with Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorders die before they are diagnosed. If every chiled was tested at birth there would be a lot less deaths. I am so thankful every day that Abby was tested at birth so if she ever is in a metabolic crisis, we know how to help her. I just wish that every child with this disorder would be able to have the same chance.

Is it wrong for a mother to be envious of her child?

2009-06-16T13:37:00.002-06:00

If so, then I am GUILTY! As I was pulling weeds on this wonderful sunny breezy day, I glanced over at Abby who was sleeping so happily in her stroller. At that moment I felt so envious. How wonderful it is to drift off to sleep with the sound of the leaves rustling. I wish that I could lay in my hammock and cuddle up with my baby and drift off to sleep as well. Alas, it is not to be this year since she is still so tiny. For now I will have to be content to watch her sleep, listen to the breeze and hope for the summers to come when we can cuddle up together in my hammock.

By the way..

2009-06-15T10:06:00.005-06:00

Check out the provident living blog listed on the right. A sister in my ward writes it. I tried the bean recipe the other day at Enrichment and it was DELICIOUS! I wanted to steal the whole bowl of it and take it home with me it was so tasty! There are lots of other cool things on there as well. I am actually excited at the idea of making Abby's baby food as well!

Miracles can happen!

2009-06-15T09:54:00.002-06:00

For approximately 3 hours the other day, every single dish and every single piece of laundry in my house was clean!! (My mother in law knows first hand that the laundry here can pile up, thanks Kathy again for all the laundry you did when you were here). Also, all 3 bathrooms were almost all the way clean too (It's too hard for me to do the shower when Jason isn't home to watch Abby because I like to get down to business and scrub those suckers till they shine). It all ended when Jason came home and took off his muddy clothes and then we made dinner. Maybe someday it will happen again but don't hold your breath.

Abby's 4 month check up

2009-06-11T10:35:00.005-06:00

Surprise, surprise! Abby had her 4 month appointment yesterday. Her appointment wasn't until monday but they called me yesterday morning and said they had a bunch of cancellationsand asked if we wanted to come in. Why not? It is probably better this way because I didn't have time to freak myself out about her getting her shots. (It still breaks my heart when she cries but they are nowhere near as bad as blood draws) She said Abby is looking great!! She is definately her mothers child. She is going to be a tall skinny child like I was. She is not as big as her Albert cousins however she has jumped percentiles significantly. She is currently in the 84th percntile for length but only the 56th for weight. That is great though considering she started out in the 8th percentile. She hasn't gained as much weight as I expected, she is a little over 14 pounds (I don't remember the exact ounces because I was focused on kilograms so I could figure out her tylenol dose and the paper they gave me has a percentage not the actual ounces). The pediatrician is still a little worried about her eye movements. I guess there was a breakdown in communication between the Dr. offices.

The opthamologist was supposed to call her with his findings but never did. She said we should check with the geneticist and see if he thinks she should see a neurologist so we will ask him at her appointment on the 22nd. Overall though she is growing and developing and acting very healthy, Yeah!! Well that is the quick update. Love you all!

Finally, some Abby pics!!

2009-06-09T11:10:00.003-06:00

Where on earth did this child of ours get such beautiful eyelashes?? I have to say I am thoroughly jealous!

Abby loves play time!!

And her swing (although she still seems undecided on headbands)

This picture was extremely tricky to take. I am supporting her with one hand in the pull to sitting position and taking a picture with the other!

This is a bad picture of her Bill Cosby face. Such a cute kid!

All in all, things are going pretty good here. Not too much exciting to report. Abby rolled from her back onto her stomach but she has only done it once so it may have been an accident. I haven't written about this before but a few weeks ago we had to take Abby to the opthamologist. She was doing this weird thing where she would roll her eyes down so you would see mostly white when she was looking down at objects (mostly her hands in her mouth) It seems voluntary and she will look right back up at you if you say her name but it still had me a little worried. At first the pediatrician was worried it was because of fluid buildup in the head or that she was having seizures but those have been ruled out. The pediatrician ran some tests and sent us to an opthamologist. He said sometimes babies under 6 months old will do that and she looks fine, just keep an eye on her and it should be decreasing. We are supposed to follow up with him in about a month. They were decreasing but the last couple of days she has been doing it more. If you could, please remember her in your prayers. I will post more later.

Written just for me!

2009-06-09T09:58:00.002-06:00

I'm sure anyone of us who have read the Ensign have felt that there have been articles written just for us. For those of you who do not know what the Ensign is, it is a church magazine for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Well this month I felt like at least 50 % of the magazine was written just for me. Let me explain. I have always known that the most important job that I would ever do would be that of raising children. I have no regrets about being a mother yet when I look at our finances, I really miss the income I used to bring home. What I bring home now is equal to what I used to pay in tithing, a huge difference! This has been a major source of stress for me over the past few months. This months Ensign changed that. Instead now I look at it as a good challenge, an opportunity to grow and to learn. I was actually excited after reading the many articles about finance to learn and be creative in ways to make our budget fit our needs, from ways to reduce the cost of groceries to growing a garden to making cheaper, healthier meals to getting a library card. (I feel like I am 9 years old again I am so excited to go get a library membership, probably the age I was when I last had one.) I was even surprised that Jason has agreed to have some meatless meals!! Of course I would still love to have more money and I am still looking for a job that I can do from home but learning to do things such as gardening and relearning how to sew (I haven't sewn since my senior year of high school) are skills that will be life long and valuable no matter what one's income level is! There was also an article about the Word of Wisdom. It's amazing how something that I have known for so long can finally hit me in such a strong way. I was a public health major and almost every single class we had had a nutrition component to it and I have read the Word of Wisdom section in the Doctrine and Covenants several times. I have always known that it is truly inspired writing. It outlined proper nutrition before nutrition was even a concept. I have never been a believer in diets. Like the Weight Watchers commercial says, "Diets don't work". Good health is a lifestyle. I have been worrying about our health as a family. Both Jason and I have family histories of diabetes, I have a family history of heart disease and if Abby eats a diet that is too high in fat it could mean disability or death. People often ask me if Abby has to eat a special diet and I say yes. Now I realize it is not a special diet she has to eat but a proper diet, the way we should all be eating. It is precisely what is outlined in the Word of Wisdom. Even the doctor didn't call Abby's diet a special diet, he called it a heart healthy diet, and who doesn't want a healthy heart?? Now it is time to put all that I have learned from reading this months Ensign into action and I honestly can't begin to tell all of you how excited I am!! Hopefully I can get the SD port working on this computer later today and then I will post new Abby pics!! Love you all!

So much to do....

2009-05-31T17:49:00.003-06:00

Life has felt so crazy lately. Abby has had more outings than I think mom can handle. I don't think there has been one day in the last two weeks that we haven't been running an errand. Maybe it is just because of the warm weather. Last Monday we finally went and bought some plants for the yard and the garden. I am so excited for our vegetables! We got a tomato plant, red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini, straight neck squash and jalapenos, serranos and poblanos. I thought Jason was just getting jalapenos but we now have 3 peppers. Pretty funny considering I don't like spicy food. Today at church the teacher mentioned he planted broccoli (the lesson was on provident living so it was not off topic). I am definitely going to plant that next year!! We eat so much broccoli and it would be so much nicer to grow and freeze than to buy tons of frozen bags. Hopefully next year we can get started earlier and plant more. We really want asparagus. There is a company that sells year old plants so you get asparagus the same year you plant. We didn't order in time this year. Abby has also had trips to the store this week. I have been going everywhere to get the ingredients for the bread from Mindy's bread class (I am so excited to try it out) but I think I just need to take a trip to the Lehi Roller Mills. For those of you who don't know about the bread class, you should check it out!! The name of the company is Pantry Secrets. (Mindy, I hope you don't mind that I am advertising your classes!) Family, if you are out here visiting I will take you to one. The bread takes an hour to make from start to finish and you can use the dough to create so many things!! It is just what I needed. It is lower fat than regular bread recipes (great for Abby's diet needs) and costs much less than buying different bread products (great for our budget)! Friday we went and redeemed my free birthday meal at Tucanos. Love It!! It's weird though, last time we went I called for a reservation and they said they didn't take reservations until after 8:00 pm. This time I called to get a reservation so we wouldn't have to wait for a long time with Abby. I asked for the earliest one thinking it would be 8:00 and they said "how about 5:00?" It is just so weird because it seems like every time I call for reservations they tell me a different story. Sorry to everyone who went with us last time, wish they would have given us an actual reservation then. Abby is getting so big I can't believe it. I would guess she is close to 14 and 1/2 lbs now. She is getting a lot better at tummy time and can now keep her head steady when you pull her up into a sitting position. She loves to laugh and to chatter. She makes this adorable face that Jason calls the Bill Cosby face. I have pictures!! I just have to try to get the computer working downstairs. Last time I used it, the SD port wasn't reading (refer back to the luck of the Alberts). She has her next appointment with the geneticist in a couple of weeks. Hopefully all goes well. They are going to also run some preliminary tests on Jason and I to see if either of us actually have MCAD rather than just being carriers. We'll see how that goes. Sorry if this bored anyone to tears. We love you all and hope all is well with each of you!

P.S. Does anyone do "The Grocery Game"? I am thinking about signing up but was wondering if it really works?

Quick Side Note

2009-05-18T08:20:00.002-06:00

I forgot to ask in my last post if anyone knows of any jobs that can be done from home that are legit? I have been looking on line. Those that appear to be legit aren't hiring and as much as I wish I could make $450 a day doing data entry, I have a feeling there is something shady with that. I just want to check with everyone I know so I can find something. Thanks for your time!!

Happy Birthday to me..

2009-05-17T18:36:00.002-06:00

Well, I officially feel old. On friday I turned the big 30. I used to never be afraid to admit my age but that all may change now. When I was younger (like 8) I used to think that I felt a little bit more mature on my birthday, a little bit older. Now I feel it but it is more a constant feeling in my back and knees. I guess working at a job for the last 10 years where you are always on your feet will do that to you. I still can't believe I am this old. I always thought by this age I would have it more "together" but what can I say, I'm still the same disorganized, quiet, always sticking her foot in her mouth person I was 10 years ago. That's okay though. As my birthday present to myself I did not allow myself to do any housework on friday (something I am now regretting today). It did give me time to go for a walk, take a bath and a nap! Even Abby seemed a little bit happier that day which was her present to me. Jason and I went out to dinner but I don't know if we will attempt that anytime again soon. One of us ate while the other one held Abby. All in all, it was a pretty good day. We were going to try to go to Thanksgiving Point on Saturday to look at the gardens but we ran out of time. I wish there where 2 saturdays every weekend, one to do errands and chores and the other to have fun. Jason would love to find a job where he can work 4 10 hours shifts (As opposed to what seems to be 5 10 hours shifts right now). On a side note, Abby is doing really well. She had more than her normal amount of outings the last few days so she has been a little bit crankier. I promise though that if you are one of those who saw her cranky the last few days, she really is cute and happy and has the sweetest laugh. She is the queen of imitation. Jason uses that to his advantage. If she is not falling asleep at bedtime, he can look at her and pretend to be going to sleep. He'll yawn and close his eyes and she will close her eyes and fall asleep. The other day she was looking at me while I was chewing a piece of gum and she started moving her mouth like she was chewing gum too. So cute. Well that is all the news for now. We love you all!

The Luck of the Alberts

2009-05-13T08:39:00.002-06:00

So Jason and I always say that we have bad luck and it is quite true. I know those of you who believe in "The Secret" probably think it is from our negative attitude but when there is so much undeniable truth of our bad luck it is hard to think otherwise. Well with me it is probably due more to my rash decision making but with Jason it really is bad luck. For example, on several occasions when dining out with several people at the table Jason always seems to be the one who they either mess up his order or there is something like a hair or piece of metal in his food (yes you read that correct, he has had a piece of metal in his food before). Well I have been trying to reverse that luck. I have a new habit lately of entering contests, mostly because we could really use the prize money. I figure someone has to win and if we don't try then we never will. If we enter enough, we are bound to win one, right? Well Monday night Jason received a phone call. We had actually won a contest!! Woohoo! Well there was a catch. I guess the contest we had entered was for a free meal. (I honestly don't remember entering this one) but instead we won the grand prize of a 2 night stay at a bed and breakfast (I'm sure though it would have ended up being one of those seminars where they try to sell you a time share). Jason explained we had an infant who we would bring with us but they would not accommodate children. Well we are not ready to leave Abby with anyone for a few hours let alone over night so we declined. Alas, they did not offer us the free meal either. Hopefully that wasn't the only contest that we will win. Keep your fingers crossed for us :)

New Goals!

2009-05-11T12:16:00.003-06:00

So I have been thinking about the New Years Resolutions I made and how they haven't really been working out so I have decided to modify. Here goes.
1. Use spell check on by blog postings because when I re read them later, I notice so many typos.
2. Stop watching so much TV. I don't really watch TV so much as like to have the background noise but I can also get that from music. Also, I have caught myself watching Oprah a few times. While she does have some interesting topics, I don't want to become one of those women who says "Well Oprah says..."
3. Work out. While I haven't been able to make it to the aerobics class, the weather outside is getting nicer and I need to go walking more often. Twice a week isn't getting me anywhere. I also need to work in some push ups, sit ups and planks into my day. They don't take that long.
4. Make my meals ahead of time. Some days I make Jason a lunch for the next day and I will make mine at the same time. I need to do this every evening because it is hard to make a healthy meal while holding a crying child and that is when I grab the bag of chips. No more chips!!
5. Plant at least something! We haven't been able to plant a garden yet because all the good weather days are the Saturdays I'm working and Jason can't get a garden ready and watch Abby at the same time. If we don't get the garden in then I want to at least get in some tomatoes and some herbs. Maybe next year we can get a better garden in.
6. Take care of myself. The fly lady says you should get dressed to the tying of shoes everyday. While I shun shoes when in the house, I definitely want to appear my best. I have gotten out of the habit since I haven't been working but need to try harder. No more wearing sweats all day and not blow drying my hair!!

I'm sure there are some other areas I need to improve but I can't bite off more than I can chew all at once.

Mothers Day!

2009-05-11T11:37:00.002-06:00

Here are my two honey's. Abby loves her daddy!!

Here is Abby in her cute church dress. I know it isn't exactly springy but I love this dress. I bought it for her before she was born and I was determined that she was going to wear it at least once to church!

She was a little squirrely for these pictures. She really doesn't seem to like dresses but I wanted to get a few pictures of her before I changed her clothes.

This is another one of my favorite pictures!! So cute Abby and her dad are!

So Sunday was Abby's first full day at church. Mostly she did pretty well, she slept for most of Sacrament meeting and all of relief society (except for when she was fussy during the prayer). One complaint.. They definately need a larger Mothers Lounge! I knew with only two chairs in there I probably wouldn't be able to feed Abby in there. Especially with the number of new babies in our ward. When I went to go feed her there were already 3 women in there. Maybe if I sat on the counter but I decided to just go out to the car. I'm not brave enough to feed her in class even with the cover, mostly because I haven't seen anyone else do it. Plus, she is such a fidgety eater, it would really be a distraction. Maybe next week I can beat the other ladies there!!

Mothers day was great. I got to take what was probably my fourth nap since Abby was born. Jason made dinner for me. Delicious Carne Asada. I never ate Carne Asada like this until I met Jason and I think it is one of my favorite foods!! We get those tortillas that you cook yourself, make so pico, bring out some shredded cheese, crema and some avocado. So tasty!! We go to the latin market to get the meat where we also get these onions. I don't know if they have a specific name but the onion is sweet. It looks like a cross between an onion and a green onion. You throw it on the grill with the meat. I could seriously eat that meal like 3 times a week it is so good!! To all you Mothers out there, I hope you had a great Mothers day as well. We will keep you posted.

Recent Abby Pics

2009-05-11T11:13:00.002-06:00

Abby is developing the bad habit of liking to watch tv. As you can see in this picture her eyes are glued to it. I think it is more of a case that she likes the moving colors and light. Still though, I think we are going to cut down tv time at our house.

She is definately developing her own little personality. This picture is in competition with the second to last picture for my favorite picture so far.

She is getting better at tummy time but it still isn't her favorite activity.

This picture is so stinkin' cute!! I know I am very biased, but I think we have one of the cutest kids in the world!!

Abby is a double fisted had sucker. She definately prefers her hands to a pacifier. At first I thought she was just hungry all the time but we've realized she just really likes to have her hands in her mouth!!

I so wish we had a video camera so I could record her laughing. It is the cutest thing in the world. She gets a huge smile on her face and just starts laughing. Maybe someday.....

2009-04-30T12:15:00.002-06:00

Sorry everyone, no new pictures. I still can't get the SD port to work on the laptop. Just wanted to let everyone know that Abby has officially doubled her birthweight. She weighed in yesterday at 12 pounds. YEAH!!! Other than that, there isn't much news to report here. Mostly it is just the same old, same old. However, there has been one reported possible case of the swine flu here in Utah. Because of that, we may keep Abby home for the next little while. I've heard that the flu is actually mild comapred to other flus but I don't want to take any chances with her. Well, I will write more later when there is more to say and hopefully, I will be able to get some pictures on here. Love you all!!

Time is flying so fast!!

2009-04-20T14:27:00.002-06:00

Sorry, I don't have any new pictures to put on here but I will update everyone on how we are doing. Abby weighed in last Thursday at 10 pounds, 15 ounces. She got her immunizations and then the next day she got an ingrown fingernail that we had to go back to the doctor for. She wasn't too happy to be poked with needles two days in a row but she is all better now. She has also started taking one long nap in the afternoon and I LOVE IT!! Once I took a nap too but now I try to just get other things done around the house. The weather here has also been crazy, last wednesday looked like a blizzard and now it is up in the 70's. Hopefully it stays there!! It's was nice to go for a walk today. Also, Abby can roll over now!! When she is on her stomach doing tummy time she rolls over onto her back!! Other than that, nothing too exciting is going on. We are trying to start incorporating the types of food that Abby has to eat into our diet so that it won't be too much of a change when she starts eating regular foods. If anyone has low fat (she has to have a no more than 30% fat diet) recipes you would like to pass on, let us know. I have been experimenting by trying to take some recipes we like and make them lower fat. If I come across anything really great, I will pass it on. The big trick will be holiday meals. I will try to get some more pictures up here soon. Love you all.

Abby's blessing

2009-04-13T13:32:00.003-06:00

Aaaahhh! I did it again, Iforgot to rotate the picture before posting it. Well in this picture, you can see the detail from the back of her dress.

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Chuck (after the needed wardrobe change)

She wasn't totally loving picture time (it probably had something to do with the dirty diaper we soon found out about)

Thank you once again to everybody who came and to those who couldn't, you were missed. We love you all!

Abby's first big tub bath!!

2009-04-13T13:17:00.004-06:00

I was scared forever to give Abby a bath in the bath tub. I gave her sponge baths long after her umbilical cord fell off. The first time, she wasn't a huge fan but she has gotten much better. I did it for the first time when we had family here. It seemed alot easier to do it for the first time when there would be other people in the house so if anything happened I would have help. Also, it was nice to have someone to take pictures!!

This was towards the end of the bath, i'm happy, Abby still isn't.

This look just says "Mom, what are you doing to me!"

And this is the friendly Pooh bear that is also a handy thermometer!

2009-04-13T12:56:00.003-06:00

Okay, okay, I am still trying to get the pictures of Abby's blessing gown up but I am having some technical difficulties. Hopefully one of these days I will be successful. Easter was okay. We had a great dinner as far as Hams go. I am honestly not a huge ham fan, I always think they taste a little salty but Jason made a tasty one yesterday. Now that we have Abby it hits home alot harder that we don't live closer to any family. We did have Ryan and Camille over which is the next best thing. Jason and I have been talking alot lately how if it weren't for the economy, we would probably move closer to Chico. However, the job market out there wouldn't be looking to good for him and there is no way we would be able to sell our house right now. Maybe some day. Well I wanted to point everyone in the direction of the MCAD support website. I have noticed that I have got a little complacent lately about Abby's condition. She has been doing so well I start to get to the point where I start thinking she will be this healthy everyday and because of that, I start to let my guard down a little. I am thankful everyday that she is as healthy as she is. Overall, children with MCAD look and act like "normal" children until they have a metabolic crisis from either not eating, illness or a combination of the two. Besides her stay in the NICU, Abby has been doing great. She has even stayed healthy while Jason has had a cold and a sinus infection. Last week there was an incident (not with Abby) which made me re realize that yes, this is a serious condition which DOES require constant vigilance. For anyone who is interested, you can visit www.fodsuppport.org to learn more about MCAD. There are two very informative videos created by the founder Deb Gould. I don't want to tell anybody what to do but I would really like family members to check it out because you may be the most likely to have contact with her when she may be close to a crisis state. The best part of the website for me is a link where you can see pictures of people (mostly children) who have MCAD or other fatty oxidation disorders. To see that they are growing and are healthy and happy are very hope inspiring for me. Okay, i'll get off of my soap box now. Other good news, I took Abby in to be weighed on thursday and she is now 10 pounds, 10 ounces. I told my dad and he commented that now she is ALMOST as big as he was when he was born. Grandma, you are a trooper, I look at her now and think there is no way I could have given birth to a child that large. Love you all!!