The Elephant Song

Abby and I thought this video was cute.

Weekly Schedule

So, below is my new weekly schedule. It sucks. Essentially, I took up a part time job at the University of Phoenix to help us get through the summer. I dont know if I can keep that pace very long, but the goal is to do it until the semester ends in a couple months. Then, during summer, I can drop the ASU responsibilities (though I'll still have to do Univ. of PX and my dissertation).

As I take up the new job, Jen's schedule gets equally hectic as she takes up full time Abby duty. I'll watch her for a dozen hours a week, but Jen's will have her the rest of the time.

Abby's Making the Transition

So, for the past couple months Jen or Abby were pretty much always sick; they just swapped colds, flues, and whatever else. It was pretty hard to wean Abs off the bottle and formula when she wasn't eating anything at all. She dropped in her weight percentile (she's off the chart small again) but she is now totally healthy again and so finally starting to sleep through the night and letting us feed her things besides formula. She's been eating baby food off and on for the past two months, but now she's really off formula (at least for the past week), and sleeping the night (at least for the past few days). She still loves sweet potato babyfood, so sometimes we use that to get her to eat other things because she still not convinced that she should eat yogurt, eggs, or anything esle we try. Hopefully in another couple weeks it will be pretty much all adult food. Whoo-hoo!

Why Doesnt My Child Sleep?

Abby's typical routine:
6am - wake up
7am - eat breakfast (oatmeal & fruit)
9:30 - eat brunch (toast & sweet potatoes)
10:15 - cry in crib
10:45 - fall asleep in crib
11am - cry until removed from crib
11:45 - eat lunch (sweet potatoes & a bottle)
3pm - eat (banana & some fruit)
4:30 - take fifteen minute nap; wake up very angry
6pm - eat dinner (sweet potatoes and adult food)
7:30 - take a bath
8:30 - drink late night bottle
9:15 - go to sleep
3am - wake up - demand bottle
3:15 - go back to sleep

So, if you do the math, she sleeps about 9 hours at night, and about half an hour during the day. This has been her schedule since she was three months old (obviously the food changed). It does not matter what time she goes to bed--she always gets up at the same time. Do you know how hard it is to get anything done when your child does not sleep? We are so exhausted!

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...