Abby Coos

Abby hitches a ride on daddy

Tammy and Greg Adams came to visit

Tammy and Greg have a little girl named Emma, who is one month older than Abby

Abby's great grandma came to visit. Here Abby plots to snatch Great-Granny's french fries.

More time with Grama Ruth

Abby joins us for dinner at Monte's

She is just so cute!
Both these chicks are cute!

Abby is a TV hog already. Her favorite show is the West Wing.



Abby is starting on the Powwow curcuit. Here she gets her first taste of frybread.

Matt makes a friend! This autistic boy grabbed ahold of me and would not let go, so I let him help me push abby around for a little while.

"Here's look'n at you, kid!"

The Shakespeare Family Visits

Things are going well. Abby has a hernia and is getting over some baby acne but otherwise she is just fine. She's been a little constipated so the doctor perscribed a shot of prune juice in her formula. Yuk. We aslo had more visitors this past week. Jen's sister Tiffany came, along with her three little girls.

Tiff and Abby

Kylee, Brynley, and Kennedy sit with Abby for a photo

Abby's first time in a pool. She was not too upset, but clearly it was a strange experience for her. Though she probably just thought it was a cold bath.

We took the girls to campus and Tiff treated us all to Cold Stone.

These two are a pair of clowns.

Here are the latest photos:

This year we attended the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple together. We sat at the front of the middle section to stretch out our legs in the walkway, but it became a problem just before and after the show when it turned out our super cute daughter was stopping traffic. Everybody passing by wanted to see her and the crowd of worshipers quickly clogged the major walkway. She gets that response everywhere she goes so I feel confident that despite my biases she is indeed a very cute baby. Even the pediatric nurses (who see lots of babies) at the doctors office take notice. Each time we visit another nurse drops by our room and says, "I'm not your nurse but I just had to see this baby I've hears do much about. Everyone says she is so cute."

We had visitors for Easter. Matt's sister Heather is on the left, beside her boyfriend Brandon, and Jen's mom (Karen) is on the right.

My work colleagues threw a shower for Abby last week. It was very nice. Thanks Emily, Elyssa, Dana, and everybody!

Last week we had our annual scout fundraiser--a chili cook off. Jen says I look sexy in a uniform, but since I disagree I'll withhold those photos (and since Jen doesn't remember how to post to the blog it will stay that way). Here you see Paul and Carly Aylworth beside Sarah and DJ Stapley.

Today Abby rolled over for the first time (though this is a photo of an earlier failed attempt).

One of Abby's favorite sleeping locations.

And here is some video from Abby's Easter photo shoot. The voices are Jen and her mother.

The Latest Photos

Abby's latest gift: Matt's childhood rubber ducky. Its her first smile on camera.

Abby with Matt's sister, Heather, and with Natalie

Jen at the first shower--lots of gifts

Abby knows the good stuff. Note that even in sleep she has a grip on the bowl of ice cream.

Matt tries to study and watch Abby at the same time--it didnt work out

Isnt Abby cute?

In case you wern't convinced yet...

... the nail in the coffin

Settling Down

So we've been back in Arizona for a week now and things are settling down--sorta. My mom has been in town to help us watch Abby and Jen took a short trip to California for a conference. My dad also visited briefly. Here are a few photos from the past week.

Grandma Barbara with Abby

Grandpa Roger with Abby

Jen & Abby take a photo with Dr. Schildkret

Abigail's First Day at School

So since we cannot get home to attend school, we thought we'd see what school might be like for Abigail

Trapped In Utah

Dont get me wrong, we love Utah, but this is ridiculous. We flew in two weeks ago and every thing that could get stretched did get stretched out.

• Amanda didnt go into labor on Thursday (Feb 7) but on Sunday (Feb 10)
• The C-section required Amanda stay in the hospital three instead of two days, so placement got pushed back from 48 hours after birth (Feb 12) to 76 hours (Feb 13)
• A missing photocopy pushed paperwork completion back from Wednesday (Feb 13) afternoon to Wednesday evening (too late to overnight the package to Salt Lake City)
• The Salt Lake City interstate official received the paperwork on Friday and overnighted it to Phoenix, however, Monday (Feb 18) was a holiday so nobody touched the paperwork until Tuesday (Feb 19)
• On Wednesday (Feb 20) the Phoenix interstate official decided to be extra "thorough" and required additional paperwork, but didnt tell anybody until too late in the day to finish it
• On Wednesday the Ogden agency supervisor scheduled a Thursday meeting with Amanda to get additional papers signed, but that meeting was not until noon

So, hopefully, the papers will get signed and faxed to Phoenix in the early afternoon and we'll get the okay to leave Utah this afternoon. There is a 5:10pm and an 8:15pm flight that we can catch home if we get enough notice. Keep your fingers crossed!

Abigail Update

Today Abigail lost her umbilical cord. That fell off pretty early so we'll wait a while before immersing her in water. Thats all I've got for today.

Abigail's First Week

New Abby Photos

So I've got some ideas for new movies I'll make in the next few days (hopefully), but for now I'll just slap up a few photos to keep you checking the blog.


The other day several old friends and family came by so we have a few pictures of Abby with them.

Uncle Brent (Jen's youngest brother) and Aunt Nicole (his wife) drove up from Provo to say hello (and to join the family for the annual President's Day ski trip.
Uncle Kevin (Jen's older little brother) flew in to see little Abby and join the ski trip

Mandy (Jen's cousin) and Russell (her husband) drove up from Provo to say hello

Heather came to visit and brought her boyfriend, Brandon. They drove from LA to check out LDS Business College, see Abby, and of course, to introduce Brandon (Heather really like him). Jen's freshman college friend Virginia also came to visit. She lives close by and brought Abby TONS of stuff. I think she is trying to compete with Jen's sister to see who can donate the most clothes and baby gear. Thanks to Virginia we have dozens of new clothes and bottles.
My old bath buddy came to visit as well. Jenny Park (formerly Jenny Maricle) grew up together and we're buddies from the beginning. She has since married Dennis and had two beautiful girls, Emmie and Ava. They brought Abby an outfit, blanket, and burp cloths. Arnt our friends great?
And last, here is a photo Jen took of Abby and I this morning. During the night she will only sleep if we hold her, and if I snuggle up to her she'll go 4-5 hours!