weekend fun

ah, where to begin? i first must say that my beautiful daughter let me sleep in until 11:00pm today! nothing much better than sleeping in on a cloudy Sunday with my little one & sleepy man who is still in bed. ahh! refreshed.

not too sure what we're going to get into today..but i'm sure we'll finish out the weekend with a bang.

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my Saturday was spent kinda like this

and oh how very true that beautiful sign is. life is better on the bay. every time Jake and I visit my Dad's side of the family on the shore we always say: we're going to live over here someday. and yesterday we seriously considered it. you know, when our lease is up in march..we could look over here. rent or buy, we really could. it's only about 30 minutes from home & both of our jobs. and i could always find a job at one of the hospitals over on that side. and oh, how amazing it would be to live on kent island. a little town surrounded by the bay. a little boat town full of seafood restaurants and friendly faces. ohh, the excitement of a march 2011.

yesterday we swam, we had hamburgers & hot dogs on the grill..along with some bbq'd ribs. we watched the men play horseshoes & ping pong. we sat around the tiki bar and laughed and told stories. abby slept under the shade of a cool umbrella, my cousin DJ was exhausted from day #1 of hell week, we is just another reminder that the new school year and autumn is right around the corner.

my little girl was dunking her face right under water, all by herself! my little water baby

you know the day of fun is coming to an end when the pool is calm, babies are snoozin in the shade, little kids are towel wrapped and sleepy eyed in front of the tv, music is getting softer and softer, and the bright summer sun has dimmed down to a glowy and warm sunset.

it was a perfect summer day. one of the very few that we have left.

summer rainy day

right now it's 5:44am, to be exact.

after close to an hour of tossing and turning, punching my pillow to make it feel just right, closing my eyes and hoping that mr. sandman would grant me a few more hours of shut eye..just to have my eyeballs pop back open with every sleepy thought..i finally accepted that sleep was out of the question, for now at least.

abby woke up for an early baba around 4, and jake got up for work around 4:15, and i've been wide awake ever since.

*sigh* this is the time i wake up on work days, and on my off days? all i want to do is sleep in.

keep your fingers crossed for me that after this post i'll be able to doze off for a couple more hours!

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i got my wish yesterday. after my blog post, it rained 3 or 4 different times! and it did cool down. around 3pm, my grandma & i stepped outside of my aunt's house and oh my god! it's sooo cool outside! this is wonderful! i was comfortable in jeans and my ravens jersey, but it was cool enough to trade my flip flops for my pacsun slip ons. my aunt and i took a walk since it was so nice out and in hopes of getting my little to fall asleep (unsuccessful, she refused her nap all day long yesterday) and it was cool enough for me to throw some long pants on her & give her a little blankie & some baby socks. i can't wait for fall!

since she was refusing naps, and was quite the grumpy girl, which is so not like her..we headed over to my aunt's to visit with her and my grandma (their neighbors) in hopes of tuckering a baby girl out and distracting her from sleepiness. my little cousins had friends over, and oh how they loved my baby. we all laughed and giggled at how cute they all were, sitting in a circle with abby in the middle.

she just wanted to be one of the big kids!

after spending all day long, and all evening at my aunts we finally headed out around 8pm to meet jake at the field for his first game of the fall ball season.

the plan was, we've been playing at my aunts all day, and she hasn't slept. she'll pass out on the car ride home & i'll just click her car seat into her stroller, cover her up..and she'll sleep through out the game since she's so tired. wrongo! somehow or another she was still wide awake when we got there & between me, sam, and jodi we were able to keep her happy the whole time! i was proud of my sleepy girl. the first whole game she staying in the stroller sippin' on a baba, the second one we had to take her out and walk her and play but that's okay. by the time we were all leaving, all i had to do was rub my hand on her forehead and her eyes just couldn't take it, they'd gently close shut for a good 30 seconds, and then open back up..all sleepy eyed and glazed, sweet baby girl. needless to say she went right to bed once we got home!

jake and i got carry out from dominos last night & redbox'd the bounty hunter. it was so good! and so funny, and i love gerald butler and jenifer aniston. however, jake's lap was apparentley extremley comfortable & the itchy blanket that i usually hate was apparentley pretty snuggly because i couldn't fight the sleep, and totally passed out the last 30 minutes of the movie :( i hardly even remember coming to bed. i have a foggy memory of jake laughing at me for something, and crawling into bed with all the lights still on and jake standing over the dresser. i'm a sleepy mama!

so..for now? i'm gonna try to sleep. later we're driving to the eastern shore for some fun in the sun at my uncle's pool. having a bbq and visiting with my dad's family. it will be fun, but a long day with a far drive. wish me luck on this whole sleeping thing!

it worked!

yay! now i just gotta work on getting my post titles a different color & font, add a signature and i'll be happy with the layout! but, for now..this works, and those other things are far too complicated to mess with today. here's a little sneaky peek of a cutie patootie you'll be seeing more of during this juicy weekend.

this was an attempt at a photo shoot, woulda turned out cute if the lighting was better & abby would have actually cooperated. but 'dat okay. look how cute my itty bitty is anyways, crooked bow and all!

oh, and i kind of got my wish as far as weather goes today. the sky looked like this

not exactly rain, but i'll take some gray clouds. and i suppose laying in bed listening to the wind whistle can be quite relaxing as well.

it almost looks like fall outside. when abby and i ventured out for some mcdonalds sweet tea for mama, and some baby nummers stock up for abby girl..i thew on a hoodie before we went out..hoping that the clouds and breeze would give up a little bit of cool air. but, nope! hot and muggy. guess i shouldn't of expected much else mid-august, eh?

testing the waters

i'm messing around with html codes to try to get bigger pics. just seein if it worked so far..

sorry that it's just a boring pic of me. just grabbed the first one that popped up..

she's still my widdle baby

Get a load of this sky

That's the sky that my Abby girl and I sweated our whole hineys off (ok, well I wish I sweat all mine off!) playing under the summer sun yesterday.

We headed over to lake waterford, just the two of us for some mama & baby playtime. I was shocked when we arrived that we were the only ones there.

After 30 minutes I quickly realized why the beloved playground & lake was a ghost town.

It was hot. I had no choice but to pull back my flat ironed hair into a sweaty pony tail and shove my now very frizzy bangs back with my sunglasses. We'll just stay, Abby is having fun I kept thinking. She belly laughed on the swings & was completely amazed, actually being able to crawl around and explore without being stomped on by 100 other big kids.

After about a half hour, baby girls cheekies we're getting red too. So after snappin' this pic & realizing just how toasty she looked..we climbed back in the stroller and headed back to the air conditioned car to have a cool baba of water.

Day like yesterday & seeing this beautiful lake under the warm sunshine, do make me sort of sad summer is coming to an end. Don't get me wrong..I'm totally excited for fall and halloween..don't even get me started!

But, summer is summer.

So we're soakin' up the few weeks we have left.

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See these two?

She's my old co-worker and he's her new little addition. Although I shouldn't even say co-worker. We haven't worked together since we were 16 or 17, and we've stayed great friends ever since.

We had lunch with the littles at Pizza Hut, which is where we used to work together! It was mine and her first job and we both had so much fun working there while we were in high school. It was fun to see our old managers and for them to meet our little minis. Our old boss, Laura..had a baby 2 weeks before I had Abby and she brought her up to visit us! It's the first time Abby's ever seen a baby her size..Kylie was shy, but Abby reached right out and grabbed her & smiled right at her..my little outgoing girl!

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Today I'm totally bummed that I was working during the hugest rain storm of the summer. Lately I've been wishing it would rain. I need a its-rainy-outside-so-were-just-going-to-read-books-and-take-naps-and-listen-to-the-rain-pitter-patter. It would pour gallons by the second during my drive to work. Maybe I'm weird, but I like rainy days. So..call me crazy, but I'm praying I'll wake up tomorrow and it will be raining outside. Its peaceful and relaxing.

Work was long, as always. But I got to come home and have a warm bubble bath with my sleepy girl, that made up for the long hours I spent slaving all day :)

After bath time, once I got her in her jammies & powder'd and lotion'd up..I wrapped her big pacie mouth self up in a blanket, just like when she was a newborn and she...liked it! She let me hold her like a newborn and rock her..she loved being all bundled up! I laid her down with a warm baba and she went right to sleep, like a little 7lb tiny tiny I used to know...

she's still my widdle baby

As for tomorrow? I'm wishing for rain & loving the fact that I get to wake up to and spend all day with this face:

Right Now

Right now I love my life. For no particular reason, I just do.

I love randomly stopping by my mom's house at night with a baby girl who just loves the swings behind gama's house, and smiles her happiest of all happy smiles when I tickle her feet as they creep up to me when she's a'swingin back and forth.

I love late night chit-chats with my Grandma. & thinking about all the fun I had growing up with her as a little girl..and how we used to swing on her glider by her front porch and sing we're just a swingin'..and the way she'd wake up at the crack of dawn to make me breakfast every Sunday morning, and the familiar smell of baking popping and sizzling every time I woke up. The way we'd ride bikes, and play in the snow, and pick cucumbers and watermelons out of her garden, the way she did little things for me, but they were so special and she could seriously win an award for the best grandma of all time. I to give Abby all the memories that she's given me.

I love even later night attempts to drive to the gym with Jackie, getting there..realizing that we're both in flip flops (since it's such a habit just to slip them on these summer days) cracking up, i didn't feel like going anyways and then turning around and driving straight back home.

I love my attempts to stay up late to watch my late night premiere of shows, ones in which I missed during the day..and totally zonking out on the couch, just to awake this morning at 5am to a why are you sleeping on the couch!? from a poor lonely boy who slept alone all night. Then panicking for two seconds because I was late waking up for work, then remembering..i have off today! taking a sip of diet coke, and crawling into a warm (and much more comfy than the couch) bed.

I love waking up to a babbling little girl in the next room, one who I peek at through the crack of her bedroom door..to find her standing up and peeking through the same crack back at me, and then watching a giant smile emerge across her face once I crack the door a little further, giving her the full realization that it really was me who was coming into get her..and that it was my day off and that we were going to get to love and play all day long.

I love scooping her out of her crib and covering her in a million kisses while she giggles in approval. I love breakfast time, watching her shove her chubby little fingers into her mouth & watching her little birdy mouth open at the sight of a spoon full of banana oatmeal. I love how we always spend our mornings crawling around and exploring. Today, I opened her closet for the first time in months..and almost cried when I pulled out little tiny newborn socks and onesies. Abby on the other hand, had a total blast pulling out old toys she'd forgotten existed..such as a singing and dancing spider (i guess that's what it is) who sings that L-O-V-E song by Ashlee Simpson..my mom and I got it for valentine's day and thought it was hilarious, and she screamed the first time we showed it to her..today? she still didn't smile. But she held it in her lap for a good 10 minutes and examined the singing thing. Still a bit confused I'd say..

Today I had my laptop randomly playing the "Macarena" while I was picking up the kitchen..and was dancing and singing like a loser, when Abby let go of the chair she was holding onto for support..and STOOD there, all by herself, NO support..and started smiling and clapping her hands for me! HAHA! I love her and she's getting sooo big! At least someone approves of my kitchen cleaning jamming hour.

i love everything about today, and yesterday. and nothing has even happened yet...or so it seems. in reality, things are happening all the time..every day and every moment. and if you don't take the time to sit back, think about it and love it? you'll miss it. and i'm trying to cherish every little last bit of baby hood that's left in my Little's life. she'll be ONE YEARS OLD in a little over a month...and it's unreal. stay little for just a while longer, abby girl.

weekend of events

oh, what a long weekend we have had in the dungan/plumer house hold. it was long, but beyond enjoyable. i honestly love my daughter & boyfriend more than i could ever imagine possible.

saturday: shopping, grad party, and the howard county fair
your girl right here was up and out of the house by 10am on friday. yes, me! the sleeping in queen..was up & at 'em bright and early for once, on a weekend at that! abby and i headed out for a girls morning at the mall. i picked up two new sun dresses at forever 21, two new headbands & a fresh pair of sunglasses. i just love every time i take abby into a clothing store, she sticks both arms straight out on each side of her stroller and feels all of the clothes run over her little baby fingers..she loves it, and so do i. we did a little bit of grocery shopping and for the love of god..if i ever say that i'm going to walmart on a saturday again..slap me. we got a couple quick necessities and got the hell out of that mad house.



we came home for a quick baby girl nap & a mama mini cooking session. i thew together a spinach dip bread bowl, and seriously..it was delicious & only took me 10 minutes to make. i'm proud! after we got some rest, we stopped by our friend Christina's, little sister Michelle's graduation party. it was mostly a family thing..but i guess we're kind family. christina & i have been close friends since we were 12, and most of her family hasn't met abby yet..so that was exciting! i threw back a cheeseburger, abby had a deviled egg & we spent an hour or so catching up..then we headed out to the howard county fair.



i wish that i could describe in words how much i love fairs. their so summery, and...perfect. i look forward to them year 'round. last summer we weren't able to make it since i was 8 months pregnant and the size of a house, but as i missed out on cute baby pigs & freshly squeezed lemon-aid, i sat at home with my feet kicked up smiling. because i knew that this time the following year, i would be at the fair, with an almost year old little girl, loving life. oh how right i was.





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friday night: snuggle baby

abby slept in bed with us until she was about 2 months old. i would have done it longer, but she kind of out grew us and was more comfortable and seemed to sleep better stretching out in her swing next to our bed. i've tried a couple nights to sneak her into bed with us, but it never works. she always just wants to play. so last night when she woke up in the middle of the night, and i carried her into our room to change her diaper on our bed, and she rolled right over..head on the pillow and all..and went straight back to sleep..i melted. i couldn't stand to move her. i ran out & got jake and we stood over the bed & smiled and giggled over how cute she was for a good 10 minutes. i moved her to the middle of the bed, expecting her to get up since she's such a light sleeper normally..but nope! she opened her eyes, stretched..and sunk right back under the covers to dream land. she's probably never been so comfortable in her life! on our fresh sheets & pillow top mattress, fluffy pillows & down comforter & breezy fans..she was out like a light. jake and i slipped under the covers on each side of her..we laughed and smiled at each other some more in the dimly lit room..then we fell asleep. all 3 of us, right there..cuddled up in bed and loving the living poop out of each other. oh, how i adore her.
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sunday: baptism, friends, and great family

up early again this morning..but only for a beautiful cause. we dedicated our little girl today at our town church, with the best pastor around. he came all the way from deleware just to baptise my baby, and i couldn't have been more pleased with his ceremony. he relates Jesus to every day life..things we all go through, which i think is neat & unique. he also served in viatnam & was a baltimore city police officer..he's been through his fair share of hardships & is extremely down to earth, and can relate to the average joe. which i think is very important. thank you reverend douglas for all that you do.




i must say, it was a bit embarrassing when he asked jake and i how long we had been married in the middle of the service..umm, we're not married yet. the whole church roared with laughter as we kind of caught him off guard, but..it was funny..i guess.

and the most very best, best part of the whole day? my amazing family and friends. it's so rare that we're all together..but oh when we are, let the good times roll. jake and i are so lucky to have such awesome people in ours and abby's life. i can never stress enough how blessed i am to have such wonderful friends, who have stuck by me 150% through everything in life. my dear best, best friend jackie, and now officially abby's godmother..who i can call 3am when ever i need her & she will be there, who will tell me the honest to god truth no matter the circumstances, who held my hand and cried with me when i held that positive pregnancy test back in january 2009..she's been there through it all & i have no idea where i would be without her...or any of these people, for that matter.







after the service we all gathered at my mom's house for good laughs & good food.






God bless my family, friends, daughter, and amazing boyfriend ♥


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right now:

i'm tired. you could of guessed it right? i'm always tired. but just like every other time i say it..its so worth it. for now..i'm finally enjoying some vegging out time on the couch for as long as my heavy eye lids can take it. then i'll crawl into bed with my man, doze off to dream land, hear an ungodly beep! beep! beep! beep! at a whopping 5:00am and i'll be off to work again. boo :(

but right now..i'm thanking god. it's been a long time since i've sat through a church service (well, attempted with a 10 month old) but i'm glad that i did. it was a nice refresher about what's important in life. reverend douglas said this line today when god opens a door for us, we're supposed to step through that door & achieve at all levels. you will achieve at all expectations because god has sent you on that path and he is there to guide you. but, none of us ever take that path. because we're afraid. we're afraid we'll never make it....i just can't seem to get it out of my head. i'm not sure if my "door" is nursing, or photography. or both? so tonight, aside from praying for abby and friends and family..i pray that god send me a sign of what the hell i'm supposed to do with my life because i'm about this close to loosing it if i don't figure it out for myself soon :/

night for now.