Busy Times

Apparently moving and remodeling a house requires time...and lots of it. Who knew? I apologize for the lack of blog posts, but that doesn't mean for one second that I stopped taking pictures...so here's a look at Abby's latest adventures.

It's starting to get cool at night here so we christened our new fireplace and Abby seemed to enjoy it!

Thad's A-10 class graduated and he took Abby and I into a sim so we could blow stuff up too!

Here's one of us after the ceremony:

Our good friend Brooklyn was over for some pool time and picked out Abby's outfit...the opposite of what I normally put on her...a very, very pink dress. She makes it look good though, huh?

Abby on the back porch swing with Miss Brooklyn:

Imagine daddy' shock to see her in such attire!

Abby was thrilled to get her first Halloween bib from Aunt Jane! Thank you Jane for the cute bib and burp cloth and all the messes it will prevent!

Here's what Abby normally ends up in when mom dresses her. Here's her having fun kickin' back in the recliner.

Even though the temps at night are in the 50's, it still gets up into the 90's during the day. So we decided to let Abby take her first dip in the pool before it gets to cold to attempt it. It was still pretty darned cold, but look at her take it like a champ. Maybe we have a future Polar Bear Club member on our hands!?!

I love the look on her face when her toes hit the water:

Lyndi, Hayden, Anna, and Abby:

And finally, we have to give a shout out to good ol' Maggie on her 4th birthday! Happy Birthday girl. Sorry your new sister takes away most of your attention these days. You're a good dog...I mean Super Dog!

Super Dog and Bat Dog ready to save the world. Good grief!

I love you girl.

Abby's 13th Week

It was a busy week for our little Abigail. Of course we found time for college football on our busy Saturday full of cabinet and counter top shopping and the Oktoberfest on our busy Sunday full of appliance shopping. Respectable for a 13 week old I'd say. Anyway, here's some pics of her fun week.

Abby and Dad watching the Air Force vs. Navy debacle at our local family friendly sportsbar:

Yes, she's really watching the game...loves her football!

Abby and Mom during the A&M vs. stupid okie cowpeople debacle at home:

Papa reading a night night story out of the book from Grams to Abigail:

I think she's already reading along...so smart.

Abby enjoying the Tucson Oktoberfest on Sunday afternoon:

She says "Mama's gonna have me up doing the chicken dance, I just know it!"

She's a fine polka dancer, in case you had any doubts!!

Abby almost enjoying her first taste of rice cereal:

"What is this weird thing mom put around my neck? I think I'll eat it instead."

"OK, this isn't so bad, but I'm only gonna sit still for one second and after mom takes this picture I'm gonna go back to eating my bib."

"See told ya!"

"OK, this just isn't the same as my normal buffet!"

Abby looking cute in her "Daddy Rocks" onesie from Grams:

He's so proud!

Love that half smile!

First Home

This year has been marked by so many firsts for our little family that buying our first home seems almost not worth mentioning. But we are super excited to finally own a place and make it exactly how we want it! We found a house that is really nice already, but we have so many plans to make improvements and updates. We'll be moving in soon after Thad graduates and I'll send out our new address in an email. Here's some glimpses of our little piece of paradise in Tucson.

Reddick Family picking up keys to first house.

Mom and Abby in pool (built in bbq pit on left, rose garden in back, and peach and plum trees off to the right)

Dad and Abby in pool (it was a little too cold to let the little one in the water on our first day at the house)

Pool with our little "orchard" off to the right. We have peaches, plums, grapefruits, lemons, oranges, tangelos, and a grape vine!

So, you've probably noticed that we consider our yard the best feature of our house! We love it.

Thad Graduating From A-10 School

A HUGE congratulations to Thad for surviving the past six months of A-10 training!!

Here's some pictures of Thad returning from his first A-10 flight. I was able to go out to the flight line and embarrass him a little.

Thad's 28th Birthday

Abby went to her first birthday party on Friday night...her papa's. We had Oktoberfest...Arizona style. Anna smoked turkey legs all day and Thad grilled up the brats and sausages. We had all the German fixin's too...potato salad, spaetzle, bean salad, rum cake...well, maybe it wasn't all German influenced, but hey, we had a great time. We even managed to find the little mini-kegs of Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen and Hefeweizen bier. Abby hung out with mom, dad, and all our friends on the patio and enjoyed the 75 deg evening in the desert...we were so content that we forgot to introduce her to the Chicken Dance. Maybe next week at the Tucson Oktoberfest at Hi Corbett Field...although I see one of the head-liners is a band called Peña Flamenca de Tucson. We might be a little too close to Mexico to have a true German Oktoberfest experience, but I bet we'll have fun.

http://www.tucsonoktoberfest.org/

We don't have any good pics of the party so here's a cute one of Abby in her "Someone in TX loves me" outfit from Debbi and Larry McConnell. Thanks for the cute onesie - she has lots of people in TX that love her!!

Also, here's the picture I had blown up to 11X14 and framed for Thad's birthday. Funny how most of his presents are somehow related to Abigail!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THAD! I love you.

Growin' Like a Weed

Well, I'm sad to report that Abby has officially outgrown her newborn outfits. It took us quite a while to get her chubby little arms into her cute pink dress that Brooklyn got her one last time. Although it's amazing and wonderful to see her progress marked with outgrowing her cute first outfits, it's a little sad for us to know that she's well on her way to growing up too fast.

Thad and Abby getting ready for church

(Crib that we built in the background)

Anna and Abby with pink dress on for the last time

Epic Spit-Up

Just when I thought Abby was the ultimate baby...hardly ever cries, only poo's every other day, sleeps almost through the night, eats like a champ, doesn't spit-up...UNTIL TONIGHT! Thad is working nights, so we were sitting here on the sofa nursing, passing the time until he gets home. I picked her up to burp her, held her up against my chest and held her head over my shoulder. I could tell she was pushing back against my hand, which she sometimes does in order to look around, so I let her back her head up so I could see her face. Before I could see her beautiful big blue eyes, she spit a tummy full of warm boobie milk down my shirt! Enough to soak my shirt, bra, shorts, and our new sofa. Yucko. I guess I thought all those moms that complained about spit-up were a bunch of wussies. I was using the nice burp clothes that Kate Kubicek made us as blankets when she was in her car seat - I really didn't know what all the hype was about. I didn't even know her little tummy could hold that much milk, much less have the strength to force it back up all over me! It kind of feels like she christened me with the less than peachy aspects of motherhood. I guess it could have been worse...it can always be worse!! Don't worry darlin', you're more than worth it!

On the bright side, she is doing some new cooler, less volatile things. She started sucking her thumb this week, except she doesn't curl her other fingers in a fist. Instead, she kind of just plants them on her face, usually at least one finger in each eye. It kind of gives her a look like "Uuugh, do I really have to get back in my car seat lady?".

She also talks a mile a minute. Just babbles, but sometimes you can make out words like "Hi", "Boo", "Wow" and "Maggie smells funny". I guess it depends on who is listening, but I'm betting she'll be making complete sentences in a couple of months. Way to go Abby!!