Nose, Toes

Today when I went in to get Abbie up from her nap I was met with a most unique display. Abbie had taken off one of her socks (not unusual) and was -what I thought - playing with her toes. I sat to watch her for a minute. She stuck her finger up her nose and then removed the contents (not boogers per se..) and rubbed them on her toes. If this wasn't bizarre (and disgusting) enough in itself, I then heard her repeating - "Nose, toes, nose toes..." over and over. I have never laughed so hard in my life!

Easter at the Gray's

Easter at the Gray's was overall low key but we had fun anyway. On Saturday morning, Lisa and Ben invited us to go with them to an Easter Egg hunt in Bountiful. Although the weather was sunny it was still early and freezing cold. We had all been told we needed to get their early because it had a high attendance, unfortunately that meant by the time the hunt started, Abbie was crying from the cold and needing to wait to get the eggs, which were in clear site of everyone. It was hilarious because all the little kids were crying and miserable as we parents kept trying to convince them how much fun this was. Then things we do for - and to - our kids. Twenty seconds after it began the hunt was over, but Abbie still thought it was fun.

Saturday afternoon we colored eggs. Which, considering Abbie can't eat them ,was a little overkill (She is allergic to nuts we have to avoid all "high allergen foods" until she is three. Joy.) However as her favorite activity is to cook with water we thought that coloring eggs would be a lot of fun. Abbie loved it. She got so excited about all of the different colors and was thrilled about choosing which eggs got to be which colors. I don't think she even knows eggs are edible so she didn't even act bothered at not being able to eat them.

Sunday started with an Easter egg hung (plastic eggs with jelly beans inside). Thankfully, the eggs and jelly beans occupied her for most of the morning. We had wonderful meetings at church and then got to go over to Stew and Nicki's for a wonderful Easter dinner. All in all an nice Easter weekend.

Did you know?

Did you know that you have an extra pocket that you carry with you everyday? While it is much easier for babies and toddlers, in theory we all have it . Abbie discovered it. I was on the phone today and turned and looked. There she was stuffing handfuls of hair elastics down the front of her diaper! She seemed to think this was the best place to keep them handy. Thankfully when I went to "clean her out" they weren't stuffed too far down, but down far enough that we threw them away. So if you are looking for some extra portable storage just know you have one with you wherever you go!

First Haircut

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm all about comfort over fashion, form over function, and substance over style. (My designer husband and architect brother are rolling their eyes as they read this I'm sure.) It is not that I don't want to look nice or appreciate beauty but when push comes to shove I'll take the comfortable route any day. I have never felt a need to apologize or be embarrassed for this world view until I made the decision to have a daughter.

Having a daughter brings out a whole other dimension in me. I want her to look adorable. I still prefer substance to style and don't want a fashionista on my hands if I have any control over it at all (and I'm sure any of you with daughters will be quick to remind me that I don't). However, I have been fretting over the last few weeks because Abbie -- while still the most beautiful girl in the whole world --was having some hair issues. Specifically - her bangs were too short to stay pulled back in elastics or clips, and long enough to be constantly in her eyes. Her hair is so thin that it was starting to look straggly after nap time and always falling into her eyes...so I gave in. (This picture doesn't really show how much the hair falls into her face, but you can see how they are always pushed around.)

I cut her bangs.

This was a big deal because I hated growing out my bangs between junior high and high school and thought it would just be better to not bother with them in the first place. But I went for it anyway. This is where my lack of any clue about how to make her hair look cute and fashionable made me realize (once again) my complete inadequacy in the realms of raising girls. I was terrified at having scissors close to her face and terrifed that with one misplaced snip I would have ruined her adorable hair. However thanks to "A Bugs Life" and fruit snacks, Abbie sat very still for the single snip of the scissors across her forhead and I was only left to fix one or two stragglers in the morning.

I think it turned out pretty good all things considered and can only console myself with the fact that she is way too young to care. Heaven help me when she is twelve!

One Fun Week

First, a random collection of Abbie stories, by Russ....

The other day, I was talking to Emily on the phone at work. Emily had called me on our home phone, and we were having a pretty interesting, engaging conversation. I got interrupted half-way through, by a call on my other line, and so slightly annoyed, I switched over: “Hello?” A small voice immediately chirped excitedly: “Hi!” Abbie, of course. “Hi! Hi! Hi, Daddy! Hi!” She had found Emily’s cell phone and used it to call me while her Mommy was hogging the other phone talking to me. Smart girl.

She says hello and bye bye a lot. In fact, she often says it to herself, or to her toys, food items, or other inanimate objects. For example: when she’s done with breakfast (signified by the oft-used expression: “dah-dahn!”, or all-done!), I usually say, “Are you sure?” and she then says (as if to drive home the point) “Ba-bye, sodder (cereal), ba-bye spoon, ba-bye, mah (milk) etc”, and waves to each one.

She is learning songs, like The Alphabet Song, The Wheels on the Bus, and Old MacDonald, just to name a few. Today at church, whenever we’d finish a hymn, she’d say, “More song?” a few times. When I say she is learning songs, what I mean is she’s learning the last word of each line of many songs. So, for example, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which, unlike most songs, she has known this well for over a month at least, ): “blah blah blah blah blah blah STAAAAAR, blah blah blah blah blah AAAAAAARE, blah blah blah blah blah blah HIIIIIIIIIGH, blah blah blah blah blah blah SKYYYYYYYY, etc etc.”

Now for Emily to explain the pictures...

This week we went to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. We had a blast! They have a mini mountain with water coming down through tubes, dams, and tubs. The kids have bowls, boats and balls to play with in the water. As seen on previous posts Abbie LOVES to play in water so this exhibit was a big hit. She fell in love with the cars. She loved to push herself around in the police car, and talk on the walkie-talkie (like her phone.) Just before we left we found the helicopter, which was a surprising hit. While I thought Abbie would be scared of the noise, she loved the buttons and being inside with daddy. I don't think we'll be going back any time soon because - while fun - the price just motivates me to come up with similar activities at home.

....Which brings us to the park. On Friday we went to the park. It was a little colder than we expected but we had still fun all around. Abbie was thrilled at her new skill of climbing up the stairs, by herself and going down the slide by herself. She did it over and over.

Then because today was stake conference we had the afternoon free and went for a walk as a family to the Cultural Celebration Center by our house. We live quite close, but with a 1 and a half year old wanting to push her stroller herself the distance was just fine.

Misc. Abbie News

Well, I haven't posted much, either because we haven't done much or during the things we have done I've forgotten to bring my camera with me, but I'll give you some highlights of our fairly non-exciting lives.

Abbie loves books and has taken up starting to read them to herself when I'm not around. I usually don't know what she is saying (I only get about half of it normally) but she babbles through the books quite regularly. There are a few simple books though that she knows all the words and will read them quite accurately to me when we sit down together. It makes this book-addict mother proud.

In other news, Abbie runs like a girl. It is hilarious and I almost laugh out loud every time she runs down the hall (which is all day, every day). Her hands are up about shoulder height and she flaps them as she runs. At some point we will probably need to cure her of this but right now I get such a kick that I just want her to do it over and over.

Finally, Abbie's new favorite game is "Seek" or as you might know it "Hide and Seek". "Seek" begins with Abbie standing in our bedroom facing the wall counting. If Russ our I are there we count all the numbers, if it is just Abbie we get "4,5,6". Meanwhile Russ or I hide in one of the five spots available upstairs and Abbie starts to look for us over, and over again. When I was a kid, I hated being "it" but it seems to be Abbie's favorite position as she can't ever sit still long enough to hide. She gets SO excited when she finds us and immediately yells out "Again!" and the whole process begins, again!

Our weekend Getaway

We spent last weekend up at my grandparent's cabin at Bear Lake. It was beautiful! Russ and I went cross country skiing on Saturday - at least in the morning. It killed my poor pregnant body. However it was SO fun - it always nice to be in the mountains with and spending time with your husband! We had a low key time the rest of the weekend just playing with Abbie and relaxing. On Sunday when we were coming home we ran into a couple of snow storms but nothing too serious - until we got to Park City.

In Park City the traffic completely stopped. It turns out that a semi had jack-knifed on the road completely blocking traffic. We were stuck in a truck for two hours with a 20 month old child - making the entire drive five hours. We don't have (and didn't think we needed) a portable DVD player or other entertainment as Abbie is usually fine in the car for the 3 hour drive. Needless to say by the time we got home I was far from feeling rested and relaxed from our wonderful weekend. I went to bed last night at 9:20.

Its a.......

We are having another girl!!! WOW!! We are so excited and a little surprised as that means five granddaughters for my side of the family with zero grandsons. Both Russ and I where kind of expecting a boy but I must say we are thrilled with the news. Everything is going well and looks good which we are very grateful for.


In other random news Abbie locked me out of the house on Monday. I brought her inside then went out to get groceries. She turned the lock with me outside and her inside!!! After a moment of panic I ran to get our key from the neighbors - but they weren't home. Then I went to another neighbors to call Russ so he could come home (it was either that or break a window.) Thankfully, it was only a few minutes before he would have been heading home anyway. I went to the backyard and watched Abbie through the sliding glass door. She was fine. I was able to coax her to pull out the stick but she wasn't tall enough to push up the lock!!

Hiking in the Snow

Thanks once again to Jen we got a wonderful Christmas present of an annual pass up Millcreek Canyon. We decided we wanted to start taking advantage of it as soon as possible so we went up this weekend to go snowshoeing. Unfortunately, my snowshoes were broken and the ones we intended to borrow - well didn't work out. So we just decided to hike it. Thankfully there was a trail that was pretty well packed down so we didn't loose too much traction hiking normally.

It was SO fun to get out and be in the mountains again. We hiked a lot in the summer and enjoyed ourselves immensely and this was so reminiscent of the summer that we hope to keep it up as long as I can. There is just something so freeing and refreshing being outside.

Abbie of course had a blast talking about the water in the stream and the snow on the trees. She was also comfortable enough to fall fast asleep on our way back down.

Russ and I

I got tagged by my friend Kelsey and by my sister in law Jen so I'm going to kill two birds with one,well anyway .

This is info about Russ and I

What is his name? Russell Paul Gray

How long have you been together?: Married for three and a half years.

How long did you date?: One and a half with two short break-ups in the middle. (One was me, one was him, but he’ll never admit it

How old is he? 31 – but you’d never know it

Who eats more?: Often me – sadly. I was told he had quite the eating reputation but I’ve never seen it

Who is taller: He is by about an inch or two.

Who said "I love you" first? I did.

Who can sing better? Russ – no doubt!

Who is smarter? It depends on the subject.

Who does the laundry? Me.

Who pays the bills? I do.

Who sleeps on the right side? I do..

Who mows the lawn? The HOA company

Who cooks dinner? I do it and I love it.

Who drives? He does

Who is more stubborn? Not me, not me, not me!!!

Who kissed who first? He kissed me and surprised me beyond belief!

Who asked who out first? He did

Who proposed? He did

Who has more friends? Russ probably has had more but I stay in touch with mine way better than he does.

Who is more sensitive? I am for sure!

Who has more siblings? I do.

Who wears the pants? He does... okay... not really ;)

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My Quirks...


1. If I wake up in the night it takes a minimum of an hour for me to fall back asleep unless it is the fourth or fifth night in a row then I’m exhausted.

2. I hate being late to anything even social functions where it doesn’t matter. I’m getting better, but not much.

3. I can't think of any other things right now... I think I’m pretty normal but I’m sure in the comment section Russ will add a bunch!!

What was I doing Ten years ago?

I was in the middle of my first year at Utah State with roommates that I still considered some of my closest friends. I think….(but I’m not sure) that I had started the short time of dating Ryan Rothman at this point – the first guy I ever kissed (sad it took me ‘til collage). Beyond that I don’t really know.

Things on my “To Do” List:

I used to be much better about having an actual list, but now I do it mentally until I get too overwhelmed. Thankfully, because of a busy week before now, not much is on the list. I need to review my lecture for tomorrow night and find a new restaurant to go for Valentines Dy (it is my year to plan) as the one I had originally planned is closed due to a fire.

Bad Habits:

Hmmmmmmm…Russ could tell you better than I. I interrupt (mostly Russ) if I’m excited about what I’m thinking. I don’t usually realized I’m doing it as I do know it is rude. I also am not a terribly patient person – although I’m working on that. Also I hate folding laundry so it usually ends up piled and wrinkly for days.

Places I’ve lived:

Arizona (where I was born),Salt Lake and Logan Utah, Jerusalem for two months, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, London, England for six weeks!

can’t remember what else there was…

Timeout

So time out is an interesting experience in our home. It doesn't happen too often - mostly when someone (not to name names) drops food on the floor deliberately or doesn't help with cleaning up her toys. Time out is standing in the corner. Amazingly Abbie knows exactly when she is supposed to go and usually walks over there just fine. This is where it gets interesting. She doesn't fight, yell or scream - most of the time. However sometimes she will sing, peak around the corner or just babble to herself. She seems like she actually enjoys the experience (which appears to limit the disciplinary value.)

However when it is over she runs cheerfully away from the corner, and if it is ever threatened she gets very upset and usually obeys...Go figure

What will Abbie be when she grows up?

Obviously most parents and grandparents love to speculate on the future occupation of their offspring. I think all parents see greatness in their children and are convinced that whatever they do they will lead the world in their chosen field. We of course are no exception to this trend. So Russ, in an attempt to figure out ahead of time in which field of study Abbie will excel, has started tracking her interests. This is what we've discovered so far.

( And truly if Abbie is anything like my siblings and I, if we as parents dare to suggest any of these fields of study, she will patently refuse to consider them for the rest of her life.)