Miss Abby Girl Is 6 Months Old

Has it really been six months since we had our little girl? It's crazy how fast the time flies. She is so much fun. Here are a few things that she's been up to:

• She has been eating rice cereal and oatmeal and a few of the first foods for about a month. Her favorites are green beans, peas, carrots, and apple sauce. The first time I gave her banana she spit it right back out while making a funny face!
• She is a great little roller. Lately as soon as I put her down she goes right on her stomach.
• She LOVES to be held. She cries when I put her down or in her exer-saucer. I am a big softy and give in all the time...we are gonna have a spoiled little girl.
• She is a terrible sleeper. Every once in a while we will have a good night but usually it's up every two to three hours. During the day she will take naps but only for about 30 min. at a time.
  
• She always wakes up happy (at least during the day!) One of my favorite things to do is to go and get her when she is awake because she always has a huge smile for me.
• Her favorite toys are not toys. She always wants to get the pine cones on our table, the computer keys, my cell phone, and she loves the ice cream scoop (I don't blame her for that one.)
• She sits up really straight and can keep it for a few seconds by herself before she tips over
  
• Her first tooth is coming in! You can see it in the last couple of pictures on the bottom.
• Last but not least, she is the best baby ever! We are so lucky to have our sweet little Abby girl!
  

Hess Family Pictures

What we've been up to...

Brandon and I have had a crazy last couple of months. For my birthday my mom and Lindsey came into town and Brandon surprised me with a trip for all of us to Park City. We stayed Thursday night though Sunday at his aunt and uncle's condo in Deer Valley. We had a great time shopping, relaxing, more shopping and eating! His parents came into town for the week of Thanksgiving and helped us pack up our apartment because we made a quick decision to move to Orem. While they were here I had a surprise party for Brandon's 25th birthday. I was a little nervous about how it would turn out but he was really surprised and it turned out to be a great party!

We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on the 15th of December during finals week. We had a low-key celebration by going to the temple, having a nice dinner at home, and watching a movie (my favorite kind of date!) As soon as we were done with our last finals we got in the car and drove to Bakersfield for Christmas. We spent the first week with my family there and the last week in Fremont with Brandon's family. In Bakersfield Brandon spent a lot of time golfing with Dylan Faulkner while I did Christmas shopping with my mom. We went to Bill Lee's for dinner right before Christmas (an annual Bunting Tradition), and saw a lot of family and friends. While in Fremont we were able to go on about 1 date a day, it was heaven! We went to BJ's to eat, saw a movie in the theatre, saw Wicked in San Fransisco, and hung out a ton with his family. Abby was great in the car for all the driving. I was worried about how she would take being in the car so much but she was an angel. It also helped that we split the drive to and from California up by taking two days to get there and back.

Since we've been home Brandon has been working 40 hours a week in Salt Lake and I have been going to school, taking care of Abby and we are both still trying to get settled into our new place! Here are a bunch of pictures of the last little while, I don't have pictures of Brandon's party I still need to get them from his mom!

Look at those cheeks!





Brandon's birthday dinner

Music to My Ears!

She laughed yesterday for the first time!!! Wow, it was so cool. I was changing her diaper and playing around with her feet; she was so happy and smiley so I bent down and blew on her stomach and out came a big belly laugh! Oh, I was so excited and giddy. I called Brandon to tell him but he didn't answer and I was still so elated that I almost cried!!! When he got home I did the same thing so he could hear her and she laughed again but not quite as hard. Happy happy day!

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween Abby was a mouse, thanks to Brandon's parents, so I decided to be a cat! We went to Greg and Alyssa's party and originally Brandon didn't want to dress up but we all talked him into it. He went as a nerd and on our way over we both decided that Halloween is much more fun when you dress up (it's been a while for both of us!) We had a few trick-or-treaters...a lot more than last year. I almost didn't buy any candy because I didn't think we would have any but I am so glad I did because we had about 5 people come by! On our way home we were stopped at a check point by the police. Good thing we weren't drinking! We are finishing the day off with watching the first Harry Potter. Happy Halloween!

When It's Cold Outside...

We bundle the girlie up.

But sometimes this happens...

And when her beanie is too big...

Pumpkins and Other Happenings

Brandon's brother Brady and his girlfriend Raquel came over last night and we carved pumpkins! So fun! I love Fall! Everything about it is great, except for getting sick. Somehow I always manage to get some kind of cold or flu when the weather starts changing.
In other news... school is going ok for the both of us. I don't know what I was thinking about going to school this semester. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I would much rather stay home with my girl all day long but it could be a lot worse than an hour and a half a day!
Brandon took me out on a "Maryellen Day" last Saturday. It was so fun, we went shopping, out to eat, to the nickle arcade, and then finished the day off watching the BYU football team beat UNLV. It couldn't have been any better!