15 Months

Abigail turned 15 months on Friday. She's a ball of energy and makes life quite interesting. She had her appointment today and weighed in at 22 pounds and measured 29 1/2 inches... just shy of "average". Abby has many new words including "Elmo", "please", "bath," and "no." It's been so fun to see her little personality develop as she communicates more and more with us and clearly understands a lot of what we say. These days she loves to hide in nooks and crannies (and boxes of all sizes) around the house and to cuddle and "feed" her baby doll. Abigail also loves to climb and has now conquered the stairs leading up to our apartment. Scary for Mommy! We love her to pieces and can't believe she's growing up so fast!

Silly girl

Loves spending time with Grandma

A few fun bath-time pics... Abigail took her first bath with a friend last week... McKenna. Our bath tub was being worked on for the day and we had just spent some time getting all sandy at the beach, so we decided to give her a bath at our friends' house. The girls were cute in the tub together and Alison snapped these cute shots.

My little love-bug

Bed-rest of sorts

I had surgery last Wednesday to repair a hernia I got from having Abigail. Two of my recovery rules were no driving and no picking up Abigail for a week. David had last week off work (ski week) and took the past two days off to care for Abby and help me recover. He did an amazing job being Mr. Mom for a week, including getting up early every day, all diaper changes, all nap and bedtime routines, and taking her to the park and to the roundhouse aquarium. She really enjoyed the extra time with her Daddy. Here are a few snapshots of their time together... working on her golf swing and cleaning the house :)

We (I) also decided that Abigail has been looking a little shabby lately due to her long straight hair (and the fact that she'll never keep in a hair clip)...
So... we decided to take the plunge on getting her haircut. We took her into Snip-its, which specializes in kids' cuts, yesterday afternoon. She did pretty well except for the first few moments when they put the gown on...

(classic, right?)
Then they started blowing bubbles and she settled down.

Yay! All done and looking beautiful!!!! She even got a special prize for being so brave.
(We all survived :)

Lastly, I just had to post two quick pictures from Valentine's Day to give my husband a few more props... He made me an amazing dinner that included rack of lamb, balsamic braised brussel sprouts, mushroom risotto, and a good bottle of red wine. He even set the table with china and crystal! It was delicious! LOVE that my man can cook!!! I'm one lucky wife!

Happenings around the Hart House

Just a few random happenings in the Hart household this week:

Over the weekend, David put together a new cubicle bookshelf for Abigail's room. She was so fascinated in his work and wanted to be part of the action. Here's a peek at our little carpenter...
One of Abby's favorite things to do lately has been to stand on the chair on our porch and watch people and dogs walk by. It's pretty cute and I just love seeing her little legs on her tiptoes. We've also been known to blow quite a few bubbles on the porch too :)

David's dad got a new job last fall in Indiana, so right now, he's back there and David's mom is still in Corona wrapping things up before she heads back to join him. Last Saturday, the All-American digital family that we are, we talked to both of David's parents at the same time via Skype and Facetime. Here's a picture of Doug and Kelly "next to each other" while states apart.

We watched the Superbowl at my parents' house and Abby got a good taste of the intensity of football in the Engle house. At the end of the game, when my dad put his hands on his head while saying, "Oh my gosh! can you believe that?!" Abby copied him repeatedly... she had the whole room cracking up.
I gave Abby her first little ponytail this week... (her hair was wet at the time of the picture)

10 on Tuesday

1. We went to the beach on Sunday with a few other families. It was fun to enjoy the beautiful weather with friends. My friend Alison caught these cute shots of us.

2. Cooking update: So I definitely met my goal of spicing it up in the kitchen this week for Abby. I was pleased with the way it all turned out and Abby liked it too :) Here are a few snapshots of what I made...

Cheesy pasta risotto with zucchini, peas, and carrots

Beef Stew

Roasted butternut squash with cinnamon and brown sugar

I'm going to attempt a few more new recipes this week too... I'm definitely feeling more motivated!

3. Reading update: I read Heaven is For Real this week and loved it! It definitely encouraged my faith and gave me a renewed enthusiasm for prayer.

4. Abby loves music and has been enjoying this super cool dog-shaped guitar that she got for her birthday... She loves putting the strap over her head like a rock-star
5. On the music topic... we started a new tots music class tonight. It was a little chaotic with 17 kids, especially with Abby being on the smaller side of the group, but my little outgoing child loved all the new faces (and the music of course). She definitely takes after her mama in that she wanted to be at the front of the room and was fascinated with the teacher, Miss Wanda. (I was definitely a sit at the front and pay attention kind of kid who even liked homework... weird... I know!)
6. Last week, my mom was a guest speaker at my Mommy-and-me class. She spoke about the 5 love languages and relationships in prep for Valentine's Day. She did a great job and as I expected, Abby wanted to be with her, so my mom held her on and off the whole time she spoke.
7. One of Abby's favorite things to do lately has been to grab pillows (or anything that resembles a pillow) and lay them down on the ground and "snuggle." It's pretty cute.
8. On the sleep front, Abby's finally sleeping through the night pretty consistently. Yay! It's been a long road to get here but we've felt really good about our progress with her and are so glad we've finally arrived here!!!

9. As relationships seem to be falling apart all the time in the world around us, I'm especially thankful this week for my amazing husband. He has such a servant's heart and serves Abby and I, as well as his friends, students, and co-workers so selflessly and faithfully. I am so blessed to have him in my life!

10. A funny shot to leave you with... getting her game face on:

Monday Mentions...

1. My friend Alison has been getting really good with her camera and took a few shots of Abby during our playdate on Friday (she has a daughter a few weeks older than Abby). I'm impressed with her skills...




2. I've been in a cooking rut lately... this is especially true in the area of cooking for Abby. I picked out a few new baby friendly recipes last night and have grand plans of cooking up a storm this week... we'll see how that goes. Hopefully she'll appreciate my efforts :)

3. I made a New Year's resolution to read more and just finished one book, Bittersweet. On my list to read in the next few months are The Help and Heaven is For Real. Has anyone read a good book lately that I should add to my list? I welcome any recommendations!

Happy Birthday David!

We celebrated David's birthday on Monday. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the events of the day (big breakfast, lunch with my dad and brother, and big family dinner), but here are things he scored for his birthday...

The Office Trivia Game

And this gem of a shirt

So, who's up for an Office Trivia Game night????

Disneyland

On New Year's Day we got up early and ventured to Disneyland with Abigail for the first time. It has been a tradition for my family to go every year in December, but this year December was so crazy that we just couldn't fit it in until the 1st of January. We had a fun, albeit tiring (of course!) day, but it was a fun family experience with my parents, my brother Matthew and his wife Tara. Abby was a trooper despite only one 45-minute nap throughout the day. Perhaps her favorite part of the day was when my mom bought her a Minnie Mouse balloon that is still floating around our living room. Every time she sees it, her face lights up and she points at it. She officially learned the word "balloon" (understanding, that is... she just calls it "bah"). Here are some snapshots of the day...

On her first ride... the Carousal with Daddy!

Having fun waiting in line for the Storybook Ride

Exploring Tom Sawyer's Island

1st pair of mouse ears :)
(you can also see how badly I need a haircut in this pic!)

1st Character visit with Pluto

Enjoying Toon Town

Ahh, the wonder of Disneyland!