I've arrived!

Hello friends and family! I know you've spent the last few months reading about how Mom and Dad prepared for my arrival - and now here I am! I arrived on November 18, 2008 at 2:23 PM. I weighed 6 lbs, 14 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. Since then I have been very busy - and now I'm almost 7 weeks old. Let me fill you in on my first few weeks of life...

It all started around 1 AM when Mom started having contractions. She and Dad finally went to the hospital around 3 AM. Mom's smiling in this picture - so this must have been after the drugs, and while she still had pocession of the remote control. Just before I was about to enter the world, the machines lost my heart beat - suddenly it went from Mom, Dad and the nurse in the room to at least 10 different doctors and nurses. I arrived to a large audience - which I feel was the greeting I deserved. When the doctors took me to clean me up - they were able to assess that I was born with Down Syndrome and a heart defect - so I said a very quick hello to my mom and dad - then I was immediately taken to the NICU for tests. Dad came with me.

Here I am in the NICU after all my tests. The nurses there thought I was HUGE compared to the babies that they usually meet. I did really well on all the tests, so the doctors decided I could go to the regular nursery at 6:30 PM.

Here is my first official picture with my mom. It was 6:00 - and we'd barely met.

Here's my first official picture with my dad. I'm wearing my hat knit by local ladies for babies in the NICU. The nurses were so excited because they don't usually get babies that would fit into this hat - and they thought it was really cute.

Grandma Nathlich came to meet me that night.

Aunt Emily came too. Even though I was only able to wear hospital blankets and t-shirts - she and I made plans to keep me super trendy for the rest of my life. She already got me my first pair of Uggs. Now that we've seen the size of my feet - we're thinking I'll wear them next year.

The next day Grandma and Grandpa Howe came to meet me. Grandpa takes all the pictures - so there aren't many of him. The rest of my time in the hospital I had to spend in the nursery under the sun lamps because I had jaundice. Mom and Dad weren't allowed to take pictures - but I would lay there in my diaper with big sunglasses on. I LOVED it. One of the nurses told mom and dad that they need to take me to the beach because I was such a good tanner. While I was lying there with no clothes on, I accidently scratched my face with my long nails.

We spent a few extra hours in the hospital for me to be under the sun lamps, but around 7 PM on Thursday, November 20th I was allowed to go home. Here I am all straped into my car seat ready to get out of the hospital!

Here we are - ready for our first car ride as a family. See how happy Dad is? That's because he doesn't have to sleep on a pull out chair anymore.

This is me on Thanksgiving when we decided to go for a walk. It was a nice warm day - but I'm all bundled up like it's snowing out. I'm mad because I wanted to just stay home and watch football. Mom was teaching me that the best way to watch football is with your eyes closed. I almost had it mastered when they decided we should get some fresh air and exercise.

Ah yes. My first Thanksgiving. Mom, Dad and Grandma Howe thought it would be so funny to put me next to this turkey because it weighed twice what I do. As you can see, I didn't think it was so funny. It's the first thing I'll tell my shrink about when I'm old enough to talk about it.

This is my first real bath. I have since learned to love them. But here I was, trying to relax in the warm water when this thing called Callie comes and sticks her scary, hairy face in mine. They keep calling her my sister... she must have come from the shallow end of the gene pool. I really hope I don't grow up to look like this.

No matter how they try to brush and tame my hair - this always happens. It makes me worried that perhaps I will grow up to look like Callie.

This is my Christmas card picture. Mom bathed me, brushed and brushed my hair until it was as calm as it gets, then put me in my pretty black velvet dress and proceeded to take nearly 200 pictures of me.

It was a long night. I'm not sure I'm cut out for this modeling business.

Here's our car all packed up for my first road trip! Boy do I need a lot of stuff. We're going to Connecticut to Grandma and Grandpa Howe's house for my first Christmas.

Road trips are a lot like football - best with your eyes shut.

Here's some more quality time spent with my eyes shut. Isn't my puppy so cute? I think she's actually just insanly jealous and depressed about her new role as "dog" now that I'm the "child".

Here's my Uncle Alex. Who's cuter with their tounge out?

Here's my Uncle Charley. He's going to take me to Yankees games despite my father's wishes that I only ever love the Red Sox.

Here's mom and me decorating my first batch of the annual Howe family Christmas cookies. I'm telling her to watch out - Nikki is about to steal our cookie. (Nikki lives at Grandma and Grandpa's house - she was my mom's first rescue puppy.)

Ohh, Dad, look at this - I got some really good stuff in here!

Here's Grandpa Howe and I ringing in the New Year watching football. Maybe he taught Mom that the best way to watch is with your eyes closed. He was a master of that skill. Happy New Year everyone! My New Year Resolution is to be better about maintaining my blog - so be sure to check back! In the meantime, if you just can't get enough Abby (and who can, really?!) you can check out my Grandpa Howe's photo website. Everytime I see him he takes lots of pictures of me. His site is: http://www.craig.zenfolio.com/