happy birthday to our princess

Happy birthday, baby. We love you!

Love,
Mommy and Dad

big head! big head!

abby had her 2-year checkup this morning, and everything went great! she's in the 92nd percentile for weight (31 lbs), 75th percentile for height (31.75 inches) and as usual, is over the 100th percentile for head size, making it official that she has the biggest head in the known universe. she is most definitely a schultz, and i weep for her future. :) but, she is perfectly healthy and doesn't have to go back till she turns 3! not that i actually think we'll get through a year without going back, but it's nice to know we don't have to.

mangia!

we went down to state street late this afternoon to buy a certain someone a certain christmas present (hi kim!), and had a nice walk. well, abby rode, but it was nice to get out and "blow the stink off" as some relative of mine likes to say. as we got in the car to come home, we realized it was dinnertime and that by the time we got home and got something made, abby's schedule would be radically altered to the point where my head might explode. so, we opted to go to the olive garden because abby has been known to enjoy the salad there. well, now we know that she doesn't just enjoy the salad, she LOVES the salad. all parts of the salad, including olives and onions. we didn't give her any pepperoncinis, but everything else she gobbled up. she even refused cheese ravioli in favor of more salad. it was really something else, especially watching her going at the onions. i'll tell you, i'm not so much looking forward to the results of the onion eating in the diaper region, if you know what i mean.

tomorrow morning she has her 2-year checkup, so it'll be interesting to see how much she's grown in the past 6 months.

oh, and as a side note, 2 years ago right now, brian and i had been at the hospital for about 2 hours and had just been told that we weren't leaving and were in fact, going to have a baby very soon. they were right on the part about having a baby, and so very wrong about the "very soon" part. it's almost like her birthday is a 3-day celebration for us. :) oh, and 2 years ago in about an hour sees me refusing an ambien, a decision that i would come to regret.

a meemo!

we don't tend to let abby watch much tv. she watches sesame street most weekday mornings, and the occasional old episode of blue's clues (only steve is allowed in this house...i can't come to terms with joe). but, one day a while ago when she was sick and cranky and not feeling well, i put in our copy of finding nemo. i figured that everyone deserves to have a day to just sit on the couch watching movies and feeling sorry for themselves. :) needless to say, she absolutely loved it. there were repeated exclamations of "wow!" and "wah!" (water), and of course, "meemo" (nemo). she's watched it a couple of times since then, but i tend to feel guilty every time because i want her to have a more active lifestyle than brian and i manage.

of course, today she ran 50 laps around the dining room table, so we may be okay. :)

post-turkey day

ah, home sweet home. after being gone for 5 days, it's awesome being back home. this past sunday after abby and i were done at church, we drove up to menasha for vacation. sunday night we had thanksgiving dinner with brian's parents, cory, cortlee, and the boys...tenderloin, homemade mac-and-cheese, and various other goodies. abby loved playing with the boys, and they loved it too. monday night, brian and i went out for dinner and a movie as our early christmas present to each other (gotta take advantage of the babysitting when it's available). we went to sergio's, and then saw "saw III". it was pretty good, but definitely more gory than the first 2. tuesday, we took advantage of a free Y pass and went swimming. abby wasn't sure what she thought at first, but by the end, she was having a blast. she hung onto the side all by herself, and occasionally would dunk herself completely underwater and then pull herself back up...she thought it was hilarious. she definitely had a good nap that day. before she went to bed that night, we watched a little of the christmas parade on TV, but she didn't seem to have much interest in it. after she went to bed, brian and i went to clancy's to play trivia with cory and brandon. then on wednesday, we packed up and went to appleton to stay with my parents for the night. abby went to the park with grandpa schultz and had a great time. yesterday (thursday), we all drove to milwaukee to spend thanksgiving day with the schultz side of the family. the food was great, and abby had a good time. she had the first of her 2 birthday cakes, and experienced frosting for the first time. the verdict? overwhelmingly positive. so much so that she tried to steal mine. she also got an aquadoodle mat from the strommen family that we haven't tried yet.

all in all, it was a great vacation, but it's nice to be back.

now, we start looking forward to abby's birthday next week, and her party next saturday. and then before you know it, it's christmas. crazy time of year.

our little artist...

abby won her first contest...brian's very happy that she's following in his footsteps already. :) abby won a coloring contest and won 4 free kid's meals at country kitchen. i'm thinking about getting her on the waitlist for art school pretty soon now.

HUH?

abby has become a little old woman. in the car on the way to the grocery store today, i asked her a question, and she said, "HUH?". good thing her 2-year checkup is coming up...we can maybe get her hearing checked. :) i got to thinking today that she should really get a flu shot, so i called her clinic to see if they could do that at her regular appointment, but of course they can't. so, she's going in on wednesday night just for the shot. should be a fun time for all.

we've started getting her birthday/christmas gifts. of course what they are will have to be a surprise. :) i also got the stuff to make her cake for the first of 2 birthday parties that will be combined with family thanksgiving next thursday. i'm still trying to figure out what to have for snacks at her regular party...suggestions would be welcomed and appreciated.

a pizza!

this is what abby said the whole way through target the other day. "a pizza! a pizza!..." (repeat ad infinitum). not quite sure where her fascination with pizza comes from, but we're going with it. the good news is that she loves pizza with lots of veggies on it, especially black olives.

she's just getting over a few days worth of fever and is feeling much better now, thank goodness.

she is scared of snow, we just found out. we got a bunch of it last night, and brian brought a little inside this morning for her to touch and she freaked out. so, taking her out to play in the snow may be more interesting than previously thought. as soon as we get her some boots we'll give it a try and see what happens.

happy happy happy happy

it's hard to believe that abby will be 2 years old in less than a month. plans for her birthday party have begun and seriously? i don't know how people do this. maybe it gets easier, but i'm definitely not cut out to be a party planner. :)

abby's words have been multiplying like little bunnies. her fave toy these days is a fisher-price school bus, complete with multicultural little people. she loves walking those little people onto the bus to go to school almost as much as she loves trying to eat their heads off. another favorite activity here lately is anything that is preceded by a "one, two, THREE!" or a "ready, set, GO". doesn't seem to matter much what comes after the countdown, the joy is in the counting itself. she's also grasping the idea that everyone can have similar things. for instance, the other day we were putting coats on to go out, and she said, "abby coat, mommy coat!" it's amazing to watch that little lightbulb go on above her big ol' head.

uncle cory, aunt cortlee, and james and hayden will be in town tomorrow staying at a hotel in middleton, so we're going over there in the late afternoon to all go swimming together. abby has become quite the little fish, and even enjoys putting her face in the water during bathtime. and of course, she loves spending time with the boys. on monday we plan to make a day trip to milwaukee that will include a little side trip to pleasant prairie to tour the jelly belly factory. hopefully the day will go well considering we have not budgeted any time for a nap.