Trying to Square up with My Sweet Abbey...

So I am very remiss on celebrating my sweet Abbey Hannah! I need to talk about how lucky I am to be her mom.

Abbey was my miracle baby. She was the first one that the doctors said wouldn't happen. I can remember so vividly finding out that I was pregnant and what an overwhelming excitement and worry it was. When the very difficult pregnancy got even more difficult I didn't know that I could worry so much about someone I hadn't really met face to face. When we she finally arrived and I could kiss her sweet face, every monitoring session and ultrasound (we had 3 a week for 4 months) was more than worth it.

After she was about 3 weeks old she started to be colicky...really colicky and I wondered if I was the right person to be her mom. I kept thinking maybe I didn't have the patience or everything it would take to guide her through the world. I couldn't even get her to stop crying! Then one day when she was in a crying jag James Taylor was on The Today Show, and when he started singing Fire and Rain, Abbey stopped crying. I immediately called my mother in law and said we had to get that CD. It became my best friend because it totally soothed the baby I was so desperate to know.

Abbey also only wanted me. In fact she didn't want anyone else even looking at her. She would burst into tears if she realized anyone was looking at her. This made being around anyone pretty tough. So we continued in our symbiotic existence of Abbey and Mommy, Dad was mostly ok and the occasional outsider that could trick her into letting them be around her.

That should have worried me...and it did but it all worked out. Abbey is now one of the nicest kids that you could ever meet. She is kind, smart, beautiful and amazingly funny. I can't tell you how grateful I am that she is so amazing. So now I owe her the 12 things about Abbey for her very belated 12th birthday.

1) Her crazy sense of humor. She is so quick witted that it totally amazes me.
2) Her ability to be kind. Abbey has an inner moral compass that would rival Mother Theresa. Even as a little girl playing soccer she didn't want to have to take the ball from anyone and was sure to get the names of all of the girls around her. And she would come off of the field talking about her new friend. There was even a point where we had to have Emily teach her how to be more aggressive on the field. Emily's words of wisdom, "you can knock them down and not even get a time out!"
3) Her amazing brain. Abbey is smarter than I ever thought of being. She is definitely her daddy's daughter. She understands algebra better at 12 than I ever did.
4) Her beautiful smile, it lights up the building!
5) Her ability to find fun wherever she goes. She sees the fun in just about every situation.
6) Her amazing athletic prowess. Abbey is the jock of all jocks. I am never more amazed than when she is playing soccer and she and another player collide (she learned the aggressive thing now) she will bounce back up and be heading the right way before the other girl can collect her thoughts.
7) Her love of books. Abbey and I share the true love of books. We don't have many comparisons but that is definitely one of them and I am so excited that we will always have that bond over great books.
8) Her ability to make friends wherever she goes. She can get along with the devil himself and with the rest of us as her relatives she does!
9) Her sensitivity. Abbey has a body of steel and a heart of jello, she is so sensitive to everything and everyone and just wants everyone to be ok.
10) Her lack of fear. Her favorite show as a little girl was Fear Factor, she wants to be a fighter pilot or a Navy seal and she has no fear of anything.
11) Her good sense of self. She has a great understanding of who she is and everything around her. She truly likes herself and has no fear of entering into a new situation and being around new people.
12) Her willingness to accept that Greg and I are geeks and love us anyway. She is a wonderful sister that is always looking out for Emily, or rather willing to let Emily guide her while still being the Jiminy Cricket on Emily's shoulder to try and steer her the right way.

I love you my sweet girl and I am so grateful that I get to be part of your life!

Trying to find Nice...

So I have drafted several blog posts and they all seem to need a little work...

However, some events of today prompted me to dive back in and post...this post will seem snarky and possibly mean but I am up to my toukis in mean! I promise to post a nice blog tomorrow! For today here goes...

So, I am on the search for nice. Simple kindness. Come on people now, smile on your brother kind of nice. I'd like to buy the world a Coke kind of nice. I've even tried this by trying to buy the world a Starbucks (the 2000's version of Coke...both kinds actually because there is just something addictive about Starbucks). I actually try to pay for coffee for the person behind me in line occasionally, just so they might pay it forward. (And honestly, I can say when I have been so fortunate it has completely made my week!)

Anyway back to the topic. I want common courtesy! Why can't drivers who are usually driving like idiots, give a courtesy wave when you let them in front of you in busy traffic? And on that note, if a person is behind you trying to move into your lane and can see your blinker indicating that you would like to move into that lane, why can't they slow up and let you in so that you can trade places? Why OH WHY do they have to speed up, brake hard and cut in front of you?

And, why can't the lady at the grocery store who has 90 items and sees you standing there with nothing but a bottle of gin, I mean pack of gum, let you cut in and give you a break? We live in the Midwest which is supposed to be about NICE. But all that I am seeing are self-involved idiots. What's worse, is I see these self-involved idiots perpetuating the behavior. I see kids refusing to make eye contact and who rarely smile if they pass you. I see kids in stores completely disrespectful to any adult, including their parents.

Why Oh Why can't I get over it? Maybe I need to point out some nice things to get myself over this stuff...I did have a nice young man hold the door for me the other day as I entered a store. Maybe I won't count that because he called me Ma'am?! Just kidding, I was so impressed that he acknowledged me that I actually had to stop and let him know. Isn't it funny that it is so rare that when it happens you are moved to tears and want to acknowledge it for the fact that it is rare?

I guess my only solace in this, is the belief that perhaps I better be more watchful of myself (I'll do my best not to cuss out the idiot in traffic or the freak in front of me at the grocery store) just kidding they are neither freaks nor idiots. I will recognize them for what society has made them, which is the same thing it has made me, a harried person just trying to do their best to get by.

By the way, I ran the spell check and neither toukis or snarky are recognized by google dictionary!