New Potty

Ok...So, I went today and bought Abby this really cool new potty. So far we have been using the seat that you put in the real potty. Well, I always have to put her up on the potty and I thought..."if she is going to be potty trained, then I don't need to have to pick her up and put her on the potty everytime" PLUS...we left her potty seat at Mimi's house and have not been able to work on it this week. SO...as you can see the "Safety First Smart Rewards Potty" has lots of bells and whistles. It sings a little song when she sits on it, then if she "makes a deposit (from the directions) it lights up and plays a little fanfare song. Then when she flushes it plays another song and stickers shoot out the side! WOW! Well...the problem is...Abby wants to play WITH the potty not USE the potty. So, she has figured out the if she puts her hand on the sensor inside the potty then it thinks that she went pee pee and plays the fanfare and she can flush the potty and get a sticker! AHHHHH! She is too smart for the POTTY! We will have to see if day 2 is any more productive...it may be back to the big potty.

She is getting over being sick. She is cutting her top molar teeth and so I think that is part of the problem. We have been giving her the antihistamine/decongestant benadryl and that seems to be helping. I however had a very strange thing happen to me this week. I have been going to chiropractors for almost 10 years and have been to some really good ones and some really bad ones. The one that I am going to now is AMAZING! Well, I go every Monday. This Monday I went in feeling pretty good and left feeling pretty lousy. Strange. Well, as the day progressed into night time and the next day, I was feeling worse and worse. I was really dizzy and my left neck, shoulder and back hurt sooo bad that I was in tears. Then, last night my left arm went numb! So, I called the doctor and he said that it was possible that when he adjusted my neck, that he adjusted me too far the other way!!! SO...now I have to take 4-5 motrin and a vicadin just to be able to sleep! So, I went back today and he adjusted it back and I felt great again! Strange how such a small thing can cause so much pain and suffering. Well...he said that probably my muscles would pull it back out of place since they were so tight and...IT DID! So, we are back on the heated neck wrap and meds until Friday when I go back. He said that I probably would not feel better for 3 or 4 days! That is a very painful mistake!!!! I was NOT impressed. But, I still trust him and he has helped me more in the last few months than others ever have.

Friday Fun

Well...I think that my friend Kim has too much time on her hands at work since she always sends me these things...but here ya go...this one is for Kim

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

• Oh how embarrassing!! I was in high school

2. Five things on my To-Do list today:

• 1. Work
• 2. Play will Abby
• 3. wash clothes
• 4. wash dishes
• 5. hang out with my hubby

3. Bad Habits

• 1. eating too much sugar
• 2. Biting my nails when I am stressed
• 3. Not working out (I'm with ya on that one)

Five places I’ve lived:

• 1.Houston, Texas
• 2.College Station, Texas
• 3. Bryan, TX
• 4. Lorena, TX
• 5. Nacogdoches, TX

Five jobs I’ve had:

• 1. Teacher
• 2. Interpreter
• 3. clerical secretery during High School
• 4. curves for women personal trainer
• 5. Hallmark

Five books I’ve recently read:

• Hebrews
• psalms
• Isaiah
• "The Strong Willed Child" by James Dobson (not finished with that one)
• "Actively teaching a One year old-daily activities" (not finished this one either)

NO I AM NO KIDDING...I don't really have time to read much else other than the Word...you will notice that the other NON bible books are not finished yet. :)

SICK

Well, Daddy has learned what it means to take care of a sick baby! Abby stayed home with Robby yesterday. She was still running a very high fever and throwing up. I called the doctor and they said not to bother bringing her in because they have received 75 calls that morning already about the exact same stomach virus. So, she called in a Rx for the vomiting if we needed it. She seems to be better today, but was still running fever this morning. So...THANK YOU MIMI! She is staying with her Mimi and Pop. It was so cute...this morning when she was eating breakfast I said...are you ready to go see Mimi and Pop? She looked at me and said "mimi...pop" as if she was saying...REALLY???? Then I reminded her about Sophie the cat and she said "meow" hahaha. She is so funny.

I hope that she is better by Monday so that she can go back to Mrs. Joann's house again. Joann said that they miss her... "she is the life of the party!" :)

FEVER

Well...Abby has fever AGAIN! I think that it is just teething though. She has her bottle molars, but I think that she is trying to cut her top. When I picked her up this afternoon, she felt warm. When we got home, her temp was 102.8! So, I gave her some motrin and took it again in about 45 min and it was down to 101.6. So, all of you fellow bloggers out there...please pray with me that it is ONLY teething. I really don't want for her to really be sick...we cannot afford for me to stay home with her. PLEASE pray that the motrin will continue to bring down the fever. Her ONLY symptoms are a clear runny nose, cough and fever...all symptoms of teething. PRAY...PRAY...PRAY!

FUN WEEKEND

OK, so I am sorry that it has taken me so long to finally post. I have been having computer issues and I still can't use it. I think that it is on it's last leg. I am using my school computer for now. :) This past weekend was so fun! On Saturday, we went and met my mom and dad at a park in College Station. It was SO much FUN! Abby loved looking at the ducks and mastered saying "quack, quack, quack" over and over and over! Then, on Sunday our church had our 35th anniversary picnic after church and that was fun, but she was so exhausted after Saturday that we did not stay out long and play.

She is so funny! She has started putting 1-2 words together. Yesterday, during our morning prayer before leaving to go to Joann's I said "Are you ready to pray to Jesus?" Her response, "uh....(long pause) amen." I guess she was done with her prayer. hahaha! Also, when you ask her "how big are you?" she will say "BIGGGG! WOW!" When she wakes up in the morning she will say "happy Abby" :) There is not much better to wake up to than a "happy Abby." I have been trying to teach her to spell her name. She will say "Abby---A-B-B-B" It is so amazing the things that she can come up with.

On another note...At my Bible study last week, Beth Moore said a very profound thing. She was talking about when they visited Rawanda and did some work with feeding the hungry. The guide there said that they have a hard time because they will give the people seed to plant for a harvest so that they will have food to eat for months and the people EAT the seed instead of planting it! WOW! Most of us would think that is CRAZY...don't they know that if they planted it, they could have a whole crop of food?! Are we not the same way concerning the Word? We listen to sermons and are spiritually full...we might even cry, get emotional about God's truth and his promises. We will say...wow! Praise God. He is so good! But, when we leave or close our Bible...we are unchanged and it does not have a PERMANENT affect on our daily lives. Don't we know that if we "planted"God's word daily. Invested that Word in others and waited for the harvest...WOW! What a relationship we would have with our Heavenly Provider. What peace we would experience on a daily basis. How we could apply the truth of God's promises to our own lives DAILY! My prayer has been this week, "God show me how to sow your word. Allow me the privelege of waiting for the harvest that you promise. I want to read your word and never close it unchanged FOREVER. Reveal to me truth in your word that I can plant and give me the patience to wait for the harvest."

YEA FOR PEE PEE!

I decided to post in yellow today to honor my sweet Abby's pee pee! :) We got home this afternoon and I put her panties on her and told her that "only big girls who go pee pee in the potty can wear panties." Her response, "pee pee panties" as if she fully understood every word! hahaha! I set the timer on the microwave for every 20 minutes and we would go "pee pee" Really it ended up that we went every 5-10 minutes or so since EVERY TIME that she said "diaper" I quickly rushed her to the potty for fear of pee pee on the carpet. This endeavour continued through dinner (which took 1 1/2 hours to finish due to our new adventure) To No avail. THEN... just before we were getting ready to go take a bath the words, "pee pee diaper panties" came out of her beautiful mouth! So, as a good mother I rushed her to the potty and she helped me pull down her panties, as soon as I sat her on the potty...that glorious pee pee sound! We concluded this session with A LOT of praise, clapping of hands, shouting for joy and jumping up and down, and then of course...a treat.

Now...I never thought that I would be one of THOSE mothers who talked about their children's bowel movements...I was WRONG. So, if this talk bothers you...I will title every post of this nature with a telling comment such as "YEA FOR PEE PEE" so that you will have no doubt what it is about and you don't have to go through the agony of reading these posts.

PERFECTION!

Well, I just got back from my bible study! WOW! I am constantly blown away at God's Great Perfection! I do not understand people who believe ONLY the old or ONLY the new testament! When you read and study the old testament you find so many prophesies that are revealed in the new testament. How can you doubt? We are talking about the 3 feasts of the old testament today. 1. the passover, 2. the feast of unleavened bread, 3. the first fruits. God makes a direct prophecy to the Israelites of the Old testament to the 1. death, 2. burial, and 3. resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ of the New Testament! I have a story to share with you today. This will be kind of long...but WELL worth it. I am taking it directly out of our bible study. What a beautiful picture this brings. Thank you JESUS!

"A few days ago I received a word of a group in Cape Town, South Africa, going through the Bible study Breaking Free. The woman leading the study shared that a prostitute wandered in off the stree while the class was underway. The troubled woman was simply looking for a place to sit and rest her weary frame. As our wonderful God would have it, she ended up listening to the entire class, approached the leader and said, 'I can never go back to my old life.' When I heard the story, I wept. That, beloved, is one reason I love Jesus so much! He is the ultimate Prince Charming to every woman, expecially the one who forgot she was Cinderella. he looked with loving eyes on that lifeless woman, knowing all she'd ever said and done. He gazed beneath her sin into the brokenness that caused her to devalue herself so thoroughly. He'd given His whole life for HER and wanted HER to know that she was worth it to Him. Christ, the spotless One and the Righteous King, saw beauty beneath her wounded, weathered exterior and sought to make her His own. As surely as Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, He drew a South African prostitute to the fountain of living water and gave her a drink. Despite her self-destruction, Christ was FOR HER. He was on her side when she was her own worst enemy. That's the way HE is."

WOW! Thank you Jesus that you are ALWAYS "for" us and that you promise that you will conform us in YOUR likeness! (Romans 8:28-39) Help us to Look to you everyday...ALL day...NO MATTER the situation. Help me to seek your face ALONE! First, foremost, without blinking, every second of Every day!

pee pee time!

YEAH! Happy day! Joann was sick today (that is NOT the happy part!) so Kenya graciously agreed to take care of Abby for the day so that Robby and I could still work. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Well, evidently Abby went Pee Pee in the potty at her house! YEA! She is such a big girl! She said that Abby did not act like it was anything different so she thought that she had been using the potty at our house! NOPE! Today was the first time! SOOO BIG! When I got home, I tried to get her to use the potty again...no go, but thanks to Mimi...maybe she should go stay with Mimi for a couple weeks and then she will be potty trained! :) Just kidding...I would miss her too much. I will keep you updated on how the potty training progresses!

Sprinkler

So, we had a fun adventure today. Abby was still running fever (from teething we think) and so I did not take her to church since she was having yucky diapers as well. I didn't think that they would appreciate that in the nursery. We stayed inside most of the day and then this afternoon it was just too beautiful outside to stay in. So, I dressed Abby in her swimsuit and lathered her in sunscreen (she was NOT impressed) and we went outside to play in the sprinkler in the back yard.

She was sooo funny! She looked at the sprinkler and said "water!" as she was running toward the sprinkler, it started to oscillate. :) She immediately was drenched with "burrrr" water and ran back toward me. I turned down the water pressure and we made the trek across the yard again as she held on to my hand for dear life. She kept saying "burr, burr, burr, water" As we reached the sprinkler, she reached out her hand to touch the water and the look on her face was priceless. I am so glad that I got in a picture (see pic at top.) We continued to play for about 30 minutes as she dodged the oscillating water sprinkler with constant giggles and "burr water."

Then I went and got the bubbles. As she chased them around the yard saying "bubble" she started to get frustrated that she could not catch them. So, she came up to me, took the wand from my hand and tried to put it in the bubble jar herself. hahaha Miss independent!

She has also mastered the art of telling us when she has gone pee pee. The very second that she goes she says "tee tee diaper" over and over and over until you change it. I have changed more diapers in the last 2 days then in the last month I think. Also, I made the mistake of turning on the water faucet in the bathroom when she was sitting on the potty to see if that would help her go in the potty, (to no avail) so now she cannot sit on the potty without the water on. She will just stand and point up at the faucet and say "water, water water" until it is on. Then she will pull down her shorts and say "up" to sit on the potty. So, we are making progress, but not there yet. The funny thing was that when I was using the potty myself, she came in the bathroom and pointed to the faucet and said "water, water, water" until I turned it on for ME to go to the potty. hahaha

Look at these blue eyes!!! Thanks dad (poppa)!

My First Post

Well, This is my first post as a blogger! Kinda scary! :) I thought that this would be very theraputic...I guess. Really, I just wanted a place to talk about Abby and all of the fun things that she does on a daily basis. hahaha!

Only 38 days of school left! I am SOOO ready for the summer! Although, I did discuss going and working 1-2 days a week doing parent infant training again to make a little extra money during the summer. We will see how that goes.

Abby LOVES sitting on the potty and LOVES telling mommy and daddy when she has to go (or has already gone) pee pee...sometimes poo poo. I think that really right now we are just getting her used to the idea. I don't really plan on her being potty trained anytime soon. We will hit it hard this summer. :) NO MORE DIAPERS! I am ready!

On a more spiritual note, I am in this amazing Beth Moore Bible study and wanted to share some things that I thought were great this week! The study is on the psalms of ascents (Ps 120-134). These specific psalms were sung as the trip was being made to Jerusalem to the holy Temple where God dwelled. This was a LONG pilgrimage and they had these 14 psalms that would sing over and over on this journey. God continues to blow me away at how intricately he wove the Bible together...it is PERFECT! One of the parallels that Beth makes is that the Lord says many times that he rejoices over us in singing! What an amazing thought...God sings OVER ME! She says, "a drama movie would not be any good without a great soundtrack. Do we really think that there is not a soundtrack to our lives with all of the songs that the Lord sings over us. I can't wait to get to heaven and get my compilation CD of my life!" :)

Today's study looked at the first verse of psalm 123 "I lift my eyes to YOU the one enthroned in Heaven." As we are FOCUSED completely on HIM, great things can happen in and through us. When you read Acts 3:1-7 you learn of a man who was healed because his focus changed.

Consider this...Where I look--->What I hear---> What I feel---> What I expect

When our focus is on God, and we hear ONLY him (not all of the other places we go to for answers), we FEEL his presence and expect his glory to be shone in our lives! WOW!

My Prayer today is that I will maintain eye contact with the most holy of holies every second of every day and with that will come a peace that no words can express.