Mr. and Mrs. Bourne Prejudice

About 1.5 weeks ago Mat made the sacrifice of watching Pride and Prejudice (2005) with me. To make up for his suffering, we are currently in the middle of watching the Bourne trilogy, which I fell asleep during last night. Surprisingly, slumber did not overtake me while watching Pride and Prejudice, even though it was the same time of night. My Pa thinks it is absolutely amazing that my mother and I have the ability to catch some z's during the middle of action packed suspense films. After this happening repeatedly during various films, such as Bond vs. Sleepless in Seatle, I've come to the conclusion that it all has to do with where the viewers interests lie. I just don't understand you men, because who can resist, "And how are you this evening...*kiss* Mrs. Darcy? *kiss* Mrs. Darcy... *kiss* Mrs. Darcy... *kiss* Mrs. Darcy." Or even better, "you have bewitched me, body and soul/and I love, I love, I love you, and I never wish to be parted from you from this day on"

Today, I finished watching the last 30 minutes of Bourne Identity, that I slept through last night, and I must say that I did enjoy it. We are all set to watch the rest of Bourne Supremacy tonight, after Abby goes to bed. But honestly, his girlfriend was already killed, so what is there to look forward to? On a side note, I asked Mat which movie we watched last night, and he is currently standing behind me spelling B-o-u-r-n-e I-d-e-n-t-i-t-y. After he finished this, he began talking to Abby about the malleability of her play-doh. Is there something wrong with this picture? So all you guys...what is it that you see in those action films anyway?

P.S. Hubby made din din tonight and it was excellent!

Permanent?

This last Sunday, as we were readying ourselves for church, I was amazed at how quiet our little Abigail was being. For those of you who don't know, a quiet Abigail usually means trouble, but it is nice when I'm busy doing something, like getting ready for church. I went in the office and what do I find, only a little Abigail having a good time. She had 10 or 12 pens out of the pen cup and had created a lovely drawing all over some papers and other objects laying around on the desk, such as the printer. Not to worry though, only one of the pens was a permanent marker, and she only managed to get one black dot on her shirt and some stripes on her hand.

As I head back into the bathroom, I think to myself, "I'm glad that mess is behind us, as usual, Satan is up to his old tricks again of trying to stall us from going to church." Now, as I'm putting the finishing strokes of mascara on my lashes, Abby is playing quietly on the floor next to me. Usually I hold her in one arm, while putting makeup on with the other. For any of you who have ever put on mascara, you know that this is done rather close to the mirror, with all concentration on the brush, because heaven forbid a poke to the eye! Once again, I find myself thinking, "wow, this is so nice that I've been able to get ready without my girl clinging to my legs." As soon as I look down, I notice this strange white powder substance in Abby's hair, wait a minute it's on the floor, and her hand, the scale, all over! It's baby powder! I often put baby powder in my hair on the days I don't wash it, and as I said, she's usually always in the bathroom "helping."

Surprisingly, I didn't learn my lesson the first time, and as I was filing some paperwork in the kitchen on Tuesday, I noticed that it was terribly quiet in the house. Upon arriving in the spare room, once again, I saw my little artist with all of her pens and markers out, but this time drawing on the desk. I took a picture, so you could see how talented she it, but it was taken after I had already removed half of the masterpiece. The green is permanent marker and the black is pen. After doing a bit of research, I found that pencil erasers (you know, the little pink bricks) remove "permanent" marker from wooden furniture. Hooray!

The results are in!

After one long week, the polls have closed and Piglet is a...Boy! We had 12 people vote, only three of whom thought he was a girl, which leaves remaining nine votes for boy. The following are a few of the more, hmm, shall we say, interesting posts:

"Piglet is a boy! Little known fact: every character in Winnie the Pooh, with the exception of Kanga, is of the male gender."

"Piglet seems to be "Pretty in PINK". My vote is female!!"

"BOY. duhh."

"Ever since I was little I thought Piglet was a boy. These were Christopher Robin Milne's toys so I think most of them would be male with the exception of Kanga. Also in A.A. Milne original stories Piglet was always referred to as a boy. And as for the pinkish like clothing Disney is the one that put Piglet in these. A.A. Milne's Piglet is in a green jumper. I do feel that Piglet was made to appeal more to girls then to boys though, especially where Disney's marketing is concerned."

To view the rest, go here.

Thanks to all who participahyte;o (how Abby spells participated).


I've got bread baking, dinner planned and done (leftovers), and a semi-clean house, so I'm off to go play outside with my babe. It got all the way up to the 60's today, HEAT WAVE! We need to take advantage of it while we still can, the high tomorrow is only supposed to be 39.

Have a wonderful evening!

Last Chance

Today is your last opportunity to vote on the Gender of Piglet! If you haven't done this, and would like to, click here. We'll tally the votes at the end of today, so far we have three votes for "girl" and four for "boy". Thanks to all who have participated thus far.

Abby's fever seems to be gone this morning. She's much more lively and sitting on the floor reading a book to herself. She went three nights straight, sleeping through the night on her new twin size bed. Hooray! Last night she did wake up briefly, because she had lost her bow-bow (pacifier), but she was able to fall back asleep on her own, even if it was on the floor.

At the age of 27, I've finally figured out how to cook scrambled eggs, ha ha. It turns out that I've been doing all wrong. The key is to cook them over medium heat, not medium-low, who knew? Anyone have any good homemade granola recipes? If so, please leave it in a comment, I'd like to try my hand at that.

Abby Growth Stats

Here is the latest on our girl:

Height: 33 Inches, 90th Percentile

Weight: 24 lbs., 25th Percentile

Head: 75th Percentile

Please pray for her, she currently has a fever of 101.9 degrees.

Why our baby does not watch TV

Some may be wondering why we have never let Abby watch TV. During one of Abby's first few doctor appointments we were given a paper that said television viewing was bad for the brain development of children under two years of age. Today I decided to do a little research into why this is so.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, "Children six and under spend an average of two hours a day using screen media (1:58), about the same amount of time they spend playing outside (2:01), and well over the amount they spend reading or being read to (39 minutes)." This being said, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests "children under 2 years not watch television and children over 2 years watch 2 hours or less per day."

In a study published in the April 2004 issue of Pediatrics claimed, "hours of television viewed per day at both ages 1 and 3 was associated with attentional problems at age 7." I was told by a friend that this "reprogramming" of the brain is caused by the fast images flashing across the screen. Eisla Sebastian agrees, when she says that the overstimulation of the brain "has to do with the fast-paced images flashing constantly across the screen, which interfere with the brain's development."

This is just a quick overview of what I found. To read more, click on any of the links within the text, or do a search of your own, there is plenty of information out there.

My 18 Month Old is Waking During the Night

The Abby sleeping saga continues and after much reading, I've decided to to diagnose her problem as separation anxiety. We decided to give her one last chance of sleeping in her crib before we switched it out for a big girl bed. Last night we put her down and used the pray and tip-toe method after laying her down, hoping that she would sleep through the night. Alas, this did not work, but, not to worry, we had a backup plan...muah ha ha ha. We had set up her pack and play (modern words for playpen) in our bedroom right next to my side of the bed. Once the clock tolled 10:30, and of course we had just fallen asleep, we heard the cries of a wee one in the next room over. Mat went in with her and attempted to put her back to sleep, but to no avail. He brought her in our room and she stood crying in her pack and play with my arms wrapped around her. The night before, she slept with us, but it killed my back, because she insisted on sleeping on top of me. Once her crying stopped I held her hand while she stood in her pack and play and I reassured her that I'd be right there next to her. I then fell asleep holding her hand, while she stood fighting sleep for a little over an hour. She popped back up about 3 times to make sure I was still there and immediately laid back down and fell asleep.

After last night's escapade we finally broke down and packed up Abby's crib and moved the twin bed into her room. I found myself a little sad, my baby is growing up, and to make matters worse the only sheet we could find was black. For some reason, I couldn't stand my baby sleeping in black, even though black was my favorite color when I was her age...weird huh?

While doing research on how to handle Abby's sleeping issues and talking with others, I was given MANY suggestions. Here are a few, maybe they will help others.

-Bring the child to bed with the parents
-Have the child sleep on a mattress on the floor next to the parents bed
-Read to the child until she falls asleep
-Lay in the child's bed with her
-Play music/a movie in the child's room
-Use the cry it out/Ferber method (let the child cry herself to sleep, going in and comforting her every 5 or more minutes
-Let her cry as long as you can stand, then go in
-Let her cry herself to sleep and do not go in (SO harsh)!

The cry it out method never worked with Abby, and besides, a wise old homeless man once told us, "that baby needs to be rocked." So, this baby wearing, rock her to sleep Mommy can not find it in herself to let the babe cry until sleep claims her.

On a happier note, we finally got paid today! After compiling a large shopping list and withdrawing the necessary funds we headed off to the grocery store to buy some much needed food. I continue to create our grocery list based on the next ten meals that I've planned out. I still intend to post these meals/lists eventually ;) We're attempting to stick to a much tighter budget for the foreseeable future, which includes planning out all our meals and buying only what we need. It's more work to begin with, but is much easier when it comes to the day to day deciding of what to eat for dinner.

I'll be sure to let you know how Abigab likes her new bed.

How to leave a comment

We love receiving comments, and if you would like to leave one, here's how:

At the bottom of any post, click the "comments" in blue writing. This will take you to a page where you can tickety type away inside the "Post a Comment" box. Next, in the "Post Comment" drop down menu, select "Name/URL" or "anonymous" if you do not have a blog. Last, click "post comment" and it will be posted after we approve.

Travelocity Vs. Onetravel

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but as we were driving home from Abigail's doctors appointment, we saw a man walking down the street with a Boa Constrictor draped over his shoulders, just like a scarf. He was walking down the street nonchalantly with his scarf flapping in the breeze...so bazaar!

So far in the piglet race, as you can see, the girl votes are winning. Anyone out there think Piglet is a boy? If so, comment here, before it's too late!

I found a new-to-me tavel booking site, which has rates comparable to Travelocity.com, and sometimes even lower, called Onetravel.com. I usually always book my flights through Travelocity, but now I'll be checking Onetravel as well. You've still got to watch out for those fees at Onetravel, but I've found that they're clearly posted when booking travel. On the bright side, Travelocity is boasting "No Fees" on flights now. Needless to say, we'll be checking both sites when traveling to the home of the man of the house in July.

We had someone ask about our race for the finishing of the toothpaste. Well, the two titans of toothpaste, Joy(Colgate) and Mat(Crest) are slugging it out to the end. The tubes are being squeezed and rolled until they can no longer produce the wonder paste of teeth cleaning glory. There is no doubt that the winner will be declared within the next few days, yet it will be difficult to declare anyone a loser, for all shall emerge with whiter, cleaner, and God-willing healthier teeth. Goodnight and good luck.

Is Piglet a boy or girl?

Before Abby was born, Mat and I decided to decorate her room with the classic Winnie the Pooh theme. Since then, we've been in this argument about the gender of Piglet. One of us thinks Piglet is a girl and one a boy. So, we think that you should take a vote to decide! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think and we'll tally the votes in one week. If you don't have a Blogger account, you can still comment and check "anonymous" at the end. We're not going to tell you which of us thinks s/he's a girl/boy, and Mat, no voting!

Good News! We think the cat is out from under our house, Yay! We haven't heard her all day today, and Mat had the hatch open most of the day yesterday. Hopefully she got out yesterday, and didn't die under there, that would be stiiinky. Poor little kitty mow mow. Since the cat is out from under the house, this means that it's got to be something else keeping Abby up between one and two hours a night, ugh.

The last two nights, Abby has climbed out of her crib and cried, pounded on her door, played her piano, etc. We have tried rocking Abby every night, but she just lays there in our arms, bright eyed and bushy tailed, pinching our noses, waving, sticking her foot our face, and popping out her pacifier to say, "Hi". It's so hard not to laugh, because she's so stinking cute, but it gets a little old in the middle of the night. After a few nights of this, excuse me, I mean two weeks, we decided to let her try and cry a while in her crib since the rocking thing wasn't working too well. During this "crying" time, she decided to be a little monkey and climb, climb, climb. Last night, the second night of this, when we were at our wits end, Mat was about to go in and try his hand at laying her down, but when he poked his head in, she was asleep on the floor with her blankie and sippy cup, awwww.

Luckily, Abby's 18 month appointment was today with her new doctor, who we loved. She suggested that we wake Abby from her nap a little early and maybe move her to a toddler bed, or a twin without the box spring. After cleaning out mountains of ear wax, she discovered that Abigab had some fluid build up which may have been left over from an ear infection. This made sense to us, because she had a super high fever about two weeks ago. The night time waking may have been a result of pain from the ear infection, and turned into a routine. Now all we have to do is break the routine, ha ha ha! Easier said than done.

Have a wonderful night or day and don't forget to let us know about Piglet. If you're still unsure how to do this, click where it says "comments" in blue writing below. This will take you to a page where you can tickety type away inside the "Post a Comment" box. Next, click on the drop down menu and select "anonymous" if you have no blogger account. Last, click "post comment" and it will be posted after we approve.

17 Month Photos

Our 17 month photos of Abby have been posted using Photobucket. It will take you to a different site than normal, but I have complete confidence that you'll be able to figure it out!
Click on the messy faced picture of Abby to the left or on "Abby Pictures" under links.

About a week ago, we noticed that our heat was not working in our back three bedrooms. After the maintenance guys did an inspection, they said that a cat had been under our house and had ripped up the air ducts, trying to get in by the heat. The guys returned the next day and replaced the ducts and also closed the hole that the cat was getting in through, and I thought this was the end of our problems. This morning, around 8 a.m. I heard a meowing that sounded like Garf, but I looked around the corner to see him and Skeeter on edge at the sound of another cat. I believe the meowing was coming from under our house, and now I'm thinking, "great, we have a pussy cat trapped and it has no way out." Mat went and opened the hole back up and put some cat food out, but so far, no sign of the feline. We are hoping that it escaped when we weren't looking. I guess we'll soon find out if we hear it again. I just hope it isn't starving to death under there :( Maybe we have mice or some other tasty treat that it's snacking on.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Our Sabbath

I just sent Mat and Abby to the store to buy some produce for dinner, for the week, and almost as soon as they left, it began pouring, thunder, lightening, the works! My poor family!

We went to church today at a church we have visited once in the past. It was a good sermon, with a warm and lively church body, but we're still not used to the sole form of musical worship being to hymns. After church, Abby was completely exhausted. She was sitting in her high chair attempting to eat her chicken salad with homemade bread, baked by Daddy, when she began chewing on her arm. I wrote the following song for her (pretty talented, I know):

If you're sleepy and you know it gnaw your arm
If you're sleepy and you know it gnaw your arm
If you're sleepy and you know it, then your eyes will surely show it
If you're sleepy and you know it, gnaw your arm

Two weeks ago, we decided to take a sabbath, once again, every Sunday. For us, this means going to church, resting, and doing things we enjoy as a family. I don't know about you, but I don't particularly enjoy doing dishes or cooking with my daughter dangling around my knees and whining for me to hold her. Yesterday I made homemade chicken salad for lunch today, raviolis for dinner today, and Mat made the bread. It has been so nice to not have to cook, but still enjoy yummy meals.

I've got Abby's 17 month photos all uploaded to the new site, and I'll post them tomorrow.

New Photo Album

We are trying to find a new online photo gallery, as we have run out of space again in our current Picasa storage. I think we've found one, with unlimited space, now I just need to upload all the photos. I'll try to get that done ASAP, so you'll be able to view Abby's 18 month photos, which are now all on the computer, but not online yet. We'll be sure you know when this happens, but it may take a few days with hubby's homework load and computer occupancy.

It was a balmy 59 degrees today and we were able to relieve some of Abby's cabin fever. We went to the park for about 45 minutes and had an all around fun day, minus the whole dish rack crashing to the floor and 3 pieces breaking. We are down to seven bowls and six salad plates, which isn't a huge sacrifice considering that only two of the three of us use breakable dishes.

Abby has her 18 month appointment on Wednesday, which means more shots...boo hoo. I never look forward to the times when baby receives shots. This always results in fussing, fever, and waking during the night. We'll also be missing work on Wednesday for this, leaving an especially short work week of three days, since we already have Monday off. Well, I'm off to play with the little one currently biting my pants for an hour before bedtime.

Phelps Fort

Mat built Abby her first fort today. It was super cute to go into the spare oom and see a floral print fortress with my husbands legs sticking out the side and baby sounds coming from within. I just had to go in and see what all the commotion was about and I found Abby so excited to be inside her princess bouncy castle transformed FORT. At one point she was so giddy that she tried dragging squirty man in with her. He wasn't too keen on the idea of being picked up, but he did venture in and wonder around a bit.

Haiti

Please pray for Haiti.

Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. -Romans 12:13

Smarty Pants

Today, as I was folding Abby's laundry in her room, she walked over to her diaper pile, snatched one off the top, turned to me, and pointed at her diaper...Woohoo, she's brilliant. Not only that, but without being asked, she picked up her pile of three socks and opened her dresser drawers until she found her Sleeping Beauty sock bucket and promptly deposited her socks into the bucket. Her diaper turned out to be only pee, but I think she's getting the idea.

As Abby and I were waiting for Mat to get home from work I found Handel's Messiah on You Tube, and Abby absolutely loved it. I think she may just like opera and classical music better than any other. Mat made fish tacos for dinner (I may post the recipe at some point), and while he was cooking, she sat on my lap and stared at the music notes moving across the screen. My husband, the baker, is currently making frosting for his white cake that is in the oven, and Abigail is at his knees begging.

Bath time...

A convienent ommission

Ladies and Gentleman of the Jury, my lovely but sometimes over zealous wife has not been completely up front with you the people. while describing our "unspoken" race of the toothpaste tubes, she mentioned my dental hygiene and the need for improvement. while many of you may be sitting there thinking that you have not seen me in a while and are shuddering at what my mouth may look like, I feel inclined to fill you in on a few facts and details. Joy and I are both 27 years old and we have the same number of teeth, but that, my friends, is where the comparison of our dental records ends. I will not divulge on the specifics of her dental records (Braces, cavities, and retainers), I on the other-hand wish to shed some light on my dental record or brilliance whichever suites you. 27 years, 1 cavity, no braces, no retainers, no head gear, 2 wisdom teeth extracted, 0 days of work missed, 0 pain killers taken, and in general nothing but straight beautiful strong teeth. CASE CLOSED

-Mat

Potty Time

We think Abby might be ready for potty training. Before we left for So Cal, she would run around naked, squat, look down and pee. She even did it on the toilet seat once, she was facing the wrong direction, but that still counts for something right? Now that we're home, she points to her diaper when she's about to poo and I ask her if she's going poo, like this, "are you going poo?" Not that you needed to know that, but anyway, she nods her head yes, which is very unusual for her since she's decided that her answer to everything is no, then I tell her to go get a diaper. She then makes a mad dash for her bedroom and brings back a diaper. I'm so proud of her as I write this! It's kinda funny, but understanding what we're telling her to do and actually obeying is a big accomplishment for the little tot. I also find it rather amusing that I feel the need to exaggerate and tell this story like it's happened more than once, because in reality it has only happened once, which was yesterday, but I'm very hopeful for a repeat today. On the bright side, she has gone to fetch a diaper, when I've asked her to, on more than one occasion (twice).

My mom is using her mypoints, which we love because we get free gift cards, to give us a giftcard to Target to buy Abby her first potty chair. I fully intend on using this potty chair myself to show her how it's done and because my bff said she would laugh at me if I did this. The things we do to make our friends laugh. I guess I could lie, since she does live 2,909 miles away, Nah, what's the fun in that? Want to sign up for mypoints? Let me know and I'll refer you, cause I get free points and may then beat Mat in our unspoken race of who can get the most points.

It's funny, I always seem to be in an unspoken race with Mat about something. Before we hopped on the plane in early December, we were brushing our teeth and I made some comment to Mat about how I need to finish my tube of toothpaste before he finished his. Yes...we use separate tubes, but that's another story. He looked at me and laughed and wondered why, and it was because I was trying to finish three tubes in the amount of time that it took him to finish one. I even had rules for myself that I could not brush my teeth more than normal, twice a day, and that I could not use more toothpaste than normal. Since then, he's been brushing his teeth more often, the nerve! He says it's not because of the race, but because he need to be better about his dental hygiene, which I agree, but couldn't he just have waited a few more months to come to this decision? Well, what did I do to ruin things for myself? Nothing besides cheat! I only packed my tube for our recent 3 week trip. Upon our return to our itty bitty kitty town, he informed me that he used my toothpaste 20 times and I told him I'd do the same :( I'll be sure to let you know who wins.

I've decided that finding all new doctors is officially the hardest part of moving! Ugh! Not only do we have to find new ones, but if one doesn't work out, then we have to try and search for another, and that's not exactly easy living in a town of 2000ish.

One last thought for the day: I'm thinking about posting recipes. My idea is to put together a list of dinners (maybe one months worth?), and create a shopping list for every ten meals. I've been looking places for heart healthy, fast and easy dinners. I'm also on a mission to use all the food in my fridge without letting any go to waste. I've found some good meals, but most are rather pricey and every meal is so different that I think some food would go bad. I guess if nobody else gets any use from them, I'll still have recipes written down, to refer back to, which I never do. Good idea or no?

We're Back!

It's good to be back home after 3 weeks away. We had a wonderful time with family and friends, but it's always good to be home. Recap of our trip:

Flying, flying, flying

Abigail keeps bye byeing

Baby can say Papa,
But no grandpa yet, just Bapa

Dana Point is quite romantic

Fitting it all in is getting rather frantic

Christmas eve was a wonderful time
Anyone care for a glass of wine?

Gram got her picture with the tots

Babydoll anyone? Abigail has lots

Don't watch Tatum pee,
we don't want you to mimic he!

Going home is always nice
The pond has been replaced with ice

What is this? The grass is dead.

I can't wait to go to bed!

Phelps Family Vacation

We've just returned from a whirlwind trip with the Phelps Family. Abigail was finally able to meet her new cousin, who isn't so new anymore, already nine months old! She also had fun with, fought, pushed, hugged, and played with her older cousin for the first time. They were previously too young to enjoy each others company. Click below to view pics of our trip to the zoo, park, pool, and other fun and exciting adventures (at least from the perspective of an 18 month old).

All of us at the zoo

The highlight of the trip had to be spending over 64 hours with the whole family :) I even seemed to grow a lovable two year old appendage on my hip. Mat and I had so much fun with our niece and nephew and we especially enjoyed seeing them interact with Abby. There was much pacifier swapping, sippy cup sharing and slobbering being done by the babies and sadly, Abby came away with a fever. Grandma was even able to get a picture with all three grandkids, even if Abby was throwing a fit.