Our Little Abigail - Entry 1—November 29, 2007

I’m finally writing about our precious little daughter and what a joy she is. She is constantly changing and growing and we are so proud of her.
On Monday, the 26th of November, Abigail weighed in at 11 lbs 8 oz and measured 23 inches, putting her in the 75th percentile in both categories. We figured she had grown a lot since her two-week appointment where she weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and 20.5 inches but we didn’t realize she had grown that much. She has developed the most kissable chubby cheeks and adorable rolls on her thighs and around that mid section that Dad loves to blow on. On occasion, her neck is exposed and I love to eat that. She also now has a cute crease between her hands and her arms.

On Monday, Abbie got her first shots with an oral vaccine, and two shots in her right thigh and one in her left thigh. She cried hard after each shot but calmed down when she got all three and I was able to pick her up and hold her. She did very well until about 7 that night when she started feeling pain in her legs and had a tiny fever. Dad rushed to the store and was back within a few minutes with some Tylenol, which the doctor said she could use that night if needs be. She was soon feeling better and didn’t have any other reactions to the shots.

Abigail’s first real smile was directed at Dad when she was about 4 weeks old. She may have been smiling intentionally before that time but we weren’t certain. Every day since those first real smiles she has learned to “cheese it” even more and we’re loving every minute.
About the time of her first smile she started “talking.” At first, she made most of her sounds by sucking in air and making high pitched shrill noises. That has died down a little now that she has added the following (in order of occurrence) to her vast repertoire: Goo, Ma, Hey, Hi, and Da. Lately after she has napped and woken up, Abbie and I spend about 20 minutes playing on the floor. I will say one of her “words” and she sometimes repeats or just says what she wants. I’ve also started to sing to her at these times and she attempts to sing back. I think sometimes though because she can’t sing as loud as her mom.

Abigail has played in her bouncer since she was about two weeks old. She is so good to play in it every morning to allow Mom a shower. She really likes the vibrator on it but could care less about the music, which sounds like theme songs from corny 1980’s Nintendo games. She started noticing the toys about a month ago and began by swatting at the rattle, which was accessible to her right hand but she failed to bother with the bear shaped toy on the left side so I switched the two about two weeks ago. She now has a routine, which I think should give her the nickname of “Rocky” or “Stone Cold” or something. She uses her left hand to punch the rattle and then she slaps the bear right across the face. Don’t let her fool you because she’s a cute baby girl. Those punches and slaps are a pretty mighty blow. Trust me, I’ve gotten them in the face, across the cheek, and even in the eye. Just be wary if you’re ever holding her and she puts her hands up in the guard position. Oh, and she’s also an expert at using her fingernails as a lethal weapon. I do have to point out though that she occasionally takes a break from slapping the bear to grabbing it and shaking it with her hand.

Right before Thanksgiving Abigail noticed her butterfly mobile in her crib, probably because I finally started putting her right under it. She was so mesmerized by it. I have been able to turn it on 2-3 times for her and then she’ll sometimes put herself to sleep. When it stops though, she keeps staring at it, waiting for it to turn back on. I put a crib mirror in her crib about a month ago but she couldn’t really see it so I moved it a few days ago and she has started to stare at herself in it. Yesterday she was going down for a nap when I heard her punch the mirror. At times she has flailed her arms so hard that she has made herself cry when her own fists hit her face.

When Abigail was born, she seemed to have her schedule backwards in terms of sleeping. She slept most of the days and was awake much of the night (which is the way it was in the womb). Dad & I got more and more tired. On Halloween night, we had had all the sleepless nights we could handle. Abigail didn’t fall asleep that night until about 5 the next morning (I had a bit of chocolate that day which probably didn’t help). The next night we started using gas medicine and a bedtime lotion and offered many prayers. I believe she only woke up two or three times that night, allowing Dad and I to get more rest. She immediately began to sleep for about 5 hours straight after her 10:30 feeding and began to only wake up once. The night of Thanksgiving she slept 6 ½ hours straight (You gotta love turkey, with it’s L-Tryptophan). Last night she slept about 9 hours with waking up once in the night and then she fell back asleep while I was trying to feed her “breakfast” so I got to sleep in a whole hour.

Abigail is a really good eater and has been from day one. I’m just now figuring out how to tell that she needs to burp—thanks to an insight from my Mom. From about 3-4 weeks from birth we tried to “demand feed” her and boy was that a mistake. We learned how much this little one likes to eat (and be comforted by me) because she began to want to nurse every 5-10 minutes—hence the no sleep for Mom & Dad at this point. We got a book from a Sister in our ward called “Baby Wise.” A few hours after we started implementing some of it’s ideas, we began to see change for the positive in our Little Geunter. We’ve continued to use some of the principles from this book mixed with flexibility and inspiration to help Abigail eat and sleep better and she (as well as Dad & I) are much more happy.

She’ll probably be embarrassed when she is older but we have to cover all the bases. Abigail is a pretty good pooper. She has managed to squirt on Dad & I on several occasions. She sometimes gets constipated and then she has what Dad likes to call a “Poop Explosion” instead of a “blow out.” She successfully let many of the ward members in Sunday School last week hear how talented she is at blowing everything out at once. Dad was then congratulated on doing a wonderful job. Despite her apparent talents in this respect, she is even more expert at wetting on Dad & I. We only change her on a big vinyl mat because we have learned all too well how much liquid can come out of her. We can change her diaper and then go to pick her up only to find she managed to wet before we got the straps of her diaper in place. Or other times she prefers to “go” with the diaper off so she is able to create a lake underneath her, make Dad or I or sometimes both need a change of clothes, and even necessitate a bath—which she seems to like but hasn’t figured out that she can splash in the water yet.

For Halloween, Abbie was a pretty ballerina thanks to Grandma for some ballet slippers and the twins for borrowing their tutu. We visited Grandma and Papa as well as the McGowans. The best part of Thanksgiving for Abigail was probably seeing Gram and Grandpa for the first time. They flew in on the Saturday before and flew out he day after. Abbie loved taking naps on Gram and she spent a lot of time smiling and “goo-ing” at both of them. Gram and Grandpa seemed to have a good time and Gram even cried as we said goodbye at the airport. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Dad and I decorated the tree and house for Christmas while Abbie watched intently as we put up the lights.
Abigail is a very cuddly baby, unless she is fussy or gassy and then you have to watch for those flying fists. She often holds my fingers while she is eating. She loves to relax on Dad’s chest and watch TV with him. She is very animated and has a “plethora” of different facial expressions.