The Many Faces...

...of our 15 month old girl.

Not only does she hate to nap, she loves to play, crawl, scream, you name it! And, please... get a load of those big front teeth.

15 month old business

We had her check up last week and she's doing great. She's only gained a few ounces since her 12 month visit, which I've heard is normal considering how much she's moving around, but I got inspired to get a bit more proactive with her menu.

So far this week I've made Almond Butter O's, Vanilla Custard, Raspberry Ice Cream and Blueberry Waffles. I'm also excited to try these. Sounds fattening, right? The Zucchini Fritters will have to wait until next week...

Here is Abby devouring her custard while I try to feed her lunch and simultaneously stir the pudding "continuously" for the ice cream.





Abby took about 4 steps today by herself but really isn't excited to do it unless she's walking from daddy to mommy. She has zillions of teeth, is saying billions of words and absolutely still loves to groove to any beat.

54. my husband letting me sleep in while he took Abby and fed her breakfast
55. food trucks! fast, easy, fun
56. dirty clothes; it means she's been playing hard

105 and rising

It was toasty here this week.

And..Abby's back to boycotting her afternoon nap.

So, I tried to induce the sleepiness by taking her to the park and wearing her out.

When we pulled into Lacey Park, I wondered why there was, literally, one other car in the parking lot. The smart folks were at home, sipping tea and dipping their feet in the pool! We had a great time since the breeze brought it down to about 102... and we ate lunch on a blanket, Abby pushed her stroller around and she had a blast on the baby swings (which were in the shade! whew!). That afternoon nap still didn't happen, though. What else can I try? Sedation? :)

Here she is, fascinated by the flags waving...


Pushing her stroller...



And inspecting some leaves...


50. Lacey Park, a virtual mini Central Park
51. sharing a sandwich with my 15 month old
52. belly laughs on the swings

Using Our Words

Abby has a few new favorite words. And when I say "favorite" I mean that she constantly said these words, and only these words, while on vacation (but especially at Grandma and Papa's house) in relation to fans and lights.




There you have it. I hope you caught it. "On-a!"

The other two winners were "down" (she sounds like she's chinese - wendy, you can verify this!) and "byeeee!" (she sounds like she's in high school). I'm telling you, she would wake up, see the fan above her and her first word in the morning was a bright and cheery, "On-a!" Just wait till she can say "off!"

I Believe I Can Fly

After all, doesn't everyone want to fly? Especially in Tahoe. I love that laugh...



And even while on vacation, I found that this is true...

“You must regard parenting as one of your most important tasks while you have children at home. This is your calling…There is nothing more important. You have only a brief season of life to invest yourself in this task. You have only one opportunity to do it. You cannot go back and do it over.

You live in a culture in which there are opportunities for you to do things unheard of in history. You are presented daily with scores of opportunities. There is more than you could ever do. [But] to do this job of parenting well, it must be a primary task. It is your primary calling.” --Shepherding A Child's Heart

You don't get a vacation from parenting, right?

Tahoe For The First Time

And from Sacramento, we went on to the beloved Tahoe. Oh, how I love Tahoe!

We missed the annual trip last year due to Abby and her upcoming surgery (which wasn't scheduled yet). I remember asking the cardiologist if we could go and he gently said, "Your daughter is in congestive heart failure. I would stick close to home." Yikes. At the time, I thought we'd be doing pretty good with an ounce or two gain in a week, we'd go into his office and unknowingly, he'd bring reality back in a big way. Congestive heart failure. What i heard was, "your daughter might die." No wonder those office visits were traumatic for me! ANYWAY, Tahoe was magnificent. Abigail had a great time sharing high chair time (and food!) with her cousin Abram (2 months younger)...


Playing with her shadow down at the lake...


Trying to crawl to the water by herself...


Sharing watermelon with Abram....


Hiking with Daddy...


and Mommy, Aunt Stacey, Uncle Ryan and Abram...


Finding rocks after a lunch of chicken and yam fries...


Going on walks every morning even though Red was back in Sacramento...


Figuring out how this key unlocks the door to the pool...


Floating in the freezing water with Daddy...


Going out to dinner and eating gelato for the first time...


Swinging on an old ski lift chair with her cousins and Uncle Bill...


44. Tahoe
45. Cold Mountain Nights
46. Unexpected old college friends mere minutes away
47. Loving our family
48. Abby sleeping in another room
49. An ear that finally "cleared" after 3 days

Nor Cal Part 1

Whomever said that babys sleep in the car are wrong. We planned our entire exit plan on the fact that the little lady who hates her new car seat would at least fall asleep post In 'n Out and be out for most of the trip up north. We got some relief when I finally let her gnaw on my watch (never a good choice)


and ultimate relief came when we let her watch a video (waaaaay too close to her face, propped up on a pillow) while gnawing on the case (which probably was made in China and has some nasty stuff in it).


Around 9pm, she finally fussed her self to sleep with her little bunny over her head. Poor girl. At that point, I texted Grant in the front. We were worlds apart with coolers and baby gear separating us. So much for bonding during the drive.

But once we got up north, life was grand. She insisted on walking while holding someone's hands and would resort to crawling only on the grass, tried to catch bubbles, go on walks, swim and splash, eat cheese and love on her stuffed bear and baby.









We even got to see cousin Katy, Uncle Kev and Aunt Christi (who always makes Abby laugh). Surprise...they got to "walk" her outside when she was getting restless. Her new favorite activity. Seriously. She won't bend her legs to sit down. Those knees are locked. She just dances in place and fusses until someone will grab her hands and go. Thanks, Katy, for being a great "walker!"

Duck Love

Will she ever walk without the ducks? It's unlikely. I picture her walking up to Rieber Hall at UCLA, pushing the ducks as she registers for classes.

Stacking

Two days ago, Abby and I worked on this...


I haven't seen her touch them again. Until today. And it looked like this....

41. new skills
42. cool summer nights
43. air conditioning thanks to an electrician who goes above and beyond...coming back a second day just to double check his work

The Awful, No Good, Very Bad Day

First, our air conditioning went out (along with a slew of other very important devices like our stove). Then, Abby found a new thing to do. She gets stuck every time. Not so fun for either of us.


Here she is, later, at the mall (a nice, cool place to go) before the "balloon meltdown" which I'm very sorry I did not get a picture of. This is actually her in a "happy place" regarding the balloon.

She freaks when she sees balloons. Once she gets one, however, she can't handle the ... excitement? It pops out of her clenched little hands and even thought it's weighted, hanging right beside her, she bursts into tears and can't get her act together enough to grab it again. I finally left it in the middle of the mall and carried her off, screaming, to her first carousel ride.


Whew. We flew past the scene of the crime later and saw a cute little boy playing with the balloon. Win, win.

And on a good note, she does still love herself. No one needs to worry about that. And love means giving kisses. And getting caught doing it.



37. Abby sleeping in until 7:15 after a week of 6am crying
38. electricity!
39. The hope of vacation around the corner
40. The ability to laugh at the hard times, knowing God is in control

Steam

If you're in need of a pick me up... try to watch this without laughing. It's from some months ago, but it's worth watching. At least in our house. Again and again.

The Case Of The Missing Turkey Baster

Wow... lots of new things are going on these days. At the moment, there is a spoon on the floor in the hallway and a turkey baster stuck in the couch cushions. Ahhhh.... life with a 14 month old!

Abby loves to put things in and out and to open and close just about everything she can. Here she is, throwing open the front door and then going in and out 12 times.

There are two cabinets that she's allowed into in the kitchen -- one with a zillion plastic bottles that we no longer use and another with pie tins and a strainer. I usually pick up the mess that this makes about 5 times per day. Talk about open and closing, putting in and out... and messing things up! She loves it! Unfortunately, these two cabinets are right under my feet when I'm throwing her meals together. She also loves her nesting toys which double as bath toys. Suddenly, she can figure out which ones go inside the others. When these things happen overnight, it seems like magic.