Video of the Week

It just amazes me how much Abbie is learning these days!! Exactly one year ago, she was just learning how to roll over and now look at her...trying to break free!!

She's Trying to Break Free!! from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.

Damn you hormones!!

Today has been a rough one on me...
CORRECTION...
This week has been a rough one on me...
CORRECTION...
This MONTH has been a rough one on me...

I have been on a roller coaster of emotions this week.  Happy & laughing one minute, screaming the next then breaking down into tears.  I guess I could blame it on a) hormones, b) an upcoming trip in which I will have to travel with a toddler c) the fact that I moved from the office that has been like home to me for the past seven years or d) all of the above.

Good-bye old office, I will miss you...

But during my final drive into work at this particular office, I had my radio tuned to a country station.  I'm not really a country girl but from time to time I like to listen to that type of music.  Well today I didn't know that I would be listening to a song would give me some direction in life.  The song is called Love Like Crazy by Lee Brice.  Here is a snippet of the lyrics I heard this morning that really touch home to me.

Be a best friend, tell the truth

And overuse I love you

Go to work, do your best

Don't outsmart your common sense

Never let your prayin' knees get lazy

And love like crazy

So please excuse me as I kiss my little girl on the head, scratch both dogs on their heads and cuddle up to my husband.  And as I go to sleep tonight I will thank God that this week is finally over and pray that my mood does a complete 180 before Monday.

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes...

It's a new month.  I am going to be turning another year old this month and I'm ready for some change.  One of which is this blog.  I mean, I love this cute picture, but it is so outdated. 

Abbie was 4 months old, bald, immobile and really didn't have the personality that she has today. Charlie and I were young and in love, dancing the night away at our wedding.  And the dogs...well okay so the dogs really haven't changed a whole lot.  They may have gained a few lbs from congregating around Abbie's high chair during dinner.  But I know how much they hated wearing those tacky sweaters and they have told me numerous times that the picture just has to come down. 


I visit so many blogs with such eye appeal and think to myself, "Why can't I learn how to do that?"  Charlie always tells me that I need to find a hobby.  Well he is going to get his wish!!  I am going to learn HTML.  HTML as described by Wikipedia:

HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML is the basic building-blocks of webpages.
HTML is written in the form of HTML elements consisting of tags, enclosed in angle brackets (like ), within the web page content. HTML tags normally come in pairs like < h1 > and   < h1 >. The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second tag is the end tag (they are also called opening tags and closing tags).
The purpose of a web browser is to read HTML documents and compose them into visual or audible web pages. The browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses the tags to interpret the content of the page.

Terms in which my mother can understand??  HTML is a bunch of computer code jibberish that tells your computer to put a picture there or put a background there and in the end if you do it right, you get a beautiful and eye appeal blog that will hopefully attract more readers and get me to blog more.


So to get started, I decided that I needed to enlist the help of my wonderful and talented niece, Morgan.

Isn't she beautiful??

Fun facts about Morgan. 

• I watched Morgan for an entire summer when she was 2 or 3 and I was 15.
• She changes her hair color about every six months.  I think she has tried every color made by Loreal.  My favorite was the deep burgundy and I really wish it would make a come back.
• Morgan is one of the few family members who has yet to come visit Tulsa.  I hope that changes this year.  NKOTBSB in July!!

Morgan one day wants to become a graphic designer and after seeing some of her work, she is going to become a damn good one.  She has done several projects for me.  She has designed some tear jerking photo montage videos, beautiful photo collages and even took our family photos taken back in November and edited them in Photoshop and produced a photo in which everyone was looking at the camera and smiling. 


So in going with the voyage theme, I decided that aviation was the way to go.  Charlie is an aviation mechanic and we both enjoy flying.  So Morgan designed this little guy.  This was in the early phases of design.  Consider it your first sneak peek at the new blog design.

Isn't he cute?  I think he needs a name.  I love to name inanimate objects.  I drive an Element and his name is Elvis.  Charlie drives a Grand Am and his name is Wilbur.  We own an old blue pickup and his name is "The Blue Beast".  Ok, maybe I just like to name modes of transportation.  Anyway, I will be brainstorming on this guys name.  Suggestions are open so leave me a comment if you have one in mind. 


I hope that you can bear with some blog construction while I learn my new HTML hobby.  I hate construction (or destruction as I like to call it) with a passion so I hope to have everything finished as soon as I can.  I have a feeling that you will enjoy the many changes coming to VOTV (Voyages of the Vogts) in the near future. 

Video of the Week

Abbie is becoming so mobile these days it's just ridiculous.  She can climb on just about anything in the house.  One of which is our pet ramps.  Charlie built these years ago when we got Frank.  Poor guy has such short, stubby legs that he can hardly get onto any of the furniture in the house without them.  We have one going up to the couch and another to our bed.  And Abbie is now using his ramps to get herself up on the furniture.  As you can see in this video, she is using all of her strength and Mommy's assistance to get to the top of "the mountain".


Please excuse the mess in our bedroom.  It was cleaning day and the sheets get stripped and washed on the weekends so there was really no use to making the bed.  Actually the bed usually only gets made once a week and that is after putting on clean sheets.  :)

The Climb from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.

15 Month Check-Up

Last week my baby girl turned 15 months.  Yes, I am one of those people who will always refer to her daughter in months in hope that it makes her seem younger.  Alright, maybe I will only refer her to months until she turns 2.  Because let's face it, once you start saying that your child is 30 months, it takes some math to figure out how many years that computes.  Okay, maybe just me since I am an accountant and I rely on a ten key to compute just about everything.

Anyway, back to the visit.  This would probably be the last visit that I take Abbie with just me and her.  It was like someone secretly put coffee in her milk that morning.  She was EVERYWHERE!!  She kept opening the door of our exam room so she could go run the hallways in her diaper.  I have no clue how my friend, Brandy, does it when she takes both of her kids to the doctor alone.  I was ready to cry right along with Abbie when she got her shots.  I was so exhausted after her appointment that I took her to daycare and then took the rest of the morning off from work so I could re coop from the whole experience.  I called my mother on the way home from the doctor and informed her of her next appointment so she could plan her next trip during that time.  About the only pleasurable part of the visit was seeing Dr. McDreamy.  No, I'm not talking about Patrick Demsey either.  I'm talking about Abbie's super sweet and attractive pediatrician.

And as always, my daughter was growing exponentially well...

15 month stats:

*Length: 33 1/4 inches (greater than 97th percentile)

*Weight: 23 lbs, 4 oz (57th percentile)

*Head Circumference: 49 cm (97th percentile)

I really wish they would tell me exactly how much greater than 97% she is in.  It's so vague.  I mean, is she 105% or 130%?? Although I did call my stepbrother to wish him a Happy Birthday and was telling him about her visit.  He told me that her cousin who is about 10 months older than her is only about an inch and a half taller.  So either Cael is pretty short or Abbie is really tall.  I just hope that she is more physically inclined than her father and I.  I hate meeting someone for the first time and they see my 5'11" statue and automatically ask if I'm good at Basketball.  No, I am not good at that sport b/c it takes some hand/eye coordination and you have to be aggressive.  Those are two attributes that I was not gifted with.  And Charlie...well he is a little bit better in sports but not enough to play any in high school besides golf.  Maybe Abbie will just be a brainiac and will one day find the cure for cancer and will support her poor ole parents in their 70's.  You never know, it could happen.  Although, after watching this video...I know that she definitely is going to be a clutz (or is it klutz?) at whatever she does!!

Interested in reading up on her other Doctor's Visits??  Here are the links.

12 Month Check Up
9 Month Check Up
6 Month Check Up

Two and a Half Minutes with Abbie (and Frank too)

I apologize for this belated Two and a Half Minutes with Abbie.  I usually like to tape these on her "monthly birthday" but didn't get around to it until tonight.  I hope you can forgive me.  :)

In this third episode of Two and a Half Minutes with Abbie we watch her as she colors on the floor. We just bought her a box of crayons and a tablet of paper last night at the store. She is still a little new at the whole coloring thing and had more fun scribbling over my pictures.  Hopefully one day she becomes an aspiring artist who's work sells for millions of dollars.  And she can thank her mother for buying her first set of Crayola crayons and giant floor pad. 

The music in the background is Fisher Price, Laugh & Learn, Sing-A-Long Favorites. As you watch the video, you will see Abbie get up and dance.

Two and a Half Minutes with Abbie (& Frank too) from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.

Video of the Week

This week, Frank takes the spotlight. He has been such an entertaining dog since we got him over 5 years ago. Charlie gave both dogs a rawhide on Friday night. Odie is one who will lay down and chew on it all night. Frank is very different. He likes to savor it so he will find the best hiding place in the house and and bury his bone there to enjoy later. Here he found a spot in a basket of Abbie's clothes that she had outgrown. Watch how aggressive he can be in moving the clothes to cover the bone.

Hide & Seek from Megan Vogt on Vimeo.