National Tree

On Saturday after Marc got home from his trip, we all went to the American History Museum. I worked for a couple hours in the cafeteria where there is wi-fi. Then we all looked through some exhibits before walking over to the National Christmas Tree display.

 This is how Abigail made the cold walk.

 She adores Daddy!

 Our family in front of the tree (Abigail is under Marc's coat.)

Sisters, sisters....

December 10, 2010

Fun with Catherine

In addition to working hard, we tried to play hard with Aunt Catherine too. After most of the schoolwork was finished, we explored D.C. at Christmastime.

We went to the fabulous holiday display at the U.S. Botanic Garden. It is a must-see in D.C. if you're here for Christmas!





Afterwards, we went to Ben's Chili Bowl for lunch. I had a hilariously embarrassing parallel parking experience, but it was worth it.

Joseph was a big fan--I wish I could have gotten a video of him dancing to the soul music.  Abigail slept through the whole thing!

December 9, 2010

Monsters

Abigail now sleeps most of the night in the crib in Joseph's room. I guess I should say the kids' room.  Abigail makes a lot of noises during the night. This is one of the reasons she needed to move from the bassinet beside my bed into another room. I wake at every little baby noise (in addition to random waking to check to make sure she's still breathing).  Anyhow, the first night I put her in the crib, I did it part way through the night after a feeding.  Usually, once Joseph is (finally!) asleep, noise doesn't wake him up. However, that night he got up to go to the bathroom. When he got back to the bed, he heard noises in his room.  He called out to me, "There are monsters in here!"  I replied, "Oh, no, it's just Abigail. She's in the crib."  "Oh," he said.  The shift to sharing a room has gone smoothly. He doesn't awaken when she cries to eat during the night. A few times if he wakes up to go to the bathroom and she's making noise, he'll say in his sleepy voice, "Get her out of here!" And I don't mind bringing her back to my room (having her move out of the bassinet was sad in a "this phase is ending" kind of way, but more sleep is helpful, as much as I try to pretend otherwise).

Here's a video of some Abigail noises. They do kind of sound like monster noises!

Aunt Catherine Saves the Day

My sister Catherine flew out from St. Louis to help me finish this semester. As you might imagine, going full time in a PhD program while delivering and caring for a newborn has had its challenges.   Frankly, the phrase, "it takes a village" has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I never could have made it through without the help of so many people. Especially my mom who came out when Abigail was born, and most recently, Catherine who came for the last week and a half of my semester. She took care of everything while I wrote and wrote and wrote.  Three papers, an exam, two presentations (oh, and 18 hours of class time) later, it was over!  It was freezing here so Catherine took Joseph to the indoor playland at McDonalds, to the library, to the church to fulfill my assignment to make lunches for the homeless shelter, and read him countless books--over and over again!  She kept Abigail and Joseph happy, fed, and rested when I attended marathon class sessions.  Did I mention Marc was out of town for work during this, my most busy school week?  

 I had intended to have my papers finished when she arrived and just have a nice time with her--while taking advantage of her babysitting services while I attended class since Marc was going to be out of town. However, the papers were most certainly not done. In addition to watching the kids so I could write, she also served as chief Editor and Statistics Consultant AND listening ear to my ranting and raving (you can't write a good paper without some good ranting and raving)! 

Abigail took quite a liking to Aunt Catherine

Catherine sharing her ipod with Joseph.

I think we wore her out, but we really can't thank her enough.  And, of course, a big thank you to Uncle John for "letting her" come to Virginia :)


December 5-14, 2010

All dressed up

We took Abigail back to church this week-- I loved having her sleep in my arms again.  And yes, Catherine and I were taking phone pictures during church!

Abigail with her little skirt and too big tights--what a doll! Aunt Joanna, this bow is dedicated to you!

Joseph and Abigail

Although good intentioned, many of Joseph's attempts to hold Abigail end like this.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Abigail

Joseph let Abigail hold his baby doll. She seemed to like it!

Abigail and Daddy are twins in their hats!



This picture tries to capture Abigail's hands as she sleeps



Another try--sweet little hands

Merry Christmas!

After decorating for Christmas at Grandma Donna's house, Joseph couldn't wait to put up our decorations.  We have a live, potted tree this year--courtesy of our neighbor Bob. He will plant the tree at his house in West Virginia after it has served as our Christmas tree. 

 Joseph loves the nativity scene. It is on top of the piano so he pulls up a chair so he can rearrange the figures.

Joseph was thrilled to get to hold Abigail standing up for this picture

Just as we were finishing up decorating, our neighbor, Kirsten, stopped by with Christmas goodies. It was fun to have a Christmas visitor and goodies to cap off our night.
November 30, 2010

"Perfect"

"She's perfect!" was what Abigail's pediatrician proclaimed after her two month well baby check.  We couldn't agree more. She smiled and cooed for the doctor--and just showed off her cuteness in every way.



Abigail now weighs 8 pounds and 11 ounces and is 21 and 1/4 inches long.  She jumped from the 2nd percentile to the 6th. 

Abigail is two months old--December 5, 2010



Two months in, still loving each other

  December 5, 2010

Abigail Smiles

Abigail has been smiling for quite a while. Some of us contend that she has been responding to our smiles since she was about 3 weeks old. The doctors tell us that is not possible.  I say, don't tell Abigail what is possible or not.  This is not an ordinary baby! (The NICU nurse said she'd never seen a cord fall off as quickly as Abigail's and commented how she is really is a hurry to get on with life--or course in reference to her arrival in the car)

Anyhow, from about 6 weeks she has undoubtably been responding to our smiles. We love her big smiles that are so huge they verge on laughing. We love her cooing in response when we talk to her--like she really is answering.  Just last night Marc was telling me how fun it was when she was mimicking him--opening her mouth in a big "O" after he did.