Nap time

2:15 Put Abigael down for a nap. Today we're trying using a bed rail instead the crib side. She has a sippy cup of chocolate milk.

2:20 Click click click. The sound of little hands trying to turn the door knob (the milk must be gone). Then silence.

2:21 Tap Tap Tap. The sound of a little hand knocking on her bedroom door. Shoot. She's still quiet, so I'm faintly hopeful that she'll go back to bed. I go to get the baby monitor.

2:22 - 2:26 Various little kid sounds eminate from the monitor. A drawer opening, jumping on the mattress, knocking on the door...all peppered with the occasional "Mama."

2:28 I quietly go into her room and tuck her back into bed. She looks sleepy and says "ok."

2:29 Click click click. Knock knock knock. "Mama!" Shoot.

2:32 I give up. I quietly go back into her room and tuck her back into bed. I remove the bedrail and put the crib side back on. She looks sleepy. "Night night."

2:32:30 The crying commences. I'm such a heel.

2:37 Still crying (i.e. yelling). Poor baby. I'm still a heel.

2:41 The crying has stopped, replaced with the sound of jumping and rustling in the bed. Whew! Hopefully, it won't be long...

2:45 I think we're still doing ok. She's talking to herself a little bit, but still fairly quiet. "Abigael's pillow." Moan, jump, moan.

2:50 I think we've done it. I haven't heard anything for a minute or so. Sleep tight, baby girl.

Oh well...we'll try again another day. Surely she won't have to sleep in a crib till she's grown, will she....?

Self-Portrait

We have a budding photographer on our hands:

Monkey in Boots!

La Vida Loca....

Yes, it's been a crazy couple of weeks, but the Lockwood's are hanging in there and trying like hell to hang onto our sense of humor. If you've been been out of the loop, check out the details of our lastest dramas on Brandon's blog, Track Daddy. Aside from near-death experiences, frayed nerves and a neurotic (almost) two-year old, we're doing pretty good. The bills are paid, we're on the road to recovery (again) and Spring is in the air.
The week after Brandon's surgery, I headed out to Washington, DC for a previously planned business trip. I, along with two other co-workers, were scheduled to meet with some of our customer counterparts from a program at work. It sounds more impressive than it really was, but all-in-all it was a good trip. The only downside was that our hotel was out near the airport instead of in DC. So, no sightseeing for us. Maybe next time. At least I was able to experience the beautiful weather of an East Coast Spring.
Speaking of Spring, it's finally arrived in Seattle. Combine the natural burst of energy from that with the budding independence of a toddler, and you have a very dangerous combination. All of sudden we have a 2 1/2 foot tall, bi-polar, chatterbox running at Mach 3 through the apartment. The kid just does not stop. Last week she went three days in a row without taking a nap. If you've every been around toddlers that haven't had a nap, you know their pleasant disposition only lasts so long. Let's just say that by the time I got home in the evenings, she wasn't exactly my favorite person to be around. But aside from that little issue, Abigael has just blossomed into this awesome little person. Over the past few weeks, we've seen her vocabulary just explode. She's also seemed to have mastered her parroting skills, more and more we have to watch what we say. Embarrasing example to bring out when she's a teenager: she passed gas the other day and looked at me with a little smirk. I grinned back at her and said "Abigael farted." She proceeded to proclaim "Abigael farted!" over and over for the next five minutes. What can you do but laugh....
You have to see the good in things whenever something unfortunate happens in your life. One of my "good things" the past couple of weeks has been all the extra time I've been able to spend with Abigael during this warp speed development. We've discovered ants on the sidewalk, Play-doh, birds and airplanes, singing at top volume, and, not only more self-awareness, but awareness of others. "Abigael's shirt...Momma's shirt....Dada's shirt!"

All in all, it's a crazy ride....but it's so worth it.

And the saga continues on.....

So I have been in the hospital again since Sat the 8th and will probably go home sometime this weekend. The story is long and I have posted it on my Track Daddy blog. Click here to read the story. Please pray for our family. Christie is extremely stressed out having to deal with work, take care of Abigael, and deal with me. Our friends and family are stepping up once again to help us out! Pat is coming out on Saturday to help take care of Abigael and gimpy me while Christie is in D.C. on a business trip next week.

Opening Day at the ball park!!

So I made a big long post on Track Daddy with pictures about taking Abigael to opening day to watch the Mariners get beat by the Angels. Here is the link to that post: CLICK HERE Check it out!!! We had a blast!!!

So where are the comments??

We keep hearing that our families and friends read our blogs and we definitely hear it if we have not posted in awhile. So it would stand to seem that we should expect... no, DEMAND comments from our readers. So as to give us, the writers and picture posters, something to read... it only take a few minutes!

Please use the comments link below each post!

Love, the posters

Been there....

I love to read this blog. The writer is the stay-at-home mother of a daughter just a few months older than Abigael. I wish I had the patience to put into words what she so eloquently did here. I was in tears of laughter during the first half (I feel the pain...) and tears of joyfully agreement by the last sentence.



dooce: Monthly Newsletter: Month Twenty-six

Papa!

Christie's Dad came out from North Carolina last week for a visit before he gets too tied up with his new job assignment. We all had a great time!
Brandon picked him up from the airport Thursday afternoon. By the time Christie got home from work that evening, Papa and Abigael were just thick as theives. It was so cute when she went for her bath, she kept calling for "Papa!"

Friday, Papa, Christie and Abigael went to the Pacific Science Center. Abigael was a little young for most of the exhibits, but we still had a great time. Abigael's favorite part was the insect and butterfly exhibit. She's still playing with the toys bugs she got from the gift shop.
Saturday and Sunday were spent playing, shopping, playing, napping, and more playing. It was so wonderful to see granddaughter and grandfather spending such quality time together. And one little girl was spoiled just a tiny bit. Yeah right! LOL!

Brandon and Abigael took Papa to the airport Monday morning for his trip back to North Carolina. Thank you for coming to visit and we can't wait to see you again.

Love you Papa!

Shoes!

Yesterday we made our Quarterly trip out to the Bellevue Mall to buy shoes for Abigael at the only Stride rite around.

You can't tell me it doesn't make you want to be a kid a again just so you can get away with wearing these shoes...

Riding in style

So this is the new Chariot sidecar child carrier and Abigael riding in it!! It puts her much closer to me and she seems to enjoy it!

And a picture of Abigael the Cannibal!!

Caught in the wild....

I've heard the rumors, the myths, the legends...

But I never thought I'd be fortunate enough to witness the elusive "Falling Asleep While Eating" Abigael!!!






--Sighting: Lunchtime 11:34am (awake since 4:30am)

Picture day...

...because I feel like it.



She looks like her mommy...


But takes after her daddy! :)



 

BBBBbbbbbrrrrrr It's cold......

So it is in the teens here in Seattle. BBBbbbbbbrrrrrrrrr!!!! Poor Abigael has been sick for the past few days. She woke up from her nap Thursday afternoon crying and cried all evening, took a bath early (with her daddy), didn't eat hardly any dinner, and went to bed, she was ASLEEP before 7pm.

Ahhh Family time!

Chocolate makes it all better!

Friday she woke up feeling better but still full of snot! Instead of going to work Friday morning, I put Abigael down early (11:30am) for a nap, then we went to work at 2pm and Christie picked her up after she got off work.

After work, I got to ride with good friends in a Memorial ride for Ted "Shred" Huener, a dispatcher for Fleetfoot, who passed away last year. I was home by 8:45pm, some night life huh!

This weekend is the Annual Seattle Bicycle Expo and bike swap. I will be volunteering for the Marymoor Velodrome Association at their booth.

Christie's Mom visitied last weekend and didn't want to leave. Abigael and her grandma are like two peas in a pod. They had a blast playing together but the visit was WAY to short. We'll see them again in May for Abigael's 2nd birthday.

Ouch!

Someone decided not to listen when Momma said to slow down while taking Zak for a walk...




Fortunately cookies make everything better!



...This was a week ago and it's almost completely healed already. Ahhh, the benefits of youth...

Family Christmas Number two

Hello all!
We're sorry it has taken so long to update the blog, but here it is. We (Christie, Abigael, and I) flew down to Los Angeles thru Ontario Airport on December 24th. Abigael had gotten sick a few days earlier, but seemed to be fine for the 2 1/2 hour flight. We were up at 4am that morning and our GREAT friend Kyle drove us to the airport in plenty of time for the 7am flight. On the plane, Abigael was all over the place for the first hour and a half before finally falling asleep for the last hour. (But of course, she was a good girl and charming and everyone loved her!)
We arrived to nice, sunny, WARM California weather on Christmas Eve day. Grandma and Papa picked us up at the airport. Papa is very mischievous and almost got a ticket because he is very common sense-oriented and the cops are not. After a long wait to get our luggage, we were finally on our way to their house to get settled in. We got there just in time to watch the Seahawks win over the Colts. OH YEAH Go 'HAWKS!! That evening we all traveled down to Dan and Gabbie's to visit and have an early Christmas with them. When we arrived both of the new parents were crashed out on the couch and the two kids were asleep also. We all got to meet Matthew James, our new nephew and cousin born on Dec. 8th. Emma was super excited to see Abigael and the cousins hit it off immediately!

We all got ready and went to Christmas Eve service at Dan and Gabbie's church. After church, we had dinner and then let the kids open presents. The kids had a great time opening gifts, but it was getting late and we eventually had a small melt down but nothing to spoil the mood. We played some games then left their house and went back to Grandma and Papa's house. It was early to bed as Gabbie, Emma, and Matthew were going to travel to Dan's sister's to spend Christmas day with his family.
On Christmas day we all woke up, had breakfast and went to Grandma and Papa's church. We sang songs and listened to the Christmas story of Jesus' birth. Abigael sang along with a smile on her face. When we got home we, Brandon, Christie, Abigael, Grandma, and Papa, all opened gifts. Grandma spoiled all of the grandchildren this Christmas!! Otherwise, we had a lazy day, watched some football and visited Mom and Dad.
On Monday, Uncle Wayne and Aunt Mary flew down to visit for a few days. Dan, Gabbie and kids came up and we had a big family dinner. We had a great time!
On Tuesday, Brandon, Christie and Abigael joined Gabbie's moms' group and visited a Long Beach City fire house. WOW, what an awesome time we had! We spent almost four hours touring and getting first class treatment at the station. There were about 12 kids and almost as many parents. We think Abigael is going to be a firefighter (she wouldn't come out of the engine or the truck!)!! The token dad in Gabbie's moms group is a firefighter at this fire house (he's a truckie). The Engine was out when we arrived and the truck got a call, so we had to wait until they got back to get the tour. They let the kids crawl all over the apparatus, flow water from the booster reel, and even took some kids up in the aerial basket (Abigael was the first in line for all of these activities!). The firefighters made their rookie don his personal protective equipment and breathing apparatus for time (2 min or less). He then let the kids see that under all the gear there really is a person and to not be afraid of firefighters if they are ever in a fire. Afterwards we all went to Dan and Gabbie's, had dinner and watched movies. Then it was back to Grandma and Papa's.

On Wednesday, the three of us went Dan and Gabbie's again. Dan, Brandon and the two cousins went to see the Nemo on Ice Ice'capades with Gabbie's moms group. It was fun and the two girls just loved it! This gave Gabbie a chance to rest while Christie watched over the baby. After the show, it was back home and we watched a movie while the girls took naps. That evening we all (I mean ALL the family) went down to visit and have dinner at the Petersen's house. Bill and Dee Petersen are old family friends from Ukiah. Chris Petersen is one of Brandon's closest old school friends. Chris, his wife Celine and son, Thomas, all live in France (Celine is French) and were here visiting before Celine has number two (she's about 5 month pregnant). We visited till late in the night, then went back to Grandma and Papa's house.

On Thursday, we had a slow lazy day. We paid the next door neighbor high school girl to baby-sit Abigael and all of the adults went to go see The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. AWESOME MOVIE!! When we went to pick her up afterwards, Abigael did not want to leave her babysitter's house, she had made a new friend!!
On Friday, Christie, Brandon, and Abigael all drove to the Riverside area to visit Chris Keithly and his family. Chris K. is the tri-fecta that was Brandon, Chris P. and Chris K. in Ukiah, from the third grade and beyond. Chris and his wife Rosie just recently bought a house and completely renovated it. Chris has FIVE kids!!! Josh, CJ, Samuel, John, and Laura the two month old!! We spent the afternoon visiting and catching up. Abigael was exhausted after playing with Samuel and John. We then drove back to Grandma and Papa's. Mom and Dad took Wayne and Mary to the airport and we all got ready to drive up to Northern California to visit Brandon's Grandparents. Unfortunately, we were heading into record setting rain in Nor Cal...
On Saturday morning, Grandma, Papa, Brandon, Christie, Abigael, and Emma, all started the drive north. It was a SEVEN hour drive to Navoto to see Great Grandpa Lockwood. (The girls did so great in the car!) The great grandchildren crawled all over Great Grandpa and took pictures with him. This was the first time Abigael had met her Great Grandpa Lockwood and vice-versa. After a short visit, we drove to Williams and stayed in a hotel for New Years Eve. Brandon and Christie stayed up and rang in the New Year (WooHoo! It was a "Rockin' New Year Eve"!). Poor Emma kept didn't feel well and kept Gamma and Papa up most of the night. Of course she was just fine in the morning!
On Sunday, we drove up to Chico to visit Great Grandma Seifert. This was also the first time Great Grandma Seifert and Abigael had met. The grandchildren had a good visit with Great Grandma and we took pictures with them all. Then we took Great Grandma Seifert out to lunch while the torrential rains started to pour. We had to drop Great Grandma off and beat feet to get to the Sacramento Airport before roads closed due to flooding. We said good bye in the pouring rain and began the wait! Our flight was delayed almost two and a half hours due to a 140 knot head wind coming down from Seattle. The good news was that we had a 140 knot tailwind going home only 1 hour 15 minutes to get home. Kyle picked us up from the airport and drove us home, Thanks!
We had a wonderful time with the Lockwood clan for Christmas. We are so happy that the cousins, Emma and Abigael, got along so well. We're working hard to help Abigael remember her cousin with pictures and stories. We can't wait to get them together again.
(Sorry this was so long. It was a long week!)
Love you all!!!

Sick babies

My poor babies are sick today :(
Brandon called me at work this morning and sounded just awful, he thinks he's coming down with a cold. He said Abigael was a little slow getting going, but seemed to be doing OK. Well, he called back just a little bit ago to let me know she's now running a small fever. It's tired her out and she went down for her nap with hardly a fight. She's become such a happy and active girl and I feel so bad that my baby girl is not feeling well. But there's a little part of me that's looking forward to going home this evening and having her willingly sit still on my lap to cuddle for longer than five seconds. Mommy's are good for more than just playing!

Well status quo for now

I had a Dr.'s appointment this morning. I was greeted with very little good news and lots of the same ole'thing news. The x-rays (these were 15 week x-rays since my bone graft surgery in Oct) show very little bone growth since the last time (6 weeks ago) I had x-rays done. THAT JUST SUCKS!! I feel ok, I have a little pain here and there, but my Physical Therapist says that I am progressing GREAT!! I have very good range of motion (ROM) in my knee and ankle joints and my scars are mobalizing very well. BUT, the bone is just not healing, we think... The Dr. says that the bone graft will not show up on x-ray (it's called x-ray lagging) until it solidifies/calcifies as solid bone, but there may be solid fiberous tissues starting to form in my bone "deficit" that will become bone. The Dr. and the bone stim rep both feel like I have not had enough time using the bone growth stimulator, only about 4 or 5 weeks, to see any tangible results yet. So as it stands I will continue to 50% weight bare, use the EBI Bone Growth Stimulator, continue PT, take my vitamins, and use my crutches (I got new "cripple crutches" the kind that hug your forearms from my PT, they used to belong to another cyclist on the mend) for another 7 weeks until I go back on the 15th of March. I did get a new ROM walking boot so hopefully my knee will take less abuse, THANK YOU Gloria!!

PS Christmas number two on the way soon....

Family Christmas number one

Hello all,

Last week Christie's family flew out here to Seattle to spend an early Christmas with the grand child, Abigael, and her parents. Tom, Pat, and Grandma Myrtle flew from N.C. on Wednesday the 14th and left early on Monday the 19th. The three ladies and one little girl went out and spent lots of time together plundering the stores for the best deals on Christmas gifts. The grandparents and great grandparent did their duty in spoiling the Princess. On Sunday we had "Christmas morning" with present opening by Abigael. Once she got the hang of it she really got into the swing!! Abigael recieved clothes, books, a "Little People" doll house, a table and chairs set, and LOTS of Love! Mom and dad recieved some new sheets, comforters, some clothes, and a new printer!! Thank you so much from all of us! We had a great visit with family we do not get to see very often. It is awesome to see FOUR generations of women together. Here are some pictures from their visit!!

New potty more fun than the doll house

Oh, now I get it, you tear the paper!!

Like this!!

Here ya go little precious Princess, Merry Christmas!!

Four generations of women

Brandon's healing update

UPDATE...UPDATE:

So I am healing slowly...VERY SLOWLY! The graft is incorporating and I do have so small amount of new bone growth. But I still have about THREE INCHES of bone to grow!!! I can weight bear up to 50% and I am doing PT with a cycling orriented Physical Therapist. I am also using electro-magnetic pulse stimulation to help regenerate new cell growth (It's called a Bone Growth Stimulator....huh huh he he ha ha huh you said "bone stimulator") for six to twelve weeks it can help growth by up to a 60+% increase over not using it at all!! I can also use the stationary trainer, isometric excercise, and swimming now. BEWARE ALL I WILL BE BACK AND STRONGER THAN BEFORE. Cat 2's & Master A's here I come!! Meanwhile I heal and train on Injured Reserve... For the whole story click here and here