Abby's Goings On

I know, I know: long time, no blog. I don't know what was in that cupcake icing that Abby had a taste of on her first birthday, but whatever it was, it must have included some spunk, insomnia, and delight. Truth is, Miss Abby has become quite the energetic little girl lately. Don't get me wrong: she's ALWAYS had lots of energy, but it seems as though she's received an extra boost of it recently! It's at though since she turned one (only 2 1/2 weeks ago, mind you), she has become a new child!

How Abby has changed during the past two weeks:

-She now only wants to nap in the afternoons
-She is sleeping from 8:30 until 8:00 or so. While I LOVE the fact that she is sleeping later (I am NOT a morning person!), I am wishing she went to bed earlier. But typical "Curious Craddock" that she is, she doesn't want to miss ANYTHING; therefore she MUST stay awake later. Ha!
-She keeps me super busy during the day. With other household chores, I'm finding I have less and less time to get things done!
-Funny thing is that she refused to hold her bottles until she turned one. It was like as soon as she had lived exactly twelve months, she decided that she wanted to suddenly hold her bottles. Of course, this is just when we are trying to get her off of bottles completely. Go figure!
-Matt and I are fascinated by the fact that she knows how to climb up on her rocking seal. She just gets right up there, puts her hands on the bars, and waits for us to push her back and forth. Two weeks ago, she never would have done that.
-She recognizes her Mama and Dada. Abby will pull out the photo album and flip through the pages, and when she sees Matt or me, she'll point to us and say "Dada!" (Yes, she does that for my picture too. Still working on the "Mama" thing!)
-She understands so many words now. Dada, Mama, doggy, sippy, blankie, milk, bottle, baby, ball, kiss... and I love how she waves hi and bye, gives hi-fives, and waves her hands in the air when I say "That's it. All done" when she's finished eating.
-She will crawl over to us (SO close to walking), pull herself up onto our legs and reach out her hands as if to say "Hold me!"
-She mimics us now. Her favorite pasttime is digging through and emptying the entire contents of my purse. When she finds the brush, she immediately puts it to her hair and begins to comb it. Hilarious!
I know there's more, but I need to get some things done while she sleeps. :)

I guess I'm just still in awe of the entire process of aging. Sorry to bore you with all of my child's doings. Like I said, I'm in awe of how quickly "babies" turn into little "children!" Here are some pictures from the past week or so.

Going to a playdate. She can wear barettes now. How fun is that?
More pool time
Chicken Fight! :)
Abby and Ellie racing up the stairs.
Poor Millie and Winnie only thought they had Abby to contend with. Look at the chaos Ellie envoked when she came over!
Hmmm...I wonder what's in this cabinet??
Sweet baby