Family Living: Abbott Style

I feel bad for first born children. I think it is pretty much the status quo across the board.  First time parents are kind of clueless.  No matter how much time parents have spent with babies, nothing prepares them for a child of their own.  Nothing. So naturally, a lot of mistakes are made  learning opportunities are to be had.  By the time the second child comes around, parents are old pros (or so I hear). When I first had Haley I had a nasty habit of not putting her down for like the first week.  In fact, I am pretty sure she was attached to her "bottle" for a week straight ( I was nursing if you catch my drift).  After nearly loosing my mind, I went to the other extreme.  They say you can't spoil newborns, but they do get use to your closeness and warmth for napping and such--so it probably is a good idea to let them get use to sleeping solo a bit.  I never rocked her to sleep and always laid her down for the night w...

I did a little math today. I roughly estimate that I spend about 63 hours with Haley each week.  This is after she sleeps 12 hours a night and takes a few naps a day.  I also subtracted the times I have her in Y-care so I can work out and such.   Ian roughly spends 31 hours a week with Haley.  That is subtracting his work schedule, plus her sleep, etc.  Which looking at it, that is a pretty good chunk of time.  His work schedule is such that he is working part of the time she is sleeping--so he has gained a few hours on most working dads. But still...after all my calculations I still came to the same solution.... 63>31  ....  But somehow..... " Are you done taking picture yet "---Clearly annoyed " Mom, did you not hear dad----the picture taking, is annoying" 63 Breanna >31 Ian     = 98% Ian > 2% Breanna It just doesn't make sense.  I would like to speak with whoever is in charge.   When I r...

If you're reading this via email because you are one of my email subscribers--you really should come check out my home page. Just a reminder: FamilylivingAbbottStyle.Blogspot.com I have been working, for now hours, to completely re-design my blog page.  It looks fairly simple-but I did a lot of behind the scenes stuff with the CSS and HTML junk, in my opinion, that turned out nicely.  There are some things I would to like change (like the post divider and signature), but have just lost the patience at the moment.  A lot of what I did was real basic stuff, but after toying around with my blog for some time I am starting to wonder if I should have went to college for something along these lines.  I am a nerd and actually enjoy doing that sort of thing. On other news, after great debate, I think I am deciding to pick up substitute teaching again a few days a month (maybe 2-3 days a month).  I am quitting working the tanning salon and gearing ...

I have come to know something as fact.  I am better at most things after a single glass of wine. The other night, I headed down to my domain to do some sewing.  I became easily frustrated and ended up going to bed. So last night, I decided to try it again, but this time with my single glass of wine.  I have a tendency to be a total perfectionist, and I see that it is starting to blend over into my sewing life.  Not good, because I am far from perfect at sewing.  In fact, I am sure I am probably pretty terrible at it. I often half-ass things.  And sewing isn't really something you can fake.  That is my first lesson.  I thought I could skip a few steps for hemming, and it turned out horrible.  So I relaxed, turned up some rock music and just did the dang thing. I have decided to allow myself to not be a neat freak in this single room.  It is nice to go make a mess and not worry about cleaning it up.  If I am in the middle...

Please excuse this terrible template you are seeing...I had the bright idea to build my own template from scratch using html and css and all that fun stuff and it ended up being a disaster.  So I intend to redecorate.  And if you are reading this via email like many of you are--just disregard this message because it doesn't pertain to you.

Things I needed to accomplish this evening: -Fold laundry Things I've done instead of what I needed to do: -Baked cookies despite the fact that I stepped on the scale this morning to find 3 lbs. I thought I lost.  (Gasp) -Made mess of kitchen that now needs cleaning post-cookie baking -Ate 4 cookies.  One for each lb I gained and one for good luck. -Laughed while Haley pulled out all the baby wipes from the baby wipe thingy holder. -Poked my arm multiple times even though it hurts from my Tdap vaccination -Picked at a pimple on my face even though I knew better (and wrote new instead of knew..sheesh) -Played with Haley -Gave Haley a ridiculous amount of smooches for being so darned cute. -Got Haley to babble something that resembled "I Love You" Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe, just maybe-I can get a post up this evening: As I walked into the child play area at the YMCA, I just couldn't help but smile.  The crying toddler I walked away from just an hour before was playing so nicely with two other girls that she didn't even notice me walking in.  Being a girl myself, I have come to know and understand only one fact about female relationships, girls in three-- means trouble. Three girls all about the same age sat side-by-side-by-side.  Haley in the middle.  All three were sitting in front of the window, passing toys from one another.  By pass, I mean, Haley would snatch the toys away from the other two and decide who got to play with what.  This stopped me in my tracks and I saw my future.  Even though none of the girls can use their words, I could tell by body language what was going on between these girls.  Perhaps, it was Haley's noticeably bigger size.  But Haley was being a bit of a bossy thi...

I had never ran a mile straight without walking until after high school. I know this had to baffle and frustrate my coaches at the time.  I simply hated running.  I would always get all freaked out in my head.  I hated the feeling of loosing control of my own breathing.  It was terrible and was one of my deciding factors not to play volleyball when given the chance on the college level.   My entire world is different now.  Post high school.  Post college. And now with a toddler in my world. Time literally slips a way from me.  Some days, and hour feels like 15 minutes.  But I found a way to slow down time.  Go for a run.  To be perfectly honest, it still isn't my activity of choice.  I would much prefer to do a kickboxing class or play some hoops.  But running is just something different. I was introduced to running shortly after Haley was born.  A group of girls really showed me how much my body is...

First off, I use the term "adulthood" loosely.  I am still waiting for that ah-ha moment when I finally feel like an adult.  I think I have decided that the day I turn 30 will be that day for me.  In fact, my brain isn't even fully developed yet  (the human brain is thought to be fully developed around the age of 25).  The implications of a  fully developed brain are as followed: Decision making Use of appropriate judgment Rational thinking Integration of emotion & critical thinking Ability to think clearly about long-term outcomes that stem from behaviors Global thinking vs. self-centered thinking      So I go into this knowing that 30 year-old-Breanna, will look back and snicker at 23-year-old-Breanna's reasoning, truths, and secrets.    Secrets of Adulthood (According to Me): Somethings are better left unsaid When it comes to matters of the heart; listen to your head Negative people are not fun to be...

Ah. Hello and welcome.   Where to begin.  I have been thinking this all through in my head-trying to figure out the words to articulate the mess going on in my head.  But somehow, just writing and not looking back tends to cure a case of writers block.   I've been reading the Happiness Project.  I am in a love/hate relationship with this book.  Why are all the brilliant people that I admire and aspire to be like tend to be non-Christians?  It is as if they have all the right answers but one.  I sense the void.  That search for better understanding of this crazy universe of ours-but missing the mark.   It is like brilliance, common sense, a realistic view on life, and Christianity don't exist in one person.   The author of the Happiness Project is who I am referring to.  She basically spells it out in one chapter that she isn't a Christian.  It made my heart ache because she really seems like she ha...

So, I've been nagged enough that I finally took pictures of our new home to share.  I LOVE taking pictures.  But I am not a fan of taking pictures of rooms/ house.  I am terrible at that.  I can't ever seem to get the lighting nor the angle right, so I generally get frustrated and stop.  So sorry some of the pictures are kinda crummy but I did my best. It is like a game of where's Haley.  She found her way in most of my pictures.   Entry table which Ian found of Craigslist.  And most of the decor items are from garage sales.  I am not happy with the how the items are coordinated.  I might redo some of the items later..but for now it works.   Haley's room, which you all have seen before Guest bedroom.  The bedspread was $13 on sale at Target.  Bed was my bed that I had growing up at my parents.  Night stands were from an antique store (and they were super cheap too!)  This bedroom is not ...

Let me be the first to tell you.  I am lazy.  LAZY. But my house is CLEAN. Rumor on the street was that it was nearly impossible to get your full deposit back from the apartment complex we moved from.  I wasn't just going to roll over and let them keep it without some effort, so I did go give the apartment a good scrub down after we moved out.  Minus the master shower that I left in a condition that I was so not proud of.  In fact, it was that master shower that motivated me to a new style of cleaning and living. Can I please just say we got every penny back.  They couldn't find a single thing to deduct us for.  Which was nearly impossible because it was BRAND new carpet.  We had a dog and a newborn who both had more than their fair share of accidents on the carpet (which I cleaned my butt off to make sure there were no stains).  Not a single thing.  I am dang proud of that and excited to have an extra couple hundred bucks in our p...