12 Month Check Up

Disclaimer: I have been a bad mommy blogger. I had typed up all of these posts in Word while on the road for 16 hours traveling over Thanksgiving and had great hopes to get them all posted last week, but it just didn't happen. So this week I will be flooding my blog with all sorts of great updates and stories. I hope you don't get tired of my ramblings by the end of the week!! 

On Friday, November 19th, I took Abbie in for her 12 month check up. I picked such an awesome Pediatrician and office. During the first couple years of life, we made a lot of visits to this office to check Abbie’s weight so we became familiar with the nine physicians in the office. But we always enjoy it when it is Dr. Zetik who we get to see. He is such nice, caring man and he isn’t bad on the eyes either. I also found another reason to like him so much. In an effort to save the planet, he no longer uses exam paper on his exam tables. Being one that started doing a better job at being green this year, it just excites me when I see others doing the same. Although they did still need to use the exam paper to record Abbie’s length.

 

Here are her 12 month stats: 

*Length: 32 ½ inches (greater than 97th percentile)

*Weight: 21 lbs, 10 oz (60th percentile)

*Head Circumference: 47 ½ cm (97th percentile)

She is now old enough to stand on the scale to get her weight checked. It was so cute seeing my little girl standing all alone in her diaper on the big girl scale. She also had to get four shots on this visit. Hepatitis A, Chicken Pox, Measles, Mumps & Ruebella, and the 2nd round of her Flu vaccine.


She was not a happy camper after being stuck in the leg four times but once the nurse put some Band-aids and Mommy got her dressed, she was back to the smiley, adorable little girl. I gave her some Ibuprofen before her shots to help with the pain and then took her to daycare after her appointment. Her sitter said that she did just fine all day and wasn’t crabby at all. I’m such a lucky mom to have such a tough little cookie.

Party Fit for a Princess – Part One of Two

Over the last few weeks, we have celebrated Abbie’s Birthday with two birthday parties. It was not my intention to do this. I just wanted one big party with family & friends during our trip to Nebraska over Thanksgiving. But we have met so many wonderful people here that have watched Abbie grown up over the past year that it just wouldn’t be right to leave them out of the festivities.

 

The first party was held on November 14th, two days before Abbie’s birthday. We had it at our house and were lucky to have a Sous Chef cook all of the food for the party. We had to pay for all of the food but he prepared it all for free. Okay, so what if he is my brother-in-law. Having him taking there to prepare all of the food, took so much stress off of my hands. And the food was great!!

Menu

Shredded Pork Sandwiches

Homemade Potato Chips

Cold Spinach Dip

Coleslaw

Lemonade

Chocolate Cupcakes

Strawberry Cupcakes

And if having a Sous Chef wasn’t good enough, he brought my nephew with him. A fifteen year old who can get bored very easily. So I had him help me with the decorations. Homemade decorations that were made with love. Decorations that included cutting letters out with a razor blade. Decorations that included using spray glue that in turn would be over sprayed on my dining room table. Decorations that involved folding, cutting and fluffing tissue paper to make awesome pom poms. Decorations that involved positioning the birthday banner just right over the fireplace. Decorations that involved drinking three to four glasses of wine and not getting to bed until 3 am the day of the party. As much of a pain in the ass these decorations were, I would do it all over again next year. Although I probably won’t wait until the night before to get them completed.

Another thing I probably wouldn’t do is waiting until the day of the party to clean my house. When one goes to bed at 3 am, one doesn’t wake up as early as she would like to get everything cleaned and in order for the party. Abbie’s sitter was a lifesaver and watched Abbie for me at 10 am and just brought her down to the party. I was cleaning my house right up until the party started and I still didn’t get everything cleaned that I wanted to. I hopped in the shower at 12:55 and hurried to make myself look half way presentable for our guests.

The party was a huge success. I had our friends set up their laptop in our living room so the guests could watch Abigail Paige Vogt – A Year in Review. Then we dined on all of the scrumptious food prepared by my culinary skilled brother in law, opened a bunch of wonderful and noisy gifts and concluded the party by singing Happy Birthday to the Guest of Honor and enjoyed some cupcakes. It was a great day celebrating the first year of life of a special little girl with a superb group of family & friends. That evening, Abbie was on cloud nine playing with all of her new toys and I was pretty pooped and ready to pass out. I was so happy that I would be getting a two week break before having to do this all over again.

To Be Continued…

Thankful on a Thanksgiving Thursday

A family in good health.

Having exactly four days of vacation left so I could spend the entire week of Thanksgiving with my family & friends in Nebraska.

A family of great cooks.

Losing seven pounds before Thanksgiving so I could enjoy myself without counting calories on vacation.

In laws that enjoy drinking wine during the holidays.

A daughter that likes to take naps while driving long distances.

Long stretches of highway with no patrolman in sight so we can get to Thanksgiving dinner on time.

Friends who like Jose Quervo.

Family bonding at the crack ass of dawn on Black Friday.

Two energetic dogs who miss us terribly while we are gone so they become destructive while alone at Grandma & Grandpa’s house.

An amazing husband who doesn’t mind driving the two lane highways of Nebraska and Iowa.

Mommy's Little Turkey

Did I tell you how much I love my husband??

We have been on vacation this week and it has been extra hard getting Abbie back on her routine.  The first night here, she didn't get to bed until 10:30 and that was after we had to put her into bed with us and let her wiggle and fuss herself to sleep.  Then last night she drank her milk and was ready to go off onto dreamland until she was awoken by her cousins who were getting ready to leave after having a family dinner that evening.  I told Charlie that I would get her to sleep.  FAIL!!  She squirmed and screamed and cried for a good 30 minutes.  Finally Charlie came in and swept her up and it's like she melted in his arms.  She instantly stopped crying and soothed herself to sleep on his shoulder.  Then he carried her upstairs to our bedroom like he was her knight in shining armor and laid her ever so gently in the pack and play where she slept soundly for the next nine hours.  I just sat there in awe.  I just don't know how he does it and probably never will.  I will just sit back and thank the Lord above that Abbie and I have this man in our life.

A year of tears, laughs, milestones & memories...

Dear Abbie,

It’s so hard to put into words what I’m feeling today. I think back to a year ago and how my life changed forever the moment I heard your tiny little cry. You were a long time in the making. Daddy & I went back and forth on whether or not we wanted to have a baby. I just couldn’t see living a life alone without a child. You have blessed both me and your daddy in so many ways. Yes it was hard at first. The late night feedings, the adjustment to being a full time working mother. It was really tough. And at times I thought to myself, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ Motherhood is probably THE MOST challenging job I have ever had. There are days when I have my A game and some days I just want to throw in the towel. But then you crack me one of those smiles. The kind that melts my heart and gives me the reason to carry on.

The other night when I laid you to sleep, I thought back to when you were a newborn and you were so tiny and helpless in my arms. I would bundle you up in your blanket and rock you to sleep. Now you have outgrown my arms and your legs are no longer confined to a blanket but instead sprawled out on my lap. It hurts me to know that you aren’t a baby anymore but becoming Momma’s big girl. I hope you will let me rock you until your feet hit the ground like your Grandma Raine did for me when I was younger.

This morning your daddy went in late into work so we were both able to wake you up on your birthday. Your daddy picked you up and you laid your little head on his shoulder and didn’t move. I just wanted to cry. You are definitely Daddy’s little girl. You have changed your daddy into a completely different man. He has never been one that liked babies. He was completely fine with living a life without children. And then you came along and he did a complete 180. His face lights up when he sees you. It just tugs at my heartstrings when I listen to you giggle as your daddy gives you a bath. He does everything in his power to protect you. You definitely have your daddy wrapped around that tiny little finger, Abbie. Keep up the good work.

It’s been quite the year for us. So many tears. So many laughs. So many milestones. So many memories. I wish I could put life on hold to soak it all in. But I have a lifetime to spend with you and make many more memories. I love you Abbie and hope your 2nd, 10th, and 60th year of life will be as joyful as this past year has been.

                                                                  All my love,

                                                                  Mommy

Happy Birthday My Sweet Little Girl!!



Photo taken by Stephanie Phillips



Abbie & I’s favorite lullaby.

The same lullaby that her Grandma sung to me.



You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away.

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping

 I dreamed I held you in my arms

But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken

So I hung my head and I cried.



You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away.

Please don't take my sunshine away.

Please don't take my sunshine away.

For the audio version, click here.



Video of the Week

Today marks the beginning of Abbie's Birthday week!!  I hope to have lots of posts for you this week.  We start with a very special video I have been working on for hours on end for the last week.  It is the largest Abbie & Mommy Production I have ever worked on.


Ladies & Gentlemen....I present to you...

Abigail Paige Vogt - A Year in Review

Abigail Paige Vogt - A Year in Review from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.

My first attempt at cake decorating

Keeping up to speed with my latest craze to become the next Martha Stewart, I decided to take a whirl at cake decorating.  Tomorrow we are going to have family/Abbie's 1st birthday pictures taken.  The last set of pictures are going to be of Abbie going to town with her birthday cake.  Well I have never been a fan of the cheap smash cakes from Wal-mart.  And I'm not going to spend a butt load of money on someone to make it for me.  So why not make it myself!! 

First of all, the cakes didn't come out of the pan like I expected.  We had quite a mess on our hands in getting it look leveled and ready to frost.  Then I didn't do the best at frosting the cakes so I had Charlie take over and he did a suburb job!!  Well that was until one of the sides decided to not cooperate (as you will see in the picture).  I did all of the piping.  Charlie wanted to do something fancy but I told him since neither of us have any experience in cake decorating, that we should stick with the simple dot.  Although the dots were looking more like Hershey kisses so I had to go back and take off all of the peaks.  Then I tried to fix the whoopsie that Charlie encountered.  I made it look a little better and tried to cover it up with the piping as well as I could but it's still pretty noticeable.

But for the first time at decorating a cake, I don't think we did too shabby at all!!  Who knows.  With a little practice, I may just become so good that Duff will hire me to become one of his cake decorators at Charm City Cakes!!

Now it's time to go clean my kitchen.  Why can't there be a fairy that comes in and cleans your kitchen while you are sleeping?!?