Just Visiting: The Massive Update

Things have changed. LOTS of things. First off, my little baby girl is one year old. ONE!!! Actually, to be technical, she's already 13 months, has eight teeth, just started walking, and is working on pushing her molars through in that little mouth of hers. I still can't believe it. She is too big! Abigail is officially a toddler, and I can't do anything about it. Time sure seems to slip by as we get older and it seems impossible to catch up and keep up with it!

Well as most people know, we packed up and moved to a new city at the beginning of the year. Late January we moved to Casa Grande to be closer to Chris's work and both of our parents. We are super excited to be here, but it was very hard leaving our friends and church family in Tucson. God has shown us his grace and mercy as we've followed the path he's created for us, and has blessed us with a lot more time together as a family. When we lived in Tucson, Chris was gone by 5:45 in the morning and home after 6:30. Now he's able to leave at 7:30 and be home before 6. Just those few extra hours has been precious for me and Abby, especially since Abby barely got to see daddy during the week when we were in Tucson. We decided to keep our house in Tucson and rent it out using a property management company. It took a lot longer to get the house ready than we expected (about 3 months longer than we'd hoped!) but God was again faithful, and in less than a week of posting the house information, we had a family moving in! God is good! Our Tucson home looks so different on the inside! We re-tiled the entire downstairs and re-carpeted the upstairs as well as landscaping the backyard. A lot of upgrades and updates were made, all the things I wanted to do when we lived there, but never had the money to do it! Of course now it's all done and we don't get to enjoy it- but we are blessed to have someone else enjoying it... and paying us! :) Thankfully I can't complain about not enjoying the new additions in Tucson because the house here in Casa Grande is more than we could have ever hoped for. God provided us with a gorgeous home that has plenty of room for our growing family.

Speaking of growing family, tomorrow marks my 21 weeks of being pregnant with G2 (my father gave baby that nickname - which stands for "Grandchild #2). We found out on May 3rd that we are having another girl, and announced her name to the family and public that evening. We are super excited to meet Annabella Caitlin! Of course any of you who know us, or know us well, know that Chris's sister is name Caitlin- which is where the middle name comes from. As far as Annabella, we both had fallen in love with the name Annabelle, and about a week or two prior to us finding out the sex, I told Chris I just wasn't sold on the name anymore. I didn't really have a good reason, I think I was having cold feet - since she is stuck with the name forever - and Annabelle just didn't seem right. We spent almost the entire hour trip to Tucson one Sunday morning discussing the name, and as soon as Chris mentioned Annabella (which had been discussed previously, but as all things seem to go, I was opposed to at first) and the fact that it was the Italian version of Annabelle, I was sold. Annabella (Italian) Caitlin (Irish) was the perfect match! And the meaning only makes the name more precious: Annabella means beautiful grace and Caitlin means pure. How beautiful!

As I mentioned previously, our little Abby girl just started walking! On May 19th (her 13 month birthday) she took her first real steps, excitedly running from Daddy to Mommy. It was so fun, and we were both so excited to be there for it! The next day she set another personal best, walking all the way across our living room by herself. When she's in the mood, she sure loves to walk! She almost seems to try to run and go as fast as she can! It's such a joy to watch, and we are such proud parents. Another thing that I've enjoyed recently is her usage and understanding of the word "Hi." It's so cute to walk in the room and have her tell me hi, sometimes even followed by a wave! It's the first word she knows how to say, use, and use in the correct way. It's so darn cute! Her second word has been "car." She uses it pretty well, but only in reference to her toy car, which she got for her birthday. She loves to push it along the floor and run with it. If you ask her where her car is, she will repeat "car" until she can find it- and either crawl her way over to it or point to show us where it is! She loves her car!

Here are a few things I wrote down and took note of over the past two months:

11 Months:
*Walks with her toys or holding on to both fingers
*Switched to Similac-regular formula
*Eczema seems to be almost clear!
*Points at everything!
*Started asking "Dat?"
*Started cackling
*Knows where the fan, clock, window and light are
*Waves bye-bye/knows what 'bye' means

12 Months:
*Got her first top two teeth
*Likes to say "Giggle Giggle"
*Walks while holding one finger
*Still loves to move/dance to music
*Started drinking whole milk
*Crazy girl! - loves to throw her toys
*Trying to repeat words
*waves at "hello" and "bye"
*Repeats "hi" *Knows the word "car" - repeats it and looks for her toy car
*Teething really bad at the end of the month - I think molars are coming!
*Learned to raise her arms up to signal "all done" as well as the sign for "more"

It's been so fun to watch her grow and see her learn so many new things. Every week it seems like something new is happening in our house and we love it! Can't say everything is easy-peasy, but then where would the joys and excitement be when we overcome our barriers? God has blessed me with an amazing husband who selflessly helps me with Abby as soon as he gets home, who encourages me and pushes me through my rough patches. I am learning what patience and love really is! And I hope to learn it quickly before Annabella comes! I know it will only get harder, but the joys will abound twice as much!