Cantrell Cousins

This past month we made a day trip up to Clinton and spent it with the Cantrells.  For the first time (EVER) all NINE great grandchildren were together at Grandpa John and Nana's.  As always, Hayden was reserved for most of the time but eventually warmed up and Abbie was good as long as no one touched her or took her away from us, haha.  It's always an adventure with these two.
But it turned out to be a great adventure - it was great to have the girls all together and for John and Mildred to see all NINE of the girls. And it wouldn't be a Cantrell get together without a photo shoot...it was as tricky to get all nine girls to smile as you'd think. Especially considering that the 2 youngest wanted nothing to do with it at one point or another.

Thankful for family.

Abbie at 1.5 years

Wowzer.  Abbie is 18months!  She has grown and changed so much these past few months.  One of the biggest changes is she has teeth! Her first tooth popped through right at 15 months, the same as Hayden. Her front lower tooth came first, then an upper side tooth and eventually another front bottom and side bottom.  Right now she has five and I'm pretty sure 3 of those all came in at the same time...it was a rough 3 weeks, haha.

She's starting to talk more, definitely mimicking what she hears.  I think I have figured out what she calls Hayden (uh-dah), she clearly says ChiliChili, go, bite, no, mom, da (dad), where go, milk, HayHay, bath and her favorite one BuhBye! We've counted over 35 words. She constantly rattles and chatters, usually at such a loud volume.  I'm thinking that it won't be long at all until she's using her words a lot more and then our worlds will be changed! She's also ridiculously quick at learning routines.  She follows 1 or 2 step directions really well, and it continues to amaze me.  She's still very particular about where things go and always putting things up.  I sure hope that trait sticks!  She also quickly notices when something has moved or not where it's supposed to be.

Abbie still feels (more now that ever) that she is just as big as Hayden. She looooves to be involved with whatever Hayden is doing and honestly thinks she can do whatever Hayden does. And she tries her best.
I have noticed that she's doing things so much sooner and I wonder at times if this is why, from watching and following Hay all the time. In fact, just this week I caught her trying to use the toilet! She had taken off her pants and diaper and was trying to climb onto the toilet.   She also has become really good at using her fork and spoon - mastering cereal even! She definitely is watching us and picking up on everything we're doing

Hayden loves Abbie a lot  and often says it's because Abbie smiles all the time or that she's so silly. And it's true.  She's such a good hearted girl, loves to snuggle often and is learning to be ornery (she must get that from Ethan haha).  She is such a goofball, having learned to fake laugh she tends to randomly throw out a chuckle when you least expect it and then laugh when we laugh back.  She loves to play "i'm going to get you" and "where's Hayden?" or the all time favorite "tickle monster."

I can't believe that it's been 18months already. We're truly been blessed with an amazing little spunk of energy that's full of loving and ornery-ness when we got blessed with Abbie.