The Abram Family

Thursday, January 13, 2011

My New Favorite Thing

I never thought I'd be one of those moms who made their own baby food. To be honest, it was a bit intimidating to me. I'm not a good cook and I don't enjoy cooking so it definitely was not something that I was interested in doing...not even a little bit. My poor, poor Allie got all of her food from a jar. Haha. No, I don't think there is ANYthing wrong with jarred food but right now I'm all about making my own, AND I'm even excited about it. I guess I have several reasons, some of which stem from some New Year's resolutions that I made...wanting to save money, wanting to push myself and try some new things, wanting to cook more and also because of the fact that Allie is the world's pickiest eater, I wanted to do something different in the food department with Sienna, just to see if it would prevent her from following in her sister's footsteps. I remember having several conversations with my mom where she said that when my brother and I were babies, she had this portable food mill that she would use when she cooked dinner or went out to eat. She would just throw in a bunch of food that she had made or ordered, grind it up, and feed it to us right there. I had never heard of something like that (obviously I know some people do this with a food processor or a blender). Well, it still exists! My sister in law found this Baby Food Mill at Buy Buy Baby and I just had to give it a try. It's only $20 and I had a $5 off coupon and a gift card so I was basically free :) Sienna is just starting to eat baby food so I've only used it for bananas and avocado so far but I LOVE it! No cords, no electricity, SO convinient and it gives you a great arm workout! :) It's perfect for small meals or when your on the go. I can't wait to use it more!
Here it is...

This is what it looks like coming out-I did have to thin out the avocado a little

Bananas come out perfect

Bon apetit!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Little Mommy

I always loved the topic of nature vs. nurture in sociology and psycology classes in college. I definitely believe that there are certain behaviors that are 'taught' to children by their parents or caregivers who raise them, but I also believe that there are certain behaviors that are innately part of our beings. I especially love to watch little girls and little boys play. From such an early age, most of the time they are SOOOO different. I have several close friends who have boys and when our kids get together, they are automatically drawn to different toys. I'm not saying it's wrong for a boy to play with a 'girl' toy or the opposite, I just think it's funny to see what they pick out on their own. From early on Allie loved baby dolls (what girl doesn't? See?). But since I've had Sienna, her 'mothering' has gone on overdrive. She absolutely loves her babies and loves to mother them. It's so cute to see her do or say things that I do or say to Sienna. It was also my first glimpse of recognizing that she is CONSTANTLY watching me (and that's a lot of pressure!) Allie is such a sweet little mommy and I'm so excited to see her actually be a mommy some day :)

Loves to carry her baby in her 'moby' wrap

Allie always puts her baby to sleep in the bathroom downstairs. She'll turn the light off and shut the door. She gets so upset sometimes when we have to go to the bathroom because her baby 'IS SLEEPING' and she doesn't want her to be disturbed

Dinnertime

Goin for a walk

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

2.5

Where has time gone??? Seriously? Allie is two and a half years old today and I am just in awe. Our little girl has been in our lives for a quarter of a decade. Sometimes it feels like so long ago that I held her in my arms for the first time and sometimes it feels like yesterday. I have been blessed with the most amazing little girl in the world. Every day she makes me smile, she makes me laugh, she makes me proud and she makes me fall on my knees thanking God for picking me to be her mom. She is the daughter that I dreamed of and she is mine (and now I have TWO, I still can't believe it!). Here is what my first princess is up to at 2 1/2 years old...

She still has not ONE TIME gotten out of her bed either at night or naps. We switched her to a big girl bed at 21 months and that was one of my biggest fears but she has been amazing!

She's an amazing sleeper sleeping about 13 hours a night. She only naps about 80% of the time, but when she doesn't sleep, she lays happily in her bed talking and/or singing for two hours until I get her up. It is really funny listening to her sometimes.

She is still a thumb 'sucker'. Fortunately she doesn't actually suck her thumb, she just sticks it in her mouth and flutters her tongue on it so I don't think we are going to have to worry about buck teeth! But she only does it when she is tired and has her 'b' (blanket)

She is NOT a morning person and we have learned NOT to wake her up from sleeping. Allie takes after her momma and loves to sleep but does not love to be woken up. She needs 'me' time in the mornings for a little bit until she's ready to face the day.

She has recently learned her 'whole' name and it's so cute to hear her say Allie Grace Abram. She constantly asks what everyone else's 'whole' name is now. A couple weeks ago she looked at me and said 'you are Mommy Grace Abram'. It was so cute.

When you ask her who her best friend is she rotates between mommy, Sienna and Tom Brady (seriously)

She is definitely a daddy's girl but is FINALLY in a major mommy phase right now. She was never very clingy with me when she was a baby but the past several months she constantly wants me (and I LOVE it:)

She is in a phase right now where she tells me (and Matt) that she loves us about every 10 minutes.

She also constantly asks us 'what are you doing?' I don't know where the heck it came from and sometimes it drives me insane because she'll ask me 12 times when I'm doing the same thing but I guess she just needs to be kept in the loop.

She definitely knows how to use her charm because when she wants something she will ask and follow it up by 'it will make me so happy'. And of course we are suckers so as soon as she says that we do whatever she wants. haha

She finally learned how to pedal her tricycle that she got for her birthday and two times she has ridden up to the elementary school in our neighborhood and back - it is 1.2 miles and she rode the whole way by herself! (I don't mean alone, Matt was jogging with her of course but he never once had to help her or hold her)

She is still the world's pickiest eater! No pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, meat, cupcakes or even ice cream for this girl! I recently bought a book on how to deal with picky eaters, hopefully someday I'll have time to read it! ha!

Her favorite books are Thank you Prayer, I Love You Through and Through, Whoever You Are and Goodnight Moon.

Her favorite cartoons are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Dora.

She loves to read, do puzzles, color, play dress up, watch cartoons, play outside and cuddle.

She can say her ABC's and count to 20 (except she almost always forgets 17, oh well, that number isn't important right?:)

She is potty trained yet she still wears a pull up at night and at naptime (although 90% of the time she wakes up dry so pretty soon we are going to go panties 100% of the time. Yikes! So grown up!)

She is super tall and a skinny minny. Size 2T pants are usually not long enough but 3T falls off of her little waist. Such a change from our chunky baby - where did her rolls go???

She is the sweetest big sister, she's really into talking to Sienna and either laying or sitting next to her. It just melts my heart watching the two of them interact.

She talks CONSTANTLY! She never really went through the babbling phase, always enunciated very well, and that continues. She is totally like a little person - who most days NEVER STOPS TALKING! (trust me, it's exhausting sometimes!)

She can't wait to go to school. I'm going to start looking at preschools soon and will hopefully find one that fits. I know she is going to LOVE it!

She has beautiful long hair, gorgeous blue eyes, a sweet smile, a kind spirit, a caring heart and an adorable laugh. I am so blessed to have Allie as my daughter!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Christmas!!!

Well, at this point Christmas has come and gone...the decorations are back in boxes in the garage, the house is cleaned from having friends and family over, new toys are put away and thank you notes have been sent. And I have to say, I can't wait to do it all again in a year. I love Christmas time, but don't love how quickly it passes.
We had such a fun year this year, and having TWO kids made it even more special. Matt actually had Thursday AND Friday off so we had so much fun having four whole days with him. Since we had gone to Christmas Eve service the Sunday before, that day was spent totally with our families. We had a great Mexican lunch with my parents, brother and sister-in-law and Grandma, then we grilled steaks at Matt's parent's house with his brothers. Two years ago I started a tradition that our kids will open one present and it will be a pair of Christmas pj's to wear that night (I'm sure this will stop abruptly in their teenage years - if I can make it that far!) This year was so fun because the girls got matching pj's! (And looked adorable I might add - although neither would cooperate with a picture so below is the best I got)
Christmas morning was the best. Both girls actually woke up at about the same time so we got them both up and opened our stockings together. We had a couple of hours before Matt's family came over so we had so much fun just being our new family of four. Then we opened gifts with Matt's family, had a yummy breakfast and spent some time playing with new toys. Both girls went down for a nap (as did Matt and I - so nice!) and then we had a great evening with my family. We opened even more presents and cooked an amazing dinner. I have to say the day was so nice and relaxing, not crazy and stressful so it was wonderful.
I have to brag on my hubby a little bit because he surprised me with a great gift...we are going away to go ski/snowboard in Lake Tahoe in February! I cannot wait (although the thought of leaving my baby right now gives me a little bit of a panic attack, I know it will be nice to get away!) Matt even conspired with my sister-in-law's SISTER to make sure that I didn't have anything going on that weekend. I was very impressed with his planning skills because it is very hard to surprise me and I was shocked. The best part was a note that he wrote me with the gift - I won't go into it but lets just say that if that note was all I got, it would have been the best present! It was sooo sweet. :) I can't wait for the two of us to get away, it's been way too long!
Here are some pics of our Christmas day, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

5 Months Old!

Sienna Faith,
My sweet baby girl it has been 5 months since you came into the world and I can't believe how much you have changed. This month was BIG, lots of things happened!

First of all, you started eating food other than milk :) We gave you rice cereal and you did pretty good the first time. You are definitely still 'learning' to eat from a spoon and push a lot of it out with your tongue but once a day I think you are enjoying this change of taste and texture. We will start some fruits and veggies in the next couple of weeks and I can't wait to see how you do. I'm hoping that it helps with your spitting up, which you still do a TON and all the time (I can't remember when that got better with Allie)

We also brought out the Exersaucer and you LOVE it! It is definitely your favorite place to play now. From the very first time we put you in it, you grabbed at all of the toys and even spun yourself around. You look so grown up in it (which does make me a little sad though)

You are definitely turning into a major pacifier girl. I know that's a good thing and a bad thing but right now I'll take it. If you wake up in the middle of a nap, all I have to do is stick your paci in your mouth and you'll fall right back asleep until it's time to wake up. It has definitely helped keep your naps long.

Speaking of sleep, that's been a bit of a rollercoaster. During the day you are doing GREAT! You went from 4 naps down to 2 pretty quick, and not because of lack of sleep, but because you sleep so well! I usually have to wake you after 2 hours in the morning and then you nap for at least 3 hours in the afternoon. So there isn't even time anymore for the 3rd nap. But nighttime is a different story. You have decided that you are so over sleeping through the night and are getting up once to eat most nights. The time you wake up is all over the place and sometimes after I feed you you are still WIDE awake. Don't get me wrong, you go right back in your crib when you are done but sometimes I hear you talking to yourself in your room (in the pitch dark) for a while. Oh well, it's hard to get upset with you at 4:00 in the morning when I get to see your sweet smiling face for a little while and you always wake up soooo happy in the morning and after your naps so I guess I will take it.

You are done with your swaddle too. I was keeping you swaddled under your arms for a while just to keep you warm but it's been like a thousand degrees here lately so there is no need for that at all. You always sleep with your arms above your head which is sooo cute.

You continue to love your baths. We had to move your baby tub into the big bathtub because you kick so much and were getting us (and half of the kitchen) soaked! (thank you for your perfectly placed foot in this picture:)

Your sister is still your best friend and you smile at her everytime you see her.

You also went to the zoo for the first time, had your first sleepover with both Memaw and Dodad AND Grammy and Tompa, sat on Santa's lap, visited daddy at work and are really loving to use your vocal cords :)

You are such a sweet girl, Sienna. You smile and giggle all of the time and we just love having you in our lives!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Best Picture with Santa EVER!!!

PS: Don't worry, I did not traumatize my child. We had a long talk beforehand and a long talk afterwards and she is fine! She still loves Santa. :)

Monday, December 13, 2010

Allie's New (gourmet) Kitchen!!!

Months before Allie turned two I started thinking about what big gift to get her for her birthday. After asking several friends I thought 2 was the perfect age to get a play kitchen. Well, I searched and searched the internet and of course got my heart set on a kitchen from Pottery Barn Kids. I was so picky about what it looked like, especially because it was going to go in the front room of our house, and this PB one was just perfect. The problem?...it would cost over $600! Ya right. (Sorry Allie, we love you just not that much! haha) Well, then I got to thinking, hey my dad is pretty handy and he just got his 'workshop' all set up at their new house in Prescott, maybe he will want to build Allie one? His reply...heck ya! I'm not sure that at the moment he agreed to make her one he really knew what he was getting himself into. After hours and hours and days and weeks and months of planning, building, staining (then re-staining. sorry dad!), painting and putting on the finishing touches, Allie's kitchen is finally done! It is the coolest thing ever and of course she absolutely LOVES it! (I find myself just going to look at it several times a day too because I am just so impressed!) This gift means so much to me and although Allie doesn't appreciate it right now like I know she will in the future, it will be something she will never forget. My grandpa made me a doll house when I was a little girl and I still have it, I'm sure this will be another one of those kinds of pieces. Thank you so much mom and dad for all the hard work you put into this AMAZING kitchen for our little girl(s)!!!

Dodad showing Allie the freezer (yes, it's a Sub Zero:)

The drawer under the oven for her cookie sheets

Cooking on the stove

Washing hands in the (double) sink - lucky girl

Showing Sienna the kitchen - I can't wait for her to be able to play with it too!

Getting some 'ice cream'

I think she likes it :)

Thank you sooooo much Memaw and Dodad!!!

A Hard Day at Work

Today I took the girls down to see Matt and his dad at the office. They were having their office holiday lunch so we went to join them. Allie loved getting candy and running in and out all of the offices and Sienna got totally spoiled by the ladies...

Now she knows right where to find the lolli-pops