Thankful

I know it is after Thanksgiving and all but it has been a busy few weeks and I haven't been able to post this yet.

This has been a challenging year for us, and every year we make it a point to sit down and think about what we are Thankful and grateful for. To say it was easy this year would be a big fat lie. We have had so many ups and downs and challenges to overcome that it has made us a little jaded.

With that being said when we sat down and started thinking about it, and made an effort to really look at things in a positive light it got easier, so here is our list!

We are thankful for...

Our families, we never would have gotten through all of this without them, and knowing that they support us, love us, and are there for us every step of the way has been a comfort on our tough days.

Our amazing and beautiful daughter, she is the light in our lives, our greatest, and most amazing blessing and miracle. I look at her everyday and and fall more and more in love. I cannot imagine our lives without her in it, or what our life was like before as it pales in comparison. To be able to watch a child grow and learn and change is the greatest gift anyone could ever be given.

Our marriage, we have struggled as of late but we are better because of it, if this year has shown us anything it has shown how much love can really change you and soften you. Even on our hardest days, if all we had to come back to was our love for each other that was enough to pull us through.

The changes we have gone though, yes they have been difficult and this year will be full of more changes but, the ones we have faced and taken on have been an amazing transformation for us. We have learned to live with less, and make due when needed, but we have also realized how full our life really is and that material possesions are not what matters, rather love, compassion, family, and a relationship with God are what save you from your hardest times.

So even though we look around and see how much we have had to endure, how much change we have gone through and how much change is to come; we are thankful, even for the smallest things, like food on the table and a roof still over our head, family to celebrate with and cry with, a community of faith that came together in our hard times and helped to pull us through, and the fact that no matter how far gone things can get there is always a light. No matter how far off it seems it is there, you just have to go through hell sometimes to get to the end, but what matters is that you keep on going, right through it and in the end you won't look back with regret but with thankfulness that you had to struggle to get where you are, so you could be evermore grateful for the things you will have.

“But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.”

~ Paul Coelho

Moving on, below are some new pictures of our little miracle and from the holidays...Enjoy!!

So thankful to have such a beautiful table to come together at
(thanks to Tess and Aunt Mary Fran)

First Thanksgiving

All ready for Turkey

Gammie and Abby, and of course Abby made her stinker face right on cue for the picture

Grandpa H and Abby all ready for the Holly Days Parade

All Bundled up at Holly Days

Hitchin a ride with Dad

As you can tell it was pretty cold that night :)

Love,

Christie, Donnie, and Abby

Not the original post

I had planned...
So it has been awhile since we have posted and I promise pictures and videos at the end.

I came on here today and planned to post an update on life and post some pictures and be done with it, but I am feeling a little nostalgic and emotional today so I feel like writing....bear with me and like I said above I promise new pictures and videos at the end :).

I can't believe our daughter is 10 months old, I am so much enjoying this stage in her life but at the same time I am having some sadness, sadness that my baby is gone, the angel I used to cuddle and wanted to be rocked to sleep is perfectly happy to do it herself now. The little baby who needed me and her daddy to do everything for her is growing more and more independent with each passing day. She pulls away when you try and cuddle her for too long because she has far more exploring to do, she likes to hold her own bottle now, and really doesn't like to fed anymore either.

While these are all things that are exciting, and amazing to watch, they are hard to accept. In 2 short months she will be one, and the next time I blink we will be leaving her at college, and sending her off into the big world, a confident and amazing woman.

This year has been full of changes, and trials, and tribulations, moments of pure terror and fear, and yet so many moments of pure bliss. Months when we didn't know how we got through them, or how we managed to pay the rent and still have money left over at the end.

I look at our beautiful girl and feel so blessed that we have her, feel so blessed that although alot was taken from us this year, we got more in return than we could have ever imagined. I know a lot of people may wonder how we got through this so positive, and finding the silver lining...I will tell you how, God's grace, our families, and our love for each other.

I firmly believe that is how we got through many of those months on one income and fear, that week in the hospital with Abby, The months of trials that our marriage went through. At the end of the day when we felt like we had nothing left, but tears, at the end of the day when we were sure it was over, and we had nothing left to give, we clung to our families, each other, our daughter and God. We asked for help, we asked for peace, and we asked for Grace.

I post on here alot about how we have been positive and happy to just be, and that isn't always the truth, there have been some dark and stormy days, some days when Donnie and I were not sure we could get through, some days when we needed some outside help to get through our marriage and just be able to live in the same house, in order to deal with the bigger challenges we were facing. There were days when we just dealt with being parents and the growing stack of bills on the table, and forgot about our needs in our marriage.

We are are on the right path again, and we are good, we are happy and we are communicating. I think that is why I feel comfortable talking about it now. In the thick of it we were angry and bitter, at each other, at God, and just in general. In all of that it is easy to lose sight of the big picture, to trust that there is a reason we are going through this and while we may never fully understand all the tests we were handed, and I believe passed, we know one thing, we are strong.

Stong in our love and strong in our faith. If this last year has done anything for us it has shown us that we can do anything, get through anything, and overcome anything.

We have another year of challeges ahead with me losing my job, and Donnie changing careers and re-entering school, while working, but I am not scared, I don't have any fear, because I know we will overcome it, and I know that we will again be stronger because of it. I know that there is a plan in it all, one we don't need to know about, yet have faith that it will work out the way that God wants it to.

So we will cling to our families, each other, our Daughter and God , and ride out this storm. We will look for the Silver lining and the rainbow at the end and know that God will provide a way, and a window will open, allowing us to get through.

We don't know what our future holds but we do know that it is great, and wonderful, as long as we have each other, Abby, our families and our faith.

So without further delay...please enjoy the pictures and video of our beautiful miracle, and a little girl who will never know how much she saved her parents on their hardest days. She is and was the reason we get out of bed everyday and put two feet on the floor, and keep fighting. We fight for her, for her future and for her to grow up happy, peaceful, and confident.

We love you Abba Dabba, and you will someday hopefully understand what an amazing blessing you have been to your mommy and daddy.

Her first go at pears as finger food...

The Aftermath, she really likes to run her sticky, soggy fingers through her hair

Our Cheeseball...and the reason we laugh so darn hard some days

As she has gotten bigger, so has her love for dudley...

Although I am not sure he feels the same way most days

Our solution to our wanderer

But she knocks it over since it is full of her toys, and has managed to figure out how to get past it...on to the next idea

She loves her new (to her) jumparoo courtesy of her Aunt Ashley and Cousin Scarlett...thank you for letting her borrow it :)

Abby has learned to clap!!!...everything now gets applause, diaper changes, food, dudleys toys, getting up in the morning, etc. It is her new favorite thing to do!

9 Months...Whew that was fast!

Little Abby girl is now 9 Months old! It is so hard for us to believe that she has been outside of me now longer than I carried her.

She is such a wonder and amazement to us daily, and it seems she learns something new and wonderful (sometimes not so wonderful Like her yelling voice) everyday.

We are soaking her in as much as we can and it is such a gift to watch her explore and discover things.

Here is what Abby has been up to the last month:
~She went from an army crawl to a full on crawl
~she is now successfully pulling up on everything she can get her hands on (including poor Dudley)
~She is Cruising along the Couches (video of that below)
and has discovered how to yell really, really loud when she wants something :).

She has her 9 month appointment next Tuesday so we will know her weight and height stats then, although we are pretty confident she has passed the 20 pound mark.

All in all it has been a pretty good month, not much new with Donnie and I, and it feels good to say that, that things are just status quo right now, no big suprises or changes and after the last few months that is a very welcomed change.

Abby's baptism is next weekend and we will post those pictures as well as her 1st Halloween pictures, afterwards.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend and enjoy her 9 monthday Photos :)!
Love,
Us

Mommy and Daddy's little monster

Seeing leaves for the first time

Staring at our neighbor

Finally a big smile from our little pumpkin

Abby is perfecting her exasperated side eye look for her teenage years

Uh-Oh We are in trouble!

VOTE FOR ME !!!!

Abby is entered in a contest with Studion one to one if she wins she will recieve a $1000 Savings bond and a $500 Picture portfolio.

Here is the link:
http://www.holdmymemories.com/contests/momentdetails/1494360?page=6

you can only vote once per email address, so if you have more than one please use them.
It will send you a validation email and you have to click that for the vote to count ( check your spam folder too) that is where mine ended up.

Thank you for voting for her :)

Infant Loss and Rememberance Day

I have not Lost a child, and I hope that this pain never becomes a part of our life. We do know quite a few people who have lost Babies, I personally have made some friends who have gone through miscarriage, stillbirth and even the loss of an older child. I view these parents as some of the strongest people I have ever met, be it in real life or through blogs or message boards.


I cannot imagine the pain of carrying a child even for a short time and never being able to bring that baby home with you.


From the moment Donnie and I found out we were going to be parents we were in love, we started talking about what Abby would look like, what our hopes and dreams were for baby bean Harris. I remember hoping for a girl but also that I would be happy no matter what as long as the baby was healthy and happy.

There was a day early on in the pregnancy when I was spotting, and I remember the absolute terror and fear we both felt, we were pretty early on so when I called the Doctor and the nurse said well there is nothing we can do if this is a Miscarriage. I felt hopeless, hurt, confused and angry. How could one be so insensitive, so callaous about OUR baby. Then I remembered that for them this is something that probably happens everyday, and that made me more upset. I was upset because I realized that we have no control over whether they live or Die, that it is all in God's hands and for whatever reason he decides to take some home well before their time, this is not a comforting thought especially for a control freak like me. It does not make me feel any better to say it's ok God decided he wanted our baby more. Thankfully the spotting stopped and the pregnancy continued, but it never left my mind that we could lose baby bean at anytime and that there was not a darn thing anyone could do about it, no matter how much we bargained, prayed, pleaded or cried.

Around 22 weeks I started having some very painful braxton hicks contractions and the doctor wanted to see me right away, the entire way to the doctor's office I prayed again, over and over, please Don't take her, we love her so much already, I can't imagine our lives without her in it. I was a wreck by the time Donnie met me at the OB and we sat in the cold office and waited, waited for the cold gel on my expanding belly and the beautiful thump-thump-thump of her heart. It was there and I calmed down but I still wanted to know why I was having contractions, and the Doctor said it happens sometimes, it is completely normal. Normal was not the word I would have used but again they deal with it every day and this is something they telly everyone. So I was put on bedrest for 5 days and again everything calmed down and the pregnancy went on.

The day before I was induced with Abby I had my 39 week appointment, got my weight checked, blood pressure, and belly measured. Everything looked great and I was dialated to 2-3 CM and 80% effaced, doc said it could be anytime now and I got excited thinking we could meet our little girl soon. We then listened to the heart and it popped up right away, I thought it sounded great but I noticed the Doc was taking longer than normal and she looked worried. She said she wanted to run Non Stress test and see where we were after that, so I go to the next room get hooked up to a monitor and lay there counting her kicks with a little button. All this time Donnie was at work wondering where the heck I was and he wasn't able to get ahold of me. The nurses were coming in and out, they looked concerned and no one was telling me anything.

Finally Dr. Bansore came in and said you are going to have a baby tommorow, her heart rate is high and while things look healthy I want to get her out. I went in to panic mode, I was excited that we would get to meet her but terrified that they wanted to do it so fast and that even though I was progressing into labor on my own they were going to jump start it.
I left the office and called Donnie and that is when it all hit me, what if something is wrong, what if they aren't telling me everything so I don't get worked up, what if, what if, what if.

Donnie rushed home, we put our parents on alert, and got packed to head to the hospital the next morning. The labor was long and everything was going the way it was supposed to, we joked that Abby was ready to come out so she was doing tricks to get her way. When she came out she didn't cry, and as a mother who has been laboring for over 17 hours that is the sound you wait for, they cut her cord and rushed her across the room to stimulate her, I had no idea what was happening, no one knew really, and then the Doctors started coming in, and then more nurses, and she still wasn't crying. I was trying to stay calm but all I wanted was my daughter and I couldn't get why no one was giving her to me. Hell I carried her for 10 months I think I should get to hold her finally.

Then everything got scary, and rushed, and confusing. The next thing I knew she was in my arms and then she was being run down to the NICU. now for a person who has had a "normal" pregnancy, this was confusing. I remember begging God to not take her in my head and saying over and over again to him please just let me hold her.

At the time I remember running through my head all the Horror stories you read about people delivering a stillborn, after a normal pregnancy, about babies with undetected birth defects. I remember thinking I don't want to join this club, I don't want to have an angel baby, I want to take her home, I want to show her the nursery her Daddy painted for her, put her in the crib that I slept in, rock her in the chair that Donnie and all his siblings had been in. I want to watch her grow up, please don't take my Daughter, the one we prayed for and waited for, and wanted so badly.

Walking into the NICU was the scariest experience of my life, I had no idea what I was walking into and you are never really prepared for seeing your child like that.

In all of this I felt lucky though, lucky that we decided to deliver at a hospital with one of the best NICU's in the Country, Lucky that the neonatalogists that were caring for her were the best, and that we have the technology to save her. The first night was terrifying, I remember going to bed that night and her Doctor telling us it was touch and go and only time would tell us what we were dealing with, they also told us that if anything changed they would come get us. Needless to say we did not sleep well that night and It was about 5 AM when we went back down there. The next few days showed promise and before we knew it she had moved to the Step down Side of the NICU and 3 days later we got to take her home.

Those days have forever changed my life. I am different because of that experience, it made me realize how fragile life is, and how quickly it can all change. As Abby got better I relaxed but I still was impacted not only by her but by all the babies in there with her, the nurses all joked that she was the "baby moose" of the NICU crew and people would walk past and smile at her and her big blue eyes. The other parents in there were amazing, there was a 23 weeker, a 28 weeker and a 30 weeker all in there with us, at the time I felt guilty because our journey in that ward was a short one and most of them spent months there, every day, and all night sometimes hoping for a miracle.

Sadly one of the Babies passed while we were there, it was a nice young couple and it was there first. I still think about them and wonder how they are doing, I remember when the Dad came out and apologized to all of us waiting to see our kids. Because of the circumstances they closed down the NICU whenever a baby coded, and we all had to leave, but I will never forget the look in his eyes, the pain, the confusion, and the utter grief.

We held Abby longer that night, we hugged her more tightly before we went home, and we thanked God the entire way home for saving her and letting her stay with us.

This has gotten more wordy than I intended and if you are still with me I appreciate it.

This entire post was meant to say that I admire the strength that these parents walking this path have. The fact that they still rejoice when others celebrate the birth of a child and they are left with empty arms. The strength they have to raise their other children with a hole in their heart and a piece of their family missing.

Today we honor the Babies that have gone before their parents, and the parents that are left to survive and go on.

My Family will be praying for all of you and thinking of you today.

May God surround and hold you as you walk this path.

8 Month Pictures a little late

I took these a while ago but with everything that has been going on at work I have not had the chance nor the ability to remember to do it.

Abby has gone from Army Crawling to Crawling on all fours she is also pulling up on things as of this weekend. Her two Bottom teeth are completely in and she is working on her top two. It has been a busy little month for our Angel and we are loving every minute of it. It is completely amazing how much she has changed in just a few months and how much more she is going to change in the coming months, and years.

Her baptism is at the end of this month and we are very much looking forward to welcoming her into a relationship with God (even though she has been attending church since she was born), it is a formal introduction of sorts. We will have plenty of pictures from the day I am sure and I can't wait to see her in her gorgeous Christening Gown. We will also be getting professional photos since the Baptism coincides with her 9 monthday, we decided to have them done then.

Other than that not too much is happening in our neck of the woods, I am still looking for a job and Donnie starts his CNA Class on Monday the 19th. It will be an adjustment for him, and I know he is going to miss Abby but it is a step in the right direction towards him becoming a nurse and it will allow him to go back to work, and attend school at the same time.

So without further Delay, here are a bunch of pictures from the past month...Enjoy!!

She loves her new shoes...it took a few tries but she keeps these on now

This is how we usually find her in the morning

She loves her puppy

The best thing to wake up to

Here is a video of Her in her Round We go actvivity Center...She loves this toy.

(Sorry it is so Dark, and it flipped sideways for some of it and I can't get it to upload any other way)

Love,

Christie, Donnie, and Abby

One more post before I go

These lyrics seemed fitting for our anniversary (although they fit the way I feel about Abby too) The Song is on the playlist at the bottom of our Blog...Enjoy :)

Smile

Uncle Kracker

You're better then the best

I'm lucky just to linger in your light

Cooler then the flip side of my pillow, that's right

Completely unaware

Nothing can compare to where you send me,

Lets me know that it's ok, yeah it's ok

And the moments where my good times start to fade

You make me smile like the sun

Fall out of bed, sing like bird

Dizzy in my head, spin like a record

Crazy on a Sunday night

You make me dance like a fool

Forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Ohh, you make me smile

Even when you're gone

Somehow you come along

Just like a flower poking the sidewalk crack and just like that

You steal away the rain and just like that

You make me smile like the sun

Fall out of bed, sing like bird

Dizzy in my head, spin like a record

Crazy on a Sunday night

You make me dance like a fool

Forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Ohh, you make me smile

Don't know how I lived without you

Cuz everytime that I get around you

I see the best of me inside your eyes

You make me smile

You make me dance like a fool

Forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

You make me smile like the sun

Fall out of bed, sing like bird

Dizzy in my head, spin like a record

Crazy on a Sunday night

You make me dance like a fool

Forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Ohh, you make me smile

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Us!

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
1 Corinthians 13

It has been an amazing, scary, troubling, happy, blissful, journey of a year.  We have had ups, downs and even side to sides in our house.  We have been flipped upside down and rightside up, but through it all we have clung to each other. 

This year has marked many changes for us, we welcomed our beautiful daughter, we have dealt with bouts of almost poverty, we have made changes in our careers and changes in our lives.

In a year that has at times almost torn us apart we have made it through together and stronger than I think we ever were.  We have learned patience and hope, with each other, with our marriage and with God. 

I never thought that the things we have been through we would go through but it has made us stronger and tougher, we have pushed each other away and came back to each other alot this year.  I think this year has shown us what our relationship and our marriage are made of.  It has been a reality check, a test of sorts.

I know that God has a purpose and a plan for us and our marriage and while we are still figuring that out, we are clinging to each other even tighter through it all.  We have some interesting changes ahead as well, but if the last year is any indication, we know that we can and will get through it, stronger than ever and a better family.

So happy anniversary to us, and heres to many more.  We may not be perfect in our love all the time but we are perfect for each other and that is why we make it through the stormy days. 

I love you always and forever, and couldn't imagine anyone better to grow old and gray with.

and to qoute from one of our favorite movies: 
"True love is the soul's recognition of its counterpoint in another"
~Wedding Crashers

A day in the city...and some changes

It has been a crazy week in our house and there are some big changes coming...

First I learned Monday morning that my Office will be closing come December 31st, which means that on January 1 I will no longer be an employee of Boy Scouts. It is a very bittersweet transition for me.

I love this job, and while they offered me a position in Texas, both Donnie and I feel that is not where our family needs to be, so with many tears, and the loss of a job I love we have decided to stay. Although it is a hard decsion I know it is the right one for us and Family has to come first in these situations.

So I am on the job hunt and hating every minute of it thus far, because I don't want to be looking for a job, I have a job I love, and while I am sure that there is one out there that I may love just as much I am not ready to look for it, I want this job, the one that took 5 years and alot of frustration to find, the one I look forward to going to every morning because my co workers have become good friends, and we respect each other.

Along with this job transition comes the need to possibly move, now this all depends on where I get a job of course, and we knew we were eventually going to have to move, but again I feel like the decision has been forced and rather than come to it in our own time we may have to make some rather quick decisions. Our Condo is where we brought Abby home after a long week in the NICU that felt like a lifetime, where we spent alot of sleepless nights with her, and where we have a bunch of memories of her first year.

I know that we will make memories elsewhere, and that to everything there is a season, and this will most likely be a wonderful thing for us, but again right now I am still in the denial, I don't want to go stage, and once I get past that I will see the light I know.

A friend I work with shared an email with me and I will put part of it here since it came at a time that was coincidental yet very fitting:

as autumn begins and the temperature cools, the most noticeable change is a colorful display of leaves, but there is also a shift within me--a sense of fresh energy and excitement.

Visible changes remind me that all is evolving. Seeing God's transformational handiwork in nature triggers in me a deep awareness of my potential for positive change. I find opportunities to grow closer to God and deeper in spritual understanding.

Whether the changes I face are minor or monumental, I have the spiritual tools I need to meet them with confidence and faith. With trust in God, I am guided through the changes life brings.

I am hoping this brings positive changes for our family, and only time will tell, but in the meantime I am leaving it to God to know what is best for us and I know that he has a plan and a purpose for each one of us, sometimes we just don't know it.

Ok...
On to more fun things :), we took Abby to the Shedd Aquarium on Tuesday, shhhh! after the news we recieved on Monday I needed a day away from it all to process and try and wrap my head around it, so what better than to spend it with your baby and Husband taking in Chicago.

Abby took her first train ride, spent her first day in the city and had a blast at the Shedd aquarium. She was captivated by the fish and really seemed to enjoy herself, so much so that on the walk back from the Shedd to the Train station ( yes, all 2 miles of it) she slept, completely oblivious to the cars, people, and even firetrucks.

It was a wonderful day and I loved that I got that time with them.

Abby also turned 8 months on Monday, and she celebrated it by showing Mommy and Daddy that she can now pull herself up to a stand if she tries really hard, she also enjoys not sleeping in her crib during naptime but rather playing with her toys and newly discovered Fisher Price fish tank, and throwing her pacifiers out of the crib so that we come in and see her :).

Below are some pictures of the day...enjoy, and please keep us in your thoughts as we make this change.

Love,
Christie, Donnie and Abby

Abby's First train Ride

All ready For the Fishes

                                                                             

Taking in the Aquarium

In Remembrance

I will never forget where I was on 9-11...I was in my Dorm Room getting ready for Class and My roommates Boyfriend called and said to turn on the news, I turned on CNN and saw that the first tower had been hit about 5 minutes later the plane hit the 2nd tower, it felt like being punched in the stomach, that day and the days following are forever burned in my memory.

It was the first time that I didn't feel safe in America, the first time I realized that we are not immune to the danger out there and the first time I questioned what this world was coming too.

My 19 year old brain was racked with all these questions, most never got answers other than because they hate Americans, but that was never good enough for me.

I remember being glued to my TV with my Dorm floor in the following days and somehow that tragedy brought us all together, as a dorm floor, as a university, and as a country.

There were Ceremonies and prayer circles all over campus, and people who never really prayed started to, young men who never showed sadness or fear outwardly did.

We hugged each other, we cried together and people who were not friends suddenly put that aside to be there for one another.

Arguments about who kept who awake, who hogged the phone too much, who had too many Friends over, no longer seemed important. People were in general nicer to each other, they held doors for each other and were more patient in traffic.

In the following years things have gone back to normal, people have moved on and the niceness has faded in some respects. I often look around and wonder why? why does it take a horrible tragedy to bring people together, to help people realize things they should be doing on a daily basis. I, myself, am also guilty of this and as of late I am trying to over come a lot of these "character flaws".

But I Often think to myself, what is it going to take for people to slow down and realize that life is something to be lived, not something to be gotten through with some OK memories along the way.

9-11 makes it all to abundantly clear that you never know when your time is up, when you are going to be called home.

All too often people make the mistake of realizing this too late and end up having regrets, Personally I am trying to do as much as I can when possible and enjoy life to the fullest.

I guess this is a commitment to myself of sorts, a commitment to let the little things go, to Love deeper, to speak more sweetly and patiently, and to live every day with honor and grace.

I am not perfect, and I know that I will forget this from time to time but I feel as though everything that Donnie and I have gone through in the last year has been a wake up call, it is time for us to start "living", to take control of our destiny and make changes, not only for our lives but for Abby, and any future children we have.

So with all that being said...we will never forget, and even though this tragedy changed the shape of our Country forever, something good can come of it, if we all are willing to try.

In memory of all the lives lost... We remember

Army Crawling and Cheerios

We got a few videos of Abby over the last few days and I thought I would share them, there are also 2 new pictures at the bottom that are pretty adorable :)...Enjoy!
Love,
Christie, Donnie, and Abby

P.S. None of the videos have any real interesting Sound to them, unless you want to hear Donnie Saying weee! over and over again in the last one :)

Apparently the Cell Phone has magical Powers that make Babies want to army crawl all of a sudden, Dudley also has this power as does the Directv remote

Abby has Discovered her love for Cheerios, along with the ability to stuff as many as humanly possible into her mouth at one time

Grandma and Grandpa Harris put a Swing up in the tree for Abby (and any Future Grandkids)...Abby had a blast!

Abby Enjoying her time on the Swing

All ready for winter...

Saturday In the park, a Reunion and a whole lotta pictures

So I have been a bad Blogger and haven't updated in awhile. Life gets in the way but I am posting a bunch of pictures to make up for it :)!

Abby is now 7.5 months old, I can't believe how time has flown. She is sitting really well on her own, she will stand holding on to things and is going to crawl very, very soon we think. It is so amazing to me how much they change in just 7 short months, and how much she is beginning to look like a "kid" rather than a baby.

Donnie and I have really hit a stride as parents and generally Abby is a pretty happy baby, because she knows what to expect, she knows when Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner are and when her bedtime is, her naps are pretty predictable to, although we know she doesn't like to nap in the afternoon so getting her morning nap in is really important otherwise she gets thrown off for the whole day.

Donnie is in the process of applying to his CNA program and hopefully by October he should be an Illinois Licensed CNA, and he will be able to start working and move on to the next step of applying to the Nursing program at College of Dupage.

I am just trucking along at work, getting ready for the Fall programs and finishing up the Summer ones, it is amazing to me how fast time flies when you are working. Other than that I am enjoying all the snuggle time I can get with Abby and trying to take in every moment I have with her, because she is growing up all too fast.

The last few weekends we have been keeping busy, 2 weeks ago we went to the Zoo because it was finally not 100 degrees and it was not raining, novel for this area lately.

This weekend we went to the park on Saturday and Abby got to ride in the swing for a little bit and she took her first slide ride with Mommy.

Sunday we went back to a place that we hold very close in our hearts, Good Samaritan Hospital, they had their Annual Neo Natal ICU Reunion and it was nice to see all of the nurses and Doctors that took such fantastic care of our little angel in her stay there. It was a great feeling to be able to thank them for all that they did to help get her to be the big healthy girl that she is today.

Ok so enough Writing here are the pictures...

A girl and her Dog

Saturday Morning Cartoons

We have teeth!! (Well almost anyway)

Look Mom No hands (She found her balance overnight)

What paper is food Right...

Family Picture at the Zoo

My New favorite picture of Abby and her Daddy

Swinnnng

Ready..

Weee!

Oh thank goodness we made it down!

She was much more interested in the woodchips than smiling for me :)

16th Annual NICU Reunion

(This is the shirt they gave Abby, She should fit in it by next years reunion...LOL)

In her Sunday Best

Abby and Nurse Amy ( she was Abby's Afternoon and night nurse)

Love from All of Us,

Christie, Donnie, and Abby