Monday, July 30, 2007

More Random Pics of Baby Abraham

2 1/2 months old and not fitting into the swing. Such a peanut!



I realize that he'll probably see this picture and hate me for it! Oh well! 4 months old


Mother's Day 2006 - 6 months old - my lil' man!

8 months old - he loved this jumper... can't you tell! That smile lights up my heart!


9 months old - at the Dr's office - loved the black and white

Favorite Baby Abraham pictures

I was just looking through all the pictures of Abraham that I have saved on my computer and remembering how very tiny he was. There are so many pictures of him that I treasure - ones that document his small start and his amazing growth so far. I realized too that I have very few of his baby pictures on this blog so I decided to put a few of my favorites on here. Bear with a proud mama!


Abraham's Christmas outfit


Cuddling with Mimi


Sleeping angel


We are ready to come HOME!!

Abraham (2 months old) and Daddy

Bigger boys with smaller toys!




Abraham thought that the bouncy seat was great fun today.. too bad I was washing it to take it to consignement. He backed his little tush up to the seat and got in it, flopped around in it and laughed at himself!
He never really liked it when he was little. Perhaps because he was too little to actually bounce in the thing - such a feather weight!! But he sure loved it today!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

IT'S OFFICIAL...



I'm OLD! I thought that I'd eat a bit of humble pie by putting this post on here. We'll see if it makes any difference - probably not.

So here's the scoop - for the past 5 years or so, I've had a pair of glasses for reading and night time driving. I wore them a bit, lost them for a while and then just recently started wearing them again. Only to realize that they weren't doing a darned thing for my eyes.

Now, Michael has been bugging me for gosh, 2 years maybe, to go and get my eyes checked. I put it off and put it off - squinting my way through most things that I had to, well... SEE! It got so bad at school that my fellow teacher (and surrogate mom, Sherri) would continually tease me about the squinting and I became the "joke" on our team.

All of that to say, I finally went to the eye doctor this week and wouldn't you know it my prescription has REALLY changed! She showed me my old prescription and then the new one - it's amazing what correct glasses can do for you!! Opens up the whole world for me. Go figure. So I'm in the process of wearing them all day to get my eyes used to them again. Sure does make reading and computer stuff and watching TV more enjoyable. I got 2 pairs - and didn't go for the typical wire frames. Wanted something funky - is that what I got?? I don't know!!

I'm thinking that the trick to this is to actually WEAR the glasses?? Good thing I'll have so many people to LOVINGLY tell me I should wear them :)

Top pair is the good pair and the bottom is my spare - the difference is in the shape can you tell??

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Thank God for Electronics!!




We drove home from Atlanta in one, yes ONE, day. I'm sure we must have bumped our heads on something to have done that... we were on the road at 5 AM. Typically it takes us about 12-13 hours to drive home. This time it took 14 1/2 hours. Now imagine that with a 20 month old in the back seat... a 20 month old whose butt nearly became one with his carseat. He was NOT happy with us at all. The last 2 hours were hell, literally, for all 3 of us. Thank God for a DVD player, borrowed from my sister - God bless her! Granted he didn't want to watch the movie, all he wanted to do was push buttons. And he wanted to hold it himself. Good grief!! But I didn't care - it occupied him for nearly 1 hour.

We have survived... but our butts are dreading the next long drive down!!

Dinner at Los Charros


Elliott, Stacy and Abraham


The family out for dinner - I'm only in the picture because Michael's aunt Marianne is taking the picture!



Jessie, Kay, John and Abraham


I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD!!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Visiting Grandma Kay and family in Atlanta


Spending time with Grandma Kay


Grandma Kay had to help me down the BIG steps



I love cuddling with Grandma Kay!


After our time in South Georgia, we drove to outside of Atlanta to Michael's moms place. Only Kay, John (her husband) and Elliott, Michael's brother were home. Michael has 3 sisters, Emily who is in CO, and Elizabeth and Kathryn are in WA. They weren't able to be home for our visit but we hope to see them at Christmas. Also visiting with Kay was Michael's cousin, Jessie. She is 11 years old and was a great help with keeping an eye on Abraham. He loved playing with her - such a lady's man!

We got to spend time with Grandma Kay at a playground and just around the house. She watched him one night and Michael and I got out to dinner and a movie.

We also took a day and went up to Athens, where UGA is located. The town is SO cute - I fell in love! Great shops with tons to do. The university takes up most of the town. If I was moving, it would be to here.

Even with all the driving we did, which was LOTS, we managed to have a really good time with family.


It was fun "wrestling" with Elliott


This is Jessie with a UGA Bulldog in Athens, GA - they have bulldogs, we have crabs!


Michael, me and Abraham under the UGA arch

South Georgia Pictures


We met Michael's Aunt Betty for lunch and she got to see Abraham again. We weren't able to meet up with his other aunts and cousins, unfortunately.


We were blessed to be able to go and visit Michael's Grandmother. The last time we saw her she wasn't doing well and it was hard on Michael to see her that way. She is doing much better now and was very alert and she was making jokes. She just loved seeing Abraham and holding him in her lap. We had a good visit with her.






Abraham decided that it was more fun to pull Big Dog's tail than to actually play with him. Good thing Big Dog is very calm and mild mannered or we would have had trouble!


Gramie bought a small pool for the boy - good thing cause it was darn hot down there! It was great fun for Abraham to get in and out of.


Reading time with Gramie - showing her his favorite book from home


Food? Where? Michael sharing his boiled peanuts with Abraham who apparently will eat ANYTHING!! If you have food, you are his best friend!


A boy and his trucks

Visiting with Gramie and Grandad


I'm just TOO cute!


Daddy was showing me how to hold a REAL turtle


After our 3 days at the beach we went to South Georgia to visit with Michael's dad and his wife, Willie. They took us to the Flint Riverquarium in Albany, Georgia We saw all sorts of neat animals that live in the Flint River - including the turtles! I think that we enjoyed it more than Abraham did!

Then we went to Chehaw Park. This is a small zoo in Albany, Georgia also. Abraham slept through the beginning of the zoo and missed the alligators. But we enjoyed the rest of it together!


Walking with Grandad and Gramie


Yes folks, there is an alligator in there!

Vacation at Myrtle Beach

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Great fun digging in the sand!


I found a cool shell Momma!


Daddy and Abraham finding shells on the beach


I'm pooped!


I haven't posted in a while because we were away for vacation the past 2 weeks. We stopped in Myrtle Beach before heading to Georgia to visit family. I grew up vacationing in Myrtle Beach and it holds great memories for me. But the last time I was there was 9 years ago and LOTS has changed. I have decided that I don't like all the crowds and that the Outer Banks beaches are more my (our!) speed.

Of course that didn't stop us from heading to the beach to let Abraham have his first beach experience. He liked digging in the sand and throwing his shovel in the waves, watching it float out to sea (not really but he seriously would have liked that!) He liked the waves coming in on his feet and at one point did a belly flop and nearly got bowled over by a wave - he came up laughing!

It was so fun to watch his expression and reaction to the water and the sand. It was worth coming to the beach just for that!


Momma and Abraham (one of the only pictures of me and the boy on vacation - stinks being behind the camera the whole time!)



Daddy and Abraham enjoying dinner


The first night we were there we went to this place called Broadway on the Beach. It is a HUGE place filled with shopping, eating, rides, IMAX theater... anything you could think of is here. Talk about the crowds. We ended up eating at this place, Key West Grill because it was the only place with a wait that was less than 30 minutes! We had to eat outside on the deck to get it - and boy was our boy rammy and hungry. It came down to letting him eat the sour cream from my baked potato and the honey butter that came with the bread. That is probably why he looks the way he does in that picture with Michael! Poor child!

Sunday, July 8, 2007


I love cars!


Girls just don't get it!



Lunch at Chuckie Cheese with Sadie

Abraham and I met up with a friend from work, Theresa, and her little girl Sadie. Sadie will be 2 in a few weeks so she and Abe are relatively close in age. They had a good time exploring at the playground until Theresa and I got hot! We took the kids to Chuckie Cheese where we ate pizza and had a blast on the inside toys with the air conditioning and all! Much better!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

July 4 - Bel Air Parade


Abraham cuddling with KK



Me, Abraham and Chloe



Mimi and her boys, Abraham and Alex


Yes folks we are crazy!! We decided to go to the Bel Air parade too... the men decided that they weren't interested so it was just us girls and the kids. I had laid out a blanket and chairs in the morning to save a spot - and it's a good thing I did cause it was packed! I got there a bit after 6 pm and got settled. Not 20 minutes it started to sprinkle. Thankfully I had parked us under a tree so that saved us a bit. It proceeded to rain off and on throughout the entire parade. Yuck! My mom's favorite thing is to be wet - NOT!! Poor thing - she was a good sport, trying to use the flag as her umbrella (I have a pic of that but she might disown me if I put it on here!). But we enjoyed ourselves none the less. The kids loved it - Even Abraham sat really well for another hour or more. More "Vroom, vroom" and BEEP BEEP! He is 110% boy.
All in all we had a very fun filled 4th of July with family!





Bel Air Fire Department - there is a family from this fire department that has a special place in my heart. Lin Kadolph is the best substitute (for school) I could ever ask for. She would cover for me at the drop of a hat. I love this woman! And her husband Gary every year comes in for Fire Prevention Week and talks to our students. They ( and their son Kevin) have given so much to Ring Factory and to me. I'm grateful for them!



The Ravens Fan - yes this is the man's "name". We Baltimorians take our football and our team very seriously. Gotta love the bus!





This group is called the Charm City Dancers I think. They are a staple in the Bel Air parade every year. They have such energy and spirit and the music is so fun - it makes you want to get up and dance with them!



We decided that the stroller was meant for bigger and better things - like transporting all of our "stuff" back the half a mile to the car! Poor Mimi will need the chiropractor soon enough!