Abby from 18-24 months

Abigail has really transformed over the last 6 months. She has grown leaps and bounds with her language and her independence.

In November Abby got rid of her pacifiers. This was a bit of a challenge but she is a big girl and we are grateful we got rid of these before Amanda joined our family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving visiting my Aunt and Uncle in New Ulm, MN. For Christmas we enjoyed hosting family at our house. Abby LOVED opening all of her Christmas presents.

We finally decided to cut Abby’s bangs and it seems like she transformed into a toddler with the haircut. She started talking in sentences and stringing more words together. Bill and I are usually able to understand what she says these days. Her vocabulary and ability to communicate have astonished us.

 As a family we have had many more adventures. We have gone on rides at the Mall of America, visited the animals at the zoo, played with bubbles at the Children’s Museum, and Midtown Market. Abby even loves to go grocery shopping and visiting her Grandparents.

Abby become a big sister to Amanda on 1/26/2012. Abby met Amanda and said, “My Baby”. We are grateful that Abby loves her sister so much. She enjoys holding her and kissing her daily.

Abby has begun doing many projects with Mommy and Daddy. She truly enjoys baking as she makes cookies, pancakes, muffins, and so much more. We learned over Christmas that Abby loves chocolate as she ate chocolates off the peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies. She likes to be a big helper as she worked with the power drill (turning it on and off) and helping Bill to put Amanda’s crib together.  Abby does like to help and mimic what Mom and Dad do~ one day she even try to fix the toilet with the plunger after we had an overflow.

Abby enjoyed Rock the Cradle on 2/26/2012- She amazed us with her amazing moves and how much she really enjoys listening to music. Abby went to the Bunny Brunch and Easter Egg Hunt at McRae Park 3/24. Abby prefers music to podcasts and has showed this by saying, “music now Daddy” when Bill is listening to a podcast. We love the things Abby says and she has really become particular about doors being shut and things being a certain way. Abby let us know what she likes and does not like. One day Katie tried to get Bill’s attention by using his name. Now from time to time Abby will say “Bill” in this sweet voice. It melts our hearts.

Abby’s last day at daycare was 3/22 and now she is staying home with Katie and Amanda. Katie is opening her own education in-home daycare. As the business is getting up and running Abby has enjoyed Story hour at Southdale Library, going for long walks, and having play dates

16 Months Old!

Since the last time we wrote Abby has had a number of adventures. Abby had her first camping adventure at Interstate Park near Taylor Falls in June. She loved playing with the dogs and hanging out with all of our camping friends. We ended up staying one night and that was enough for me. Abby loved the wilderness so much that she did not really want to sleep in it. She wanted to be a part of all the fun.

Abby and Wendy camping

July 5^th is when we determined that we had an official walker on our hands. Abby became very quick and Bill and I had to watch wear we placed out glass, phones, ipads, and any electronics that Abby would like to through in the toilet. So far the only thing we had to get out of the toilet is Katie’s car keys, license and check card.

Abby on the deck.

July 9^th I finally got Abby her first haircut. I could not believe the transformation. Prior to getting her haircut Abby had a reverse bob that was very trendy but she did have all of her really fine baby hair. I think the haircut made her look more like a toddler to me.

First Haircut!



Abby with Grandma.

In the end of July Abby was lucky enough to have her Grandma and Granddad Kinney come for a visit. She loved going on walk, visiting Como Zoo, Eagle’s Nest indoor play park, going swimming at the pool, and spending time with family. Abby really enjoyed walking and seemed to have mastered it.


Abby walking at the park.


Abby with Granddad.

August 3^rd we had a neighborhood block party where we had an opportunity to connect with our neighbors and catch up. Abby especially loves dogs these days. She gets so excited when she seems them that she points and says “whoo, whoo.” Abby had fun with bubbles and meeting some new friends on the block.

In August Abby was a social butterfly. She had Katie’s friends Sheri and Evy visit. Abby went to go visit Jack and Bridget in Wisconsin, and Ethan and Mandy came to play in the park. Abby really loves being social with other people. She is an excellent sharer and always up for new adventures.

Abby with Evy

At the State Fair

The end of August we visited Sea Life Minnesota at the Mall of America. Abby loved pointing at all the fish, octopuses, turtles, and sharks. It was very exciting to have such a fun adventure so close to home.

At Sealife at the Mall of America

Overall, we have had a wonderful summer swimming in the pools, playing the parks, going for walks.

 
Family picture at the state fair

Abby now has 12 teeth- WOW – 4 of these are molars.

Abby’s vocabulary consist of:

Daddy, Mommy, Kitty, Hi ,Bye, Bubbles, Bottle, Up, Down, No, Yes,  Chicky (Abby’s daycare provider), EI-EI-O, Grapes, Milk, All Done. (We're sure there's more, she's a little parrot these days.)

1 year old!

Abby has seven teeth, she is an excellent cruiser, and loves to help turn on lights and press buttons. Abby has a few words in her vocabulary, she say, “Mama, Dada, Hi, and Yum.” Abby loves to dance. She will turn up the radio, wave her hands, wiggle her legs, bop her head, and squeal in delight to the music. Bath time continues to be one of favorite pass times especially when Abby can dance in the bath and play with her new fountain toy.

Abby went to her first Twins game on April 8, 2011. She did a great job watching the game and all of the people.

Abigail is an excellent mimicker. She sticks out her tongue, does a Native American Chant, waves high and good-bye. She began exploring outside by crawling around playing at the park. We like to go for bike rides when the weather cooperates.

Grandma Kinney was able to come for a short visit for Abigail’s 1st Birthday. We had her first Birthday Party on April 30. She loved having her friends and close family there. Abby loved eating Angel Food Cake and cupcakes for her party. She especially loved smoothing it into her face.

Abigail went on her first carousal ride at the Mall of America during her Birthday weekend.

9 month update

Note: This should have appeared at least a month ago, as Abby is now 10 months and some change. I am also hopelessly behind on photo uploading to the internet. I hope to rectify this situation very soon. - Bill

Abby celebrated her first Christmas in North Carolina. It was amazing because it was a white Christmas. North Carolina got 5 inches of snow and Great Grandma Bet and Grand Aunt Sue ended up having their flight delayed for an additional 2 days. Abby favorite part of Christmas was that she loved opening presents, eating the wrapping paper, and being with family. She had so much fun she went to sleep by 4pm. We had an amazing time being with family. Abby did really well on the airplane rides. So well that we plan to visit Florida to see Great Grandma Bet in February.

In January Abby was on a mission to increase her speed as she crawled and explored more rooms in our home. We bought a baby gate and have begun to restrict her movements. Abby loves to have people come over or go places where there are lots of things to see. She enjoyed visiting her Grand Aunt Sandy and Grand Uncle Terry in Nicollet, Minnesota. She enjoys walking around the Mall of America, going shopping, and when people come for a visit.

Abby is doing really well as she is transitioning to solids. She enjoys feeding herself and we do not worry about the amount of food getting into her hair. She enjoys being on her feet but is still very tippy and needs to hold onto things Grandpa Nelson is encouraging Abby to walk every chance he gets. She began to pull herself from sitting to standing next to the bathtub. Abby is now in the regular bathtub and Abby can spin around and splash joyfully with a lot more room. Abby got her 3rd and 4th tooth this month and enjoys chewing and biting things- especially biting her Dad’s nose.

7 months old already!

Abby has had lots of excitement the last couple months.

Abby really fought the cold, flu, and couch bugs for 6 weeks. She was on a number of antibiotics, nebulizer treatments and I felt like her fever would never. Finally Abby is in good health and we are so grateful.

For Halloween Abby was a lady bug and a cat. In both outfits Abby seemed like she was more interested in chewing on them and she could not figure out why I kept taking so many pictures.

Abby has moved on from eating vegetable and is venturing into the trying some fruits and rice rusks. She loves to drink water from a sippy cup or a small glass. Bill thinks it is hilarious when Abby dislikes her food and is the spitting image of her mother as she make a horrified face that says ‘do not make me eat
any more of this’.

On November 13th was the first snow that Abby had seen. It was a beautiful storm and we were very thankful family had arrived safely.

Abigail met her Great Grandmother Bet when family visited for Abby’s baptism. On November 14th Abigail was baptized at Plymoth Congregational Church with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson, Grandma and Granddad Kinney, Uncle Rob, Grand Aunt Sue, and Grand Aunt Rachel.

Abby’s first two teeth arrived mid November. Next, she began to crawl and Bill and I are trying to keep up with her. She is working hard to sit up but still tips over from time to time. Abby loves to be upside down or on her Daddy’s shoulders.

Thanksgiving we hosted Katie’s aunt Sandy and Uncle Terry came from Nicolett along with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. We had a good time eating, telling stories, and playing with Abby.

Abby is excited for the holidays. She had her Christmas picture taken December 3, 2010. She loves looking at the lights of the tree and trying to get ornaments off the tree. We are looking forward to Abby’s first Christmas. Abby went to the Macy’s Auditorium show on December 10th with Katie and Grandpa Nelson. We hope this will continue as a yearly family tradition.

Abby's 5 months!

It's been a while since we've updated, and Katie and I are going to try to update more frequently! You can always find us on Facebook where we tend to post more pictures and updates, and Abby is pretty much the main subject of Bill's Flickr Account these days.

Since we last updated, Abby has increased her motor skill and loves to put everything in her mouth. She loves to kick, reach, and grab for toys. She has now rolled over from front to back and back to front. Once she does roll over she is not able to roll back so sometime Abby will fuss once she accomplished this. She is doing really well at holding up her head these days. We are very proud of our growing girl.



New excitement came as we removed the hammock from Abby’s bath and now she can kick and splash more than ever in her baby tub. Abby loves to play and splash around. This often involves squealing in delight. After she gets out of the bath we show Abby herself in the mirror and she smiles.

Abby attended her first bridal shower for Tara this month. She had a great time getting shared with Tara’s friends and family. Another first for Abby was the great American Get Together. Bill, Katie and Abby went to the Minnesota State Fair on a record setting date for attendance. We met Tom, Mandy, Ethan, and Jessica at the fair. Ethan and Abby looked adorable as they wore cute hats.


Abby has been growing so much this last month. We went to our 4 month check up and she is now 15 pounds 13 ounces, 25 and 3/8 inches long, and has a 17 inch head. She did a great job at her check up and is continuing to be a very happy and healthy baby.

In September Abigail had many adventures. She went to her first wedding outside the womb. Bill, Katie and Abby went to Tara and Gannet’s wedding and had a wonderful time. Abigail is a fantastic job during the wedding and then flirting with all the guests during dinner.



Abigail was lucky enough to be able to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. They took very good care of Abigail for a week when our day care was closed. Abigail enjoyed reading stories, going for walks, singing, and loving her grandparents.

Abigail also likes to have conference calls with Grandma and Grandad Kinney in North Carolina. Skype makes it so easy!


Abigail is working very hard to move herself around. Mostly she rolls from side to side. She has gotten exceptionally good at reaching for toys she wants. She appears to want to crawl and continues to work at it. She is teething it seems as we have had more fussy nights, drooling and everything is going into her mouth. Abby is growing more and more each day.

Abby began eating rice cereal now that she is 5 months old. She is becoming more familiar with the texture and learning how to eat with a spoon. She enjoys getting her dinner all over her face, arms, and bib. Thank goodness bath time is one of our favorite activities. She's also eating squash, green beans and sweet potatoes.


Bill's gotten a head start on introducing Abby to the trauma of being a Minnesota Sports fan. She's been startled a few times by dad's enthusiasm for the games.

3 months old!

Time flies! Abigail continues to have many new adventures this month. She attended her first fundraiser "Bowling for Boobs" to support the three day walk for breast cancer. Abby loved hanging out with all of her friends while Mom and Dad had a chance to bowl a couple games.

Abby continues to grow and grow. She is so amazing to us! She was 12 pounds 10 ounces at the doctor on June 28th. Abby began to love bath time. Daddy gave Abby a bath by himself and she even peed on him one of times Bill was preparing to get her ready for her bath. (It was quite funny!)


We loved celebrating Father's day and began a new family tradition that we will be making a father daughter page each year for Abby and her Dad.

My sister Amy and her son Luke came for a visit from Georgia the end of June.Grandma and Grandpa were very excited to have both grandchildren to ogle over. We even got a visit from our Aunt Sandy and Uncle Terry. We had wonderful family time.



Abby went to her first Pride parade and enjoyed sleeping though most of it while laying on Desi's shoulder. We enjoyed being with friends and families.
After the parade Abby went to her second restaurant Pizza Luce with Desi and Becky.
Abby visited Pepito's again when she went to lunch with her new friend Josephine who was only eight days old at the time.



The most precious moment this month occurred July 3rd. Bill was making silly laughing noises in varying styles of laughs and Abby began to giggle at her Daddy. It was so amazing to see how happy she was with her Daddy. He is very good at making her laugh out loud.

Abby also had her first day in her swimsuit when she visited her grandparents pool. She did not go into the pool because it was too cold but she enjoyed sitting in the shade.

We had a major milestone when she rolled over just before she was three months old. Katie and Abby were on the floor singing and doing tummy time when she rolled over onto her back. Bill was there watching too. We were very proud parents together as we shared in this moment.

Grandma and Granddad Kinney came to visit and take care of Abby when Katie returned to work. We all had lots of fun together working on projects around the hours, singing songs, reading stories, and going for walks.