Abby's 9 Month Update

Abby turned 9 months last Wednesday.  I still can't believe it has been 9 months since this little peanut came into our lives.  I want to give you a little update about Abby, here I go…

Having fun outside!

Weight

As of Wednesday, Oct 22nd she weighs 18 lbs 9 oz.  She is wearing 6-12 month clothes right now.  She is also wearing size 3 diapers and we switch in between crusiers and swaddles.  Abby has 7 teeth now!  

Look at those teeth! 

My pretty girl

Diet

Abby has gotten better with eating since I last wrote about her FPIES allergy.  She is liking food more and is able to handle the texture of foods.  I am still hesitant with trying any new foods with her right now because of the reactions she's had.  There are still so many more meats, veggies and fruits we need to test out with her.  So far she is able to eat beef, broccoli, kale, spinach, carrots, apples, and bananas.  Her trigger foods that she has tried and failed have been oatmeal cereal, rice cereal, egg yoke and cauliflower.  At breakfast, she eats a fruit, lunch she has two vegetables and at dinner she has a meat and vegetable.  We saw her doctor on Wednesday and he asked us to start making her puree's thicker so she gets used to the texture and we can also give her small pieces of food so she can learn to feed herself and practice her hand eye coordination.  So Thursday she ate small pieces of banana (with my help of course) at breakfast.  She did surprisingly well for her first time.  She still breastfeeds 8 times a day anywhere from 5-15 minutes at a time.  The doctor also told us we could start to wean her from the midnight feed we do at 1:30 am. So these last several nights when I have gone to feed her at that time she just eats for 5 minutes and then refuses anymore and just wants to go back to sleep.  I have been following her lead and taking her back to her crib and she still sleeps until her usual time so I am assuming she doesn't need that feed anymore.  As much as I wish I could roll back over at 1:25 when I hear my phone go off I know I will miss that quiet time with her.  While everyone else is sleeping, I get to cuddle with her in my arms and let her feed, it's our special time together.  

'Green Monster' as Claire calls her

First time eating pieces of banana

Abby taking a break from breastfeeding and showing off her flexibility

Sleep

Abby has two solid naps a day and sometimes a third nap depending on how the other naps go.  She usually wakes up in the morning anywhere from 6:30-7:00 am for the day.  Then she goes down for her first nap at 9:00-9:30 am.  I will usually go upstairs and breastfeed her in our room (because she is extremely distracted by anyone or anything and won't have a solid feed if she is distracted) After she feeds I take her to her room change her diaper, read her a story and sing her 1-2 songs and then put her down awake in her crib.  She sleeps with one Aiden and Anais swaddle blanket drapped over her and then she has a small Aiden and Anais security blanket as well.  She will usually fall asleep on her own either in 5-10 minutes.  She loves to sleep on her stomach and curled up in a little ball how her sister Claire sleeps.  Her morning nap will be anywhere from 40 minutes -1 hour and 1/2.  During her nap Claire and I will usually play downstairs in the basement (that is our special time together). In the afternoon she will go down for another nap around 12:30-1:30 depending on when she woke up from her morning nap.  Claire also naps at the sometime so I am able to get things done around the house or just enjoy some 'me' time.  Some days Abby will need a third nap in the late afternoon around 4:30-5:00 if she wakes up at 2:30 or earlier.  At bedtime she has a bath with her sister, gets pj's on, reads stories, and then she breastfeeds before I put her in her crib for the night at 8:00 pm. 

Almost time for bed

Activities

Abby loves playing with her toys, she has her a basket of toys where she will take them out and right away put in her mouth.  She has many favourite toy's but she always has her mini Sophie and lady bug rattle in her hand or mouth.  We go for many walks through out the week, since this month has been gorgeous weather we try and make it outside once a day.  Abby is so content in the stroller while Claire walks beside her or going in the wagon with Claire.  She just stares out at everything along our walk.  She has started to play with Claire's doll house and mostly just putting the dolls in her mouth.  Claire isn't too happy about Abby discovering her toys, Claire is learning how to share with her sister.  She still enjoys going in her exersaucer and jumping up and down.  

Abby playing with her basket of toys

Abby playing with the doll house

Milestones

Abby can crawl now.  She can really motor.  We brought up the baby gate to put by the front stairs just incase she decides to head there.  No accidents yet, so that's good.  She pulled herself up to standing on Sept 15th while we were getting ready for naps in Claire's room, she was so proud of herself.  Last Thursday I caught her standing up and holding onto one kitchen chair and then switching to the other chair beside her (crusising furniture).  Then today in Claire's room as we were reading books she pulled herself up using my leg and let go standing there by herself for 3 seconds before falling down on her bum, it was so cute!  Claire and I clapped and had a little celebration for her!  My prediction is she'll be walking soon, she just wants to go,go, go.  We need to get the push walker from Kyle's grandma's house for her to use because we think she's ready to try and walk with it.  On Thanksgiving weekend, Abby was able to show us how she waves, it's funny she waves the same way Claire did, with her hand facing her.  We do it too and say 'bye bye' and she tries to make a sound like that 'bbbb' bbbb' it is so adorable!  

Oh sisterly love!

House Update

We are coming into the homestretch with our new house.  It is almost complete and we cannot wait for it to all come together.  We started the process in November and never thought we would be at the stage we are now.  

Claire eyeing up her new room

Last Tuesday we were able to head down to the house in the morning.  It was my birthday Tuesday and Kyle had booked the day off work to spend time with us.  We decided to pack a lunch and spend part of the morning at the house.  Kyle phoned Maric and had them go open the doors to the house for us since they now lock up before they are finished working each day.  We saw that the exterior stone was almost complete on the front and back of the house.  Inside they had finished priming the walls before painting and the fireplace/entertainment centre had been framed as well.  Everything felt a lot more real.  It was so great to see everything up close, until then Kyle had been going on his lunch hours from work and sending me quick pictures with his phone, it's so much better seeing it in person.  

Abby's new room

Our master bedroom

Our ensuite with the roughed in shower done and the tub will go beside it

The wall where are two sinks will go

Third bedroom where we will have an office/craft/playroom

The stairwell with the two windows lots of light coming in

Our living room with our fireplace and entertainment centre

Our dinning room and kitchen (one big open space)

The dining room and living room from the kitchen

Mudroom where the washer and dryer will go

Stairs going up

Our powder room

Our walk out basement

Next we need to finalize our walk in closet layout and the mud room closet storage.  We are still undecided if we will go with Costco's Closet Maid or go with Space Sake.  

We also need to meet with someone from Hunter Douglas and pick out window treatments for the house.  I think that's important to have in place before we move in, especially in each of the bedrooms.  

Yesterday Kyle took a drive to the house during his lunch and saw they had poured the concrete for the driveway and front walkway.  He said it looked great and the driveway was nice and wide.  They also poured some concrete in-between the front porch and the garage so there wasn't a gap anymore.  

Nice big driveway

Front walkway done

Concrete is now between the front porch and the garage

We are moving out of our current house on Nov 26th.  We will move in with Kyle's parents until our new house is ready.  We hope it won't take too long for them to finish up the house.  We have a tentative walk through on Nov 28th before they finish the flooring and baseboards.  Not much time left before we pack up and leave, it will be a mixed bag of emotions leaving this house.  We are so excited to live in our new house but at the same time this was our first house together and we've had many great memories here.  We will just have to make lots of memories in our new house.  

Fall Wreath and Pumpkin Pies

Last week I started to make a fall wreath for our front door.  I found a gorgeous rustic wreath on Pinterest and I wanted to make one.  Wood and Burlap Fall Wreath.   I asked my dad to cut small pieces of wood that I could use for the wreath.  He cut me many pieces and help me assemble them into a circle.  We glued them together and then he used a nail gun to secure them in place.  I had bought a number of decorations at Dollarama to decorate the wreath but wasn't liking the colours of the fake leaves and berries.  Instead I asked Kyle to find me some sticks out behind our house and used those.  I also cut burlap into a strip and made it into a bow.  I found some decorative red berries at Safeway in the floral department and cut those to fit on the wreath.  I used a hot glue gun to secure those on the wreath.  The wreath turned out a little less circular than I had planned but I love the way it looks on the door.   

Placing the wood in a circle (not quite a circle)

I bunched the twigs together and tied burlap string around them

I added berries with the twigs

Final product!

For Thanksgiving I really wanted to make homemade pumpkin pies.  We had gone to the pumpkin patch on the Saturday Oct 11 to buy pumpkins.  I picked up a sugar-pie pumpkin and I followed this Traditional Pumpkin Pie Recipe.  I started by cutting the pumpkin in quarters (Kyle had to do this part for me) and baked it in the over for 1 hour at 400F. Then I made my pie crust Sunday morning and wrapped it up in the fridge to sit overnight.  After my pumpkin was baked I scooped out the inside away from the skin and pureed it in a food processor.  Monday morning I baked my pie crusts and then mixed all the filling ingredients and added that to the hot crust.  I baked the pies in the over 50 minutes at 350F and the house smelled amazing!  Just how Thanksgiving is suppose to smell!  I am so glad I made the pumpkin filling from scratch, it tasted amazing! 

Sugar-pie pumpkin

Finished pumpkins

Made some decorative leaves with the extra dough

Last Weekend (Thanksgiving)

My two monkeys!

Sunday morning my family came over for brunch.  It was my dad's actual 60th birthday and my birthday was on Tuesday.  We wanted to get together to celebrate both our birthdays.  My parents brought ham, hashbrowns, and eggs to make omelettes.  Kyle helped my dad cook the eggs and we had a great brunch together. Claire was happy to help my dad and I open presents.  I was so spoiled by my family.  My sister and Derrick bought me Michael Smith's new cookbook Family Meals and a large Starbucks mug.  My parents got me the Oh She Glows Cookbook, many yummy scented candles from Bath and Body Works and a Starbucks mug as well.  My dad got a Jets jersey from Erica and Derrick and we got him tickets to the Jets game this coming Sunday night.  

Claire and Derrick (He's camera shy!)

Auntie Erica loves to pick out the girls outfits when she comes over

Claire helping grandpa open his gifts

Grandpa is all set for the Jets game Sunday

Claire helping me open gifts

Sunday after the girls naps we headed to the park at the end of the street.  It was a gorgeous afternoon and the weather was perfect for a walk to the park. Claire climbed the rock wall thing at the park on her own for the first time.  She was very proud of herself.  

Climbing to the top all by herself

Cause for celebration!

Yay she made it!

A little modelling before going out for dinner

Everyone watching Claire eat ice cream

Great food with the family

Abby watching daddy eating his dessert (brownies)

We then met Kyle's parents and grandma at Kildonan Park at the restaurant there, Food Evolution for dinner.  They had a great menu with local items.  I ordered the beef brisket with a sweet and spicy mustard, it was delicious!  Kyle ordered the pork schnitzel.  Claire had their veggie pasta, she ate it all.  They brought us a chocolate brownie with ice cream and Claire was able to have a twist ice cream with sprinkles.  She wouldn't share her's with anyone.  She was so quiet while she was eating her ice cream.  

Monday Kyle and I spent all morning and afternoon prepping for our Thanksgiving dinner we were hosting that night.  We were having both our families over including both our grandma's and our niece and nephew, Evan and Emily.  Kyle's brother Scott and his wife Susie were unable to make it because they were in Las Vegas for the long weekend.  So lucky right?  

Claire helping me roll out the dough for the pumpkin pies

Abby eating bananas for the first time (messy eater)

We had to prep for the stuffing, mash potatoes and turkey.  I finished baking the two pumpkin pies.  Kyle's grandma offered to bring cabbage rolls, coleslaw, and Pyrizhky Buns.  Kyle's mom offered to bring perogies.  My parents brought sweet and sour meatballs, my sister and Derrick brought buns.  I felt like we just got thing done in time for everyone arriving at 3 pm so I'm not sure what we would have done if everyone didn't pitch in and bring something.  Kyle was just talking about how is grandma would make all of those dishes herself for Thanksgiving and Christmas and with only one small over and stove, crazy!!

Claire made the name cards and plate decorations with me

This was the kids table

Abby loves playing with her cousins Evan and Emily

The ladies hanging out before dinner

These two are not happy with the Bombers performance

Kyle doing the honours with the big bird

So much food!!

Dig in everyone!

Another birthday celebration for me and my dad

Claire was happy to blow out more candles

Chocolate and Vanilla Strawberry cake

Everything turned out delicious!!  The turkey was juicy and tender. The pumpkin pies with fresh whipped cream were a big hit!  Everyone was so stuffed after.  Susie's mom Otilia sent over two birthday cakes with Kyle's mom.  She made a chocolate one and a vanilla strawberry one.  I had contacted her a couple weeks ago asking if I could order a cake with her for my dad's surprise birthday but she had 4 other cakes to make that weekend so unfortunately she couldn't do it, but she felt bad and wanted to send two cakes for each of our birthday's on Monday.  It was so sweet of her, she makes delicious cakes!  Even though the Bombers played a terrible game and lost the dinner was a success.