Saturday, July 25, 2009

last day and daddy's here!

Daddy got home last night. We met his bus at the airport and then went to pick up the U-Haul. Abby was very excited to see him and definitely knows and remembers who he is. Then we had to spend over an hour at the UHaul place getting the truck -- with Jimmy not feeling to well and Abby already grumpy. That wasn't fun.

So now, I'm packing what I can in the truck today while Jimmy sleeps. We're going to try and leave about 8 or 9 so that we can drive mostly in the dark when there aren't as many cars on the road and it won't be as hot and horrible. I'm excited to be leaving Key West, though I am nervous. I just wish I could have had a job before I got up there. I don't like being without a job. But I'll find something. I'm sure. That's just how I have to think about it.

We're going to be without internet until sometime on Tuesday, so I'll post more up then. I just wanted to let everyone know what's going on. We miss you all and I'll let you know how everything goes!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

this whole "single mother" thing is harder than it looks

And extremely exhausting. Especially when you're working and trying to pack at the same time. I'm so sleepy.

Abby's been trying to be good this week. She really is a good baby. It's just that sometimes, Mommy's need a break, even if it's just for a few minutes. She gets heavy after awhile! Jimmy's going to be home tomorrow and I know she's going to be excited to see him. You should see the grin she gets when he talks to her on the phone. She gets so very very excited!

Charles said today that he's going to miss her. He hasn't been around baby giggles and smiles in a long time and I think he really has fun playing with her at work. I think he really is going to miss her. I bet SarahBelle will. That dog loves Abby. And Abby thinks it's really funny when SarahBelle licks her feet.

We had her four month well baby check up yesterday. The doctor says she's perfect. 13 pounds 2 ounces, 24 and a half inches long, head circumference of 16 and a quarter. She's in the 50th percentile of everything, so she's growing nicely. The nurses couldn't get over how cute she was and Dr. Isales said she is one of the smiliest babies he's ever seen, which I think it cool. Everyone seems to be so excited by her smiles, you know? It's very cute. She grins a lot. It's great.

But right now? Pack some more and then sleep as I have to work early tomorrow and it's going to be a long day. Love you all.

another long week gone by

July 15, 2009 -- my giggly little goose

July 16, 2009 -- reaching for her elephant toy and trying to make it sing -- you press the buttons on its tummy. Sometimes she can do it without help.

July 17, 2009 -- fascinated by something. I'm not sure what.

July 18, 2009 -- petting her big brother. She loves him. He tolerates her.

July 19, 2009 -- playing with her toy -- there's all kinds of spinning parts. It's a great toy.

July 20, 2009 -- sucking her thumb. Definitely her mother's daughter.

July 21, 2009 -- playing at work

July 22, 2009 -- she loved the paper at the doctor's office. It crinkled and made very cool noises.

July 23, 2009 -- napping at work

Playing peek-a-boo behind one of her new Raffes from her friends Reilly and Makayla (Aunt Mare's girls)

At work, during a thunderstorm -- SarahBelle is the dog and she's "guard dogging" (she's terrified of thunder, and was shaking like a leaf there)

Chewing on her elephant's trunk. She actually has a few toys that are elephants, strangely enough. This one sings. She loves it.

For her Nana, her Aunt Anjie and her Aunt Marys (Mare in Georgia and Miss Mary in Key West) -- all my Georgia girls!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

today is NOT my day

Mommy has a migraine.

Abby was grumpy and fussy all day.

This is NOT a good combination. It's been a long day and now that Abby is finally sleeping (she didn't take a nap at all today) I am going to take a bath, go to sleep and pray to God that this migraine goes away by morning as I have to work tomorrow.

I do not like it when my head pounds to the point that it makes me nauseous.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

apparently "cake batter" = "baby food"

We had a bit of a long day. We were working this morning and she was a grumpy little girl. I think she was sleepy because once she fell asleep she was out cold for awhile. So I guess she didn't like Mommy getting her up early again this morning but, well, she's just going to have to deal with it. She can sleep in tomorrow -- we're not going down until the afternoon tomorrow.

We miss Daddy. Especially today and tomorrow, since it's his birthday in about two hours. We sent him a Happy Birthday box, but it's not the same. I can't wait to be up there too. There's an attorney looking for an assistant in Daytona that I'm going to ask Charles and Chip about tomorrow -- see if they know him. There's also a few in Port Orange listed in the bar directory. Charles and Chip are going through to see if there's anyone that they or anyone knows up there that they might be able to call, to see if anyone needs help. It would be nice to find a job pretty quickly, and I would like to keep working in a law firm. I'd forgotten how much I do love it at times.

So tomorrow is also Charles' birthday, so I was making him a little cake this afternoon after I got home. And Lil Miss Abby got incredibly offended -- because Mommy didn't share. I was, of course, using the spatula to get all the spare batter off the sides of the bowl and was, of course, eating it (what else are you supposed to do with cake batter?) and, apparently, Abby thought this was a most horrible foul and made me a horrible horrible Mommy. Because she wanted some. She kept looking at the bowl cooing and looking like she wanted me to share with her.

I never knew cake batter was a substitute for baby food!

more candids of my cute little angel

July 11, 2009

July 12, 2009

July 13, 2009

July 14, 2009

Hanging out with her Mommy....at like 5 in the morning.

Sleeping like a little froggy.

Watching Harry Potter with Mommy. Yep, I'm indoctrinating her early. (c:

it's finally letting me upload pictures again!

June 27, 2009

June 28, 2009

Align Center
June 29, 2009

June 30, 2009

July 1, 2009

July 2, 2009

July 3, 2009

July 4, 2009

July 6, 2009

July 7, 2009

July 8, 2009


July 10, 2009

Sleeping on Daddy's chest. I love this picture.

Seeing her Nana again for the first time since she was about five days old.

Playing with her Daddy after not seeing him for about two days cause he'd been sick. She was SO happy to see him!

Mimicing Nana -- playing "mirror".

Mugging for the camera.

Petting her Daddy. I love it when she does that.

Being fussy. Apparently being on her tummy is NOT what she wanted at that moment!

Monday, July 13, 2009

drink a health to olde newcastle town

Blogger is being dumb and not letting me upload my pictures for some reason. As soon as I can, I will load them up. I promise.

So it's just Abby and me until a week from this coming Friday (so what, eleven more days?). Abby's still a bit confused. She misses her Daddy. (But then again, so do I). We had a very long day yesterday and a very long day today. Mommy spent most of yesterday morning bouncing a baby and singing. This evening too.

Yep, Abby likes to be sung to. She'll listen to CDs on the computer, but doesn't like that nearly as much as when Mommy sings to her. So far, I sing "Hush Little Baby", "Rockabye Baby", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Edeilweiss", "Summertime", "Stay Awake", "Feed the Birds", "I Love You Forever", "Baby Mine", "Someone's Waiting for You", "Somewhere Out There", "Amazing Grace", "Sanctuary" and, her favorite, "Olde Newcastle Town". Yep, my little girl's favorite lullabye is a song written about and for the Georgia Rennaisance Festival. She would pick a song that I had to scrounge about for in order to come up with the correct lyrics (yes, I have gotten them by now). Any other suggestions? Any other songs you might think of that I could sing to her as, as I'm sure you know, singing the same songs over and over, as much as I love them, does get a bit old.

We're doing alright. Like I said, we miss Daddy. And we miss her Nana. And Mommy's arms are getting a bit tired. But we're alright. Even when she's grumpy. I really didn't want to put her down to sleep tonight. She fell asleep laying on my chest, watching NCIS, and she was just so cute and sweet and so incredibly cuddly and I couldn't help but want to leave her there and let her sleep there all night long.

But of course I can't do that, so she's sleeping in her crib like she should be.

She's being a zombie again. She's in that phase where she wants to put anything and everything in her mouth. Everything, including Mommy's hand. And nose. Yep, she's been trying to eat my hand and nose and shoulder and everything else for the past week. It's kind of funny and awfully cute.

I love my little girl. She's too incredibly precious.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- my little Abby is incredibly easy to love.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

............................it's been a LONG week and a half

And I've been exhausted and I'm very very sorry I haven't been updated. There will be lots and lots of pictures posted this evening when I get home but, at the moment, I am at work so do not have the ability to upload pictures.

Momma came into town on June 27th. It was so great to have her in town for awhile. She hasn't been in Key West since right after Lil Miss was born, so she hasn't seen her, in person, in three months. She's gotten much bigger, and I swear she grew an inch in the time that Momma was here visiting. She is sprouting like weed! She's at least thirteen pounds now. She's definitely going to be more than double her birth weight by six months!

We went to Orlando late last week so that Jimmy could interview for jobs. He looked at places in Orlando and also interviewed with a company on Ponce Inlet, near Daytona Beach. He was offered a job there the next day and took it. So we're moving to Daytona Beach! He and Momma are actually there right now (they drove up last night), finding an apartment and getting things settled. Then he's going to work up there for two weeks and I'm going to finish things up down here with Charles. He's coming back down the last weekend in July and we'll be moving up then. It's going to be a long two weeks without him here, but it will be good because both of us can work and get as much cash as possible for the move. Charles is calling around to see if anyone he knows or anyone else knows is working in Daytona Beach or the surrounding area and looking for help. Hopefully we'll be able to find me something quickly. Even if it doesn't pay as much as Charles is paying me, it would hopefully be full or mostly full time and, also, living expenses in Daytona are about HALF of what they are here.

Crazy, I know.

Mommy was happy to be in Orlando because you know what they have in Orlando? Targets and Walmarts. And I have some gift cards from when Miss Abby was born that I wanted to use to get her some 0-3 month clothes because she is finally growing out of her newborn stuff (I think she finally got too long for most of it this last week). I have lots of newborn stuff and lots of over 6 month stuff but now until 6 month stuff is a little less full. So I got a few things for her to fill in the gap. They also have outlets (including an OshKosh outlet!) in Orlando, but we did NOT go. It's good to know it's there, though, for when we need stuff down the line.

So Miss Abby had two firsts last week -- her first experience with Disney and her first experience with fireworks. We didn't go to a Disney park (Abby's a bit young for that, and they're a bit expensive to pretty much just go walk around in) but Momma wanted me to see the marketplace part of Downtown Disney, so last Saturday we went down there are walked around for awhile. Abby was fascinated by all the people and the stuff. Momma got her a stuffed Stitch that's almost as big as she is. She's still very attached to Raffe, but she does like her Stitch -- she hugged on him and chewed on him the entire time we were at Marketplace. Momma also brought me a stuffed Figment from Epcot, that I will most likely share with Abby. It's very cute and makes Mommy a VERY happy girl. I got Momma a stuffed Squirt to go with her stuffed Crush (from Finding Nemo) so she can remember to relax when she needs to.

I also found the "Team Mickey" store, which is dangerous. I do so love some of the stuff in there! And even though we're in Daytona, we're still going to be close enough to go to Disney pretty easily (it might be an hour and a half drive, and that's WITH hitting Disney traffic and going all the way to Ponce Inlet -- Port Orange (where we will most likely actually be living) is about twenty minutes or so closer). My goal is to be able to afford season passes to Disney and a few treats each year from there once Abby is old enough to really get it and have fun.

The fireworks were, of course, Saturday night. The hotel we were staying at was right by Celebration (it was called Seralago -- if any of you are going to Orlando, it's a great hotel, very comfortable and safe and perfectly nice, great for families and rather cheap. Good spot to remember), so we decided to go watch their fireworks. Traffic was, of course, horrible, so we pulled off into an office building parking lot and decided to watch from there. There were a number of other groups doing the same thing and, to be honest, it was perfect. We were able to avoid most of the traffic leaving and, while we couldn't see the really low fireworks perfectly, we could still see the fireworks just fine and were far enough away that the smoke and noise weren't too bad. I was worried about the loud noise frightening Abby, but she was perfectly happy and liked watching the pretty lights. She actually fell asleep towards the end though (considering that they started more than thirty minutes past her usual bedtime and by the time they were ending, it was almost an hour after she usually goes to bed). The noise didn't even seem to phase her!

Lil Miss travelled pretty well. She didn't necessarily LIKE being in her carseat all day for two days and a bit the rest of the time, but she dealt with it. And she was perfectly fine in the hotel (we took her pack and play, so at least that was familiar). She actually let Momma be the one to wake up with her most of the time she was here, so Mommy could get some sleep (though I still generally heard her wake up and would go talk to her). Momma swore up and down that she wanted to get up with her. I think she just wanted as much grandbaby time as she could get her hands on. It was cute. Abby likes her Grandma, though she definitely knows who I am. It's nice to see her face light up when she sees me, and Momma said that in the mornings, when she was up, she would watch the door waiting for me to come in. Very cute.

So it's been a very long week and a half, but it's good. It's going to be okay and things are going to get better. I just know they are.

And I'll try very hard to be god about this again! Love you all!