tidbits of Abby

**Abby has been practicing her spelling.  "h-a-y" spells everything.  It started correctly, "h-a-y spells hay."  But recently "h-a-y" spells just about anything.  "I know how to spell ----! h-a-y!"  Except yesterday that is, when we were driving in the car and she was spelling with randomly shouted out numbers. 

**Everything happened "last night" in Abby's world.  I think I remember Ryan going through this stage, but I don't remember it being this extreme.  Anything and everything that has already happened, happened "last night."

**Follow up:  Abby spelled her name for us last night : "Abby, h-a-y, Abby."  And earlier today, Ryan asked me how to spell of.  I told him and Abby repeated: "of, o-h-a-y-f, of."  It's silliness around here!

**Another follow up:  For whatever reason, Ryan pointed out CVS to Abby as we drove by recently.  Abby:  "I know how to spell CVS:: h-a-y-C-V-S!!" [getting louder and louder until she's yelling the end].

Granddaddy and Grandma Jo-Ann

Last weekend [April 27th], Granddaddy and Grandma came down for a visit.  The kids loved having them here!  Unfortunately it was pretty rainy and yucky most of the weekend; soccer was rained out for the third time this season, boo!  But we still managed to find lots of fun stuff to do.  Saturday we went down to Woodstock for a family fun festival.  Ryan was a super big, brave boy and he went in the Monster water balls.  He had a blast inside his bubble splashing around in the pool.  He did great!  Ryan and Abby also bounced and slid and played on inflatables, and we saw a firetruck, cement truck, and police motorcycle.  After the festival, we went to lunch at Atlanta Bread [ABC if you are cool and old-school like us :)].  Yummy!  Saturday afternoon we walked to the playground.

Sunday was miserably rainy.  We made it to church and Ryan & I snuck out for a few minutes for Seth's Lego birthday party.  Otherwise, we hung out inside playing games and Legos and the new McDonald's cash register set that Granddaddy brought Abby for her birthday.  We then went to IHOP for dinner.  Chloe was a big girl and sat in her first restaurant highchair, she did so good!  Thanks Granddaddy and Grandma Jo-Ann for a fun visit!  We hope to see you again soon!



Ryan in the water ball!

the festival in Woodstock

at IHOP



 

Happy birthday Mommy and Daddy!

All our crazy April birthdays!  This year my birthday fell on a Thursday, which meant all the normal weekday activities - preschool, errands, Abby's 3yr checkup, contractors working on the bathroom floors.  Nana surprised us in the morning by stopping in with a card and presents, thanks Nana!!  And I took the kids to Chick-fil-a after the pediatrician.  It was a fun treat for being good at the doctor and Mommy got a free cookie for her birthday, awesomeness!  Coleson came home from work a few minutes early, and we went to Provino's for dinner.  I love Provino's, especially with a free birthday dinner.  We took the kids with us, which proved to be a bit more stressful than I imagined.  Note to self: quiet, intimate settings are not the best places for three kids.  But it was still nice to be out! 

After soccer on Saturday, my mom took me to Frosty Frog for a birthday lunch, yumm!!  thanks!  Then Coleson and I celebrated our birthdays with a trip down to the big city of Atlanta.  I surprised Coleson last year with a weekend away for his 30th and we loved it so much that we hope to make it a birthday tradition :).  We stayed at the InterContinental Buckhead again, beautiful hotel.  I love the views and all the hustle-bustle.  I can't handle too much of it, but a once-a-year trip is certainly a nice change.  Everything did look even greener when we got home and, for better or worse, I noticed the cows more than normal.  Coleson commented on the lack of pollen while we were walking around downtown, but I guess if there's no trees there's no pollen!  Anyways, I digress... birthday weekend.  We dined at Cantina for dinner.  It was a nice Mexican place that was a perfect combination of different and fun but still casual and comfortable since we don't get out much these days!  Great food and margaritas and people watching.  And we love walking everywhere. 

Sunday morning we walked to Buckhead Church.  Buckhead Church is awesome.  Breakfast was at the Flying Biscuit.  The biscuits really were delicious with their berry-apple-butter-jelly stuff.  Coleson had an egg and potato thing and I had an egg, mushroom, sausage, spinach, noodle plate.  Pretty good actually.  After walking back to the hotel for our car and things, we headed home via Valerie and Andre's where we met little Milo.  Sooo sweet and so cute and so little.  And when I was done holding him, I got to hand him back to his Mommy!  I love love love being a Mommy, but I am excited for this next stage of living vicariously through other people's babies.  Babies are hard work :).  Once we were home and reunited with our three and settled back in, Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to say hi and bring presents, thank you!  And thanks to Nana and Pop-Pop for the hotel points and for watching our little ones for the weekend!

Coleson's birthday was on Monday.  He worked his one-day-from-home-a-month day on Monday since it was his birthday and the contractors were supposed to finish.  Which they didn't.  Another story for another post though.  Ryan was excited and apparently told his class, so Ms. Jennifer walked him to the car after preschool to wish Ryan's Daddy a happy birthday :).  In order to let Daddy get some work done and since we thought the kitchen would be a mess thanks to the contractors, we snuck out for a Burger King playdate with Eben and Asher from preschool.  It was a great playdate!  There were five kids/siblings playing and they played amazingly well.  For nearly two hours there wasn't any quarrelling amongst them and they were nice to the other kids that came and went.  And of course that made it really nice for the three mommies!  For Coleson's birthday dinner, he asked for Chinese takeout since we'd been out a lot and we thought I wouldn't be able to cook in the kitchen.  After researching a bit, we found some pretty good Chinese close by.  The weather was beautiful and we ate out back.  We did presents and cupcakes and Coleson tossed the football with the kids for awhile. 

And that was that.  Up next: Chloe!!  Wow, my baby baby will be one in a little over three months.  Craziness!  But let's not rush things.  Happy April birthdays Abby and Mommy and Daddy!!

Happy 3rd birthday Abby!

In honor of Abby's 3rd birthday last weekend, we ran a 5k benefiting CHOA.  It seemed a fitting way to honor her and them on her birthday.  The race was early and cold and dark.  Daddy pushed Chloe in our Chicco stroller and I pushed Abby's in Ms. Tara's jogging stroller [awesome stroller by the way!!].  Ryan ran.  And he kicked our butts.  We certainly held him back.  Mommy is fat and lazy and has birthed three babies and has just recently regained full lung capacity from pneumonia [any other excuses you can think of for me? :)], so I definitely brought up the rear.  Ryan and Daddy hung together, although I almost caught back up to them at the end.  The next day I was sore, but Ryan didn't miss a beat.  Forget soccer, we need to sign this kid up for track, he really was impressive out there! 

After the race we celebrated with bagels at Starbucks and then headed home where Abby found some presents waiting in the backyard!  A new turtle sandbox and a riding inflated donkey horse thingy.  The look on her face when she saw them through the backdoor was priceless.  Ryan got her some dress-up shoes she had been eyeing at the grocery store.  She loved them, but unfortunately they broke within minutes, boo. :(

All her aunts and uncles made it for the party and it was nice to have them in and out throughout the afternoon.  The party started at 4:30 and it was a small gathering this year - just family and Alicia, Christa, Tara, and their crews.  Abby helped me pick a polka-dot theme and the guys grilled out burgers & dogs for us.  The kids had a blast running around and playing and splish splashing in the pool noodle polka dots and eating cupcakes.  Thanks to everyone who came and helped make her day super special!

Since her birthday was a Saturday this year and was full of all sorts of fun festivities, we had our family "dinner" for lunch on Sunday.  Abby picked Zaxby's which is an interesting choice since she doesn't eat their chicken very well.  It took forever to get her to eat one piece and seeing as it was her birthday and all, we left it at that.  Whatever!

Abby's three year checkup was on my birthday this year.  After some deliberation and a re-measurement she was officially listed as 37.5inches.  Initially they came up with 35.7 which is actually shorter than she was at her 2.5yr.  So Dr. Bowman measured her again.  When you are as short as she is, two inches is a big deal :)  Hopefully Dr. Bowman's measurement was correct!  She weighed in at 32lbs.  Both right at normal/average on the charts.  They also took her bloodpressure [94/42] and a urine sample.  Dr. Bowman was happy with the results on both of those and wasn't worried about her kidneys.  It was nice she took those couple extra steps [Abby's last visit with her pediatric nephrologist was her two year; we loved Dr. Jernigan, but it's been great having all three kids at the same, close to home, pediatrician!].  PS - I just googled bloodpressure for a three year old girl, and according to livestrong dot com, the first site that came up, if anything Abby's a little low on the bloodpressure.  I would guess that's better than a little high, especially given her Mommy has low bloodpressure too. 

Three years old! [and five days :)]

Happy Birthday my Sweet Abby-Girl!!  Wow, three!!  What a fun and spirited and beautiful and joyful little girl you are.  You are tough and strong and fearless and you know what you want.  As your mother, these can make it tough to parent you, but I also love these qualities and sometimes I wish I had more of your confidence and passion myself!  You love life and your family and your friends and your baby dolls.  Most of the time you can do your colors and shapes and counting [although you still skip six everytime!!], you just usually have something better to do!  You scream at bugs and love swinging and the monkey bars and your new sandbox.  You think your Big Brother hung the moon, but that doesn't stop you from pestering him endlessly.  You love sharing your room with Chloe and think it's the coolest thing ever when she "matches" you [you dress alike :)].  You love fruits and bananas and snacks and goldfish and as soon as you realize what it means to be a vegetarian, you'll be the first of our kids to go through that phase.  You can sit at the dinner table forever and store chewed food in your cheeks for hours.  You love ribbiting like a frog and polka dots and monkeys.  You sing and dance and spin yourself in circles until you fall over.  Tinkerbell and Curious George are awesome and guacamole is super tasty, as are artichokes.  If we aren't paying attention, you'll eat plain ketchup and you much prefer your fingers over a fork.  You are blossoming into a little gymnast, yesterday you flipped all the way over on the bars on the playset.  Nothing phases you and I don't even flinch when you trip over your own two feet, it happens a dozen times a day!  You dress yourself and put on your own socks and shoes.  Pink is your favorite color, although you usually call it purple.  You can be shy for about thirty seconds, but after that you've never met a stranger and you can tell some amazing stories.  You always ask to go out for chicken, don't actually eat it, and then we have to keep on you to finish it.  You give great hugs and love for Mommy or Daddy to pick you up.  You are an amazing blessing and I thank God everyday for you.  I love you, love you, love you my Sweet Girl!!  Happy third birthday!!

show and tell

Yesterday was "W" show and tell at preschool.  Ryan and I talked about it at breakfast, and he wanted to bring a whale.  And yet somehow in the few minutes between breakfast and getting in the car, we managed to forget his "W."  So he told his teacher he wanted to wait until today when he actually had something to show.  I assumed he would want a whale, but instead this morning he told me he wanted to draw a picture of Washington DC.  Pretty cool.  I suggested he could bring in the keychain that Daddy brought him last summer when he had a conference in DC, but we couldn't find it.  So instead he decided on our DC magnet.  I then asked what he was going to say about it [show and tell is more like tell and guess at his preschool, so he likes to be tricky and try to stump his friends when he tells about his show.]  He told me that Washington DC was just a city, not in a country, but then he corrected himself, it's not in a state.  What?!?  How does he remember that?  I told him that was really good, but he thought that would be too easy and his friends would know.  I tried to be nice and not insult his friends' intelligences by telling him that they probably wouldn't know that if they hadn't been there, but he still wasn't buying that.  Okay, well what else could you say about Washington DC?  The President, although he couldn't remember his name, lives there.   Then he told me United States of America and I could tell he was thinking real hard, but he couldn't quite come up with it.  Washington DC is the capital of America?  Yes!

So off he went with his Washington DC magnet for a belated show and tell.  I would have loved to have seen him explaining Washington DC to his class.  When I picked him up, I asked him what he told his friends.  He told them it's a city, it's by the pretty water, and the President lives there.  I asked if his friends guessed it and he said no.  I asked if he gave any other clues, and he said no.  I am still not exactly sure how his show and tell resolved.  I suppose it's probably a little wrong and I know I am 100% biased, but I hope his teachers see how smart he is, he certainly amazes me! :) 

brilliant

Ryan's known my phone number for quite awhile now, but we've never really talked about Daddy's phone number before.  Tuesday he asked me what it was.  I literally recited the number to him twice and he knows it!  I've been quizzing him a couple of times a day just to make sure it's sticking in his long term memory, but no worries there.  He's gotten it right every time without any hesitation.  I swear he has a better memory than me these days!  What a smart little man! 

my Sweet Abs

Yesterday we had a playdate at the park with Seth and Dylan.  After we played and picnic'd, we went to Sweet Escapes for some super yummy ice cream.  At one point, Ms. Alyson walked away to get something and Dylan started to cry Mama.  Abby was soo sweet.  She walked up to him and said "I am Abby.  I am here.  Do you want me?"  Love that girl!!

dinner time chats

Last night's dinner was amazing; I wish I had videoed the whole meal.  The kids were on a roll!  I can't even began to remember everything they said, but it was all hilarious. 

Abby told Daddy several times "I don't like you."  Seeing as she's told him a million times over the last few days that he's her "favorite friend" we couldn't imagine she was saying she didn't like him.  After a couple questions, we figured out that she doesn't like "eww" as in yucky as in the turkey lunchmeat that I had made her finish at lunchtime.

Within seconds of that conversation Ryan told Chloe she was a "silly whore." wow, what great parents we must be.  Again, we couldn't imagine that's really what he meant so we tried to fish out his real thoughts.  Eventually we realized he was saying horn; his speech still isn't quite all there and he likes to mumble and drop syllables.  At this time, Chloe's teething cookie was sitting on top of her head stuck in a gooey mess to her hair.  I was thinking the horn comment had something to do with a teething cookie horn like a rhino or something.  But he tells us she's like a horn that you blow on or that a silly clown squeezes.  okay. 

Abby then got going on ribbetters, which is what she calls frogs.  "Ribbetters ribbit ribbit"  She also said something about "Ribbetters are nice and ribbetters don't get you.  They climb up you and give you hugs."  She's got an amazing imagination and it's so fun to try and follow her crazy trains of thought!  Conversations just like this went on the entire dinner.

After dinner, Grandma and Grandpa came to put the kids to bed for us while we hosted small group.  I went upstairs for a minute and while I was there, I turned on the fan for them.  Abby was very excited: "I am getting air on my head!" 

Love these kids!  They are at very fun ages and I especially love that Ryan and Abby can have full conversations now; it's so interesting to listen in to what they have to say!

black wins!

Yesterday we took a family adventure to Athens for the Red and Black scrimmage game.  It was great!  It was a fairly spontaneous trip; it took me until Saturday morning to convince Coleson to go :)  Ryan had a soccer game in the morning, so we didn't get there until the third quarter.  But we realize now that that was the way to do it.  The crowd had cleared out a bit at halftime apparently, and we got a decent parking spot.  We walked right in and sat on the 50 yard line for awhile.  Alright, maybe only ten minutes or so before the kids got antsy and we had to move on.  But yes, we did see Aaron Murray play, although his side didn't pull out the win.  Ryan was cheering for the red team- the number one offense.  I'm not really sure why, but he was set on the red.  So anyways, we walked down to field level to check out the hedges and stand near the band.  Poor Chloe [in the snugli on Daddy] couldn't see over the hedges, but she did enjoy reaching and touching them.  Ryan and Abby both really liked the Redcoats, but Abby loved them!  She was dancing and shaking her pom-pom and having a grand time.  She would get so excited when they played and didn't seem to understand why they had to wait for the breaks in the football game.  We showed them the tubas of course and Abby wants to play the tuba.  She told me after the game that "tubas are fun and I'm going to play one when I get big and Chloe's going to play with me too."  [I so wish I had been in a position to write down everything she said, there was some good stuff!]. 

After the game, we wandered north campus for a bit.  We saw the pretty fountains and Abby told me that the "flowers in the pool" were one of her favorite parts of the day.  Ryan had a great time climbing in a couple of the trees.  And we got to ring the chapel bell which was pretty awesome!  [well they rung it and I took pictures :)].  Three years of school and this was our first time ringing it.  Abby begged to ring it again and we had to talk about taking turns.  We also saw the Arch.  Ryan wasn't too keen on it and I guess I just assumed he was getting tired, but I realized today that I think we had scared him.  We had said something about how it was bad luck to walk under the Arch before you graduate and I don't think he understood.   

The weather was beautiful, the kids were very well behaved, parking was no problem, everything was free [well, except for Welcome to Moe's on the way home].  It was as close to perfect as we get these days!  And, while it took him a lot of prompting, several tries, and until 11pm, Coleson did finally admit that I was right and going to the game was a good idea!