Abby chases the vacuum

It's funny, many babies are scared of the vacuum. Not Abby. When someone starts vacuuming, Abby chases after it on all fours! She has this happy, determined look on her face like, "All right! The vacuum! I'm gonna get it!" It's so funny and cute!

Abby still is mainly breast fed, and rarely eats baby food. She has figured out that when we're out and about I like to nurse her in the car (instead of having to go to a rest room or dressing room). So she waits to ask for milk until we get to the car! She's so smart and trusting! She trusts that I will nurse her when she asks for it, so she usually will wait until we're at the car to ask for milk. She asks by panting, smacking her tongue, making a little cry, and/or signing "milk". Then I stop and sit in the front seat of the car and nurse her.

We went to the Carnival and the Jail

Today was Western Days in Twin Falls, Idaho, so this morning we went to see the parade. Me, Abby, and Elysia. Then we went to the carnival and Abby went on her first ride, the merry-go-round. They wouldn't let us on the ride unless Abby was wearing shoes. I haven't even put shoes on Abby in months because she would always kick them off. So I took the throw-away-flip flops that they gave me at the nail salon, stuck them onto Abby's pudgy little baby feet, and then they let us on! It was pretty funny! I stood next to the plastic horse and held Abby on it. When it first started to go up and down and around, Abby looked a little scared and whimpered, so I took her off and just held her, then she seemed satisfied. She patted the back of the horse and enjoyed watching everyone as we whirled around.

Later today we went to bring Andy some Rescue Cream at his work because he needed it for a rash on his foot. They actually decided to let us come in and see where he works, which was very exciting for me, because I had always wanted to see the inside of the jail. It was very cute to see how much Abby loves her Daddy! First when she heard his voice on the intercom she started to cry a little like, "I hear Daddy! Where is he?" Then when we went inside the jail waiting room and saw Andy dimly through the window, she really burst into tears! It's like Abby was crying, "Why is Daddy in there?! Is he okay? I want my Daddy!" She was very worried and really sobbing. A deputy came to the door to let us in and while we waited for Andy to push the button from the control room to let us through the next door the Deputy said to Andy on the radio half jokingly, "You'd better hurry up and open this door!" because he could see that Abby was having a major melt down wanting to get to her daddy! As soon as we got into the control room, and Abby saw Andy, she settled down immediately and was just fine. It just shows how much Abby loves her Andy Daddy!

Andy went back to work

So Andy went back to work today, on light duty. Today is his first day back at work since he dislocated and broke his foot. This is a short entry because Abby is in her play pen fussing at me. Stress....

Abby waves Bye and says "Ba Ba"

Today Abby waved bye bye all on her own! She has waved bye bye twice before but it was not so obvious, and it was after I had already been waving her arm for her. This time, we were leaving Dr. Adamson's office, and I hadn't said "bye" or prompted her at all, and she started waving her whole arm bye bye all by herself! The receptionists saw and were so tickled and impressed that she could already wave bye! She did it for about a full 15 seconds! Wow!
And then later on with Grandma Lori and her daddy, they were trying to get her to wave bye bye and instead of waving she said "ba ba"! She said it a couple times so we knew she was trying to say "bye bye"!
Then later on when I was shopping at Target, I was on the phone with Grandma CC gushing to her about Abby's accomplishments waving bye, and then she waved again!
Also, she is still signing "milk" every day, especially when she is nursing. It is so cute to watch her nursing contentedly while she looks at her little hand slowly opening and closing to sign "milk". How sweet!
Grandma Lori is visiting still, and Abby is just loving having her here! We were concerned before she came that Abby might not remember her. But there was no need to worry because Abby was immediately comfortable and happy with Lollie, which shows she does remember her! What a good memory she has!
So here are Abby's first words so far:
1. Hi! She said this to a little girl (about 3) at the park and it was so cute! I lowered her down to the little girl's level and she said "Hi!" which I had been saying to her a lot, so I knew she knew what she was saying. She said this at about 5 months old.
2. Mama
3. Dada
4. Milk
5. Dog (or actually "og")
6. Bye bye (ba ba)

Abigial can sit and crawl!

We have been working on teaching Abigail to sit and she can do it all by herself now for almost a full minute! I get all excited and say, "Wow! Good sitting! Look at you sit!" to encourage her. Also Abby is crawling now! She can crawl slowly in a straight line. She is getting better and better at it! I am very excited for her to crawl because it is so essential for her brain development. This is further incentive for me to finish baby proofing our house! Its very hard to have time to do it though since Andy is laid up.
I have noticed when Abigail poohs in her diaper she starts calling for me to change her! Like this morning she was in the great room with Andy in her jumperoo when she went poo pooh. Then she started calling for me very loudly! She was yelling, "AAAAMM!" (like Mom without the first "M") So cute and funny!

Diaper Rash

Abby started having diarrhea yesterday, I don't know why. She must have succumbed to a virus or something, because she hasn't been eating anything but breast milk. Even though I've been changing her right away she's still gotten a painful diaper rash from the acidic, watery pooh. She's only had very mild diaper rash in the past, never this bad before. Burt's Bees diaper cream has worked great in the past on preventing and treating mild diaper rash, but it hasn't been working well on the moderate diaper rash, so I'm trying new diaper creams. The one I just put on tonight is the A&D ointment. We'll see how it works. I am ready to buy any and every diaper cream to get one that works to heal this diaper rash! I hate to see Abby in pain, and whenever I have to wipe the pooh off her little bum she cries in pain. Poor sweetie! So then I think maybe the chemicals in the wipes are hurting her, so I rush her to the bath and rinse her off with warm water. She seems to be happy about that part, especially if I let her play in the water.
I have a good idea from my mom on how I should treat the diarrhea. Tomorrow I am going to try opening a capsule of acidophilus into some baby food and feed it to Abigail, since acidophilus is supposed to help diarrhea.
Abigail does the sign for "milk" while she nurses by squeezing me with her hand. It's so cute! I am so excited about her learning to sign, so that she can communicate with us before she learns to talk. Plus, teaching your baby ASL increases their spoken vocabulary and helps them learn to talk faster.

Abby at church

Abby was so cute at church today. I co-teach the Sunbeams (3 and 4 year olds) with Tasha Schroeder. Usually Tina takes care of Abby while I teach, but she wasn't at church today, so Wendy and Becky took care of Abby. Wendy brought Abby to me towards the end and when Abby saw me she did the sign for milk! So cute! Plus, Abby seemed to enjoy being held while Wendy led the music.