Sleeping beauty

If we don't swaddle her, Abby's preferred sleep position cracks me up!

Christmas 2012

We hope all of our friends and family had a very Merry Christmas! My parents (will Abigail call them Nana and Papa like her cousins Cadence and Clay do?) flew in from Kansas City on the 23rd. Abigail attended her very first church service on Christmas Eve. I had been holding off taking her to church until she got her 2 month vaccinations. The candlelight service was beautiful and Abby slept in my arms throughout most of it. Thanks, Nana, for the beautiful Christmas dress! My parents couldn't believe how much she's grown since they saw her in October.

Abigail got all kinds of fun gifts on Christmas day. My mom asked me the night before what Santa would be bringing her. Robert and I hadn't bought any Santa gifts. Oops! Parent FAIL. She's only 2 months old, after all. So...Nana to the rescue. She and my dad made a quick trip to Target and picked up a few fun toys: the classic "popcorn" popper walker and a Fisher Price teapot toy that has a fun British accent. :)

From the Zajkowski Christmas exchange, Abby got a fun VTech bunny from her Salt Lake cousin, Haley. 

Nana picked out some cute new clothes, too. We love the kitty cats!! 

Abigail was spoiled with lots of books, ornaments, and more clothes. Christmas is definitely fun with a new baby girl. We look forward to all of our future Christmases with her and we're especially looking forward to the Santa years. It always makes me so sad to have to pack up the tree and all of the decorations. Until next year...

The "Abby flower"

We have some beautiful flowers blooming in our front yard but neither Robert nor I know what kind of plant it is. I like to call it the "Abby flower" because it first bloomed right around the time Abigail was born. When there are no flowers, the plant basically looks like a big dead stick. :) 

My mom has a sweet story about how lilacs always remind her of me because when she first came home with HER baby girl, it was Spring and the breeze coming through the windows smelled of lilacs. I love that.

My dear friend, Suzanne, and her husband Isaac visited us yesterday. Suzanne is a friend from Wichita State. We realized during this visit that we have been friends for 12 years! How does the time go by so fast? We were especially happy to have them visit because Suzanne and Issac usually call Germany home. They both work as teachers at Black Forest Academy but are currently spending a year back in the states. I'm crossing my fingers that the next time we see them we'll all be eating spaetzle together in Germany. Abby needs a little European culture.

Suzanne and Isaac, thanks for making time to stop by and see us! We love you!

Christmas festivities

Baking is one of my favorite things of the Christmas season. I have fond memories of making all kinds of cookies with my mom and sister, and now I hope Abigail and I can create our own *sweet* memories. For Abigail's first Christmas tree ornament, I opted to not go with the standard "Baby's First Christmas" one. Instead, Hallmark has a new series of cookie cutter ornaments that I couldn't resist. I've decided that making sugar cookies should be one of our family holiday traditions. Maybe we can also buy a new cookie cutter shape each year?

We went to a cookie exchange party today and I made one of my mom's Christmas cookie standards: chocolate Andes mint cookies. Yum.

Robert says I went a little overboard with Abigail's outfit for the day but I disagree. I love the ruffly pants and festive socks!

Aww...kisses from daddy.

2 month stats

Abigail has grown like crazy. The doctor says she is in the 100th percentile for all of her measurements! I used an online calculator and each one said "above 95th percentile."

• Weight = 14 pounds
• Height = 24.5'' (21.5'' at birth)
• Head = 16.5'' (14.5'' at birth)

2 months old

I took these pictures a day early (it's 12/12/12!) since Abigail has her 2 month doctor's appointment tomorrow and may be feeling a little yucky after getting a round of vaccinations. I can't wait for the doctor to see how much she has grown! We're so grateful that she's such a healthy little girl.

Grandma & Grandpa Z

Grandma & Grandpa Z left yesterday. Abigail made a new face and stuck out her bottom lip for the first time...I think she was letting us know that she was sad to see them go. I can't believe Betty was here for 6 weeks! How lucky am I to have such a great mother-in-law who is so easy to be around? She helped us tremendously by cooking meals, washing dishes, doing laundry, and taking care of her sweet granddaughter. She loved picking out cute outfits for her each day and taking her on long walks in the stroller. Robert likes to tell Abigail that her Grandma Z is her very first friend. I love that! 

Here are some fun pictures of Abigail with her grandparents. Our cat, Cora, is always checking in on Abigail when she gets a bath or her diaper changed. I think she wants to make sure we're doing a good job. 

This might be the sweetest picture ever: Grandma reading to Abigail.

She loved meeting Grandpa Z, too.

Sleepy Saturday

Robert left around 7am this morning with his friend Ryan to run the Tough Mudder...basically a 10 mile obstacle course where he has to scale walls, run through electrical wires, swim through ice water, and other crazy things like that. It raises money for the Wounded Warrior Project.

That left Abigail and I at home for the day and I had a huge pile of quizzes and essays to grade for my Music Appreciation class that ends in a week. Abby must have known I had work to do, because she was content to sleep on my lap in the Boppy for 4 hours (2 different naps) while I graded. I'm super uncomfortable from holding still so long and my legs are asleep, but it was totally worth it for this view:

Happy 7 weeks, Abigail!

Florida flamingos

I have loved flamingos since I was a little girl and moving to Florida only encouraged the interest. We put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and Robert commented on how many flamingo ornaments I have. I love them! Someday soon I'd like to get a bigger Christmas tree and turn our current little one into a flamingo tree. I'm envisioning pink lights, pink tinsel, and my bevy of birds. :) Actually...a group of flamingos is usually referred to as a flock. Or a colony, regiment, flurry, or flamboyance. (I just looked that up.) Ha! A flamboyance of flamingos.

All of this to say, I haven't been able to resist the flamingo onesies:

Robert's parents left for a short trip to Key West early this morning. Abigail is a little over 6 weeks old now and  -- I don't know how this is true -- I'm pretty sure this is the first full day it's been just the two of us at home together. We had a good morning with several sweet mommy/daughter moments and she is currently napping.

"THE GAME" (i.e. Ohio State v. Michigan)

Go Ohio State! Beat M*ch*g@n! Poor baby girl, she has no say in getting all decked out in scarlet & gray. We love these little leg warmers. They're another hand-me-down from Amy Jo and they are perfect for these chilly Florida days...it's actually been in the '40s overnight. We keep telling her that someday we'll live in a place where she can build a snowman. The Zajkowskis need seasons!

(PS - the frames in the background are the Italy pictures I mentioned in a previous post.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grandma & Grandpa Zajkowski were here for Abigail's first Thanksgiving. We had a fun day that began with watching the National Dog Show on TV. We're still trying to figure out the (crappy) oven in this house, and the top of the turkey ended up being blackened...aka, burned. :) It may not have looked pretty, but it tasted delicious! We also had Grandma Z's homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, roasted root veggies, Marci's cranberry orange relish, pumpkin pie, and of course the classic Cameron holiday staple: "Good Potatoes." Yum!

Abby loves to read

Abigail has started focusing on contrasting colors and faces more. It's really fun to watch! One of her favorite things to stare at is a set of 3 pictures I took in Italy: flowers from Cinque Terre, the Duomo in Milan, and gondolas in Venice. The pictures have thick black frames and white mats, so the contrast really stands out on the white wall. Whenever Abby stares at these photos, I tell her about the trip we will take together to Italy someday...the amazing art we will see, the incredible cathedrals we will visit, and all of the delicious food and wine we will eat and drink. :) 

She also loves this book that Grandma & Grandpa Earley gave to her. We hope this little girl loves reading as much as we do!

1 month old!

Abigail is 1 month old! She was a great sport and had fun posing for the camera.

Saturday football

Here's how Abigail & her daddy like watching football games on Saturday. She's getting adorable chubby legs and a bit of a double chin!

Growing Girl

This blog is not meant to be completely about Abigail, but right now that's pretty much the way life is. Which we love! :) Here's a picture of Abby's crib with all of the newborn clothes she has already outgrown. Most of these outfits she never even wore...so sad. We're very grateful to have inherited a HUGE tub of hand-me-downs from my sister. I think I counted about 80 onesies or outfits in this pile of clothing. Our little girl is growing up!

Let's play!

Our former horn teacher, Amy Jo, sent us a big box of baby stuff including this fun activity play mat. Abigail is probably still a little young for it, but I pulled it out today and she had fun 'talking' to the monkey for about 5 minutes. She's starting to coo and make fun baby noises. She also appears to be focusing on things more. Sweet girl!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is Grandma Z's birthday!

We took our little pumpkin to the pumpkin patch down the road.

Our little sweet pea.