Much to be Thankful for

Today was Abigail's first Thanksgiving. We are thankful for so much. This is what I am thankful for and I praise God for this today. Jake, he is awesome, Abigail's life, her healthy heart, the freedom to worship Jesus, the country we live in and friends and family.

Today we went to Will and Racquel's and spent the day with our AZ family and Tanya. We ate, talked and laughed like true Heringer's. We had a great time. Here are some pictures to show of the fun.

Love the "baby's first Thanksgiving" outfit!

Abigail with Micah, Alicia, Caleb and Ella

Slappin' Five

Reading books

Abigail is much adored by her cousins. This is also called over stimulation.

This is what happens when you have an older sister. Micah is having a blast playing dress up.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Love you all.

Abigail's future employment

As many of you already know, Jake and I LOVE Costco. We do. We love to look around at the clothes, books, food, and other random things. Abigail loves it now too. She's going to work here one day. No pressure Abigail.

Before Abigail was born, Jake and I would get our Big Gulp Diet Cokes and stroll around, dodging carts and getting cut in front of by snow birds. Having Abigail with us makes the trip just a whole lot better.

Abigail is longing for a sip of Daddy's Diet Coke. However Abigail is not allowed to drink soda until she is 12 or so.


The best part of our Costco trip is that we paid $1.95 for gas! Can I get a "Whoop Whoop"

Steve & Traci

Yesterday Steve and Traci came to visit us from MN. They were here for business and although it was a quick visit it was great to see them.

When we first moved down to AZ from ND people told us to be prepared for visitors. Everyone thought they would come visit and get out of the cold weather....but it wasn't until Abigail was born when we started getting visitors. I wonder why? The funny thing is that people are leaving the midwest at the best time of year to come down for the hottest (or worse) time of year. However, it is still so awesome to see family.

Chubby Cheeks

We knew that Abigail was going to be a bigger baby from the ultrasound pictures and measurements. We were discussing days to when we were going to be induced when Abigail was born. I didn't really know why she was getting so big because I was so strict in what I was eating. Finally I just came to grips that it is what God wants. I can do nothing about it. And so I felt better. 8 pounds 15 ounces later, Abigail showed us her chubby cheeks. Here are the ultrasound pictures 6 days before she was born. Note the chubby cheeks.....

Abigail is 2 days old here. Again, note the chubby cheeks. True to the ultrasound pictures....

Abigail is 16 weeks old here. Love those chubby cheeks....

I do. I love her cheeks. I squeeze them and kiss them all day long. I would tell Abigail that I am sorry that she got her chubby cheeks from me, but I am not sorry. They are just soooo cute.

Remembering VSD

As many of you know a couple of weeks before Abigail was born during a routine ultrasound due to my Gestational Diabetes our doctor noticed a spot on Abigail's heart. After a comprehensive fetal echo we found out that Abigail had ventricular septal defect. This is part of the email we sent out to you all:

"...This means there is a hole in between the two bottom chambers of the heart. This wall (septum) keeps the high pressure left side of the heart from pushing blood into the low pressure right side of the heart. The doctor said it is hard to tell at this point how big it is, but he thought it was in the moderate-plus size. We will need to have our little girl tested with an ultrasound once she is born. One of three things will happen from there. 1. The hole will self resolve after birth and not need any further treatment. 2. Our baby will need medication to slow her breathing to keep her lungs from filling up with blood and this will hopefully allow the VSD to heal. 3. She will need heart surgery somewhere in the 6-12 month range to fix the defect.
Erin and I are praying for a 4th option. That is that God would heal her before she is born."

Wow, it's hard for me to read that and not get tears in my eyes. We all prayed for the 4th option and we saw God's power as he healed our daughter. We were overcome by his unfailing Goodness in our lives. We were and are still so thankful for the cards, emails and gifts that flooded our mail but mostly we thank the Lord each day for the healthy heart He made in Abigail.
We were sent video pictures of the VSD ultrasound as well as the ultrasound on Abigail after she was born. Here they are...

-Abigail's Heart with VSD-
The two diamonds are where I think the hole is.

-Abigail's heart-
The arrow is pointing to NO hole

Hanging out with Mommy

Here are some cute pictures of Abigail. I just couldn't resit posting them. Abigail loves to smile but of course as soon as I got the camera she stopped.

This is a picture of Abigail and her new favorite toy. One of the "bumps" squeaks when you squeeze it. This makes Abigail smile and coo. Simple pleasures.

Anything that Abigail could get into her mouth she will. This includes her fingers. DMD2Be (her Daddy) won't allow fingers in her mouth so we are happy that she takes a pacifier. (sucking your fingers will cause major teeth problems) Not only that, but when she does get a finger into her mouth she chokes herself causing spit-up.

Hello!

Heringer Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Familytree

Little Lady

We bought Abigail her very own chair that helps her sit up on her own. As you can see, she really likes it!



Abigail is also practicing her lady-like manners.

Snow

I mentioned in the previous blog about a snowstorm in North Dakota. Here are a few pictures that Grandma Jude went home to. Seeing these pictures makes Jake feel melancholy. I love the snow and it can be beautiful however, the temps were 11 degrees yesterday. That does not make me feel melancholy. Can you find the door and windows in this first picture?!

Grandma Jude

Grandma Jude just left after a few days visiting Abigail. (And Jake and I) She left ND just in time as a huge snowstorm hit, closing much of the state. We had a great time together. Abigail is not the only grandchild but she is the only granddaughter. So we did what women do best: shop for clothes, shop for makeup, and shop for baby dolls. We also drank coffee, enjoyed the sunny weather, go out to breakfast, and take naps. We figure we would start early training Abigail to like to go to the mall and sort the sale racks. Abigail did really great. She is not quite ready for the all day shopping trips but a couple of hours was a good start. Thanks for coming Grandma. Abigail is so blessed to have you.

I title this photo: "Mama's Boy and Daddy's Girl"

Video of Abigail

This is a video that Jake made of Abigail when she was 2 months old. She surprised us by being able to hold herself up like she is in the video. Abigail really loves being on her tummy. Now that she is older, Abigail still likes being on her tummy but she also likes sitting up. We have to help her but she is curious to what is going on around her and is getting stronger.

Get out and Vote

Well, I don't usually talk politics. Mainly because I don't know all of the details and it would be hard for me to defend my case and sound smart about it. However I can't just sit back and not say anything. Especially since this is my blog. I know that some people reading this don't agree with me but here goes. Tomorrow is a big day for the presidential election. I believe that the right person for this election is McCain. Obama scares me for many reasons. He does not make bibical decisions but goes against so many values as a Christian I stand for. For one, he is pro-choice (which really should be called pro-abortion) Obama claims it is above his paygrade to tell our nation when a baby is considered a baby. I don't make a single penny and I know that it is at conception. If he wants to run our nation I think he needs to be a man and answer the question. Moving on, socialized medicine will change our health care system as we know it. Say goodbye to quick and good care. Obama also will make changes to our Supreme Court that will effect us for the rest of our lives and our children's children. Being a conservative nation is not a bad thing. I just hope and pray for the election tomorrow. I know that God's hand will be with us no matter what happens.

Our Little Pumpkin

Here are some pictures from Abigail's first Halloween. We had some little girls come up to us as we were taking pictures of her in the grass. They thought she was so cute in her costume. They later showed up at our door trick or treating. In fact, they were the only (3) kids that came to our door. It was a good thing I bought 3 bags of candy. You can tell we are first time parents because Jake took 62 pictures of her laying in the grass. Abigail didn't think too much of it and from the look on her face she was getting bored with her parents!