Catching Up

I just haven't had time to blog lately, even though I have to admit that we haven't been that overly busy. But Kevin has been sick with some kind of energy-zapping cold/sinus infection all week (not to mention he was gone in Tennessee for five days last week), and I unfortunately have had a tougher week with the morning (and evening) sickness - apparently I'm not out of the woods yet. So, the house has remained pretty messy, we've been grabbing Wendy's or Taco Bell way more than normal, and blogging has not been high on my list of priorities.

During this time Abby has been more work to take care of, but she's also been a joy and brought us many smiles and laughs when we've not been feeling well. She's added a few more words to her vocabulary: "Bubba" and "Kkkkeyy" for the kitty (one of his nicknames is "Bubs"), "Bd" for bird, "Tee" for tree, "Di" for deer, and a few more I'm probably forgetting. She's also finally got "Dada" completely down, and rarely calls Kevin "Mama" anymore. =) But obviously, she's got some work to do on the words since often she is only able to pronounce the first letter on some of them, but it's been fun to watch her increasing communication skills and hear her attempt to copy what we say. Abby has also added a couple more animals sounds to go with her whinnying horse sound. She goes "Raar, raar, raar," for her stuffed polar bear and she also frequently makes the sound for crow (or "bird" as we often call them), although she says, "Daw" instead of "Caw." She loves looking out the windows for crows and will often make the sound even if she only hears them.

Since fishing has been over, we've developed a specific morning routine. When Abby wakes up, Kevin goes to get her and brings her to me in bed where I nurse her (since I feel sickest in the early morning). When we're done nursing, we call for Daddy to come back in (he's usually gone to the study to do some computer work). Abby joins right in with some loud calling, "Dada! Dada!" Kevin climbs back into bed where we all cuddle for a bit and then he opens the curtain behind our bed so Abby and he can look out. Frequently, there will be a crow or two out in the yard, sometimes a squirrel, and once we saw a deer.

When Kevin was gone in Tennessee, Abby and I enjoyed a visit from my friend Shauna. Abby warmed up to Shauna right away and had a fun time playing with her.

Abby and Shauna

On Monday morning, we enjoyed a fun, but too short visit with my brother's kids from Pasco who stayed at my parents overnight so Aunt Holly could take care of some business she had in town.

Abby and cousin Hannah

Abby and cousin Kresint

Abby and cousin Solomon

Solomon tried to play with Abby, but she wasn't very interested in him. In the picture above, he's trying to share one of his cars with her but all she wants to do is play with the little block in her hand. And, as is a typical occurrence at family events, my dad fell asleep on the couch: =)

Well, I think that's enough for this post, but I promise to get a few more up soon.