Whatever Happened to Summer Vacation?!

I have been acting in the role of single working mother for about 3 weeks now, and I must say that I am thankful this is the last night of it! Casey is currently finishing his last night as the Harding Uplift videographer, and I am SO glad. He has been leaving around 8:00 a.m. every morning and getting home around 1:30 or 2:00 a.m. the following morning... on a good day. Last night, I think he managed to get one hour of sleep. He was getting home as I was waking up! This might be the last year he does this... we're getting too old for this. :) I'd say he has put in his time, though--I think this was his 5th year to do it!

Abby has been going to work with me a lot more since Casey has been unavailable, so we've had plenty of time to bond. Plenty. I started a grad class this week, though, so I'm not really working right now. I have a wonderful friend who stays home with her 2 1/2-year-old boy and keeps another friend's child, and she has helped SO much this week keeping Abby while I go to class. Abby loves going to her house, so it hasn't been too bad leaving her every day. It's only about 4 1/2 hours a day, but after being together 24/7 for so long it's a big change! She'll stay at home now since Casey is done with Uplift. We're not sure when or how much he will be working at Hibbett Sports now. They're supposed to work him back into the schedule, so we'll see how that goes.

Casey has been looking at a couple of other job opportunities, so I'll post more on that when we have more info. Just keep praying he finds something stable soon!

I am very tired and have class again at 8:00 a.m., so I'll finish here with an Abby picture (or 2). :) Thanks for those of you who still check this blog--I know I haven't been consistent with keeping it updated. Happy 4th of July to all!

My New Favorite Picture & Current Desktop Background:

Abby's 1st Pool Experience -- She loved it!

Good-bye baby, Hello toddler

Abby is still only 10 months old, but somehow it would appear that we have already moved on to the toddler stage. I thought she would be at least a year old before we dealt with this stuff! Here are her latest accomplishments:

• Grabbing everything off of the table/dresser/desk she can reach and pulling it onto the floor
• Crawling up onto the couch
• Slamming every door closed that she comes in contact with (I'm waiting for the loss of a finger to occur at any moment.)
• Using the signs for "eat" and "please" (only when she feels like it, of course)
• Saying "mama," "baby," "yum yum," and "uh oh" (again, only when the mood strikes her)
• Waving bye-bye and clapping
• Giving kisses.... big, open mouthed, sloppy kisses

Oh, and let's not forget about this:
What. A. Mess. Please observe that she got herself into the ottoman cube first before climbing up onto the toy table. The girl is into everything!

Although, I guess no matter how big she gets, I'll still feel like this:
That's my baby girl. :)

A walking vampire

I was going to be in bed by 10:30 tonight, but as I was about to shut down the computer, I saw Abby's baby calendar... which I haven't been filling out.... at all. I was struck with sudden guilt and decided I had to get it up-to-date before I forgot everything she has done in the past few months! (Yes, months--I was that far behind.) Luckily, I blogged about some of her accomplishments and adventures over that span of time so I was able to put some of that on her calendar. That combined with the millions of pictures we have taken might have saved me. The calendar is now up to speed! And now for the latest entry on Abby's calendar....

She's walking! Can you believe it?! We have been counting her (independent) steps lately, and the highest she had gotten to was four. On Monday night, she had to go to work with me because Casey was working, too, and apparently she decided that was her moment to take off. I saw that she was going to take a few steps, so I started counting.... all the way up to 18! After that, it was all over. She just walks around all over the place now! She will drop back to her knees and crawl if she's really in a hurry to get somewhere, but she's much more confident with her walking now.

My baby will be 10 months in just a couple of days, and she's already walking around the house! I think I'm still in shock. :) We haven't had the video camera around when she's been walking yet, but we will get video soon.

In other Abby news, she has started looking like a little vampire (or hillbilly... we're not sure which). She has gotten two teeth on top now, but they're both of the side teeth! We have yet to see any sign of the front two teeth on top. It looks a little odd, but I have been assured by 2 different dental hygienists that it is nothing to worry about. Here's our little walking vampire:

More changes

Here's what is going on in Cochran-land. :)

• Casey recently got a new job at Hibbett Sports. (For those who were unaware, he lost his job at Harding at the end of March due to seizure issues and his inability to work. He's doing better and has been trying to find a job--any job--so we can pay our bills.) Orientation is Tuesday, at which point we will find out what position he has, what hours they expect him to work, etc.
• I am still working in the nursery at the gym. I got a really great offer for another job today, and we are still considering the possibilities it might have. More on that later (once I know more about it).
• Abby is now 9 months old. In case you missed the last post, she is trying to WALK! She has taken a couple of steps by herself and will stand alone for a little bit, but she's still a little nervous to just take off on her own. Sometimes we can trick her by getting her to hold on to a toy or her sippy cup when she tries to walk, but she figures it out after a couple of steps and sits down. She also has her 3rd tooth coming in, this time on the top. It's one of the side teeth instead of the middle ones, so this should be interesting. :)
  
• I am starting back to grad school in July to continue work on my Masters of Education in Early Childhood Special Ed. (same as my BA degree). The current plan is to be done by next summer--only one year from now! If I can stick to it, I will be able to make more money if/when I go back to work full time when Abby is older. (I think I can, I think I can...)

Tara took a lot of cute pictures a few days ago of us playing in the backyard with Abby, so I hope to have those soon to put a couple of them on here and Facebook. In the meantime, here's our little mess (literally):

Oh, here we go...

Abby's attempt to walk down the hall while only holding ONE of Daddy's hands...

She made it! And doesn't she look so proud?? :) It's only a matter of time...

Easter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I should be in bed right now, but I wanted to post my favorite pictures from our Easter in Memphis. Happy viewing, and goodnight! :)

Eight months old!

That's right... my little Abby is now 8 months old. Can you believe it?! I can't. She now has 2 teeth on the bottom, she crawls all over the house, pulls up on anything that will stay still long enough, drinks out of a sippy cup, eats just about anything she can get her hands on, and talks all the time. It was so much fun when she figured out how to say "mamama" and "dadada". She is the bright spot in my life! Here's our girl (and I managed to capture the new teeth in the photo!):