iPhone Moments

My iPhone is one of my favorite toys for many reasons, but one of them is that it makes it possible to respond to emails and do whatever I have to do while I'm holding Liz..... it's awesome :) It also makes it possible to capture the many faces of Elizabeth... here she is yesterday~

She was such a smiley baby yesterday, but this is the closest I got to capturing one... just like every other baby since the invention of cameras, she would go stoic the SECOND I pulled out my phone..... little does she know, the challenge just makes me want the pic more :)

Round 15... I didn't sit it out in protest

I received a postcard last week asking me to remember to fill out and return my census... which I had already... a week before this. WOW.... gotta love the excess :P

Abby!!

As of a few months ago, Micah started randomly yelling "Abby!" Not necessarily weird since he hears Nate call me that all the time. What was weird is that he never seemed to be directing the Abby towards me. Well, that was weird and the fact that if we were inside he would look upstairs when he yelled it, or if we were outside then he would scream it to the sky..... seriously.... think, Stella!! from a Streetcar Named Desire and you'll get the proper intensity/volume/inflection :P We would always laugh at it (seriously.. STELLA!! = ABBY!!.. it is hilarious) but we also always wondered what on earth he thought he was saying.

And then he got sick.

Last week Micah was pretty sick with whatever virus he and Lizzie thought would be fun to share. He was VERY irritable and kept asking to go down for his naps early. Here's a bit of insight for those without kids.... when your toddler is being a toot and asks to take his nap 2 or 3 hours early, just say YES. Follow this yes with a prayer that he sleeps until the same time he normally gets up despite the earlier start to the nap and you're good to go :) Anyhoo, Micah went down early for his nap one day, but unfortunately didn't sleep as late as I wanted (or he needed). Micah only gets his pacifier for nap time, but when he's really grumpy we'll sometimes break our rule....

This was one of those times.

I decided not to wrestle the little sucker out of his hand and just let him keep it in. I went downstairs assuming Micah was on his way down and continued into the den. Then I heard it... ABBY!! I started upstairs to see Micah at the top yelling ABBY! and looking... down. Huh? He always looks up when he says it. Then I saw it. He had dropped his paci on the outside ledge of the stairs. He pointed at it and yelled ABBY! and everything became clear. Abby = paci! We keep all of his pacifiers in a high desk drawer in his room and he knows it.... hence the looking up as he yells for his paci. Fun times :)

Green Thumb

Micah has been a big help in getting our back yard in shape this year!

They are too cute :) I'm glad we already have so many good pics of them together, I just wish I had some pics of Nate and myself with them as well :P

Does she have your nose?

In answer to the title of this post..... I DON'T KNOW!! I can't even count how many people have tried to get me to tell them who Lizzie looks more like. If they are more detail oriented, then they will go feature by feature trying to figure out whose eyes, nose, ears, cheeks, elbows, liver, etc that she has. Now, don't get me wrong, I am more than happy to let them speculate but as I always say when asked... I don't play that game.

As the saying goes, it's not you.. it's me. As in, I am obviously missing the gene that allows me to figure out whether my newborn's earlobes favor mine or Nate's :P But it's ok. I may be missing the gene, but I have something better... access to facial recognition software. Score! I'm not sure about earlobes, but here is how our faces compare :)



Now, it isn't about winning, but I WIN!! Haha!

Rodeo Portfolio

Despite getting one of only two rainy days this year, we had a great day at the rodeo last week and here's the proof! (The rain just cut down on the crowds :)

Not dead, just busy and tired :) We went to the rodeo all Tuesday (pics and details to come) and spent today doing yard work. I promise that as soon as my migraine (BLAH!!!) goes away, I'll write something substantial... maybe even funny. We'll see ;-)

Snuggles

Micah has taken to sitting in Lizzie's papasan chair and trying to get us to lay Lizzie beside him... he LOVES it! We got lucky to get some cute pics out of it and Lizzie's expressions are priceless :)

Stats

We went to the doctor yesterday for Lizzie's 1 month check-up and she is doing AWESOME! She is 9lb 9.5oz and almost 22 inches long! She is in the 75th percentile for weight, height and head size. At one month old, Micah was 8lb 0oz... it was so nice to not have to worry about weight gain this time! Elizabeth is a girl, however, and she had a bit of a shocked reaction when she heard how much she weighed~


Right after this was taken, I turned down her request for baby Spanx :) As I keep telling her.... "You're SOOO big!! In the best way!" :)

One Month!

It's hard for me to believe, but our precious little girl is one month old today! She has been a lot of fun to have around and, I'm not gonna lie, a lot of work :P Life with a newborn AND a toddler is pretty challenging and I'm lucky that, for the most part, Micah loves his sister and is very sweet to her.

Let's see... obviously at one month old, Lizzie isn't exactly doing a lot, but there are still some things to report. Since birth, Lizzie has been able to go from her back to her side on her own and has proved to be quite the wiggle worm! She likes to be held and doesn't much care for being put down... which gets interesting :) She is a really good eater and I have already seen her grow significantly....after her appointment today, I will know exactly how big she has gotten. I have joked that she goes from 0 to hungry in 1.2 seconds flat, and it's true. Once she decides she's hungry, she gets really vocal, really quickly :P She doesn't sleep nearly as much as Micah did at this age, but as newborns go she's still pretty good. She will now smile in response to people (Micah and her cousin Elena are the first two to coax smiles out of her :) although not very often. She is so precious and we thank God for adding her to our family!

I may sit it out in protest....

Hi I'm Abby, welcome to my soapbox :) I am a firm believer in developing theories to explain any weirdness in life and I am also a fan of soapboxes... ok, not a fan so much as I tend to get soapboxy about things :P ANYHOO, so did anyone else get a letter from the census bureau yesterday? When I saw it I thought, "Finally, I can fill it out and be done with it!"

WRONG!!!

The letter was to let me know to look for the Census which is coming next week. Ummmm, ok. I have spent the last 2 months already wondering why the government felt compelled to run commercials every 5 minutes for something that wasn't happening til March... how much did that cost?! Now, they also decided it made sense to pay to mail out pre-census letters to the whole country. WOW. I'm pretty sure that the people that opened that letter to read it also would have opened the census without an early warning letter. People who would ignore the census are also likely to ignore the letter... just sayin.

You know what really gets me? They spent all this money on advertising and letters and didn't take the time or money to set up a system for taking the census online. I may be wrong (I'm not) but I think the best way to increase participation in the census is not to run a bazillion ads, but to have a system in place to allow people to take it online quickly and easily. Not exactly a shocker that our gov't is in total financial ruin, now is it?

My Pretties

Aren't these burp cloths GORGEOUS??!! My friend Jill makes these lovely baby necessities along with beautiful diaper bags, changing pads and taggies. I have to say, these make me smile every time I use them... the colors are so cheery and they are just so gosh darn cute. Thanks Jill, I MAJORLY heart them :)

Blue Suede Shoes

Don't you think Lizzie has a little Elvis action going on in her pose here? ;-)

Ah Geez

I was cutting out coupons a few days ago and came across an ad for this~

"COMBINES THE MOST POWERFUL FORCES OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
Do you believe? Wear this solid COPPER MAGNETIC THERAPY JESUS BRACELET for the most powerful healing and comfort you’ve ever experienced! COPPER has been relied on for centuries to ease the pain of arthritis. MAGNETS are used therapeutically to ease muscle pain, tendinitis, bursitis, back pain, poor circulation and more. And faith in the miracles of JESUS can not only protect you from physical pain, but soothe your soul in times of stress! Fully adjustable to fit most wrists."

After staring at this in TOTAL disbelief for about 5 whole minutes, I was overwhelmed with a sadness for people who are either gullible enough or desperate enough to place their faith in this bracelet. Yikes. Anyways, file this away with this little beauty in my list of seriously?? products :P

The Amazon Add-On

One of my FAVORITE sites to shop on is Amazon.... they carry almost everything, they ship fast (and usually free), and if they ever mess anything up (only happened to me once in 200 ish orders :) they fix it fast. The absolute best part though? That's right folks, the Amazon add-on. It's a magical thing that allows me to be a bit frivolous without the guilt usually associated with unnecessary purchases.

If you are unfamiliar with Amazon (where have you been, by the way :), let me break it down for you. Most orders from Amazon ship free as long as you spend $25.... a much better threshold than the $75 or $100 most sites require. The add-on is what happens when you end up with about $18-$24 worth of stuff you are ordering.... Hmmm, shipping will cost me 6 bucks OR I could just buy something else..... what shall I do? That's right... add on :) Today I got a book I have been wanting using the add-on and still came out ahead of where I would be if I had paid shipping..... I heart you Amazon :)

Cousins

Ben and Amy came in town this weekend and it was so great to see them and get a chance to introduce them to Elizabeth! We always have a good time with them even if we don't really do anything :) The three oldest cousins seem to have reached a magical turning point since Christmas, and they played together REALLY well with very few incidents... it was so great to see! Micah even woke up on Saturday morning asking for Elena and Evan.


A special thanks to Amy for taking pictures... I always forget to and thus we have very few of the cousins together... they aren't going to believe us when they get older and we tell them that they saw each other every few months, we'll need more proof :) My mom took the opportunity to pose with all the grands and I think we got a great pic out of it!

We love you guys! See you in April!

Too Cute

I think there is a designer at Baby Gap who has my sense of style and humor... here is the proof :)

I'm resisting the urge to get this.... it is only working because we don't have a Gap in Katy :)