Abigail sure is growing up

First it's days, then it's weeks and then it become months--how we gauge how old our Abigail is. (Though we have thought she'll be a year old in just 8 short months!) Then we started gauging Abigail's growth by milestones--she found her hands, she's picking her head up while on her tummy, she's laughing...and now we're noticing the smaller, delicate, heartwarming things that tell us she's beautifully growing.

Like when Amanda kisses her good-night, Abigail rubs her belly and smiles with approval (and then, hopefully will drift off to sleep easily), or when Jonathan couldn't feed her fast enough when she was taking her first bites of rice cereal and now BANANAS! Abigail is turning into quite the person.

And...

She's found her foot (just the left one for now)!

We took a trip to the Brooklyn Museum and Abigail discovered she likes looking at African masks and headdresses. She cooed as she sat in her Papa's arms, transfixed. She also seemed pleased with a lot of Andy Warhol's paintings. She'll be an art historian, just like her Papa!

Solid food!!

That's right--Abigail has tried and LOVED eating rice cereal! At first, she wasn't so sure about it but then, YUM, mouth open ready to eat. So much so that when she wasn"t eating--she cried for more! She finished the 2 tablespoons in no time at all and even had room for some of mama's milk. Next stop--beef stew! There is video, click on First taste! located on the right.

Happy 4 months Abigail!

Back from Vermont

Well, we're back from a week in Craftsbury, Vermont. We had a lovely time with all that glorious space, green mountains, and fresh air. The farmhouse was so different from when we went up in December — last time Daphne trudged through snow, this time through tall grass. Hard to believe that on our last trip Abigail was still inside Amanda's belly, and we hadn't yet met her.

At the Cabot Creamery, Abigail scoffed when she heard milk comes from cows. She cried out (wailed, actually), apparently disturbed at the spreading of such vicious lies — clearly, milk comes from mommies, not cows! Needless to say we did not finish the tour.

She did much better when we did the Trapp Family Lodge history tour. (The Sound of Music family) Though we arrived an hour and ten minutes early to take the tour (we thought the tour started at 10, not 11), Abigail slept through most of it. We were thrilled when Rosemarie, one of the von Trapp children–now in her 80's–told us she looked like a happy child. To hear that from one of the 'hills are alive' children, was very gratifying.

And now we're back. Abigail has done a lot of growing in our time away from Brooklyn. She can pick her head up while on her belly, she's enjoyed an infant massage and she's laughing more each day. Life is pretty swell.

Check out the new photos by clicking on the albums to the right (there are 2 new ones!). Enjoy!

Laughter!

Abigail is enjoying life--all 15 weeks of it! Fifteen weeks old--can you believe it?! She has been known to let out a laugh or two, and is constantly smiling! Jonathan gets her to grin by saying, "who has a stinky tooshie?" to her, and Abigail beams when Amanda does Eskimo kisses with her. Her smiles are rays of sunshine that light our world.

Abigail is also making sounds and producing lots of bubbles and drool (so much so that sometimes she needs to wear a bib!).

She still loves to bounce in her chair and now she likes to spin her wooden toys while she bumps up and down (which she can sometimes do on her own using her own momentum, and not just have someone else rock her).

We went to Uncle Jason and Aunt Vivian's party, met up with other babies in the park, and while we stroll--Abigail is now in the stroller seat (no longer her carseat resting on the top of the stroller)--she's such a big girl now!

Click here to see our pictures!

Hope everyone is having a great summer! Next week we head up for some peace and quiet in Vermont!

The fourth trimester is done

Three months. How did that happen? In one of the books we read, it said to think about the first three months of life as the fourth, and final trimester of fetal development. Well, now it's done, and Abigail welcomes the world again with new engagement.

Our lady is now sleeping basically through the night--the big change is she is slumbering unswaddled. That's a big deal. One night she was squirming too much in her swaddle and we decided to give it shot; the shot being sleeping, simply, in her footsie pjs and that's it. She seemed to love the idea. She wiggled her legs up and down, she flapped her arms, she cooed to herself and then...she fell asleep! All on her own. The first night she woke up once in the night but then the second night, she slept for a nice long stretch, woke up after that long stretch to eat and then...a nice long nap on her papa and THEN she even slept more in her crib. That's our girl!

So, she's a good sleeper at night and early mornings. However, sleeping in the carseat, in a car (as opposed to when she's in the carseat strolling in her City Mini), is another story. She wails in cars, except when she doesn't, which has happened too. Just when we think we know her likes and dislikes, she changes them. Just when we think we have a pattern in anything she does, she switches it on us. This constant fluctuation reminds us we just need to live moment to moment with her and enjoy her for who she is right at that very second. And we certainly are revelling in her.

She met lots of her cousins, aunts and uncles in Long Island; along with visiting her Grandma Roxy in NJ this past weekend. Though we have no photographic proof of any of this encounters, we do have other pictures. Enjoy!

Fourth of July Weekend!

This weekend we braved the ocean, partied at two parties and most impressively Abigail is now facing out in her Baby Bjorn carrier--her world has opened up dramatically. She all of a sudden was craning her neck to see out of her carrier past her Mom's shoulders, so we turned her around and her eyes got wide taking it all in. When we passed under trees, she began to make sounds of discontentment, but as soon as we cleared the leaves and it wasn't dark anymore, she was quiet, and her eyes grew round again with wonder.

Abigail is still sleeping like a champ. She's sleeping so well that we delayed our departure for Manhattan Beach by one hour because she slept in! We got our Zipcar at 7am thinking she'd be up around 5:30am, but since she woke up around 7:30am (all smiles too!), we didn't leave 'til 8. Yes, we like to get to the beach early, when it's not obscenely hot or atrociously crowded and, we can feel a great sense of accomplishment for having gotten out of the door so early and back while it's still morning. We had a good time at the beach. Although the water was a little cold to Abigail's liking. Check her out in her bathing suit (thanks Suzy for it) and her patriotic outfit here!

She's had a lot of practice building up her neck muscles, looking like a movie star, wearing "wigs" and she loves to see herself in the mirror. She doesn't know it's herself yet, but she sure does like looking at that baby! There's even more photos of her doing all these exciting things here. Daphne and Fink make an appearance too! (Three weeks worth of pictures!)

Tomorrow she'll be 12 weeks old--how did that happen?!

10 weeks and tomorrow will make 11

Abigail has a very busy social calender, from her Papa's Father's Day celebration last weekend then to this past weekend when she met the man who married her parents, Mr. Kevin Bartlett, to Aaron's bris (congratulations Wanda and Adam!), she is out and about.

She's definitely teething and not loving it no matter how much we tell her teeth will be a good thing. She's drooling, eating her hand, rubbing her eyes and ears...all signs that teeth are a'coming. It probably won't be until a few months from now, but there's something happening in there.

Pictures are coming but with our girl staying awake more and talking more, we have less time to post things. She's maturing so fast!

Happy last day to all the NYC public school teachers!