All About Abby Cate

14 Things I like at 14 Months
1. Moose
2. Feeding Moose from my high-chair
3. Feeding Moose his dog food in his dish
4. Feeding Moose treats
5. Taking Moose for walks around the house and outside (I always want to hold the leash, but it is a little hard for Mom to manage me and Moose sometimes!)
6. Playing with Inara and Nancy
7. Wave Hello and Bye Bye to everyone I see in my stroller, coming and going, etc. I am very social!
8. Snacks (aka "nacks") in my Munchie Mug
9. Drinking from a straw (but it is a little tricky)
10. Finding my belly button ... and then finding mom's ... and then finding mine ... and then finding mom's (and giggling!!) ...
11. Pushing my toy stroller around the house with the baby (doll) and feeding her a bottle while making drinking sounds
12. Doing "CHEERS!" at the dinner table with Mommy and Daddy
13. Eating noodles (the longer the better)
14. Looking for the cat that sneaks into our backyard (to Moose's dismay)

First Word: "moo" (sounding really like a mix between Moo and Boo) = Moose or any dog
First Real Word (actually sounding like the true word): "baaaaaaaaaaaabeeeeeeeeeey" = baby

Other partial words:
"bay" = bear (a favorite in January due to Tahoe and Jackson Hole visits!)
"tchhh" = cheese (favorite food, hands down!)
"nacks" = snacks
"da da da" = Daddy
"mam mum mam" = Mommy
"MA!" = more/mas! (Abby knows Spanish too!)
"teta" = bottle (at least that is what our nanny told us!)
"ba" = back (as in to put something back ... a nice habit that Abby has at the moment)
"gdat" = cat (cross between cat and dat)
"Chhh" = cheers (when accompanied by the tilt of a sippy cup)
"dack" = duck

Abby is about to turn 9 months old and she is ready to roll. Here are some photos of our latest adventures and Abby in motion ... scooting at the park, crawling all over the place and standing strong - pulling herself up on things and letting go for a brief second. Here's also a picture of Abby and her friend Inara, her playmate during the week while Mom has to work.

Abby, Brett, Moose and I went on a little family adventure to Monterey at the start of the month. Moose was bummed to have to stay in the car for the aquarium visit, but he loved running on the beach afterward ... everyone was happy.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium was a great place to visit and I am sure we will be back. To an 8.5 month old, the aquarium was a sea of wonders. Abby was entranced by the millions of fishies that swam by her gaze and not yet old enough to be scared of the big scary sharks that also passed us by. Most mesmerizing for both Abby and her parents were the glowing giant jellyfish in the lit up blue tank. As one other viewer commented, it was like looking at a life-sized lava lamp. Very cool.
The other big attraction for Miss Abby was the baby play area, which had a fun waterbed type area that Abby loved bouncing on.

The weekend of September 20th we took our first family vacation to Lake Tahoe to celebrate Mom and Dad's 3rd anniversary and our first year as a family of 3 plus Moose! The lake was as beautiful as always and the air was so fresh and clean. We enjoyed taking a long stroll along the Truckee River and relaxing by the river with a cold beer. Moose even braved the water!

At 8 months old Abby is an expert crawler and is eager to explore by pulling herself up on things. She is big enough for a high chair (kindof) too, so going out for breakfast is a big adventure.

With the Fourth of July around the corner, we decided July 1st was a perfect day for Abby's first meal. After all, Lil Miss Abby Cate did NOT want to miss out on all the pending BBQ fun!

Doctors these days tell you babies can eat solids around 4-6 months. Some babies start to show signs that they are ready by watching what you eat and trying to grab your food. If Abby's recently demonstrated affinity for ice cold beer bottles and ice cream cones is any indication of the future, man are we in for it! :)

Abby is 5 months, 2 weeks old and is definitely teething! With teeth around the corner, we decided to venture into the world of FOOD!
On the menu this evening was Earth's Best Organic Baby Oatmeal cereal, mixed with momma's milk. Abby's first spoonfuls went down with ease and she seemed to really enjoy chomping (or should I say "gumming" at this point) on the baby spoon.

Stay tuned for next week's adventure: AVOCADO! A true California baby :)

Abby is 5 months old now and we decided to try out our Bob stroller. Brett and I were a little more excited than Abby (she doesn't look too thrilled, does she?), but this thing is AWESOME! It is seriously fun to push and motivation to go on lots of hikes. It can roll over just about anything.

We went for a hike in the hills of Oakland with our friends Megan and Michael and their almost 1 yr old daughter Maya. Maya is a pro at Bob stolling :). We look forward to many more adventures. Thanks to Ron and Sandy for such an awesome gift!









After the stroll we had a little bbq at the house with Uncle Greggie and Auntie Ais too! Maya was nice enough to loan Abby her bouncer, which Abby just loves. Here are some pix of Abby at this age.