Videos at the Simms

Trips

Well both of us are no longer in state. I'm in Arizona now visiting my parents with Abby and Brian's at a conference in Wisconsin. Both are going really well. Abby has done well getting used to my mom and dad. She's been really happy the past two days and has been a lot of fun. She's been in a walker for the first time and is cruising around their house. It's really funny to run away from her and have her chase you. She really flies. Abby's also getting tons better at drinking from a cup. She now holds it herself and tips it. She's figured out that the best way to drink is not to bite the cup but sip from it. This is a HUGE improvement. It's really cool to see. Not that there aren't times where she's so excited to drink she throws water all over her face, but she laughs it off (I do too). She's also crawling on hands and knees! Well, one leg seems to want to use the foot rather than the knee, but it's still the same idea. We took Abby to the library to get some books and loved Dora the Explorer. Mom and Dad got her a few toys and she's really liked the different colored rings that you pull off the yellow stick (you know, the pyramid type of thing). We're also going to have a little pickleball action tonight. That should be fun.

Brian's loving the conference. He presented yesterday and said that it went really well. He's made a lot of contacts and caught up with some others he hasn't seen probably since last year's conference. He's learned of a few opportunities at universities this year in the U.S. and abroad. It sounds like there are some pretty good options going, so I'm pretty excited to have some possible places where we might be next year. It's definitely an exciting time. Tomorrow he'll be off to Washington, D.C. for his next conference. He sure is becoming quite the traveler. He tells me Wisconsin is beautiful though, so I'm looking forward to some pictures. That's about it from this Hartman clan for now. We do have some videos of Abby in her walker, and some pics from this trip, but that will have to wait for a little while until I can figure out the best way to get them up. Hope all is going well!

Behold the Stand-up Comedian

Sorry we've been such slackers, or more correctly, I. Life is good though. Abby is still slithering on her stomach but can go from slithering to sitting up like nobody's business. She's also received her first tooth, which I think Brian noticed on Saturday. I guess she handled it fine, because I didn't really notice. She can also stand for brief seconds at a time without holding on to anything! This girl is growing up WAY too fast. Hope you enjoyed the video! We do.

Scootching

Smile!

We thought it was just about picture time again, so here are some of our cool little girl.


Things are going pretty well here. Abby is getting more used to solid foods. She can pick up (sometimes) her own saltines and Cheerios now. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Eating is taking forever though. I think our record is over an hour. It's like we don't even have time to do anything when she's awake because we spend so much of it eating. It's crazy, but I think she's really liking it. She's liking it so much she's even starting to snub the cereal and prefers anything crunchy. I've joined a cooking group at church and we had our first meeting tonight. It was at our place and we made curry. It was scrumptious. Although, I used a new curry paste I got from an asian market and dang! It was spicy. Still good though.

Brian's still doing great. He's getting ready for a conference this week. He'll present one of the papers he's been working on. I've really been impressed with him. He's had tons to do (and still do), but I feel like he's learning new things really fast, like he's really happy with what he's doing, and doing it well too. He hasn't seemed too stressed or anything, and if I were presenting three papers at three different conferences this summer, I think I'd be a little worried about it all. But things are going really well for him, and it's great to see. We hope things are going well for everyone!

Catchin' Up!

Wow, it has been a long time. Well, might as well start where we left off. We went to my sister's for the first weekend in May (her birthday weekend), and had a grand ole time. We got to see family and Abby did really well. We had a good time at the rodeo one night, and a good BBQ beforehand. Abby had her first drink from a water bottle that weekend at my niece's soccer game. She loved it! It was a hot day; I'm sure the cold water felt really nice in her mouth, because let's face it, not much made its way actually down the pipe.

Great news! Brian's done with all his classes ever! Well, at least the ones he has to take. He'll still teach one in the fall. He was so excited. We celebrated with frozen yogurt. He also completed his finals and did well. It's weird to think that he doesn't actually have any reason to go into school, except for the fact he gets way more done there than at home. It's really too bad, because it's way more fun to have him home. Now he just needs to keep researching and get that dissertation done. The goal is to be done in August 2010. Brian will present three different papers he's working on at three different conferences this summer. He's going to single-handedly keep the airlines running. His first is in the beginning of June, so he's getting ready for that. Abby and I are going to miss him quite a bit I think, but at least we have internet and a webcam.

We got a new dresser! It actually has real wood! We're moving up in the world. Abby gets our old one. We think it's probably important she has something that won't tip over on her when she pulls on it. Abby's a champ at pulling on stuff to stand. She still has some trouble figuring out what's actually going to support her or not, but she will grab our fingers and away she goes. Or if she's sitting on your lab she'll just turn around and grab both your shoulders and hoist herself up. She's a strong little girl. Still no crawling yet, but she's drinking from a cup, and we're probably going to try a finger food later on this week. That should be fun. She insists on feeding herself anyway. I'll put the spoon into her mouth, but she guides it in and then sucks everything off it while I get the other spoon ready and give that to her, in the meantime she drops the first spoon so I can pick it up and start the whole thing over again. She's such a goober.

More Peas Please!

Abby is way too much fun. We started her on peas a couple weeks ago and she ate half the jar in one sitting. Obviously you can tell she liked it. She loves grabbing the spoon and putting it into her mouth. Sometimes I wonder if she likes eating so much because of the spoon. She's making the cutest noises and really starting to figure some things out. She can push herself backward now when she's sitting and when she's on her tummy I have seen her somehow be able to reach something she couldn't reach a few moments before. In short, she's making some great progress.

One of her newest things is gaping at everything. Everything is so amazing to her. We have electronic toothbrushes, and whenever we use them in front her she LOVES it. I gave her a toothbrush of her own yesterday, and she was distracted by it for a long time. She even brushed her own teeth by chomping on the brush side. This bodes well for the future, because we all know, kids never change.

There's not too much else going on here. I'm still the Webelos leader. We had a great time last week working on whipping and fusing rope, and learning the square knot. We got to go outside too, so I'm sure that helped. I am officially a graduate! Graduation took place on the 23rd of this month, so I will get my diploma in the mail in 6-8 weeks. Ah...

As for Brian, he's still doing a great job working on his research and classes. He completed his last class homework assignment this past week! Ever. That's pretty awesome. Finals are coming up pretty soon. We're all going up to Ft. Worth this weekend to see my sister's baby get blessed. They're going to have quite the party. My brother-in-law's parents, sister, and grandmom are coming, as are my parents, so there will be quite the gathering. We're really looking forward to it. We're thinking that their son might be as large as Abby though, despite the fact he's three and a half months younger. I'm sure we'll have pictures. Have a great week.