A blog about Andrew, Kari, and Abby
10- Ladies in Bible Study.
9- Toys picked up after play time.
8- Different craft ideas in my head.
7- Times my alarm clock went off this morning.
6- Blogs read.
5- Diapers changed.
4- Feedings.
3- Naps taken today (2 by Abby, 1 by me 
)
2- Pieces of chicken cooked for dinner.
1- Sweet, happy baby!
Sitting up by herself!
Recently I gave up using Facebook….recently as in today. I thought I might add in a little explanation as to why I chose to do this.
Since I have become a stay-at-home mom I have been noticing something about myself. It seemed like in any spare moment that I had I would jump on Facebook. I soon started to notice that this became a bad habit, and a big waste of time.
I love looking at my friends pictures and seeing what’s going on with their lives. But what I realized, after chatting with Andrew, was that I was only gaining information about my friends and not really knowing them anymore. That realization made me so, so sad. I’ve let Facebook take the place of keeping up with my dear friends and I just can’t have that any longer.
Plus, there are so many other things I can be doing instead of wasting time on Facebook. I need to start sewing, I want to make more bows, I want to spend more time playing with Abby….and the list could go on and on.
So, that is me right now. Choosing to do more with my free time and to really “know” my friends again.
We spent Christmas day over at my Aunt Mel’s house. We had a great time visiting with everyone, and Abby had a great time being held by so many people! She also got her first bag of stocking gifts! I not so secretly had so much fun opening them for her!
Here are some pictures from the day:
Abby and Papa K talking on the Ham Radio together
Abby and her Uncle Toby
Toby and Kelli
Abby with Aunt Kelli and Uncle Toby
One more family picture!
Abby passed out from all the excitement
Dad and Kelli
It was so fun having Abby around this Christmas….I can only imagine the fun we will have next Christmas when baby Kaitlyn is here! Can’t wait for that!
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Since I am so behind on blogging I decided to just give a brief overview of our holiday season with pictures, and maybe some words here and there!
We spent Thanksgiving with Andrew’s family….we all had a wonderful time. There was lots of food, fun and laughter! It was great to catch up with everyone and spend some time with Matthew and Joseph. Here are some pics from our trip:
abby looking cute for dinner
sweet Joseph
The Tooley family
Matthew looking so big!
All the cousins together
Nana and Papa with their grandkids
Getting some love from Matthew
Now to Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve, Day and a couple of days after with my family. We had a great time….it was really fun celebrating Abby’s first Christmas….the girl really loaded up on the presents! After Christmas we came back to Waco for a couple of days then headed up to North Richland Hills to be with Andrew’s family. Once again, Abby got some great gifts and we had a great time with family!
Here are some pictures of our Christmas celebrations!
Our Christmas celebration
All ready for the Christmas Eve service
Andrew and Abby
Me and my girl
My wonderful family
cutie pie
exhausted after our walk
Someone has found her voice and has also discovered how to make some really cute sounds. Here is a video of her “talking.”
Yep..that’s right. Abby has colic. And boy does she make it obvious every night around 7.
When Abby was about 2 weeks old she started getting really fussy. I mean..not just a little whimper here and there. It was like blood-curling screams. In fact, we were so worried about her we took her to the doctor. After describing what she was doing the doctor sadly gave us the news that it was colic. He recommended the book “The Happiest Baby on the Block” and we immediately went out and bought it.
I read the book as fast as I could and discovered some different techniques to calm her down. If your baby is fussy or has colic I would HIGHLY recommend getting that book.
One of the things that really helps her calm down is the swaddle. It’s incredible how she can go from screaming at the top of her lungs to quiet once we swaddle her.
We have recently discovered another trick that Abby has no power over…..an exercise ball! Recently, I visited a friend that just had a baby as well. She was telling me that she uses her exercise ball to quiet her baby down. I got to thinking about it and realized that this could really be good for Abby. She LOVES to be bounced, but it was exhausting for Andrew and me. Just the other day I headed to Wal-Mart and bought an exercise ball and let me tell you….AWESOME! She just can’t fight it while we are bouncing her on that ball.
With our different techniques in hand colic doesn’t stand a chance (most nights). We love Abby to pieces, but are praying for this season of her life to end soon.
Here is one Abby that we see:
crying Abby
But then we get a lot of this too:
Calm Abby
And this:
Smiling Abby
When we see that smile, or hear her coo, we magically forget about the nights of fussing.
Here recently when I finally get to crawl into bed at night my mind goes CRAZY. I am so tired, but it just won’t stop. All these random thoughts start buzzing through my brain and it isn’t until complete exhaustion takes me over that I can finally fall asleep. Last night as I was laying there desperately wanting to sleep I decided to take all my random thoughts and turn them into a blog post. Of course, there will be some editing, you don’t need to know ALL my crazy thoughts.
First of all, I can’t stand that I still haven’t posted about Abby’s first month of life. It’s really starting to get to me. I blame the delay on the lack of picture. You have to have a first month picture to put on a first month blog. It’s like an unwritten rule. Secondly, I blame it on my lack of time. I tell you what, an infant takes up more time that I could ever imagine! That post will come soon…I’m just waiting on the pictures (hint, hint Andrew).
Second….I’m plagued with thoughts of dressing Abby up. Ha. I know. That is completely silly….but I am. I have all these cute ideas for outfits for her, but I’m faced with dilemmas once again. First, clothes are expensive and I was just recently given a budget for Abby’s clothes. Let’s just say I’m going to have to really search for great deals for her. Second, she will grow out of them before you know it. So I think in my head, do I really want to spend all this money on clothes that she will only wear a couple of times? The answer is yes of course! Ha! To cut back on how much money I spend I’ve decided to learn how to make bows. It can’t be that hard right? Millions of people do it, and sell them at boutiques and Etsy for way more than they are worth. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube for making bows so I will begin that process this weekend hopefully! I am way excited about it! Think of all the bow possibilities! Now, if Abby would only keep them on her head!
Third….I can’t wait to lose the rest of my baby weight. It has also been driving me nuts that I can’t hit the gym hard like I used to. It’s really hard to work out when you are EXHAUSTED. The couple of times that I have worked out I kept thinking, “Ok, save some energy for tonight..you are going to need it!” Once it cools off Abby and I are going to go on lots of walks together, and today I think I’m going to try and bring Miss Abby to the work out place at our apartment and see how she does. I’ve got to do something people..I can’t wear maternity pants forever!
Fourth…I am in desperate need of a haircut and highlight. My roots are WAY too long and my hair just needs a trim. I had a wonderful stylist in Houston that I loved. I’ve been so nervous to try someone new because I’ve had lots of bad experiences with haircuts. It’s like no one knows how to cut and handle curly hair. Very frustrating. Plus, not knowing many people in town makes it hard to get good recommendations. Andrew has asked some women in his office but they get their hair cut at the mall! Ghastly! I’m pretty sure this is the biggest dilemma of all!
There are other thoughts as well, but I think that’s enough for now!
Enjoy some pictures of Abby..she is a cutie!
Abby all ready for her first trip to the mall!
Abby's first experience of college....walking around the Baylor campus
pajama day with mommy!
playing (laying) under her play mat
she hasn't quite figured out what to do with the toys
chillin' in her lounger
sitting like a big girl in the rocker!
I haven’t had much time to blog lately…a certain little lady has been taking up quite a bit of my time (not that I’m complaining!) It has been a full month since Abby’s birth and so much has happened! I am planning a post dedicated to her first month…be on the lookout!
I’ve been thinking about how I can’t wait for the fall…here are some reasons why:
I’ve got big plans for you fall…hurry up and get here!
We’ve also had several visitors over the last couple of weeks. It has been lots of fun visiting with friends and family and showing off Abby. Andrew’s parents spent the night last Friday so that Andrew and I could go out and celebrate our 2 year anniversary. It was so great to spend some time with him, get out of the house, and have a little break. We went to a restaurant called 135 Prime and it was delicious! We both got steak and really enjoyed it. We chatted about life, the past year and mostly about Abby! Andrew’s mom gave us a great gift too…she stayed up with Abby so that we could get some much needed sleep! It was so awesome…who knew that sleep could be the best gift there is?
Up next…Abby’s first month!
Looking all cute for her guests
out
Tummy time!
napping on Daddy
celebrating 2 years
Abby has now been with us for 2 weeks! It seems hard to believe that 2 weeks have gone by. I feel like I can barely remember the first couple of days with her, maybe because we are so sleep deprived, but it’s almost scary how quickly the time goes. I have been wanting to write down her birth and the days after, but just haven’t had time. I know I will need to do that soon so that I can get down all the details.
I always knew it would be hard to have an infant here, but I now know that I really had no idea. It’s amazing how this little bitty person can completely turn your world upside down….but then you love them so much, it doesn’t even matter!
Abby is the coolest little thing that has ever happened to Andrew and me. She is getting bigger and bigger which we are so thankful for! I can’t wait until she has all the cute baby rolls. She LOVES to be held, rocked, jiggled, swaddled, and talked to. Sometimes she is not happy sleeping in her bouncer or pack and play, but she always loves to sleep being held. Many times during the day she is so alert, looking around, trying to figure things out. Andrew will hold her and talk to her and she just sits there and stares up at him. It really is the sweetest thing I have ever seen. She is not a big fan of sleeping through the night right now, but we know this season of her life will pass…we are just praying it passes sooner rather than later.
We are so thankful and blessed by Abby! Life as a family of three is great!
Abigail Lily 7lb 19 3/4 in
First picture with my daughter!
Happy family of 3!
warming up
Abby and me
so cute!
Well…today is my official due date given by my doctor. In my mind, she was supposed to be here by now….obviously, things have not gone according to my plan. They really never do though.
Our sweet Abby has decided that she really likes living in my belly and wants to stay there for a while. Fortunately for us, there is a beautiful thing called an induction, which will be taking place tomorrow morning! I couldn’t be more excited for tomorrow to come…and for Abby to come. I have been dreaming these last 9 months what life will be like once she is here, what she will look like, what kind of baby she will be…and on and on it goes! Tomorrow I guess we will find out!
I have loved being pregnant and having her inside of me…but I am ready for her to be here. It really is amazing how fast time has gone. It feels like yesterday we were at our first doctors appointment, and here we are, waiting for her arrival. The Lord has really blessed us, and we thank him daily for the gift of our daughter.
Here is one last belly shot before tomorrow!
40 weeks...Abby's official due date!
We're going to be parents tomorrow!!
Hopefully my next post will include some great pictures of our sweet Abigail Lily!