Sweet Abby

I have been rather nervous about having a girl. A boy has been so easy and I am so used to it (and there are no tutus involved). I have been wary about how I would handle the differences a girl would bring. But one thing I was confident of...I would not get peed on the way I did with Aaron...sweet! Except that in 11 days I was peed on 7 times. I honestly believe that is more than Aaron has peed on me in almost 2 years! (Though Abby has yet to hit a toothbrush or a cup of coffee!)

But Abby is a sweet, sweet girl. She has been such a beautiful blessing to our home and we love her so much. She is very different from Aaron...already. I was told that she would be, but it was hard for me to imagine. But right away, she was different in so many ways. Sleeps different, eats different, cries different, like different things. Beautiful girl, beautiful differences.

Aaron's First Birthday Present

While Papa Tom and Grandma Sheri were in town they bought Aaron his birthday present...a huge truck he can ride on and put rocks in! It also makes noises and I can't describe how much he loves it! When it's too cool to go outside he brings it in and plays with it in the house. But he LOVES to be outside with it. He has a shovel and he digs up dirt and rocks to fill the truck bed. Definitely a winner! As a side note, Aaron can actually say Papa Tom and Grandma Yari. (Close enough, right?) I really didn't think he could say Grandma since he chooses to call Grandad 'Dawl', but he can say it quite well and he periodically brings them up and tells me about things they did together last week.

A Wonderful Week

I had a hard time getting a good One Week Picture of Little Miss, but she has survived her first week with the Allens! This has been such a wonderful week. In addition to the obvious blessings, I have been so impressed with how both of my children did this week. I am so thankful for God's gifts! Abby has been very sweet and easy thus far and is sleeping and eating pretty well. Aaron has also held up beautifully. He had a fantastic week with his grandparents while Jory and I were in the hospital and he could not have done better.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the week.

Do you not just want to die? Aaron is so sweet with Abby. He asks about her as soon as he wakes up and if she cries he runs to pat her chest. It just makes my heart swell.

This is my favorite memory of this week. After I had Abby my hospital room door opened and my little boy walked in all shy smiles and cautious excitement holding these flowers for me. He signed the card himself. I had been missing him and seeing him that moment will live with me forever.

Big Brother and Me

Aaron is really enjoying his little sister. He loves to hold her and he is being very gentle and sweet with her. Things are going very well in the Allen Household!

Some Pictures from the Hospital

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the hospital. This one was the day Abby was born. We had such a fantastic experience in the hospital here. We were truly impressed with every aspect of it (except for the hospital photographer, but that may have been my hormones talking).
The next few are the day Abby came home. I love her little outfit. It has flowers on the feet, too. This hat is made by volunteers for the hospital.

Papa John with his Princess!

We're Home

We were released a day early! Mama and Baby are both doing fabulous. We arrived home around 2pm. Abby just ate and is sleeping peacefully. Everything is going so well!

Abigail Elizabeth Allen

Abby is here! She was born at 11:55am, weighing 8 pounds and 2 ounces. She is 20 1/2 inches long and is doing great! Mommy did wonderfully, and with the exception of a short period of time in the operating room, has had virtually none of the nausea she had with Aaron. Speaking of Aaron, here are some pictures of him meeting his little sister for the first time:

And here is a picture of her in all her glory:

All is well, and we appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers from all of you!

The Weekend

I thought I should go ahead and post our pictures from this weekend instead of trying to wait and do a whole week...I am afraid I may not do a lot of Blogging this week!

Friday February 11, 2011

Aaron and I met Linde at Chick-Fil-A. I met Linde through Laura and she is so sweet! She is so good with Aaron and he loves her. Linde painted the wall behind Abby's crib and she also refinished Aaron's antique high chair for Abby to use. That is what we picked up this day at Chick-Fil-A. It is white and it looks great! After Aaron's nap, Kimmie came over an brought him stickers and a big heart to decorate for Valentine's Day. He worked so hard on it!

Saturday February 12, 2011

Jory undertook a massive reorganization project in the garage. Aaron helped and it looks so good!

Sunday February 13, 2011

Aaron got to pick out flowers to give me for Valentine's Day!

After his nap we went to an Open House for the Mother's Day Out program that Aaron will start in the fall.

And then we headed to Blue Mesa for a family Valentine's Dinner. It was wonderful!

We had a great weekend as a family of three. Aaron is now napping and when he wakes, Grandpa Tom and Grandma Sheri will be here to take over for the next week. We know he's going to have the best week EVER, but I sure am going to miss him!

39 Weeks

On Saturday I was 39 Weeks pregnant. This picture was taken yesterday. Tomorrow I will be exactly 9 Months pregnant and we will be meeting Abigail Elizabeth Allen!

Aaron's Party

We are doing a Western Theme for Aaron's Party. These are the invitations.

We sent this picture with the invitations. Kimmie took it at the Stock Show in January. His little badge has his name on it!

23 Months

This will be the last monthly birthday post...Aaron will be two in a month!

I love this sweet boy so much! He is very talkative now and LOVES to read. He knows most of his books by heart, but he wants them read to him anyway...and read a lot! He still loves his rocks and he loves being outside. He is funny and loves to make you laugh. He is also very affectionate. He is a sweet boy and he is easy to take places.

He is still tall and skinny, but very strong. He is still an exceptionally healthy eater. As he was devouring his vegetables at lunch I marveled that he probably eats more veggies in a day than most people do in a week! He is a big eater. He is just now coming into 2T clothes and he is still wearing size 4 diapers and size 5 at night. He is a great sleeper.

He loves Elmo, trucks, rocks and books. He seems to love his baby sister very much and we hope that will continue after she arrives!

The Week

Friday February 4, 2011

Jory got home from work early and decided to take Aaron and I out. The roads were better and they were fine in his truck. I needed to go to the Post Office - I had packages that had been ready to ship since Monday night - and Aaron needed to go to his grandparents (he had been saying Mimi and Dawl, Mimi and Dawl, Mimi and Dawl for days and I was just a tad bit ready for him to see them. HA!). We put Aaron in his PJs for his naps and when he woke up we decided to just leave him in them to go to his grandparents - they were probably the warmest things he owns! Saturday February 5, 2011

Jory made a fire and Aaron pulled his rocking chair over to it and read by the fire! It was awfully cute. He and Jory spent the morning running around. The roads were improved and Jory had several errands he wanted to run. While they were out they both got haircuts - YAY! Jory took Aaron some place he hadn't been but they did a great job and Aaron was fantastic.

Sunday February 6, 2011

Except for church, we didn't get out this day and while Jory was watching the Super Bowl pregame commentary Aaron was working hard on building with his magnetic shapes. He got these for Christmas from Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Tom. We don't understand them at all, but he loves them and is very proud of his work with them!

Monday February 7, 2011

Aaron and I got out and went to the store. It was the first time I had driven my car in a week and it was a good thing since we were about to get another icing! Aaron unloaded the groceries and arranged them in the window for me! He was SO proud and wanted to take a picture.

On Tuesday we finished up some errands for Aaron's birthday party. I would have sworn I took pictures, but I guess I didn't.

Wednesday February 10, 2011

This morning the roads were iced and Jory worked from home. That's super nice because when he gets done at 5:30 he's already home and not an hour away from home! So, we took the opportunity to go to dinner. Jory wants to have BBQ for lunch at Aaron's birthday party to keep with the Western theme so we went to try the meats and sides at a place near our house and make our selections for the party. Aaron was a big help with that!

Today we got a few groceries to stock up for next week and tomorrow we have our last play date planned before we spend the weekend resting up for Abby's arrival. I can't wait to meet her and I really can't wait for Aaron to meet her. Dad and Sheri will be coming in Monday afternoon and staying with Aaron at the house while Jory and I are in the hospital. We are thankful for that and I just know Aaron is going to have a blast next week - he may not even notice we're gone!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll post BABY pictures next week!

A Day Inside

We had more ice this morning and the schools were closed (and BSF was canceled). Jory worked from home which we loved. Everything has melted and is perfectly clear now, so we're going to get out for a little bit. We sure have enjoyed our time indoors together, though.

It is supposed to start to warm up Friday with 70 degrees expected on Sunday. Next week the weather should be perfect for Miss Abby's birth!

38 Weeks

Actually, 38 1/2 Weeks. I was 38 weeks pregnant on Saturday. This picture was taken today before my doctor's appointment - my LAST doctor's appointment! The next time I see my doctor will be at noon a week from today at the hospital!

The appointment went well and everything looks great. I have gained 26 pounds which is really close to what I gained with Aaron, but I have not had near the swelling that I had with Aaron. Of course, almost all of that occurred in weeks 41 and 42 which I will not have with Abby. I am very grateful!

Snow Pictures

These were taken this morning and we got 2-3 more inches of snow since then, but it has finally stopped. We actually got out this afternoon - Jory took us to Mimi and Grandad's when he got home from work. Aaron had been asking to go, so it was a treat.

Actually Snowed In

After three days of being 'snowed in' by the ice we got Monday night that has had no chance to melt, we woke today to three inches of snow. Jory took my camera today to take pictures, so I'll post those later. It was quite a surprise - it was not forecasted to do more than flurry and not until this morning. All the schools and most businesses are closed for the fourth day in a row. I have heard so many complaints from Mamas stuck inside with their little ones, but I have to say I am loving this! I appreciate the excuse to not go anywhere. Aaron and I have had such a wonderful, fun week. We have done lots of playing, reading and enjoying each other. I've also been able to do some things I wouldn't normally make time for (working on his second year Blog Book and our tax return).

This has been one of our sweetest weeks together and I am loving that since it will be one of the last of just the two of us. We've also got to have his daddy home more than usual and that has been wonderful.

Snowed In

If you are reading this in Ohio, we are not 'Snowed In' the way you think of it - the snow is not actually covering homes and cars. In fact, there is not enough snow to cover the grass. We did, however, get freezing rain last night and there is probably an inch of ice on the roads. Everything is closed or canceled. This includes my doctor appointment and Aaron's hair appointment (which has been on the calendar for two weeks and which I almost cried about. I swear if I go into labor before that mop gets cut I'll lose it, but my husband swears he will get the boy's haircut - minor emotional breakdown over here). The temperature is 18 degrees and falling. The wind is HOWLING and the wind chill is supposed to drop below zero today. I don't think we are set to rise to freezing until this weekend, so we are in for a while. And since I missed my doctor appointment, Aaron chose to wear his 'Big Brother' shirt today, my husband chose to go to work and the ice on the roads would slow down any babysitter, I'm pretty sure I'll be in labor by noon. HA! This is the coldest it's been, by far, in the decade-plus that I've lived in Texas and it was 75 degrees just two days ago! Anyway, seeing as we may not be doing anything for quite a while, here is what we've been doing the last few days.

Saturday January 29, 2011

Jory and I had a fabulous weekend! We spent it at the Omni Fort Worth - where the Steelers are staying right now! It was wonderful. Jory has wanted to stay there since it was built and we finally did it. It completely lived up to our expectations. We also had an amazing dinner out, went to a concert, had a wonderful breakfast and checked out some fun sights. It was relaxing and perfect. Our pre-Abby Babymoon!


Sunday January 30, 2011

We arrived home to find that Aaron hadn't even noticed we were gone - HA! He had a great weekend, too! We took him to dinner, though - his pre-Abby Babymoon! He was wonderful at the restaurant and we really enjoyed the family time.

Monday January 31, 2011

Aaron and I met Ann for lunch. We wanted to get together one more time before Abby arrives and we sure were glad that we picked yesterday!

Tuesday February 1, 2011

Aaron watching the snow. It'll be a Mama and Aaron week inside. Jory left us with a beautiful fire today and we are enjoying it very much.

Have a blessed week!