Kisses

9 months old

excitedly waiting for the doc to come in for her checkup

Can it really be true? Is my baby already 9 months old? My sweet little girl has officially been alive in the world for the same amount of time she spent growing in her mommy.

At her 9-month checkup, Abby weighed 17 lbs. 12 oz. (25%) and was 28 inches long (75%).

This past month it seemed like we packed away piece after piece of baby gear. Goodbye swing...goodbye (more) clothes...goodbye mobile (because Abby is determined to yank it down) ...and then there was lowering her mattress. Before I know it, she'll be leaving for college. (Just kidding...kind of...)

Every moment has been and continues to be so precious. Now, instead of just being the adorable squishy baby that I spent hours watching as she slept all day, Abby has become an adorable, active baby girl who is easily excitable, talkative and strong-willed. Not to mention, she is a little joker. Her personality is shining through and she is a delight!

If you could see the look on her face when her daddy walks into the room. Her smile could knock him over. She is her daddy's girl. Not to mention, her four teeth!! If you think the toothless grin is cute, the 4-tooth grin is even cuter! Good thing she is a little cuddle-bug because we spend lots of time snuggling her.

In the last month, Abby has started waving bye-bye, blowing kisses and pulling herself up. Still no crawling, but rolling around like nobody's business. Seriously, don't get in her way she'll roll right over you. It's pretty hilarious.

Every month gets more and more fun! Sometimes I want to pinch myself because I can't believe this is really my life and then I realize, nope, this isn't a dream. God has chosen to bless us more than we could have ever dreamed! He is such a loving Father!

Pumpkins

Uncle Brad and Alex came to visit this weekend and we had a great time. As always, Abby loved all of the extra attention. She hammed it up every chance she got: playing games, making everyone laugh and showing us that she really is growing from a baby to a little girl before our eyes.

We spent the first half of the afternoon watching the SU game.

As soon as I turned the camera on, Abby turned and posed like this!

laughter.

Say Cheese...again!

"What are you looking at, Uncle Brad?"

Peek-a-boo!

loving Alex's hair

Go Phillies! (The four of us had dinner and watched the Phillies game after Abby went to bed Saturday night.)

After the SU game, we took Abby to the pumpkin patch for the first time. She was in awe of all the pumpkins. You know how she usually responds to the camera...well, we could barely get her to look up when there were so many fascinating orange balls to look at. Another moment when I had fun seeing the world through her eyes.












We love visitors! Thanks for coming Brad and Alex!

Go SU!

Joe and I are looking forward to bringing Abby back to campus soon! In the meantime, we are cheering on Syracuse from afar. Joe and I met at SU. We love our school and all the years we spent there! So nostalgic. I love that we started our life together there and got married in Hendricks Chapel. I love that we get to share all of our memories with Abby someday AND make new ones with her. Is this what it means to bleed orange? I think so.

Abby representing the Orange on game day:

Go SU! woot woot!

Alright let's get serious....game's on! Mommy....bring on the chips and dip!

Standing tall

Pull-ups

Abby has started pulling herself up when she can reach an edge or grab our fingers. In this case, she is sitting on my legs. Do you see the look on her face when she does it? She's so impressed! (and so are we!)

Sweet Moments

My sweet little snuggle bug

After lots of splashing, Abby really kicks back and relaxes in the tub.

I walked into the room and saw this. Sweet moments.

Cooking with Mom

I was cooking dinner and Abby looked like she wanted to help! If only you could have seen the look on her face when I first handed her the bowl and spatula...like "Really Mom? I can play with real kitchen things? YES! THANKS!"

Orange and Blue!

I'm not talking about SU this time (though we are very impressed with our Orange football this season!). I'm talking about the orange trees and blue skies. The weather has been beautiful here. We have been taking advantage of being outside every chance we get.


Abby pulls herself up with the help of my fingers. Every time she has that same proud smile on her face.

Ohh take in the lovely backdrop for this photo. The three of us just sat in the grass and enjoyed the beautiful leaves and gorgeous blue sky.

Flying baby! This picture was taken on Sunday and Abby still had no top teeth. Today, her first tooth on top popped through!

Getting cooler here

The chill is in the air...

...which means a new season and all sorts of fun things for Abby to experience for the first time.

Where's Abby?

On Sunday, Abby was playing on the living room floor while I was doing something in the kitchen. She had been playing with her toys for less than 10 minutes, when I came into the living room only to find her missing (from my immediate sight that is).

Me: Ummmm...Abby.....where are you?
Abby: Ah! (shouted in an excited attention getting way)

I followed her voice to find her IN HER ROOM! Abby's bedroom is the next room off of the living room. She had rolled herself all the way to her room and kept rolling until she got stuck by the door and had no where else to go. For those of you who haven't been in our apartment, that is a significant distance. She might not be a crawler yet, but she's officially a mover.

Here I am, Mommy!

Look what I did!

Now, what?! I'm stuck.

Who's reading?

I love writing this blog! It has been such a fun new hobby for me. Even if no one was reading, I would still write. BUT, that leads me to the reason for my post...who is reading? I would love to know (even if I don't know you)!

Leave a comment and let me know!

Baby Dedication

Today was Abby's baby dedication at church. A baby dedication is a ceremony in which parents make a commitment before the Lord to submit a child to God's will and to raise that child by God's grace according to His Word and His ways. Joe and I are so thankful that God got a hold of our lives years ago and redirected our paths for His purpose. Today, we promised with all our hearts to parent our little girl with purpose and point her to the only one who gives meaning to life, Jesus!

We shared the day with some of our family and friends: Grammy, G-Diddy, Uncle Tommy, Grandma, Casey, Rob & Kelly and Joe F. After the service, our family came back to our place for lunch and football.

outside of Open Arms after the service

Grandma getting Abby ready for pictures

sunny day....can you tell?

"Thank you for my outfit, Mama! Don't I look beautiful?"

hanging out on the curb with Casey

mommy & Abby

Grandma and Abby

"Hi Uncle Tommy!"

Cassel guys watching football

Color Zoo with Grammy

After her nap, Abby decided to hang out with the guys for a bit. When we sat her on the couch, she looked at them for a minute, then slouched her body down just like them.

playing with Uncle Tommy's watch

Touchdown! Touchdown!

Thank you Jesus!