Jumper

Since Abby has been one month old, she has been interested in standing. The doctor taught us a neck exercise where you hold her hands and pull her up into a sitting position... and Abby decided instead of sitting, she would lock her legs and stand up.

Now that she is almost 4 months old, I thought it was time for her to spend some of her play time upright (without us holding her up). So - now we have a jumper. She isn't tall enough for it yet, but she seems to enjoy it when the CD case is beneath her. She ignores the toys but likes moving around in it.

Vacations are fun!

Jason, Abby, Hannah, and I all went to Matagorda this weekend for our first family vacation. The weather was beautiful and we spent as much time outside as we could. We literally woke up and went outside. This picture was taken right after her first bottle of the morning.


Jason played with the new boat a lot during the weekend.


Abby took her first boat ride. She was very at peace on the water... she even fell asleep at one point.



We also took Abby to the beach for the first time.




Hannah had fun in Matagorda, too.

Back to Work

I started work and Abby started school on Wednesday. It has been both an emotional and physical roller coaster for both of us since then.

School
Dropping Abby off at day care for the first time affected me a lot differently than I thought that it would. I imagined that I would be thinking about work and what was coming next, but I cried the whole way to work and had to sit in the parking garage for a while before I was ready to go in. My work agreed to let me leave early for the first week so I picked her up the first day at 3:30 pm. She had just been put down for a nap. I almost felt guilty taking her home at that point (they said that she hadn't cried the whole day).

The next two days were a lot easier. Abby and I do not have our morning schedule down yet - right now it is dependent on her sleeping schedule, but we are working on it. She has been so tired after day care that she goes to sleep really early and wakes up around 4 - 5 instead of the 6:30 mornings that we used to have.

Abby at school:

We are really happy with her school:


Work
Work is going very well for me. It is almost like I wasn't gone for 3 months. The days pass by very quickly because we have been very busy. I'm actually really happy that this is the case because it would be awful if I was bored and counting down the hours each day until I could pick up Abby.

My company moved office locations while I was away. The new building is really nice, and the best part about it is that it shares a parking garage with a fitness club. I always sign up to go to a gym and will go for a short amount of time until I get lazy and don't want to travel the extra distance to go work out. But, if you have to walk by the entrance of the gym to get to your office every day and to leave every evening... you would feel really guilty not going. So it has worked out perfect for me. I have already been to the club three times since Tuesday. :)

Here is a pic of me on my first day:


Random

Abby went on her first brunch trip with Jason, I, Angela, Steven, and Dylan this week:

Also, Abby and Vincent had their first play date together. Aren't play dates fun!!

Alert

The day that Abby was born, the doctor said "Congratulations you have a daughter... and look at how alert she is." It hasn't stopped since then. I would have to say that "alert" is the most common adjective used to describe Abby. Three people have already called her that this morning - two different ladies in the gym's child care center and the checkout lady at Target. Are most babies not alert? I guess I haven't been around any for a long period of time, besides Abby, so I assumed that they are all curious as to what is going on.

Tomorrow is Abby's first day in day care and my first day back at work. Unfortunately, because of Ike, I didn't get a transition period... but I'm sure that everything will be okay. My work is great and I'm sure that they will understand if I need to leave early every once and awhile to see my daughter.

Saturday Night Live

This is my third post of the day... definitely a record for me. But, there is a an important update: Abby laughed for the first time tonight. Luckily, Jason was with me so we caught it on video.

This happened during the A&M vs. Miami game... so we were sure to be sure she had the right pacifier.


Also, she has been drooling up a storm, so we introduced her to her teething blanket.


James Franco is hosting SNL tonight... Yeah!!!

Catch Up

I'm playing catch up with this stream of conscious list:

Abby is getting really big. I don't have her stats, but trust me. Here are a few of the new things happening for her:

- She grabs at toys and holds on to them during play time.
- She notices her feet and her hands and is caught holding them or staring at them frequently.
- She is starting to suck on her thumb (much to our dismay).
- She starts school (daycare) on Monday.
- She eats 4 ounces of milk at a time and is eating every 2 hours or so.
- She is adaptable. She can sleep anywhere at night (ex. car seat, bouncy chair, etc).
- She has grown too long for her 0 - 3 month clothes and has started wearing her 3 - 6 months clothes (funny that her wardrobe change works well with the season change).
- She has slept the full night (8 hours) twice now (regrettably not two nights in a row)

Abby and I during Ike

I'm really sick of the hurricane coverage on the news. It basically fills up every time slot on the tv all day. It has been doing this for over a week and I know that I should be interested... but I'm not anymore.


Here are a few of our hurricane aftermath pics:
This is our neighbor's house damage.This fallen gutter caused a small leak in our roof (water damage in the kitchen)Front Yard Pic

I found facebook.com for the first time this week. Adrienne has been trying to get me to join for a while now... but I have been stubborn until now. I love it!! I have had a chance to catch up with high school and college friends that I thought I might not ever see or talk to again. I am addicted!! I can't believe that I haven't really heard about facebook until now... everyone is on it... even my mom!

Vincent Lucas

This birth announcement is way overdue. Vincent Lucas was born last Wednesday, September 10, 2008 to Edwin and Kristin. Mom, Dad, and baby were all fine while they stayed in the hospital during the hurricane. The hospital did lose power, but luckily no windows were broken.

Vincent had a hectic first few days. Because Kristin and Edwin did not have power when they were released on Sunday... they went to stay at a hotel in Seguin for a night. Then, they came to stay with us after our power returned.

Vincent is just precious with a full head of hair!!

Here is a hospital pic:


First bath pic (taken at the Allen house):