Abigail- 7 Months Old

On the 24th of last month, our little Abigail turned 7 months old! I really wish I would have done these monthly updates sooner, but oh well!

Size: 

-She continues to measure 50% on all the growth charts for head, weight and height. At her 6 month appt she was 16 lbs, 2 oz and was 26 inches tall. 

-She has been in size 3 diapers for quite some time. (Thanks to her big booty and thunder thighs)

-Her 3-6 month clothes are getting a little tight. She mostly wears 6-9 month or 6-12 month clothes.

Eyes and Hair:

-Over the past month or two her slate blue eyes have turned a deeper shade of blue! I love them.

-Her hair is really starting to fill in and somedays we swear it looks strawberry blonde! Its funny to see how fluffy her blonde hair is becoming. 

Teeth: Her 2 bottom teeth are completely poked through, and one of her top canines has started to come in. Poor thing had a cold last week thanks to that last tooth!

Sleeping: Oh where did my baby go who slept through the night, 12 hours straight?! Thanks to the teeth that have been coming through she has been getting up about once every night to nurse. Thankfully she eats for about 5 minutes then goes right back to sleep. But every night seems to be different. We are started to feed her more and she seems to give us longer stretches of sleep when we do! 

Eating: I am still breastfeeding her, but I am slowly starting to wean her off and she only does it about 3 times a day now. She loves all kinds of baby food but we are trying to incorporate more protein in her diet. She will eat anything we give her, but really loves when she can feed herself. This month I am trying to be better about feeding her things we are eating at dinner instead of just baby food. Thankfully she takes the bottle really well, so on days that I work I don't have to worry. 

Milestones: 

-Rolls over from tummy to back and vice versa. 

-Sits up on her own.

-She is getting VERY close to crawling! She gets so frustrated trying to figure it out. 

Loves: 

-Being surrounded by people

-Bath time

-Our dog Charlie (poor Charlie just takes the abuse! haha)

-To smile at Mom, Dad and just about anyone else
-Water bottles
-Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood
-Watching basketball with Dad (seriously she will not take her eyes off the TV when its on!)
-Sleeping on her tummy
-Sitting in the stroller, facing out to look around
-Any kind of music
-Mirrors
-Being tickled by Dad
-Her cousins Parker and Colton

Hates:
-Laying on her back
-When I take away food that she is chewing on
-Skipping nap time
(She is such a laid back and happy baby that is literally the only thing I can think of!)

Abigail has been such a great baby these past 7 months. Robbie and I feel so lucky to be her parents and watch her grow! I love being able to hand her off to someone and know that she wont make a fuss. (Hopefully this continues!) Here are some pictures from this month!

                                     

She is always crossing her legs, it cracks us up!

Miss blue eyes!

Can you see the terror in Charlie's face!?

We love you Abbers!!!

I'm Still a Rookie

Everyone tells you when you're pregnant how much your life is about to change. (Everyone who is already a parent.) By the end of my pregnancy I had to stop myself from saying, "I know already, please stop reminding me how crazy my life is about to get!!!" But to be honest, you really don't fully grasp the change until you are up at 3am wondering why the HECK your daughter is wide awake. Better yet, why its impossible to be mad at her when she is seriously screwing up your sleeping habits!

Even though Abigail is 7 months old, this whole parenting thing is still VERY new to me. I grew up babysitting and was around kids all the time, but there are still some things I was definitely not prepared for. Robbie and I have lots of moments where we laugh, look at each other and say, "Wow, we are parents now!" Here are a few moments I've had lately that made me stop and realize that my new title as Mom is pretty permanent, and pretty awesome.

1. Road trips are no longer spontaneous times where we say "lets just get in the car and go somewhere!"

No more driving to Oklahoma last minute for a concert we want to see. Road trips are planned weeks in advance, and packing takes me a lot longer than I am willing to admit. How can one tiny person need SO MANY things?? I am so grateful that Abigail does really well in her car seat. I know it could be much worse. But we have realized that her limit is about 3-4 hours. I'm sure I am not the only parent who has gotten really creative at keeping my child entertained for a few hours on a road trip. Road trips might as well be called road events.

 

(Thankfully, most of the time she looks like this!)

2. No matter how old your child is, you will "occasionally" seek help from TV shows to keep your child happy and entertained.

Go ahead and judge, but yeah I let my 7 month old watch TV. How else could I shower or make myself some food to eat?! I was the pregnant lady who swore I would never let my infant watch TV, but then I wised up and discovered shows like Baby Einstein and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. And to my surprise Abigail LOVES them. Watching her smile and be mesmerized by the adorable singing is worth the 20 minutes I need to get some things done around the house. One day Robbie and I were getting ready for church while Abigail was watching TV and we had one of those moments I mentioned before. "Wow this is our life now, kids shows playing in our house!" I have to say our personal favorite is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. It is seriously adorable. Its one of the only kid shows that I don't mind having on in the background and that doesn't drive me crazy. My parents even bought her a stuffed Daniel Tiger that she loves.

One time we left Daniel Tiger at Nana's and Papa's house (Robbie's parents). The next day we got a few pictures from Robbie's mom...we were laughing so much! The poor guy was was rescued soon after. 

3. Everything takes longer. 

Simple things like, running into the grocery store to grab a few things, or going for a quick jog around the neighborhood. Things that used to take little or no preparation, suddenly become much longer because what if my baby has an accident in the store and I need diapers?! What if she gets fussy and I forgot a toy?! What if she throws up and I need a burp cloth?! With these silly questions going through my mind, I have to fully pack the diaper bag, or load up the stroller. Because heaven forbid I'm stuck inside Kroger and didn't bring her Sophie Giraffe for her to chew on! -_-

I realize some of these worries come with the territory of being a new mom. And I really am getting better about not obsessing over the "what ifs". 

(Errands sure are more fun when I get to stare at this little one.)

4.  Using a public bathroom will never be the same. 

I know this is a weird one, but think about it. Have you ever seen a mom go into a bathroom with a child or two and not come out for more than 10 minutes? I dread the times when its just me running errands with Abigail and nature calls. Especially the times I forget a stroller. (Which happens more often than you would think.) Lets just say that using the bathroom with your baby strapped to your chest in the carrier is not the easiest of endeavors. TMI? Well sorry, but I'm not going to sit her on the nasty floor. Haha please tell me I'm not the only one who has struggled with this as a parent. I also know that this is only going to get worse...

5. Love suddenly has a whole new meaning. 

The best part about being a new parent? Having a tiny human that you love more than anything in the whole world! I was not prepared for how much my heart would grow. The rewarding and loving feeling of nurturing and caring for Abigail is something I wouldn't trade for anything. I am grateful to be her mom, and I'm ready for all the fun and challenging things that come with parenthood. (I think!!)

Good Intentions

With this new year in full swing, I have realized that a lot of the goals I set for myself start to fizzle out by February. Surely this happens to most of us right? Or maybe just me? Err yeah, just me.

Well making a blog for our family, (and actually writing in it!!!) has been my goal since Robbie and I got married. Can you tell how I have one post a year?! Yeah, embarrassing. I've decided that since I'm starting this goal in February, it is much more likely to stick. Pretty sound logic.

Funny story, last time I got serious about writing in this blog it was August 23rd. Abigail was clearly taking her time coming into this world and I needed something to keep me busy while I waited. I asked a super talented friend of mine if she would revamp the header on my blog to make it more "me". She did an awesome job (right?! Thanks Brielle!) and I went to bed excited to post my first real entry the next morning! Instead, I woke up at 5am with crazy contractions aka: labor, and our little Abigail Taylor Park was born that night at 6:41pm!
         
........So I figured a new baby was a pretty good excuse to not follow through with the blog at that point. Ha!

But now that she is going to be 6 months old soon, I feel like she does something new and exciting every day! I don't want to forget these fun moments.

With that being said, this is me recommitting to writing in this blog and recording all the memories our family is creating! Thanks for following along!

Hannah

                                   (Just for kicks, here is my favorite picture of Abbie lately)

Charlie

     Since I haven't updated the blog in months, I figured now was the perfect time to start back up again. I was busy trying to graduate from nursing school and all, so please forgive me! (More on that later). I'm very happy to be done with school, but in other news......

WE GOT A PUPPY!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm super excited about it?! For those of you who know me even the tiniest bit, you know that I am obsessed with dogs. I don't think Robbie was fully aware of how serious this obsession was until he married me. Poor guy.

Pretty much ever since we have been married, I have begged and begged for a puppy. We live in a small apartment, so I knew my dream of owning a huge dog needed to be put on the back burner for a while. But I still had hope!! Small dogs love apartments! The only hurdle to get over was convincing him that it would work and that we would make awesome pet owners. When spring break rolled around we got a taste of this lifestyle when we had the opportunity to watch my sister and brother in laws Yorkie for nearly 2 months. We loved having Ivy, and could really see ourselves getting a small dog! (Thanks Adria and Julius for trusting us enough with Ivy girl!!)

Then one day out of the blue, Robbie said "When you graduate, we can get a dog." Hearing that, I fell in love with him all over again, and now Charlie is a part of our family! She is a Morkie (a Yorkie, Maltese mix) and we got her when she was 7 weeks old. We love having her around. She sleeps A LOT. She has a foot/toe fetish. Potty training has been hard, but she is doing great so far! I think we have finally reached longer than 24 hours since she's had an accident inside or in her bed. Progress!! She is very friendly and loves anyone who picks her up or plays with her. She has some of the sharpest puppy teeth I've ever felt! Her coat and size change every day, so we are very curious to see how she will turn out!

We are SO happy Charlie is part of our family!

Our Texas Wedding

     A few weeks ago we received a magazine in the mail called Texas Weddings 2013. I got really excited because a friend of mine happens to be the Logistics Coordinator for the Bridal Extravaganza show (who puts out the magazine). She told me to expect the magazine in the mail, and that there was a surprise in it! I couldn't believe it when I saw this...

....a 3 page spread of OUR wedding!! I was so excited, and grateful for this special opportunity! I love the article, and want to give a BIG thanks to my great friend/bridesmaid Jessica Darensbourg for writing it and planning everything. She knew our wedding would be featured in the magazine before we even got married! Props to her for keeping it a secret from me for nearly 8 months, it turned out to be a great surprise. Jess also told me the magazine would be sold in stores all over the state...I was shocked and blow away by that news! I would also like to thank the editor in chief of the magazine, and producer of the Bridal Extravaganza show, Laurette Veres for giving Jess the thumbs up to include our wedding in this issue!

Robbie and I were thrilled to be able to share pieces of our special day with many others. I plan on making some sort of collage out of the pages a long with other things from our wedding, but we'll see when I actually get around to that!

Review of 2012

2012 was a great year for Robbie and me...for obvious reasons. We got married!!!

It went by so fast and we cant believe we have already been married for nearly 7 months. (It sounds silly I know, but to us it seems like just yesterday we got engaged.)

January

We were technically engaged on December 31, 2011...but I will count that as January! We were thrilled, and set our date for June 16. I got a lot of wedding planning done this month before school started up again. 

February/March/April 

I won't bore you with wedding planning details. Thankfully I was only taking one class this semester, because I don't think I would have been able to plan a wedding at the same time. I also managed to watch all 10 seasons of Friends in about 2 months. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that, but if you're a fan of the show then you will understand why I couldn't stop!!! Robbie joined a slow pitch softball league his sister Genn started up, his younger brother Tyler also joined! If you know the Park family, then you know they are super athletic, so needless to say the 3 siblings together dominated the team. Robbie's other sister Adria even joined in on the fun for the last game! I had fun watching the season! We also made a trip to Little Rock, Arkansas for a wedding! Robbie's friend from college asked him to be a groomsmen.

May

Robbie's younger brother Tyler was called to serve a mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is currently serving in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and will be there until May 2014! We are so proud of Tyler, and we love getting emails from him each week! 

Some of the members in Mexico think he looks like Superman! Haha

June

The month I never thought would get here, finally came! We were sealed for all eternity in the Dallas Texas LDS temple. We had a ring ceremony that afternoon, followed by our reception in Keller. It was by far the happiest day of our lives and we were so happy to share it with all our family and friends! The following Monday we left for our honeymoon to Puerto Rico! Robbie planned the whole trip, and we had such a great time. 

July

As soon as we got home from Puerto Rico, we drove to Conway, Arkansas for a wedding! The following weekend, we drove north again to Fayetteville, Arkansas for another wedding! July was a crazy month, but we had lots of fun celebrating with our friends! (I also learned that not only does Robbie love to dance, but he is pretty dang good at it too! This made for a lot of laughs at the weddings)

Not quite sure what was going on here, but it was hilarious!

 

 

August

This month, we spent a lot of time going to swim at my in laws house in Keller! We spent a few days watching 4 kids while their parents were out of town. It was tough work, but we had a lot of fun getting to play "Mom and Dad" for a few days! 

 I did my best to perfect my housewife skills. I had fun trying out lots of new recipes, and I think Robbie was genuinely sad when my school started up again. (No time for cooking fancy dinners!) I began my Senior 1 semester of nursing school, which included classes like Pediatrics, OB, and Critical Care.

 This month we also got settled into our new ward! We love everyone we have met and the friendships we have formed. Robbie was called as second counselor in the Bishopric, and I was called as the Mia Maid advisor in Young Womens!

 September

This month we had fun watching our nephew Colton! He came to stay with us for two weekends. Sharing a queen size bed with a wiggly 5 year old, and Robbie who is 6'4 was quite the adventure! We watched a lot of Power Rangers and Colton thought having pizza with chocolate milk for dinner was pretty much the best night ever! 

We also bought season passes to Six Flags Over Texas! They are good through the end of 2013. I am not the biggest fan of roller coasters, but our whole family and lots of friends have them...so I caved and agreed to it! We have gone 3 or 4 times since september, so I would say they have already paid for themselves! 

October

We celebrated my 23rd birthday this month! We also made the trip to Shreveport, Louisiana to watch the Texas A&M-Louisiana Tech game. My parents met us there and we had a great time watching the amazing game. The Aggies finished with the WIN...of course! :) We had a fun time at the State Fair of Texas later that month. Fried oreos....yum!

 November

This month we celebrated Robbie's 28th birthday! We made a trip to Conway, Arkansas for the Sherwood's baby blessing. I experienced my first UCA football game, and the Bears won! (Robbie played quarterback for UCA, so it was fun getting to see the place where he used to play)

We spent our Thanksgiving in New Braunfels, TX where my grandparents live. The whole Taylor side of the family was there! We watched a lot of football and ate tons of great food. 

 

December

I finished up my Senior 1 semester, and enjoyed the nice long winter break from school. We made a trip to Houston before the Christmas holiday, and spent Christmas here in Dallas. It snowed on Christmas, so that was a first for the both of us! I had fun sending out our first Christmas card.

 This blog post was a lot longer than I had originally planned, but its hard to sum up the whole year in just a few sentences! We had a blast in 2012, and cant wait to see what 2013 has in store for us! :)

  

 

 

                                

 

A New Year...a New Blog!

     On my mental list of New Year's resolutions, starting a blog was #1. I once had a friend tell me that after every Mormon girl gets married, she does the 3 B's.

1. Blog (Start a blog ASAP)

2. Bob (Chop her hair off)

3. Baby (Gets pregnant) 

     If you are Mormon, and married, I'm sure you can attest that this joke is in fact very accurate! So in order to live up to the stereotype I have decided to start this blog. (Just in case you're wondering, I did cut 6 inches off my hair a few months into being married, but now I miss having long hair.) And no, I'm not pregnant. Hah

     I have no clue if anyone will even read this, but I have enjoyed reading other friends blogs, and would like to start documenting the memories Robbie and I have made, and will make in the future!