Meeting Nicole

A few weeks back, Abigail met Nicole for the first time. She came into town for a surprise visit the weekend before Labor Day. She has been in Dominica and in Miami for medical school. She is going to save babies lives!

Oh boy did Abigail LOVE Nicole. Big eyes, her best attempts at a smile, and all kinds of expression in her face.



We were even able to have time for Nicole to feed Abigail. Although breast feeding is the ideal, let me say, that pumping and having the flexibility of a bottle is very nice. It allows others to feed and bond with her too!


Nicole brought her boyfriend and fellow medical student, Farley along this time. I stupidly did not get a good picture of Farley, that's him in the background petting the attention hog Harley. He is very nice and I think that we would have quite the time with those two next time we have the opportunity and can go out.


Someday, after she gets done with medical school and has a moment to catch her breath, she might decide the time is right for her to have a baby, until then, she can enjoy mine anytime she is here and has the notion. She definitely has a way with the wee ones. I think it is because she is so kind, gentle and easy on the eyes. See what I mean?

All at once

Well it was bound to happen, as it does with all parents. That one day, that one time that everything happens all at once. Let me explain just what I mean.

Gabe offered to help feed Abigail by bottle so I could get lunch made. I put a pot of water on the stove and started getting everything ready for a pasta salad.

After a few minutes I went into the living to see how things were going with the feeding. Abigail was faced away from Gabe and he hadn't noticed that she had slipped down and was scrunched up (TV has a way of distracting him).

I start to say "that position isn't good for feeding because....",

Well, Abigail felt it was better to show him why, by projectile vomiting out her mouth and through her nose.

Of course she started to choke on all the milk that had just come out of every hole in her face so I grabbed her and rushed to the kitchen sink with her face down, as she chokes up all the milk that is left in her airway and I basically washed her down clothes and all. By the time I got her washed off and peeled down, Gabe had come into the kitchen with a towel for me to dry her off.

The water at this point is boiling on the stove, splashing over onto the burner, she is screaming her face off because she is now very mad at what just happened, and she is cold, wet and naked. Then it happens, she pees on me. It goes all the way down my pants and all over the floor.

Of course, this left us with vomit in the living room, and pee in the kitchen. Gabe was SOAKED, I was SOAKED. It was a little like a Chines fire drill with us both running around trying to "fix" things, and if it was caught on tape, The Entertainer would be the appropriate choice for the soundtrack.

It was quite the ordeal. Needless to say, lunch was finished, the house didn't burn down and we all made it through. Phew.

Great Grandparents

Although her great grandparents will not always be alive - she will always know how special they are and how their love and generosity impacted the lives of those around them.



This is her first time meeting GG Joe and GG Charlie. GG Charlie may not remember that he met her, but I will always have this picture and the memory of this time that he was able to see her for the first time.

After this picture was taken we all headed back to dads for lunch. I stole a moment alone with GG Charlie. He talked lovingly to her, rubbed her tummy and she smirked when he kissed her hands. He most certainly loves his great grand daughter.



GG Joan lights up when she sees Abigail. She says "you have such beautiful long legs", "what a sweet sweet little girl" and "you are just darling!" You practically have to pry Abigail from her arms, and all the while this smile never leaves her face.

It is a very special thing to see so much love for my child, but that is what you get when you have special Great Grandparents!

The Girl and Her Monkey

Looks like a special bond is forming between a girl and her monkey. Many secrets this monkey will hold. I wonder what this one is?



Together they will conquer the world.



A most trust worthy companion.



And she will never be without her friend Monkey.

Crappy days can end in a laugh

Well even crappy days can end in a laugh. I was in the kitchen cleaning up and I hear this comes from Gabe in the living room "Oh, LOVELY!"



When I came out - this is what I found - along with the look of disgust from Gabe. Apparently liquid came out both ends in an explosion. Abigail didn't know what all the fuss was about.

This still makes me laugh.

Her first month

I cannot believe that my baby is already a month old! Well technically today she is five weeks old, but lets not go there yet.

There is NOTHING in the world that can prepare you for having a baby. Even if you had a perfectly happy, healthy, easy baby - which Abigail did not bless us with the good fortune of being easy.

The first three weeks were so very hard! She developed a pretty bad case of acid reflux which made things almost unbearable. She was only sleeping about 6 hours a day, spitting up most of what she was eating and crying the rest of the time. Seeing your baby writhe in pain and not know why is heart breaking. Then add to that the one - two hours of sleep a night I was getting (five minutes here and there) was maddening and I really had doubts whether or not I was even cut out to be a mom. Those moments laying awake at night, sleep deprived, feeling helpless in comforting my child made me feel like a failure.

Realizing that people would not willingly go through child rearing again if this were "NORMAL" we sought help from our Pediatrician. And just in the nick of time!



Abigail is now on some medication for acid reflux and it has made all the difference in her little life. No more writhing in pain, and she is sleeping again. She fusses when she needs to tell us something, and that is what we call NORMAL.

Although her size is still small (9 lbs or so) she has made some big progress in her development. From the first moment she arrived she made a statement that she was ready to take on the world.



She has stayed true to that her first month. Her hands are always in motion, open and exploring. Her typical poses are what we refer to as jazz hands and drama queen hands. She often is found with her hands folded together resting on her chest. She has also discovered that she can fit parts of her hand in her mouth to comfort herself. This is a discovery that we sure hope doesn't develop into a "sucking" problem.



Abigail is very alert and will follow objects, and her look of surprise is precious! There is nothing quite like your baby looking right into your eyes. I wonder what she thinks about when she does.

There was lots of practice time on her smile. She gave us a few good ones.

Spending time with her during her quiet and calm time, usually after feeding her, makes the thought of leaving her to go to work almost unbearable. It breaks my heart to think that there will be milestones and development happening and I will miss out those "first time" moments. Someone else will experience them and probably not even think twice about it. There must be a better solution! I am working on that and I think about what I can do to prevent her going into daycare. It is on my mind most of the day. I am open to suggestions by the way.



I know that she will never be this age again, and I am definitely soaking up as much of the wonder and amazement that she offers while I can.

She is pretty awesome.