Abigail's 12 month pictures...

A preview can be found here...

Thank you Katie!!

Abby's pretty hat.

My friend Desiree, who I have mentioned before, gave Abigail this hat last year. Her mom made it and talk about a wonderful seamstress (she also made Abigail's beautiful pink coat)! Anyways, this last weekend Abigail found the hat in her drawer and I put it on her head. Like always, she promptly removed it. I told her it was pretty and she should wear it. What happened next was priceless... she tried putting it back on her head! It was so cute! I put it back on for her and she wore it the rest of the morning. She ended up sleeping in it one night ~ it was off by morning ~ but it was the cutest thing ever. I hope this technique works for bows, too.

Here are a couple of pictures of her in her pretty hat:

Drinking her milk in her jammies

Happy Halloween!

Today was a great day - busy - but great. We started the morning off with an oil change at 0830. Abigail charmed the man who took my keys and it only took them a half hour! She also had fun talking with the people in the waiting room and smiling at everyone.

After the quick oil change we headed to the hospital so Abigail could meet her new best friend! Clara Grace is so beautiful and it still amazes me how tiny she is. She is only 14 oz smaller than Abigail was, so really, not that much smaller, but it's crazy how in my mind I don't remember her being so small. She is beautiful and Abigail was pretty taken with her! Here are a couple pictures... I'm not sure why blogger is making this one vertical, but I loved it, so I had to share:

Miss Clara Grace

Best friends : )

After we left the hospital we headed home. Lucky for me I have fabulous friends that live very close to me and after feeding Abby lunch and laying her down for her nap, my friend Sara came over so that I could run to Babies R Us. I have two friends that are having babies soon and therefore two showers coming up. I love that store, but can't ever seem to leave without spending a good amount of money - and I always have coupons! I saved almost $20 today, but still...

Abigail took an exceptionally short nap and I was a bit worried how our evening of fun would go. Well, we had a great time! We got all dressed and left the house just before 1600. I tried to do a photo shoot, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to get her to smile at the camera...

My tiny dancer

We went to Sara's to show off our costume, and she got Abby a special treat! Arrow root cookies and little crunchies! Much better than candy ~ and they will last a lot longer. After Sara's we headed to Desiree's house. There Abigail got to eat a forked eyeball...

I think she liked it!

Next, we went to visit Brodie... his mommy and I work together and he is about 10 months older than Abigail. I didn't get any pictures, but he gave her a hug and shared his toys with her. He was a pirate for Halloween and really cute - even without his coat! After we left Brodie's house we went to see Regan and Barrett. On our way we made a special stop (that required a phone call to my mom for the address) at a friend of the family's. My parents used to work with Karyn and she has two kiddos. We stopped by for only a second, but it was great to see them. Once we got to Regan and Barrett's house Abigail really woke up and had a lot of fun (could have been because she finally got to eat dinner??). Her and Regan played and played (Regan is 3 and loved having Abby chase her around the room). I wanted to really wear Abby out and keep her up late since we "Fall Back" tonight (and let's face it, she was awake at 0610 this morning and I really don't want to be woke up at 0500!). We got home from all of our adventures about 2045ish, and Abigail went right to bed. What do you think the chances are that my plan actually worked??

PS ~ I hope to have more pictures to post soon... Regan's mommy and my friend Sara took lots of pictures and I'm hoping to get some of those!

The best husband...

One of my best friends, since 8th grade, during college, and beyond! gave birth early this morning. She had been in labor for over 40 hours (seriously?!) and finally at 2:53 AM, Miss Clara Grace came into this world. Clara is kind of a miracle baby. She has defied all odds and is a happy, healthy, beautiful little girl. There were a couple of issues along the way - nothing serious - but I won't lie, I was a bit worried... I was lying in bed last night, worrying, and I prayed to God that he would watch over my friend, her husband and baby on the way.

And, I also prayed for Jordan. In that moment, last night, I realized that he is not safe... that he is in a war torn country, and is fighting for our freedom and trying to make Afghanistan a better place. I realized that I don't get to talk to him every day, or have him hold me at night, and that he hasn't gotten to talk to his baby girl in over a week. And, I cried. I haven't cried a lot since Jordan left. I mean, I've had my moments where I miss him, or I get frustrated because he isn't here, but I haven't really cried.

I didn't sleep well... between worrying about my friend and having gotten a flu shot yesterday (dang flu shots!) I tossed and turned all night. I woke up this morning, and still no word on the baby. I was tired and felt kind of feverish (again, dang flu shot!) but, after having no fever, I forced myself to go into work. It's the day before Halloween, it'll be a good day, right? Abigail got to wear her Halloween costume at daycare (hopefully pictures to come) and there was a ton of food at work. Things surely had to be looking up!

About 8:30, I got the text - the baby was here! She had been born very early that morning, which is why we didn't know right away. Everyone was doing great and we could come visit this weekend! I was so happy! I talked to one of my other great friends and we talked about how relieved we were and how exciting the new baby was.

Then, about 10:30 my phone rang... it was Jordan! It was so good to hear his voice. I cried on the phone to him, after he pried what was wrong out of me. We talked and caught up on what had been going on in each of our lives, which just seems so weird - we used to talk every night, there was no need to fill him in on Abby's latest tricks, he was there to see them, and he told me he was safe and that he loved me. All I needed to hear.

After lunch I got a call from the front office at work. Come up to the lobby - quick! I was kind of worried, "quick", that can't be good! I asked what was going on and I was directed to the lobby where there was a woman holding the most beautiful boquet of flowers. They were gorgeous. She told me they were "from afar" and I got all teared up. How did he know?? The below pictures will tell you that this boquet took a while to put together. There is no way that he ordered them after we got off the phone and they were delivered by 12:30. I don't think the pictures do it justice, but here they are...

Over all shot ~ so unique and pretty!

The bottom half - you can't tell, but the pot/vase is chalk board - very cool

Top half

Abigail's Halloween Costume!

Lots has been happening around our house since Abigail's birthday, but I'll have to blog about all of that later (nothing too exciting, and nothing bad, no worries!). This post is about Abby's Halloween costume. She is going to be... surprise! A ballerina! Go figure, I know. But, she had the beautiful tutu from her birthday outfit and she had to wear it again, before she out grew it. So, with the help of my friend Desiree, I came up with this fun onesie to go with it!

For some reason blogger was turning the close-up picture into a vertical pic, so you don't get to see the onesie close-up, but here is the onesie with the tutu... should I add pink satin ribbon trim to the sleeves?? collar??

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!

It's hard to believe that Abigail can be turning one today! The last year has flown by... filled with so many joyous moments, I can't even begin to describe. We were able to Skype with Jordan this morning, and once Abby woke up (I got her out of bed when he was calling) she had a lot of fun with it. She clapped and squealed and said "dadie!". It was more than I could have asked for!!

One year ago today...

I'm One!!

Safe and Sound

I finally got to talk to Jordan yesterday and he made it to Jalalabad a couple days ago. He is currently sleeping in a hut with about 12 other guys, while they wait for the current ADT to leave (return safely to their families!) so that they can move into their barracks. He said that they haven't gone on a mission yet, but have gone into the village (or outside the "wire" as he put it).

I cannot express how great it was to hear his voice. It really brought tears to my eyes. We have been having communication issues and he had been trying to get a hold of me for days, so it had been awhile since I had talked to him, or heard from him at all. At this point I don't feel like I need to talk to him for a long time, just enough to know he is safe.