Keeping up with Alette and Abria

Monday, May 25, 2009

The Start of Summer Fun

The younger generation of cousins are now providing all the entertainment necessary at family barbeques. Pippi and Alette spent the day running through sprinklers, chasing butterflies, eating popsicles, trying to chop down a tree (with a rubber mallet and plastic bat), and playing badminton. Abria entertained everyone by devouring her first popsicle. Everyone went home happy and sticky.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Look Mom, No Cavities!

We had practised brushing our teeth and holding our mouths open all week (to avoid biting the dentist). When the dentist appointment came, Alette was more than ready. Of course, it helped that the dentist had 'Dora' on tv-in fact, Alette was a little disappointed that we could not stay longer. No cavities, no problems...and much to my chagrin, the dentist was not concerned about using a soother at night. Grrr...I was hoping to add him to my arsenal in the soother war.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Nine Months

Abria continues to grow and grow! She's desperately trying to crawl, but to date is only able to scootch herself backwards. Today she did make some forward motions by leaning onto her elbows while sitting and sliding forward an inch or two. It's progress! She's frustrated to no end by her inability to grab things just out of her reach, I'm enjoying a few more days before the house needs to get completely baby-proofed. The cats are enjoying a few more days of relative safety.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Finders Keepers

Alette was delighted when I found a small garter snake in our basement. As proof of her princess obsession, it was promptly named Cinderella. Alas, we did not let her keep it and after Andy and Pop-pop saw it, Cinderella was released to the yard. Hopefully it will survive the trauma of being handled by a three year old.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Finally it feels like spring

We ran ourselves silly at the Camden Children's Garden. Truly one of Camden's gems.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Let's go to the beach!

Our mini-holiday was mostly rained out...but we packed in lots of activities during the sunshine. We walked to the beach, strolled the boardwalk, made sandcastles, played in the park, and tired ourselves out. Alette wouldn't eat fudge or salt-water taffy, Abria tried to eat sand.... all in all pretty typical.

Swings

This video clip will not win any awards-but for all our relatives/friends out there, here's a short clip of our baby's first ride on a swing.

Recent Words of Wisdom

18months

At 18months, Abria weighs a whopping 28 1/2 lbs and is 34" tall. She is a bundle of energy-she loves dancing and clapping to music, scribbling (unfortunatley not always on paper), chasing her sister, and playing with her toys. She's using more and more words but still communicates primarily by pointing and making the sign for 'more'. She's had a continual cold for the past few weeks, I've never used so much tissue in my life. Morning naps are a thing of the past :( but thankfully she is still taking a long afternoon nap.

Okay, it's not a REAL gingerbread house...

Our attempts at a gingerbread house was a fiasco this year. We mixed the dough, rolled it out, cut the patterns, put it together...only to have it fall apart. So we put it together again....only to have it fall apart again. I even tried to use duct tape and the glue gun. Finally we ditched it. I was determined to have a house for Alette to decorate so we built a cardboard house, then 'glued' on graham crackers with icing. So far it is till standing although the candy decorations are slowly disappearing.

Abria

Our last dr. appointment was not fun. Abria had a major fever and was feeling rather rotten. So the immunizations were put off a week...nothing like procrastinating the awful stuff. She's dropped to the 90th percentile for weight (although with her puffy winter fleece on-below-she looks huge!) and is off the chart for height. Not a huge suprise with a 6ft. tall mom! She loves her books, turning on and off the lights, climbing onto tables, and petting the cat. She's walking....abit. She's still pretty convinced that walking should only be done when holding onto someone's hand.

Abria

Politics According to a 3year Old

I was listening to B.Obama on NPR last week and decided to further Alette's awareness of politics by engaging her in discussion. This is how it went:
me: Alette, Barak Obama was on the radio, he's going to be our new president. Isn't that good?
alette: Obama's good?
me: yes, he is. Mommy and Daddy like him a lot. We think he's good.
alette: he listens to God?
me: I think so. We're excited that he's going to be the president.
alette: I want duck for president.
I think we have a ways to go before she's up to speed on her political saviness. Who can blame her for wanting a fun loving, mischevious duck for president though?

Introducing Abria Hope

During pregnancy I prayed for a quick delivery and a nonfussy eater. Abria came into this world on Friday, July 18 at 9:00pm, half an hour after we arrived at the hospital. With a full head of dark hair, and a voracious appetite, she behaved nothing like her older sister. Abria's now nearly 18lbs, and is a happy, content baby. She loves chewing on her hands, squealing, shrieking, and taking baths. We are still waiting for her to sleep through the night! She doesn't always need to get fed, but seems to delight in babbling and squealing at all hours. Somehow her big drooly smile makes it all worthwhile.