A month ago...

Hello there! Can you believe it's almost been a month?!?! To be technical: 4 weeks tomorrow and a "full month" on December 19. Abbie has put herself into a nice routine, and seems to know the difference between day and night time sleep.

She continues to grow on a daily basis. She has outgrown her newborn diapers and will soon outgrow a large majority of her newborn clothes. She now has very distinct cries which makes their meaning very obvious. She has started taking from a bottle a few times a day which has allowed Daddy to help out with feeding. Her extremities become more active every day and she has even begun to "coo." Smiles are still few and far between, but they happen nonetheless. It's the little things which keep us motivated.

Lindsay is doing remarkably well. She still has 2 months off from work. 3 months sounds like a long time when you're working every day. Lindsay is starting to wish 3 months was a little longer though. Christmas parties at the Magic Kingdom wrap up this week which means my current temporary assignment will be wrapping up as well. Although I will continue to be employed in some form or fashion it remains to be seen where it will be. More news on this as it develops.

We did get extremely lucky this year and score both Thanksgiving week and Christmas week off from work. So next week we will be packing up the Element and heading to Mississippi to visit with family.

I hope everyone's Holidays are going well and not proving too stressful. Enjoy the pictures. Merry Christmas!

For the Folks at Home...

Greetings everyone. This update is simply a random collection of pictures and video to keep everyone updated on Abbie's progress. The major news this week came from the Doctor who told us she has grown an inch and a half in 3 weeks. This puts her in the 90th percentile for height as based on her age. Nothing much more to say other than she comes by it honestly. Enjoy the pictures, take care.

3 Weeks

2 Weeks and Some Change

Greetings all! Life is good at the McKinney household, albeit with some extremely long nights, life is good. Abbie is getting bigger by the day, and as they say, there's something new each and every day. Smiles are a bit more frequent now, she is holding her head up for about 20 seconds at a time, and she laughed in her sleep yesterday (there was a surprise in the diaper left shortly thereafter).

She is spending quite a bit more time awake and is starting to squirm more and more. Her lungs are definitely bigger now than the day she was born. And, as expected, as she is gaining weight her relative "baby plumpness" is not the culprit. She is definitely gaining length/height. We have a doctors visit next week to track some of the growth.

She absolutely HATES bath time. Hence how we know that the lungs are getting bigger. And she loves being in the middle of everything. We are not quite a fan of being by ourselves just yet.

The dog has been great throughout. Probably because as we leave Abbie's super soft blankets laying around the house, Zoey gets to take little naps in them. Mommy is recovering very nicely, and in true Lindsay fashion she is just itching to get out of the house. Daddy is back to working late nights, but it all works out very well. There's a feeding taking place about the time I get home.

Thank you goes to everyone who has complimented Abbie on what a cute baby she is. I hope everyone had a pleasant Thanksgiving and your preparations for Christmas are going smoothly. Feel free to drop us a line, enjoy the pictures. Take care.

New Pictures

Good food, good fun and good family. All of these describe our most recent Thanksgiving. Everyone traveled to Florida to see the new baby and catch up on recent happenings. Instead of create a new album, I simply added photos to the existing one. The link is re posted below, and the new photos can be found at the bottom of the photo album page. I hope these pictures bring as big a smile to your face as they do ours. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Baby Pictures

4 Days Old

Thank you so much to everyone for the well wishes! Mommy, Daddy and Baby are doing great. Abbie is getting into a great routine and we have even had a stretch of 4 hours of sleep...in a row! More family gets into town today for a great Thanksgiving week. I have added some pictures to a new album full of pictures of us since we brought our little peanut home. Enjoy!

Baby Pictures

Ladies and Gentleman, Abigail Hannah...

She's here! Abigail was born the morning of November 19 at 6:10am. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Mommy, Daddy and baby are now all safely at home a recovering nicely. Follow the link below to enjoy all our pictures so far. We can't tell you how excited we are to be new parents. Thank you to everyone for all of your support and well-wishes!

Abigail Hannah

When are you due? Today...

No news yet. It would appear as if we will have to wait until Tuesday morning to meet Abbie. If nothing happens today or tomorrow then the inducing will happen, as planned, tomorrow evening. Family starts getting into town today, but we will be sure to update with pictures as soon as we possibly can. For now, enjoy (what is quite possibly) the last pregnant picture.

9 Days

Only 9 more days until our scheduled inducing date! It literally could be any day now! Lindsay starts her last week of work before maternity leave on Monday.

As fast as Halloween came it has now passed, and Christmas has descended upon the Walt Disney World Resort. We have our first Mickey's Very-Merry Christmas party starting this upcoming week. And, after a long week of overnight rehearsals everyone is very ready for it to begin.

Enjoy the picture. Plenty more to come I'm sure!

Just for Fun

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Just as I thought!

We had our last big ultrasound last week and my hunch was correct. As they were taking measurements of Abbie inside the womb, the magic machine that knows all about babies looked at those measurements and told the doctors that it looked like Abbie was full-term, a month early! After a little investigating on the nurses part they found out the measurement of her femur was throwing the predicted date off. Meaning, that Abbie already has super long legs. Lindsay seemed surprised by that. I, however, was only surprised that we didn't hear it until this late in the game. As predicted: tall.

We've had our first cold snap in Florida, and by cold I mean upper 50's low 60's at night. Rumor has it that this week will even get down into the 40's. As some of you scoff at our temperatures, this is big news to Floridians.

Halloween is wrapping up at Disney World and in just a few short days it will be Christmas all over! This weather came at exactly the right time, it has definitely put me in the holiday spirit! Once again, things are great with us, looking forward to the holidays and very much looking forward to meeting our daughter! Could be any day now. Take care everyone!

GO VOTE!!!

Where to Begin...

Hang on tight, this will be a long one. Lots of stuff to update on. First off, my apologies for it being so long between posts. Allow me to explain:

First off, in true PC fashion our old Windows based computer completely gave up. This time it was a fatal piece of hardware (the hard drive) which we decided not to replace. We've practically rebuilt the thing replacing all the failing hardware. The actual mechanism that is the hard drive decided to stop working. We lost most everything, thankfully I backed up everything crucial about 4 months ago. So, long story short, we are now officially a part of the Apple family and proud owners of our very first iMac. We decided a long time ago to swap once we were done with the older computer. It's just that time came a lot sooner than anticipated. While I wasn't really prepared to buy a new computer at the time I have to say I was secretly EXTREMELY excited to go buy it. I must say, I'm sold on the Apple brand. It's difficult to describe other than Mac's just work. That's all, they simply work, no mess no fuss, just a really easy to use system.

Moral of the story to all my fellow computer users: Back up your stuff! I considered myself to be somewhat computer savvy, keeping my machine clean and tidy. No viruses, no clutter and running smoothly. But all that matters not if your hardware stops working. Backup your important stuff!

Our very first car, our Honda Element, is completely paid for. Ironic though that the day I made the very last payment the car's battery went dead. Poetry in motion if you ask me. As always, in the grand scheme of things a battery is mild compared to what could happen with cars.

Baby plans are still plugging away. The baby room is completely set up now. Crib and all, so everything is set for Abbie to get here. Which, by the way, if Abbie can wait that long, the Dr. has set a date of Nov. 17 to induce Lindsay. That's only 34 short days away! I have been able to get the time off of work and will be able to spend almost two straight weeks with Lindsay and the baby. And while it will be stressful and tiring, I'm very much looking forward to getting to know my daughter.

Work is good, home life is good and gas is inching close to $3.00/gallon (how brainwashed are we to be praising $3.00/gallon?!?!). While the global economy isn't quite in the best place, overall life is good at the McKinney household. Once again, apologies for not updating sooner, now that I finally have all of our old pictures on the new computer, I will try to keep the updates, at least in the form of pictures, coming more frequently. Take care everyone.

Halloween and other headlines

Here we are, September 7 and the autumn/Halloween season has begun at Disney. The Magic Kingdom had its first "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party" last Friday. My job this fall puts me very close to all the parties. Opening night of the season went incredibly well and hopefully is a sign of what's to come in the latter part of '08.

Lindsay is coming along nicely, her belly button has almost completely disappeared. Soon, it will pop up just like the little thingy on the thanksgiving day turkey, signaling that Abbie is done baking and ready to be introduced to the world! Only 10.5 weeks to go.

We moved last weekend, OY! I'm glad it's over, we only moved down the street. Not really far enough to warrant the need for a U-Haul. However, you could have convinced me that we needed one very easily while wheeling our 500 lb armoire through the parking lot at 11:30 pm. But it's all over and everything is set and we love the extra space. So there.

Lindsay had her baby shower yesterday which was a rousing success. Lindsay commented numerous times on how nice it was to have all those old friends all in one place. A friend of ours, Becky, went all out in planning the event. Many thanks go to her and her husband, Evan, for not only helping us move, but in also planning such an amazing shower.

Zoey is good. She's staying busy exploring all the new nooks and crannies of our place. The first week was a little stressful for her as she couldn't quite figure out why we weren't in our regular house, but it seems as if this is now home for the little doggy.

The storms have not affected us nearly as much as the news stations would have you believe. There has been a lot of rain, but fortunately our part of town hasn't been too badly hit. I hope everything is going well in your part of the world. Take care everyone.

She's a Dancing Machine

Greetings everyone! It's been quite some time since our last post. Lindsay and I have been spending the majority of our weekends packing whatever we can to make the move easier at the end of the month.

All is well in baby world. Abbie gets bigger and bigger every day, and according to Lindsay gets stronger every day as well. We have started playing music to the tummy and have learned Abbie's favorite composers already. She is a huge fan of Chopin and piano music in general. Beethoven, even the gentle Beethoven is not her cup of tea. She is also a fan of Norah Jones, but not Michael Buble. But regardless of what we play to the stomach, she immediately begins moving, and, according to Lindsay, starts grabbing at the headphones (meaning the thumps from inside happen right where the headphones are sitting on her stomach).

I took Zoey to the tennis courts yesterday and we played like a doggy should for about 10 minutes. On the way home though she started limping. Apparently she slid the wrong way on the concrete and hurt her paw. So we're nursing ourselves back to health today, nothing serious, but she's treating it lightly.

Both Lindsay and I have a very busy week ahead with work and packing for a move. I hope everything is running smoothly in your corner of town. Feel free to drop us a line any time. Take care

The Mischievous Abbie

Greetings friends! As time wears on Abbie (and Lindsay) get bigger and closer to the due date. We're over halfway there and Lindsay is definitely starting to feel the effects. Lindsay had a great couple of doctor visits and the result is that it is now 100% a girl, she's healthy and looks great and all is right on track. In other news, Lindsay has been feeling Abbie kick constantly for a few weeks now, but I finally got the chance to feel it too. It's all starting to get very exciting.

In housing news, we finally decided to stay in the rental market and have to decided to upgrade in the apartment complex we are currently in. The location is too convenient and it's too good on gas to consider moving farther away. We have also pushed up the moving date to late August which will give us about 3 months to settle in before Abbie is scheduled to arrive. Lindsay will be a much bigger help at that point rather than later.

Lindsay's mom visited last weekend which gave us house guests for two weekends in a row. Zoey loved it, she gets so excited she almost doesn't know what to do with herself. We saw "Wall-E" last week which is a great movie. If you haven't already, go see it, it will warm your heart. Once again, enjoy all the pictures, and I hope all is well in your part of town. Take care.

This is the picture that inspired the blog title. It looks as if she just got into some mischief and she has the "who me" look on her face.



Classic baby picture

Pictorial Update

Melissa convinced us (with little effort) to stay up way past our bedtime last night to enjoy more time in the (surprisingly not crowded at all) Magic Kingdom. We took oodles of pictures, which are posted below. Enjoy!

The token shot of my companions

The Sister and I

Good Times aboard Aladdin's Magic Flying Carpets

Waiting for the night-time parade: SpectroMagic

More & more pregnant each and every day

We never get to ride the carousel!

My horse stopped approximately 30 feet in the air...I'm on my "high horse," GET IT?

We each gave the sword in the stone the old college try

Melissa didn't try very hard

I, on the other hand, put my back into it

Overall, it was a great evening. It brought back great memories of closing up the Magic Kingdom when we were kids. Little ice-cream treats here and there, and a dinner at Pecos Bills, we forget how lucky we are sometimes. All it takes is a three day weekend and a little time to reconnect with why we all love to come to Florida. Enjoy the pictures, have a great rest of the weekend.

She likes a Triscuit

Happy Independence Day everyone! Lindsay continues to grow and grow. AND! Our growing baby has finally started to exercise her muscles. Lindsay felt Abbie kick for the first time a couple of days ago. In fact, Lindsay just ate a Triscuit and felt her kick, hence the blog title. I have yet to feel her kick, but I trust Lindsay that she's actually moving around now. Lindsay goes 5 months on Monday. Making us halfway there...I knew it would go by fast, but seriously?

Melissa (my sister) is back from Europe and visiting us in beautiful Orlando, FL. And since we live so close to one of the biggest Independence Day fireworks shows ever, it would be silly not to attend such an event. Zoey has thoroughly enjoyed having a friend at home all day this week.

Life seems fairly mellow at the moment. Which, people keep telling me I should enjoy it while I can. Work and home are in great balance and Lindsay and I both are just thrilled with the way things are going. I hope everything is well in your corner of the world. Have a safe Independence Day.

P.S. - For those of you who need proof that Chewbacca actually won "Dance off with the Star Wars Stars", please refer to the documented footage below. Have a great week :o)

Lazy Sundays

It's been a pretty eventful week, followed by a classic lazy Sunday. We are the epitome of sitting around and doing nothing today. But here are the updates (with gobs of pictures):

Lindsay is feeling great, continuing to be in the "glowing" pregnant phase. She admires her ever growing belly every hour, on the hour. It's fun to watch. She also thinks she has felt little Abigail move for the first time this past week.

My parents visited during the latter part of this week. We all had a great time and snapped lots of pictures during their visit to Disney's Hollywood Studios. In a huge surprise, they accompanied Lindsay to Babies 'R Us yesterday in which they were kind enough to buy us our baby stroller/travel system. I came home from work yesterday to find the ginormous box sitting in the living room. So we spent the morning playing with it, and Lindsay showing me all the features that sold her on it. Zoey had an amazing doggy morning playing with all the packaging. Needless to say words cannot express how appreciative I was when I came home and found it.

My time with Star Wars Weekends came to close yesterday in dramatic fashion. If you can believe it, the final decision of "Dance Off with the Star Wars Stars" came down to a recount between couple #1 (Chewbacca and his Jawa) and group #3 (Darth Vader and his legion of Storm Troopers, the usual winner). And with one last chant by the audience, it was final. Chewbacca pulled out his first victory of the season! What a moment, thrilling to say the least. And as if that wasn't enough, a local news station interviewed the winner in a TV spot to air later. And...scene.

Tomorrow I start the new gig as a "leader in training." It sounds like it will be a whirlwind of new experiences, new friends and new lessons learned. I am very much looking forward to it all, updates are sure to follow.

Today (June 22) is our wedding anniversary celebrating 5 years of wedded bliss. We will be celebrating this evening with a feild trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and dining at their signature restaurant, Jiko: the cooking place. Which continues to be our favorite on-Disney-property restaurant. Once again, I hope everyone had a great week! Enjoy all the pictures from this week. Thanks for reading.