Abigail's 1st Birthday - Opening Presents

 Abigail had so much help opening presents!  I probably could have just sat back and let the kids handle it, haha.  I think they had more fun opening the presents than Abigail and she loved watching the kids.  She got so many great toys.  I don't have a picture of all of them but I do have a few.

Trying on her new pretty hat from Meme & Papa.

Caroline helping bring the presents over.

She got a great wooden puzzle and a beautiful teddy
bear from Peyton and Jack.

Reese and Rylan gave Abigail a cool cell phone
and a new beach towel.  

Grandma (Andy's mom) made this cute bib for Abigail.
It says "Our little cupcake is one".  They will be coming
 up to see Abigail this week on her actual birthday.

Grammy and Paw Paw gave Abigail this beautiful chair.
Abigail already loves it!

The Bray's gave Abigail this cute lady bug.

The kids showed Abigail how to put the
balls in the top in just a few minutes.

Aunties Reagan and Monica gave us this new push toy.
Abigail will be up and walking in no time!

All her friends helping her with her new purse that
her cousins Caroline and Cooper gave her.  They know
how much she loves to unpack bags!  

Our wonderful friends Danny and Christine gave Abigail a
"Scout" dog that sings songs and talks using her name.  

Abigail's 1st Birthday - Play Time

Party time meant play time and wow did the kids play!  I bought this baby pool a couple weeks ago for the lake then thought it would be fun to use it as a ball pit for the party.  That was the best idea!  All the kids loved it.  Plus Abigail got to play in it for a few days before to the party. 

This is one of my favorite pictures....Abigail still has her bow in
(which my mom made) and her cousin Caroline is smiling so cute.  

Abigail and her friend David.

Sweet Reese took a break from the ball pit
to read a book.

This picture pretty much sums up the day! 

Abigail was so happy and such a cutie pie all day.

Andy even got in the ball pit.

Abigail climbing on Peyton who was so
sweet to play with her.

Abigail's friend Lucas came by.
He is walking now so Abigail was using him for support.  

I had to get a picture of all the kids in the pool....I should have
thought to do this before the other kids left
but I'm not sure if they all would have fit.

They had so much fun!

Abigail spending some time with her
cousin Caroline after the party.

Abigail's 1st Birthday - The Decorations

I have been working on Abigail's birthday party for a month now.....Andy thinks I am crazy but I have to say it was absolutely worth every penny and energy spent!  We had such a blast at her party and I know she will not remember it but I will remember how much fun she had.  I have so many great pictures to remember it by that I am going to have to spread this out over many posts.

I will start with the decoration...
I have to admit that I steal all of my ideas from friends, Etsy and Pinterest.  I am not very creative but love to make things, I just need inspiration.  Thankfully I have creative friends and a friend that let me borrow her Cricut.  The Cricut is awesome!
  

I got this idea from my very creative friend Julie. I bought the letters at Joann's Fabric (I think....I spent so much time there, Michael's, and at Hobby Lobby that I'm not sure where I bought what).  They were brown so I painted them white and that was it...very easy.  We also used them during our photo shoot on Friday, I can't wait to see how they turned out.  Abigail kept looking through the O, it was too cute!  

 

I found this awesome chevron ribbon at Hobby Lobby and my wonderful mom made me a few bows.  I love them!

This is where the Cricut come in handy....

 

Here is my dining room the day of the party, everything came together nicely.  We catered food from Taziki's (chicken, pasta salad, & hummus) and had a fruit tray and homemade cupcakes.  All things that Abigail loves to eat.  We served lemonade and water to drink.  

This was another idea that I stole from my friend Julie.  I saw her monthly photos a few years ago at her first son's 1st birthday party and knew I wanted to do the same thing.  I will love having these pictures for years to come and they made for an amazing banner.  Its so much fun to see how she changed month to month.  I may not take this one down.  : )

My mom made wonderful mini cupcakes for me.  They were so yummy and looked so pretty with my toppers.  Also, in this picture you can see the party hats that I made.  I thought they would be pretty easy but they ended up being kind of hard.  I cut out the pattern, glued on the ribbon and tapped on the string (sounds easy right...very deceiving).  On Abigail's I glued on a # 1.

I decided to do this at the last minute so I was unable to get a one year old picture of Andy.  He is a little younger in his pic but I still think it turned out cute.  Andy still thinks she looks just like me with his eyes.  

I found these cute chevron paper straws on Etsy.

Food markers made with the Cricut....This paper was so cute and my sister, who has much better handwriting than me, finished them by writing the names on for me.

Another bow my mom made with this awesome ribbon.

Party favors.  I bought the chevron favor bags on Etsy and filled them with chocolate covered marshmallows from Edgars.  This was a last minute decision but turned out cute and yummy.

11 Months Old

Abigail is 11 months old today.  I cannot believe she will be a year old in one short month!  She is growing so fast and learning new things everyday.  In the last few weeks she has started cruising more, she can wave and say Bye Bye.  She gives the sweetest open mouth kisses and isn't so stingy with them anymore.  She has said mama a few times but not consistently.  The last few weeks she has also been really clingy to me....if I am around she will not willing let others hold her and she acts very shy when new people talk to her.  One of my favorite things she can do it play peek a boo.  She will hold a towel or blanket over her face and pull it down to look at you over and over again.  I have videos of her waving and playing peek a boo that I will post later.  Here are our monthly pictures.  I have to shoot fast because she does not want to sit in the chair anymore....but I still managed to get some good ones.

This is my favorite by far.  She is so adorable!

Tired of being in the chair.

Happy being naked.

Surgery was a Success!

Abigail's surgery was this past Friday at Children's South with Dr. Cogen.  We had to arrive at the hospital at 5:45 to check in and her Surgery was scheduled for 7am.  She did incredibly well in pre-op considering she could not have anything to drink.  She started getting a little fussy right before they took her back but that was all.  We were able to carry her to the OR door where we had to hand her off to the tech to take her the rest of the way....she did not cry or even look back at us!!  I was very surprised, but I guess she was just too interested in what everyone else was doing.  She got an IV (which they stuck her 3 times for) and a breathing tube even though it only took about 10 minutes.  Dr. Cogen placed a probe down her lacrinal duct to remove the blockage....he was able to do this without any problems.  She went to recovery for a few minutes but since she is still breastfeeding they brought her out to us really quickly.  She was so sleepy and very grumpy.  We fed her and held her for awhile then the RN came in, took out her IV, gave her some Ibuprofen then let us go.  All of the staff at South were great, we really had a good experience.

Here is Abigail in Pre-op.  She was so cute in her gown.

This is her new face...she does it all the time!

Here she is post op..

Since Friday, Abigail has not acted like she feels very good.  She has been very fussy and clingy, especially Sunday.  She wanted me to hold her all day.  She even fell asleep with her head on my shoulder...that never happens....ever!  She had a bloody nose Friday and Saturday but it has been better since.  

We have been on a medication regimen...here is what she gets 

Eye drops 4 times a day for a week

Afrin nose spray 2xday for 2 days then 1xday for 1 day

Decadron elixir 2xday for 2 days then 1xday for 1 day

We have also alternated Tylenol and Ibuprofen every day

The most important thing is her eye has looked great so far.  Dr. Cogen told us that if we can keep it open for a week then it should stay that way.  So far so good.
Here is a before and after of her eye...

Not sure how well you can see it but there is a
tear running down her cheek.

Here is the After.....

Dry Eye!!

I think she is over having her picture taken!