Ca-Dabby

This is Abigail; aka Abbie, Abbie-Ca-Dabby, and Gail (when she is in trouble).

Abbie is my first niece ever, and the first grandchild. This little girl is so incredibly special and we have an amazing bond. When she was very young, she used to tell people that I was her best friend. And when she would get mad at her mom, she would say that she was going to live with me!!

 (Yes, that makes me happy). 

Abbie is very brave. She has been on the Matterhorn, Tower or Terror, Space Mountain and CA Screamin. I was with her on her first Space Mountain ride. I remember being terrified because she didn't make a sound the entire ride. When the ride ended and it was our turn to get off, I picked her up to place her on the platform. As I set her down, her legs gave out. Her mom and I looked at one another in shock, the ride was so intense that her legs were wobbly. Alison  picked her up, we shook our heads and said, "That was maybe too much." We hadn't even reached the escalator when Abbie looked at me and said,

 "Auntie, again??" 

Abbie is very coordinated, unlike her mom (haha), and I think she will be a great athlete. Right now her sport of choice is running. She runs everywhere.

She is 6 years old and half way through her kindergarten year. Time flies. It feels like yesterday that I held her for the first time. We used to do monthly sleepovers, but her family has left the IE and are living in the OC now.  It was as very lucky 2 years that she lived only a 5 min drive away. I will cherish that time. Jay would call me on his way home from work and ask what the plan was for the evening and I would respond, "Abbie."

Abbie's first crush was Uncle Jay. When I was planning our wedding I would tell Abbie that Auntie was going to marry Uncle Jay (yes, we called him Uncle before we were married). She would tell me no, that Abbie was going to marry Uncle Jay. At family get-togethers, when it was time to give kisses bye bye, Abbie would curl into her mom, smile and flutter her eyelashes when it was time to kiss Jay. Adorable. The crush was short lived, after a few weeks she announced that she was no longer going to marry Jay, that she was going to marry a rock instead. Haha, I love this little girl.

Abbie is kind, energetic and a silly goose.

She loves to tell jokes, sing songs and play with her American Girl dolls.

She does karate once a week.

Every time I see her, she is taller, more mature and prettier. I think her parents need to watch out in her teenage years. 

I hope that I can always be one of her best friends. I am excited every time I get to see her and miss her when too much time has past. I look forward to watching her and Avery become friends. 

Avery wears a lot of Abbie's hand me downs and it fills me with joy to watch Avery wear an outfit that I have a memory of Abbie in. On Avery's first Christmas, she wore Abbie's first Christmas dress! My mom and sister squealed when they saw what Avery was wearing.  Too cute!

Abbie, thank you for teaching me how special it is to be an auntie. I love you!