An update at last!! I know it's been forever since I've updated, and I figured I better do it before more time passes and I get even lazier! I'm a posting machine today, there are two other posts under this one, mostly of pictures, of our summer. We have had a packed summer, but it's been great-it flew by! Our last adventure was up to Massachusetts to see Matt's family, and we were so excited to see everyone. Before we left for Mass, Abby had an appointment at Chester County with someone from PT, and her neonatologist. They were thrilled to see how big Abby is-they both said they never get babies in with rolls like Abby has-she's got plenty for everyone!! They also said Abby looked great and is developing right on track. They were surprised at how well she sat up by herself and played-well mostly chewed-with all the toys. They were a little concerned that her verbal skills were a little behind and said she might need speech therapy, but that won't come for a while and since everything else is on track they weren't too concerned. Overall Abby is wonderful and we go back in November.
After our appointment we headed up to Mass, a six hour car ride. The ride up wasn't too bad, Abby was worn out from the appointment, and of course Roxy slept the whole way! Our visit to Mass was great, we had so much fun. We were happy that everyone was finally able to meet Abby and see how well she is doing. We kept busy while we were there. We spent a lot of time just hanging out with the family, and everyone was more than willing to help with Abby-although I don't think anyone was jumping to change any diapers!!! We also had some day trips. We took Abby to Martha's Vineyard, we went to see Uncle David on the Cape and Matt and I even went on a date. Luckily no one minded babysitting Abby-and Roxy, so Matt and I went out for drinks, dinner, and of course a little shopping. There was also a party for Matt's grandmother, (who just turned 96!) so we were able to see the rest of the family, most of whom we haven't seen since last summer or maybe even longer. We had a great time, looooong car ride and all. Hopefully we'll be seeing them again soon. Here are some pics from our trip.....

Abby at great gram's party.. Abby with her cousins

Martha's Vineyard, ready for some shopping

Martha's Vineyard..

I know she looks like she's doing a push up! She's so close to crawling she just can't figure out how to move her arms and legs at the same times...

two more posts below, lots of pics!! :)

So this post is a little unorganized, I forgot to put the pictures in before I started writting-so you'll just have to see them first!! Here is Abby in the pool at Aunt Kim's, Abby and Roxy fighting over toys of course, and Abby and her cousins-not sure why Moira is in a bathing suit...it was about 10am I think and she just had to have it on!





Here are some pictures from the rest of our summer. We had a great summer, but it went by too fast, we spent a lot of time with family and friends, and Abby has loved every minute of it. There lots of 'firsts' for Abby recently, first beach visit-and you know we LOVE the beach, first dip in a pool, first really long car ride...And Matt and I love seeing all of her 'firsts', it's amazing to see her experience each new adventure, even if it's a new food she's trying, and we can't wait to see what each day brings. Recently, I've been trying to organize all of our pictures of the little miss, there are a whole lot of them, and I came across the ones from when she was first born and I still can't believe we made it through all that. We look at Abby now and see how healthy and wonderful she is, and she's growing into this beautiful little girl-it really just floors us. I'll say it a million times I'm sure, but we couldn't have gotten through all that without our friends and family, Abby is really lucky to grow up in such a loving family and around our great friends-there's never a shortage of her adoring fans...Matt and I never forget how lucky we are :) (guess I was feeling a bit mushy tonight...) Anyway, back to the pictures.....

On more post to go........

These pictures are from our fabulous beach trip back in June-I know it's been forever since I've updated!! We had a wonderful time, Abby loved hanging with her cousin Marcus, and we were just happy to be away from home, here are the highlights!

Abby didn't love her first dip in the ocean, it was a little cold..... Abby and Marcus just hanging out....

Fourth of July pictures........

getting ready to hit the beach in her new bikini!!

Best Buds

I know all of you have seen a million pictures of our first child, Roxy. We joke about it but she really was our first-she was the trial run!! I never understood dog people until we had Roxy, she's part of our family and we always laugh because we can't remember what we did before we had Roxy and Abby! Roxy is always some where in our pictures-it's usually not intentional, she just likes to be where the action is. And now Abby is obsessed with her. She stalks her all day, she looks for her everywhere and once she sees her she won't take her eyes off of her. It's really funny because Roxy is pretty much over Abby, Roxy couldn't be bothered. Whenever they're near each other Abby wants to get as close as possible, so with a little help from dad she got pretty close last night. I think Abby wants to just grab her and love her and just get her hands on her! Luckily Roxy doesn't mind, she just sits there while Abby tries to get her, it's the cutest thing. So here our girls.......

Abby's got her sweaty hands all in her fur and Roxy's just hanging out....
Why won't you play with me Roxy!!!!

Look 'Ma I got her!!

I think I'll just lay here with my best friend, Roxy......

Yummy Food

We finally have started feeding Abby baby food, she is a growing girl and we've been trying to keep up with her growing appetite-I think she gets that from mom and dad! We started her on a rice cereal a few weeks ago, but that didn't work out-she got a little backed up :( After she was back on track we switched to oatmeal and she loves it. I can't shovel it in her mouth fast enough. Once she was on that for a few days we tried some good stuff. First came the sweet potatoes. She really wasn't sure about it, but by the second day she was loving it. We've give her the veggies and oatmeal at night to try and fill her up before bed time, and we also give her some oatmeal in the am. She's only on formula now and she is definitely packing on the lbs! She is getting so big! I am proud to say that for a girl who didn't want to nurse, I lasted six loooooong months and pumped and nursed for the first three of them. We had enough breast milk that we just finished it up last week, so she certainly got her fill. I'm really happy I did nurse because whatever we did certainly worked, she's so come so far and is so healthy. Two nights ago we switched to peas and Abby loves the peas-yuck! As soon as she sits in her seat she knows shes getting the good stuff and gets excited. Here are the pictures from the sweet potatoes, she's is pretty darn cute!


First bite.....Hmmmmmm..... What the heck did you just feed me mom!

Ummm I don't think I like that......

Another satisfied customer.....She was still making faces through the second feeding but she still ate them!

Family

Last week Matt's family came down for a visit from Massachusetts. We were so excited to see them and for them to see how big Abby has gotten since their last visit. Even though they live about six hours away, we still manage to see them every six weeks or so. They really are troopers, They make that six hour drive each way pretty often and we're lucky they don't mind long car rides!! We had a wonderful visit with them, It's really an excuse for us to relax while they're here and we always enjoy having them. Matt's mom, dad and brother came down, and they had a great time loving on Abby. We went out to dinner a few times, Matt's mom and I did some shopping, planted some flowers and we celebrated Danny's birthday. Here are a few pictures from the visit, We took a million as usual but here are the highlights....

Grandpa and Roxy are best buds and she LOVES when he's here-I should say she loves any visitors, but especially her Mass family, and grandpa always plays with her. Grandma and Abby having a chat, Abby loves to stand and talk to us and she's full of smiles these days.....

The Long family, Abby is sitting like such a big girl!

6 Months Already!!!

That's right, Abby was six months on June 1st-it was her 'half birthday'-I can't believe it's already been six months! It really has gone by so fast, especially the past few months. Abby is wonderful and her personality is starting to show; she's also over being a baby. She's ready to be on the move, she doesn't like to lay down, she's always trying to pull herself up and stand up, she thinks she's really a big girl!!
On Wednesday we had our six month check-up at the pediatrician. The Dr was pleased to see how well Abby is doing. Abby weighed in at 13lbs 6ozs and 24 inches. The Dr now uses a full term six month old chart to compare Abby's growth instead of a preemie chart, and even though she's in the bottom percentile she's catching up!!
We also started Abby on rice cereal on Wed, it's very exciting, and sad that she's growing up! She wasn't sure if she liked the cereal, it was pretty runny and I think she wanted to drink it, but she's figuring it out. I think more ends up on her face and bib but we still try. We start baby food in a few weeks-that'll be an adventure!
We are also trying to get Abby to sleep in her room and slowly stop swaddling her. She's been in our room so far because she's so attached to the pacie, every time it falls out she wakes up and I really don't want to have to get up and go to her room all night-but that's what we're doing. She really doesn't know how to settle herself either and we're trying to let her cry it out-today at her nap was the first time she cried herself to sleep and it was probably because she was exhausted from being up so many times last night, but it's a start!
Other than the Dr updates, Abby's smiling and talking a lot more, it's SO exciting to watch her smile! I love when I go to get her up from her nap and when she sees me smiling at her I get a huge smile back and I just love that big gummy smile!! Speaking of gums, I think she has a few teeth coming in up top, the Dr said they usually come in on the bottom first but I'm pretty sure I feel some up top, and she's been chewing on anything she can get her mouth on. Maybe we'll have a few teeth in the near future.
Next weekend our Massachusetts family is coming for a visit and we're very excited to see them. We always love visiting with them but it's even more exciting having Abby. We can't wait for them to see her and love her, and see how big and healthy she is! Well that's all I have for now, I'm sure I'll have a ton of pics from their visit. Sorry for the long rambling...I know everyone just wants to see pics so here are some of the latest......


Abby in her seat, not sure what's going on...

She's still not sure if she likes it.....

Doing some tummy time...she's started pushing herself onto her back because she hates being on her belly ....

Thursday my cousin Marissa graduated from eighth grade and is on her way to high school...talk about growing up! Abby and I went to do her hair and makeup so she was all set for her big night and she looked beautiful! Nicholas is making a goofy face but I still think it's a cute picture!