the first year...

As I was posting about Abram's birthday, I wished I would have started this blog when he was born, so I could look back at all the milestones... So, I am doing a post to remind myself of his growth in the first year, because we all know that is when they grow the fastest. I find myself already forgetting, when he did what. I am ashamed to admit, I had to pull out his baby book to remind myself. How pitiful. I am so thankful though that Ben took so many pictures his first year! He took at least one picture every week of his first year. I am so glad he did that. Here we go, I am sure these posts are not that interesting to everyone else, but this blog is really a type of a mama diary if you get what I mean. Sorry for gushing...
January 15th, 2009 6 pounds, 11 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long. Born at 11:19 am

March 2009, 2 months old. 13 pounds, 4 ounces and 23 inches long. Rolled over from his belly to his back in March.

May 2009, 4 months old. 18 pounds, 4 ounces and 25 and half inches long. His first laugh was in May :) He also said Dada in June.

July 2009, 6 months old. 21 pounds and 13 ounces and 27 and a half inches long. At 6 months he started sitting on his own, but I remember he would topple over if he started looking around. He had a round tuchy. He also got his first tooth at the end of July.

September 24th, at 8 months, he finally started an army crawl. He never was one to get up on all fours and go, but he would scoot and slide to where he needed to go.
October 2009, 9 months old. 22 pounds 11 ounces. He started getting really brave...he wanted to walk so bad. October he started taking some steps.
He actually started walking at the end of November 2009 right around Thanksgiving.
And here he is taking off...

He also started waving Bye-bye in November, so sweet.
January 2010, One year old. Weighing in at 24 pounds and 11 ounces respectfully :)
He finally started sleeping through the night thanks to his tubes that he got in December, and then he had to have the right one replaced in January. We let him keep his bottle until he was about 14 or 15 months. He never had a pacifier or sucked his thumb, but he wanted a bottle and certain times during the night. Usually around 10:00 pm and 2:00 am. Then when he had to turn in his bottle he replaced it with a blankie, which he still wags around today.

abram turns 2...

I can not believe my baby is already 2! The last 2 years have been the best ever. I love him more and more everyday and I find myself wanting to remember every second of his childhood. I want to put him in a time capsule and take him out and squeeze him. I already wish I could hold him as a little baby again. As I was rocking him the other day and his legs were draping down mine, I realized, he isn't a baby any more...it made me cry. Why does it have to go so fast? He is talking so much more, growing like a weed and his personality shows for sure! I love it, I just want it to go slower...
We were very low key last year for his birthday. Just a few friends over to the house for cake. Here he is at Birthday #1

This year we wanted to have a party! There is a great local place called Jumpville. Abram loves to play there! Slides, ball pits, mazes and plenty of room to run. We checked into the party packages and were FLOORED at the prices. So, we were disappointed, knowing that the price was unreasonable for a 2nd Birthday. But, my parents offered to pay half as their birthday gift to Abram! Deal! We booked the party and we were all in heaven! Abram had a blast and he was so delighted to have his friends there to celebrate! There the birthday boys is, in the bottom left corner!

Wweeee!!!

Check out his birthday throne! He thought he was king ;) I wish I would have got a group picture of all his little friends, but of course I didn't...

It was a fun party, a perfect way to celebrate a special day.

the loss of a pet...

When Ben and I got married we knew that we didn't want children any time soon, but we wanted a puppy. We were given a dachshund from Ben's uncle and she instantly stole both of our hearts.
Maggie was spoiled. We took her everywhere and she ran the house. When Abram was born things changed, she wasn't the baby anymore. She became the family pet. It was a huge adjustment for her. We still loved her but had to really watch her around Abram as he started to crawl and tottle. But they slowly became buddies.
Maggie has always had problems with her back and she was showing the signs of pain New Year's weekend. I took her to the Vet and they gave medicine. She always improved after medicine and time. About 3 days later, Ben woke up early for work and she was dragging the back half of her body, she was paralyzed. We were a mess. We called the Vet and he said that it could be temporary to keep her strictly confined and double up on her meds. Well, she quickly became worse and he decided to put her down. What a hard thing that was for both of us...I never realized how hard that could be. We miss her so much and Abram asks about her often.

christmas morning...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, we did. I can't say enough how lucky we are to have each other. Christmas was sooooo fun this year. Abram was so excited with everything, I didn't want it to end... Buzz Lightyear was the major hit!

He had to sleep with him that night...kinda like Ralphy on "The Christmas Story" I love that movie by the way.

christmas shopping...

We have been hot and heavy into Christmas shopping and finding the best deals to put under the tree for Abram this year. We are having so much fun, but trying to keep spending down... Ben found a table top train set at Wal-Mart.com for $35.00. If you know anything about train tables you know they are so over priced.

This is the one we got, it's plastic but durable and it doubles as a table top too! It retails for around $80, we did site to store at Wal-Mart and payed $35. Props to Benny!
I found a water table. I know what you are thinking a water table for Christmas? But he will love it this summer and since it was off season we got it for a awesome price. $15 bucks! I've seen it as high as $65, but usually $40. This was also Wal-mart.com find and $0 for shipping with site to store :)

Of course we have to get him what he really wants...Buzz Lightyear! This will be his big gift and there is really no way to save on this one. We have been looking for months becasue there are so many different models. You know one has the karate chop action, but no talking. One speaks Spanish and dances, like in Toy Story 3. You can spend as cheap as $25 to as expensive as nearly $200! We went for the middle grade, it cost us around $67. But it will be worth it!

halloween...

Abram was a shark this year. The first time we showed him his costume he was scared to death. But he was ok once he saw that was his cute little face inside. He was a turtle last year and had no idea what was going on. This year was a different story. Some of our best friends ever come to our nighborhood and the kids trick or treat together. One house of Abram getting candy in his bucket, and he was ready to hit every house on the block. Sorry to say that we were so busy enjoying the kids that we didn't get many pictures.
I have to admit that I looked long and hard for the perfect costume and for the perfect price...of course there wasn't a perfect price. So, I watched Old Navy's sales and the costumes went on sale for 30% off and then I had a coupon and they let me use it on top of the sale price. I got the shark outfit for around $12.50. Last year I scored the turtle costume at a yard sale for $2.00! Here is my little shark boy and my handsome hubby :)

abram's new ride...

Abram got a new ride. He was given a John Deere tractor that he loved, but it bit the dust.

So, we are suckers and went and got him an upgrade. He has so much fun in it and is fearless behind the wheel! He actually can drive the truck better, I guess because he had to straddle the tractor?

This is really the only pic we have because when he is driving, you can't get him to slow down for the picture. Ben put our dog, Maggie, in the bed of the truck yesterday, and he just laughed and laughed. He thought it was so funny that he was driving Maggie around. I can assure you...Maggie was not laughing. Abram can't say Maggie real good yet, he calls her Daggie. They are slowly becoming buds.