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!

So is everyone ready for summer or what?! We certainly are!! I'm not ready for the humidity but I'm ready for the sun and warm weather...and most importantly-the beach!!! I can't wait to introduce Abby the Jersey Shore-even if she doesn't have a clue what's going on!
Everything here has been great, Abby is wonderful-as usual. There isn't too much to report, Abby did have a little cold last week, but she got over it pretty fast. Even though the Dr told us not to worry if she got sick since RSV season is over and she's other wise healthy, we were a little concerned because she was coughing for a few days, so we took her in for a checkup anyway. I think we did pretty good since she went over five months without being sick-it was bound to happen at some point. Abby did get weighed at the Dr--12lbs 8oz!!-that was higher than Matt and I both guessed. She is definitely packing on the lbs!
Other than the little cold, everything is great. Abby is smiling and talking-mostly yelling-at us more and making more eye contact, even though we can still see her right eye wander a bit, she's still making progress. We go back to the eye Dr in July and they'll decide whether to patch her-poor thing! She likes to just hang out and play, and she's getting more fun to play with since she's starting to smile when we try to play with her instead of staring at us like a couple of dorks! I keep telling her that she thinks she's such a big girl but she's really just my baby. She LOVES to stand all day long on us and we just can't get over how strong her little legs are, it's crazy! She also tries to pull herself up if she's laying down or sitting on our laps-I think she's over the baby thing! She has also started to push herself onto her back from her stomach, it's pretty funny because once she flops over she looks like she scares herself and just kind of lays there in shock!! Abby is definitely ready to get a move on!
And as for the summer we have lots planned. Matt's family is coming down for a few days in June, his mom, dad and brother are coming. Danny-Matt's brother-has yet to meet Abby so we're very excited. And of course we're excited for his parents to see Abby-and for us to see them-We always have a great time with them and we can't wait. We are also headed up to see them and the rest of the fam in Mass in August, again we're very excited for everyone to see Abby and we love a good road trip. Matt, Abby and I are headed down to the shore with my Aunt Jeanne and fam(did I mention how much I love her?? she hooked us up big time with a rental), in June, and we can't wait! This year has been so intense and we can't wait to relax. I'm not sure how Abby will do on the beach, it's probably a good thing she isn't on the move yet so she'll hopefully just hang with us and we don't have to chase her-next year I'm sure we're in for it. And wait until I get pictures of the cute pink bikini with ruffles on the butt-it's too cute! Sea Isle City or bust! We have about a million pictures of Miss Abby, and with everything we have going on we'll have a million more, so stay tuned...here are the latest few......

shouldn't someone be sleeping?!

daddy and Abby...

Abby standing like a big girl...checking things out...still no hair, but it's one cute bald head!

Abby giving daddy kisses....she's always trying to stick both hands in her mouth, even if there's a pacie already in it, and she doesn't wanna let go of those hands!

Hi everyone! We have the best news ever for you all! We took Abby to CHOP on Tuesday for another ultrasound of her liver....and whatever was there is even smaller! The surgeon said it is a 'known hemmatoma'-which is a collection of blood, they think it's from the line that was in her belly in the NICU. So this means there is NO surgery! YAY!!!!!! Is that good news or what?! We are beyond happy about this! The surgeon did say he was disappointed because if the growth on Abby's liver was a hammoratoma like they originally thought he said it would have been a great case. Sorry to disappoint ya doc! Matt still swears the growth went away because he gave Abby his blood-I just let him think whatever he wants. After we received our fabulous we news, we stopped at PF Changs on the way home and celebrated-Abby thankfully slept the whole time and Matt and I-especially myself-were thrilled to be at a restaurant, and I love PF Changs! Other than this fantastic news there isn't really anything going on. Abby weighed in at 11.8lbs, definitely a growing girl! We are still working on strengthening Abby's wandering eye, so hopefully our exercises will work. We go back to the eye Dr in July so we'll see what happens. Thanks again to everyone for all of your prayers, they certainly worked...someone out there is looking over out little girl!

This pic is from about a week and half ago when it was really hot and I thought she looked super cute....

I think I've been slacking a little bit with the posting, I keep telling myself to update the blog and for some reason I never get around to it. Sorry!! Abby is doing wonderful, she's getting so big and she's so fun. We took her to the pediatrician last week and they think she's doing really great. She weighed in at 10.10lbs and was 22inches long!! Such a chunker and we love it!! Abby did have to get her four month shots, and she really did not like that! Her face was purple and she was screaming, but after a few minutes she was fine, and she slept great that night!! Earlier today we went to the clinic at Chester County to see her neonatologist and someone from physical therapy to see where her development is and if she needs Early Intervention(a state funded program to help with development). They were very excited with her progress-and how big she is! She has great control and strength in her head and moves around really well. She isn't that great with the visual things, but great with sound. She won't look at someone and follow them with her eyes, or really with toys, so they're a little concerned. The eye Dr said Abby has a wandering eye, which 80% of babies are born with, and most correct themselves. We go back in July to get it checked. If it's not corrected she might have to wear a patch on her stronger eye to help the weak eye. They gave us some things to do with her to help strengthen they eye so we'll see what happens. The PT thinks the wandering eye might be affecting her ability to track things, but they aren't that worried since everything else was great. Abby was definitely pooped after all the activity today. They did a bunch of tests to test her strength, lots of stuff with toys and sounds, and she did great. So no Early Intervention, and we go see PT and the neonatologist again in August and see where she is. We also go back to CHOP on Tuesday for another ultrasound, so everyone keep your fingers crossed and pray that whatever was in her liver is long gone!!! We have finally been able to get out and visit with everyone, which we-especially me since I've been house bound-are thrilled! We really missed everyone! Here are the latest pictures!

my mom was over tonight to get her hair done, and she put Abby right to sleep.....
this outfit was a gift and it is so stinking cute on her!

some of you may know that my grandmother had been a little under the weather lately, she fell and has a fracture in her back, so she's been housebound and has been dying to see her great grand baby-I think Abby's her 6Th great grand baby-we finally went to my Aunt Jeanne's house to see her over the weekend, and as you can see she looks great!

Matt's family came for a visit last weekend and we were really excited to see them. Since they live in Massachusetts we don't see them as much as we'd like, but they get down here when they can. Our niece and nephew were on spring break so they came for the trip-I'm sure they wanted to see us and Abby but they love to play with Roxy-and she loves when they come, she was tired for like three days after they left!

Matt's parents and niece and nephew with Abby

Abby finally was able to meet her Great Great Aunt Grace-hence Abby Grace. My grandmother's brother and sisters (and of course my grandmother)were always so good to us growing up, they still spoil us, and I always thought I'd try to use their names when I had babies, Grace was first, so that's where we got Abigail Grace.

We finally got a picture of all of us, thanks to grammy! (excuse the beer bottle in the background)

Abby with the birthday boy-he held her long enough for the picture and then he had enough!

Abby with Aunt Jess...

Moira found Abby's pacifiers and went to town!!!

Abby in her Easter pj's-they say 'just hatched'-they were a gift and they are adorable!

Happy Easter to everyone! We had a great day and we hope everyone else did too. We had my dad, Cathy, Jess, Jim and the kids over for breakfast-which Matt made and it was awesome. Then we went to my mom's for dinner-I think I'm still in a food coma! It's alwasy an adventure when Moira and Aidan are here-especially Moira-she is into everything! She walked away from us for about two seconds and I found her dipping her hands into the toilet-yuck! She is trouble! Roxy escaped twice, and it takes forever to get her back in because she thinks it's a game and just runs from us, but we managed to rangle her back in. We do have so much fun with the kids. Matt and I hid some Easter eggs for them, and of course as soon as Aidan walked in he started to find them-I guess we didn't hide them too well! After they left we had some down time before we headed to my mom's for dinner. It was also my brothers 18th birthday, so it was nice to see him-and tease him. We had a great day, and ate way too much!

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I updated the blog! I don't even have an excuse because we haven't really had much going on. Abby is wonderful, as usual. She's smiling and cooing more. She definitely wants to talk, but she can't quite figure out how, I'm sure she'll be talking up a storm in no time! We are venturing out more, mostly to Target or my sisters-but it's still nice to get out when we can! Hopefully it will warm up and we can get out even more. Here are some picture from the past couple of weeks.

Abby just hanging out being cute in her boppy

After bath time...

Abby's cousins watching over her...

She's started licking everything, it's really cute!!!!

Hello Spring!! Well, at least it felt like it yesterday and I love it! It's kind of ugly today but yesterday was beautiful so I'll take it! The Long family is doing wonderful, and we are finally starting to venture out with Abby. I took her to Jess's on Monday, our first outing alone, and it was great to get out of the house. It was so good to see Aidan and Moira(and Jess), even if it was little nerve racking. Moira loves baby dolls, and she thinks Abby is her new baby, so she was literally squeezing and hugging the crap out of her, but it was SO cute! Aidan can't get enough of her, he says "Abby is the cutest baby in the whole world, not Moira"-I love it! It was even cute when Moira decided to blow her nose on Abby's blanket-I'm not sure why she did it, but Jess and I were cracking up. Jess made brownies for dessert and I definitely found some chocolate on Abby's hat when we got home, I guess Moira was playing with that too! We had a great time, and I loved seeing them.

On Tuesday, I took Abby to the eye Dr for a checkup. He said everything looks great, and we go back in July just to make sure everything is still good. I also took Abby out shopping with me, so exciting! And Matt and I decided we wanted to go out to eat so last night we took Abby out to dinner. We went to Cheeseburger in Paradise because I really wanted a pina colada, and we survived. We went early in case it was crowded and Abby didn't cooperate, so we felt like old farts, but it was nice to go out. Abby thankfully slept most of the time, so it was a nice quiet dinner-which I'm sure will be few and far between as she gets bigger. We are just loving being with her, she is starting to smile and coo at us, it's so cute, we can't get enough. Although I'm sure Abby has had enough of the camera! Here are the latest pictures.....

Abby with her cousins... In her big girl clothes...

We bought her a mirror with lights and music and she loves it, she's starting to smile at it and of course we had the camera in her face the whole time!

Abby hanging out with Daddy, this is about a half hour ago, it was the first time we put her under this thing with the lights and music and she loved it! She was smiling and cooing, it's amazing to watch her discover everything....