Happy Birthday Abby!

Our little girl turned 2 last week. Right now she is throwing a tantrum because we won't let her play with a DVD....she is screaming and hitting herself, running around the house as if it were on fire and she can't find the exit. This is where 2 years have brought us.....It is days like these that make me feel like we've had her for 20 years, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. The happiness and love she has brought into our home is irreplaceable. The things we have learned about each other and about ourselves are things we couldn't have learned from anyone else. I once heard a story about one of the Apostles in the LDS church. He said he was once impressed upon by the spirit that his son was his mentor in the life before this and he was sent to his family to help teach him, as his son. I always think about that with Abby....maybe she was once my mentor and teacher, and was sent here to teach me things I need to learn while experiencing this mortal life. I wonder what the next 2 years will have in store for us....

As for her birthday, here are some pictures and movie that document her special day.

We thought it'd be fun to go into Abby's room in the morning singing Happy Birthday. She had been awake for 10 minutes talking in her crib, so we didn't actually "wake" her up. But she was not ready for a singing promenade.

We went out to breakfast to Rising Loafer, a little cafe in downtown. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera, so we can't document it with pictures. But Abby got her very own pancake and the rest of us had french toast and omelettes. Yummy! :) We walked down to the Farmer's Market, picked some fruit and corn for dinner, and went home to get ready for the party. We had invited some friends over to have a BBQ and birthday cake. It turned out great! Thanks everyone for coming!

It was the hottest day of the week, a whopping 103 degrees, so we got out the baby pool, which mysteriously lost the plugs, so we had to pump it up every so often when it deflated. It worked and the kids loved it.

We decided to make Abby an Elmo cake with one of those Elmo cake molds. Mike stayed up until 1 am the night before just making the cake itself. He didn't put the frosting on until the day of. We had a hard time making black frosting, so we used crushed oreo instead for the eyeballs and mouth. It was pretty yummy!


Abby enjoying her Elmo cake. She got one of the eyeballs.. She didn't make half the mess as she did last year. She has turned into a pretty "clean" eater, for a 2 year old.

Dan and Kathy bought this water table for Abby. I love it! And so did the kids at the party. Abby loves to go outside and play in the water and splash and fill up her cups. She does get wet, but it provides her with some fun entertainment.

A couple of days later, we had a little family party. Abby's cousin, Shelby, has a birthday the day before Abby's, so we got together for pizza and cake and ice cream. My sister and her family came out for the party, too. We had a full house! And the kids loved playing together.






Abby opened some more presents from us. We bought her a Play Like Mommy doll set that had a crib, high chair, stroller, and swing, plus the doll. It's so cute to watch Abby play with it. One evening, I found that she had dumped her bowl of peas into the baby's bowl and was trying to feed them to her with a spoon. It was pretty cute to see her interact with this doll. She'll talk to her and ask her "Get out?" when she wants to get her out of the high chair, and then say, "Okay" and get her out. It's amazing how much Abby has grown and learned in just the past few months alone. I love it!

I made these pajamas for Abby. They did not turn out as well as I would have liked, but they are so cute on her.


Abby's 2 Year Stats


Weight: 35 lbs.
Height: 37 1/2 inches

Both of these are off the charts, which the doctor told us not to worry about because they are proportionate to each other. The doctor said the only problem we're going to have is telling people she's only 2 and not 3 and hoping people don't expect her to act older than she really is.

We love our sweet Abby and are amazed at how much she can do. She loves to swim, jump, run around, play outside, push her strollers, and play in the playroom. She has started to talk and put 2 words together to form "semi" sentences. At her birthday party, she ran up to me and said, "Hot dog all gone, Mommy!" I was shocked and couldn't believe she actually put it all together! She is so sweet, so sensitive, so aware of all that is going on around her. We love being her parents and love the chance to wake up with her every morning and face a new day together!

Abby outside Daddy's work. There were wild turkey running around--Abby had fun chasing them!

In other news, this weekend I participated in a HUGE consignment sale at our local fairgrounds. My friend told me about it, so I decided to try and sell a few items. Last year, during a fall clearance sale, I bought 2T clothes for Abby to wear this fall. Unfortunately, she doesn't fit in half of them because she is wearing 3T clothing. I thought I could make some money on these items since they still had tags on them. I entered about 20 items and sold over half of them, making $36. Not too bad. Because I was a seller in the sale, I got an early access pass to enter before the rest of the public. It was crazy insane, but it was worth being a seller just to get in first before the rest of the public because it was a madhouse after everyone was let in. I found some GREAT deals and had so much fun.




This is one of my favorite finds: a vintage Fisher Price chalkboard and spelling game. I had one of these when I was younger, so I had to get it. It was only $3!

I love the Melissa and Doug puzzles....they are such good quality and have fun colors and shapes. Unfortunately, they are usually $10 for each puzzle, but this one was only $2.50!

My favorite find: a new dress for Abby. The picture doesn't do it justice. The belt is a peach color and has a flower on it. My flash kept drowning it out. My friend was actually the one selling this dress, which I found pretty humorous. It was $9, but worth every penny if it means I don't have to make Abby's Christmas dress. :)

This is a picture of the whole lot I bought: 2 pairs of pajamas (including an Elmo pair), 3 long-sleeve shirts, 2 dresses, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of Elmo slippers, 5 books, vintage Fisher Price telephone, vintage Fisher Price chalkboard, and a Little People Noah's Ark with 7 pieces inside. I can't wait until March when they do it again for the Spring!