There's No One Like Me

This is a title of a silly little song on one of Abby's CDs. This picture sums it up for her, though. She asked mommy to help, "hap, hap!" her to put on this sock. As a one-year-old, Abigail has really started showing her unique personality- including her opinions, her desires, her likes and her dislikes. For example, Abby likes: Naps, spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, fried chicken, her thumb, turkey with gravy, letting Cosette lick her fingers after she eats, mashed potatoes, running around outside, going outside, saying "outside" (sounds something like "ass-haa"), putting her hat and shoes on to go outside, pretzels, Goldfish, apples, grapes, typing on the computer, getting things off the table, slipping on mommy's shoes, playing throw- and try to catch, hording things in her baby stroller and pushing it around, playing "I'm gonna get you," and tackling Cosette. Music deserves a separate adjective. Abby LOVES music. She got her own MP3 player for Christmas. It has 4 buttons: Play, stop, back, and forward. She hasn't quite figured out the intricacies of the music player, but she's learning more every day. If needed, she just asks for "hap! hap!" Abby dislikes: Vegetables (though we have found some fried sweet potatoes and some dried string bean salty-greasy things she likes), getting dressed, not getting mommy or daddy's cel phone while they are talking on it, getting her diaper changed (though learning to tolerate it), sitting in a cart in a grocery store for more than 10 minutes (most of the time), and Cosette eating something that she unintentionally dropped. Abby uses several signs, and uses them well to get what she wants. She recently has started to use "please" which is a nice replacement for the verbal "aaaaaahhhhh!"

More recent pictures posted below.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY!

Abby had a rockin' first birthday party. After the party, Abby and her guests attended the Black Friday Beer Festival at her daddy's brewery. Rat Jackson (that's a band) sang her Happy Birthday. She loved it! Here she is dancing to the music with Daddy.



Enjoy the slide show of the party below...

Early Birthday

Abby's grandma, grandpa and cousin from Connecticut came down to celebrate her birthday early. She had a great time playing with cousin Evan. She warms up to kids so much faster than adults. Abby warmed up to grandma and grandpa after a little bit of time- and it was clear that she enjoyed their company as well. She especially enjoyed taking food off of grandpa's plate.





Abby freaked out (in a good way) over a gift from Aunt Sara and cousins Koty and Shyanne: A pink puppy that makes cute sounds and wags its tail and flops it ears when you pull it along. In fact, the other day, she screamed every time I stopped pulling it. I redirected her to use the sign for "more"- 'cause that's the closest one I know for "do it again," and she did it instead of screaming. Now, whenever she wants me to pull it for her again, she signs "more" instead of screeching at an eardrum busting decibel. Baby sign rocks! The picture below is not of that particular incident- but it gives you a good idea of Abby's spiritedness when she is not getting what she wants at the moment.





Some other pictures from the wonderfully beautiful fall days we have been having- and a play date with a fella Abby has known since before they were born. We met Jackson's parents in our Prepared Childbirth class at UNC, and are glad to have kept in touch with them!







Play at the park on a cool day:

Dressing Up and Getting Dirty!

Abby was a sweet little ladybug for her first Halloween.



Her Friend Owen from down the street, who was a strawberry, came over to celebrate.

They did The Monster Mash with Rick

Abby LOVES blueberries. Here are a few shots of her enjoying some the other night. We think they bring out the blue in her eyes...



Abby's a real walker now. She walks most of the time- though she chooses to crawl at times as well. As you can imagine, it's hard to catch her doing anything. Nevertheless, here is an attempt to catch her walking. Please only look at Abby and not the incredibly messy house. A tornado actually did come through our home that day.



By the way- tried to upload this video on Blogger. Didn't work. You Tube is much easier!

Catching Up...

Once again, It's been awhile since the last post. So- it's time to catch up! Since the last post, in September, Abby has started walking. As of today, she can take up to 8 steps on her own. She does not care for having people help her walk. If you try to help her, she buckles her knees and starts crawling. She loves to just stand up- preferably with toys in each hand. Abby eats lots of foods, though her tastes are changing daily. As of now, she likes cheese, blueberry waffles with blueberry sauce (grandma does that), baked apples, grapes, and other fruits that she can gum. She loves cookies, and she signs for them often... especially while she's eating her dinner or lunch. Abby used to like beef and veggie burgers, but has since begun rejecting them. She'll eat chicken- if fried. She continues to enjoy yogurt- the old standby. Oh- and Cheerios. Let's not forget Cheerios. If Abby won't eat anything else, she'll always eat Cheerios. At the top of the totem pole-- we think even above mommy and daddy-- is the bottle. This appears to be the most important thing in her life. Whenever she sees it, she frantically reaches for it and pants as if she may never see it again.

Here are some pictures of a recent trip to the pumpkin patch with our friends Ben, Julie, and Ed. Ben's the older guy kissing Abby. It was a beautiful fall day. The sky was Carolina blue and the air was nice and crisp. Abby picked out her pumpkins, played on the hay mountain, watched the goats, chickens and pigs, and went for a hayride. Wardrobe (hat and sweater), courtesy of Grandma Waddell (nona tutta bella).

First Beach Trip!

Abby experienced her first beach trip last week. Mommy and grandma stayed for the whole time, and daddy needed to leave after a few days to take care of his business. Daddy introduced Abby to the ocean, and she simply loved it! She let the waves splash on her, played in the sand, and ate cheerios (and sand). Here are some photos from her first beach trip.



We also spent some time at the pool. Abby loved the lazy river ride and the kids area- where she could crawl around in the water. This video shows our fearless girl in action.



We went out for some seafood, and found that Abby loves hushpuppies!

Busy July...

Thought we'd start with a sweet photo of Abby taking a bath in the sink. She decided that she wanted to slide down and submerge her whole body in the warm water... Looks peaceful, doesn't she?

What have we been up to since the last post? Well- Abby has had fun playing with friends, swimming, hanging with mommy and Cosette during the day, playing with that silly daddy, and logging some QT with grandma. Here are some pics of her playing with her friends Emma and Chloe Dickerson. They call her Baby Abby (how cute!).




Abby crawls all over the place and she gets into everything. She especially likes wires and remote controls. She is also partial to books -the paper kind- and newspapers/magazines. Apparently magazines taste good. Abby does like her toys and other things she is allowed to play with. She is very good at pulling herself up into her toy basket and pulling out what she wants.



There is lots of talking going on. Mostly, Abby says, "da-da-da-da," and she also says "maaaa," "geeee," "gu-ga-ge-ga-ga," and various other musings. Our girl is brave. She likes to flip upside down, and dive on the floor toward toys or Cosette. She has learned that she can crawl all over the house now. So, she crawls down the hallway to get to daddy or mommy. Last night, she crawled to the bathroom door, and basically knocked while mommy was in the shower. Here is a shot of her getting away while her diaper was being changed.



We have decided that Cosette is the best dog that ever existed. She lets Abby play with her feet, pull on her fur and her ears, and crawl up on her bed with her. Cosy is incredibly patient with Abby. We are very fortunate. Now, like a normal dog, she did not really appreciate it when Abby knocked her bowl over to try and grab some of her food. She was gentle, though concerned about her food- the one thing that she can really claim as exclusively hers.

TBC- One Year and Glad to be Here!

Abby's daddy's brewery celebrated it's first anniversary over the weekend with a downtown Durham pub crawl. Grandpa and Grandma Tufts came up with cousin Delilah to visit and join in the festivities. We all had a great time celebrating this momentous occasion! Rick's business partner (Andy)and his wife (Nichole) also had some family in town to join the fun. There were lots of great folks at the pub-crawl, which ended at Alivia's Durham Bistro- culminating in an incredible evening of fantastic beer and some good-ole honky-tonk music by Joe Don Silvers and his band. Here is a slide-show, and some "showcase worthy" shots of the family visit and the one-year celebration.





Matt and Keebyn Pistel -our very good friends- will be moving to Arizona very soon. We are sad to see such great friends leave, while we are supportive and happy for them as they embark on this exciting change in their lives. Some good friends got together to wish them well at the Pittsboro General Store Cafe. We all had a great time together, as usual. Abby put her mark on the evening by grabbing mommy's [red] wine glass by the stem and dousing herself and both her parents in the process. That's momma's girl!!! (For those of you who don't know- I'm famous for spilling/dripping [red] wine.)



Last but not least- and for those of you who were there, yes, I am reporting in reverse-chronological order... Aunt Elisabeth's big 3-0 was also celebrated in the past week!

"My, do they change fast!"

At the risk of turning off readers with the over-used phrase for the title- that is nevertheless the theme of this post. Abby has changed so much since the last post. She now pulls herself to sitting position like it's her job. She can also pull herself to standing when she has a low prop. She hasn't pulled up on the coffee table or her crib yet. Here are some adorable pics from 4th of July weekend. We also wanted to share a short video of her "swimming," She loves the water!

This is How She Rolls

Here is a 2-minute video of Abby showing off her rolling skills. She's pretty subdued and a slight bit cranky in this video, it's right before bed time- but you get the idea. You can see how she's on the verge of crawling. The video is a little dark.



It has been awhile since the last post. My apologies- the only excuse is that things have been very busy around here. So, here's the update on what Abby's doing now.-- As you saw from the video above, she rolls around a lot. She scoots backwards very well, and is getting the hang of scooting forward. She can scoot forward on her butt when she's sitting down very well (not like Cosette)- and travel quite a distance. Abby has not met a food she does not like. She's a great eater (still taking formula too). She's eating finger foods like a champ. She can pick up a Cheerio and put it in her mouth on her own. She also likes to chew on the heel of hard bread and on pizza crust. Abby can drink from a small glass when someone else is holding it. She has not quite gotten the hang of the sippy-cup. It's a very different concept for her- and I think she's a little confused that she has to suck on it to get liquid out. She has 2 teeth on the bottom. They seemed to have come in at the same time- which explains why she had such a difficult time a few weeks back- when we thought there was only one coming in. She's been sleeping very well (hold on, let me find some wood to knock on). Abby is a very happy baby. She giggles all the time, and she finds Cosette very funny when she's running around in the back yard. She has just started to show some separation anxiety- especially with mommy. All I have to do is step out of sight for a millisecond, and she can go into full-blown tears. Once I pop back in sight, she stops crying. She does this with daddy too, but to a slightly lesser extent. Abby seems happiest when all of her people are within her visual field. She can be distracted though, and she'll forget what she was crying about if you're crafty enough. That's all I can think of for now... Check out Abby's daddy's website at the right- there are some great things happening with Triangle Brewing Company! Abby and Mom are very proud!

6 Months Old!

Our girl is growing so fast! She is becoming more and more mobile every day. Abby can roll all over the living room, and she does something that approximates crawling-but with her head on the floor, and not much ground covered. Tummy time is no longer tummy time. It's roll all over the place time.

Abby recently had her first dip in a real pool at Grandma's apartment. She really enjoyed it, and it tuckered her way out.



Next, a little time in her own pool... The water was a bit too cold for her at first, but she quickly got used to it and enjoyed playing with her water toys as mommy and daddy looked on.



Other news: Abby has cut her first tooth! She has not been a bad teether at all. She occasionally gets crankier than usual, but that never lasts long. Cosette has also experienced some tough love courtesy of her little sis. As Abby was gently stroking her ears, she decided that one of them would be something nice to pull on. Mommy heard Cosette yelp- and realized what had happened. Cosette was very good about it and even gave Abby a kiss afterwards- just to let her know she wasn't mad. We did warn Cosy that this probably wouldn't be the last time she'd get an ear- or anything else pulled at the hands of Abby. Every dog for herself...

A new talent?

We just couldn't resist videoing this one for Abby's admirers!

Grandparents, Goats, and Good Friends

It's been awhile since we've posted, so there's lots of news to share! Last weekend, Abby went on her first big trip. The Tufts boarded a little US Airways plane for Philly on May 1st. Abby was a champ! She drank her bottle on take-off (at the suggestion of the pediatric nurse who said it would help her ears). Then she fell asleep in mommy's arms. She slept for almost the whole flight, just waking up on the descent. She fussed a little once we landed- understandably feeling a little cooped-up after awhile. After getting the rental car and going to Hammonton (NJ), mommy's home town, mommy and Abby took a nice nap, while daddy went to visit some of his brewing buddies in Cherry Hill (www.flyingfish.com). Later on that day, Abby met her cousins and aunts and uncles on Mommy's side. What fun!
On Friday morning, the Tufts family packed up the car and headed for Mystic and Groton, CT (Abby slept the whole 4 hours!): First stop, Grandma! We were thrilled to have Abby meet her daddy's mom for the first time! (Somehow, we did not get a picture of Abbs with her grandma.) Shortly thereafter she met grandpa for the first time! What a great day! She also met more cousins, extended family and her aunt Sara (daddy's sister). It had been a long day and a half for Abby at this point- and she was getting a little fussy-- so we checked into the hotel- and we all had an awesome nap. We hung out with our good friends Bryan and Heather Primett for the evening, but not before visiting with JoMama and Steve, Bryan's parents, and two incredibly great people. Saturday was spent celebrating cousin Shyanne's first communion. Abby had a great day and really enjoyed being around her family. The day was capped off with some quality time with grandma, while mommy and daddy went to the corner bar with some friends and family (including grandpa).

Sunday morning: Back to Jersey by way of Pheonixville, PA. This is where the goats come in. What a gorgeous day! Abby saw her first goats, and even pet a few at the Sly Fox Bock Festival Goat Race. Yep, goat race. So- people drink beer, listen to great German music, enjoy friends, and watch goats race- among other things that goats do. Off to Hammonton again. Abby played with lots of people, including Baby Kyle.

Abby did not have the greatest time on the flight back EARLY Monday morning. We sat on the plane too long before even moving- then Abby made a dirty diaper at take off. She was not happy about sitting in it, so mom needed to change her diaper in the minuscule airplane bathroom. And yes, this was another small plane. No, there was not a changing table. What a fiasco! Let's just say, Abby and mom came out of the bathroom with Abby in diaper only. Much happier, I might add. She didn't want to sit- so mommy bounced her in the aisle of the airplane until she fell asleep. All the while- older ladies giving us advice on what to do about this fussy baby. I just wanted to say- stop saying her ears are hurting- her ears aren't hurting! She's tired! This is a tired cry!! What an angel once she fell asleep...

Needless to say we all arrived home in one piece. Abby went off to her North Carolina grandma's for the rest of the day, while mom and dad went to work.

In other news, Abby is enjoying her phase one baby foods. She really likes peas, apples, sweet potatoes and bananas. She also rolls over from back to front and front to back with little effort now. Often, we'll find her in her crib after a nap in a completely different place than where she began. Abby likes to "talk" and "sing". We'll have to get that on video soon. It's really cute when she showcases all of her sounds in succession.

That's all for now. We'll try to post sooner next time!

Play Time!

Abby had a great time playing with friends last weekend. The slide show below shows her playing with Ben (2 years old), his mom Julie (long red hair) and his (and our) friend Joan (short brown hair). Ben is also shown with his dad, Ed, watching golf. Ben is well on his way to becoming a star commentator! Ben was so sweet with Abby. She was a great monster-truck track for him, and Ben got a kick out of her belly button. Abby smiled and laughed with her friend as they played. That was on Saturday.--- On Sunday, Abby (not Tufts), Steve, and Sophia (the baby) came over to play. Sophia wad born exactly one week before Abby. They came all the way from Greensboro to visit-- and feast on some Mamma Dips! Sophia and Abby were so adorable together. Their first interaction was a simultaneous cry- while looking at each other on the floor. Took moms and dads a few seconds to stop chuckling before the babies were picked up to comfort them. Sophia and Abby then shared toys and even seemed to notice each other's presence a little-- as someone else like them.

As you can also see from the pics below- Abby is lovin' her feet! Sometimes she gets them in her mouth. She has been sighted sucking on her big toe too.

You may wonder why Abby is sitting on someones lap who is on a exercise ball. Well, that someone is our dear friend Keebyn- and in the picture, Abby fell asleep on her lap while she was bouncing her on the ball. It's a little trick we learned when we were tired of standing and bouncing.

Only 2 1/2 more weeks until Abby gets to meet more of her family in Connecticut and New Jersey!

Abby is Four Months Old and...

Yesterday, Abby turned 4 months. Soon after daddy dropped her off at grandma's, grandma called to say that Abby rolled over! She was having tummy time and, as usual, did not like it so much after a few minutes (it's hard work!). Before grandma knew it, Abby had turned herself onto her back. "Ahhh- that's better!" thought Abby.

Abby has enjoyed tummy time a little more with the use of her Boppy, which enables her to see more of the world while she's down on the floor. She'll stay down for quite awhile while on the Boppy. Plus-- she can play the piano while she's down there! Check out the video to see her in action. The pictures of the week feature more shots of tummy time, and Abby's first trip to see daddy play soccer.

We also have to report that our super-sleeping-through-the-night girl has now been up 4 nights in a row in the middle of the night. She is WIDE awake, and just wants to hang out. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason- she just wakes up after about 4 hours of sleep-- like the sun is shining. We're hoping this will be a very brief phase, as we were really spoiled by her sleeping all the way through the night for the last 2 months!

Visit with Cousin Rhony Beth

Abby, grandma and mom made the trip up to Boone to visit with Uncle Tim, Aunt Tiff, and Cousin Rhony Beth. Abby talked quite a bit at the beginning of the ride up. A very interesting story with lots of dramatic inflections... We're not sure what it was about, but we're pretty sure it was a good story! Then she slept the rest of the way. Abby had a great visit with her 22-month old cousin. She seemed very interested in whatever Rhony was doing. Rhony was the "little mom" as she asked "y'okay?" whenever her baby cousin fussed a little. She was so cute, acting like she was going to pick her up to comfort her. One time, when Abby was expressing her discontent with a little whine, Rhony said "d'you poop?" while squeezing Abby's diaper. That may have been the funniest part of the trip. Rhony was very loving and sweet to her baby cousin. Abby was delighted to spend time with her aunt and uncle, who she doesn't get to see very often. We are all looking forward to our trip to Connecticut and New Jersey in May so Abby can meet more of her family!

In other news- we think Abby may be starting to teethe! She really grabs our fingers and puts them in her mouth to chomp on a lot! She bites hard too! She's doing lots of babbling, cooing, and singing- which is the cutest thing in the world. Abby and Grandma Waddell try to take a walk to downtown Carrboro every day, where Abby can see new faces and scenery, and check out what other babies are doing.

UNC 76 Dook 68!

Abby is a true Tarheel! Just look how happy she is all decked out and sitting on daddy's lap --ready for the big game!

The Wonders of Discovery

Abby discovered her hands a few weeks back. At this point, they appear to be her favorite toys. It is amazing what you can do with those things!! She can grab toys, whack her play gym to make it play music, grab onto mommy and daddy's clothes (and mommy's hair before she got it cut), stroke her stuffed animals, spin the teddy bears on her bouncy seat, and best of all- put daddy's fingers in her mouth! Check out the pictures of the week slide show to see some of the cool things Abby can do with her hands (and other cute stuff).

The Tufts family is getting excited for the big game on Saturday! This will be Abby's second Carolina-Dook matchup. Abby is optimistic. Go Heels!!!

Abby is 3 Months Old!

Hi friends and family! This is the official first post of Abby's blog. We hope to keep you updated on Abby's life through the posts. Let's start with a little slide-show of Abby at 3 months old!