Friday, September 28, 2012

Bath Time

Life has been crazy around our house lately.  We moved this past weekend and I've got tons of house photos to share with you all, but it will be a few more days until I get go through them, get them edited and get a post up for you all.  In the mean time, these were too good not to share. 


Abby started smiling last Friday!  It's been so fun to see her interact.  She has a little dimple even, right where mine is :O)


Hi Mom!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Representing both sides

After posting  Abby's weekly photo for this week, I got a lot of comments about how we decided that Abby would be a Packers fan, and not a Bears fan.  There's been a family rivalry around football since the moment we met.  Ryan is a die hard Bears fan and I'm a Packer fan.  So, of course, now we have a little one to raise and we've been fighting over who she will cheer for since the moment we found out we were pregnant.  Course, since she's a girl I'm pretty certain she will follow in mom's footsteps.


But, in all fairness, before we took this weekly picture, we took this one for Ryan.


I hate what she is wearing, but I will admit that's a pretty cute picture!

I've been trying to convince my mom that when she retires after this year she should start an Etsy shop called "A baby divided" and make onsies or jerseys for babies that represent two rival teams.  So, half Bears, half Packers.  I think she could make millions!!  HA.

Well, until Abby starts talking and showing a preference for her team of choice we've agreed that this is the only non-biased outfit she can wear on game day.




And, just because this post needs one more picture of Abby, here's a random one.


Go Pack, Go!!!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Still playing catch-up - Coming home from the hospital

I'm nearly caught up with all of the pictures of Abby.  I've learned my lesson....Abby gets lot of pictures and lots of face time around this blog, so I've got to make a concerted effort to keep up with posting otherwise there is no way I'll ever get caught up.  Yep, we've gone from pictures of Ryan's race, the dogs and projects around the house to all baby, all the time.  Oh well, she's way cuter than all those other things.


Gosh...she's already grown so much since this picture.  Her first car ride.

Funny story: When we were leaving the hospital, the nurse pushed me in the wheelchair (awesome...) and Ryan was carrying the car seat with Abby.  When we got to the parking garage Ryan went to go get the car, and was going to take Abby with him.  The nurse stopped him and said that he needed to leave the baby with us.  As he walked away another nurse sort of mumbled under her breath "yeah, you don't take babies in parking garages", to which I responded "Well, what's funny is that in about 1 minute we ARE going to take the baby into the parking garage.  And, if we wanted we could leave the hospital and walk around every parking garage we could find!".  It just seemed like such a strange thing to say.  What do you mean "you don't take babies in parking garages??" So weird.


Coming home....


Meeting my sisters. 

The whole doggie introduction was pretty uneventful.  We walked in the door, they sniffed her and the car seat then walked away wondering when we were going to go out and throw the ball. 


First cousin picture with grandma!  Mom looks so happy in this picture.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Cousins and best friends...

Man, it's been all baby, all the time around here these days!  For those of you that are tired of baby related posts, sorry!  Abby's been all that's been going on around here these days, but worry not, we should have some moving posts coming up soon.  A quick update on that front before we move onto the cute stuff - we are HOPING to close next week sometime and have been working towards moving next weekend.  With any luck at all, we will be officially living in Hampshire, IL by the middle of the month.  Keep your fingers crossed for us, we need all the luck we can get!

Ok, back to babies.  This past weekend Joey, Andy and Kayden came back to Freeport as well so we took the opportunity to finally get some cousin photos.  We were going to try and get some back when we did the newborn shoot for Abby but Kayden was a bit fussy and needed a nap, so photos took a back seat. 

Looking through and editing these pictures, I can hardly believe that Abby will be as big as Kayden at Thanksgiving.  Man, they grow fast.  It just keeps reminding me to love and cherish each and every day and to not wish these moments away.  It's easy to say "I can't wait until she can hold her head up, or sit up, or laugh", but I just keep reminding myself that someday I will want these days back so I enjoy each and every moment I'm home with her.

Mom sent me this poem that she used to read to Joey and I when we were little, and it sure rings true these days.

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow
For babies grow up much to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.


Mom said that it made her cry when she typed that out, and as I read through it here, it brings tears to my eyes as well...

I had a hard time picking a favorite, so here are just a few that we took.


"Wait...we want our paci's back!"



Kayden: "Um...Mom...I know she is little, but she is really leaning on me!"


Kayden: "I can't wait til Abby gets a little bigger and we can play together!"


The close-ups are the best, but just to give you little perspective on how big the girls are, this one is a a bit farther out for you.

Newborn Photoshoot - 4 days new!

Back a few weekends ago (can you believe it's been a FEW weekends?) Mom and Joey and I did a little newborn photo shoot with Abby.  Mom and Joey came prepared with all kinds of cute head bands (I only like the super small ones), and some great photography skills.  They spent a few hours the day before getting the camera settings just right, and I spent tons of time working on my photoshop skills. 

Abby was only 4 days new and she looks so teeny in these.  I'll let the cuteness talk for itself, so here goes nothing.








I've been perfecting my photoshop skills and was able to design my own birth announcements.  I sent out over 100 of them, but for those of you that I don't have an address for, here are the announcements I sent out.  I love how they turned out!


Man, that's one cute baby!  Course, I'm biased...I know.