Swim Lessons

Hi! It's been a long time since my last blog and I've kind of given up on blogging. However, I wanted to send the g'parents and family this video of Katie's last day of swim lessons. She's come a long way with only 4 weeks of lessons. The quality of the image wasn't too great from my camera but I think you'll be able to see how well she's doing.

Katie goes to preschool in about 3 weeks and we're getting excited! She and Abs and I have been spending a lot of time at the pool. Abby is starting to pull up, she gets up on her knees pretty easily and has started getting to her feet now too. We had to lower her crib b/c I was finding her standing up every nap time. She is a busy, busy girl!

It's been blazing hot here the past few weeks. Ric and I joined the church last weekend, finally. Ric has been working out at the new fitness center and I started weight watchers and we've seen great results so far. It's really encouraging. We sold my car last weekend and it was really easy - I was sad to see the Infiniti go, though. That's about it with us.

Riding the Potty Train

I just realized I haven't blogged since last Thursday. Where did the week go???

This week's big events have been centered around potty training. Katie once told me she thinks riding the "potty train" sounds fun! Here is a recap of the week...

On Friday, we took Abby to the doc for a diaper rash. It turns out I was trying too hard to get rid of it with creams and such and that I needed to let it be. Sure enough, it went away. I actually think she was allergic to the cream they had prescribed and that's why it lingered. The girls' doctors are right near Eric's work so as we passed by his building Katie wanted to go see him. I took the girls in and we got to show them off to all his co-workers. We popped by open gym at Gymboree afterwards.

Last weekend, we went shopping in Anthem. I've noticed that when we shop, Eric and I buy a lot less for ourselves than we used to. The # of bags for the girls way outnumbered the # of bags for us. It's ok - they really needed some warm weather clothes.

On Sunday, I started volunteering in the children's rooms at church. I'll be working with the 2yr olds, I think. There are 6 classes of 2 year olds and if I stay in the same age group as they put me in last week, then I'll be with kids just slightly younger than Katie. They may move me around and I'll end up in Katie's class sometimes, but I would prefer not to be with her. I think the separation is good for us. It was a lot of fun to be with the kiddos. It's cool to see their little personalities. Some like to join in with the activities and some liked to do their own thing. I'm looking forward to this Sunday.

On Monday, we stayed in all day b/c Katie got a cold. I picked up a little of it myself but Abby and Eric never did. I don't know how Abby has managed it, but she has avoided getting a cold, stomach flu and croup from Katie. The only time she has been sick was a runny nose and slight cough when we were in TX. She got good immune-genes.

On Tue, we stayed in but got out for an hour in the afternoon to check out the library. It just opened last weekend and it is so nice inside. Katie misses the puzzles at the old one, but the children's section is so much bigger! As we were walking in, Katie pointed at the flags and said "Mommy, that's American". I was so proud of her that she knew the US flag - something I don't think I had ever told her about.

On Wed, we began....POTTY TRAINING! I didn't get a clear sign that Katie is ready but preschool is looming and we have to start trying something. Thanks, Stace, for encouraging me to start when I talked to you. I made Katie go diaperless all day and she said "Mommy, I want my diaper back on" when she had to go. In the past, I might have put her diaper back on but yesterday I talked her into sitting on the potty and sure enough she went! She was SOOOOO proud of herself. Then, I was doing something with Abby later in the day and I wasn't watching her for a few minutes. She went on the potty without me even being there! I got brave and decided to take her to the park diaperless but with big girl undies. She wasn't quite ready for that yet. I am so encouraged by how well she's doing, though! I don't think she'll be out of diapers by the weekend or anything, but she's catching on better than I had expected and she finally seems interested in it.

Today we went to Gymboree where we did "errands" around the town. We drove pretend cars and stopped by an ATM, returned some "videos" and "library books", and played at a "park". Katie's very fave thing was to go thru the "car wash". Miss Chris had set up a tunnel and then a bunch of scarves hanging down as the "car wash". It was cute! The rest of the day was at home potty training. I think we're going to be at home a lot with this potty training stuff.

Abs seems to be sitting up a little stronger this week. I just barely have to hang on to her to keep her upright. This weekend is her 5 month bday and I think we're going to celebrate by starting rice cereal. She's not going to know what to think of it. We put her in the exersaucer for the first time this week and she LOVES it. She spent the first hour in it cooing at all the toys.

That's about it :-)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mom! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you.

Not too much to report over the past few days. Yesterday, we stayed home most of the morning. Sometimes we need some time at home but Katie tends to get a little stir crazy on those days. She's been kind of rebellious the past 2 days and I think it's related to sleep. I'm still working out whether she needs a nap or not. If she has a nap, she doesn't want to go to sleep at night. If she doesn't have a nap, she gets pretty cranky and I see the effects a day or two later. Hopefully we'll figure it out. Ideally, she'll take a short nap each day instead of her usual 2 hours+. So, yesterday (Wed.), I thought I would have her skip her nap and she ended up falling asleep on the floor in her room during her "quiet time". I guess she needed a nap. We just did errands and had our small group during the rest of the day.

Today we went to Gymboree. Katie still loves it. They learned about farm life for the 2nd week and this week Katie chose to be horse (last week she was a pig). They slept in the barn and ate out of a trough. As farmers, they planted some seeds and took their goods to the Farmers Market. Miss Chris at Gymboree is so creative. I wish I had her energy too! After Gymboree we went to a neighbor's bday party. The kids all had a good time playing and the moms had a good time visiting.

Abby updates...I blog a lot about Katie b/c most of our activities are for her so I'm adding an Abby section. New things on Abby are that she's starting to blow raspberries. She really wants to sit up and I think she will early (maybe another month or so). She is in LOVE with Katie. Whenever Katie comes and talks to her, Abby just grins like Katie is the neatest thing she's ever seen. She started formula last week and about half of her bottles are formula now. She also is loving teething toys and everything is starting to go in her mouth (including her feet!).

A couple more cute Katie items that Eric told me I should add....we were watching Amazing Race the other night and the contestants had to do some gymnastics in a Romanian gym. Katie gets up off the couch and starts lifting her leg in the air behind her and then does the finish arms like a gymnast does. She was very serious about it too. It was totally unprompted and adorable. She was actually pretty good at holding her leg in a ballet attitude position. The 2nd thing is that we were talking about going to the Spring Training game and she says to me "Mommy, Rangers stink!". I had to agree with her, they were pretty pitiful. Maybe she was repeating something she heard or maybe she came up with that on her own. Either way, it was pretty funny.

I'm back

Wow! I am WAAAAAY overdue for a post to the Blackwood Blog. Abby is now 4.5months old and my last post was on her 1 month bday.

Obviously a lot has gone on over the past few months. We had Christmas in TX, we went to San Diego, and Abby has gotten a lot bigger. Too much to blog about so I'll start fresh....


Mom and Dad just came in this weekend and we had a great time. They took Katie to Gymboree on Thursday morning. Abby tagged along with them which allowed me to get a much-needed haircut. I cut it a bit shorter than I've had it lately since Abby has just started the "hair-pulling stage". On Friday, we went to the Rangers spring training game. The weather was awesome! Last year, seats were better than lawn tickets with Katie but I think it's the opposite this year. If we make another game then lawn tix are the way to go so she can run around. The Rangers lost badly to the Cubs. On Saturday, we all went to the park and soaked up the wonderful weather. I hope it sticks around for another few months before it heats up. Ric and I got to have a date at the movies and do some car-shopping. We need a car with some space for all our baby/kid stuff. We saw Confessions of a Shopaholic which was cute. On Sunday, we went to church, had lunch and said goodbye to Mom and Dad. Boo-hoo! Their visit wasn't long enough!

Yesterday, we met our playgroup at the park and once again enjoyed the awesome weather. I think the gorgeousness of Feb and March nearly make up for the miserable summer months. I've noticed that Katie is starting to play more with other kids than alongside them. My baby is growing up! Abby is pretty much happy as a lark wherever we go. She is such an easy baby.

Today we had bible study and went to the grocery store (with the play area for Katie...a god-send). Katie has a memory verse for bible study and I'm amazed at how easily she remembers it. She's had 4 verses to memorize lately (2 for church, 2 for bible study) and she knows which is for church, which is for bible study, which is the old one, which is the new one, etc. That's about it! This is the 2nd day in a row that the girls have napped at the same time and I have a little free time. I hardly know what to do with myself!

Here's a recent pic...

Happy 1 month Abby! (correction)

I started my previous blog posting on Nov 3rd so it was dated Nov 3rd instead of today when I actually posted it. Abby is 1 month old today - Nov 15th.

Happy 1 month Abby!

Happy 1 month, Abby!!!

To catch up on everything...

We welcomed Abigail Jane Blackwood to the world on Wed. October 15th at 3:34am!

The birth story...

We were watching tv on Tuesday evening and I felt a funny "pop" in my stomach. Sure enough, my water had broken. Our neighbors took Katie for the night and we headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital at about 10:30pm and I was having very light contractions that were not too painful. They admitted me and the contractions eventually got more painful. After about 3-4 very painful contractions, I called for an epidural. The doctor was awesome! He gave me the epidural and I was able to feel/move my legs the whole time (the idea of feeling paralyzed freaks me out) but I felt none of the contractions. Our labor and delivery nurse was awesome too. She was great at explaining what was going on and I felt much more clued in than with Katie. The nurse left us once I got the epidural and told us to get some rest b/c it would be awhile before we'd push. Abby had different plans. Ric went to sleep for about 10 min before I woke him and asked him to get the nurse. Abby was born about 30 min later. Abby had a lot of fluid in her lungs when she came out so they took her pretty quickly to the nursery to clear it all out. She was 8 lb 3 oz and 20 3/4 in long. She spent an hour or two in the nursery and then got to come up to my room where we stayed for a day and a half.

At home...

While I thought Abby was eating well, we found out at the doctor that she was losing too much weight. Babies are supposed to lose up to 10% of their birthweight and then start gaining but Abby lost about 20%. I actually mixed up the day that I was supposed to take her to the pediatrician and took her two days earlier than our appointment. I think it was divine intervention because, from everything I've heard/read, it could have been really dangerous to her to go much longer without getting nourished. The doc recommended that we feed her often via bottles so we started feeding her every 2 hours. It was pretty exhausting. After 5 days of those feedings, we went back to the doc and she had gained a lot of weight. So, the doc told us we can slow down on her feedings which has given us much more sleep! Abby has been a very sweet baby. She only cries when she's hungry or needs a diaper change. I think she's going to have a wonderful disposition. Katie has taken to Abby very well. At first, she didn't have much to do with her but wasn't too upset by her either. However, recently she's shown more love towards Abby and wants to help burp her, feed her, etc. I think they'll be good friends as Abby gets bigger.

Updates on Abby being at home...

I started the above blog 2 weeks ago and never got it posted. Since then, Abby has started smiling! It's early for a baby to smile but if you coo at her she gets a little grin. She's so precious. She has been a little more awake the past few days which makes for a tired Mommy and Daddy. Feedings are continuing to go well and we go back to the doc on Monday so we'll see what she weighs. The poor little girl has to get her first shots too :-( Abby also had her first real bath at 3 weeks old (see pic).

Halloween...

Katie was a Texas Longhorn cheerleader for Halloween and Abby just dressed in a Halloween onesie. Abby, of course, didn't go out trick or treating. Katie was really into Halloween this year and is still talking about it weeks later. She did the funniest thing that night - she would knock on the door and then set her pail down and make a face at whoever answered the door. Then, she'd say trick or treat. She did it at every house, like she thought that was just part of the trick or treating (see pic below). Here are some pics from trick or treating and the little party we attended right before. Her friend Steven didn't want to keep his Pablo/Backyardigans costume on.

Well, that's about the best "catch up" I can do for the past month. More blogs to come...

What's new

I have not been finding time for blogging so I'll do a quick recap of our week and be better about more frequent blogging in the future...

Wed

On Wed of last week I went to the OB - no changes. However, I have been feeling a little "different" the past few days. I don't think labor is going to happen immediately but I can tell that I'm getting ready for it.

Thur

We went to Gymboree and Katie learned about houses - they washed pretend windows, cleaned up the pretend playroom, and went to sleep in pretend bunk beds. She had a really good time. They sing the same songs every week and now she knows them and sings really loud. It's very cute!

Fri

Went to Farmer's Market at Trilogy (nearby neighborhood). Ric's car didn't start so he took mine and Shelbi gave us a lift. Thanks, Shelbi, if you read this. It was very, very hot at the FM so we bought some strawberries and took off. Katie was so confused - as we walked up she kept asking where the cows were. She thought we were going to a Farm and didn't understand. Bless her heart. By the way, what a memory she has! All week, whenever I fed her those strawberries she'd always tell me they came from the Farmer's Market.

Sat

Busy morning. We went first thing to the car dealership and they replaced Ric's battery. Apparently they had given us a bad one about a month or so ago. Katie and I went on to Cracker Barrel for breakfast while Ric waited. Their pancakes rock! He met us there later and then we all went to the library. After that, Katie and Daddy went to Gymboree. Same thing as Thur - they learned about houses. Anyway, all this was before noon. Can't remember what we did the rest of the day.

Sun

Went to church. Later that afternoon the neighbors threw Shelbi and I a baby shower. It was fun - I really enjoy getting together with the ladies in the neighborhood. It was very sweet of them to throw us a shower. Getting diapers and little clothes and such really makes baby #2's arrival seem close! Ric mowed later and Katie always wants to follow him around the yard when he mows. It is adorable! Here are some pics...

Mon

Katie's buddy Grace came over to play while her mommy had a sonogram. They had fun together and shared very well. Katie went thru a little period of terrible 2's this summer but I'm really seeing a difference lately, particulary when it comes to sharing toys and stuff. I'm very proud of how well-behaved she's been lately. Oh, the one funny thing this week that isn't so appreciated is saying "Not" all the time. I guess it's her word of the week. It's funny to hear, but she is saying "Katie/I NOT go to bed", "I NOT eat dinner", "Katie NOT get dressed". I guess she picked it up from Ric or me.

Tue

Went to Bible Study. Everytime we go, Katie has so much fun and tells me so afterwards. I'm really enjoying it too - we're studying Genesis. We've gone over God creating the earth/man, Adam & Eve eating the fruit in Eden and Cain killing Abel. All those stories are so well-known, but yet I've still managed to learn something new each week. It's cool. Anyway, afterwards we went to the grocery store and had another "big girl" event. (Katie has done a lot of "big girl" things lately) The store has a play area where you can drop off your kid while you shop. I think I blogged about this before, but Katie has always been too scared to go in. She went in this time and had a great time!!! I had a great time too b/c I was able to grocery shop without having to keep her occupied the whole time. It was very peaceful.

Wed

We stayed home all day for the first time in a while. I did yardwork (don't tell my doctor) and Katie played on the slip-n-slide. Yep, it's still hot enough to do water activities. Here is a pic...