Mabel's New TV

Mabel has waited long enough. She has suffered with regular television for over three months now and she could no longer avoid the pull of high definition television. So, to reward her for how hard she has been working on her physical therapy, we purchased a new TV. And just in time for Packer football. Mabel's request, of course.

School started for mama on Wed. and we had NO SCHOOL on Friday due to power outages from big storms that came through. The first storm hit around 3:30 on Thurs. Mabel was home safe and sound with Gammy, thank goodness, and Nathan was caught in his car for part of the storm. I was still at school and it was pretty scary. We all had to go downstairs in the office and there was no power. The rain finally let up and I drove home through lots of down trees/branches, etc. I must have seen 25 emergency vehicles. Then, at the end of my 2 hour drive home, another storm started. We had flash flooding, even in the city. Of course, I was exhausted after the long drive and the first few days of school, so I was headed off to bed early, around 9, and I thought I'd check the district website in the slim chance that school was canceled and it was! I was so excited because Nathan already had the day off to take care of Mabel so we all got to stay home together. Plus, I went scrapping last night so I actually had some time to prepare. I finally got going on Mabel's baby book. I'm only up to her baby shower, but it's a start!

M.A.B.E.L.

The mama finally completed Mabel's nursery decor project. I had this idea before Mabel was born and finally completed it over the past week or so. We also just ordered this Bumbo seat. What a crack up. Mabel really enjoys sitting in it, but she starts to slump forward after about five minutes.

Speaking of Mabel's neck strength, we went to physical therapy again yesterday. The PT is not really worried about her tilt anymore, but is concerned that Mabel is not really holding her head up when lying on her tummy. She threatened us yesterday that if Mabel is not doing better on this by our next appt. in two weeks that we will have to come in more often for therapy. I then reminded her that Mabel is THREE MONTHS OLD and doesn't really take direction at this point. She will hold her head up when she is darn well ready. I am not at all sad that this will be my last visit to the PT for a while. Daddy will now be taking over for the next four months.

One last bit of news. Nathan's FMLA leave has been formally approved and his work also okay'd his request for a four-week extension so that we could make it to the end of the year before having to get child care for Mabel. This is very exciting for us and gives us a little more time to figure out what we will do come January. If anyone out there has suggestions for nannies or sitters in the Chicago area, please send them our way.

Mabel's 100th Day!

Mabel is 100 days old today!! We received a cool gift from our friend, Amy, at Mabel's baby shower. The gift was a set of blocks. Here's the info that came with the blocks: "In Korea, on a baby's 100th day, family and friends get a peek into the child's future. During the celebration, parents place objects representing different professions on a table and whatever the baby touches is said to fortell their destiny." The blocks replace the objects as each block has a different letter and a different professions. (Ex - T for teacher, X for x-ray technician, etc.) Well, we're not exactly sure how the table thing works, so we set Mabel up on our bed and put the blocks in front of her. She touched the V block first so she is now destined to become a veterinarian. Our celebration is slated to continue at the Cubs game tonight, weather permitting.

Mabel's First Wedding

Mabel is up north for her first wedding. Actually, she's not attending the wedding, but she is planning on crashing the brunch tomorrow. My (Danae) good friend, Erin, is having a wedding reception this weekend. Mabel is so excited to head over to her Aunt Meagan's house tonight. Meagan, Bill, Gammy, and the three cousins will be hanging with Mabel while we all head to the wedding.

By the way, a quick shout out to Aunt Jill who got Mabel this glitzed up wife beater at a little shop in NYC.

Mabel and Friends

Mabel enjoyed her second hotel stay this weekend. Mabel and I (mama) attended the birthday party of my friend, Victoria, in Bettendorf, IA. Victoria is on the far right in the photo. The party was a great time. It was really a shame that Mabel wasn't able to enjoy the amazing spread. Victoria's mom made a few delicious Korean dishes and Victoria's sister added some catered food. Mabel stuck with her bottle. The party started at about 7 on Sat. night and Mabel fell asleep shortly thereafter. Some of us went and gambled a bit at the Casino (the party was at Isle of Capri casino) and some family stayed back in the party suite with the youngsters. I returned to Mabel 30 minutes later and $8 poorer. Much to my roommate, Katherine's delight, Mabel once again slept through the night.

The second picture of Mabel and her non-animated friends is from this morning. She is still sleeping in a bassinet in mom and dad's room, but she takes her naps in her crib. She is getting close to outgrowing the bassinet, so pretty soon she'll have to make the big move to sleeping in her room for the night. I think she's more ready for the move than mom and dad are.

Almost Laughing

Mabel is smiling a lot more these days and is getting so close to laughing. We ran some errands today, and just like mama, she was especially smiley and happy at Joanne's craft store. I uploaded a short video of Mabel to Youtube. You can check it out by following this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OSREyoxY7w