getting so big......

April ...wow!

It is April and the sun is shining! Yippee!

We have really been enjoying the weather. Thank goodness it has been nice the last week so we can get out and play. Little Abigail has loved wearing her sun hat! And of course she looks adorable in it. :)

What an exciting few weeks we have had. Abigail's dedication at church was amazing! We were surrounded by wonderful family and friends. Of course Mommy and Daddy, Grandma, Mimi & Granddaddy, Great Grandma, Nanny & Da, Uncle and 2 cousins, close family friends and Abigail's wonderful transitional care family! We met at church and took up an entire row. It means so much to us that everyone was there to watch Abigail's special moment. It was obvious that God placed us all together there at that very moment. And...she did great in church. She was dancing to the music and wide-eyed during the dedication. What a cutie! (I will get a picture posted as soon as possible.)
Sunday after church we took all of our family and friends out to lunch to continue the celebration. Then Abigail and I followed the family back to Boerne to visit a couple more days. It was a great visit! I cherish the times with family and know that Abigail is a true blessing to all of us. She lights up the room with her smile and laughter and it is in those moments that I know God placed her in our life at exactly the right moment for all of us.

A couple days ago....the weather was perfect for our first family walk dogs and all. Jerry and I loaded sweet girl in her jogging stroller and off we went. It was a sight! 3 different cars stopped to comment on us walking with 3 dogs and a baby. That sounds like a movie title...haha. It was pretty funny...but it was also a reminder of how blessed we are.

Abigail's Birthday Party Invite: Last weekend....we went to our best friends' 2 year old birthday parade. That's right...parade. It was really cool. Everyone was instructed to BYOB (Bring your own bike....or stroller in our case). We decorated the stroller with streamers and a pennant with Abigail's name on it. Then the neighborhood firetruck lead the parade. There were over 20 kids and parents in this parade. It was a blast! Then as we rounded the corner to head back the CLOWN showed up. So here we were....Firetruck...decorated bikes/strollers...and a Clown. It ws a great time.

This is just another example of how our life has changed. There will be many more kid's birthday parties in our future and we can't wait to spend them with our little girl.

Yesterday, Abigail went to her first Lady Aggies Softball game. It was a sunny afternoon and she looked great in her maroon overalls and sun hat. So far she been to 2 lady aggie basketball games and on softball game. Future Lady Aggie???.....you betcha!

Special note: We are suppose to hear from Abigail's birthmom this month. Please pray that she will be able to set up a visit with us. Stay tuned for more details on that later.

Take care and God bless,
Jenny
(will send pictures soon....)

Spring Time?

So it is supposed to be spring time but it is raining now with a cold front that is supposed to drop the temps to near freezing tonight. Enough already! Texas is supposed to be warm and nice in March and not cold. Anyways, we haven't been able to get Abigail out for walks much because the weather just hasn't cooperated on days when we have time.

Abby does go to the gym with mommy almost every weekday. I'm told the girls in the nursery just love sitting with her because she is just so cute and fun. She has also been to the Zoo, which was probably more for mommy than Abigail. We were going to try to get out in the boat yesterday because the temps were in the high 70's but the wind was just too high - case in point, there is a report of a drowning and water rescue on the lake yesterday because a boat overturned.

Well, my mom is here and Jenny's parents are coming in today for Abigail's dedication at church tomorrow. By the sound of things it will be quite the celebration for little Abigail. Several friends and family will be attending, it just continues to show how amazing God is and how in awe we are of the support we have. Little Abigail is going to have more people watching out for her than she can imagine. What a blessing she is and all of you are.

This might be too much information and she will probably hate me when she is a teenager for putting this in writing, but to put it delicately she had her first solid diaper today. She makes the funniest faces and grunts when she is doing her business. Jenny feels bad because she knows it must hurt but I feel bad because my laughter usually disrupts her concentration. I just can't help it, she is just so cute.

I can tell already that she is going to be the "life of the party". Her personality is just so amazing and I can't wait to see it come out more and more.

A few other milestones from the week:
- She moved up to size 2 diapers
- She filled out her first NCAA tournament bracket (well, we did it for her) and got 20 of 32 games right in the first round

Well, I gotta go. Have to get to the store for groceries before it gets too crowded.

May God bless you all,
Jerry

getting so big!

Wow! Since last week.....Abigail has

1. started eating cereal

2. been sucking her thumb pretty consistently

3. sat up in her bounce and play

4. pulled a chunk of her hair....not out...but close....ouch!

5. gotten her first minor diaper rash

6. been signed up for her dedication at church

Now, allow me to expand on the above topics. The cereal topic. Well, she doesn't really like it. I bought the whole grain cereal because I thought "this baby is gonna start out eating healthy" and she has been a little constipated so I thought....a little fiber could help. I don't know if she doesn't like the whole grain taste or just the texture and process of it all. She liked the first couple bites but then it didn't go in her tummy fast enough so she got impatient real quick. Man can cereal get everywhere! What a mess! Day 2 with the cereal was a little better. We will try it again tonight.

The good news is that she is sleeping all the way through the night. The bad news is that she got a little red diaper rash. It is much better today since we increased her diaper changes, more desitin and added a little "air dry" technique to the mix. :) Risky but affective.

The thumb sucking is adorable and hilarious. It is so loud! We have to watch her very closely in church because she sucks so loud and hums while she is sucking. She still loves her pacifier but if she pulls it out she can quickly find her thumb and fingers to satisfy her.

Jerry's brother and sister gave her a bounce & play toy that is really cool. Jerry put it together for her last night. She is super cute in it. She is so short her little legs don't touch the ground yet and her torso is so little that she needs a little booster pillow for her to reach the cool bells and whistles on the bouncer but she loves it. Mommy loves it too because she can sit in it for a little while so Mommy can do the housework. This baby girl does not like to be put down!

Last but not least........she is being dedicated at church on March 21st. All the parents with newborns can dedicate their babies in front of the church family. We are really excited and used to dream of this day with our child. To be honest, I used to dread these days at church because it would make me sad that we didn't have a child to dedicate. God is so good and so faithful. He knew this day would come for Jerry and I and I am so thankful. To God be the Glory!

Also, we are excited that finalization is less than 2 months away. Praise God! We are so blessed every day by our sweet Abigail and can't wait to get her birth certificate and make it official......Abigail Elizabeth Snider.

*check out our adoption announcement on the Generations Adoption website. Their website is listed on our blog on the bottom right side. Go to the "About us" tab at the top of their website; click on it then click on the news tab on the left side; then open the 2010 first quarter tab.....it will take a minute to download the PDF file...read through and scroll down and then you will find the pictures of all the baby's that were placed in the last few months.... pretty cool! We get the newsletter in the mail each quarter and we have saved this one for Abigail's baby book.

In Christ,

Jenny

Mommy's point of view

hello...so much has happened in the last 4 months..where to begin??
Little Abigail is 4 months old and I can't believe how amazing she is. I am so grateful every day to be her Mommy. Each day that passes I am more aware that it is flying by so fast!

Here's what we have been up to in the last month.....

Abby and I made our first trip by ourselves to College Station to have lunch with a good friend and her mom from Houston. That was fun and Abby did great in the car. Then we went down to Boerne (4hour trip) to visit family for a few days. Jerry was super busy at work so we took the opportunity to go visit mom in between her chemo treatments. The trip was great! Baby girl and I stopped in Austin to have lunch with a friend then got back on the road to finish our trip. The family was so amazing at how much Abby has grown.

She turned 4 months old on Valentine's Day. The very next day she went to get her 4 month shots. She had had a little sniffly nose and cough over the previous weekend so I was glad she already had a doctor's appointment set for the 15th. Up to that point she did not have a fever so we went ahead and did her shots. Doctor said she looked good and her cough was a very minor case of Bronchiitis. then.....it was time for the shots! That is a miserable experience for All involved. Poor baby! She cried all the way home and well into the next day. Over that same evening the fever kicked in.....Oh my! That was not fun because Jerry was out of town until the next day. Thank Goodness for Good Friends! I had a friend over for dinner and it turned into a team effort to hold crying baby. Thank goodness she was there to help. I might have just lost my mind. I felt so sorry for Abby! She is hardly ever fussy.....but over the next few days....Wow she was fussy. The fever was very minor and the doctor said to keep an eye on it. Jerry came home the next day to a very fussy little girl and an exhausted wife! Sweet baby only wanted her mommy which is sweet but daddy wanted to hold her too. What a week! Lots of prayers were said and a few tears were shed from the whole family. :) We are so thankful that she is ok now and back to her cheerful self. We missed her smile and laughter. God definitely gave us a sweet baby that has a good temperment so it was very different to see her so grouchy. Praise God she is better now.

Things she is up to now: laughing, talking and cooing, grabbing things......
it is so cool to see how much she is developing. She can grab her rattle and she is always holding our hands. Love that! Yesterday she got a hold of her hair and didn't know how to let go! So sad but cute at the same time. She can almost hold her bottle by herself which is amazing. She gets frustrated because she can grab her pacifier out of her mouth then gets mad because she pulled her pacifier out of her mouth. Too cute!

Push ups: She is doing better with tummy time and is able to push up more and move her head around better. Her legs are always moving and kicking. We are working on getting her arms to get a little stronger and push up better. No rollover yet but maybe next month. She is very close with her leg swing but her arms aren't quite ready to roll with her yet. Such a big girl!

Oh so many things to say.....but basically...she is so much fun! The Aggie game was fun because she was in awe of all the lights and the music. So many people stopped to admire her hair! That is fun to experience. She is beautiful in our eyes to and are so proud to be her parents.

Mommy time is great however I am really looking forward to nicer weather so we can get out more and go walking or go to the zoo. I am not a huge fan of cold weather so.......bring on the spring and summer. I found the cutiest sun hats for her too!

I better run.......gotta get dinner ready. Thanks for following our blog. We are so excited to share with all of you. WE are blessed.

Love,
jenny