My cute little stinker...

Abby loves to tease the dog. I'm not sure where she learned how to do it; either, but it is pretty cute in a twisted kind of way.



This morning I realized my camera had a feature I wasn't aware of... or at least I wasn't using it properly. This series of pictures show how much Abby enjoys the torment she gives. Sorry for the bad lighting.

Summer Scheduling

I'm not quite sure what the deal is, but lately I have struggled to "effectively manage" my day to day stuff. From the outside, I would think that it would be easier. I'm not sitting kids everyday and it stays light outside until the evening.

The way it has worked lately has been: we miss the first meeting of our church, Abby has had more than her share of meals, al fresco (either on the go or on the couch!)... and I am exhausted all the time! Take for example yesterday with MCT, I didn't have work but I had Alex (the cute neighbor boy) with us. My house is trashed, I have yet to clean it. (It shouldn't take longer than an hour, max!) Paula, our Early Intervention Counseler, visited... She is inbetween trips and couldn't make our regular time. I wasn't able to go to the bank to deposit some checks, last of all, at midnight I went to shut off our computer and noticed work was sent out around 9:00pm. I worked until 3:30am. Not to mention it was a McDonalds night because we were out of time....

I definitely could have done it all assuming I would have dropped the book time I had reading. Yet I think everyday I should be able to do something "just for me".

I think I need some more time to evaluate the situation. Second though, I think if you start behind (not going to bed until 3:30am, you end behind.) I just need to go to bed...

I Got My Gal Back!!!

So today my SIL and I went to Liberty Park for the kids to play in the water. She hated it! She insisted on sitting with me through the whole morning. I think the water was just too cold for her. Here I was worried she would run away from me at the park...

However, I do have problems when I am unlocking the car. She refuses to get in when I ask her to and she runs around the car to avoid me. We are trying to work the kinks out.

So Long...

I have been waiting six months to say, "Today was my last day with James." Through all the ups and mostly downs it has been a hard couple months for Abby and myself. He didn't integrate with us as well as I hoped he would.

Now, I don't have to worry about it anymore. So Long James!

Do I even know my own daughter...

Earlier this week I was talking to my SIL and she asked when I would start Abby in a dance class. I told her probably not for another six months to a year. Abby is shy when unsure of her surroundings and really clingy. I don't know if she would be confident enough to hold her own with other girls and learn steps.

Today we went to the Tree House Museum in Odgen. We weren't even twenty minutes into the place when Abby tried to ditch me. She would push me away when I tried to steer her towards something I though she would like or when she would interrupt other children's play. She would run away, no looking back to see if I was watching. I definitely crimped her style. She wouldn't stay at an exhibit long before she would run-off in search of more havoc. She was a completely different little girl from the one I thought I had.

Adding to the confusion, it seemed all of the SLC Valley thought it would be a perfect day to visit the museum. It was packed!

Her cousin Morgan was very sweet with her and tried to help her along when she could. All in all, we will definitely go again. She had a really good time until I carried her off kicking and screaming!

Because of this experience, I am rethinking my position on her dance classes. That may be something that she would love, sooner than later...

Not one of our best days...

Yesterday was not one of our better days. Abby had a hearing test at 3:00pm. I thought it was the perfect time, she had a great nap, ate well... Yet at the hearing appointment she totally shutdown. Her right ear tested lower than normal (about 10 dbs) and her left ear (the better ear) she completely ignored the audiologist, Christine, and would not respond. We bribed her with candy, toys, and games, but nothing worked. Which means, we have to reschedule and go back in three weeks. Yeah us!

I thought it would be a okay to take a dress back to a store and pick up odds and ends. I should have taken the hint and just went home when Abby started wining on our way through Sugar House, we still had to get to Bountiful. I sang songs to entertain her from downtown Salt Lake to our 2600 South exit in Bountiful.

Well, we got to the store okay. I headed to the bakery and got her a free cookie. I was happy because there was a cart that had a play truck front so she could, "ride in style." That worked for about fifteen minutes. We were there about an hour. You do the math.... That's 45 minutes of complete misery. I was the mother riding around the aisle with a screaming (yes, you read correctly and yes, I did mean that literal) child. It was horrible.

To make things even worse for Abby, at dinner I mentioned to Mike that he needed to look at Abby's leg. She had some kind of welt on the back of her leg. It was red and getting worse. I had noticed it about 4 days earlier. So we had the neighbor come over and look at it. She told us it looked like a spider bite. So we took her to InstaCare. They loaded her up on Benadryl and Hydra-cortizone then sent us home. If it didn't get better in a couple days, they gave us antibiotics. Finally at 10:30pm, a full 2 1/2 hours after her bedtime Abby was able to sleep.

Really, it wasn't a good day for either of us.

Oh, so Saturday...

I love Saturdays. At our house, Saturday means sleeping in (Abby sleeps till 9:00am) and a home cooked breakfast for the whole crew. We try not making plans just so we can all hang out together.

After breakfast, Abby and I went swimming, to be more specific, I should say we danced around the shallow end. It was all I could do without her crying to get out as she tried to attach herself to my side. (I'm not much of a fish, so maybe she isn't big into water, either. Or maybe she just doesn't have enough exposure.)

Considering the second theory, Abby and I went to town this afternoon. We bought a children's pool and flowers (I love planting flowers on the patio because it brightens up that space) for our patio. If we were in Hawaii I could say Lanai... too bad were not. Mike swept the patio so it really looks nice and we filled the pool with water, now we just have to wait till the water warms up! It will be interesting to see how she likes it compared to the big one.