Family Living: Abbott Style

Everyone has their own reasons for joining the blog world. The Creative Blogger - This is the type of person that has some serious writing talent.  Blogging has become such a great way to use those creative skills.  Some may choose to do it for an audience, others choose to do it for themselves.  I certainly do not consider myself a creative blogger but I am lucky enough to have a select few on my reading list who are truly creative writers.  Their writing often provokes deep emotions and thought.  Some may inspire you to step back and look at a topic or situation in a new light.  Others are just plain entertaining. The Social Network Blogger- Social networking has been big for awhile now.  It has changed the way we connect and communicate with one another.  In some ways, it has improved our communication, in others I feel it has truly damaged how we treat one another (that's a whole other blog topic).  Blogging has become another way to ...

It's way to nice outside to be doing this so I am going to make this a quick one. I hate that I have to pee every ten minutes....until I go to the doctor and they tell me to pee in a cup--then I don't have to go.  Really? Doctor's appointment went well yesterday.  Not as scary as I had thought.  He says she seems comfortable where she is now, so don't expect her to come before the next few weeks.  He could feel her head so she is still head down, but not yet engaged.  I am measuring right on.  At this point, it is getting really exciting.  I know the end is near but I am not overly uncomfortable.  I'm actually enjoying feeling her squirm around since she seems way more active now that she is running out of room more and more each day. Breastfeeding class was amazing.  I learned so much.  Too much to even try to bore you with--but I highly recommend it.  To me, it was just more affirmation that God is truly a brillian...

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Wow, I am actually out of bed before 10:30 a.m.--that is impressive for me.  Today I am 37 weeks and 1 days pregnant.  That means I am 2 weeks and 6 days from my due date.  Crazy.  Next week, I HAVE to finish the odds and ends in preparing for the baby.  I still need to get car seats installed, pack hospital bags, and pick up a few things from the store.  I'm so ready to meet her and start my recovery back to a single souled vessel, but the reality of the life changes that are about to come are slowly sinking in.  I think no matter how physically ready we are, we could never fully prepare ourselves emotionally for what is to come. Today we have a doctors appointment.  This will be more uncharted territory for us--making me a little nervous.  From this point on, the doctor will be "checking" for dilation.  It's all very bittersweet, because as uncomfortable as I might be I understand that it means I am just that much...

On this beautiful Good Friday, my husband and I decided to do a little shopping.  I have been searching for nursing bras.  Not the most exciting thing to go shopping for, but we finally had some success at JCPenny.  Buy-one-get-one-half-off makes for one happy pregnant woman. Then we went to check out.  I guess they were running a coupon, spend $50 and get $10 off.  With my two nursing bras, my total was $40.00 so if I were to go pick out something for $10 I would basically get that item for free. Let me back track.  I am queen of cheap shoes.  In the winter, I generally rock flats.  I usually get my flats from Target on clearance, and I never spend more then $10/$15.  And for some reason, I will wear those shoes until I completely wear holes through them.  Then in the summer, I rock Old Navy's cheap rubber flip flops...one brown pair, and one black pair.  I'm not sure why, I have never been a huge shoe girl. ...

Remember how I was excited yesterday that we finished our rock garden.....well apparently Winston digs bigger and better holes when rock is present.  I had to call for him for about five minutes before he decided to leave the neighbors house via doggie door.......now what?  Ugh!

Sunny-side up is defined as an egg that is only fried on one side leaving the yellow of the egg facing upward. In pregnancy, sunny-side up (posterior) is a term used to describe the baby's position.  Since about 25 weeks, Haley has been locked in loaded head down which is fantastic news.  However, she has decided she would like to enter the world "sunny-side up" opposed to the typical face down position.  Another way to describe her position is that she is laying spine to spine with me rather than her front side to my spine (if that makes any sense at all).  Not a huge deal, just going to make labor that much more enjoyable.  The main thing is getting her out healthy, how it happens--I'll leave that in the doctor's hands.   And for the record, if little Haley is born with a cone head--we will still love her very much--and she will own lots of cute hats. We are right about 36 weeks which means, one more week and I am officially FULL T...

Three posts in one day...I officially need a life.  But I had to share.  I posted this photo on my Facebook, but my blog gets emailed to several family members that don't have Facebook and I just felt I really needed to share. I have to preface this by saying I avoid the KCK Wal-Mart at all costs.  My main reason is the pure size and set-up.  The Wal-Mart is HUGE and I can never find what I am looking for--especially in the grocery section.   I have my other reasons, and I felt this photo really illustrated it the best.... I pulled into a parking lot and noticed a loose cart.  Okay, I am sure every Wal-Mart in the U.S. has loose carts, it happens but this one really caught my eye. Okay, I get the empty oil containers.  Perhaps this customer was running low on oil because their car leaks oil.  The old purple dragon (94' Dodge Intrepid) needed a quart of oil almost weekly. But really, is it too much effort to throw away your trash? ...

Ian got all the rock spread out.  Now all we have to do is pull some of the weeds and grass and water the roses and bushes and we are finished!  Wahoo!  There is finally an end in sight for our to-do list.  The front lawn is still looking sad, waiting for grass to start growing, hopefully in the next week.  The back yard--well we aren't too concerned with the grass back there yet.  We have to rebuild the rails on our deck and do some touch up staining and then our major projects for the Spring will be finished! Let's see you dig through THAT Winston!! Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Monday morning and we have already hit the ground running. Last night was the last straw with our little four legged friend--Winston.  After finishing up some house work, I went outside to let him in the house for the night.  After calling for Winston for a few minutes, I realized he was nowhere to be found.   To make matters worse, it was dark and I couldn't even see to go search for him.  I looked over the fence in our neighbors yard--no sign of Winston.  I was still calling for him, and the neighbor's dogs came out of the doggie door next door.  I decided to go in the house and look for a flashlight.  By the time I got back out to the back yard, I heard our little friend...in the neighbors yard.  I could have sworn he wasn't back there, which leads me to believe he was in the neighbors house just hanging out.  Both of their cars were home, so I am assuming they were also inside.  Hopefully they didn't mind a visitor. We have been ...

I hear during the end of pregnancy, I am suppose to become exhausted.......after participating in about half of my day's plan of productivity, this is how I found my boys.  He even slept through the vacuum.  I'm sure my days of energy and only mild discomfort are numbered. Anyways... So today Ian and I spent about 3 hours in the kitchen making 'healthy' frozen meals that should last us about a month.  We ended up with about 30 meals.  Everything from cheesy Mexican chicken, lasagna, dream spaghetti, vegetable soup, taco soup, Asian pork tenderloin...and so much more!  We will probably do another round of the meals in a few weeks so we will have meals already prepared for the first month of Haley's arrival.  Yay, no more asking....."soooo what should we do for dinner", because the work is already done! After cooking, I took on some laundry and house cleaning, and now I am just waiting for him to wake up and...

Another Wednesday....I'm offically beginning my 36th week of pregnancy!! Wahoo! Updating via phone so please excuse my typos....these are typically random so hopefully I don't boggle you... Busy day. It started with some lawn stuff early in the morning...watched Ian water the grass (well dirt with grass seed)....watched him work on my rock/ rose garden...I'm sure he appreciated all of my help... watching him work. He has been working so hard on the lawn that if grass doesn't grow I'm convinced he may catch our yard on fire. I'm currently working on convincing him that a pool in the back would cut down on a portion of the grass he would have to concern himself with but I'm not sure he is buying it...yet. Went and visited my 5th graders for the first time since December. It was about time. I have to admit...I really missed their faces! It really took me back. It seems like so much has changed since student teaching. My body being one of...

Well, I believe we are officially ready for Haley's arrival. Saturday was my baby shower.  It was amazing.  My three girl friends did an AMAZING job of putting on one heck of a baby shower.  So many of my family members have complimented me on how wonderful these three girls did.  They could probably do it professionally if they wanted to.  The shower consisted of mostly family and one girl friend who I was thrilled made it in from out of town!  I was very pleasantly surprised!  It was a great turn out and we were definitely more than spoiled! I can't say enough how grateful we are for our friend and family's generosity.   This morning Ian and I went and preregistered at the hospital.  This was an interesting experience.  We filled out paper work and discussed our desired labor and birthing plan.  Rumor on the street is that I am planning on shooting for a natural birth.  I get such adverse react...

This has definitely been a busy week for Ian and myself. Monday I went and got a hair cut.  I went even shorter this time because my hair is like on steroids.  She couldn't believe how quickly my hair grew out since just a few weeks ago.  I like it.  It is easy to deal with, but I do miss having long long hair.  I've been wanting to grow it out for years but just do not have the patience.  Maybe once I get into the swing of this whole baby thing I will give it a go. Tuesday we had a doctors appointment.  We did not have our usual doctor which did not make me happy.  I will be glad to see my doctor in a few weeks.  My next appointment is the 19th and then we start going in every week from there.  The appointment wasn't anything exciting.  Even though I am 34 weeks, my belly was measuring 30 weeks which is odd because at 32 weeks I measured...32 weeks...so....my belly shrunk? Hmm...interesting.... Tuesday night I ...

Lullaby renditions of Journey, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Guns N' Roses, Queen, AC/DC, U2, Coldplay, Radiohead, and so many more... http://rockabyebabymusic.com/

I love this week's top 2!! I am such a music fanatic.  I think I may have the most random taste in music.  Lately, however, I have really been into Christian rock.     2. "Then" by Brad Paisley  --This is the song my husband and I danced to at our wedding reception.    Two years later, this song still gets to me.  I am more in love with my husband today than I have ever been, and I can't imagine loving him any more then I do today...but I am sure time will prove me wrong once again.

ExHaUsTeD! --BUT  House is clean, garage is clean...lawn work...well we are getting there. My husband is absolutely amazing for working so hard to get my "hunny-do" list done!  He has been out in the garage working ALL DAY, and with a loving smile and beautiful singing voice.  Sometimes I have to wonder if he is secretly superman. After about two years of marriage, I'm thinking the best marriage advice I have ever received was "choose wisely, then treat kindly..."  I chose wisely, and each day I will strive to treat kindly so he too can feel that he chose wisely. I've got a few more things to do around the house...then looking forward to a shower to get all gussied-up for a dinner out with my hard working man. Sorry, I know this post deserves a big eye roll from my readers....but I feel as if he can never get enough credit for his hard work.