As promised...

She is obviously crawling more traditionally now that she's been doing it a week and a half, and she is discovering all kinds of new things in her home!  And helping me discover them too- like how I need to clean my floor better...   (By the way, I sound pretty annoying in the video- sorry about that!)

Abby Jane also pulls to standing in her crib now at the end of naps and in the morning, looking expectantly at the door.  Thankfully, we had lowered the mattress a couple of weeks ago when she first started pulling up.  

We leave tomorrow for Auburn!!!!!  YEA!!!!  Can't wait to see so many of you!  Counting the hours...

Jake's surprise 30th birthday party...

70's style!  Jake always says he is a child of the 70's, so I made his party last weekend age- appropriate! Everyone really got into it, and it was hilarious.  Jake had absolutely no idea about the party and was completely surprised- it was so fun!  We fit about 20 people in our tiny Pepperdine apartment for dessert and drinks.  The 70's theme was made complete by a disco light that Jarrett, our neighbor and one of Jake's coworkers, found on campus!

Here is a picture of folks waiting for us to get there...

Jake blowing out the candles on his traditional birthday cake- chocolate with mocha frosting.

Les, Gil, and Kathryn...

The birthday boy and I (Abby Jane was put to bed in the apartment above us- her monitor reached downstairs perfectly!)  I had a ribbon for Jake denoting him as turning the big 3-0 in case anyone wasn't sure...Jake, Laura (in the background), Drew, and Stewart (in the back)!

Laura and Ryan (not sure why this is hyperlinking!) Laura provided my outfit...

Stew and Jake R. keeping the peace...

Busy girl

Abby Jane is crawling!  As soon as I catch it on video, I'll figure out how to post it b/c it's hilarious.  She sticks her backside up in the air (downward dog style) and swings her leg over.  She has to be pretty motivated to do it, but it's so funny.  She also can go from flat on her tummy to sitting on her bottom- this is huge since she's not always a big fan of being on her tummy.  If she's tired, she has a harder time getting back to sitting up.  But it's still progress!  She also loves to stand next to the coffee table and play with my wicker coasters.  She seems to like how the table tastes.

Abby Jane also made it through an hour and a half of MOPs on Friday in the nursery (with MOPpets- how cute is that)!!!  YEA!!!!  My mom says it's a new season of Abby Jane's life.  I'm not prepared to say or think that, but I'll take a fabulous morning of great progress any day!!

7 months and thank you

Friends, thank you for your responses to my questions!  It amazed me what a consensus there was on those two books ("Shepherding your child's heart" and "Don't make me count to three") from all different groups of friends!  It is so encouraging to hear back from everyone and get your thoughts!  Holly, I liked your thought about an online Bible study- or maybe a blog book club???

Abby Jane turned 7 months on Monday!  We are amazed at how big she is (at 6 months, she was still 75% in weight and 90% in height) and all the things she is doing.  Abby Jane will start crawling at any second. She gets up on all fours and rocks and reaches out and wants SO badly to follow us around and be mobile!  She scoots backwards on her tummy and also moves around on her bottom pretty well.

She says, "Dad", "Hi Dada", "Mom", "Mama" (that happened last Friday, and it was one of the greatest moments of my life to date), "bababa", "dig", "ga", "yah", and "yeah" and loves to do all of the above at the top of her lungs (except she talks to Jake in a conversational tone).  She eats all veggies, most fruits, and had chicken for the first time last week.  The meat kind of grosses me out and she's plenty chunky already, so we don't do a ton of that right now!  We are eating Puffs, too- which makes for some great faces.

She's also pulling up, and got her first bruise yesterday when she pulled up on a toy that tipped over.  Sad that she got a bruise, but it's also a milestone of her entering this phase of adventure and exploration that will sometimes end in a bump or bruise!  So I was kind of proud of the ambition behind the bruise.
I loved this mischievious face- it's the "you're being funny but not quite funny enough for a full smile".  The wrinkled nose is also her one expression I can claim!  Other than that, she's almost all Jake- which is a great thing!  

Two questions for the Mama panel...

1. As my child gets closer to 1 year than she is to birth, I am realizing that I need to read some parenting books to prepare me for the stages to come!  I've read and highly recommend "Grace-based Parenting" by Tim Kimmel, and I'm currently reading "The Power of a Praying Parent" by Stormie O'Martian.  What is your favorite parenting book- on discipline or anything coming up?  Keep in mind that my sweet girl leans towards the "strong willed" side (Dobson has a book on that)... though we like to call it "persevering".

2. Abby Jane was 17 lb. 7 oz on her 6 month visit several weeks ago!  So we need to start planning for that next car seat soon, since ours is only rear-facing.  What kind of carseat do you have?  I'm going to do some research on my own, but it's always good to know what real-life mamas like!

Car Wreck in the Canyon!

So we had our first California fender bender today, and I'm proud to say that I was not at fault (which was because we were moving forwards- I only have wrecks when I'm backing up).  A car in front of me on the Malibu Canyon stopped very quickly to make a turn.  So I stopped quickly to avoid hitting him, but the three cars behind me weren't so lucky.  Abby Jane slept through the whole impact and only woke up when I turned the car off.  We had damage to the back of our Explorer that we bought used in April, but it's still very drivable, mainly just cosmetic stuff.  

Two of the three cars behind me were driven by very nice Malibu residents.  We'll never know anything about the person in the last car who presumably caused all the collisions b/c they hit and ran.  So unless it turns out that the girl behind me hit me on her own, we're out $500.  She was nice and all, but I hope her insurance ends up having to pay for our damage!

THE MOST DISCONCERTING part of the whole thing is that the police never came to write a report!  I called 911 to ask for an officer, gave the specific location and my cell number, and they said they'd send someone.  About 30 minutes later, we flagged down a sheriff.  She wouldn't write it up and said she was surprised they were sending someone since there weren't injuries.  She said if we were in Van Nuys, they wouldn't send anyone.  What's that supposed to mean?  I said, "Well, I'm glad we don't live in Van Nuys!" A HOT hour later, one of the other girls called to see if someone was coming, and they said they had no record of the call and that they had no one available to send!!!  I normally am a big fan of police, but I didn't love sitting on the side of the road with my baby in the heat waiting for someone who wasn't coming.  Oh well, you live and learn.  And we're safe and sound!  Happy weekend, friends!