Super Naked

Our girl loves to get naked. Did God instill this desire right around the time they want to be potty trained? It's all hitting the perfect apex of timing and she can go from this ...



to this...(somehow the shoes always remain on)


in about 20 seconds flat.

Then she dries off, heads inside...and is happy as a clam. Especially showing off her fading scar.


249. whale pool!
250. abby sleeping in a few more minutes later than her "new" normal (which is way too early!)
251. ex-neighbors who celebrated our 7th anniversary with us spontaeously
252. thinking back on 7 years ago today and being so happy with the man that i married

Costume Change

Abby got a water table from her grandparents and a huge highlight at her birthday (after realizing that she needed to share just about everything in our yard! Yikes!) was splashing her friend Pema until they were both completely soaked.





Which of course called for a change of outfit. Who doesn't do a costume change at a second birthday? Anne Hathaway at the Oscars, here she comes! Which of course, called for another cake cone. With sprinkles.




246. The perfect towel rack hanging over the tub (yes, it's worth mentioning!)
247. Food delivered
248. 8-11pm being "our time" without kidos

And Then She Turned Two

Ice Cream Social Birthday Party. Excellent if you are inviting lots of kids older than two. Not so great if you have lots of two year olds running around. It's sugar mania. Well, if you do an ice cream social the way we do -- candy galore. No wonder people hate our parties! We won't board their kids overnight after the sugar overload. Here is Abby saying, "try it!" and "eat it!". She was restricted to some ice cream with sprinkles and a few marshmallows.



She surprised us all by knowing just when to blow out her candle...


And by how many cake cones she could put away that day...


After last year's party being so focused on our thankfulness for her health, it was nice to just have a backyard get together with Abby's buddies and relax. And when that was over, I was so thankful, again, for her health, for our ability to have a party so soon after Ford was born (because of all the help we received!) and for all the people who fill our lives with their love and hope.

And Ford was happy....being held most of the day...



243. abby loving her family in town
244. sleeping in and still getting it all done
245. a husband who gets the party thing (and does the shopping!)

Ford's Homecoming

We're a bit behind with this blogging business as of late.... busy changing diapers, loving the help we've gotten from family and are in an all around "holy cow, is it time for him to eat again?" state.

This is from almost 2 weeks ago...

My mom told us on Tuesday that Abby had a really bad runny nose. Really bad. Perfect timing! So, for a full week, Abby couldn't touch her baby brother. Not the best way to kick things off which lead to a love/hate relationship. "Love baby Ford!" was quickly followed by "No baby!" Whew. It was tough to keep up with her mental gymnastics regarding the transition.

As we gave the heads-up from the hospital, everyone gathered outside to welcome us home...

Ring around the rosey with her Grandma's...





Waiting for us to get home with Ford...

Oh how we missed Abby!

Welcome home, Ford!

Kissing her Raggedy Ann doll (a gift from Ford -- thanks Grandma Nieporte!)

Getting into her big sis duties even though she has a cold and can't touch him...

Labor Day Weekend - Sunday/Monday

I had been calling my acupuncturist and friend Wendy, asking her to induce me if this baby didn't come on his own by the due date. Looking back, I was getting obsessed! What was the rush? Well... as I said before, my mom had been here awhile and I didn't want her to have to leave and come back.... and, well... it just seemed like it was time. I am sure this is because Abby was two weeks early and came with absolutely no notice. It was a long labor, filled with pitocin and no natural labor pains. This time was a little different.

I had sporadic labor pains all day on Mother's Day. They were really mild, anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes apart for most of the day. By that evening, they were more intense and by the time we went to bed, they were still a bit sporadic, but they were more intense. I was waiting for that 5 minutes apart for one whole hour thing. And as I slept, every 5 to 10 minutes resetting the timer on my phone, suddenly, at 2:45am, my water broke. And it continued to "break" for the next 30 minutes as my contractions jumped to 3 minutes apart and we raced to the hospital. YIKES! Thank God my mom was here... we'd have never been able to get Abby to a friend's house in time. I asked for an epidural the minute we got there ... and lots of things happened in the next 30 minutes but all in all, they had to give me something to slow things down (in order to stabilize the baby) and in so doing, gave me time to get that epidural! Praise the Lord! I give serious props to every mother who's done it naturally. Seriously. I was terrified of how painful it would be. Instead, I got to be in a wonderfully present state, pushed for about 15 minutes and Ford was born at 7:34. Later the nurse told me that that baby was coming and would've been here at 5am or so if we hadn't slowed things down. It was an amazing experience. I'm so blessed by how smoothly it all went.

Here is our first picture "together" and then a few the next day as we got to know our big (for us!) boy.






240. a quick birth story
241. fear overcome with peace
242. ford!!!

Labor Day Weekend - Saturday

Since those labor pains hadn't started yet, we headed to Abby's friend Pema's birthday party at a place called The Little Barn. Abby LOVED jumping...


rolling in the "bubbles"...


and chalking it up with the big girls...


There was a lengthy description on their website about how they clean their "bubbles" along with everything else. And yet, nothing could contain the bad runny nose Abby got a few days later. Then again, maybe she got it from a shopping cart. :)

Little did we know what the next few days had in store!

237. an uninhibited girl at a big party
238. exerting some independence
239. singing "single ladies" in the car together

Labor Day Weekend -Friday

Okay, so it was my labor day weekend. For some reason, I was sure we were going to have to induce so I was doing everything I could to get the labor party started. My mom had been here for 5 days already and I was worried I was soon going to be wasting her time "waiting" for baby boy to arrive. So, in an attempt to believe in those crazy rumors and to will my labor to begin, we went to a restaurant here in Los Angeles that boasts of having a salad that can kick start the process. It's all a fable, of course....but why not make a night of it? Abby loved the garlic rolls (super duper garlicky - but then again, she loves olives!) and we loved the salad. The topper? Gelato for dessert. No labor pains...but we sure had fun with our big girl who loved to sit at the table, serve herself salad and pop garlic balls in her mouth.




234. a girl who loves gorgonzola
235. enjoying my mom
236. no bibs when we go out to eat!

Summer Lovin'

Doesn't our girl look all grown up?!






Can summer start in early May? It has at our house! The sprinkler got set up yesterday and after Abby successfully fit into an 18 month suit that was a hand me down (thanks, Wendy or Karis!), off we went. The girl loves to get wet.

YES!

This post was written pre-Ford's arrival last weekend....

Abby loves to say "yes!" instead of "yeah" which I am completely thrilled about. Especially if you ask her if she wants to go "outside!" and "swing!" That answer is always a very clear YES.

Grandma is here to help us "wait" for the baby boy's arrival (come on, little man....) and since there isn't any action yet, they find themselves swinging a lot.




231. waiting
232. swinging!
233. help with naps, dinner amd all the rest

Swing SET!

A friend who lives around the corner from us called us when we'd been here but a few days and asked if we wanted her massive swing set. Her girls are now 9 and 11 ... and just don't use it anymore. We jumped at the opportunity even though the timing wasn't perfect... mostly because it was free, Abby is obsessed with swinging and her 2nd birthday is coming up. Grant cut off one of the swings, made the entire thing smaller, and voila - instant fabulousness right in our own backyard. While they were assembling it, Abby was not super thrilled with the loud noises...


but as soon as it was ready, she was excited. Now, it seems that everyday, all she wants to do is "swing!!!"



That was, until a 4 year old boy came over and started going down the slide. Now we've got another safety issue on our hands as we have to help her both up the ladder and down the slide. She'll get it... she's just not quite big enough yet!




For a few consecutive nights while going to sleep I heard her mumbling in her crib, "swing SET! swing SET!" Doesn't it make your heart smile to make your kids happy?

228. hearing giggles of happiness
229. simple pleasures
230. knowing what makes our girl smile