Day 31 - Before

Steve wanted me to take a pic of Abby's room "before" and "after" I cleaned it up. It's pretty messy right now, (though not as bad as my room, or the rest of the house for that matter). Hopefully tomorrow I can clean it up. If you look over to the left, you can see one of the boxes from a pile of boxes that is holding Abby's outgrown clothes which still haven't made it down to the garage. The one thing that is bothering me about her room, besides the mess, is that there are no pictures on the walls! At least there are curtains now!

Day 30 - Too Darn Fast

When I got home from our Stake Relief Society Conference today, Allie was sitting perfectly posed on one of the top stairs. I thought to myself that it would make a wonderful picture. Unfortunately my camera was not real close and by the time I got into position for the photo, she was stretching out and making her way down the stairs to great Abby and I. This did make an interesting photo though, and it just so happens that it's the only one I took today.

Day 29 - Making Room

We all know that there are a lot of changes when a baby comes into your world, but this is not one that I had thought about. Abby has two cubby holes in the kitchen that are exclusively hers. This one is on the bottom shelf of one of the cabinets. As you can see, it's where I keep her formula, cereal, and baby food. The other Abby section is a drawer that holds her bibs. I'm sure in the coming months, there will be a few more drawers added for her safe entertainment!

Day 28 - Shiny New Red Toy

Today was only the second time that I have taken the chance to use my new KitchenAid Mixer. I was pretty excited to open this baby up on Christmas morning. Kudos to my husband for really surprising me this year! This beautiful red machine is my new best friend... well, in the kitchen. I made a Texas Sheet Cake today and happily mixed it using my fancy friend. I had fun! Am I bragging? You better believe it!

Day 27 - Nosey Flour

Tonight we had a Beehive Class Activity at Sister Keeler's house. We played some fun unity games, ate some pizza, and hung out. One of the games we played involved placing a penny on top of a tightly packed tower of flour. It's sort of like Jenga... every person takes a turn cutting away a portion of the flour with a knife without knocking it over. The person whose turn it happens to be when the tower falls gets to dig the penny out with their nose! Sister Keeler was the first to fall victim to stuffing her face into the flour.

Day 26 - Can Hardly Wait

Tonight for our Relief Society meeting, (G.A.B. aka Go Away Better), we had a class on budgeting and some pretty cool crafts. I only participated in the bulb in a glass project. I found these pretty cool vase's in my closet and thought they would be perfect. I really enjoy flowers and I was super excited to see that they had some tulip bulbs! Tulips are my favorite flower, well, one of two. I can hardly wait till these little guys start growing up, up, up! I even put the seaglass that my mother-in-law gave me a few years back at the bottom of one of the jars.

Day 25 - Almost Forgot

Tonight I almost forgot to take a picture. There are some days where I know what I'm doing the day before, but today was not one of those days. I had already gone to bed and was getting comfortable when I remembered I hadn't taken a photo yet. So, I came downstairs, grabbed my camera and took a picture of the clock. This is what time it was when I remembered!

Day 24 - Lady Bug Shoes

Abby received these cute little lady bug shoes from our Relief Society President when she was only weeks old. They fit now and I thought they would look really great with her red and black Christmas dress. Our home teachers, the Eaglestons, came over today and Tara told me that she was the one that made them! That was pretty cool. They won't fit Abby too much longer, and I will be shipping them to my cousin Tiff since her baby girls theme is Lady Bugs. I think she will like them!

Day 23 - Baby Ballerina Feet.

Abby's Great Great Aunt Carol gave her these amazing ballerina socks as a baby shower gift back in November. They are very fitting, since the time she was 3 months old, she loves to stand and move around. She even does a little dance with Abby called the Abby Dance. Most of the time Abby where's rompers, but lately I've been putting her in some of the outfits with pants, so today was the perfect day to try one of the ballerina sock pairs on. Abby has enjoyed playing with the box and the other pairs of socks.

Day 22 - Puppy Dog Kisses

Last night Abby and I hung out with some friends of ours while their parents went out for the evening. They have an awesome dog named Roxy who loves babies and can hardly resist licking them to death. The girls and I thought it would be funny see how Abby would react to Roxy's kisses.... at first she wasn't sure what to think, but after the first wave, she would cringe in anticipation of what was to come. It was quite humorous.

Day 21 - Abby the Snowman

When I told Steve this morning that it had snowed yesterday, he asked me if I had built a snowman yet. No, of course not... who's going to watch my child while I spend 90 minutes putting a snowman together?! Anyway, yesterday I was thinking that since it snowed (and has been snowing all day today), that it would be a good time to take some pictures of Abby in this ridiculous snowman outfit that her Great Grandma Totton gave her. Only a grandmother would give a child such a thing as this! She will love these photo's!

Day 20 - Our Goofy Young Women

Tonight was originally supposed to be Ice Skating, but the weather was a bit inclement, so we went to church and played Guestures while the presidency did Personal Progress interviews with the girls. Found out that my friend Kendall Keeler is doing a photo a day blog as well... thought that was cool! Gotta hunt that down! We all had a great time, Team 1 won the game and we took a couple of shots of us together. Unfortunately, I'm not in this shot, but I'm in Kendalls!

Day 19 - The Canvas Is Here

Ever since the 20x20 Canvas was introduced as one of our new products this past fall, I've wanted one! Now I've got it! I'm always stunned at how amazing the photo's turn out in my projects, but this tops them all. Sometimes I look at these photo's of Abby and I'm really amazed because they look professional, but to see them so big and on a canvas... looks even MORE professional! So cool... can't believe how easy it was to make this project!

Day 18 - Thriftiness

We have NO extra money to spend anymore. So far we are getting by without having to dip into our savings... thank goodness. A new GoodWill store has opened up down the street and I've become a frequent visitor. I have to admit that it has been challenging for me to not go out and buy things that I want, and especially since I've been trying to put Abby's room together. Today I took sold some movies and 4 of my DVD series to Suncoast in the mall; I got $39. I then went to good will and found some pink curtains, a couple of books and some pink baskets for $18 something, then went to Bed Bath and Beyond and found a nice curtain rod on sale for $14.99.

Day 17 - Sweet + Savory Lettuce Cup

Dinner for FHE was AMAZING tonight! I fixed that recipe I talked about yesterday... it was so much better than I imagined. It even had mushrooms in it (I'm not usually a fan). The flavor of this recipe was so great... we were all commenting on how good it tasted. There was only 4 of us (and Bailey of course) eating and we ate all of it... usually there are 5 or 6 of us. I did forget the mandarin oranges though... I don't think any one noticed. I had planned on taking a picture of my plate before I ate, but forgot, so I took a picture of the empty bowl... I think that says a lot!

Day 16 - I Love Your Flavor

Wow! Do you know what this is? Let me tell you about these fine little items. They are fresh Water Chestnuts! I've never seen them in their raw form before. Tomorrow I'm making dinner for FHE and I found a recipe in my latest PARENTS magazine that I am trying out. I'm really excited... I'll tell you how it goes tomorrow. Anyway... the recipe calls for water chestnuts. I couldn't find any at Smiths the other day, so since I had to make a stop at Whole Foods for some Gluten Free items, I thought I'd try. When I asked an employee where I could find some, he asked if I wanted fresh or canned... I said, I don't know, but if I get canned, I don't have to have as many (you know, waste not want not). He told me that the fresh one's have to be peeled, then he walked me over to where they were located, peeled one and gave it to me: AMAZING! They are crisp of course, but they are so sweet and creamy. They taste a lot like Coconut... I love them!

Day 15 - My Dear Allie Cat

This is my dear sweet Allie cat. She is the greatest cat that has ever lived! Right now she isn't getting as much attention because of little Abby girl. I wonder if she is resentful? She's been pretty cool about it though. She finds Abby amusing. I think Allie has been appreciative of Abby's new crib... she has finally gotten her spot back in bed at night; the spot the baby took for the last 7 months.

Day 14 - This Little Piggy

I love little baby toes and feet! They are just so darn cute. When I saw these toesies sticking out of the bars this morning, I just had to get a shot.

Day 13 - Bedtime Ritual

Now that Abby is sleeping in her crib, life for me has become amazingly simpler. Now, that doesn't mean I think I should have moved her to her own bed sooner (well, maybe just a tad sooner... but only by maybe a month). I've been enjoying the new nightly ritual of putting her to sleep. There is something peaceful about being in her room... it's definitely my favorite room in the house now.

Day 12 - Cloudy Mountain Splendor

This is the first portrait pose photo. Today I drove down to Carson City to Host Coach a friend for her Workshop at the end of the month. On the way back, I stopped in the Washoe Valley to shoot a couple of photo's of the clouds coming over the mountains. I've lived her for 5 years, and I still think it's amazing that I live in the middle of these majestic towers... so fascinating, so marvelous... so BIG! I especially love to take pictures of the sun and captures his rays. Today I was a little more adventurous and tried a different setting for the lighting... Tungsten.

Day 11 - Virginia Lake

This is the first time so far that I didn't get to post on the actual day...
Yesterday I went jogging around Virginia Lake. It's a 1 mile loop, so I did two which only took me 22 minutes. Considering I havn't ran in about 18 or more months, I think that's pretty good. It was cold, there were a lot of geese, and there were a lot of people. Abby seemed to enjoy the jogger, she just sat and watched as I pushed her around the lake.

Day 10 - Bailey Bunny

Tonight FHE was at the Sadlers home. Bailey had gotten her tights taken off for a diaper change. Afterwards, her dad showed us something very cute with the tights....
A Bailey Bunny!

Day 9 - Abby Sleepy Time

Now that Abby has a crib... I am putting into affect a daily nighttime ritual. Our bedtime routine is going to start around the same time every night and consist of a diaper change, Abby prayers, reading, a bottle of formula with oatmeal, with some singing and rocking to sleep. This is night number two... a bit later than I would like... Abby wasn't quite ready to go to sleep when I swaddled her the first time, so I put her in her crib to play for a little bit. She is already using the bars to stand up; quite the negotiator. I'm going to have to lower the crib to the bottom position this coming week.

Day 8 - Crib Assembly

During Abby's early afternoon nap, I took advantage of the time by beginning to assemble her new crib. Everything was moving along so smoothly, I kept thinking, "Oh IKEA, I love you so much for making this so easy." I moved on until I got to the bottom part of the bed which is a series of slats that have to be hammered into place. Once Abby woke up and was fed and content, I got to work on putting the slats in to place. I will tell you now that I have never hated a piece of hardware so much as I have these little plastic screw thingies that practically refused to be hammered into place. And mind you, there were 28 of them!! Most of them did not go down all the way, but only a few stuck up farther than I would like, resisting the powerful fall of my hammer. BAIN I SAY!

Day 7 - IKEA Adventure

Today Elizabeth Giles, Abby, and I drove to the IKEA store in Sacramento. Our mission (well, my mission), was to acquire a crib for Abby. Also on the list was a dresser. We had lunch in the IKEA restaurant and at the advice of Lisa Allred, tried the meatballs (which were amazing by the way). After we ate, we walked around the upstairs checking different things out. While Elizabeth was looking at a chair for her youngest daughter, an IKEA worker by the name of Ray came over to see if we could use any help. Turns out, he is LDS too! This was the first time I've purchased furniture at the store, so it was really neat to experience how easy it is to find everything you need downstairs. My mission was accomplished, thanks to the help of Elizabeth... and I even found a small matching table in the scratch n dent.

Day 6 - A Girl And Her Duck

... is a beautiful thing. I love the way Abby's face lights up when I put her duck in front of her. Of all the toys she has, it's the one she consistently gets excited about. Today I took 176 photo's of Abby... of which 126 I decided to keep, and about 20 that I love. Almost makes me wish I was a baby photographer! I got pictures with her duck, her bunny, and her gator. This is by no means the best photo, but shooting for excellence is not really what I'm aiming for with this blog anyways.

Day 5 - My What Big Eyes You Have

My little Abigator is 7 months old today. I was planning on doing a photo shoot with her, but didn't make it priority enough... however, it WILL happen tomorrow. I have a sneaky suspicion that most of these pictures are going to be of Abby. Can you blame me? One of the most common comments she gets is about how big her eyes are!

Day 4 - Passing Time

I've been borrowing and watching the Stargate SG-1 series on DVD for about a month now. As you can see from the box in the photo, I am watching season 4. I just finished watching the episode Divide and Conquer and I am currently feeling quite disappointed because a favorite character of mine was just killed. So sad that Martouf is gone.

Day 3 - Abby Bits

One of my favorite things to do with Abby is feed her baby food! I'm not exactly sure why I enjoy this so much. Part of the routine is to let her play with a rubber duck and hand her a baby wipe. As you can see, she loves to suck on her wipe (as well as her duck). Sometimes the look she gives me while messing with the wipe is so cute. Of course, the wipe acts as a sort of cleanup tool... keeps the mess manageable.

Day 2 - Spirit of the Season

My favorite part of putting up Christmas decorations is putting together my nativity scene. This year, I enjoyed showing Abby the different statues and talking with her about their individual roles. I grew up with this one and when I moved out on my own, my Mom sent it to me as a gift for Christmas. The glaze was actually painted on by my Grandma Totton and fired in her kiln.
Though I've taken down all my other Christmas decorations, I'm not really sure why, but I have decided to leave my nativity scene out.

Day 1 - Little Tears

This week, my little Abby girl has been very clingy. She doesn't want me to leave her alone EVER... it has made it very challenging to get anything done. Normally, I can get some things accomplished while she naps, but that has also been a source of complications this week. Everytime I lay her down to sleep, she wakes up almost right away. When she is awake, if I walk away from her, she begins to cry. I've been holding her a lot this week and letting all of my chores slide.

CM365

One of my New Years Resolutions is to take a picture each day and blog about it. I'm hoping that this will help me to understand the different functions of my camera better. I'm also excited about the idea of cataloging something that is going on in every day of my life. As the year goes on, I will put these post in a Storybook using Heritage Makers, and when the year is done... I will publish!