Where did my little sweet baby go?

Things have been crazy around here with this crazy little monster we call Abram. A few days ago he took his first steps. Call me lame, but my eyes watered up a little bit. I didn't really think he'd be walking for a while yet because he's so top-heavy, so he's had balance issues for a bit now. He's much too concerned with other things around him that crawling is the easier way to get everywhere, so that's what he wants to do for now. He's also started talking a little bit. He'll point at things and say Wow. And he's really good at mimicking things. If the girls are whining, he'll imitate the noise that they make or if you laugh at him, he'll do his fake laugh back at you. We were watching the movie Shooter the other day and he was imitating the sounds that the guns were making. And then someone on the movie said shit, and Abram sure did repeat that! So needless to say, I guess we better start watching our mouths a little more! We have finally discovered Noggin. In case you don't know, it's a tv channel that has preschool Nickelodeon shows. Its so funny to watch him watch that because he gets so excited about it. I cannot believe this child is going to be one whole year old in less than a month. Where did this year go?

I am excited to say one of my dogs has been sooooo good since picking them up after we got back from our trip. You'll never guess who! It's Bill. He's been very clingy, but I will take that over stubborn shithead any day! Kimber on the other hand is just a little witch! She's a horrible listener, she gets scared over EVERYTHING so she gets confused, and yesterday she nipped Elena in the face! She is driving me insane!

If I ever find my cord for my camera, I'll post some more pictures from when we were home, but until then use your imagination! So long for now!

What was I thinking?! Its soooo cold!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! We're in Wisconsin visiting family right now. We've been here for 2 weeks now. I'd say one of our better visits. My mom and I have kept fighting to a minimum, so that's nice! My sister and I are a different story. But that's nothing new, so at least she's making me feel right at home again! But anyways. Christmas went pretty well. Abram got Live Elmo and he LOVES it! It's kind of cute. I can only keep it out for so long before it's driving me insane, so we only see Elmo for about 15 minutes a day! I got some beautiful amazing diamond earrings from Isaac and two ipods from my family and of course my plane ticket home! I think Isaac had a pretty good Christmas too, considering. It sucked for all of us that he wasn't here, but he got the package from Abram and I with some good movies and treats, but an even better surprise was his family sent him a package too! Unfortunately, not too many people from home keep in touch with him. Every time I see people, they ask for his email address, but no one ever seems to follow through. Does that happen to anyone else!? That's annoying to me. Don't ask if you don't really care. But anyways. My mom's dog is very possibly the worst behaved, most annoying dog in the world. So being with her for almost three weeks has really made me miss my dogs and realize that they really aren't that bad! Before I left, they were driving me insane! So I hope they're happy to see me and stay on their best behavior, because supposedly, they are both acting like angels for their new caregivers! I'm ready to come home and get out of this freeeeezing state! The day before I left TX it was in the 70s! I got here the next day and the windchill was negative 20!!! I don't know how I lived here for 2o years! We're really going to have to rethink this moving back to Wisconsin business because I'm not so crazy about that anymore! We won't be moving back anytime soon though! We are officially in the army forever now! Our reenlistment, extension, whatever it is, is done and taken care of. FINALLY! I was starting to wonder if it was ever going to happen!

I think it is finally time to see the ear doctor! While we've been home, Abram has finally gotten his 5th ear infection in 8 months. We're going to a recheck shortly after we get home and I am not leaving Dr Olufs office until we have a referral! I was outside in the cold wind for a bit today and I had ear aches from that, and those went away after a little bit! I forget about how painful that is! No wonder Baby just crawls around crying and wakes up at night crying! That sucks! We also cut our 8th tooth, so he now has his four front teeth on top and bottom. Such a big boy! He's also getting much better at walking. We tricked him into taking a few steps on his own a couple of time and he's now saying more "words"...baba mama nana dada. Dada has been his favorite for months now! It's cute though. I was excited when he finally said mama though. I know he isn't directing it towards me, but it's really sweet.

I will post some pictures from our journey to the Frozen Tundra once we get home. Have a fabulous day and we'll see you soon!!!

Love
Abram, Isaac, Christina, Bill and Kimber!