The Curtis Diaries : 2019

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Abigail’s 1st Birthday

We celebrated the weekend before May 1st. It was an insanely busy weekend with Claire’s dance rehearsals and recital, but it was the PERFECT weekend weather wise, and such a sweet time with family and close friends.

Her theme was “April showers bring May flowers”. The table, her high chair and the cupcakes were decorated with grass and flowers with raindrop streamers having behind the table in the window. We just did a few finger foods, drinks and cupcakes for her 4:00 party.

I ended up having to wake her up from her afternoon nap around 3:30. She got dressed and played with claire and Kent while waiting for friends to get to the house. Once everyone was here we sang “happy birthday”. She could not WAIT to get her hands on that cupcake. She was reaching so hard trying to get it, and once she did, she devoured it! We opened presents shortly after. She got such wonderful and thoughtful gifts! A xylophone, ball pit, outdoor kitchen, ice cream cart, placemat with plates and snacks, book, pool supplies, shoes and clothes, a water table, ball toy and a lunchbox. After she opened gifts, we all went outside to play and it was the best evening!

Her actual birthday wasn’t super exciting, but I hope she still felt loved and cherished. Claire sang happy birthday to her during breakfast and at supper. Mrs. Cristy came to watch the girls while I had bible study, and then we spent the day together just playing at the house. It was a cloudy and kind of drizzly day, so we stayed in. She roamed from room to room just jabbering and looking for things to get into. She let me know when she wanted to be held, and wrestled and cuddled with me in her room. She fell asleep while I was nursing her at bedtime and I just sat and rocked her for a while and reflected on this year and what a blessing she has been.

Abigail Jean, you are my sweet sunshine girl. Everything about you is pleasant and cheerful. You love to observe, but recently you’ve decided that you want to get in on the action. You love to be chased and wrestled, and when we do those things you kind of collapse to the floor and roll to your tummy waiting to be tickled (much like Brody does). You think it’s funny when we tell you “no no”. Probably because you haven’t heard it very much, but it’s definitely becoming more used in our every day vocabulary - you like to sneak around and touch or pull on things that you don’t need to (trash, toilet paper, open potties, cords and plug ins...) You LOVE Claire. Love her. And she loves you. You’re starting to play with each other and really enjoy it. I know as you grow you will have more and more fun with her. You love to be put down to crawl around and explore. Your first reaction when someone tries to take you from me is to burry into my neck and I love it, but your getting better about staying with other people. You still love that paci and and know how to look for it if I ask where it is. If you have your paci and blankie together, you instantly lay down. You will lay still and snuggle with me sometimes and it’s so precious. You randomly kiss me over and over and it’s my favorite. I’m so very proud of you. I’m proud that you’re brave and excited to explore and try new things. I’m proud of your sweet disposition and the twinkle in your eye when you see something you like. I’m proud of how strong and smart you are. I’m proud of how well you sleep and eat. I’m proud to be your mama, and I’m extremely grateful for this first year with you!

Abigail Month 12

still only says “mama” when she wants something.
Loves to pull books off the bookshelf
Her hair started laying down
She likes to get into downward dog position
Babbles, laughs, crawls, claps and dances all the time.
She LOVES her blankie. It might be her favorite thing, and her blankie.
Her favorite game is still handing things back and forth and saying “thank you”.
She’s getting so brave with walking.
Jabbering even more.
When we tell her “no no” she just smiles really big and keeps doing things.
She loves to lay her head down on things.
She’s started to snuggle really big with me when new people talk to her and sometimes just because.
She will crawl normally when she wants to go really fast.
She’s wanting to climb.
She finally had a good Sunday at church and small group drop off.
Trying to get pictures of her was a nightmare. I think she ate about a gallons worth of dirt 🙈
I love watching her get around different places.
She has her own sweet little way of communicating.
Still loving that paci and blankie. She will go to her room just to find them.
Started weaning her from the 3:00 feeding around 4/10. It’s been really hard compared to dropping the 11:00. It makes her evenings really long.
She’s started mimicking the /s/ sound.
She does this open handed, extended arm shrug in the direction of where she wants to go.
So good at walking with her walker
getting SO mischievous!
She purposefully doesn’t kiss Andrew.
When you remove her from a situation and she doesn’t like it, she flails her body.
We celebrated her birthday the weekend before we actually birthday with an “April showers bring May flowers” party.
Says “nana” when she wants a snack
Working on standing independently more often.
Walking more with things like a doll stroller or just holding on with one hand.

wears 9-12m clothes
Size 4 diaper
Size 2 shoe
Nurses in the morning and at bedtime, eats 3 full meals, snacks a few times and 1 cup of whole milk a day.
20.3lbs (50%) and 29.72in (75%)

Abigail Month 11

Top front left side tooth (??) came on 3/1.
Pulled herself all the way up to standing on the slide and in the tub, so we lowered her mattress on 3/4.
Her top font right tooth broke through on 3/4.
Raises her hands when she wants us to call the hogs.
She’s a BIG LAUGHER and DANCER
She has to be pulling/patting/playing with something while she eats. My shirt, face, hair, blanket, etc
She knows she can let go and just fall back to get down from standing up. She likes to do it in the bath tub.
She’s pulling herself up more frequently. In turn, She had a day full of some major falls, including her first bloody injury - I think her bottom tooth broke the skin around the newest top tooth when she fell.
She started grinding her teeth.
She loves to play in the laundry room or the sunroom and she can get herself to those places pretty quickly.
So so playful. She likes to climb on top of claire to play. She’s even faster at pulling herself up to play with different toys.
She doesn’t feel well again (5/19). She’s super fussy.
She stood up on her own from a bent over position several times and balanced for a few seconds.
Started rolling around and sitting up in her crib. Slept on her belly for the first time on 3/24
She bites horribly when she nursed.
Went to the zoo and rode a carousel for the first time. She loved both.
She can walk with a walking toy.
She pretty much eats everything and she eats really well. I would say her favorites are avocado and while apples. She attacks them.
Cries every time we drop her off st church nursery.
I think she could coast the entire perimeter of the house if she wanted to.
She loves to wrestle.
She can mimic us singing “whoa-oh-oh” from the greatest showman.
She celebrated her very first Easter.
She’s FEARLESS

Claire Winter 17-18

Claire: Winter ‘17-‘18

she learned to do a flip/roll on her own
She’s so good at using manners except when she accidentally hurts someone. She refuses to say sorry.
She’s picking up on so many funny phrases and expressions. My current favorite is the “soft smile” and her wink.
At bedtime she loves to ask “what’s your favorite part today?”
“Too-ie” - toy
She’s really loving dress up and movies right now.
“Gleed-up” = giddy up
I just love her lisp. Especially when she’s in the middle of playing and she says “what is this?!”
She’s going through another rough patch going to bed. Her most recent excuse was that she needed to go to the hospital to hear her heartbeat in her finger.
Claire is amazing directionally. She can tell us which way we should go to get places, and recognizes buildings that we’ve only been to a handful of times.
She’s into running and hiding when she’s doing things she shouldn’t (like sneaking and eating candy, watching the phone without asking, putting on makeup...) or when she gets in trouble.
We went swimming in a hotel pool with the McClain girls and Claire did an amazing job swimming under water.
Favorite phrase: “what is this?” “Why you say no to me? That’s not very nice!”
Bed time routine is so long, and usually I try and rush through it, but when I just enjoy it, it’s the MOST FUN time and the time when she’s most willing to learn new things!
She loves to sit on the potty and watch her iPad. She will tell us “I need 5 more poopoos then I get up.”
Every night we have to line up all of her princess barbies on her princess pillow.
She decided to dry herself off and brush her own teeth and hair after bath one night.
Favorite foods are still Mexican foods: taco soup, quesadilla, and blee-toes (burritos).
When she gets sad and cries she’s started saying “that really hurt my heart”.
When playing with Abigail, she’s said “here you go sweetheart” “that’s right darling”.
Learned to wink
Anytime I made her turn something off or skip something, she says “hey, that was my favorite”
“Oh, we almost-agot...” /almost forgot/, “this is imposstible!”
When she wants to do something we’ve done before she says “like we did last week” and if she wants to do something new she will say “can we do that sometimes?”
Got pretty sick mid-February. A virus in the chest (basically bronchiolitis). Ran a low fever for several days, was acting almost delirious, horrible cough. Used the inhaler and got amoxicillin to prevent an infection.
The ATTITUDE!!!!
Her big thing is assigning family members different characters of her favorite movies.
“Hey what’d I just say?!” “You never can be (or) you never can do this again” “that’s all my fault”, “remember when we do that last week” - even if it was just earlier than morning...
Recognizes letters A, C, M, D, K and J and numbers 1-5.

Abigail Month 10

18.4 lbs (50%)
28.15 in (50%)
Meeting her sweet milestones
Nursing 7, 3, and 7:00. 3 table meals and snacks.
Naps at 9 and 1, sleeps 7:30-6:30/7.
6 teeth
6-12/9m clothes
Size 4 diaper

coasted while standing by the ottoman on 2/5
40 weeks and 2 days old on 2/6 (how long I carried her in the womb)
She’s finally mastered finding her paci and putting it in her mouth.
Gives lots of kisses
Loves loves loves when I read books or sing songs, and loves to watch Claire perform.
She is so PLEASANT! It’s the perfect word for her.
She loves to splash in water.
Basically crawled on Valentine’s Day. She starts in the sitting position, has one leg in the crawl position and the other leg up with her foot on the ground. She did multiple “scoots” to get to a bag of candy.
Got Claire’s virus. Bad cough and runny nose. And an ear infection.
Felt a top left tooth through the skin on 2/15. The front right side tooth broke skin on 2/16.
She dances
Got herself from her belly to the sit up position on 2/22.
Has started letting go of things to stand on her own (2/26).
Is starting to crawl to come and find us, definitely gets herself to whatever toy she wants.
She can’t keep herself from dancing when she hears a song.
Says “hi” and I think she says “bye bye” by saying “dada” and waving. Still only says “Mama” when she’s whining and has started saying “nana” and talking in a squeaky voice

Christmas 2017

We went to the lighting on the square! It was a warm evening but a lot of fun!
We went to get their picture made with Santa and they did so well! Abigail liked looking at him. Claire went straight to his lap, said “I’m claire. That’s Abigail. I want a purple bike.” We got a great picture!
Claire is OBSESSED with our nesting dolls from Prague. She calls them “messing dolls”.
“Campus” = Christmas
We bought a new Christmas tree and put lights on the house for the very first time!
We have a shepherd named Will and an Elf named Pete. Most mornings, she wakes up and asks “where my guys at?”
We are doing a simple daily advent and claire likes finding out about our daily activity.
She still loves the Little People nativity and Abigail likes playing with them too.
We watched Claire’s Christmas program at KDO and she was so good! The cutest performance ever!
We had an early Christmas with Lolly and Papa. They made a yummy breakfast and then we opened gifts. Claire got a mickey and Minnie Little People House, a stuffed unicorn, some Mickey look and find books, and princess sheets for her bed (so so cute)! Abigail got a little people Cinderella carriage, new sleep sack, a rolling toy, a crinkle toy and a new soft blanket.
Claire went to spend time with Meme and Poppi. They drove around to see lights and went and watched The Star. Abigail and I wrapped presents.
We are doing the Usborne sticker book of the nativity. One page a day for the week before Christmas.
Part of the girls Christmas from Meme and poppi was tickets to go to ththe winter wonderland ball. It was the best night of Claire’s life. She had zero reservations about meeting the princess or dancing in s big group of strangers.
Claire loves the Polar Express. We watch it a lot and act it out. She’s enjoyed the Grinch, Frosty, the Santa Clause and Olaf’s Frozen Adventure. We’ve also watched the Mickey Christmas stories again this year.
Mary = Married, and we lost Joseph. It’s really troubling Claire. 2 days before Christmas she asked for a soft Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.
We enjoyed doing a daily advent activity.
We made reindeer food with stuff we had in the house: oatmeal, blue sprinkles, marshmallows, crushed candy cane and shredded carrots.
We made cookies for Santa and she’s so excited for him to come down the chimney and open presents. I’m very proud to say that she does also understand that it’s Jesus’ birthday most importantly.
Poor Abigail has had a sad cold for the whole week leading up to Christmas, and Andrew got one the weekend of Christmas.
We went to see the Stewart Family lights and Claire really loved them again this year. I think Abigail really loved them too.
We went to Christmas Eve church service.
She loves wishing others a merry Christmas.
Christmas Day: Abigail was up, per usual, all hours of the night and then ready to start her day pretty early. Claire got up at 8, and Andrew went to get her and bring her in like he’s done the last 3 years. Even though she was SO excited about her presents, she was terrified to open them. She perked up when she saw their stockings on the ground, and then got excited to see Will and Pete with their presents. Will was sitting by baby Jesus and they were ready to do the last nativity page of her usborne sticker book. She LOVED baby Jesus. Kept up with him all day! She still wasn’t ready to open her presents, so she helped daddy and hen Abigail. And THEN she was ready. She was so sweet and expressive, and wasn’t ready for it to be over. Abigail just hung out with her toys and the paper, watching her sister. Claire’s gift were a pink bike, a helmet, an Ariel princess, a watch, and a big girl swing. Her stocking had lip gloss, a light up tooth brush, bubble tape and fruit snacks (she openly said several times that the gum was her favorite). Abigail got a zoom and crawl monster, a remote, new pacifiers, some stacking cups, and a Christmas book. Her stocking had a reusable placemat, a new bow, and some puffs. We had a yummy French toast breakfast while Abigail took a great nap. Claire loved playing with every new thing. We watched Elf. Claire did her sticker book and our advent activity was to sing happy birthday to baby Jesus. The rest of the day was pretty normal, we just got to have daddy home with us. We had a delicious super of chicken Alfredo pasta, salad and rolls. Unfortunately, I let my exhaustion get the best of me and didn’t enjoy this Christmas like I should have. Thankful for God’s grace and baby girls that love their mama even when she’s grumpy.
We had Christmas in Russellville. The girls loved their cousins and Aunts and Uncles. I got to sleep in every morning which is better than any gift! Claire wanted so badly to sleep with Lauren and Annie, but she was brought to our room at 2am. She did sleep really well in the bed with us for the first time ever! Abigail did decent until the last night. We got to go to an indoor pool and splash pad twice and both girls loved it! Andrew and I got to go see the Greatest Showman and it might be my new favorite movie! We were all spoiled with great gifts!

Claire was pretty sad to be finished with Christmas. We still play “Santa” and she wishes us a merry Christmas at bedtime and it’s 1/4. We took everything down on New Year’s Day. I’m excited to see what happens in 2018!

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Abigail month 9

She said her official first word “dada”both on command and looking at Andrew.
She claps when we say “yay” or “clap clap”.
She makes a scrunched face while inhaling through her nose quickly.
Her hair is getting really long and thick!
She’s really starting to want to get places. She gets frustrated when she’s sitting and can’t move.
I started some hard core strict Moms on Call daily schedule and sleep training. There are set feeding and napping times, and at bed time I fed her and didn’t go back in her room until the morning. There were some rough days/nights, but I’m praying for peace of mind and good sleep in our future! Claire’s noise machine is turned all the way up, our fan is on and her monitor is on volume 1, so i can basically only hear her if she gets really loud. I spoke with a consultant about how to do this and she gave great advice and said to give it at least 14 days. Night one: went down well at 7:30, woke at 8:00 and did a big burp for Andrew. I think she slept until 3:30. Cried until 5. 😢 Up for a super short time at 6 and then slept until 7:50! Night two: down at 7:30. She might have cried out once at 2. Up at 6:45, got her at 7! Naps were more difficult: 30 min in the morning, 30in the afternoon, cried for 30 min in the middle and then back to sleep for over an hour. Night three: down at 7:30, up at 4:30 and cried for a while. Up at 7:30. Naps were hard again. Today she cried a lot at both naps before falling asleep. Night four: down at 8. Up at 6:30, stayed in bed until 7. Night five: down at 7:30. Up at 6:15, stayed in bed until 7. Probably her worst day for naps - but I think either her tummy or teeth were bothering her. Night six: down at 7:45. Up at 6, but stayed in bed until 7. 2 decent naps. Night seven: down at 7:45. Up a few times between 4-8 (accidentally slept late). Great naps! Night eight: down at 7:30, up at 7. Great naps. Night nine: down at 7:15 after a bottle from daddy. Up for a little while in the 5:00 hour and then up at 7. Night ten: down at 7:30, up at 6, got her at 7. A 2 hour morning nap, but afternoon was not so good. Night eleven: down at 7:20, up for a little while at 9:30??? (Lolly and Papa had been here all day). Up at 6, cried until 7. Had another great morning nap, but short afternoon nap which made for a LONG evening. Night twelve: down at 7:00. Up at 6:30. 3 short naps (we had company). Night thirteen: down at 7:30, up at 6. Horrible naps. Her naps messed with our evening plus we were out with friends, so she ended up napping again at 6pm. We modified her eating schedule for the evening. Night fourteen: down at 8:30, up at 6:50.
I’m pretty sure she’s trying to say “hi” and and “uh-oh”.
She and Claire both love it when I take Abigail in to wake Claire up.
Claire has started carrying her places.
She loves to splash in running water or baths.
Favorite foods: oatmeal cereal, butternut squash, broccoli and green beans, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, turkey and cheese. She loves to drink water.
She likes to throw things and look for them.
She’s becoming bashful, and tries to hide her face.
She just has the greatest smile and laugh.
Bottom left front tooth broke the skin on 1/13.
She got to splash in another swimming pool.
She said “uh oh” for real on 1/16. When she says it she looks to see if she’s dropped anything.
Rotates around while she’s sitting up, and can lean and stretch so far to grab something.
Extremely flexible
She’s started this new twirly wave thing with her right hand.
She loves to clap toys together, and now claps for attention.
She gets so happy when she’s standing up and playing with her table or by the tub, but she won’t pull herself up to a standing position.
Learned how to pick her nose.
She does this fake whine and nose scrunch when she wants something. If she’s sitting up she flutters her feet and flaps her hands.
LOVES playing peek-a-boo. She’ll throw her arms up and try to cover her face and wait for someone to play with her.
Ended the month with another runny nose/cold.
She started gripping on with her legs when I hold her on my hip.
She’s acting interested in learning to crawl (more from a sitting position that from her belly).

wearing 6-12 month clothes (sometimes the sleeves are a little long)
Size 4 diapers
Nurses at 7, 11, 3, and 7.
3 table meals a day of finger foods, baby food or both.
Naps at 9 and 1 for 1-2 hours, and is doing really well at night usually sleeping from 7:30-6:30ish
2 bottom teeth!
18.6 lbs according to my scale

Abigail month 8

Abigail Month 8

We left the girls with Lolly and Papa while we went to a party. She took a bottle well (5oz) but was up and wanting to nurse several times.
I think she might be starving during the last stretch of the day, so I’m trying several things to see if they help.
She loves a bottle.
Stayed with Poppi and Daddy one afternoon and evening while Meme and I took Claire to a show.
I tried formula before bed to see if it fills her up a little more. I made 6oz, but she only drank 3 and then nursed some.
She LOVED having all the attention while Claire was in Russellville.
She’s had several good nights, only waking once, and then up for the day around 6. And then a few rough ones.
A tooth (barely) broke the skin on 12/13! Her bottom front right tooth.
She claps toys together.
She likes to lift her hands over her hand.
She does a laugh/cry when I pick her up and gives me a big hug. (Andrew too)
She makes a sucking sound with her tongue.
She responds to her name.
She’s doing really well with eating table food! She did eat some bread with peanut butter, and that evening broke out in some bad eczema patches on her face and arm. They are still there 3 days later, though, so I’m not sure if it was peanut butter or just a fluke break out.
This week she’s picked up so much personality. She’s talking so much and flirting. She loves to be a part of the playing and wrestling.
She’s (more consistently) rolling from her back to her belly 🙌🏻
She’s had a pretty yucky cold. Currently on day 7. A lot of snot and a congested cough.
She celebrated her very first Christmas. She even survived Christmas with her cousins in Russellville with a cold!
She’s waving hi and clapping.
She rolled across the room on 12/30.
Like clockwork, she still wakes up at 11, 2, 4 and 6:30

This has been the month of PERSONALITY! She’s pretty much out of the little baby crying period. Our evenings with her are so much fun! She loves watching and playing with us.

Abigail month 7

I’ve avoided talking about how TERRIBLE her nights are, but they’re just so bad. Same routine her whole life, and she still loses it at night. If I️ let her cry-it-out, she just cries and cries. If I go in there to soothe, she swats away the paci (very aggressively). If I️ pick her up, she will calm down while I️ hold her, and then start back when I️ lay her down. A good night for her is down by 7:45, up a few times before midnight but easily put back to sleep, nurse in 12:00 hour, up and nurse in 4:00 hour, up at 6:45 to come in our bed and then up around 7:30-8:00...a good night. Currently in a not good phase. Praying that she feels loved, safe, comfortable and satisfied so that we can have even longer stretches!
She sucked from a straw!
She’s really starting to jabber with the “baba” sound and I swear she says “Mama” when she cries 😉
We’ve purchased a memory foam mattress topper and a super thick sleep sack hoping it starts helping her sleep.
I think she’s ready to transition to just the 2 naps per day, but it makes our afternoons and evenings very long because her naps are still relatively short.
I introduced puffs and the mums bars and I think she’s obsessed.
She’s rolling from belly to back more consistently!
She rode in a shopping cart for the first time.
11/20 she stayed in her crib until 7:15!!! She woke up a few times before 11 needing to be soothed, and maybe another time during the night, I woke up at 4:30 and the monitor was on Claire’s room🤷🏻‍♀️. She stirred at 5, but went back to sleep until 7:15!!!
She’s eaten many solids: green beans, carrots, and bread products. Not a ton, just a little to keep her occupied during our meal time. She does really well and is super interested.
She slept from 7:30-6:45 on 11/21!!!!!
She loves watching balls being thrown
Celebrated her sister’s 3rd birthday and her first Thanksgiving in Wickes. She was pretty fussy and slept horribly. This child.
We call her “nosy”. She has this way of setting her mouth, raising her eyebrows, and extending her neck to see things.
I took her to the doctor to make sure she was healthy before Andrew’s insurance policy ended. She was great, doctor suggested going back to the probiotic drops to see if they help her in the evenings and nights. She was 17lbs.

The Curtis Diaries

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