Abby's Second Year 0001

Yes, I'm a blog slacker. But at least I'm sharing Abby's 2nd year montage. It's very long, but I hope you enjoy it!

Potty Girl

Yes, I know I suck...no updates in forever, blah blah blah! Most of the blogs I read seem to be on some kind of hiatus right now, so at least it's not just me. I blame Facebook!

Anyway, since I'm too lazy to keep a baby book for my poor daughter, I need to keep track of her firsts and such here. And I'm pretty sure that using the potty for the first time on Saturday definitely counts as a momentous first!

I wasn't really ready to start the potty-training thing yet, but apparently little Miss Abby had different ideas. We were over our friends Dave and Deb's house for their son's birthday party and Ed took Abby into the bathroom to wash her hands that had gotten all sticky from eating candy. While they were in there, Abby kept pointing to the toilet and saying "Potty! Potty!" Ed, of course, told her that yes, she was right, that was indeed the potty. He tried to take her out of there, which caused her to have a fit and start shouting "Potty! Potty!" some more. He came to get me saying that he thinks she wanted to use the potty. So, I went in, took off her diaper and sat her on the toilet. Sure enough, I heard a tinkle sound. We praised her and tried to make as big a deal of it as we could while in a house with a bunch of random people.

She didn't go again after we got home, although that was because the poor child's sleep schedule was all out of whack because of the party. That caused her to wake up at 1:15 in the morning ready to hang out. So, she wound up going on the potty again at about 2:00 am. Yesterday she peed on the potty four or five times. I did make the classic rookie mistake of asking if she needed to go potty when I saw she had her "poop face" going on. She ran to the bathroom and said "Potty!" so I took her in and sat her on the toilet. She was fine for a minute, then jumped off and proceeded to poop on the bathroom floor. Good times.

In between the successes are the times she wants the potty just to play. She sits on the potty, then tries to grab some toilet paper, hops off the potty, flushes the potty, takes the potty seat off and closes the lid. When I try to get her Pull-up or diaper back on, she has a fit and wants to get back on the potty again. It's good times. Normally I try to be patient and explain that we only get toilet paper and the excitement of flushing after we've gone pee-pee, but it usually just causes more whining. This morning was a huge pain because she wanted the potty and I wanted to get her ready for daycare. She never did go, she just wanted to play.

That would be why I didn't want to push the potty training this early, but if she wants to use it, I don't want to discourage her. Hopefully she'll get over the novelty of it soon and just do her business and that's that. I won't hold my breath though!

Stuff

I'm sitting here just trying to keep my eyes open right now. I don't know why I'm so tired...well, besides the fact that it took me forever to fall asleep last night and today is Monday. I hate Mondays. At least my weekend was nice. We did a whole lot of nothing and enjoyed every moment of it.

Right now I'm beginning to obsess over Abby's birthday, which isn't even until October. I just get so excited for her that I can't wait to start planning. I'm pretty sure the party will be on Sunday, October 11th at 3. I'm going with the Abby Cadabby theme this year...at least knowing that much will allow me to slowly start picking stuff up at the party store so that I don't have to buy it all at once. I've even made up a birthday wish list for her in case anyone needs gift ideas. I figure I always appreciate ideas from other parents, so I might as well come up with some in advance in case I'm asked.

Nothing else happening. Work is work. Still haven't heard from the library, but I didn't expect to until the end of this week. Keep those fingers crossed for me!

Sooooooooooooo Sleepy!

There's nothing like being up until 3:30 am because your back hurts so bad that you couldn't sleep. Yeah, last night was fun. Of course, it didn't start to ache until Ed was already asleep, so I couldn't ask him to rub it for me. So, I popped several Advil and went upstairs to play on the computer until I felt better. Work was so much fun today with less than three hours sleep...

Everything else is pretty much same old. Ed and I took Abby to the grocery store on Saturday and she was a holy terror. First she wanted to get in the "car" cart, so I put her in there and buckled her in. Then she decided she wanted out...now!!! So I took her out and tried to put her in the regular cart, since we weren't going through the headache of steering the evil "car" cart if she wasn't going to ride in it. She wasn't having anything to do with being in the regular cart either, so Mommy carried her/held her hand and let her walk all through the store. Good times (hey...maybe that explains my back issues). Of course, every time she saw another child in a "car" cart, she started crying and screaming, "Car! Car!" I tried to explain to her that we tried to put her in the "car" cart but that she wanted out. She didn't seem to remember any of that ever taking place though. It was fun.

I took her to Target by myself tonight and thank goodness she decided to cooperate. I just handed her something from the cart to hold every time she started with the "Up! Up!" That seemed to make her happy. Too bad for the cashier who had to ring up some very slobbery items. Hey...I tried to wipe them up as best I could!

Abby Update

As promised (and even on time!) here are some Abby updates!

• Words: The child is talking up a storm. I totally lost count of how many words she now has. Of course, she picks and chooses when she's actually going to use them, but they are there. Some of my favorite new ones are doggie, roar, yes, her numbers one through ten, picture, car, all gone, more, Becky, down, pool and eat. She's getting good with phrases too, although she uses them sparingly. Every once in awhile she'll surprise us. When we were at Hooper's Island, I took her into the bathroom with me and she starts hitting the tub and said "This is bathtub!" She also said "Fish live in water" at one point. Random.
• Potty: No worries, I'm not thinking about the potty training yet, but she apparently is. Two more new words are poop and peepee. She likes to use both a lot. It can be helpful and funny...especially when she yelling, "Poop!" while running to her room and hitting her changing table. ;) The other day when Ed was with her, she ran to the humidifier in her room and starting trying to pull down her shorts. Ed asked her what she was doing and she sat on the humidifier and said "Potty!"
• 'Tude: As in attitude. And she can have it in droves sometimes. The terrible two's are just about here. The tantrums usually come at least once or twice a day. I've learned to just ignore her when she starts up. I'll usually pick up a book and start reading. Once she loses her audience, she'll give up much faster. And her "no's" have gone from cute to ornery. Thank goodness she's also learned to say "yes," and will actually use it if she really means it. One of the orneriest things she does is to put things in her mouth that she shouldn't put in there. I'll tell her, "No mouth, that's gross! Yuck!" She'll look at me and go "yum, yum, yum, yum." Yeah, that's my girl!
• Likes: Elmo, Abby Caddabby, everything else Sesame Street, playing outside, walking, swimming, jumping (on Mommy, on the bed, on the floor, etc), her swingset, her play kitchen, eating, coloring with Daddy's highlighters, saying "again!" over and over, singing, dancing, her grandparents, babies, baby dolls, shoes, taking trash out of the trash cans, books, animals (especially her kitty), playing with her cousins, and her water table.
• Dislikes: inflatable toys, big slides, getting her hair done, not getting to stay home with Mommy every day, being in the stroller, shopping, seeing Mommy hold another child, and not getting exactly what she wants exactly when she wants it.
• Sleeping: For someone who was such a good sleeper for so long, we finally starting to have a couple issues. They're minor compared to most kids, but it seems like she's waking up at least once most nights. All she wants is for me to cuddle her for a couple of minutes, then she'll let me put her back down. It isn't too bad at all, but she has an uncanny knack of knowing exactly when I've just drifted off to sleep and then decides to scream until I come get her. Naturally, this is when she doesn't want anything at all to do with Daddy. If he tries to go in to comfort her, she'll throw herself back down on the mattress and yell, "Moooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It's nice to be loved, just not in the middle of the night.

There's more, but I'm tired from our awesome playdate (playground, Chapel Nursery and the mall for lunch) with Meg and Val and their kiddos. But at least I've given you two updates within three days! Go me!

Mandy's Update

Yes, I know...huge blog slacker am I. I've just been a little miserable lately and didn't want to turn this into a whine fest. I'm feeling more like myself recently though, so I'm going to make a conscience effort to keep up with it again. Today I'll do my update and tomorrow (or Wednesday) I'll do an Abby update.

The job's getting better...or, I don't dislike it as much. I'm getting used to the commute and Abby's getting used to the longer daycare hours. It's still a boring job, especially since there's not a lot of business coming in right now, so I have absolutely nothing to do for hours at a time. So, I do a lot of twiddling my thumbs...and I play a lot of computer card games when my manager's not in the office. ;)

I did find an awesome job to apply for though. It's with the Baltimore County Public Library system and it's the Youth Services Assistant for the system. It's based out of the Rosedale branch which is five minutes from home. It seems to have a lot to do with some of my old B&N responsibilities, so I'm pretty sure I have a good shot at it. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much though because I'm tired of being disappointed.

We had our annual "vacation" to Hoopers Island a couple weekends ago. It was a shortened visit since I don't exactly have vacation time to take right now. Abby got to stay a little longer then Ed and I did at least. Ed had some business on the Eastern Shore to take care of, so he dropped Abby off that Thursday morning. We got there Friday night after she had already fallen asleep. She cracked me up when I went to get her once she woke up Saturday morning. She had a total "What the hell are you doing here?" look on her face when I opened the door to the room she was sharing with her cousin Kristin. Once she got over the shock, she was happy to see me.

We did our one-day OC trip that same day. Actually, my MIL insisted on going to the Rehobeth outlets first, so between driving to Delaware, dealing with the crazy traffic on Rt.1 and fighting the crowds, it was not a very pleasant experience. After that, we finally made it to OC and we went to the beach. Yes, I actually went on the beach. I didn't go anywhere near the ocean though. ;) Abby and Kaylee were both in their glory. They loved it all, the sand and the water. Abby was mad, mad, mad when she had to get out of the ocean because the lifeguards were going off duty. My FIL wanted to take her back in once they were gone, but the women-folk said, "Uh....no! If you take her in again, she'll just have another fit when you have to take her back out again!" Plus, it was just about dinner time anyway.

After we ate, my in-laws took the babies back to Hooper's Island and the rest of us (me, Ed, my SIL, my niece Kristin and my (step)nephew JT) went to the boardwalk for awhile. It took forever to find a parking spot since we were determined not to pay for one. We prevailed and just had to walk a couple blocks to the boards. It was fun, but I couldn't believe how many small children were out there so late. I know you're on vacation, but if your one-year-old is falling asleep in your arms, perhaps you shouldn't insist on walking the boardwalk with them at 11 at night. Or maybe that's just me...

We spent most of the next day just hanging out at the house. We left for home around 7, thinking Abby would sleep most of the way so we could listen to more of our Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book-on-cd, but not so much. She stayed awake for the entire trip. She wasn't whiny or anything...she was happy looking at the scenery and singing with her sesame street cd's. I guess she was afraid she was going to miss something if she fell asleep!

Everything else has been same old, same old around here. I get up, get ready, get Abby up and ready, drop her off where she needs to go, go to work, pick Abby up, give her dinner, play, bath, bed, repeat. Hopefully things will get better soon. :)

Here I Am!

So sorry about the lack of posts. I get very little computer time and have very little energy right now, but I'll try to remember to do it more. Hope nobody got too worried! ;)

Well, in case anyone didn't know, I'm working again. The pay is horrendous, the hours suck, the commute can be a pain-in-the-ass, the work is dull and I desperately miss being home with Abby. Can you tell I'm not thrilled about it? ;) But, it's a job and I'm bringing home a little extra money during the last month and a half or so of my severance payments. I'm still looking for something better in the meantime.

I found the job through a temp agency by my house. The job is actually "temp to permanent," but I'll have to be pretty desperate to stay there long term. I'm basically doing administrative duties at a paper converting company near Canton. Everyone there is pretty nice, but I'm bored out of my mind. And to top it off, surfing the web while on the clock is most definitely frowned upon. Blah. Someday I'll have one of those jobs where you're allowed to have Facebook up all day long. Did I mention that the pay stinks? Cause it does! But, it will help us out for the time being. If I'm still making this little once the bookstore stops paying me, we're gonna be in trouble!

I'm there 8-5 everyday with an hour lunch at noon. That means that Abby is in daycare or grandparent care for 10 hours a day. That's the part that frustrates me the most. I went from being with her all of the time to only getting a couple good hours a day. Plus, I have to wake her up much earlier than she would like in the morning, so by the time I get her home, she's totally grumpy from being tired. So, I get two hours of temper tantrums. It's definitely been a difficult adjustment for both of us. Hopefully I'll find something better with better hours soon.

Just so this post isn't a total downer, here is my most recent list of Abby Funnies.

• Abby's current favorite book is Everyone Poops. I had to read it to her four times tonight. I don't get the fascination, but whatever makes her happy, I guess. Her favorite part is when they show that "Grownups poop. Children poop too. While some children poop on the potty, others poop in their diapers." At least it's starting to put ideas in her mind so perhaps potty training will take quicker. Hey...I can dream! ;)
• Abby's current favorite pastime is brushing her teeth. She'll actually go to the bathroom door, hit it with her hand and go "chhhhh, chhhhh, chhhh," which is Abby-speak for brushing her teeth. I had to buy her a second toothbrush so I could brush them correctly while she plays with the other one. I even let her take hers into her room while I read to her before bed. Then she has to give it up. Weird child.
• Abby's current favorite food is watermelon. Seriously, the child can't get enough watermelon. We were over my MIL's on Sunday where she had some watermelon chunks that Abby munched on the whole time we were there. Then, not five minutes after we got home, so went to the fridge and hit it. I couldn't believe that she could possibly be hungry, so I went and opened it to see what she wanted. Sure enough, she tried to pull out the bowl of watermelon I had in there. Hopefully she'll get her fill over the summer or she'll be a sad girl once it's out of season.
• Abby's current favorite word is "again!" As in, "Mommy, I want to listen to Elmo's Song for the fifteenth time in a row!" or "Mommy, rewind my show back to that specific scene that I cannot specify for you and if you don't pick the right place, I'm going to be very upset!" It's good times! ;)
• The words are really starting to pick up. She even has a couple three-word phrases that she'll use on occasion. I've heard "Where you go?" and "What you doing?" They were both pretty clear. I'm still trying to pick up on some of her other words and phrases, but they're starting to become more obvious to me.
• She has become a dancing fool. It's the funniest thing. I try to get her dances on camera, but as soon as she sees it in my hands, she stops dancing and tries to grab it from me. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get it soon enough. She does sort of a stomp and shimmy with a head bob. It cracks us up.

Okay, that's all for now. I posted and proved that I'm alive and well (enough). :)