Mine

Abby's new favorite word is "mine." Yesterday, we did a little bit of shopping at Target. Everytime I put something in the cart she said, "MINE" in an assertive, slightly whiney voice. Delightful.

I take full credit for her learning the word "no". But, I take no credit for "mine" and I'm not sure which child to blame for it. HA! We just have too many friends with little kiddos to have avoided this phase.

Now, to just withstand the constant temptation to say, "No, MINE!" right back at her in an equally assertive, whiney voice. Wish me luck!

Transitions

One of the toughest parts (for me) of being a mom is making sleep schedule transitions. Normally, I consider myself a pretty relaxed mommy, but when it comes to sleep, I am NOT RELAXED!

I have been delaying the one-nap transition as long as possible, but it was starting to happen on it's own (ie: just not sleeping when I put her down in the afternoon.) I figured if she was only going to sleep once, it should probably be happening a little bit later in the day, so alas, the transition was made.

One nap and I aren't getting along very well. Abby has made the transition quite seemlessly (kind of). I, on the other hand, have not. When the once glorious hour of 10 a.m. rolls around, I am exhausted! My body is used to a period of relaxation at that time, but now, 10 is just another number on the clock. And, there are still three more hours until relaxtion comes.

The reason I say Abby's transitions has been "kind of" seemless is because she hasn't quite figured out that she should still sleep the length of time of two naps, just all at once. In other words, she has only been averaging an hour of daytime shut eye.

Now really, this doesn't come as a surprise to me. She has never really mastered the art of a nice, lengthy siesta. She has always been wonderful at night sleep, and she's great at falling asleep for a nap, it's the staying asleep that we've always struggled with.

I have to laugh at myself though, because Abby is always so pleasant, no matter how short her naps are. I guess she just doesn't need as much daytime rest as other kids do. Rather than rejoice during the occasional long naps, I constantly stress about the short ones. Sigh...

Now, you'll have to excuse me, my baby is awake from her nap...

Just another day in paradise...

This semester, Sam gets done with school wonderfully early and is home around lunchtime most days. We are totally spoiled! We try to enjoy it because we know it won't be happening very much during the next three years.

Yesterday, we decided to pack our lunch and take it outside for a picnic. Here is Abby enjoying an apple.



After lunch, we went across the street to play on a little playground. Abby is really starting to enjoy the playground (and daddy likes it a little bit too.)



Taking a water break in the shade. It was a hot, humid day.







Abby thought it was hilarious that daddy was wearing her hat. This picture captures it perfectly. I love it.



After Abby's nap (which involved her playing in her crib for an hour), we headed back outside to play with some friends. Abby had a terrifying ride down the Slip-N-Slide so she decided to stick to the sandbox.

Everybody Leaves...

Now, if you're really awesome, you know that "Everybody Leaves" is kind of a catchphrase of Peyton from One Tree Hill (my not-so-guilty pleasure). Now, Peyton has a tragic life, but I always thought her attitude was still overly negative and super depressing. But, in the past week, I've been thinking a lot about the idea of "leaving" and I've come to the realization that our lives are kind of all about leaving.

We start out with a big one--leaving our Heavenly Father and the total security that comes with living in the presence of our Creator.

Then, our life has a constant theme...friends move, loved ones die, we move away from our families. Eventually, everybody leaves.

If you look back on all of the people who have left you and the ones you have left, it can leave you feeling kind of empty, like there is really nobody who you can rely on. But, there is somebody who will never leave you. We all have a Savior that loves us. He's been through all of our pains and sorrows and He will never leave us. That knowledge has been such a comfort to me throughout my life.

I am so grateful to know that when I leave this world, I will get to return to my Heavenly Father and have that total security again. I will be with my family and friends and none of them will ever leave me again!

Note: This post didn't end up being what I intended it to be but it ended up being exactly what I needed it to be. Thanks for "listening."

Trip to Utah

Abby and I jumped on a plane heading to Utah (via Denver) to meet Abby's newest cousin, attend his blessing and visit with other family members.

Abby was really well-behaved on all of our plane flights. On the way there, she was a busy bee and didn't sleep at all. She was happy and relatively quiet though, so I can't complain too much.





During our layover in Denver, she was quite the entertainer. I think she was just excited to have some freedom.



Abby loved the baby, for the most part. She did have a few moments of jealousy. She liked to hold him and touch his hair and she was always very concerned when he would cry. I explained to her that he was ok, but was just feeling a little bit sad. So, when she would hear him cry, she would say, "Sad."





Philip gave the little dude a lovely blessing. Abby broke the emotional tension by letting out a burp! She was a wild women during church, but looked adorable.



While everyone chatted outside afterward, Abby chose Philip to be her buddy.



Then, she decided to dig in the dirt a while. She is usually quite the girly-girl, but when it comes to digging in the dirt, she's a little tomboy.



After several days with my family, we headed over to Sam's brother's house to spend some time with the Petersons. Abby and her best buddy Bennett warmed up quickly to each other. We like to think they remembered each other.

There was an always adorable cousin bath.



Abby liked the piano. It kind of looks like she knows how to play. Maybe she will learn to play for real someday.



We had a lovely trip but were so happy to get home. We missed our daddy SO much and I think he missed us a little too.

TOO Big...

We went to the park today because it was too gorgeous out not to.

Some sad child left their soccer ball, which made for a happy Abby. She would throw it, gravity would carry it downhill a bit and then she would chase after it (and repeat).

As she played her little game I asked Sam, "When did she get so big?"

He claims it was while we were in Utah last week (more on that later.)

I find myself asking this question a lot lately and here are some of the reasons why:

*Her vocabulary grows everyday. She is always surprising me with the words she knows.

*She does well with a fork and a spoon and can eat just about anything without any assistance.

*She is getting much less shy and can keep up better with the big kids.

*She tries to do so many things by herself like put on shoes and brush her teeth.

*She can run fast without falling down so much.

*She can totally entertain herself by using her imagination. This usually involves her babies.

Despite my best efforts it becomes more apparent everyday that I have a toddler, not a baby. Sometimes it makes me want to cry but mostly it makes me smile. She is growing and learning and she's happy. I must be doing something right!

Retrieved...

For those of you that have been reading my blog, I am happy to report that the missing yellow ring has been found.

Sam rented a Rug Doctor this weekend and cleaned our carpet and couches. In the process of doing so, he discovered the whereabouts of the yellow ring (and the 1 from Abby's magnet board!) Hooray!

Now, if only he can find my pearl earring from my wedding that Abby misplaced...

Random Days

Abby is really into coloring these days. She's usually pretty neat, but when using colored pencils, she likes to bite them and then color on her face.



The other day, she did her first naughty masterpiece...on a library book. Dang! It was partly my fault because I saw her with the pen. I just didn't think the ink part was sticking out. I didn't take a picture of that one. We may now own "Baby, I Love You" if the library doesn't have mercy on us.

My mini-me-OCD daughter wanted all of her chairs lined up the other day. So funny...

Pretty Toes

Abby always loves to play with my bottles of nail polish. While she was playing the other day, I asked her if she wanted me to paint her toes. "Yah," she said. So, paint we did. She was pretty still for the first few toes and her baby toes are pretty much non-existent so we just skipped those.





Now, everytime I look at her feet, I wonder what's on them. Ha!