There's No Place Like Home...

Go Huskers!!

This weekend Abigail and I traveled to Nebraska, again. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE going home. It's fantastic ~ great food, family and someone I trust getting up with my baby = a little extra sleep :) BUT I really hate the drive. I wish I could be one of those people who loves to drive, you know, the "open road" and all that stuff, but I can't. I dread getting in the car to make the 3.25 hr treck home. This weekend it was even worse... We left just before 6pm on Friday night. This would normally put us at my parent's house just after 9, maybe 9:15. Well little did I know this was going to be a road construction nightmare! I decided to take I435 out of town. My parents (and husband) seem to think it's faster, and there is always less traffic, so I figured, why not?! I should stop here and state, that, no matter which way I went Friday evening, I would have had problems. Okay, well the ramp from I435 to I29N was closed. What?! I discovered this about a quarter of a mile before the ramp. No pre-warning, no "exit now", nothing! Just a closed sign. Not even a detour sign. Great. So I figure, "I got this", I just get off at the next exit and turn around. Well that was the easy part. I29 was down to one lane... Abigail was asleep in the back (thanfully!), but it was stop and go traffic until past Platte City, where I was going to stop for gas. But, oh no. That exit ramp was also closed, so onto St. Joe. I stopped for gas, drove through McDonalds for a orange HiC and we're off! But, not without waking the sleeping baby. For some reason, every time the car stops, her eyes pop open. So she cried a little bit and fell back to sleep. We take the Rock Port exit to get to mom and dad's and, surprise! Construction again. The Missouri River bridge was one lane. So, as you can imgaine, we're stopped again. There was a stop light to direct the traffic and we waited for approximately 7 mintues (I didn't time it or anything!). As I said before, car stops, eyes pop open. So, we went through that again. We finally arrived at my mom and dad's at about 9:45. I was tired from all of the stop and go and Abigail was exhausted from all of the waking and falling back to sleep.

Saturday was a much better day! Abigail had a bath in the morning:

This is her new laughing face (I'm not really sure where she picked that up!)

The purpose of this trip home was a baby shower. One of my best friends from highschool (and college!) is due in October. Her due date has changed a couple times, so we're hopeful that the baby will come on Abigail's birthday. Abby is excited to have a new playmate and I'm so excited for a little baby! We know that she is having a girl, and the shower was Disney Pricess themed. My sister, mom and I made mints, because, who doesn't love 'em? And the shower was amazingly fun! So many friends from highschool were there, one even flew in from Colorado! It's always so great to get to catch up with old friends, but especially so when they're some of your best friends! One of them has a little boy who my sister gets to babysit on occasion (she works at the daycare at Bryan).

Playing at the shower

~ Best Friends ~

This morning my grandparents and other family members came out to see Abigail and I. My mom's cousin, Pam, brought her grand daughter out. Raleigh is 4 months old, but bigger than Abigail was at 6 months. Here are the girls playing:

We really had a fantastic weekend and the drive home was much better because I was prepared for all of the stops (though we did get stopped by a train ~ dang!). Abigail and I are looking forward to next weekend... at home!

My crafty side...

So for a long time I've been wanting to be able to make things. You know, like appliqued onesies and pretty blankets. Well a few weeks ago I bought a sewing machine. It was a big step, but I'm so glad I did it (all about that another time)!

So far the list of things I've made is fairly short... ribbon burp clothes for a friend (pictures to come - her shower is this weekend), a Husker tutu for Abigail and tonight, the most difficult of all: an appliqued onside! I did it!! I'm seriously excited and proud of myself. Don't look too closely, or you'll see the flaws, but all-in-all I think it turned out pretty cute!

Here are pictures of the tutu and onesie:

GO BIG RED!

Super cute Halloween skirt! Giveaway!

This is a really cute skirt, which would look adorable on Abigail, don't you think?! Made by the same creative girl who made Abby's birthday outfit!
http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2009/09/giveaway-halloween-skirt.html

Congrats Brian and Sandie!

My cousin got married this weekend in Nebraska. It was a beautiful ceremony at a really cute little church in a very small town. Brian raced for a long time and racing is a big part of their family. Him and a good friend raced crazy cruisers... for those of you who don't know what a "crazy cruiser" is, it's a car - and one person steers and the other does the gas/brake. Well in our family you don't do anything small, and they turned an ambulance into a crazy cruiser once and they also did a limo...

Brian and Sandie on the crazy cruiser

Brian and Jennifer

My cousins

Well as many of you can imagine Abigail was the life of the party at the reception :) she was even a bit entertaining during the ceremony (oops!). She always has fun when my sister is around, though!

Abby and Mommy

Sunday Abigail got to see her great Grandma and Grandpa Tyser, which was great! And, we started back to KC about 2. Abigail slept most of the way. Isn't she sweet??

My beautiful baby girl!

*Note the two pacifiers

What a week!

Oh what a week... I took Wednesday off to spend time with Jordan and we got a lot accomplished. We bought a small TV for the basement and set it up with the treadmill. Now I have no excuses to not run ~ I can watch any/all of my recorded shows while running/jogging/walking. Tonight I actually used it and jogged for a whole half hour! That's big for me ~ usually I'm done after 15 minutes. Maybe I could get used to this :)

The rest of the week (and weekend) will be explained with pictures:

Thursday was Jordan's sendoff ceremony. It was actually pretty neat - Missouri's govenor, Jay Nixon, was there and senator Kit Bond. They both spoke and it was interesting to listen to. I've never heard a politican speak and I have to say it was entertaining. They both made a lot of good points and I'm going to leave it at that! :) At one point someone (either the govenor, senator or the MO general) asked how many of those going on this deployment had deployed before. It was amazing to me because there had to be over 3/4 of the unit that raised their hands. At that point I got teary-eyed thinking of all the other families who have had to go through this multiple times. Wow!

Our family

Emily and Ben Carter, Jordan and I

Ben will be Jordan's roommate in Afghanistan and Emily and I are going to be fast friends, I can tell already. We've spoken on the phone only once, but she's so sweet. Ben has been deployed before and they have 4 kids. I can't imagine how Emily is doing this, but I'm greatful I have her to talk to!!

Papa Jim and Abigail

Abigail and Grannie Annie at lunch

My sweet girl!

After the ceremony Jordan got to come home with us. Weird, huh? I'm still not sure what that was all about, but I wasn't going to ask any questions and Abigail and I were happy to have him home for a couple more days.

Friday Jordan and Wayne had lunch with their good friend Joe. After lunch they moved the treadmill to the basement and got everything set up for me (okay, so Wednesday we just bought the TV, but we did other productive things!). I borrowed Brodie's lifejacket from Bethany because Abigail and I were headed to Stockton Lake for the weekend. We had to try it on Abby and see how it fit:

It fits! Yea!

Saturday morning my parent's stopped by our house on their way to the lake.  (Side story: very good friends of my family, the Custer's, live in Stockton - or in the country there. They have a pontoon boat and fishing boat and asked my parents, sister and I to come down for the weekend) They did us a huge favor and took Abigail down with them. At 2:15, Jordan and I departed for Jefferson City with "V". There are a few guys who live in KC and since they couldn't have personal vehicles left in Jeff City, I got to take them! "V" is on the security force that is deploying with Jordan. We met Dickey (I just love how everyone goes by their last name, or an abbreviated version of it) and off to Jeff City we went! I left the boys and was finally headed to the lake about 6. It wasn't easy to leave Jordan and there were a few tears, but I've been reassured that I will in fact see him again before he leaves, so it wasn't as bad as it has been and will be.

I made it to Custer's a little after 9 PM - darn GPS lead me to the wrong house. Sunday morning Abigail greated me bright and early! We had breakfast and took a little ride on the golf course. Teresa showed us all around their place and we went down to her dad's private dock to look around. We didn't see many fish, so we decided to head to the Marina.

Abigail and I checking out the fish at the Marina

Teresa then showed us her pontoon and we took a quick boat ride...

This picture doesn't show it very well, but Abigail screamed - I mean screamed - when I put the lifejacket on her. Honesly, I have never heard her cry like that before!!

That's more like it! Cheerios! And, no lifejacket. It's the law that the lifejacket is on the boat and out, but she doesn't have to wear it ~ thankfully!!

After our quick spin, we made our way back to the house for some lunch and a nap for Abby. After Abigail's afternoon nap we went back out onto the lake. It was a beautiful afternoon and I wish I had thought to wear my swimming suit and put Abigail in hers. Doug said the water was only 75 (his fishing boat gives you the water temperature), but I think we could have toughed it out. Oh well! Next time! Sunday night we had an amazing dinner ~ good Nebraska beef! and headed back home on Monday morning. It was a fantasic weekend and Abby and I can't wait to go back sometime!

Monday night I made spaghetti for dinner. Abigail has been eating more and more "big people" food and I thought this would be something fun. Well....

She had fun!

I used shell pastas, because I thought they might be easier to pick up...

Messy girl ~ lick the inside of the bowl!

Parched! Break for a little water.

Today I got to stay home with Abigail. This is a rare treat for us. But, the babysitter had the day off, so we had play time! She really cracks me up these days. She said "daddy" today for the first time, when looking at a picture of him. It's so amazing how smart she is! She talked to him on the phone and called him "daddy", too.

Hi mom!

Rae Gun Ramblings: Show and Tell: Abby's B-day Outfit

This is Abigail's birthday outfit and I can't wait to get it in the mail. She's going to be so adorable!!

Rae Gun Ramblings: Show and Tell: Abby's B-day Outfit

Has Hives

This last weekend Abigail has a fever after her nap each afternoon. Yesterday Pam called me at work, and since Jordan was home, he picked her up and took her to the walk-in clinic at our pediatrician's office. Pam said when she called that Abby didn't have a fever, and wouldn't have called if Jordan hadn't been home, but Abby did have a rash, and was a bit fussy, which is not normal for her. The Dr said not to be concerned and that she just had hives (as a result of fighting off of some sort of virus). I attempted to take pictures of the "spots", but didn't do a great job - by the time I made it home she was looking/feeling much better. The last picture is a random one from this weekend that I loved!

Red spots on her back...

And her face

Chillin' with daddy!