BLOG UPDATE

Sarah is having me help her learn how to edit all of the blog. She sure has gotten addicted to this blog. Maybe I could get her addicted to rubbing my feet every night..... ha ha! We may have to get a second computer the way we keep fighting over computer usage! Wow! Hope everyone likes the new style!

Big girl hairstyle

Sunday I decided to try something new - I put Abby's hair into a ponytail. Now, we've been doing the little half-ponies for awhile, but I was going for the whole ponytail. As cute as it was, it made me sad because she looked SO GROWN UP! :o( I'm just not ready for all this...

Quick update

Abby said two new (albeit very similar) words tonight. She was walking around saying "baby, baby" and pointing to her doll -- YEA!! A little bit later, she started screaming and I said, "No, Abby!" and she said "Babby." She can say her name! Her cousin Megan calls her "Babby" and it's so cute!! The rest of the evening when I would say her name, she would repeat "Babby." SO SWEET!!

Challenge and updates

Since we need to work on our budgets (monetary and caloric) we decided to challenge ourselves to NO EATING OUT for the next week. This includes even stopping for a drink at Sonic. I will update you next week and let you know how we do! For our 'last supper' so to speak, we went to Shorty Smalls and used some gift certificates my sister gave us. We split a bbq pork salad and a Monte Cristo sandwich. For those of you (like me) who had never heard of that sandwich, here's a description from the SS website:
Slices of ham, turkey, Swiss and American cheese sandwiched between Texas toast then battered and deep fried. Topped with powdered sugar and a side of raspberry sauce for dipping.
Sounds disgusting, doesn't it? Strangely, it was really good. I'm a fairly picky eater (not nearly as much as I used to be) and I liked it. Weird...

Thursday we went shopping to get Zac some new clothes. We've both lost 35+ pounds (working on more!) and need new clothes, but this paycheck was for Zac to get some stuff. At JCPenney, we got him two new pair of dress pants, three dress shirts and some new dress shoes. Then we went to Old Navy for two pair of shorts and two shirts. My hottie husband is looking mighty fine these days!! :o)

Abby is doing some funny stuff now. When music comes on, she will spin herself around in a circle and/or make fists and shake her arms up and down. It's sooo cute! We're still working on getting her to talk ("use your words" is what we tell her) instead of just saying "uh! uh!" and grabbing toward what she wants. She has developed a slight interest in the potty, especially if she comes in the bathroom while I'm there. We'll probably get her a little potty in the next few weeks, just so she can start checking it out. I can't believe we are approaching potty training - EIK!!

Poor, poor pitiful me

I don't see how single moms do it. I was just in the middle of having a pity party for myself and realized that. I put in my 40 hours at work, then come home and work some more, trying to do all the 'normal' wife/mom stuff - cleaning, laundry, cooking, etc. And in the middle of all that, I try to put in a little quality time with my child. HA.

But, in trying to get out of my pitiful funk, I realized that I at least have someone who comes home at night and will take out the trash or put some dishes away. (He used to cook, but now he comes home too late...lol). There are a lot of parents that are doing it alone - and they have all my respect, because I don't think I could do it.

Then there's the stress I (and probably all moms) put on myself about Abby maybe not being 'up to par.' Maybe if I could stay home she would be talking more, learning more, blah blah blah. Why do we women do this to ourselves?

Sheesh.

Growing girl

Abby's 18 month checkup was last Thursday -- technically she was already 19 mos old, but oh well. Zac took her, since he was off work and I wasn't. Here are her stats:

Height: 34.25 inches (94th percentile)
Weight: 27.5 lbs (82th percentile)

I can't believe how fast our girl is growing! 19 mos old and almost 3 feet tall - craziness!!

I've put in some pictures of Abby from yesterday. I was cleaning house because we had some friends coming over and the weather was GORGEOUS so I had the doors and windows open. Abby was sitting on the back steps calling "DaDa! DaDa!" Then she would babble a little bit and just sit. It was so sweet to see her just enjoying the goings on of the backyard. We should all take time to enjoy the simple things and truly be as humble as the little children.

Crazy weather

As some of you may know, we had some crazy weather last night in Central Arkansas. This morning I noticed we'd even made the national news. (We never make news for anything good...hmmm).

Anyway, I knew it was going to storm last night but I had no idea that it would include tornadoes and such. Zac got home late and we were watching all the radar stuff on Channel 11. My mom called and told us to switch to Channel 7 because they were forecasting tornadoes for Gravel Ridge (our neighborhood). Zac watched for a few minutes and saw that the storms were SURROUNDING our neighborhood. He told me to put my shoes on and he grabbed Abby from her crib. We have a storm shelter in our front yard (crazy, I know) so we went outside.

Zac opened it up and got in, then I ran out (through the POURING RAIN I should add), handed Abby down to him, then got in. He closed the door and there we sat in our concrete underground box, with each other and a flashlight for company. EIK! Four years in this house and we've never had to get into that thing. Luckily Zac cleaned it out last year so it was not too terribly bad. We could hear the pouring rain, the storm sirens and a few REALLY loud claps of thunder.

Poor Abby was shaking and whimpering, but she was a real trooper. She hardly cried at all. After Zac made a few phone calls -- couldn't believe we actually got reception down there -- I started singing hymns to Abby to calm her down. Zac said a prayer and that helped her, too. She laid her head on my shoulder and I rocked her. We were down there for about twenty minutes. My mom finally called and told us that the storms were past us; they were watching it all on TV in their den, so they were close to their basement space. So we came back up and went in the house. We kept watching the weather because there was another line coming, but thankfully it went way around us. Abby was all wound up, so it was about an hour and a half before we could get her back to bed.

This morning it took me an HOUR to get to work -- normally a 20 minute drive. There are three ways out of our neighborhood and two of them were totally blocked. Of course those were the first two that I tried! The NLR airport was blown to smithereens...airplanes smashed, hangers with the roofs ripped off. Trees were uprooted just a few miles from us. Houses had trees laying on top of them. It's so crazy to think about -- I've never been so close to the actual 'path of destruction' before.

I've included three pictures of storm damage that was within HALF A MILE of our house. I'm going to try and take some of the storm shelter so everyone can see our concrete box. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father was looking out for us and kept us out of harm's way. I'm also grateful for a quick-thinking husband that stays levelheaded in emergencies....I would be a wreck without him!!

Sign language

We've been trying for several months to teach Abby a few signs -- "more", "please", "thank you". It's been kind of futile. I'm not home during the day to reinforce it, so her lessons were pretty random. BUT -- Thursday when she was eating, she started whining because she wanted more of something and when I reminded her of the "more" sign...SHE DID IT!! A little light bulb must have gone off, because we did "please" right after and she did it, too. The sign for "thank you" kind of confuses her because she thinks it's the same thing as blowing kisses. So now we're using those and trying to add "thirsty" and "finished" to her repertoire. And trying to get her to talk some more, especially since she's not using her paci during the day. (YEA!) Lots of work for a little girl...she amazes me every day that I'm with her. If adults kept learning and growing as quickly as kids, we'd have a world full of geniuses.

Aunt Kirsten

I need to do a lot of updating, but we'll have to take it one topic at a time! We'll start with Aunt Kirsten. Kirsten is Zac's oldest little sister....she'll be 16 in a few days. She's become quite the babysitter and Abby adores her. Her first ''real'' almost all day sitting experience was Saturday, March 1. She kept Abby from about 3pm-10pm and had to change her first poopy diaper. (She managed with some technical, over-the-phone support from her friend Michelle). The pictures are from last Sunday (March 2) when she came over to help me clean house because (we thought) someone was going to come look at the house. Unfortunately, the person bailed, but my house was a lot cleaner for it...dusted parts of the house I don't think have been dusted since we moved in. hmmm Anyway, the pictures are of Kirsten getting Abby dressed after her nap. Jeff (my bro-in-law) got Abby and her cousin Megan matching t-shirts....I think it's quite an appropriate shirt for her to be wearing while she's throwing such a fit. lol

Tutts and Elliotts

The day after our anniversary started pretty slow. We got ready for our family pictures which we had decided would be fun to do every year around our anniversary. That went pretty good. Abby was a bit of a pill! Then we preceded to drop off the rental car since my truck was finally fixed and come on home. After a quick bite and doing around, we all came outside to wash the cars. Abby had been taking a nap, so she ate a PB sandwich in the back of my pickup. About the time we got done, John and Ashley showed up ready to take the kids to Burns Park. It was a pretty awesome day! Afterwards we went out for some pizza and salad, the ladies went to Rhea Lana and John and I went swimming at the hotel with the girls. THAT WAS FUN! Two grown men taking 3 little girls swimming. Too bad we didn't get pics, probably looked pretty funny.

Our 4th Anniversary!!!

Yesterday was our 4th anniversary and I had planned a nice day for the two of us. I didn't tell Sarah what we were doing until we needed to get ready. We have been working out and losing weight and I decided we would have an awesome breakfast at Cracker Barrell. Then since our bodies had gotten so used to exercising, I thought it would be fun that we go on a hike to the waterfall at Petit Jean. Here's the description for all of you who are not familiar:

Cedar Falls Trail
Length: 2 miles, 2 hours
Trailhead: Through Mather Lodge breezeway and to the left behind the swimming pool
Trail Ends: backtrack to the starting point
Difficulty: Moderate to strenuous
Trail Blaze: Orange
Description: The most popular hiking trail on Petit Jean descends into Cedar Creek Canyon. Only those in good shape should attempt this walk. The park staff recommends wearing shoes or boots that provide ankle support and a firm grip. The first ½ mile descends more than 200 feet down steps cut from rock by the Civilian Conservation Corps more than 60 years ago. The trail follows beautiful Cedar Creek another ½ mile to the climax of the hike, Cedar Falls, one of the state's most spectacular sights. Cedar Falls cascades more than 90 feet to the canyon floor. Cedar Creek Canyon was added to the register of Arkansas Natural Areas in 1977.


But as a reward, I set us up for a nice couples massage at the local "Massage Shop", and then we went out for dinner at Sakura (Sushi). I think our bodies didn't need all of this extra food though. This morning we woke up feeling funny from all of the extra sugars in our system. But what a wonderful time we had being together and doing things together. We are so glad to have been married now for 4 years and to have such wonderful friends about us.

18 months of Abby

On Friday (the 22nd) Abby was officially 18 months old. I can't BELIEVE it's been a year and a half since she was born; and over 2 years since I found out I was pregnant. Time flies soooo fast! We've been so blessed by our sweet girl. We've recently started reading scriptures with her every night. She knows that we read a few verses and then she folds her arms to say prayers. It's so awesome how quickly littles ones catch on. My baby's so smart! (Not that I'm biased or anything..haha)

This morning I was getting Abby a banana for breakfast and she pointed to it and said "Nana." Adding that to her little list of words, she's saying a few things now. Zac's sisters said that she said "dishes" the other night. She is in love with babies and wants to hold any baby that we come across. When she holds her baby dolls, she hugs them and is very motherly...too cute! She loves to blow kisses at everybody when we leave somewhere.

I've got to drop off my clothes for the Rhea Lana consignment sale that is this coming week/weekend. I can't believe I'm going to be shopping for 2T summer clothes -- yikes!!

Buncha sickos

Took Abby to the doctor yesterday and she officially has the FLU! Yuck. Zac started feeling sick yesterday and when he came home said he was "Aching all over." Again, flu. So we are ALL THREE on Tamiflu. Zac and Abby are on the heavy duty treatment doses and I'm on the prevention dose. On the bright side, when Abby's sick, I get to stay home from work with her! Guess I need to Lysol the house this afternoon...

New blog

One thing I love about my husband -- when he does something, he goes all out! I told him I wanted my blog to look cooler...I wanted a header thing that went all across the top, like Natalie and Erin and that I wanted cooler backdrops (Natalie has a cute one). And I wanted my Friends and that stuff on the side instead of the bottom. I can figure out a lot of technological stuff, but I just didn't feel like trying to figure this out. So, two hours later -- TADA!!! We have a newly designed blog!

Just in case you were wondering, Abby's initials are ACE, that's why he named it ACEBlog...Abigail Christine Elliott.

Crafty stuff...

I like to think of myself as a somewhat crafty person...I LOVE to scrapbook!! It was a sad day when my best bud and scrapbooking pal, Christine, moved to Dallas. But lately I've been thinking about trying other crafty stuff, too.

My mom sews -- very well -- and I figure I probably ought to learn how to do something besides sew a button back onto a pair of pants. I was looking at some patterns and material by Amy Butler and she has a really cute nappy (diaper) bag pattern that I might get brave and try.

My manager at work has gotten into beadwork, making necklaces and bracelets. I'm really impressed with what she makes; it looks like stuff you'd pay $30+ for at some department stores. So I might try that, too....

And then Zac wants me to try selling Mary Kay or something like that...something that will make some $$ so that we can speed up the Stay At Home Mom process.

There's just not enough time in the day.....

Kirsten and Kendyl

Kirsten and Kendyl had Sarah take pictures of them for my mom for her birthday. I remember changing their diapers and babysitting them. Wow! They have changed so much. Now I have a little girl that is my own! It's so much fun getting pictures of your family as the years go by. Of all the things that are worldly that I hold on to, I don't think pictures are such a bad thing!

Here are some pictures of Abby's room. Zac recently moved all of her billions and billions of toys into her room so that we could reclaim our living room. The little chair was from her Uncle Eli and she LOVES it!! She has that chair and a little basketball chair that she loves to sit in. The swing/slide 'castle' was her big gift from Santa Claus. She can climb into the swing by herself and loves to go down the slide. I can't believe how big she's getting!!

Elliott tradition

After Zac posted the washer picture, I got some questions about it. When Rick, my father-in-law, was a baby, his parents took a picture of him in the washer with a box of detergent. My in-laws carried on the tradition with Zac and, of course, we did the same with Abby. Here are all three pictures...a strange tradition, I suppose, but everybody has their quirks, right? :o)

Parenting Pet Peeve

I had to miss work yesterday and today because Abby had a stomach bug and couldn't go to the little daycare she attends a few days a week. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem because my Mom can keep her, but Mom had a doctors appointment yesterday and today she had to go out of town. So I stayed home with my girl. Which is NOT a problem, I would much rather be with her than at work. BUT it reeeeaaaalllly bugs me that I'm a responsible parent who keeps my sick child home while other ninnies send their sick kids to daycare/school and that's why I have to use sick leave. Grrrrr. If people would be a little considerate, things in this world would run so much better...

Elf Yourself!

I don't know if you guys have seen the Office Max website that lets you "Elf Yourself," but it's pretty cute...check our our link and make your own elf!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1319232508