Ponytail

Abby wore a ponytail for the first time today...

 

for about 15 minutes.

 

 

 It was cute while it lasted.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the face Abby makes when you say, "Happy Thanksgiving!"  

Abby had a great Thanksgiving this year.  Some highlights include jumping on Grandma and Grandpa Bishop's "champine" (trampoline), playing with cousins, eating Jell-O and pie, and watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.  We hope everyone had a great holiday! 

Harry Halloween!

Here are pictures of our inspiration and our costumes for Halloween this year.

Hermione: my inspiration

Snape: Landon's inspiration

Draco Malfoy: Abby's inspiration

Tonight we went to our ward Halloween party.  We had a lot of fun dressing up, eating hot dogs (Abby had 1.5!) and chili, and trick or treating around the building.  Abby even won an award in the costume contest.  They gave her the "Best Girl Impersonating a Boy" award.  When the judges introduced her to the crowd, she cast a spell on the judges (pointed her wand at them and said a spell).  The whole audience laughed and clapped for her.  She was pretty popular and we think it is pretty great that they liked her so much they had to make up an award for her.  They had only planned on doing "Best Girl" and "Best Boy."  It was hilarious to see people mistake her for a boy or get confused because they thought we had a girl.  Poor kid, next year we will have to let her pick what she wants to dress up as.

Abby Talks

I just wanted to share all the new words Abby has started saying the last few months.  It is so fun to watch her learn new words all the time and it's hilarious to see which words she picks up.

• "Ab"- Abby. For the longest time she would call herself, "Ab."  A couple of weeks ago she finally switched to "Abby."
• "miamo"- piano- the kid loves the piano
• "crack-crack"- cracker- she loves saltine crackers.
• "more"- more and she signs it while she says it.
• "be"- bink
• "ant"- ant- one of our favorites.  If she spots any black spec, she calls it an ant.  Sometimes she thinks there are ants on her food or in her bath.  One time she was having a grilled cheese sandwich and there was a little burnt piece.  She said "ant" and then refused to eat it.
• "bee"- bees and flies
• "muh"- milk
• "chee-yo"- cheerio
• "wa" or "wawa"- water
• "wa"- also means walk
• "shoo"- shoe
• "bebo"- bib
• "appa-suce"- apples, apple sauce, apple juice, any type of juice or fruit, really
• "chappa"- chapel
• "eye"- eye
• "neose"- nose
• "no"- how she answers any question that is asked, sometimes she means it, sometimes she doesn't.
• "papa"- pasta, which she finally loves to eat
• "up"- help
• "bagoon"- balloon
• "bug-gun"- buttons and belly buttons
• "pung"- pillow
• "bung"- bubble
• "buh"- book
• "bah"- ball
• "baa"- bath
• "baby"- she loves spotting babies, especially at church.
• "cheese"
• "Jeese"- Jesus
• "cah"- car
• "emmo"- elmo
• "boo"- Blue (Blue's Clues)
• "cauck"- clock- she LOVES pointing out clocks.  It reminds us of "Up" when the dogs say "squirrel!"
• "moo"- moon- Her favorite book is Goodnight Moon. She points out everything in it- moon, cats, clocks, balloon, cow, etc.  Her favorite pages are "Goodnight nobody.  Goodnight mush." She always laughs.
• "ow"- cow 

Here are some of her first "sentences."

• "bye poop"- I promise I don't say this, I don't know where it came from.  
• "da mom" - dad and mom
• "more (blank)"- more pasta, more cheese, more cheerios, etc.
• "brow beh, brow beh"- brown bear, brown bear
• "bye (blank)"- bye to anyone, or anything 
• "my dad"- my dad
• "tank oo mom"- thank you mom- she just said this yesterday (she was prompted) and it was pretty dang cute.

I'm probably missing some, but that gives you an idea.  She is also starting to say some relatives' names, which is pretty fun.  Here are some cute pictures of her recently.

1 Whole Year

Yes, I do realize I'm pretty behind...

Abby turned 1 on April 24, which happened to be Easter this year.  Here are things she started doing at that time.

• She weighed 17 lbs and 15 oz.  Her length was 28 inches, which puts her in about the 5th percentile for both. We love our petite little girl.
• She points at everything.  Things in books, outside, in her room, etc.
• She has more "words."  One of her favorite things to say is "das" (dance) and then she starts to dance.  She also says "da" for dad and "mamama" for mom (or to say she is hungry it seems).
• We realized she knows a lot more than we thought she did.  When asked, she will point to Jesus, her drink, Blue's Clues (the TV), spoon, bananas, balls, books, flags (she loves flags and will even point to them in books), our noses, Easter eggs, balloons, dogs, and cats. Oh, when Uncle Mike came to visit she pointed at him a couple of times when we asked where Jesus was.  He has a beard... it was pretty hilarious.
• She loved having her cousins visit.  She went to the park, swam, and had a blast at Ikea with the McDonalds.  She liked showing cousin Heath how to bang Easter eggs together, and trying to get him to support her while standing (didn't work so well).
• She loves Easter eggs; banging them together, opening them up, trying to close them, throwing them... they are the greatest toy.
• She went to the zoo for the first time and did pretty well with it.  A couple times she seemed a little frightened, smiled some, but mostly just looked and looked (and pointed).  I would love to know what was going in her head.

Wearing Dad's Shorts

The other day I was getting dressed to go for a run.  Abby was with me in our bedroom and I left for a minute to put my hair in a ponytail.  I heard Abby whine a bit and turned around to see this...

She somehow manged to get her whole body through one leg and one arm through the other leg of Landon's shorts.  I couldn't stop laughing.  She likes to try and put clothes on, but doesn't usually succeed like this.  Who knows how she did it.

Mom's Day

Have I ever mentioned that I love being this little girl's mom?  I really do.  She is so happy all the time and very friendly.  She's a fantastic eater and sleeper.  She makes life much easier than I know it could be.  It is such a joy to watch her learn new things every day.  I'm so grateful for the chance to love this little girl.

Thanks to Landon for taking these fun Mother's Day pics for me.  I love them.

I can't think about Mother's Day without recognizing my own mom and other amazing women in my life.  I can't think of a more selfless person than my mom.  She is such a wonderful example to me of all the qualities I would like to posses.  She is such a fun grandma who is full of energy and love.

I'm also grateful for my sister, Annie.  I have learned so much from her as I have watched her be a mother to her four kids.  I can't forget my grandmothers, my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, my husband's grandmothers, and so many other wonderful women that give me something to aspire to.  Happy Mother's Day!