Nine Month in, Nine months out!

 This post is chock-full of pictures, because we finally replaced our broken camera.... AND we LOVE it!! It is perfect for us. Still just an easy ol' point and shoot, but much nicer pictures, and it has a manual mode to really test and see if we want to venture into the world of photography. Only time will tell. :)

Abigail turned 9 months last Sunday! 

Not my tiny baby anymore! But, still my baby.

So, I didn't do a post for 8 months, and then the eighth month flew by!! I am even late for the 9 month catch up! Last post, she wasn't even crawling! Now she's crawling up stairs!! Here are some of the things she's been up to lately.

Hiding from Mama

One day I was in the kitchen and all was quiet. I came in to check on Abi, and couldn't find her! Then, finally I found her, under the end table, "reading" a book!

Tired from swimming, but still happy!!

We went swimming 3 times during her 8th month. She does really well. She doesn't totally love her floaty thing, but she likes the water if I hold her.

look at those big blue eyes

Everywhere we go, people comment on two things: 1) Her length, she a little on the tall side, 2) Her big eyes. When I went to the Dr for her 9 month, her stats were 50th Percentile for weight and head circumfrence, and 95 for height. She got her 9 month shots and cut a tooth, all in the same day!!

Loves getting into her diaper bag and playing with wipes!

Crawling up stairs!

Standing up on everything!

Thinks Mail is a yummy snack!

Cute photo... even if she doesn't totally have the hang of it yet!

 Abi can say Hi and Bye, fairly consistently. She can say "all done" and can imitate a few sounds. This week she learned the "k" sound and all day repeats that sounds in all of her ranges. It is cute to hear.

This girl loves her Papa!

We went to an awesome bbq at an awesome park this weekend. The food, company, weather and park were perfect. The BBQ happened to be right next to a police awareness day for kids. THere was even more free food, free toys, and such, free tickets to the train, and a raffle for kid's bikes! It was pretty cool. We'll have to remember that event and go to it next year.

A Family Picture! We don't get many of these;)

There was even a cool train ride around the park.

Jeff is continuing to enjoy work, which after 3 months the newness has worn off, so this is good! He can ride the bus most days and I am loving having the car when I need it. He will be running the half marathon in June, and has run 11 miles so far. His knee has really started giving him problems so we are hoping he can work through it and accomplish his goal.
This is moving season in our area and ward, so it means saying a lot of goodbyes. I am having a hard time with it this year, as I do every year, but I know in a few more months I will have friends again... maybe... I hope.
Running is going well! It is all consuming... I feel like it has taken over my life. I will be glad when the marathon is over, and I will miss it too. The long runs are a break for me. They are relaxing and I feel good about being consistent and I like getting out of the house and exercising, and this goal forces me to do it.I am finally getting past my 2 month string of minor and annoying and painful injuries, and even though they slowed me down considerably (my pace right now is about 11:15) I am on track with the mileage. I ran 19 miles on Friday, making last weeks total mileage 31, and this week I will run 20 miles, making the total mileage 32 for this coming week. After that I start tapering off on the mileage and then in about a month I run the whole 26.2 --- crazy! It still seems a little unreachable, because I feel quite spent after the long runs.

We had a nice Mother's day. I love being a mother and have had lots of thought about things I would like to say about being a mother, but they have all escaped me at the moment. All I know is that being a mother has   been a wonderful opportunity for me that I am ever so grateful for. I am also grateful for all of the mothers in my life, those who have been my friends and mentors while I grew up, and those who are learning along beside me, but most of all I am grateful for my wonderful mother who has sacrificed so much for me-- simply because I am hers, what a beautiful and wonderful thing motherhood is. I love her dearly and cried today when the youth in our church say "For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking, I learn how to love them, dear mother, from you," because all things beautiful in my life I ltruly learned to love from my Mother. Thank you Mom for teaching me all of the beautiful things of this world. Happy Mothers Day to Everyone!