Fun Time

Last week, Abby’s friend Claire, who is 13 months, came over for a lot of the day. In a moment of triumph, Michelle had both girls down for naps for 1-1/2 hours and got to clean up the huge mess created by the storm of babies. By the end of the day, Michelle’s back was aching because Abby and Claire developed some sort of odd version of chase-the-baby. Neither one really had the tag part of the game down, but we somehow worked out a system of switching back and forth between chaser and chasee. It was hilarious to hear all three girls screaming. It’s a wonder Roy got any studying done that afternoon!

New Tricks

Although I don't really expect lots of people to view these videos, I know the family will love them. And, besides, Abby is pretty stinking cute so watching two 30-second videos would probably do everyone some good. I heard yesterday that laughing 15 minutes a day relieves stress, helps you burn calories, and just makes you feel better. While these videos may not make you laugh right out loud, you'll at least get a good smile on your face!

The first video is Abby, my dancing queen. Just last week we noticed that she would sway to music. She has a couple of toys that play music and she'll dance away. Since they are now the favorite toys, we have burned through all our batteries. But never fear, Abby still dances when she plays with the toy, even if the toy is silent! Just like most kids when the camera comes out, Abby does not demonstrate her full dancing ability on this video. She was a little distracted. She usually goes full force. Last week we were at the Dollar Tree (love that store!) and she danced while sitting in the shopping cart. She was going so hard I thought for sure she was going to be a little sore the next day.

Our second movie is the second skill of the week. We spent all day Saturday with cousin Zachary, who loves to clap. On Saturday night, Abby started clapping. We are very proud. As you can tell from the amount of drool on her shirt, Abby is working on tooth #6. She is growing up fast! Mom, I'm sort of expecting you to tear up at this video. :)

In other news:

• Roy's sister and family in Houston, TX survived Hurricane Ike. We wish we could have had them survive it out here with us, but hopefully we'll see them soon. Abby would love to meet her cousins!
• My mom went to the BYU-UCLA football game and I will brag that BYU won 59-0. Roy vicariously enjoyed the game through my mom's text messaging and the occasional online checking he got to do. Thanks, Mom!
• Abby has her first more-major ouchie. Let me just say that it was on Roy's watch! She almost always has fingernail-gouge marks on her face (and yes, I do cut her nails), but she managed to tip over and hit her face just right this time. Her eyebrow is a little swollen and bruised and she has a red mark on her cheek. We are affectionately calling her Scarface now.
• I am babysitting a friend's daughter today who is 13 months old. It was a little crazy to juggle the two girls who were, of course, hungry at the same time, wanting to play when they were sitting in the high chair and the other girl was playing, wanting to read just with me and not share a lap with anyone else, and both decided they were completely exhausted and needed naps RIGHT NOW. Both were in bed having been read a book and rocked for a couple minutes, but I will brag that Abby fell asleep first. Good girl!
• We went to nephew Zachary's 2nd birthday party this weekend. It was farm-themed and so fun! It made me start thinking of Abby's 1st birthday and how we should celebrate. Stay tuned for some fun ideas.

That has been our crazy and fun week. It's so fun to be a mom!

Put in My Place

Roy and I were recently asked to teach the 6-turning-7 year olds at church. We started last Sunday. So we are standing out in the hallway with our class of 6 kids waiting for our classroom to become available and I said, "You guys are so lucky. You have the coolest teachers in the whole world teaching your class!" Of the three kids that were actually listening to me, here were the responses:

1. "Huh?"
2. "Hahaha (real laughter)! You guys think you're the coolest teachers in the world (laughing continues)!"
3. "No. You guys aren't the coolest teachers in the world. The coolest teachers in the world were our teachers last week."

Testimony

For those of you who don't know, we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes called the Mormons. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that He and our Father in Heaven love us, and that we are children of God. We believe that God loves us enough to send a prophet today, just as He had prophets during Bible times. We believe in the Book of Mormon, a book written by ancient prophets who lived on the American continent. The Book of Mormon tells the story of the people in the Americas and testifies of Jesus Christ. I believe these teachings are true because I have prayed and asked my Father in Heaven to know the truth. He answered my prayers and I have faith to follow the good feelings I have felt. I love being a member of this Church. If you want to learn more, ask me. I am happy to share more. If you want to know more of what we believe, here are two great websites:

www.mormon.org
www.jesuschrist.lds.org

Our Father in Heaven will answer your prayers too. He loves each one of us and wants us to find the most happiness and joy that we can in this life.

A Brief Update

Roy's mom recently got a new car. She was up last weekend and we ran around doing all sorts of fun stuff with Roy's brother, his wife and son, Roy's mom, Roy, Abby, and I. So we needed to take two cars wherever we went. Amazingly, Roy always ended up riding with his mom. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why:

And just because I haven't posted a picture of our cute girl for a while and I know some of you are feeling deprived, here she is, "helping" out by holding Grandma Z's birthday present (in reality she dumped it out and put it back in the bag countless times):

Here are some of the updates from the world of Abby:

• She now has three bottom teeth and the very edge of one top tooth. We recently got some soft corner protectors for the corners of our coffee table because we were a little worried about crashing. They have become a fantastic teething tool. So if you come to our house and the coffee table corners look a little gooey, don't be alarmed. Abby is just working hard to get that top tooth to pop out all the way.
• Abby tries to pull herself to stand on anything that looks remotely like an object that will help her balance. She teeters along the edge of it and can go several feet before getting distracted and falling. She is also much better about falling since it happens so often. Now it is not the I'm-having-a-no-good-very-bad-day scream. We just get a little whimper and she's back up trying to stand again.
• Abby is mastering the ability to be on her tummy and get around. A lot of times that involves scooting (backwards) to a table, chair, or couch, reaching up to get some support, pulling herself to sit, and then standing up. It's a complicated process and takes several minutes, but she is not about to be distracted by anything so I'm proud of her for all her hard work and because she has always screamed within about 2 minutes of being put on her tummy.

In the Roy and Michelle world, we are feeling much more organized and on top of life. Roy's classes are going well. He's ahead in his reading assignments and is working on (gasp!) sending out resumes. It's crazy to think that he has to apply for jobs nearly a year before he's even able to start, but so it goes. We'll have to keep track of how many rejection letters he gets, just for fun. He did have one interview last week and has a different interview next week so things are progressing. I am in the process of trying to baby-proof and sleep train Abby. She's doing well in her sleep training, but baby-proofing seems like an endless task! I think I've figured out all the possible places of danger or destruction and then Abby introduces me to a new one.

We hope all our family and friends are doing well. We love hearing updates and apologize for the lack of posts, emails, and phone calls. It's been a crazy transition back from our summer of fun. Have a fantastic day!

Coined

I know we're all guilty of blog-hopping. You are looking on a friend's blog and click on one of the blogs listed on their sidebar, thinking you might know them. Maybe you even click on one of the blogs listed on the friend of a friend's blog. I've done that plenty of times and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I have coined a new phrase for moments like this. Blog stalking.

Right on Target

The other day, Abby and I were shopping in the baby section of Target. I was browsing the clearance rack and overheard a mom saying, "Should we get this dress as your prize?" Of course, I had to look up and see this prize-worthy dress. It was a Dora the Explorer dress. The three-year-old girl responded, "NO! I want this dress!" pointing to a different Dora dress and standing up to emphasize her point. Her mom answered by telling her she could only get one prize so she had to pick. The girl emphatically stated she wanted the second dress (which was really not cute). So her mom said, "Why don't we get BOTH dresses? What a great idea!" The girl very happily nodded her head, held both arms out to hold the dresses, and plopped back down in the shopping cart. I thought to myself, "Oh, I would never give in like that."

But I think to a certain extent, I do give in. Abby shows interest in a certain toy or book and I get so excited and then I have to decide whether or not to get it. Abby's latest interest in the book world is touch and feel books. She will touch everything except the pig's soft nose in her book. She has several touch and feel books so it's not like she's deprived. But the other day she was thrilled everytime we read. I would put out different book options and she grabbed the touch and feel book every time. The next day we all went to Target (we are frequent Target shoppers) and I found a brand new touch and feel book. We didn't end up getting it, but it's only because I'm stubbornly following our newly-imposed budget. And besides, that day, Abby could have cared less about touching anything. And that is kind of how it goes in the world of babies and parents. Parents will do anything to make their kids happy.