Abby - 1 year update

Abby had her one year check up last week.  She weighed 20 lbs and 2 oz and was in the 32nd percentile for her weight.  She was 29.3 inches long and was in the 51st percentile for her height.  Her appointment was scheduled right during her morning nap so Abby wasn't overly friendly with our doctor or nurse, which made us all chuckle.  We're thankful for our growing, healthy baby girl.

Abby's Favorites at 1 year:
Food:  Bananas, yogurt, spaghetti, broccoli, rice cereal, apple sauce, etc.
Activities:  Climbing on the playroom chairs, pulling books off the book shelf, walking around with a baby doll, playing at their play kitchen, putting things in her mouth
Movie:  Baby Signing Time   (She lights up when we turn this on.)
Words she can say:  Dada, Mama, and Hey, but she says Dada the most.

Sleeping Habits at 1 year:
-She takes 2 naps a day.  Her morning nap is usually about an hour to an hour and a half. Her second nap is right after we pick up Emily from school and she usually sleeps about an hour and a half.
-I've started laying her down later for her morning nap because she had started fussing/playing for awhile before she would fall asleep in the morning.  It seems to be helping, but I can't push the nap back any more because of Hannah's school pick up so hopefully she'll go along with this schedule for awhile.
-She sleeps 11-12 hours at night and almost never wakes up in the middle of the night.
-She sleeps with "lovie" and when we are getting ready to lay her down each time we'll say "Where's Abby's lovie??" and we'll walk around the house looking for her lovie.  When we find her Abby's face lights up, she grabs her, snuggles her close and puts her head on my chest.  So precious.  
-She sleeps with a sound machine on in her room that sounds like rain.  We actually use a second sound machine as well just during nap times to help drown out her sisters.

Things I Treasure about our 1 year old:
-If you're holding her and ask her if she wants to get down she will usually dive her head into our chest, and tighten her grip on us with her arms and legs.  She absolutely understands what we're asking and that is her way of giving us her answer.
-She's doing better in the nursery at church these days.  She sometimes fusses for a few minutes, but they say she calms down quickly.
-I've put the playroom chairs in another room for awhile because I could  not get her to quit climbing on them, not just to sit, but to stand up in them.  She also likes to climb on the second story of the girls doll house....trust me when I tell you it's not stable even for a 20 lb-er.
-She knows how to shake her head "no."  Sometimes she does it at the "appropriate" time "do you want any more carrots, Abby?" And sometimes she'll just shake her head back and forth wildly no matter what we are saying to her.  It's super cute either way.
-She likes to pull books off the shelf and will bring me one to read but will only let me read a page (maybe) before she hops up to do something else.
-She's a really good eater.  She turned her nose up at chicken salad the other night (maybe the relish?), but for the most part she's eating well.
-She's NOT a good drinker right now.  I'm having so much trouble getting her to drink out of a sippy cup.  I've given her several options and we've been giving them to her for months and she just doesn't ever take more than a half a sip out of them.  Maybe. She's still getting bottles because she won't drink out of a sippy cup, but because she is still getting bottles she isn't thirsty enough to learn.  I know I'm just going to have to cut off the bottles very soon and I don't *think* she will let herself dehydrate before drinking out of a sippy cup but it makes for such a stressful couple of days...I'm dreading it.
-She looks happy and cute holding this cup but if you try to get her to drink out of it she quickly becomes annoyed.

-We had our friends the Livingstons over for dinner a couple weeks ago and they have a little boy, Hunter, who is a month older than Abs.  When they got to our house Hunter and Abby were sitting beside each other on the floor and Abby just leaned over to him and gave him a great big ole hug.  She kind of knocked him down in the process, but it was the cutest.
-She was a late teether, but they are coming in now (as of about 2 weeks ago).  One on the top and one on the bottom are both already halfway in and her other top/front tooth looks like it will break though any day.  Poor nugget.
-A couple days ago I was drying Claire's hair and Abby went and found their play hair dryer in the playroom and started walking around the living room drying her own hair (picture below).  I was so impressed she had the idea to find her own hair dryer and then knew what to do with it.  She's paying attention even more than we realize.

-She doesn't use the duck in the bath anymore.  She sometimes takes a bath with her sisters (H and C) and sometimes I'm bathing her a at a different time of day and she'll take a bath by herself.  Either way she really enjoys splashing in the water and playing with her bath toys.  She's a big fan of bathtime.  

-She loves music and has a cute little bounce that is her way of dancing.  

-She loves for us to pick her up and twirl her around.  

-She's not talking quite as much as her sisters were at this age, but it's probably because they talk so much she just listens to them.:)  

Here are a few pictures I got of her when we did her 12 month picture:

Gosh I love that sweet smile.  

I happened to catch her right as she was turning around to look at me after grabbing that sign.  She looks proud and little mischievous. 

Silly girl! 

I loved this one of her sitting on her knees.  

Abby, you are such a beautiful, precious gift to everyone who knows you.  We're thankful for your sweet smile, precious laugh, curious personality and strong opinions....you bring us great joy.  And I'm so thankful to God that I get to spend my days chasing you around! We love you!

These Days

Abby has enjoyed playing on the trampoline with her sisters a few times. It's impressive to me that she can walk/run so well even on this type surface even before she turned one. 

Emily's school did a fundraiser using acts of kindness.  Emily decided on 5 acts of kindness she was going to do and then we sent an email to some family members asking them to sponsor her.  She was so excited about every single thing she did and the school raised over $10,000.  Win for the community and the school and the child!

One of her acts of kindness was to write thank you notes to our trash collector and mailman.  Our trash collector spent awhile reading it the morning she left it for him and then honked his horn as he was leaving to say thanks.  Every time we've seen him since he's waved at us really big and smiled and it seems like he really appreciated the simple gesture.  She also took cookies to our local fire station, wrote a sweet note to a friend at school listing out some of her favorite qualities of that friend, fed the birds, and we walked around our neighborhood and picked up trash one afternoon.  

We got to go to Falls Park a couple weeks ago and enjoy the beautiful winter weather!  Abby thoroughly enjoyed her first wagon ride!  

This sweet 3 year old rode in the wagon with Abby for awhile but wanted out at the first chance she got.  

Abby looks relaxed in the picture below but she is actually trying to wiggle out of Emily's grip.  It's days like this that get me so excited about warmer weather!!  

Abby is climbing on everything.  I was standing right beside the dishwasher unloading it and she did this in two seconds flat.  

Bert went to a conference one weekend in Febuary so it was just the girls and I one evening.  I decided to let them play outside on their bikes/riding toys since, again, it was beautiful out there.  Abby got to ride on Claire's tricycle for the first time and really enjoyed herself as you can see from her big grin and scrunched up nose.  

Hannah had fun riding the big wheel that she got for her birthday in Feb.  

Claire was mad because she didn't want Abby to ride her tricycle.  We have so many other things to ride and if I hadn't put Abby on it I doubt she would  have wanted to .  Ha! Sisterly love.  #reallife

Emily had spring picture day at school a couple weeks ago and I thought she looked just beautiful!  I bought this dress at a consignment sale back in February and Emily has been so excited about wearing it.  She said her teacher would like it too because it was Auburn colors (Mrs. Poe is a big Auburn fan).  She insisted on no bow. Although I'm a little sad that she's already decided she's finished with bows, I definitely love this stage too!   

Mimi and Papa spent the day with us on the Sunday that they came over to meet Abby and I at the ER.  That afternoon we caught them all watching a show together on Papa's phone, except Claire had fallen asleep.  Sweet sisters.  

I'm helping out in our preschool choir again this year and we have a sweet, fun group!  I got this picture when they were having a parade around the table and then down the hall.  We often do this at the end of class and they LOVE getting out instruments and having parades.  You wouldn't believe how loud these parades can be. The cymbals in particular (which we have several sets of and they love) really liven up the place! :)  

Hannah requested two braids and when she looked in the mirror she said "WOW!!!  Look at how LONG my braids are?!?!"  Precious girl!  

Emily had a project at school where she had to interview her hero.  She picked Mimi and did a great job with the interview!  

We have child locks on most of our drawers and cabinets in our kitchen but the cabinet where I keep our cutting boards does not have one.  Abby LOVES to get out a cutting board (or a couple cutting boards) throw them down on the ground and then stand on them.  It is super entertaining to her.  

I caught Emily snuggling Abs in her lap one morning.  

That same Saturday morning she was working on teaching Hannah to read with the Bob books that she learned with.  They sat like this for probably an hour reading many, many books together.  Afterwards Hannah "read" the rest of us a book and Emily was so proud of her student and Hannah was so proud of her reading skills.  I love seeing them love each other well!  

These two have fun playing together, although we still have to remind Claire to "be gentle!" Claire requested pigtails on this particular morning and I thought she looked adorable.  

Emily and Abby have a matching dress. I got the dress E is wearing from a consignment sale last year and I've had the dress A is wearing since Emily was a baby.  Emily asked if they could match and take a picture one Sunday.  Cuties!!  Just 6 years and 1 month apart!  

We love to ride to church together on Sunday morning when it's possible.  It is often not, but on this particular morning we did and Bert was reviewing his Sunday school lesson for that morning and I caught Hannah standing beside him, reading her Bible. Precious.  

Hannah's dance class is first so Emily usually just waits in the lobby and reads a book to one of us while Hannah is in class.  A few weeks ago one of Emily's friends in her dance class got dropped off early so Emily got to hang out with her while they waited their turn.  They were so cute laughing and dancing together that I had to take a picture of them.  We found out that day that her friend (can't remember her name....maybe Laura) is one of four girls too....they both thought it was so fun that they each have 3 sisters.  

One weekend Bert did some work on a project for our living room and the girls enjoyed getting to be outside with him and watch him work. Abby was busy taking a good morning nap so I enjoyed the peace and quiet. :)

March 20th was the first day of spring and we celebrated with an ice cream sandwich after we picked Emily up from school!  Thankful for these days!  

Abby's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Abs again on her actual day.  Our church had an auction the Sunday before her birthday (which fell on Monday) to raise money for the Nicaragua mission trip.  I thought her birthday falling the day after and the good cause were great reasons to bid on and buy a key lime cake.  This cake is famously delicious and goes very quickly at every single pot luck dinner we have.  

Abby enjoyed her day and looked adorable doing it!  

She opened up most of her presents at her party the weekend before, but she did have one last surprise to get on her actual day....her own little car.  The picture below is a picture of Hannah pushing her around the house the next morning.  

Here is an after of the yummy cake!  So good! 

I love Emily's expression in the picture below.  We love celebrating birthdays at our house and Emily looks so excited she might burst.  

It really does seem like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. She's changed SO much during this first year and I know she'll change just as much in the second.  Thankful for every minute of it!  

Abby's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Abby's birthday the weekend before her big day.  Grandmama, Pawpaw, Mimi, Papa, Aunt Katherine, Jacob and Ressie all came up and spent the day with us and Uncle Stanley came over from Atlanta to spend the weekend with us.  We so enjoyed having everyone there!!  

The kids helped her open her presents, which she appreciated!  

This child has THE most sensitive skin.  Even more sensitive than Hannah's, which is saying something.  Her cheeks will all the sudden get red like you see in the picture below and then I'll put some Vaseline on them when I put her to bed that night and in the morning they will be back to normal.  I'm glad the redness is resolved fairly quickly.  She wasn't hot or sick, but if you just saw this picture without my explanation I'm sure you would think that.  

Reading a card in her new camping chair....looking like a big girl.  

Team Watts loved celebrating our youngest member.  She's a beautiful and fun little girl!  

Smash cake...

For the first five minutes or so she just was having fun digging her hands in it.  She didn't even think about bringing to it her mouth, which is funny because if it had been on the floor I promise she would have....she puts everything she can find in that mouth these days.  

I helped her take a taste of it and then she was hooked.  She kept taking bites after that.  

Happy girl!  We had to take the cake away after this picture so that she didn't make herself sick.  She didn't appreciate that as much!  

Everyone else enjoyed a cookie cake to celebrate our Doodle Poodle.  

These 3 had a blast playing outside all day!  It was a beautiful day in early March!  

We so loved having Uncle Stanley spend the weekend with us!  We all love him so much!  Come back soon, Stan!  

Very thankful for all the people in this picture and on her special day we're all especially thankful for the little girl in the middle!  

We all love you Abby! Happy Birthday!

Abby's Hospital Trips

Abby had a rough end to the month of February.  She started running a high fever that was hanging out around 104 and when I would give her medicine would usually only come down to about 102.  She was also shivering like crazy as her fever was going up every time and I was having a difficult time getting her to stop.  On Sunday morning I called our nurse line to talk to her about her symptoms and she said she wanted to have her checked out for a few different reason.  If our doctors office had been open we would have just gone there, but alas, this was Sunday morning at 9:30am so Abs and I headed to the ER (she was under 1, so too young for a walk in clinic). Bert was getting ready to preach and took the other three with him to church.  He hated to not be there with me and Abby and offered to come many times, but since it wasn't an emergency I felt like he should definitely stay at church.  We hadn't had an ER trip in 5 years, so it was a little stressful, even if it wasn't an emergency....my baby felt terrible.  Mimi and Papa Stan left during the middle of the service at their church in Toccoa and made it to the hospital about 20 minutes after Abby and I got there.  We were very glad to have them with us!  

We were only there about an hour and a half that day and then were sent back home to manage her fever and try to keep her drinking.  

Her fever didn't come back after Monday afternoon, but I had SO MUCH TROUBLE getting this child to drink on Sunday and Monday.  By Sunday she was packed full of congestion. We could hear it as she tried to breathe and drink.  I tried everything short of standing on my head to get her to drink and I was so anxious every time I was about to try to feed her because I wanted her to drink so bad I could have cried.  She would take about one ounce at a time and fought me for that.  Both of those days I had gotten about 13 or 14 ounces in her, so she was definitely getting some, but when you take in to account he major diarrhea she was having (10+ times both days) I was super worried about her.  I took her to our pediatrician first thing Tuesday morning when she woke up from a night of sleep and still wouldn't drink two ounces.  Our pediatrician decided to do another flu test (still negative) and cath her to check for infection.  She was clear of infection but the urine sample did show that she was slightly dehydrated.  My doctor said that if she thought I could go home and pump her full of liquids for the rest of the day she would let me do that but we both knew that I couldn't.  I had done everything I could to get her to drink and she wouldn't do it.  She was drinking even less than she had on Sunday and I felt totally helpless.  So, off to the ER we went...AGAIN, but this time to get fluids in our baby girl.  Some very sweet ladies in our church dropped what they were doing and took different shifts thoughout the day to keep Hannah and Claire (E was in school) so that Bert could be with us this time. So thankful that they were able to do that so he could be there!

The children's hospital was a bit crazy/busy that day.  Tons of sick kids.  We were holding Abby close and praying that we could get out of that place without catching something else, but we knew we needed to be there  We loved our doctor and nurse.  They were wonderful!  Bert and I were praying the whole time they were working to get her IV started and were so thankful our nurse got it in on the first try.  

The whole day wore this baby out.  After she got the IV fluids she drank 4 ounces straight from her bottle, which was more than she had had in one sitting in days.  We had sent out a message on our churches prayer chain asking for people to pray that she would start drinking and we're thankful that God answered those prayers.  They weren't going to let us leave until she started drinking.  Even after she drank that first bottle the doctor was slightly hesitant about if she should be admitted or go home.  He ended up sending us home but let us know that it could still go either way....we may be right back in there the next day if she stopped drinking again.  

Thankfully the one bag of fluids and the respiratory therapist coming in with this contraption and sucking crazy amounts of stuff out of her little nose/head so that she could breathe better helped our baby girl turn the corner.  Her official diagnosis was bronchiolitis, which we since learned is usually caused by RSV.

This little smile made my heart happy.    

Two ER trips in 3 days was an adventure and I sure hope we don't have to go back for awhile, but I'm thankful for the nurses and doctors that took such great care of us, and our God who answers prayers!