Who Am I?

In the last two weeks, I've gone from "mama" and "mommy" to...

Mom (weird!)
Mommsy (where did she learn this?)
Momola (seriously. what?)

She'll pat my arm and call me any one of these ... all day long.

Usually the "mom" name comes out in the following forms,
"no, mom."
"fine, mom." (meaning, "i'm fine")
"mom!"

all are weird. i much prefer mommy or mama!

She's adjusting great to the new digs, as you can see -- out front blowing bubbles with grandma.



185. not waiting 10 min for hot water
186. morning sunlight
187. literally seeing abby grow
188. her new love for milk

Moving & Coloring

Ahhhh.... a sweet little blog hiatus. Sorry about that. We've been moving. 8 months prego with a toddler plus moving boxes doesn't make a for a pretty picture. Not. At. All. Whew. It was a long few days...and now that we're "in", we're so happy to be here! Abby started truly coloring before we moved.

Example here :



And today, when I left for literally three minutes, I returned to find this on our freshly painted kitchen cabinets.


It's our first "holy moly, what did you DO?" event. I'm sure with another little one coming (and therefore my eyes not able to always be on her) this is the first of many. Should I invest in that miracle eraser thing? And I just want to add.... there isn't one color going on here. There's five. Five. I know. She's creative.

And just in case you need the magic combo for erasing the damage -- it was baby wipes and rubbing alcohol, Problem solved.

180. wipes and alcohol (duh!)
181. a creative girl
182. a full size dishwasher
183. a self rimming sink in the kitchen
184. 80 degree days

Pempo & Akabah

Both Abby and her friend Pema have made up names for themselves. It's funny to me that they think it's funny. Recently, they did some rocking on this cute chair together. Abby gives a kiss, Pema tries to strong-arm her -- all in the name of best buds.







177. peace amid the chaos
178. health -- we've so taken it for granted!
179. transition

Croup, There It is!

Our healthy girl who made it through all of flu season with only one nasty cold, has croup. Croup! Well, it's super mild. In fact, she never had "the" cough that everyone knows so well and sends you looking around for seals in your house. But she had 48 hours of fever, followed by a night of crying where on the inhale, we heard that seal sound. The next day she was fever-free and felt great...but I just wasn't sure. Thankfully, when we got to the doctor, Abby did her emotional crying thing and she got to hear, first hand, the seal cry (after telling me that croup normally isn't a crying thing. it's a coughing thing. duh.) So, to head it off at the pass, Abby gulped down the tiny bit of steroids that they gave her and last night, with humidifier blasting, she slept till 6am without a cough or cry. Waahoo! Now if only G and I could kick the nasty cold we've gotten. Here's to only getting better and better. Vitamin C we love you!

Car Faces

For a girl who isn't too fond of still facing backward in the car, she doesn't look too unhappy here, does she? Grandma snapped some shots when she was visiting from her co-pilot back seat spot.




173. A car that doesn't break down
174. getting the "wow! you're getting big" response that I never got with Abby
175. kiwi on a warm afternoon
176. family you can count on

Church with a 21 month old

It's true. We've kept Abby out of "kid's church" because we figured the germ to learning ratio was just way too high. That, and, I do put her in a bible school situation every Wednesday at BSF (and I might be wrong about that germ to learning ratio. She learns a TON on Wednesdays). So, now we go to church, hear the message from the beautiful courtyard and sometimes, walk a bit.





It's a win/win for everyone right now and will be one thing we can continue when baby brother arrives.

Lolly-Pop'n

First rule of Lolly-pop'n : It stays in your mouth. This rule is obviously hard to remember seeing that every other item (keys, money, pens) are only allowed to be held momentarily if they never go in her mouth. Oi.

Second rule of Lolly-pop'n : It does not go in your hair. Ever. We've failed at this both times she's had a lolly. Oh well.... at least it isn't gum!



169. Lollys!
170. A song to accompany said lolly
171. 80 degrees and no shoes!
172. Abby waking up from a nap, pointing at me, saying, "Elmo!" and laughing

Ho Ho-ing

It's in the 70's here this week and Abby is regressing to winter. She found this hat in a drawer that we were cleaning out and she's been asking for "ho ho-ing" which means... "turn on the Christmas music!"

And, in case you ask her, she now likes to be called "Abs." :)

Things are hectic around here these days. Details to come!

165. God's timing - not a moment too late
166. Grandma's (both!) who love to help out (lifesavers!)
167. sales on the perfectly right items
168. taking budgeting as a challenge

Hello again, Sippy

While cleaning out a cabinet recently, Abby found this unused sippy cup and has been putting it to good use. We now put milk in it and she has downed more milk in the past few days than the past few weeks combined. For the love of calories, I'm saying "welcome back sippy!"



And here is the big girl waiting for some friends to come over to watch the Oscars. Too bad you can't see her "fashion diva" shirt (perfect for awards night and for hiding mud stains from playing outside earlier).



That morning she learned that "hola" means hello. She was standing at this window waving her arm above her head saying "hola, Mike!" waiting for them to get here.