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.

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

Hurry Up & Wait

Greetings everyone! I wish I had more exciting news to report on, but alas. Nonetheless, here are tonight's headlines. It feels as if we are kind of waiting around for something to happen in many aspects of life. Baby, work, house & finances are just kind of plugging away as we are waiting for later this year.

Lindsay had another visit to the doctor last week and all is well with the kid. They heard the heartbeat again and it is still strong. Apparently my offspring was a little more mobile this time around as every time they would locate the heartbeat it would move out of the way. We found out the magic day, July 8, when we get to find out whether our little creation is a boy or girl!

The trip to Snellville was a success, we made it there and back on only 3.5 tanks of gas. That has recently become our unit of measurement, every financial decision is tagged with "It's either this purchase, or 'X' amount of gas in the car." And to be quite honest, we really don't have it that bad. We live only 7 miles from work, I can only imagine what others are going through. Zoey handled the whole trip surprisingly well. The older she gets the more proud of that dog we become. She's a good girl who I think is looking forward to having someone else in the house as well.

We took a field trip today, using our day off to see the new parade at Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly the Disney/MGM Studios) entitled: Block Party Bash. It was a good time, Disney entertainment never ceases to amaze me.

This next week will be a quite pleasant one. Lindsay and I already have plans to scope out Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And, I should finally find out some information on my current job status. So there you are, completely caught up on the lives of Chris & Lindsay in Orlando. Hope all is well in your corner of the world. As you can see, things continue to be great in Florida. Take care everyone.