12 Months

My baby is 12 months old. My baby is ONE YEAR OLD! I told David the other day that it has been the fastest, yet slowest year of my life. My days pass slowly, but then I blink and another week has gone by. I'm thankful that we made a conscious effort to live in the now, and I feel like we have soaked up every moment of this year. Here are the pictures from the final monthly photo shoot!

Info for Abigail in month 12...

1. Height: 28 1/4 inches--24%
Weight: 19 lb 2.5 ounces--20%

Abigail is a petite little girl (as we all expected), but the doctor said that she is perfectly porpotional because her height and weight percentages match up! I was a proud Mommy at the doctor when I heard, "She's just perfect, keep it up and enjoy it!"

2. Daily Schedule: things have changed here as far as bottles and food--bottles are now whole milk as well--
*7:00 Wake up--bottle...transitioning this to a sippy cup and she's doing great-around 5 oz
*7:30ish Breakfast...lots of different things here--eggs, biscuits, grits, pancakes, fruit, oatmeal etc. She is a big eater in the morning and I routinely find myself cooking more for her than for myself.
*9:00 Down for nap
*10:00-10:30 Wake up with possibly a snack and milk in a sippy cup. It just depends what time she wakes up. If she wakes up at 10:30 or after I'm starting to just have an early lunch around 11:00
*11:00-11:30 Lunch---anything and everything plus milk in a sippy cup!
*1:30 Down for nap with a little milk beforehand...bottle or sippy cup
*3:00-3:30 Up from nap and a snack with milk in a sippy cup-the snack is usually a mum mum with fruit, or some yogurt, or some cheese with fruit etc.
*5:30 Dinner---lots of big girl food with milk
*7:30 Bedtime with a bottle--around 4 oouces...we are soon to transition away from this bedtime bottle

~~Before we started whole milk a day and a half ago, Abigail was drinking between 15 and 20 ounces of milk a day. Sometimes over twenty, but not usually. She apparently LOVES whole milk and is putting down quite a lot of it. Yesterday she had around 20 ounces and today (it's 2:30) she's already had 12.5 ounces, and hasn't had it with snack, dinner or bedtime yet. I am thrilled with the transition from formula to cows milk...so far so good.

3. Teeth: We have ONE that has come through the skin! No longer are we totally toothless.

4. Movement: Abigail pulls up on everything and cruises all over the house with her walker. She can stand on her own for a couple of seconds and can climb all 14 stairs. Walking is very close I believe. We took Abigail's one year shots the other day and she graced us with multiple pictures of her standing unassisted, which I was thrilled about!

5. She has an obession with opening and closing all doors and with touch any knob she can see.

6. She will clap, wave bye bye, give kisses, give high fives, hand me things if I ask for it, put things "in" and take things "out," and throw a ball.

7. When David comes home from work, he usually calls as he's leaving, so I try to time it such that Abigail is standing at the storm door when he pulls in. I'll tell her, "that's Dada," and she will start giggling, smiling and hitting the storm door until he walks up. Then she'll raise her arms for him to pick her up. This isn't really an accomplishment, but it's something that I didn't want to forget.

8. Favorite sippy cup is the one we have with a straw.

9. Words--no talking yet, just the standard baby babble. I don't know if she understands the words that she does use, like Mamma and Dadda. I do love how much more self aware she is and how she responds to us.

10. Abigail has decided that she does not like to have her diaper changed...at all.

11. Diapers: size 4

12. Clothes: 12 months and 12-18 months

I'm not sure where I'll go from here as far as updates for little miss. I would like to keep doing some sort of updates so I won't forget things, and so I will have something to compare to for our future kids (not pregnant), but I haven't figured out exactly what I'll do yet. Maybe I'll just keep doing monthly updates until she's two? We'll see how it plays out, but don't expect the updates to end! :)

Abigail's 1st Birthday Party

This weekend was one of the best ever. Abigail's 1st birthday is tomorrow, and there was no Razorback game this weekend, so we decided it would be the perfect time to have her party. Being that it is so close to Thanksgiving, I decided a "Fall" theme would be perfect and the party decorations could kind-of double as my Fall home decorations. The party started at 11:00 a.m. and we had 21 adults and 8 kids in attendance (counting ourselves and Abigail), so we had a great crowd. Guests included: my parents, David's parents, Tripp and Kara, John and Sarah (with Shepherd and Rebecca), Uncle Benson and Elise, Great-grandma Rainwater, our neighbors Kevin and Jana Edwards (with their kids Connley and Kellen), Scott and Laura Geurin, Jay and Katherine Thorpe (with Caroline), and Adele and Lee Jackson (with Ellen and William). It was such a sweet mixture of family and friends. Thank you everyone for coming.

The menu:
Italian Chili
Regular Chili
White Chicken Chili
Cornbread
Chili fixings
Fruit
Cupcakes
Pumpkin pie (from Grandma's fresh pumpkins)
Apple Cider
Cokes
Sweet Tea
Water

For party favors I did little personal bags of mulling spices. Here are some decorations pictures...

After David gave a short greeting and prayer, everyone began to eat and hang out!

Once everyone had kind-of finished eating, we decided to do Abigail's cake. I was really nervous that she would burst out in tears having everyone in there with her, looking at her, and singing, but she did ok! She definitely looked nervous, but didn't cry, so I was pumped. She wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake. She did take a couple bites, and even tried to just bite it with her mouth, but she didn't demolish it like you imagin some babies doing. David said, "Did we really think that Rachel's child would get all messy eating her cake?" So true.

After cake came presents and I was probably the most surprised by this aspect of the party. I for sure wanted Abigail to sit in mine or David's lap to open presents, but I never dreamed she would be as excited about it as she was. She truly looked at each present and got excited! The sweetest moments came when we opened her baby dolls. Mom gave her one and Adele gave her a smaller one. When we opened Mom's, Abigail just smiled and smiled at the box and then started hugging and kissing the box. Kathy told me later that when she did that, Grandma said, "She is doing what is done to her all day." Made my day to know that she said that and thinks so highly of me as a mother. Abigail really did love getting all those presents, and our friends and family were so so generous. She got toys, books, clothes, dolls and blocks...one lucky little girl. She has definitely enjoyed them since the party too.

For the present opening we had Shepherd there and excited to help us, as well as Ellen and William delivery presents and taking trash.

We got her a wagon and she is getting such a kick out of riding in it. She loves her cupholders and taking lots of stuff along with her. I think she feels like a big girl!

I couldn't have asked for a better party and I think Abigail truly had a great time. Thank you everyone for coming and for showering our girl with so much love. Special thanks to Mom for making chili and fruit and helping me with decor, Tripp and Kara for helping us get set up, Kathy for making the pies, and Katherine for taking pictures of the party for us. David and I feel blessed beyond measure and praise God from whom all these blessings flow. We have done a lot in one year, and we look forward to year two with this precious gift God has entrusted to us to raise. She is His and we love her to pieces.

One. LONG. Week.

Last week was not a week that I care to relive. Ever. Abigail came down with a fever virus on Monday, then I got a stomach bug on Wednesday night, and then David got the same stomach bug on Friday afternoon/night. We spent most of the week trapped in the house and juggling Abigail between our parents trying to keep her out of our germs.

As an added sad note about it, we didn't get to make our planned trip to KC for me to go to Sarah's shower and to see our Sunday School friends. :( To our Kansas City friends, thanks so much for wanting to get together...we're so sad we didn't make it, but we WILL come again and can't wait to see y'all.

On a happier note, this is Abigail's birthday week! I can't believe our girl is almost ONE! Fun posts to come with our little miss.

1st Halloween and 1st Razorback Game

We have first after first after first around here. Thursday was Abigail's first Halloween and we tried to do it up right. On Wednesday we met the Thorpe's, John and Sarah, and my parents at the IBC FunFest. It was super crowded and there wasn't anything that Abigail could do, but we had a good time regardless. You have to go to a Fall Fest on your first Halloween right?! Abigail was a lady bug for Halloween. This was extra special because for my first Halloween, I was a lady bug too! I know, cheesy, but I love it.

On Halloween night we headed out for some family trick-or-treating by going to visit Scott and Laura, my parents, and Mike and Kathy. Since Abigail can't eat candy, Mom and Dad got her a little toy, which she has really been enjoying. We had such a fun time together.

On Saturday we headed up to Fayetteville for a little roommate reunion+football game. Four of David's 6 college roommates met up for a little cookout before the game. As a sidenote, I haven't done much blogging about the Razorback's season this year...we are terrible. But not to worry, we love them no less. :)

After the cook-out we headed to the tailgate for Abigail's first football game. It was chilly, and we had no idea how she would do, but she did ok. Once inside the game, we sat down and the crowd began to cheer, and Abigail burst out in tears. So we took her in, got her calmed down, and tried again. Exact same thing happened again. So we took her back in, calmed her down, and then stood in the entrance for a while to get her used to the noise. David also put toilet paper in her ears. Once she got used to it, we found some seats that didn't have anyone directly in front of them and took a seat. We cuddled up under a blanket and made it all the way to half time! Then I left with Mom and Kara and put Abigail down, while David, Dad and Tripp stayed a little longer. To say the least, we didn't watch much of the game, and it wasn't exactly relaxing, but they are memories we wouldn't trade for anything.

On the way home on Sunday we went to church at Tripp and Kara's church and then out to eat at Noodles. On the way home from Fayetteville David and I kind-of made a day of the drive. We took a scenic route down 71, then made a stop in Altus, AR, then had a photo session at a little overlook!

It seems like we have a "first" with Abigail every day. There's so much joy in it. As we do all of these things, I can't help but think about the future and what things will be like with her a year from now. It's exciting to think about trick-or-treating next year as family and going door-to-door together as Abigail understands what to do. I can't wait to go to FunFest again and teach her how to play the games together. I look forward to sitting in a Razorback game and watching David point things out to her while I take it all in. She's always been a fun baby with a sweet disposition, but I literally can't wait to experience all the things to come with her. Don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing this time away, because I really can't imagine how it could get any better. We are having so much fun. I'm having just as much fun thinking about what's to come as we're having in the day to day. I love my little family. :)