Trip to the Grocery Store

At the grocery store this morning, I let Abbey sit in one of the carts for kids that has a plastic car attached to it, for the first time. What a thrill! She just loved it! She kept turning around at me and would smile ear to ear. She did make herself comfortable by taking her sandals off and at one point leaned back in the seat and stuck her feet out the window. Life is good! --Amy

Abbey's Big Girl Room

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We just put some pictures up of Abbey's big girl room. The theme of her room is basically "2 year old girl"... butterflies, flowers, and lots of pink. She seems to really like it, as every time we go upstairs, she runs right to the "pink room" and won't come out. We really wanted to give her something special so she wouldn't mind giving up her old bedroom to the new baby.

Pictures from Daycare

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As Amy starts her maternity leave, here are some pictures of Abbey playing at daycare. We gave them a disposable camera when she started in October 2006, and just recently had the film developed. It's hard to put dates on individual pictures, but they generally go through the end of 2007. Looks like fun to me!

What You May Have Missed...

I finally got around to posting some new pictures in our photo albums... I intended on posting to the blog more regularly, as the little things happen, but we've been so caught up in getting ready for the Imminent Arrival, I've fallen behind (as usual).

Here are some highlights from May:

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» Amy's parents sold their house in Parkersburg, and officially moved to Cincinnati full-time. We couldn't be more excited!

» We spent a delightful Mother's day at Ikea shopping for Abbey's new room. Frankly, if it weren't for Ikea, I think Abbey would have moved into an empty room. That place is great.

» As part of the move, we became the lucky recipients of the Eichstadt's piano. I'm very excited to finally have a piano again. I've had a few chances to take it for a spin... Yikes! I need to practice! Abbey seems quite taken with the new "toy". I can see many years of piano lessons in our future.

» On Memorial Day, we went out for ice cream. Abbey got her own cone for the first time, and she devoured it like a pro. I wonder where she picked up that skill...

Here are some highlights so far from June:

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» With the nice June weather, Abbey wants to spend all weekend in the "wa wa". We've already been to the pool twice and fired up the back-yard sprinkler.

» The 7-year cicadas have hatched... not really a highlight, but it's really gross. You can't walk anywhere without getting attacked by the beady-eyed bugs.

» Church festival season has begun... one of our favorite times of year. There's nothing like spending a Saturday night eating a walking taco and funnel cake. I think it's a Midwestern thing. This year, Abbey particularly enjoyed the inflatable bouncy palace.

» The Ohio University quarter ended last week. With it ends Grandma Eichstadt's distinguished career as a Chemistry Professor. Congratulations!

» We spent Father's Day at home this year, but did enjoy going out to dinner and a movie... thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, our new babysitters!

» Amy's getting quite pregnant and quite uncomfortable! Today is her last day of work before maternity leave begins.

Big Changes for Abbey!

This has been quite a month for little Abigail. First, she transitioned from the "Frog" room to the "Tiger" room at daycare. It seems like every time she moves to the next room, she just explodes with new abilities (good and bad!). The biggest change is that they have potties in the Tiger room, so she gets frequent chances to try her luck on the toilet. We're very proud to announce that things have gone spectacularly! In the evenings and weekends, she now lets us know when it's time to go, and she takes care of her business with a smile (and a few vigorous, self-assuring "Yeah, Abbey!" cheers).

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In the Tiger room, most of the other girls wear pigtails. To daddy's delight, almost overnight, she decided that she wanted pigtails, too, and stopped pulling them out. We just love it... she's so adorable!

At home, little sis is due any day now, so we decided it was time to make the move to a big girl room. We've been working on her new room for several months, since we're going to redecorate the nursery for the baby. She adjusted almost immediately, and now falls asleep with no trouble at all. If she would just move from sleeping on the floor to the bed, I'm sure she'd be more comfortable... I guess the ability to make decisions like that are the essence of her becoming a "big girl".

It's hard to believe that I'm sitting here writing this on our 4th anniversary... time certainly flies. It's hard to believe how things have changed in such a short time!