The Natural

At least a couple times a month, I go back through all my old pictures on FB and reminisce about times gone by.  Last night I was looking through pictures of when Abbie was younger and I noticed how many pictures I have of Abbie and Mark.  Part of that is because I’m usually the one holding the camera, but a bigger part is because of the role Mark plays in Abbie’s life.  I’m on a few parenting forums online, and I cannot count the number of times I’ve read about women complaining about how their husband doesn’t help with the kids at all, that they come home from work and watch tv or play video games and leave pretty much all of the parenting up to the woman.  I feel sorry for those women and the situation they’ve gotten themselves into, but I feel even more sorry for those poor children.

Mark has always been a natural dad.  I think he was born to be a daddy.  He might have been destined to fly jets too, but I cannot even describe what an amazing father Mark is to Abbie.  I know how important the dad’s role is in a girl’s life and I know how much my own dad’s involvement in my life growing up made me who I am today.  I am so thankful that I have Mark as a husband and more so, that Abbie has him as a daddy.  It honestly makes me what to have 10 kids, just to see how he is with each of them!  Okay, maybe not 10.  But at least a few more someday. 

Even from the day she was born, Mark has been as involved in her life as much as his job lets him be.  He never went through that “awkward, not sure what to do with a newborn” stage, even though Abbie was the first baby either of us had really been around.  We learned how to be parents together, and I didn’t ever feel like it was me figuring out how to do things and teaching him.  He honestly was and is a natural with Abbie.

I was determined to mostly breastfeed Abbie because that was what Mark and I both wanted for her, but we decided in the hospital to give her 1 bottle of formula a day so that Mark could have that bonding experience with her.  At first I felt guilty for giving her formula (since I couldn’t pump enough to give her a bottle of breast milk), but I am so glad that we did it the way we did.  He loved feeding her bottles and you could almost tangibly see the bond forming between them.  Granted, it wasn’t just because he was feeding her bottles, but I definitely don’t think that hurt at all.

I’m glad we’re on the downhill stretch of this TDY.  I’m ready to have Mark home, and I know Abbie is too.

Sunshine

 

You are my sunshine,

my only sunshine.

You make me happy,

when skies are gray.

You’ll never know, dear,

how much I love you.

Please don’t take,

my sunshine

away.

Tea for two.

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

 

I’m finally getting around to posting pictures of the kitchen we got for Abbie for Christmas (that didn’t arrive until January).  I just love it!  It seems sturdy and solid and I think it’s super cute.  She’s getting a little better at playing with it by herself, instead of wanting me in there ALL the time.  It’s fun watching her imagination grow and seeing her start to pretend.

Her first tea party, with hippo (who she usually calls “Moose”) and rabbit.

Sadie is never very far from the action.  I’m fairly certain Abbie will have Sadie sitting at the table before long, and Sadie, being the good dog that she is, will probably go along with it.

Time to rearrange the chairs and guests.

I’m not sure what it is about black and white photos, but I just love them.

(I was messing around with my camera setting, trying to figure out which I like best.  I REALLY want an external flash because the bright ones are just too bright in my opinion and the dark ones are too dark, but are blurry if I try to brighten them up without the flash.  One of these years I’ll learn to use my camera to it’s fullest capabilities.)

Trying to escape.  (I just love those pajamas on her!)

 

Now if only she could wash my dishes…  =)

Does anyone have any recommendations for good quality play food?

Ollie

 

My mom used to call Oliver our “illegitimate weina” because Mark bought him for me before we were married.  He truly is our first child and I had no doubt Mark was going to be a great dad by the way he was with our puppy (among other things).

Ollie got his teeth cleaned today.  Or maybe I should say “pulled” since they ended up pulling 17 (SEVENTEEN?!?!?) of his teeth.  I haven’t gone to get him from the vet yet because they wouldn’t let me pick him up before 3:30, so I’m not sure what to expect.  I think he’s going to have like 2 teeth left.  Poor guy.  I felt sick to my stomach when she told me they had to pull that many and asked if there were going to be any left.  I called Brittney to vent about it and she, being the jokester she is, said well I guess you don’t have to worry about getting his teeth cleaned anymore since he won’t have any left.  HAHA!  I’ll admit, I laughed at that.  His one and only tooth cleaning…  The dog isn’t even 6 years old yet, and he’s going to be a toothless weina.

I have decided that I’m just not a little dog person.  I grew up with Golden Retrievers, and I must prefer the bigger, more independent dogs.  Don’t get me wrong, my little weinas are like my kids, but I don’t think I’ll ever buy little dogs again.  They’re so …. needy.  And I don’t ever remember anyone brushing the Golden’s teeth when I was growing up, so I guess I never realized how important it is to brush your dogs teeth.   Guess I’d better start brushing Sadie’s more often so she doesn’t end up toothless also.

I’m off to pick Ollie up from the vet now.  Hope he doesn’t look too funny without any teeth and hopefully he recovers quickly from having so many pulled.

(All these pictures were taken Sept-Nov of 2005.  Ollie was 3-5 months old.)

UPDATE:  I guess one of the advantages to having crappy internet is that I can write an update even though I’ve tried to post this 3 times already.  Ollie is home and the poor guy is hurting quite a bit.  He’s just laying around crying and whining and acts so out of it.  They gave me pain killers and antibiotics for him so hopefully those will make him feel better soon and he’ll perk up.