It's a...

Boy!!! We had our big ultrasound this morning and were totally excited to learn that Abby will have a little brother. He weighs about 11 ounces right now, and everything looked great. Below are some pictures, we decided to spare everyone of the "gender" shot, just take our word for it.

Profile...

This picture is a close-up of his face, with his finger apparently picking his nose.

Our Version of a Really Dumb "Holiday"

Ya, so I am not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I think it's a day for the card, flower, and chocolate companies to make an extra buck. It's not that I am not a romantic, I just don't think that you should be told to be all lovey on a specified day, I want random, unexpected romance. Okay, enough of my ranting. We did decide to celebrate, but with our own twist. We actually stole the idea from one of our favorite families in Charlottesville. We celebrated as a family and we had a theme to the evening. We were also lucky enough to share the evening with our friends Megan and Henry. This year the theme was Brazil. I made Brazillian black beans, they were a little dry. At least the pina coladas were delicious!

We finished the night off by decorating some cookies, Abby and Henry loved this activity. They both ended up eating more frosting than cookie.

Rich's tribute to a Brazillian Valentine's Day.

A Not-So-Fun First

Wednesday was not a good day. That afternoon I was changing Abby on the bed in her room, when I went to put her down I didn't make sure she was completely steady before letting go and she stumbled right into the corner of her door. The sound was awful. I quickly picked her up and when I saw blood I ran downstairs yelling for my mom (thank goodness she was visiting!). After we stopped the bleeding I called her pediatrician's office who said to bring her in that evening. We went in and after a brief consultation were referred to Primary Children's Medical Center for stitches. So, we made the trek back to that part of town (now keep in mind, this is all during a huge snow storm). The doctors and nurses there were absolutely amazing. They gave Abby some kind of anesthesia that didn't knock her completely out, but they said it would make her feel like she was a little drunk. She was perfect while they did the stitches and I may be a terrible parent for saying this, but "drunk" Abby was pretty dang funny. At one point after they finished she was laying on the bed while the anesthesia wore off and when one of the nurses walked out, Abby starting singing a tipsy version of "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye", it was hilarious. Because the weather was so bad, our travelling that day began at 4:30, and we didn't make it home until 9:30. It was an exhausting evening, but Abby was a champ through it all.

This is probaby the most gruesome before picture we have, notice not just the gash, but also the blood in her hair.

And after, with her six pretty, blue stitches.

Nakey

As Abby gets older, she aquires more skills, one of which is undressing herself. She doesn't do it often, but here is the sight that greeted me one morning. Apparently at some point in the night she decided that she didn't need her shirt. (And of course she would do it the night we didn't have a clean undershirt for her).

A few days ago before her bath, Abby asked if she could run "nakey" . I told her she could do a quick run while I finished filling the bath. After getting things ready for a couple of minutes, I realized that my little exhibitionist hadn't yet made her way back to me. When I went looking for her, this is what I found. It's pretty cold here, good thing she wanted to wear her hat.

Foods I Can't Eat

At some point in the last two months my stomach has decided to ban me from eating the following foods:

*all fruit

*most vegetables

*eggs

*french fries

*Papa Murphy's pizza

*sliced bread

*Great Grains cereal

*beverages (although milk has become okay again- hooray!)

*anything sweet

What is causing this? Well, we are expecting baby #2! And he or she seems to have completely taken over my body. I guess that's okay. Abby's little sibling is expected to make an appearance around July 18, and we are so excited.

This is the official first picture, just don't ask me to explain.

The Best Two Years

I feel like Abby can't possibly be getting so big, but she is. Yesterday we celebrated her second birthday. It wasn't the party we originally had planned, (more "barfing" going on in our house) but I think it was still a success.

In this picture, Abby is just a few days old. We suspected from the beginning she would be a headstrong person, we were right (and we love it- most of the time).
Abby has an obsession with food. It amazes me that she doesn't even weigh 21 pounds yet, she eats like there is no tomorrow- it would seem that she inherited Rich's metabolism. Her favorite foods are pizza and beans & rice, but she doesn't like meat.
Abby LOVES music and insists on being sung to every night before she goes to bed.
Abby is not a cuddly baby, she never really has been, but when you read to her she will cozy up next to you and put her hand on your arm. These are some of my favorite moments. Also she will use you as a footstool.
After an evening of pizza & presents we topped things off with a birthday grahm cracker- we promise to make it up to her with a real birthday cake this weekend.

Happy Birthday, sweet Abby! We love you!

Fixation

A few weeks ago two members of our house were struck by a nasty stomach bug. As a result, Abby STILL has a fixation with throwing up. She is constantly asking for the sink/a bucket/my hand or anything that she can pretend to throw up in or on. I decided this definitely needed to be put in the Abby Archives.

And, yes, that is "barf" she says at the end.