A New Exercise Plan...

So I have decided to get on a new exercise plan. It called the "Chasing Abby" method where I chase my now fully mobile child around the house trying to keep her from getting into EVERYTHING!!! It started last night when she finally crawled for the first time. While I was very proud, I am also now terrified since I haven't babyproofed a thing! Of course it doesn't help that the weekend that she decides to start crawling is the same weekend that JB is gone for 4 days. Plus, I am pretty sure there are some teeth poking through as well so that's not helping either. Oh, the days of my little goldfish who just laid in the same spot when I put her down are gone. Now I have trouble finding her when I turn my head for two seconds!

Weekend Update...

Well, the airplane ride was not as bad as I expected but the pain in the butt of trying to get on the plane was actually worse. I personally think that the fact that I cannot travel with a kid under two years old without having to wait in line at the ticket counter is insane. We probably waited 20 minutes just to get our boarding passes! After that, things weren't too bad. Security was not easy, but not too hard. Boarding was no problem. We had the row to ourselves since most people are smart enough to leave the seat between two giants holding a baby empty. Abs had a bottle at takeoff and played the rest of the way. She wiggled a bunch but nothing we couldn't handle. Friday night, we had burgers with the family and then crashed early. On Saturday, we woke up to a wonderful breakfast prepared by my father-in-law and then relaxed most of the day including a dip in the pool. Of course, once again, Abby loved swimming! Our biggest achievement, however, was our first word - "Da Da". I think JB and I both almost fell out of our chairs when she said it since she hasn't exactly been a wordsmith yet. She said it to me but that's totally irrelevant. That night, we had steaks at the house to celebrate Grandma Berger's 89th birthday along with a wonderful chocolate cake. On Sunday, we did just about the same and then headed to Grandma Butler's for a while in the afternoon before she took us to the airport. Heading home was much easier than getting there. No lines at the ticket counter and no lines at security. We waited a while at the gate and then boarded and sat on the first row of the plane. Once again, we had a bottle on take off and played with cups and napkins in between. As we were about to land, the flight attendants commented on how wonderful Abby. They said she was the best baby they had on a flight in days and they even called her "Charming". Of course, I am pretty sure they thought she was charming since she took over their job of greeting everyone on the plane with a big smile! Overall, I would say the trip was a success. This weekend we are driving to the ranch on Saturday and then heading back home on Sunday for Father's Day. Hope that trips goes even better than this one did!

Our First Plane Ride...

Today we will embark on a new journey - airplane travel. Needless to say, I am dreading it. This is going to be a challenge even if Abby is a perfect angel the whole time but if she is in one of her screaming moods, it will be a nightmare. Let's hope its the former rather than the latter.

In other news, we hit a milestone last night! Abby pulled herself up from her belly to a standing position. Of course we still haven't mastered crawling so I am not totally panicking about babyproofing just yet. We will leave that for next week!

Just Had to Share...

I am sure most of you have already seen these on Facebook or through email, but I just had to share these gorgeous pics of Abs. Not that I am biased or anything, but I think she is adorable! The pics turned out well, but they were not so much fun to take since it was about 96 degrees with 96% humidity when we took them on Sunday night. We bought this package at an auction and I think this photographer is great. She was very easy to work with and really tries to avoid most of the posed pics. While they were mostly intended to be pics of Abby, we did want to get a couple of family shots. If the sneak peek is any preview of how those turned out, we won't be ordering any. As usual, my non-photogenic nature came out and I look like a hobbit in one of them!

On another note, we are heading to Midland tomorrow to visit the grandma's and I am starting to get a little stressed about the sheer volume of junk that I need to keep Abby happy for two days. Of course, I'm not looking forward to the plane ride either. Luckily, the flight is only one hour and the Midland airport is easy to get in and out of. Hopefully, she won't scream the entire hour but we'll see!

Morning of the Living Dead...

That's the best way to describe my morning. I am completely exhausted thanks to Abs' midnight wake up call last night. I did everything I could to get her to go back to sleep in her crib but it just wasn't happening so we ended up in the chair for the rest of the night where she wiggled most of the night and kept me from getting much sleep. About 40 ounces of iced tea later, I seem to be functioning OK but I feel a crash coming on tonight. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep for both of us!

Time for Another Recap...

OK, so I am a slacker. Haven't blogged in a week but with the holiday weekend, everything has been a little chaotic so it's time for another one of my recaps.

Friday - Errands, Errands, Errands. That's the simplest way to describe our Friday. We started out the morning headed to Dillard's to look for some new shirts for JB as most of his have holes in them at this point. So after buying his shirts and noticing the baby Polo items were 40% off, we grabbed a couple of dresses for Abby. While we were checking out, I got an email from the photographer who we were scheduled to do pictures with that afternoon saying that she had been in an accident and was on a crutch for a week so we had to reschedule for this weekend. After Dillard's, we headed to Babies R Us to grab a few odds and ends. Then we decided to stop at the ATT store to grab my new phone since our company was about to change their cell phone policy. Got an Iphone (my b-day present from JB) and then headed home to relax the rest of the afternoon. That evening, we had dinner at Manny's with Walter and Gloria since they were in town for a visit.

Saturday - JB had a tennis match first thing so Abby and I hung out at home most of the morning. When JB got back, we grabbed some lunch and then spent the rest of the day at home. That night, JB and I went to see Iron Man 2 at the new Gold Class Cinema that our company designed. It was a great (but expensive) movie-going experience.

Sunday - Sunday, we tried a new breakfast place and then went to Academy and Barnes and Noble to grab a few little items. After we got home, Byron and Gail came over for a swim. Abby seems to be a water baby because she absolutely loved being in the pool. We even got her a float that she can motor around in. We got some great pics that I hope to post as soon as I remember to do that when I am at home. After the pool, we all got cleaned up and JB and I went on another date. This time, we hit Grand Spa for a massage and then dinner at Baileys. The massage was wonderful and I can honestly say that I really needed it.

Monday - Monday we made pancakes for breakfast (of course I forgot that we were out of syrup so they were plain pancakes). Later on, we went to lunch with our friends Misty and Coyse Allen who were in town from Dumas to visit Coyse's parents in Garland. We ate a Pappasito's where Abby behaved terribly! I was so embarrassed and I am sure Misty and Coyse thought we had a crazy, misbehaving heathen. She wasn't fussy, but she screamed constantly and tried to grab everything she could find. She wouldn't stay in her high chair or in her carrier. It was a bad lunch experience followed by a bad rest of the day as her behavior didn't get any better. We made dinner that night and watched Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson (definite thumbs down).

Since then, it has been back to our regular day-to-day with lots of work.