Is there really any point?

I always tell John that I was meant to be famous because I think people should care about my favorite food, what kind of shoes I am wearing, and what is in my cd player. Blogs are kind of good for the wannabe celebrity because we can just convince ourselves that we have hundreds of fans when in reality it is only our moms and the odd creepy lurker.

With all that being said - I am lousy at having a blog because I never have anything to say... and I don't have any gimmicks to lure people in (like random "where is this bridge from?" posts). In my very first blog post I defined what a "blog" was - that is how desperate and pathetic I was.

Anyway, since I never have anything to say about myself, I will do what I created this blog for: to track the life of my beautiful little angel. I might as well give you the goods:

Abby is 15 months old - almost a year since my last post :P I can't even begin to write down all the new things she does since then - obviously, so I will just tell you the really cute things she does.

1) Her infamous bum scootch (John and I had a lengthy debate about the spelling of said word - so if you have a better idea let me know. <-- If that isn't a gimmick I don't know what is!) Abby is quite well known for her bum slide form of crawling. Common comments she gets are "You should put a swiffer on her bum" and "She looks like a legless beggar - you should get her a skateboard." *Editors Note: Both of above comments originated from John 

2) She is a little mommy: she loves rocking her dolls while patting their backs. By dolls I mean her little babies, her rubber ducks, BSB action figures, John, and herself when she is really tired.

3) She is very cautious in life. She seems to do everything at the later end of the spectrum (roll, sit, crawl, pull-up, climb stairs, etc). However, it it is not as if she can't do, it is like she chooses not to. All of a sudden she will start doing it as if she has been able to do it all along. As a result, she almost never hurts herself and has never really had a bump or bruise. Safety first for little Abby. 

4) She is a born star. We were shopping at Cosco and Abby was super crabby (Cr-Abby), but every time someone walked by her she would turn on the charm - smiling and laughing and saying "Hi Hi Hi" over and over. Once the person was gone she was back to her Cr-Self. Plus, she loves singing into a mike when we play American Idol. 

5) She poops on the potty (since 13 and a half months). It is pretty cute - I am not sure at which age it goes from cute to nasty to watch someone on the can.

everybody else is doing it...

Might as well update :)

Abigail is now 4 1/2 months old! All grown up already!!!

So babies have been around for a long time and there are a few things I don't know why people haven't invented/perfected yet:

1) Mobiles: our little bear mobile is one of Abby's favorite toys and it is what she falls to sleep to for her daily naps. The stupid thing is, (mind my language), that the wind-up only lasts for about a minute or maybe 2. Abby is usually just about to sleep, it stops and she wakes up again. I end up having to go in 3 or 4 times to re-wind it. This annoyance is applied to all baby-entertaining toys and playpen features.
2) Swimming Diapers: Why is size small 16-24 pounds? I do not consider a 24lb baby small. I feel they are discriminating against the 13lb babies who would like also to indulge in a little dip. Also, why are they so masculine looking. Girls like pink.
3) Why do people say "unthaw"?
4) Button-Up Sleepers/outfits.
5) Pull-over sleepers/outfits.

Fairmont Hotels Suck

So John's brand new Macbook was stolen last week while at Rise Up. He had it in one of the locked conference rooms at 12:30am and when he got up at 3:30am it was gone. Basically one of the hotel staff must have stolen it because noone else would have/should have had access to the rooms from that short window of time overnight. Plus it was in the contract that the rooms must be locked due to expensive equipment and instruments, etc. While the hotel's insurance will pay for it, it still makes me mad because the hotel seems very apathetic towards the whole situation. If John wasn't continually on their case I am sure they would have ignored the whole situation. They should have been kissing John's butt and bending over backwards to suck up to him after the computer was stolen...but I don't even think they apologised. So lame! The thing that makes me most mad is that all of Abby's baby pictures were on that computer! Thankfully my parents had copied a lot of them to their computer so we were able to recover a lot of them...but still.

Needless to say, I am sure it will be awhile before we get a new computer so my internet access will be limited.

In happier news...Abby is getting cuter every day. She is now just over 2 months old! Time flies! It has been a huge treat being home for the last 3 weeks and I am sure Abby loves the added attention :) She gets her first needles this Tuesday :O

Here are some things new in her life:

1) She attended her first Rise Up conference and was held by a ton of people! Lots of fun!

2) She is starting to get eczema on her cheeks and chin - just like her mom :(

3) She now only poops once a day or once every 2 days (as opposed to before when she pooped at least 4 or 5 times a day) and so she is staining a lot more clothes

4) She is learning to grasp things such as necklaces, hair, earrings, etc.

5) Her new discovery of her workable hands has also lead to sucking her fingers...which is kind of funny because when she does, she usually causes herself to gag! Weirdo!

6) She now LOVES her bath!

Baby's First Christmas

Well we're all geared up for Abby's first Christmas.

Here are the big steps Abby's taken:

1) She's discovered her tongue and loves licking and wiggling it. Its really cute.

2) She's learning to whistle - actually when you whistle at her she usually stops fussing and she starts blowing spit bubbles so we're convinced she blow Uncle Tom's 11 month record out of the water :)

3) She has started copying sounds a little bit. Mainly she makes a sound sort of like "hi" When I was at some friends she was fussing a bit and I said "Abigail can you say "Hi?" and the fuss sound she made sounded very clearly like HI. I don't count it has a first word..haha but its fun hearing her learn all sorts of sounds.

4) She had her first picture with Santa at my mom's staff Christmas party.

One of my new favorite things is when she gets up in the morning, I think because I don't burp her very well over night, she usually lets out big grown-up burps. Its really cute...in a sick demented kind of way :)

She's so big!

Well the official weigh in is 9lbs13oz!
She's growing up so fast!

Here are the important milestones she's reached in the last few weeks:

1) She went on her first road trip: Saskatoon to Calgary. Normally this trip takes 6 hours but with bad weather and slow traffic it actually took 7 hours driving plus 1/2 hour for Abby feeding stops. She was SOOOOO good! She slept most of the way and when she wasn't sleeping she sat content in her seat.

2) She had her first bath in the big people tub.

3) She had her first stroller ride. Her dad had a little hissy fit trying to get the stroller in the trunk - but don't tell him I told ;)

4) She's trying to laugh. This isn't really a milestone she's reached just yet but one in progress.

5) She opened her first Christmas present - a dolly from her Grandma and Grandpa S. Her mom liked in more than she did, but she coos at her now.

6) She loves looking at the Christmas tree - again not really a milestone, but not that much has happened in the last 2 weeks so I am looking for filler.



On an entirely different topic - yesterday I mixed Egg Nog and Coke together. Originally it was because I had a bit of Egg Nog left and wanted Coke so I added a little coke to my glass to swish it out and I tasted it...and mmmmm mmmmm yummy! It sounds a little off, but I am telling you it is actually pretty darn good. It takes like a float - I have 4 witnesses. Yummy delight.

Abigail Anne Hickey

For those of you who haven't heard...John and I had our baby. Its been over a month now, so if you hadn't heard than we obviously do not know each other. In which case, I am a little creeped out that you are reading this :)

Abigail Anne Hickey was born November 2nd at 3:19pm. She was 6lbs8oz. Until today I have been writing 6lbs 8 ounces because I didn't know how to abbreviate the word ounce. I was 9 days overdue and scheduled to be induced. However, early that morning I began having contractions. At 7:00am my water broke. We went to the hospital at 9am but because they still had it in their head I was being induced they seemed to take their time. Actually the one nurse thought I had just peed my pants :P I ended up sitting in observation as the contractions got worse and worse - by the time they realized I was in active labor I didn't have time to get an epidural. In the end, I am glad I did it au naturale (even though I know a lot of people do it without one, I still feel like a deserve a metal or something!) just so can say I did - and to act as motivation to insist on one the next time. The one thing I really regret is that since contractions started at about 3am the night before, I didn't really get any sleep that night so when it came time to push I was so exhausted I didn't think I was physically going to be able to do it.

Since the becoming a mom it feels like I've been living in a daze for the last month. Its been awesome though and everyday I fall more in love with little Abby.

My favorite things about Abigail:
1) Dressing her in pink.
2) She is very alert and smiley
3) When I stick my tongue out at her she tries to copy
4) When she pooped all over John
5) She pooped green the day the Riders won (which I realize isn't supposed to happen - but she's only done it once and it was right after they won, so I take it as a sign of pride)
6) She's social situations security
7) We can park in the close "parent-with-child" parking spaces
8) She is learning to coo
9) She has a lengthy stretching routine when she wakes up
10)She wasn't weird looking when she was born - she was/is absolutely perfect

The biggest challenges about motherhood
1) Abby doesn't sleep a lot for a newborn. At least a few nights a week she sleeps for 2 hours or less. She isn't extremely fussy when she's awake all night - just wide awake.
2) She often screams her head off when she is put in her car seat which makes going out a challenge. My guilty pleasure is when I finally rescue her, she is very cuddly.
3) Its too cold to take her out for walks, etc. We get cabin fever being cooped up all day - but because of #2 and the weather, and flus, its hard to go out.
4) Feeding her in public is still awkward - especially because that seems to be the time that strangers want to come up and meet her and ask me all about her.
5) Its hard to find things to make for breakfast/lunch that I can make either really quickly, or while holding a baby.
6) I am a sucky swaddler
7) When people hold her and she fusses I am always torn as to whether to jump up and take her. I don't want to be overbearing but I also don't want someone to be stuck with a crying baby if they are uncomfortable
8) The soother problem. Some people love em, some hate em. Sometimes I think she just wants to be soothed but I feel guilty giving her one now.

In other news...

I am still having rib pain - not nearly as bad as when I was preggo, but still there. After Christmas, I will hopefully get it taken care of (oh ending a sentence with a preposition - so painful).

I had various postpartum problems -not too severe I don't think. Anyway, hopefully they will be all taken care of within the next few weeks.

As much as I don't want her to grow up too fast (and I already feel like time is flying) - I am excited for all the firsts that are coming, especially in this first year.

We call her Abby or Abigail. If you want to make John mad, call her Gail...hehe I kind of like Gail though and I sometimes call her Baby Gail (which was a combo between Abigail and Baby Girl).

Baby's Got Back

So I don't have any belly pictures yet because I find them awkward to take...but I still might - no promises :)

So the rib pain is a little less - well much less painful than the last time I wrote, but still there causing a bother.

In other baby news...3 weeks to go! CRAZY! Apparently, according to our little timeline above, the baby is over 6 lbs! I find that hard to believe - but you never know. I have a feeling I will be late, so maybe the baby is smaller right now.

Anyway, our baby seems to be a bit of a showoff. Lately, every time I go to the doctors for my appointment, before I go in my belly looks normal...but once the doctor enters the room the baby seems to stick its butt out so that I get a giant lump on one side and I barely look pregnant on the other. Its weird. Mooning people already.