9 month old Abbie

Abbie is growing up way too fast! She is such a mover and explorer now! I went from having a baby and a toddler, to basically two toddlers.I haven't done a post dedicated to Abbie since 4 months (oops) so here is one all about her.

We took her in for her 9 month check up and she weighs 19 pounds, 6 ounces (70th percentile) and her height is 27 1/4 inches (45th percentile)

She can stand alone for a few seconds. She started doing this in Arizona and has continued doing it in FL but isn't getting much longer, still just a few seconds max. We were thinking maybe she'd be walking by Michael's wedding but that's two weeks away so now I doubting it!

She is starting to cruise on furniture a lot more. Also does it with her walker and loves pushing things around and walking with them!

After having some serious separation anxiety at first in AZ and Utah, she's getting better now that were home. I was afraid to hand her to the familiar faces who had held her at church but she actually did fine. She still isn't great and will reach for me if I'm there but I'm so glad she's better. We have even left her with a babysitter, and plan to tomorrow night too :)

She has been eating so well this month! She still eats her babyfood pouches but is starting to get a little tired of them I think. I have been introducing lots of new solid foods and she loves most all of it. New more random foods that she has eaten fish, broccoli, zucchini, squash, and she loved all of it! She loves little pieces of meat (deli meats or grilled chicken), bananas, pears, grapes, blueberries,  pancakes, bagels, LOVES all types of beans, pieces of cheese and yogurt, and still eats puffs, yogurt melts and crackers while on the go.

She is starting to play with toys a lot. She loves playing in her room with toys and exploring the toy closet.


She is so good at drinking water from a sippy cup! It took Jackson a long time to get it down and eventually I went with the straw one for him because he did best with that. But this girl can drink out of basically any cup. Which is good since I am so over those straw cups leaking everywhere!

She can play peek-a-boo, wave, clap, and her "indian cry" patting her mouth saying ahh ahh ahh.

She loves her brother and gets so excited to see him each morning. She is obsessed with her daddy, seriously. But I have to admit, I think I'm still her favorite, might be that whole nursing thing ;)

She is STILL the most smiley girl we have ever seen and has such a sweet personality. She loves laughing with Jackson, playing with her daddy and cuddling with me. I sure love this girl!

It's fun that my kids can both play separatley, for about 30 seconds until Abbie wants Jackson's car...

The girl loves cheese like her mommy!

Now she can pull up on the couch to get Jackson's toys he used to "hide" there from her

Abbie meeting Captain Hook :)

Clapping in action

How I normally find her, with an empty tray because she eats everything I give her!

Arizona again

For the 4th year in a row, I headed to Arizona while Tyler had his national sales meeting in California. This year, however, was the first time flying by myself with two kids! To say I was nervous would be an understatement! The previous flights hadn't been too bad, but there was no way I could have done those alone. But this was only one hour, right during Abbie's morning naptime and Jackson's happiest time, so we had good odds. Also, Tyler was able to be in the airport with me so he helped me up until the gate. I had lots of prayers going my way and the flight turned out great! Abbie fell asleep just after the plane took off and slept until we got to the gate. Jackson was amazing. He sat and played with the iPad, cars, treats and drink and really didn't cause a fuss the whole time. Since I was holding the sleeping Abbie, this was very important :) Oh and did I mention the one empty seat on the plane was next to me? Blessed.

 

After landing in Phoenix, these kids were amazing!

 Back in Arizona we reconnected with Paige, William and Steven and my parents of course. It was a chill week and we had fun in AZ after all the holiday business was over.

Jackson playing with my old marching band set.

Abbie helped Grammy and Grandad take down the Christmas Tree!

Abbie met Adelaide Fillmore while the boys were wresting somewhere in the grass...

We sent this pic to daddy who was missing his kids

Jackson loved giving baby Will checkups with my old doctor set.

It was a full car heading out with this bunch!

 For the third January in a row, we went to the Railroad Park and Jackson loved it even more this year!

He stood their and posed knowing I wanted a picture apparently :)

This year they had this train museum opened. It's still a work in progress but Jackson was in heaven watching all the trains go by. This made up for the fact that the Sirrine Train Display wasn't open this year!We hung out in here until it was time to go ride the train!

In heaven

So focused

Could have stood their all day

Say Cheese with Grammy!

 He didn't want to leave but then was happy once he remembered about the big train outside!

Giving his ticket

Can you tell he's happy :)

William and Abbie for their first ride

Love this boy of mine :)

OK let's put it all in a collage just for fun.

 Have I mentioned how much Jackson loves baby Will? I think this picture says it all!

One night I was able to go and get a facial and it was so great! Thanks for the present again, Mom! While there they fed Abbie one of her favorite foods and she went to town! I normally give her only a couple at a time to avoid the mess and cleanup, but I think she enjoyed it!

This girl can eat!

Uncle Steven with his only niece!

Have I also mentioned that Abbie decided she really only liked mom and dad best and wouldn't go to hardly anyone this whole trip? And that she would often cry if I even left the room? Back in Florida she had absolutly no problem being held by anyone and hadn't minded the few times I'd left her with babysitters. But all of a sudden she got major stranger danger disease, good timing right?

Oh and did I mention that she slept terribly every night for 4 weeks straight? Woke up at least 3 times every night and sometimes every hour? Yeah, maybe I've been trying to forget about that but yeah it happened. And it was hard. But luckily by the end of the trip, even though she still slept bad, she was much more comfortable going to her family! She finally would be held by anyone, and didn't care if I was there or not. Phew.

Buddies for life

 The kids in their Sunday best! Impossible to get a pic of them all looking though, sorry William!

 

 The trip wouldn't have been complete without a visit with Brook & Hillary! I got to meet cute little Porter Day, seriously a gorgeous baby. And reconnect with little Violet Darner, just 2 months older than Abbie. Is it so crazy we have 5 kids between us now?

If you knew how hard it was to get someone to take this pic, haha!

 It was a great relaxing week in Arizona but it felt good to see Tyler again and get back to our Florida home!

New Years

Slowly but surely I am catching up this blog! We had a lot of fun spending our 3rd New Years in a row up in Utah. We spent some of New Years Eve at this Pizza Play Arcade in Draper. Jackson loved the play place, riding the train and cars, but loved the mini golf and go-carts. We went for lunch and stayed in the afternoon and it was totally nap time, so I'm kind of remembering that he was very much in need of a nap while there...

Tyler and Jackson taking off

That night all of Tyler's siblings came over to his parents house and we spent the night eating yummy mexican food and of course playing "up and down the river" Maybe I should mention that I won the Championship that night?? Go in-laws!! ;) Troy and Tammy left her house is San Diego earlier that day but sadly they didn't make it in time! We got to see them the next morning though.

Just missing Troy & Tammy!

Martinellis & Kisses for New Years!

The next day was actually the warmest day of the trip, what was it maybe 35 ? Ugh that sounds awful now. But at least the sun was shining and it didn't snow! So finally we took our kids out in the snow and sledding. He had fun playing in the snow for a little while and then would realize, "I'm so cold!" or "I'm all wet!" and kind of freak out. But I can't blame him being a Florida boy. Overall he liked the snow but probably would rather live in Florida :)

Jackson loved running around with their new dog Tony

Jackson's first attempt at sledding, he was a little nervous at first.

We took Jackson sledding a little bit over his first Christmas as a baby, but last year there was no snow. So Jackson really had no experience with sledding and really didn't know what it was all about at first. He wasn't so sure about the boots we made him wear and all the unfamiliar gear. But once he went down the first time he loved it and couldn't wait to go again and again!

Tyler went down with both kids this time!

Say Cheese!

After a few runs with daddy, he was brave enough to go by himself.

Abbie, Graham, Norah & their mommys, all their first time sledding

Abbie did pretty well out in the snow, she just hung out with me and took a few runs down the hill.

 That night was the only time that all of the Jennings family would be together so we had to take a picture! * I still need to get a copy of that* But I did snap some of the ones with the Grandkids and Grandparents. There are now 7 Grandkids, and thank you Graham for making Jackson not be the only boy :) there are 5 girls and 2 boys. Abbie kept reaching forward and almost fell off the couch at least 5 times silly girl

Jackson, Ellie, Grandma, Graham, Abbie, Norah, Grandpa, Avery & Reese

 The next night Jackson and Reese were dancing. Well Reese was dancing and Jackson was spinning around and trying to tackle her. Jackson was able to interact with Reese a lot more this trip than ever before. Probably because he is talking better. But he's a little rougher than Reese is used to, I think he'll have fun playing with Graham when he's old enough :)

This is what we looked like every night, playing games at the kitchen table.

When we first got there Jackson was very scared of their new puppy, Tony. Although he's almost full grown, he's only 9 months old and still acts young with lots of energy. But Grandpa showed Jackson how to be the "boss of the dog" and Jackson got Tony to "sit!" and chase a ball, tire, etc. Problems kept arising when he constantly opened the front door to let Tony 'go outside' but I'm so glad that he got so much more comfortable. He was still scared if he came up in his face (can't blame him) but he would try his hardest to be brave each time. I'm excited for him to always have Tony to look forward to playing with at Grandpa's house :)

Still can't believe he got brave enough to do this.

The last night we stayed with my grandparents up in SLC. Jackson really loves going to their house and has fun playing with Papa & Nana and all their toys. Just like last year, Jackson wanted to be like Papa and put his drink in his coaster and relaxed in his chair.

The men watching TV

Sharing a chair with Nana

That night we went out to dinner with the Sheffields and he did great. I'm always nervous at sit down restaurants with him, but he sat in his chair throughout the whole dinner. We only had to give him a  phone to play with after he finished his food.

I'm not sure why I took this picture or what is even happening here but this was the last picture I had of the two boys. The next morning Tyler flew to CA and the kids and I flew to AZ. Whenever Tyler is around Jackson is so incredibly happy and just wants to be with him as much as he can. Tyler is so good with Jackson and it was hard for me to think that we would be without him for a week. I used to get sad because I would miss Tyler while he's away on business. But now I almost get more sad because Jackson will miss Tyler so much. They've got a special bond those two..

They kind of love each other.