Trip to Akron Zoo

We were heading to the Columbus Zoo this morning when I looked at the weather on Derek's phone and saw a mass of storms and rain heading straight for Cbus. We promptly made a U-turn and headed north on 71. Derek suggested the Akron Zoo and since neither of us had been there, we decided to check it out.

I AM SO GLAD WE DID! Today was the perfect zoo day, overcast-- not too hot, not too cold. We pulled into the parking lot two minutes from opening time and we parked one spot from the front. It was looking good from the start. :)

Abigail walked about 90% of the trip. Every exhibit was close to the next which kept her occupied and excited the whole time. She was such a big girl. Really the only thing we used the stroller for was to carry the gigantic diaper bag and the super-size red slushie (although if you ask Abs what color it is, she will say "yellow") because everything is yellow haha)

Abigail's Top Five Favorite Things at the Zoo:

1. Choo Choo Train-- which is really a dressed up tractor that pulls cars on pavement, not tracks... through a farm where we looked at the same rooster, a couple of chickens and goats :) SHE LOVED IT!
2. Silly Bear-- I am not sure what was going on with this bear, but Abs stood in front of the glass and it continually rubbed his head back and forth on the glass around her. It was a little odd, but Abs just called it "silly bear"
3. Snow Leopard-- you see, we read about one of these in a book and she was thrilled to see one, which she called a cat and noted the big tail. It was pretty cool, it jumped up on a ball and paced right in front of us.
4. Slushie-- Daddy got a super-brain freeze.. hehehe but Abs loved it. I am pretty sure this was her first slushie experience-- Cherry!
5. Climbing and Jumping-- off of everything, the chair, the curb, the edge of the exhibit windows, the playground equipment, her stroller (which also featured a REALLY exciting BUCKLE that she did and undid a number of times)

Other hits included: Fishies- glub glub, Butterflies ;), penguins (Daddy's favorite), sheep- we fed 'em crackers, touching the trees and grass, river otters-- Abigail wanted to join them in swimming, and of course people watching-- a little boy next to us was getting in trouble by his mommy because he wasn't sitting down, so Abigail thought she would help the mommy out so she pointed at the little boy and told him to "SHIT DOWN" hahaha

She was asleep by the time we were heading home on 71, with chocolate teddy grams on her face and her new zoo book in her lap.

Such an awesome day for the whole family :)

"Abigail Do"

Abigail had decided that I am no longer needed to help walk up and down the stairs, blow bubbles, wash her hair, get up on the couch... and so much more.

While it is super-cute, it makes me feel a little sad-- She doesn't need me anymore WHAAAAAAAAAAA WHAAAAAAAAAA!!! Oh geeeez... however will I be able to handle her teenage years?!?!?

My daughter is a FISH!

What a fabulous Memorial Day we had with Abigail!!! We hung out on the boat for most of the day and this evening was spent poolside. Abigail is a fish. We have an inflatable pool on the boat deck and she hung out there all day!! She floated around in the lake with Pa and Tay while wearing her big-girl life jacket.


After that we hung out at the pool where she fearlessly jumped into the water repeatedly! It makes me so nervous because she has no fear, but she is watched carefully by everyone. Dad Dad and Uh-Nate helped her up the stairs and launched her off the side of the pool more times than I can count. She was grinning from ear to ear the whole time. Even though she was shivering and blue-lipped, she did not want to get out and threw a little fit until Pa gave her a hot dog hahaha!

What a wonderful day. I love that girl! :)

Spring Break

Abigail is 17 months old now and I cannot think of any other way I would have wanted to spend my spring break-- except maybe with a little less rain. She is absolutely remarkable. We played so much and had time to do so many things. Among the highlights were cuddling in bed and reading book, dancing in the living room, coloring Easter eggs, watching her try to figure out how to jump, and just babble. I was blessed with so many kisses and hugs and snuggles. It is going to be so difficult to return to work tomorrow. I just want every single day to be the way this past week has been. We are just so blessed. I must remember to cherish each of those moments when I get home-- focus NOT on all the other junk going on in my life, but instead all of the wonderful things going on in ours. Time truly does pass quickly.

So much has happened...

Wow. It has been so long since I have even had a moment to think about blogging.

An update since the last blog in October: Derek is still working at Huntington and I at Mapleton. Soccer conditioning began and is scheduled two days a week. I started my masters degree at Graceland University... ... ... ... and Derek and I experience the greatest loss of our lives. As I looked back over my previous blogs I noticed that I put a little smiley face next to the decorations for Abigail's first birthday party. I put a little smiley there because I said we were going to use them in the nursery. I put a little smiley there because I knew I was pregnant.

After reading over that blog a flood of sadness came back. We were going to have a baby until on December 5th I experienced some bleeding and went to the emergency room. On December 6th we lost the baby. I miscarried. I was almost 11 weeks pregnant. It was the worst experience of my life. Daily I think about where we would be, where we SHOULD be right now. What we should be doing. At this point, we would have known the gender of the baby. We probably would have decided on a name. And I would probably be bitching at Derek to get the spare bedroom cleaned up so we could make our Dr. Seuss nursery.

But that is not where we are.

I think about that baby every day and it has gotten a little easier, depending on the moment. But then... there is ABIGAIL. SHE IS MY SAVIOR. I do not know what I would do without her.



Right now she is walking and talking and running and hiding and sassing and.... ohhh so busy. She brings so much joy to our lives. I cannot wait to get home from work and see her and I cannot wait for the weekend so we can play all day. She currently enjoys tea parties, coloring, and playing with her kitchen. We keep the tea party set in a pink box. She dumps it out, rummages through the mess, pulls out the teapot and a cup and makes SHHHH SHHHH sounds as she fills it up with tea. At Paw's house she has a little table where she will sit and color or play with play dough. While she has colored in coloring books, I think she prefers plain white paper because she is soooo creative hahaha :). It shocks me how imaginative she can be since she is still so small. Her imagination shows when she plays at her kitchen set or with her nursery. She will gladly help me prepare dinner by frying up some Ohs or stir, stir, stirring her pots and pans. And she shushes me when it is time to put the doll baby asleep her pink nursery set. Abigail is absolutely amazing and I am so thankful for her.

So much has happened....

I think I will try to get on here more and retell the joyous moments in our lives.

Abigail's First Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Ab's first birthday. IT WAS FABULOUS!!! We rented out a little hall and invited both sides of the family and all the friends. I was a little worried because everything I had read about first birthdays STRONGLY recommended keeping the celebration small, but that's just not how we roll haha.

The party had a Dr. Seuss theme. I put up books and stuffed animals on the tables, as well as some kooky centerpieces. I also ordered these really cool wall stickers of the characters off the Internet. We intend on reusing them for the next nursery. ;)

We set up a nifty little section in the corner where Abbi's friends and her could play. Arienne Vaughn, Parker White, Mason Smith, and Abigail played for the first part of the party. We then moved on to the cake where Abs simply picked at the frosting until DadDad showed her how to take giant bites. We finished with the presents. SHE HAD SO MANY!!! ... and she did so well.

All in all it was the best birthday experience ever! I can't wait for next year! :)

Back to schoool... back to schoooool...

Exactly 11 days prior to my first day of school I got a phone call. I had applied for an online teaching job back in December and constantly nagged and followed-up (border-line stalking) to absolutely no avail at all.

Exactly 11 days prior to my first day of school I got a phone call. While on maternity leave I decided that I did not want someone else raising my childrend and I was determined to find a way that I could stay home with Abigail AAAAND do the things I loved aaaand make money>

Exactly 11 days prior to my first day of school I got a phone call.

I was offered an online teaching position.

I declined.

(I just couldn't do that to my school.. but I may be regretting it now. I miss my Abigail.)