Does it get any better than these?

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 has come and gone. It was a very eventful few days. We celebrated Abbie's first birthday on Sunday. Believe it or not, we braved the black Friday crowds and did a lot of shopping. Did a lot of eating/cooking, enjoyed fine wines and good company. Abbie also got her ears pierced. Enjoy the pictures! Happy Holidays.

Parenthood

And the joys of parenthood never cease to amaze...

Lindsay and I were able to take Abbie on her second trip to the Magic Kingdom yesterday. We went with the sole purpose of seeing the new Celebrate a Dream Come True parade. A good time was had by all. Abbie stayed awake for the whole thing and appeared to simply take it all in. I can only imagine what a parade looks like to a 15 week old.

It was a great day filled with meeting many of the folks Daddy works with, and seeing new sites. Enjoy the pictures, see you again soon!

Breakthroughs and Other News

Greetings all! Abbie is now 6 and a half weeks old! And what a baby she is turning out to be. We have had a few breakthroughs in the past few weeks. She has started smiling in direct response to what we are saying to her. For those parents out there: you know just how rewarding this can be. The 4:00am-feeding stress can melt away in an instant when she does that.

She has picked up the "coo"ing and has even laughed out loud a few times. Her newborn wailing has changed into more of a baby "cry." And she has become incredibly picky. She knows exactly what she wants and will wear Mommy and Daddy down until she gets it. Part of the gig I guess.

We as parents have decided to learn a bit of baby sign-language to better facilitate communication when the time is right. We'll keep you updated on our successes.

My job got extended and I get to hang out at the Magic Kingdom for a while longer. This time though I get to work during the day (as opposed to the after hours events).

Zoey is doing well. She has started checking on the baby when she starts crying. She simply walks into the baby's room and sits while staring up at the crib. It's quite amazing to watch.

Lindsay is doing well also. She has been keeping busy on maternity leave by scrap-booking. Most recently Lindsay has been trying to get Abbie on a schedule which is by far her most difficult hobby at the moment. A 6 week old who knows exactly what she wants isn't as receptive as one might think to a new schedule.

The trip to Mississippi was a success and the entire family loved having the new baby around. Christmas and New Years both were great memories. Hope the same can be said for your most recent Holidays. Enjoy the pictures, we'll chat again soon.

Christmas 2008

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.