Fortunately for us, Abby's not all that interested in climbing up things yet. She does, however, love to climb into and tunnel under things.

Merry Christmas!

Birthday Party in South Dakota

On Sunday, Rita threw Abby a birthday party at Damon's cousin's Pizza Ranch. Everyone invited, with the exception of a couple of Damon's cousins, showed up, so we had a bigger group than expected.

This time, we got smart with the cake and gave Abby a small piece with just a little icing on it. She loves cake! Unfortunately, no one thought to take pictures of Abby while she was in her pretty Christmas dress. Oops!


She'd been pulling on that tray all week, and she finally pulled it completely off right in the middle of "Happy Birthday!"


First bite.


Finger lickin' good!








Opening presents. Abby's cousins were happy to help.

Celebrations in Atlantic (Updated)

On Saturday, we headed south to see my family in Atlantic. We celebrated Christmas & Abby's birthday. Abby had a great time being passed around, which was a surprise because until then she'd been pretty clingy this trip.

Update: I've added a few more pictures. Thanks for emailing them to me Ed and Susie!






















Susie bought Abby her very own cake, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She didn't like the stickiness of the icing, and we never thought to cut it up for her to let her at the actual cake. Oops!











After daintly touching the cake, she'd rub her fingers on her legs in disgust trying to get the frosting off.


I ended up covered in frosting because she climbed all over me when she got tired of the cake.

Abby Really Wants a Dog

Susie brought her dog, Gizmo, on Saturday and Abby thought that was the best thing ever. She thought it was so funny when his tail would tickle her face.












Also on the way home, our hour layover in Denver turned into 3 because the flight from San Francisco was late getting there. Anyway, on our flight there two dogs which kept Abby entertained while we waited. One was a Lhasa Apso and another a yorkie/poodle mix. The mix was about 2-3lbs. and looked like one of those wind-up dogs they used to sell when I was a kid. It was so tiny! The Lhasa Apso was a small dog too, but he looked like a Mastiff next to the other dog. I took Abby over to see the Lhasa Apso first, and Abby loved it. He licked her hand and face, which Abby thought was hilarious.

We're home. We all had a terrific time! I'm going to update in segments because I have too many pictures and not enough time to do it all at once.

Our first party was Christmas with Damon's immediate family. Abby got lots of toys. His sister, Paula, made sure she bought noisy ones.








I wish this picture would have turned out sharper. So cute!





Which toy should I play with first?


So many choices.

12 Months In Pictures

We're leaving in the morning and won't be back until after Abby's birthday, so this is all I'll have time for until my baby turns a year old! I thought it would be fun to see how much she's changed in the past year.

About 8.5 hours old.


1 month. See that ball that's hanging from the arch by her feet? That's her favorite toy now. Once she got too big to lay in it, it converted to a tunnel but I couldn't get the toys to stay on. Now, she likes to carry that ball around and suck the air out of it.


2 months.


3 months.


4 months.


5 months.


6 months.


7 months.


8 months.


9 months.


10 months.


11 months.


12 months.