Potty Mouth

Amazon Prime. Have I raved about this yet? Ahhhh. It's heaven for those of us who can't get our mind around a trip to Target, Trader Joe's and Office Depot in the same day (and in my town, these stores are all very close together). I'd been needing (okay, wanting) mechanical pencils for months now. Months. Jump on amazon and within 2 minutes I have some in my cart and they are on their way to me. With free shipping. And seeing that I can't remember what I need to buy for more than 10 minutes, it's perfect! And the subscribe and save discount of 15% extra for things like diapers? Don't get he started... I love it.

All that to say, after I got a rec (thanks, JJ) for a good potty, I ordered it on amazon and it was here two days later. Finally, something that is marketed toward "small" children! Abby has started telling me about her "business" -- so I figured having a potty around might not be a bad idea. (Plus she has her friend Pema to compete with who's been potty trained since she was 2 months old). So far, she's either terrified of it (maybe it's cold whens he sits down?) or when I ask her if she wants to try it she just simply says no in the cutest most final way possible. As if to say, "No way, mom. That thing is weird." As a result, we've been talking about "business" way too much in our household recently. Way. Too. Much.

So, instead of using the potty, Abby was running around today with her bathing suit on her head. A fine way to spend a winter day, no?

112. a sense of humor emerging

113. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon

114. wise friends

115. surprise Le Creuset delivery

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Abby is a tiny bit closer to getting that birthday song down. She can now say "birthday" - just in time for daddy's big day. It seems that suddenly in the past 2 weeks she can almost say anything that we ask her to.

The celebration also included her Christmas gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Nieporte -- two huge hits. A mini boom box where she can control the songs...

and some wheels...

She just had to sit on it before it was out of the box.

109. Birthdays!

110. Dinner out without one "down!" comment

111. order and tidiness (not my strong suits!)

Knuffle Bunny!

Abby is officially into her first big girl book. The pages are thin (read: easily ripped) but the book is so fabulous that she wants it "again" and "again!" If you haven't heard of it, buy it for a little one that you know. I promise. They'll love it. And since the main character is a girl, Trixie, but looks almost like a boy, it can go for both genders. Win-win!

And, I've committed (yikes to saying this outloud) to memorizing 24 verses of scripture this year. The first is this :

"You crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with abundance." Ps 65:11

Nothing more encouraging than that, is there? Hope you are all having a great start to 2011!

106. Abby's early love for reading

107. being able to take the time to climb up on a bed and read with her at 4:30 in the afternoon for no reason at all

108. new beginnings

Christmas Time Is Here

We headed to Nor Cal for Christmas this year and it started out by randomly seeing Uncle Ryan, Aunt Stace and cousin Abram at In'n Out. Abby had a great time watching a boy eat dinner. It was a wrestling match!

Once we got there, she spent lots of time collecting berries outside...

finding the baby in mommy's tummy...

hanging with her cousin Katy...

petting her first horse...

dragging Grandma and Papa around the house...

doling out kisses...

and falling asleep amid the loudest Christmas Eve (rock concert) service I've ever heard.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

This Christmas was special mostly because she was excited for "anta" to come and because she didn't really care about the few gifts that she did get. It wasn't about that. It was about being with her family. Amen.

And, Papa (who is suspiciously absent from these pictures!) got a few good shots with his new camera...(isn't this the cutest hat you've ever seen? Thanks, Aunt JJ!)

This was a really special Christmas for us to all be together, for Abby to get to know her Uncle "Kev!" and Aunt Christi better and for her to spend time with Katy. We are so blessed to have family within driving distance (even though that return traffic was a killer!).

God, Immanuel, is with us, indeed.

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

100. That God truly is with us, everyday

101. God's love for His own

102. Christmas traditions

103. Christmas PJs

104. Family

105. Our health this year!

Scar Update

It was over 80 degrees here this week. In December. It's crazy. Abby kept spitting water out of her mouth, getting soaked and insisting to take off her shirt (no comments about how I need to cut this off immediately in regard to her older years). What resulted were some fabulous scar shots -- it's been 14 months since her surgery. Miraculous.

97. her scar
98. the hope of all that her scar reminds me of
99. pediasure to grow, grow grow

Who Needs Santa?

We headed out to the Americana to see Santa while Grandma was here. Abby was talking about it all morning. I knew once we got close to the man she sometimes calls "pop pop" that her white knuckles would be clutching on to me for all that was worth. She bravely marched up to Santa's house...


and once inside, was in awe of the Christmas decor. As we approached Santa, she hid her face in my chest and Santa said, "Go for it, Mom. It's only going to get worse." Right he was.



Classic.

After she pulled herself together, we spent the rest of the afternoon eating cheese and watching the water show that compares to the Bellagio in Vegas.



Oh, and her shirt was quite apropos for the day...(from Grandma N.) "Who needs Santa when you've got Grandma!"

91. Classic Santa moments
92. having Grandma here to see it in person
93. dinner out when I've run out of ideas
94. a reliable car
95. not doing costco alone
96.the largest bag of chocolate chips this prego lady has ever seen

Smiley

Grandma has been here for a few days to soak up some pre-Christmas memories (and help me out a lot!). We were determined to make cookies (this hasn't yet happened and she leaves tomorrow) but Abby and Grandma spend lots of time walking around the backyard.







I mean...what are they talking about? How can this be this fun?

Even flopping around on the bed had them both in stitches.


88. hearing that little girl laugh
89. a growing belly
90. sun in december!