California Dreaming

Goodbye humid Virginia, hello sunny California!

We made it to Santa Rosa, CA this past Wednesday. Abby was an angel on the flight and drive so we are so happy! We have spent the last couple days running errands and trying to see family. It's been fun! We're so excited to be here for Roy's internship and the girls' playing. It's going to be a great summer!

A Week in the Life of the Zwahlens

We had a great week--here are a few highlights:

• To celebrate Roy being done with finals (HURRAY!!!), we took Abby to Mount Vernon (George Washington's Estate) to visit the baby animals. This year there are only lambs, but last spring they had the cutest baby pigs. We thought we would try out the animals at Mount Vernon and get a feel for how Abby would do at the zoo. The only time she cared about them was when one of the lambs had the nerve to baaa at her. She was shocked and offended for a moment and then went back to being indifferent. There's just too much else to pay attention to (and too many people to stare at until they admire you) to even notice the lambs, which were the entire purpose of the trip!

• This week we did quite a bit of babysitting. The picture below is with Abby's friend Claire. They are about 4-1/2 months apart so the most playing they do together is Abby watching while Claire plays and Claire trying to avoid the gooey hands of this noisy baby. It was fun to watch. We also babysat Jake and Ryan a couple nights (sorry no picture!). Abby and Jake, who is a year older than Abby, had a kick-off--Abby was laying on the floor kicking her feet so Jake lay down opposite her and began kicking his feet. They also held hands in the double stroller, leaving both kids a gooey mess.

• Abby's new favorite thing is her Bumbo chair. She loves to be in the kitchen when I am cooking and doing dishes. So we all love the Bumbo. A few days ago I was slicing carrots and came across a monstrous baby carrot. I showed Abby who prompty grabbed it. It took a couple minutes, but she got it right where she wanted it:

• Abby is in the process of learning how to give kisses. She will only kiss me so far. The kiss is, of course, is an open-mouth-tongue-hanging-out kiss, but she drools and spits up on me anyway and she's too cute when she does it. So now at bedtime I will give her a kiss on the cheek and then she will return the favor with a kiss for me. I love it! This picture is right after she was giving herself kisses in the mirror. Unfortunately I laughed right before the camera caught her kissing herself and then Abby wouldn't perform again, but you can see that the mirror got a little wet.

Here are a couple more fun things that don't have pictures included:

• We went to look at the book section in Target the other day and Abby was so excited. We looked at books for a good 10 minutes and she just couldn't contain herself. She was kicking and jumping in Roy's arms.
• Abby's new game is to grab one of our hands and use us to help her roll over. She has zero motivation to do it all by herself, but she thinks it's great to use us to roll back and forth.
• We discovered this week that any song that we sing that involves jumping is the best song ever. So now nearly every song involves at least one jump. Why not get exercise along with singing?
• If you want to be BFFs with Roy, just get a Wii. And if you want to be BFFAEs (Best Friends Forever And Ever) with him, get him his own Wii... I only say that because I think that every day this week we have had a conversation about the qualities of Wii and how it would benefit us. Hmmm...do you think he's trying to hint at something?
• This was our last Sunday in the ward before we leave for CA. Now I have to make new friends in the Mother's Room! We look forward to our summer and we are excited to see our VA friends when we get back!

2/3, 4/6

Roy is in the middle of taking his last final for his second year of law school. Yahoo! He had just over 3-1/2 weeks to take four tests and finish his term paper so this has felt like a long time of taking finals for all of us. We had a discussion last night about whether Roy is 2/3 done (my vote) or 4/6 done (his) with school. Yes, they are the same thing, but I want to give us credit for surviving two years of law school, not just four semesters...it seems longer when the word year is included! We are ready for two weeks of fun before we head out to CA for him to work and Abby and I to play! Yeah for summer!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

This week really was a busy one, but there are only a few fun things to report. The not-so-fun things included me doing some spring cleaning, but I already know you don't want to know how many hours I spent cleaning closets, sorting through baby clothes, reorganizing the bookshelves, and scrubbing down anything I could get my hands on. Abby was a huge help. As long as she could hang out with me and see what was going on, she was a happy camper. This was really the first week that I could clean while she was awake, which is very helpful since she has decided 45-minute naps are the new thing. Here are a couple highlights from the week:

• Abby was introduced to sweet potatoes, which she LOVES! Today she learned that if she blows out air while she has food in her mouth, not only does it make a great noise, but Mom is suddenly doing a very weird dodging dance. We're in for a whole lot of trouble!
• Roy was the surrogate father for three boys at the ward Father-Son Campout. He just stayed for Friday night and came home smelling like campfire and full of fun stories.
• Abby came up with a fun new game this week. She looks at Roy until he looks at her and then she looks away for a few seconds, looks back at him, and giggles. They are too funny together! I love it!
• We discovered she likes to sing and "act" out "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". We especially love the second verse we learned yesterday from her cousin Zachary: "Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream, If you see an alligator, Don't forget to scream." She loves the screaming we do.
• This was my first real Mother's Day and it was a lot of fun. We spent the weekend with Roy's mom and his brother and family. It was so fun! The girls got cheesecake and then went shopping. Then we spent the rest of the weekend eating and watching the two kids...that seems to be how we spend a lot of our time together. Then today at church, there was a problem with the plumbing so we were dismissed after the first hour. Then we spent the rest of the day with Grandma Z, Steve, Catherine, Zachary, Michael, and Tina. It was a lot of fun!
• I just have to say what Roy did for Mother's Day. First of all, I told him that I wanted him to make dinner, which he did for not just us, but a party of 7. He's a good guy! Then he got the game of Boggle (technically from Abby) and then gave me a box of Sugar Daddys because, as he said, "This Mother's Day is brought to you by your....sugar daddy."

The Events of the Week

It seemed like this was a really busy week, but when Roy and I were just talking about all that happened this week, it didn't sound like there were lots of big time-consuming events. Roy had the exciting job of studying all week--you've gotta love finals! Abby and I had a lot of fun playing and getting outside as much as possible. We went on an exploration walk (mostly just so we could stay out of the house and not distract Roy) and I got a little turned around and lost...at the bottom of this pretty steep hill. So we ended up huffing it uphill and finally got home. Here are a few more highlights of our week:

• This week we said bon voyage to Roy's sister Alex and her family. They are moving to Peru for the next three years. We will really miss them! During the big pack-out day, we entertained brother-in-law Nate and niece MaKayla. MaKayla loves Abby and does a great job pointing out various body parts. Abby loves to watch MaKayla. We hope you guys settle in to Peru quickly!
• Since he's not sitting next to me, I can tease Roy a little. Here he is "studying". Roy's school computer sits on his lap while the other computer occupies the other end of the couch. After going through his outline, Roy leans over and plays an online game, watches something about BYU sports, or plays Solitaire. Sometimes he tries to multi-task:

• Abby had her 4-month doctor appointment this week. She now weighs 16 lbs 4 oz and is 26 inches long. She is still in the 95-96 percentile for everything so she's growing proportionally! There was a group of nurses admiring her while she was being weighed and they were all surprised to hear that she's 4 months and not 6. :) Although we did get in trouble for her not rolling over yet (oops...I guess we hate tummy time as much as she does), the doctor was impressed that she is sitting with support and likes to stand up when she's being held, which I guess is closer to skills she should have at 6 months. Maybe that redeemed us in her eyes. Abby also got some shots. It's way worse to watch your baby gets shots than get them yourself!
  
• Since Abby is 4 months and a big eater, we got to start her on rice cereal this week. She loves sitting on our laps and watching us eat so saying she was thrilled to do it herself is an understatement. Within the first few bites, she caught on to opening her mouth to get more food and she just giggles and smiles while she's in her booster chair. Here she is post-rice cereal on her first morning:

• Abby loves to read, but she also loves to be independent. Last week we were reading and she just kept getting mad at me so I flipped her around and handed her the book. She was in heaven.

• Abby does not like to be left out of anything, even if she can't participate yet. Until our friend Aubrey reminded us to use the Bumbo chair, Abby would sit in our laps during meals because otherwise she would be screaming for attention, which doesn't make the meal very enjoyable. This week we started using the Bumbo chair and we all love it. Now Abby can sit up and watch me unload the dishwasher, fix dinner, straighen up, and even play with the toys attached to her jungle gym (she doesn't like to lay down and play with them--sitting is much better). As a result of this discovery, I have actually been able to get a lot more done around the house this week!