July update

I know it's August already, but I typically let my pictures fall a month behind, so these are July's pictures (and some of June's too. I was running behind, if you can believe that at all!)

In June, we attended a friend's wedding, so it was Abagail's first wedding and gave us all a chance to dress up. She was so well behaved during the ceremony and the reception. The best thing was seeing that little girl dance. We typically have the TV on when we're at home, so the only time she really gets to just listen to music is in the car. Evidently the kid loves to dance!

These pictures are actually from late May, but they were taken at daycare, so it took a bit to get a copy of them to share. No, I did not put that bow in her hair, but she does look pretty cute. Where she is raising her glasses? That's my favorite!

My mom had this high chair/booster seat that Abagail had outgrown to sit in comfortably, so she brought it back to our house. It hadn't made it back into the attic yet, so she decided she wasn't quite done with it. She initially placed her babies in the seat to feed them, but quickly displaced them. I guess she hadn't outgrown the seat like we thought. She's quite the little mother. She loves to feed her babies and put them to bed at the end of the day. Lucy is her current favorite. She puts Lucy to "night-night" every night on the arm of the chair as we read her bedtime story. Evidently her nurturing qualities extend past dolls though. Ms. Torsha, her daycare teacher, tells us that she is almost always the first one to try and bring something to one of her friends when they are crying.

We finally made time to have a playdate with our good friend Jennifer and her daughter Zoey. Zoey is exactly 1 year and 1 day older than Abagail. We had an amazing time at the splashpad, at the playground, then back at our house. They were getting comfortable in Dad's chair while Zoey was making a very important phone call.

I do have to say that we've got quite the bossy kid on our hands. Even though Zoey is older and much more articulate, Abagail bossed her around quite a bit. Sounds like her mama . . .

Bear is still not in love with his sister. Toleration is really the name of the game for the poor dog. She loves him though, to say the least. He is so patient with her, but I do feel bad for him when she lays all over him, pulls on his tail, or covers him with a blanket for a hat. She is just trying to love him though with the big "Bear" hug. She also loves helping us make his dinner and taking him his Milk Bone. It kills her when he gets to go outside and she isn't included!

Clutched in her hand is her Bible. Ever since she moved up to the toddler room at church, she gets a sticker for bringing her Bible. That means she wants to carry her Bible everywhere. But, as cute as that is, even more endearingly is if you ask her where Jesus is, she'll respond by tapping her chest and say "my heart." Awww . . .



She as always been very vocal, but in the last 4 months, it is getting more and more understandable. She will tell us in 2-4 word sentences to get her point across. She can correctly count 2 objects and she is starting to count and do her ABCs. Not accurately yet, but starting. Not to say she doesn't still make some of the cutest inarticulate sounds ever. She's got a habit right now, as you can see below with one of my headbands, of sounding out her extertion. It doesn't matter if she's trying to stretch that headband, open a lid, push a door, or whatever, she lets you know how hard she's working. She does this "arrrr" to vocalize her efforts. Sometimes she even shakes her little hands and arms. I'm not doing it justice, but it's so stinking cute!

George and I are sucker for bath pictures. And, she loves the water, so she's always cheesing it up in there. I totally see this picture or one like it, making it to the Senior Slide Show in about 16 years. Embarrassing your kid is one of the joys of parenting. Come on, am I right?

August and September should be big months for us. George and I are mattress shopping because we think she is ready to transition to a big girl bed. We'll see how it goes. I'm repainting a bench that she can use to get up and down, so between waiting on that and I haven't actually ordered any safety rails, who knows when it will actually happen, but we are getting ready anyway.

Her pee/poo cues are getting better every day, so when she moves to a new room at "school" in about 2 weeks, we're going to jump into potty training. We need our carpets cleaned at home, but I told George that even as overdue as they are, we aren't doing them now just to have accidents to clean up when we get into no-diaper territory. If anyone has any tips, let me know. And I'm not interested in the M&M or other food bribery methods--the kid gets enough calories as it is.

Her birthday is just over a month away. No one ruin the surprise, but the grandparents have gotten her a tricycle. I'm not worried about her balance, as she walks on her knees and jumps all the time, so I know that is all there. But, we'll see how she does with her short little legs!

Cakes

On a completely selfish, non-Abagail note, I've had several people ask me about the cakes I've been doing. I took a buttercream decorating class before Abagail was born and am slowly teaching myself how to work with fondant. It's challenging, and something I would like to continue to work at, as I'm having quite a bit of fun.

This was a cake I did for a friend's baby shower. She did her son's nursery in sock monkeys. It was my first fondant cake. I made marshmallow fondant to work with. It tastes so much better than the store bought, ready made fondant. I was really pleased with the monkeys, but the cake was definitely rough upon close inspection. It taught me alot!

The same friend later asked me to make a cake for her daughter's birthday. They were doing a "Minute To Win It" themed party. If anyone has ever seen the show, the two girls on the cake are playing "Junk In the Trunk." If you haven't seen the show, you have a ping-pong-filled Kleenex box tied around your waist. Whoever can shake loose their ping-pong balls first wins. My "people skills" still need some work.

I was then asked to do a pink and zebra cake for a wedding shower. When I'd gotten done, I realized I should have done the whole cake in pink instead of white. That would have been alot more fun.

A friend was having a surprise birthday party for her husband. I volunteered to make a cake for the occasion. Mitch can take some ribbing, so I let Margie beat him at fishing. Notice Margie has the big fish and all the fish for the day. Poor Mitch has one little fish to his credit and (thanks to George's suggestion) a tire.

If I'd had more time, I would have written "Goodyear" on the tire, but just didn't get that far.

Last week was Vacation Bible School at church. We had a family night Friday night so the kids could perform the songs they'd learned all week and show off for their families. We fed everyone hot dogs, chips, lemonade, and cake and cupcakes for the conclusion of the "Big Apple Adventure."

This was my biggest project to date. I made a full sheet cake, so sandwhiched 4 9x13 cakes together. My hand resembled a claw and I was pretty stinking sleep deprived by the time I was done, but all in all, was really happy with how it turned out.

For all my projects, I am my mother's daughter. All the cakes are baked from scratch and the frostings are homemade too. I know the box mixes and ready made stuff would make things more convenient, but in my opinion, it just doesn't taste as good as scratch.

Mid-year update

Hello all! I really miss blogging and sharing the cuteness that is Abagail. Life is crazy busy, but who can't say that? I'm doing more and more cake decorating, so that whittles away at me "free" time in the evenings once she goes to bed. But what I have resolved to do is to not wait so stinking long to do this. I put it off because it will take awhile to post the pictures and to write, but if I would just do it more often, it wouldn't take so long. It doesn't help that, since I wait so long to log back in, I forget how to do anything in here to make this blog look nicer. On to the updates!

I had a conference in Denver in March, so we went out a few days early to enjoy Pike's Peak, the Royal Gorge, and some of the other sites that Colorado Springs and the Denver area have to offer. That was Abagail's first flight and she did amazing! She didn't cry once, and we didn't even drug her with anything. :)

In April, she took school pictures. Didn't she do good? When I saw these, they just made me realize--like I needed the reminder--that time is just flying by way too fast. Look how grown up she looks!

This kid loves being outside. She's obsessed with bubbles and chalk. She's not really blowing any in this picture, but she sure tries hard. It won't be much longer before she gets control of that action.

We became OKC Zoo Friends this year and took Abagail for the first time in May. We'd been to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo when we were in Colorado. It was pretty neat to see the difference in her ability to identify animals in March and then again in May. Her vocabulary is pretty incredible. Well, I have no idea how her 22 month old counterparts are, but I think she's pretty advanced. Parents get to think that about their own kids. It's our right, right?

Grandma Thelma (Mom's mom) had moved from Arizona to Noble back in August. She was doing well in her own apartment, and at the age of 89, really only had memory problems. But, then she got shingles. She had to spend some time in the hospital and in a skilled nursing facility. After that, she couldn't stay in her apartment anymore. She is now living with Mom and Dad and seems to be thriving in that environment. She has a routine now and enjoys the company of the 2 ladies that sit with her all day through the week.

To make it easy on Abagail, I started calling Thelma GiGi. She wasn't exactly getting "Great Grandma Thelma." Needless to say, Abagail is in LOVE with GiGi. They look pretty cozy, don't they? She was having trouble calling Mom Grandma and Dad Grandpa. I took the liberty of introducing Nana as Mom's name and Abagail latched onto that. Dad's name she came up with all on her own. Grandpa comes out as "Baka." For those of you who know my dad, would you ever imagine him as Baka?

We finally made it to Noble's splashpad a few weeks ago. It took about 30 minutes for Abagail to warm up to the water. It was pretty cold water, and even with her friends there, encouraging her, she wasn't too hip on it.

By the time George and I were ready to leave, she was having a blast. She never got comfortable enough to actually run through the jets of water, but she had a great time chasing that ball around and splashing in the water.

She's still a pretty amazing kid. If it were totally up to us, we would probably be ready to start potty training soon. She's giving us quite a few cues, but I don't know that she's quite ready yet. Because I am absolutely the expert in potty-training-readiness, what with all the kids I've potty trained in the past. However, until she moves up to the next room at daycare, in September, they can't accomodate potty training in the current room. I figure there is no point in rushing it anyway, as that seems to sabotage efforts anyway.

So that's our life in a nutshell right now. George and I just blown away by her still. We can't believe she'll be 2 in about 2 months' time. Holy cow!