Keeping up with Alette and Abria

Monday, September 21, 2009

First Day of School (sort of)

Does it count as a first day of school if it is only an hour? Alette's new nursery school is a bit extreme in their approach to easing children into school. We don't have a full session until the first week of October. Alette was thrilled to find out her school had a terrific playground, great toys and served snack (hmmmm...kind of sounds like most other nursery schools).

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Family 'Fun' Ride---Ha! Not for Abria!

I love biking, I love my family....so what could be better than a family bike ride? Last Sunday the Bike Coalition of Philly sponsored a 'car-free' family fun ride throughout center city/fairmont park and beyond. I signed us up, prayed for good weather, pumped up the tires, dusted off the bike trailer, packed snacks, set the alarms early...
About 3 miles into the ride Abria decided she had had enough of this 'family fun ride'. It was naptime, she was stuck in this trailer thing, and the only appropriate response was to cry....loudly. Ironically, other riders passed us saying 'how cute, what a fun way to travel!' Clearly Abria did not agree. Luckily Alette was extremely tolerant and as long as she had her pretzels, crackers, and water, she was willing to subject herself to being pulled around. Needless to say we opted for the 10 mile route, not the 20 miles we had originally planned.
I'm already scouting out other riding options for Alette....it is never too early to start a healthy passion :)

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Our Final Roadtrip of the Summer

Abria loved the sand and water! As soon as we arrived at the beach she crawled straight for the water and happily waded and bobbed around for a long time.

One of the highlights was the 'beauty shop' run by Pippi and Alette. We all received either sparkly or blue nailpolish pedicures.

Out on the boat, enjoying the sun.

Pippi and Alette gear up for the pool.

I have been so lazy about updating the blog. We had a fabulous trip up to Maine, spent lots of time with family, relaxing and having fun. Alette was thrilled to spend a week with her cousin Pippi, she kind of became Pippi's little shadow, happily following her to each new adventure. The long, long, long ride is fading from our memories....

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Beach

The girls were terrific travellers. Abria slept very little but was easily amused by her sister and grandmom.

Alette worked hard to make birthday sand cakes. yummy!

Every August Andy's family goes to 'the beach' aka Corolla, NC and every year we miss out. So, even though Andy still couldn't go, I hauled the kids and all their stuff down for a week of waves, water, sand, family, and lots and lots of fun! Alette bravely jumped waves (even went under once when I fell), collected seashells, poked at jellyfish, swam in the pool, and generally had a great time. Abria loved having all the adults around to tend to her every need/desire. Everyone took turns 'walking' her around the house...now that she figured out how to walk holding on to someone's hands, crawling is way too boring.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Camping

Alette's favorite lunch spot, where she could watch (and feed) chipmunks.

A well needed nap!

Camping with kids = lots of dirt and grime.
What a fun four days in the Poconos! Andy was able to join us the first night which meant I did not have to set up. It was a little squishy in our tiny tent! It seemed a little unfair that the smallest family member took up the most room, it'll be so much easier when Abria doesn't need the pack&play. The weather was great, we spent lots of time at the playground, going for walks, at the beach and exploring the campsite. At one point we came back from the playground and gave the girls a snack, only to discover Abria had a woodchip tucked away in her cheek. The girl will try to eat anything.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

East Coast Party

Abria showed equal enthusiasm at her second first birthday party. She tried to eat the candle, smashed at the decorations, and got even quicker at eating cake. Once the cake festivities were over, she was pretty happy to spend her time playing with the grandmoms so Alette willingly took over present opening for her little sister.

West Coast Party

Every 1 year old deserves as many parties as possible! Abria's first first birthday party was in Abbotsford, a great family barbeque planned by my mom. Mom's a great planner and we had food, food, and more food...then there was cake, cupcakes, cookies, and lollipops. Abria behaved just as she should-she tried to grab the lit candle, smashed her hands into the icing, and ate cake with abandon. Alette showed just a little more restraint. All in all, it was a great time.

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.