It's been a while

Well, I haven't posted in quite a few months... A lot has happened...but I won't get into all of it. Suffice it to say that I am officially alone now, and I have never been happier. :)

Abby is growing by leaps and bounds and is so incredibly smart! Tomorrow my angel will be 3 years old! I cannot believe how fast time has flown by!!! It seems like just yesterday she was born...so incredibly tiny 6 weeks early. I was so scared for her and in awe of her and of God's incredible love to entrust such a sweet tiny innocent life to my care. Now, at 3, she is strong and healthy and has a robust personality, and she seems to be a force of nature that cannot always be reckoned with. She is friendly, greeting everyone at church that passes us, and in the stores. She is so excited to see our neighbors across the street, the Rhoades, that she runs to the front window hollering "my friends! my friends!". She also does that at church when we get to the hallway that her Sunday school class is in. She is the funniest, happiest, most cheerful, playful little girl...but totally rough and tumble like a boy...preferring frogs and cars over dolls. At the same time, she loves shoes and bows in her hair and anything sparkly. Animals are her favorite, as is Mickey Mouse & friends. She loves the color green, and sometimes will only wear green from head to toe (doesn't matter if everything matches, as long as it is all green) and will only drink green juice. She frequently pretends to be any number of different kinds of animals, which I think is pretty funny. She likes Chutes and Ladders and Mouse-ke-tag, as well as her swing, sand box, and trampoline. She can count to 14 and recognizes all of her letters and numbers when she sees them written down. She is trying to write, and can draw shapes. She problem solves and investigates with great interest. And she is so beautiful! Well, I have pictures to prove that...I will post those also. :-)
I have had to go back to work, and Abby is adjusting. She is NOT happy about me being gone, but she is happy to have Grandma as a playmate. When I return home, she runs to the front door yelling "Momma is home! Momma is home!" and throws her arms around me like I have been gone for years and years. I have come to really love the weekends when I can spend more time with her.
I have also been on a journey over the last 6 months of drawing even closer to God. I have been a Christian since June 14, 1980. I was raised in the church, and all of my family members are Christians. When you go through what I went through during my marriage and the filing of my divorce, you sometimes fall apart. And I did. However, I had the help of a really nice family therapist, and lots of love and support from my family, and a few friends. But it was my greatest desire to have God wrap His loving arms around me and make everything all better. And He did. I prayed a lot...sometimes it seemed to be a neverending conversation with my Heavenly father. I also got some super advice from my earthly grandfather, a minister for 65+ years and a wise old sage at the young age of 89. I am stronger and happier than I have been in many years. But most importantly, I feel closer to my Heavenly Father than I have ever been! Praise the Lord!

Abby and Poppa playing

Michelle's First Dive

This is my first open water dive. Grubby has always wanted me to dive with him, but I had a horriffic fear of the ocean and all the creatures in it. I have faced my fear, and now that I see what is really down there, it is not so scary... I did expect to see more fish than I did, but the scariest part of my dive was coming out of the water to see a very elderly man in a men's bikini, lol. We dove off the beach today near Marathi on the island of Crete, Greece. The water here is too salty for sharks. I saw lots of pottery, anchors, rocks, grass, and little critters...worms, snails, etc. Now I want to get certified so I can legally dive in the US. :o) This is the video compilation of still pictures and video that Grubby shot for me.

January & February 2009

Abby is constantly having "firsts".  It seems that every day brings at least one thing that is new.  I will try to catch up on the last couple of months and not leave anything out.  

Abby's Gramma and Poppa in Virginia came down and spent a week at Christmas with us.  We loved having them here.  (And Gypsy, too!)  I think they liked the warmer weather down here! And she said "Gramma" for the first time while they were here to Sandy.

New Years was quiet for us and pretty uneventful...we stayed at home.

January finally brought colder temperatures here.  That didn't stop Abby from staying naked 24/7 though.  I can dress her and 5 minutes later she is naked again.  Sometimes she will wear her diaper, sometimes she won't.  She rips her earrings out when I put them in so I stopped putting them in, but I still push earrings through to make sure the holes don't close up.

She now whistles, imitates people, and fake sneezes so that you will say "God Bless You" to her. She constantly cracks me up with her hilarious antics.  If she is not climbing in the kitty carrier or giving kisses to Mr Boots, she has the potty chair bucket on her head or the hamper, or anything else she thinks would make a great hat.  Her shoe fetish is in full swing, and she likes to wear shoes, although they rarely are on the correct foot or are a matching pair of shoes.  She doesn't seem to mind at all.  She also follows directions now when I give them to her...like help me clean up the toys or help Mommy find your sippy cup.  Her most favorite activities take place in the bathroom...she LOVES to take baths, and she LOVES to brush her teeth.  If I let her, she would brush them all day every day.

Her hair is finally coming in thicker, but she will not let me put a bow or a barrette or a pony tail thing in her hair.  She has 16 teeth now, with 2 more coming in.  Yesterday I measured her at 32 inches tall and 29 pounds.  She has had a huge growth spurt since the fall when Grubby was home.  (She was a size 5 shoe, 18-24 month pants, and 2T top....now she is a size 6 shoe, 3T pants and 5T shirt)  

She still loves Elmo, but her new favorite TV show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and likes to do "the Hot Dog Dance".  She also has a computer program that she loves to play, made for toddlers, and she has a fit over her Leap Pad books.  Books and balls are her favorite play toys.   She really loves dogs and cats and ducks.  Mr Boots will allow her to brush him...even though she brushes him the wrong direction, and he will play with her and let her roll all over him and wrestle him.  Buddy is not so interested in her, although he has let her pet him a few times. 

I can now finally put her to bed in her own room without her freaking out.  (We started in December when Gramma and Poppa came down.)  She will even sleep part of the night in her own bed, but she gets up in the middle of the night and climbs in bed with me.  But we are making progress.   

I tried finger painting with her, and she did great!  She loved the blue and green but wouldn't have anything to do with the yellow or red.  :o)  And she will color pictures now instead of just eating the crayons.  She still eats the crayons, but she does pause to color once in a while.  Silly child!  

My favorite new thing she does is that she will give kisses.  She will pucker up and make the "mmmm" sound and run to me from across the room.  She even told my mom "I love you", but she has not said it to me yet.  

We are very excited about the end of February...a trip to Norfolk where we will see Meridie, Mike, Maddie, Mackenzie, and Peggy...and then on to Crete, Greece for three whole months with Daddy!   YAY!!!  Grandma Havens is coming with us for the first 2 weeks and then will fly back home.  I am so excited for Abby to spend so much time with her Daddy.  She loves him dearly and misses him so very much!  It will be good for both of them to have that time together.  (Not to mention I miss him terribly, too!!!)  

And while we are there, Abby will get to see Uncle Craigy when he transfers in to Greece!  She hasn't seen him in almost a full year!  

So we are really excited to go on this trip....well, I am, and she would be too, if she fully understood!