Last year, we started the tradition of interviewing Abby on her birthday...here are this year's responses:
Favorite food: pizza
Favorite color: pink and purple
Least favorite color: yellow
Favorite toy: dollhouse
Favorite fruit: apples
Favorite TV show: 3rd and Bird
Favorite movie: Tangled
Favorite lunch: Lunchables
Favorite thing to wear: princess dresses
Favorite game: Memory
Favorite snack: Cheetos
Favorite zoo animal: giraffes
Favorite song: that princess one in the car
Favorite book: Pinocchio
Best friend: Olivia
Favorite cereal: Lucky Charms
Favorite thing to do outside: play on my swingset (which she hasn't been able to do much this spring, so I guess this is one good thing about all of the snow in MN this month--our swingset blew over on an extremely crazy windy night a week and a half ago--I told Dave we needed to secure it into the ground, but it didn't happen last year...he'll be doing that as soon as he can level the ground a little more and get a couple of friends over to help him fix a couple of boards that need to be replaced now. Luckily, it wasn't damaged too much!)
Favorite drink: apple juice
Favorite holiday: Easter
What I want to be when I grow up: a princess
Favorite thing to do with Mommy: lay in bed or play dollhouse
Favorite thing to do with Daddy: lay in bed or play the teddy bear game (something new she and Dave made up where they act like teddy bears, I guess?)
Favorite store: the grocery store
What makes me happy: when Norah gives stuff to me
What makes me sad: when I'm in my bedroom by myself
What I like about Daddy: when he plays video games with me (? Apparently, she was referring to playing the Disneyland game on Xbox kinect with Dave and my cousin Connor last summer...)
What I like about Mommy: when she watches movies with me
What I like about Norah: when she's playing in the bedroom with me
What I like about Sadie: when she plays outside with me
What I'm excited about now that I'm 5: going to kindergarten
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Five
Abby turned 5 on April 2nd--I meant to write this post sooner, but it seems like it's been a crazy couple of weeks! It seems like we've been celebrating for awhile, since we had our joint birthday party in March... We decided to celebrate as a family over my spring break, since I'd have to work on Abby's actual birthday and she'd have preschool. We went out to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch, where Abby (and Norah) had a blast playing games and going on the kiddie rides. During Norah's afternoon nap, Abby and Dave went to see "The Croods".
On Friday of my spring break, we had a couple of Abby's friends over for a playdate. Abby has been asking for lemonade cupcakes for the longest time for her birthday, so I was excited to find a pink lemonade cupcake mix with pink lemonade frosting. We made them for her playdate, and they turned out pretty good--not too bad for lemonade cupcakes!
On Easter Sunday, my parents and Dave's parents came up to go to church and have Easter dinner with us while Dave worked. We had an Easter egg hunt when Dave got home, and my parents spent the night so they could spend a special day with Abby to celebrate her birthday.
On Abby's actual birthday (April 2nd), Dave kept Abby home from daycare and they had a special "Abby" day--she planned out their day at home (lots of dollhouse, crafts, etc.). It was parent night at preschool, so I got to go along with Abby to that. She was excited to bring bags of goldfish to her friends with her buddies who share a birthday with her.
A couple of days later, Abby had her 5-year check-up with Dr. Mark. We also set up a follow-up appointment for Norah at that time...she had developed RSV and a double ear infection over my spring break and was not bouncing back very well after 10 days of antibiotics...thankfully, a strong antibiotic shot seemed to do the trick, and we have an appointment set up with an ENT specialist to talk about ear tubes.
Anyway, while Norah was crying/being difficult at the doctor, the nurse took Abby away to do her hearing/vision testing, weigh her, take her temperature, etc. She happened to be running a fever, and then also didn't pass a portion of her hearing test. The nurse thought maybe it was an ear infection or something, but Dr. Mark said she didn't have one. He wasn't too concerned about the hearing test, but it's something we'll keep an eye on. Abby was very cooperative, but was REALLY anxious about her shots. She had 4--2 in each arm. So, after about 45 minutes of crying from Norah, Abby was crying about her shots, so Norah started sympathy crying. Then the nurse gave Norah her big antibiotic shot, so she started crying harder, then Abby started sympathy crying... I'm sure the other people at the clinic were so happy to see us leave! Abby weighed in around 35 pounds (15th percentile) and was around 42 inches tall (25th percentile). I wish I had written down the exact measurements, but it's as close as I can get with the growth charts I got.
After the doctor, we went to Chameleon Coffee for some ice cream--Abby's reward for her shots. Abby chose "Superman" ice cream--red, yellow, and blue fruit punch flavored ice cream. Cranky/sick Norah made for a short visit--she wanted ice cream, too, but I had no bib and she was not content with me feeding her spoonfuls--she wanted to do it herself! Abby ended up taking her ice cream home in the car, but she was good about it.
So, five has come and gone--it's crazy to think that she's already that old! Now that the shots are done, she is excited about being five and going to kindergarten next year. Thankfully, we still have almost 5 months left until that!
On Friday of my spring break, we had a couple of Abby's friends over for a playdate. Abby has been asking for lemonade cupcakes for the longest time for her birthday, so I was excited to find a pink lemonade cupcake mix with pink lemonade frosting. We made them for her playdate, and they turned out pretty good--not too bad for lemonade cupcakes!
On Easter Sunday, my parents and Dave's parents came up to go to church and have Easter dinner with us while Dave worked. We had an Easter egg hunt when Dave got home, and my parents spent the night so they could spend a special day with Abby to celebrate her birthday.
A couple of days later, Abby had her 5-year check-up with Dr. Mark. We also set up a follow-up appointment for Norah at that time...she had developed RSV and a double ear infection over my spring break and was not bouncing back very well after 10 days of antibiotics...thankfully, a strong antibiotic shot seemed to do the trick, and we have an appointment set up with an ENT specialist to talk about ear tubes.
Anyway, while Norah was crying/being difficult at the doctor, the nurse took Abby away to do her hearing/vision testing, weigh her, take her temperature, etc. She happened to be running a fever, and then also didn't pass a portion of her hearing test. The nurse thought maybe it was an ear infection or something, but Dr. Mark said she didn't have one. He wasn't too concerned about the hearing test, but it's something we'll keep an eye on. Abby was very cooperative, but was REALLY anxious about her shots. She had 4--2 in each arm. So, after about 45 minutes of crying from Norah, Abby was crying about her shots, so Norah started sympathy crying. Then the nurse gave Norah her big antibiotic shot, so she started crying harder, then Abby started sympathy crying... I'm sure the other people at the clinic were so happy to see us leave! Abby weighed in around 35 pounds (15th percentile) and was around 42 inches tall (25th percentile). I wish I had written down the exact measurements, but it's as close as I can get with the growth charts I got.
After the doctor, we went to Chameleon Coffee for some ice cream--Abby's reward for her shots. Abby chose "Superman" ice cream--red, yellow, and blue fruit punch flavored ice cream. Cranky/sick Norah made for a short visit--she wanted ice cream, too, but I had no bib and she was not content with me feeding her spoonfuls--she wanted to do it herself! Abby ended up taking her ice cream home in the car, but she was good about it.
So, five has come and gone--it's crazy to think that she's already that old! Now that the shots are done, she is excited about being five and going to kindergarten next year. Thankfully, we still have almost 5 months left until that!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Hungry Caterpillar
Last weekend, we celebrated both Norah and Abby's birthdays with my extended family. I knew I wanted to use "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for Norah's theme, so I figured I could tie in butterflies for Abby and make it work. I had seen an idea for making a caterpillar out of cupcakes on Pinterest, so went from there. I found some hungry caterpillar party stuff (tablecloth, bowls, napkins) from the Eric Carle Museum online, then found some matching (Target clearance!) assorted colored cups, plates, napkins, dessert plates, and straws that all went well with the tablecloth and color scheme. Norah got a wooden hungry caterpillar pull-toy that I set on the counter, along with the book, for a centerpiece. My sister made butterfly sugar cookies for Abby's portion, and bought her a butterfly balloon. I found butterfly wings at Target for Abby to wear. We had "picnic-y" food for lunch. Thankfully, the weather cooperated, so everyone was able to make it up for the party. Both of my grandmas, three of my aunts, two of my uncles, one of my cousins and her son, my mom, and sister joined us. It was so fun to see everyone!
Also, forgot to update with Norah's 1-year check-up stats...her appointment with Dr. Mark went well. No ear infections--yay! We still have no idea why she is still stuffed up all the time, but at least her ears are clear from her long stretch of ear infections. She weighed in at 16 pounds, 15 ounces (10th percentile) and was just over 28 inches long (15th percentile). Still our little peanut!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
One
On Sunday, we celebrated Norah's first birthday--so crazy that she's one already! She and Abby will have birthday parties with our extended families this weekend, so we're hoping the weather cooperates! My dad was able to fly in for a few days last week, so we had dinner with him, my mom, and my sister to celebrate Norah's birthday last Thursday night. Norah got to enjoy her first cupcake that night--she LOVED it, and couldn't eat it fast enough! Frosting first, of course! On Saturday, we went to Rochester to spend the weekend with my family. Although my dad wasn't there, my brother flew in for the weekend, so we got to see him. We had a little birthday party for Norah on Saturday night, and she especially enjoyed her very first ice cream cone and opening a few presents. She definitely loved the big Dumbo pillow pet that Greg got her. Since Dave was working all weekend, we celebrated with him on Sunday night for supper. Norah got a couple of favorites for part of our meal--mashed potatoes, blueberries--and enjoyed another cupcake for dessert. This time, she took her time and licked off all of the frosting first, then dug in. We had a few presents for her to open, which Abby was glad to help her with.
We can't imagine our life without our baby girl--she is growing and changing every day, and is always so happy. She's now standing up from a sitting position anywhere, often with something in her hands and looking around to make sure someone is noticing what she's doing. She loves to stand up, move her arms and dance. Apparently, she took 4 or 5 steps at daycare last Thursday, but we have yet to see any walking at home. She's close, though! She LOVES her food--anything and everything. Really, one of the only times she is unhappy is if we are not giving her food fast enough. She's been doing a lot of talking lately, mostly babbling, but here and there we'll hear a few words we recognize. She can say daddy and uh-oh the most clearly, and copies a lot of things we say (no no, "babby"--Abby, "momby"--mommy, "di di"--Sadie, puppy). She is still a little peanut--we'll go to the doctor Friday, so I'll have to update with official stats. Despite her size, she has a BIG personality! Not shy at all, likes to show off, extremely busy--total opposite of Abby at this age. One of her new things lately is that she can get really jealous of Abby if Abby is sitting in someone's lap (ours, Grandma's/Grandpa's, etc.). She loves being outdoors, and is such a good sport with the snow--lets Abby pull her around in the sled, sleds down the hill with us, doesn't mind the cold. Spending time outside with her this spring/summer will be a lot of fun! We love our sweet girl, and can't believe she's 1 already!
We can't imagine our life without our baby girl--she is growing and changing every day, and is always so happy. She's now standing up from a sitting position anywhere, often with something in her hands and looking around to make sure someone is noticing what she's doing. She loves to stand up, move her arms and dance. Apparently, she took 4 or 5 steps at daycare last Thursday, but we have yet to see any walking at home. She's close, though! She LOVES her food--anything and everything. Really, one of the only times she is unhappy is if we are not giving her food fast enough. She's been doing a lot of talking lately, mostly babbling, but here and there we'll hear a few words we recognize. She can say daddy and uh-oh the most clearly, and copies a lot of things we say (no no, "babby"--Abby, "momby"--mommy, "di di"--Sadie, puppy). She is still a little peanut--we'll go to the doctor Friday, so I'll have to update with official stats. Despite her size, she has a BIG personality! Not shy at all, likes to show off, extremely busy--total opposite of Abby at this age. One of her new things lately is that she can get really jealous of Abby if Abby is sitting in someone's lap (ours, Grandma's/Grandpa's, etc.). She loves being outdoors, and is such a good sport with the snow--lets Abby pull her around in the sled, sleds down the hill with us, doesn't mind the cold. Spending time outside with her this spring/summer will be a lot of fun! We love our sweet girl, and can't believe she's 1 already!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Disney trip--last day
Our last day at Disney, we got to sleep a little longer since the parks didn't open until 9. We finished packing, ate a quick breakfast in our room, and checked out. It's pretty handy--you can check your bags and get your boarding pass right at the resort. They stored our carry-ons for us, and we hopped on the bus to Magic Kingdom for one last day. Once there, we headed straight for storytime with Belle. This time, the wait was an hour, but we knew it was something we wanted to do. Dave and Abby went to see Mary Poppins while Norah and I waited.
It was definitely worth the wait--it's a neat set-up. You get to go inside Belle's cottage and once inside, they have you go through three rooms. First, it's Maurice's invention room, where they show some of his inventions. Second, it's in a room where they chose people to act out different parts in the Beauty and the Beast story. Abby was chosen to play the beast, which she didn't want to do. When she was offered the part of the horse, I thought she'd refuse that too, but she took it. Dave ended up being chosen to play the wardrobe. He had to sing, and Abby had to neigh. The last room was where they had the fireplace and brought in Belle. Dave and Abby got to help act out the story with Belle, and then got their picture taken with her. Abby got a special Belle bookmark to take home.
After story time with Belle, we picked up FastPasses for Winnie the Pooh (it had been closed Thursday, but was open again Sunday). We also were given surprise FastPasses for Dumbo. We headed over to meet Tinkerbell in Adventureland, where Dave's family met up with us.
On our way back to Winnie the Pooh, we stopped to meet Tiana. She was definitely the sweetest of the princesses/characters we met on our trip.
We made it to Winnie the Pooh to use our FastPasses, but as we were waiting, the ride broke down. We had to wait for them to unload everyone, then fix things, but finally made it on the ride. We had just enough time to use our surprise Dumbo FastPasses before we needed to have some lunch and head back to our resort.
Abby had a gift card to spend, so we had saved just enough time to do some shopping before heading back. Back at the resort, we had some time to kill before our bus came to pick us up. Dave snapped some pictures of our resort.
It was definitely worth the wait--it's a neat set-up. You get to go inside Belle's cottage and once inside, they have you go through three rooms. First, it's Maurice's invention room, where they show some of his inventions. Second, it's in a room where they chose people to act out different parts in the Beauty and the Beast story. Abby was chosen to play the beast, which she didn't want to do. When she was offered the part of the horse, I thought she'd refuse that too, but she took it. Dave ended up being chosen to play the wardrobe. He had to sing, and Abby had to neigh. The last room was where they had the fireplace and brought in Belle. Dave and Abby got to help act out the story with Belle, and then got their picture taken with her. Abby got a special Belle bookmark to take home.
After story time with Belle, we picked up FastPasses for Winnie the Pooh (it had been closed Thursday, but was open again Sunday). We also were given surprise FastPasses for Dumbo. We headed over to meet Tinkerbell in Adventureland, where Dave's family met up with us.
On our way back to Winnie the Pooh, we stopped to meet Tiana. She was definitely the sweetest of the princesses/characters we met on our trip.
We made it to Winnie the Pooh to use our FastPasses, but as we were waiting, the ride broke down. We had to wait for them to unload everyone, then fix things, but finally made it on the ride. We had just enough time to use our surprise Dumbo FastPasses before we needed to have some lunch and head back to our resort.
Abby had a gift card to spend, so we had saved just enough time to do some shopping before heading back. Back at the resort, we had some time to kill before our bus came to pick us up. Dave snapped some pictures of our resort.
We didn't realize until too late that we were sitting in the wrong area to wait for our bus, so we missed it! Luckily, they called a taxi for us at no charge that brought us to the airport. Even though we missed our bus and the security line took forever to wait in, we ended up having plenty of time at the airport. We got some supper, then were getting ready to get on the plane when we realized things were running way behind. The plane had come in a little late, but they also had a bad overbooking situation. It took a long time for them to figure that out, but we eventually got on the plane and took off. Of course, Norah had a dirty diaper right during take-off, so we got to experience baby changing in the little airplane bathroom once in the air. Abby fell asleep right away and slept the whole ride home. Norah was very restless for the first hour or so, then finally fell asleep. We arrived in Minnesota, where it was cold, icy, and snowy. Luckily, we made it home okay. Dave's family ended up staying at our house because travel wasn't recommended south of us.
It was an amazing, busy, FUN trip!! We were so sad to see it end, and it went so fast. Hopefully we can bring the girls back when Norah is Abby's age--Abby was definitely at the perfect age this time. Lots of great memories!
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