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!