Some Final February Photos

Here are some recent photos from our affairs.

Abby is wearing an outfit from my sister. You cannot really see the shoes here, but they are supper cool. They are a pain to get on, but she can run all over inside and out with them.

After the dry run, Jen & Natalie eat ice cream and prep for the big show in Flagstaff; afterward Abby cuddles up to Jen. In this concert Jen directed her Arizona Desert Choir and the St. Marie's Choir with an orchestra. It was pretty cool, but under attended. We need to get more groupies for her choir.

Abby's favorite toy is now the stroller. She pushes and pulls it all over the house.

The baby laptop is toy #2. She totes that around too, and can be briefly entertained by the flashing lights and sounds.

Here Abby chills with an old friend: Jonah. His parents (Josh & Kim) lived next to us but moved away a few months back. He is getting big, but I think she can still take him.

Abby's Birthday Party

So, Abby's party was a week late but she didnt know the difference. She's been much healthier and happier these past few days, though last night at the party she was a bit fussy. She skipped her afternoon nap and was grouchy at the party, but everybody still had a great time. Thank you to everybody who helped out, especially the Andersens, Lopes', and Natalie.

Here Mellisa and Jessica help prep some food for the hamburgers.

Kieth Kendall puts Abby up in a cheer-leading chair sit.

Tiffany (and son Tommy) sits by Tina and Andina. Tina watches Abby for a few hours each week as Jen finishes her last class. Tina is great to Abby, and is teaching her Indonesian. Niel (Tina's husband) looks over the fouton at the camera as an hour-long "this is your life" video runs on the TV. In this shot you can see Amanda (Abby's birth mom).

Here is our good friend Chelsea. She worked with Jen at the university but now she stays at home with her daughter, Carma, while Dusty fights fires and saves lives. We miss them.
My two cute girls

Cake's can be very scary, especially if you're one year old and already in a bad mood.
After eating cake we stripped Abby down to the diaper and sho opened gifts. Here is a puzzle from the Kendalls.

Abby even got a big box of gifts from her her birth father's family. She has many grandma's who care about her--7 by my count.
And here are a couple of videos so that you can get a good feel for the night.

I noticed we dont have anything showing how well Abby moves around right now, so here is a photo of Abby just walking around the front room, followed by a video.

Health Issues

So, my last post explained that Abby had the cold, the flu, and an ear infection. She is starting to feel better now, though she still has nasty diarrhea. Generally, her tummy feels better and she is eating. Jen, on the other hand, now has pneumonia. She visited the doctor this morning, who told her she could come home as long as she stayed in bed. If she chooses to go do things, he will admit her. So now I need to swing by someplace and get some handcuffs. I think my parents are driving out tonight to offer extra help, so things should move along fine. Hopefully my girls will be back to normal in a little while. We'll probably get lots of pampering.

Abby's Birthday

Well, yesterday was Abby's birthday. Unfortunately, she was sick sick sick. After she threw up all weekend we took her into the doctor who said she had the lucky combination of a cold, an ear infection, and the flu virus. She was miserable. She had to be held all the time, and mostly squirmed around in pain. We felt so bad for her. Today she is feeling a little better. Last night she started eating rice puffs, and this morning she drank 3 ounces of Gatorade and apple juice, and 2 ounces of watered down formula. A few minutes ago I fed her a full meal serving of sweet potatoes, and I think we're going to try a full bottle of watered down formula in another hour.

As if Abby being sick wasnt enough, Jen had the flu as well, plus a flare up of other sorts. Jen was unable to get around and do much, and I had to step it up a little (which was hard because whenever I was home I was holding Abby). Still, Jen suprised me by cleaning up the house while I was at work yesterday. Abby was starting to feel a little better then, but house cleaning wiped out Jen pretty well.

All things considered, we had to postpone Abby's birthday party, and since she doesn't know the difference, we're just postponing her entire birthday until next Tuesday. So, she has not opened any gifts yet, nor eaten any cake. We'll get those photos up next week. Hopefully it will warm up a little by then, since we dont have enough space in the house to host a huge party.

How Does She Do That?

Our friends Doug & Jessica had this on their blog, and it was so cool we thought we should spread it around. Check out this video of Boyanka Angelova:

The Rump Shaker

Abby Walks

Someone told Jen recently that Abby must not be walking, because if its not on the blog it must not have happened. Well, thanks for the compliment, though I've been lagging a bit lately.
So, Abby has been walking around since Christmas, but each day she spends more time on her feet. I think yesterday was the first day she walked more than she crawled, so I was finally able to get some footage. And so, by popular demand, footage of Abby walking in the living room...

A day at the Zoo

We took Abby to the Phoenix Zoo today. We found a 1/2 off coupon; last time we found free admission coupons; so now the three of us have been twice and only paid $16 total. I'm proud of my deal seeking skills. I'm addicted to slickdeals.net too, by the way. If you've never seen that site, you should. They list amazing deals on all sorts of stuff, from zoo admission to electronics to clothing. I think I have an addiction, and so does everybody else I know who's been to that web site. At any rate, here are two shots from the zoo.

After a long day, Abby zonked out in her chest harness. I carried her around the zoo in this thing all day. Its better than a stroller 'cause I can cut through crowds and she can see everything.

Jen and Abby pose with an oryx.

And I tossed this photo in just because. Here Abby was eating spicy rice and beans with chicken and tomatoes tossed in, chased by some sweet potato puffs. Abby doesn't like baby food (I can't blame her). It made us nervous for a while, but now it seems she's anxious to jump directly into adult food. Here she is passed out after blissfully stuffing herself.

Christmas 2008

This was Abby's first Christmas. We spent it with Jen's family in Washington state where we enjoyed an unusually white Christmas. Olympia hasn't had this much snow since the 1980s. We barely got into town and once we got to her folks house we were snowed in for days.

Below are Kevin (Jen's brother) and his son Noah, and Brent (Jen's brother) and Nicole (his wife) holding Abby. Isn't this snow man awesome?

Abby received lots of little gifts, including this Alphabet Train that teaches the ABCs.I received a Fossil brand BYU watch. Go Cougs!

Jen's favorite gift was a tempo watch (a fancy shmanshy conductor's tool that tells you how fast you are conducting--the opposite of a metronome).

And midway through our visit Jen's sister gave Jen a new look--how do you like the short hair? Now she and Abby have the same style. I think short hair is hot, but you have to be beautiful to pull it off (see example below).

Well, we've got a few more days on our little trip here in Washington--I'll keep you informed if anything interesting happens, or if I find a useful video among the 200 clips people recorded. We had three cameras (often taking video) and three high def video cameras taking shots here on Christmas day. I think we've got every angle imaginable, but its a beast to sort through. Note to self--take fewer and shorter videos.

Abby in High Def, sort of...

Well, we got a high definition camcorder with the cash Jen made conducting for Ballet Arizona and the Phoenix Symphony. This is our first clip; unfortunately, I blogger cannot handle the high def format and youtube converts it into something a little less clear than standard definition. So, the clip below isn't as sharp as what appears on my screen, but I thought you might appreciate an update on Abby's crawling speed.

Trying New Things

Does this look like the face of a child who eats cockroaches?

Maybe not, but when we found this today all the parts were not there.

Last weekend we visited my parents in Southern California. We went down to the beach and rode a trolley along the shoreline.

Abby rode on a carousel with my mom. She likes to experiment and try new things (see cockroach photo above), but this was a scary experience for her.