Sunglasses

We were driving up the road and the sun was shining through just so the rays hit Abigail in the face. It didn't matter which direction the car went, the sun stayed in her face. Abigail ended up asking for her sunglasses! It completely caught me off guard, because she hasn't really wanted to wear them much. I gave them to her and she put them on upside down, but was completely content with her accomplishment.

Park Playdate

We had fun at the park today with the moms and kids from MOPS. Abigail loves going down the big slides. Today she loved the swings the most. She pitched a tantrum every time I got her out to let another have a turn on the swings.

The Hot Dog Dance

At the end of The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mickey and friends do the hot dog dance. The characters sing 'hotdog hotdog hot-diggity-dog' over and over and they dance by kicking their heels out in front of them. It's slightly annoying since it can easily get stuck in your head. (I'm repeating it my head now after typing it.)

Abigail was watching this show while my parent's came in on video chat. In order to win over Abigail's attention, my mother started doing the hot dog dance. While we continued to chat, Abigail kept asking for the dance...eventually Nina, Nano AND Toby were all doing the hot dog dance! Abigail loved every silly move!

Sleeping on Daddy

Antiques & Autos at The Square

Donnie and Sherry slept over so we could attend Antiques & Autos on Marietta Square. Abigail was not in the mood for Mommy this morning. I wanted to take her picture because she was wearing her cute Auburn dress and headband. When I tried to take her picture she swatted at my phone!

Sesame Street Live

I took Abigail to a Sesame Street Live performance. We carpooled with our friends Erin and Kamran. Erin purchased a light up, spinning Elmo toy for Kamran so Abigail got one too.

It was a great little show titled '123 Imagine'. The mail lady brought all the Sesame characters postcards and each recipient imagine they were where the mail was from and sang about it.

Abigail seemed stunned throughout the performance. She stood on my lap the entire show, entranced. It was like she didn't know how to react. At intermission, I splurged for Elmo balloon; and was speechless after handing the vendor a $10 without receiving change! (Later I discovered the same balloon is sold at Party City for $7, and that's not a terrible mark-up.)

Abigail must have enjoyed herself more than she showed because she passed out very quickly!

A Daddy Nap

Daddy decided to take a little snooze this afternoon. I promise, we do have bigger couches in our house! That does not look comfortable!

Brown Bag Concert Series

Thursdays in September mean the return of the Brown Bag Concert Series at Marietta Square! This particular Thursday happens to be Auburn Gameday, so Abigail had to show her spirit.

The 'bid' kids were allowed to kick in the fountain, Abigail wasn't going to be left out. They all had lots of fun kicking, and were quite wet when they were dragged away from the water. Abigail was extra wet. Kamran started turning around to get out (similarly to him turning in the picture below) but used Abigail as leverage to turn and pushed her in! Luckily, this momma has cat-like reflexes and grabbed Abs by the collar so her diaper wasn't even fully submerged. That could have been ugly!

Laurel Park with Kamran

We met Erin & Kamran at the park. The kiddos had fun swinging and going down the slides. Abigail and I picked up two (cheap) loaves of bread so we could feed the ducks. My goodness, the ducks were MEAN! Some of them even hissed. I wanted to take pictures, but I was scared the ducks would try to nip at some little fingers.

They are so darn cute! I LOVE the hand holding...

Bye Toby...

We said goodbye to Toby this morning. *Tear.* He's off to spend the next 6wks in Tampa with his Nina & Woof. Toby will enjoy running in the orange grove and playing with his cousin Bitsy (ha). Abigail gave Toby LOTS of hugs and kisses before he left. I wonder if Toby will miss her? Or if he will enjoy his time as an only child again, remembering the days when he was jumped on and climbed over. I miss him already!

Bad Momma?

My Jetta desperately was in need of an oil change (and possibly brakes), and I'd been postponing it because I had no idea how to keep Abigail occupied in the little waiting room for an unknown amount of time. I picked up some delicious Krispy Kreme glazed donuts. I felt like a terrible momma, bribing my kid with the warm, sugary goodness. The bribe backfired on me; for each bite, a huge chunk of glaze would drop to the floor so I spent most of my time cleaning the floor.

Sometime in the afternoon, Abigail was trying to get my attention and when I looked over this is what I saw. She must have been really hungry!

New Carseat

A few weeks back, we officially retired the Chicco Key Fit Infant Carrier. While Abs is still within the weight limits, she's long and it doesn't look very comfortable. Although she still wasn't/isn't 20lbs, we had switched the Britax Marathon in Matt's car forward facing during our May trip from Tampa back to Atlanta. Once the infant carrier was retired, it didn't take long for us to realize how much we missed having two carseats. Our second Marathon arrived and Abigail couldn't wait to climb in....and daddy had fun climbing into the box!

Six Flags

Spent the day at Six Flags. Abigail and Gavin looked so cute in the double stroller together! (Huge thanks to my friend Jennifer for letting me borrow it!)
They kept staring at the roller-coasters as they zoomed by. The 'big kids' got to ride some of the roller-coasters too. We all rode the train, Abigail loves trains.
I was very disappointed Abigail and Gavin weren't allowed to ride the kid rides. We rode them with Abigail on our last trip, but the employee wasn't allowing it today. Even though she didn't get to ride some rides, Abigail was exhausted at the end and passed out.

We all went out for pizza as an early celebration of Donnie's birthday. Then we came back to the house for some cake and ice cream.

Scalini's with The Hoffman's

We LOVE Scalini's! Met up with our friends, The Hoffman's, for some yummy Italian. While waiting, Abigail had fun with the giant mixer in the foyer of the restaurant.

She had kept saying "No Shawn" every time I asked if she wanted to go to him. It was cute, but a little sad. It took Abigail ALL dinner to finally warm up to him!

Happy 1st Victoria!

We headed back to Birmingham to celebrate Victoria Brown's First Birthday!

Victoria is the daughter of our friends Garret & Danitza; we hung out with them TONS when we lived there! We've been able to spend a few weekends with them here and there since we moved away, but this was an extra special celebration we didn't want to miss.

Mrs. Potato Fan?

This little fan is in Abigail's room to give her some white noise. It has helped to cancel out other noises, like if Toby barks downstairs or the doorbell rings (also causing Toby to bark) or if some jets from the Dobbins Airforce Base try to ruin my kid's nap.

Recently, Abigail has decided to put the features from her Mrs Potato Head into the fan. Very creative, I must admit, but we don't want her to play with the fan. It almost seems that the more we try to keep her away or scold her, the more she's interested.

Abigail can also turn the night light on and off. She even tried to do it with her toes, like Mommy.

In this next picture, she was playing with her belly button while saying 'belly button'. She says it soooo cute! Did you notice her pink glitter shoes?

Bumps, Bruises and a Busted Lip

Little Crashette continues her full blast speed throughout the days. She forgets her age and size and is determined to do what she is physically unable.

The first time I can remember was on Easter Sunday, Abigail was walking too fast and scraped up her knee a bit. As the Spring & Summer weather continued, her little knees have continuously stayed scuffed. She has tripped numerous times on our driveway, chasing after me while I get the mail; regardless of me reminding her to be careful and walk.

After we returned home on Monday from Tampa, we headed to a playdate on Tuesday. We left the playdate with a small scratch on her cheek bone (below her right eye) and another on her forehead. I'm sure this was due to a "flying" toy of some sort while playing with the other children. In the evening, the raised area around the scratch went down but a light bruise began to show itself.

Last night as Abigail was eating Cheerios out of Matt's hand, she managed to scrape her gum on a not round Cheerio causing it to bleed slightly.

This morning she was standing next to me on the couch and put her head back, right into the metal hook for the window curtains! And I noticed a little bruise on her right shin; I have no idea where that came from.

Today was the worst, self-inflicted injury to date. Not only did she trip on the sidewalk as we walked into KangaZoom but then she stepped onto a ledge at McDonald's lost her balance and now has a busted lip. It's on her left side on the bottom and is still a little swollen. It bled, and I even saw some blood in her mouth (possibly re-injuring the spot from last night's Cheerio incident?).

I hope we're done with Crashette for a few days, let these current boo boos heal before more present themselves.

Celebrating Kevin & Sarah

Kevin's mom and my dad are first cousins, the Henriquez side of my big family. Back in May, while at my dad's Tampa Dragon Boat Race, Kevin and Sarah surprised us with news that not only had they went to Vegas to get married back in February but they were also now expecting a baby boy in September. In usual family fashion, a bash was held to celebrate the newly weds and the upcoming birth of their son Elliot Parker.

She's A Cutie

There are so many things Abigail can do or surprise me by doing each day. In the brief moment, I don't write down these moments and hours then days go by and I've completely forgotten. Here are a few things from today.

1. I call them "Nina's Pretties" and today Abigail picked one up, I started to scold her (which I've done a few times since Saturday) until I realize she was trying to give the little girl a drink from her sippy cup.

2. Abigail received a little Spam pig (like a stress reliever ball) from my Uncle Steve & Aunt Joanna, a souvenir from their tour of the Spam Museum. I handed it to her while in the car and she pointed and said 'glasses'. She knows what glasses are and has been able to say it by name for a while now, but for some reason it surprised me and made me smile.

3. She's really going to like thrill rides when she's tall enough to ride them. Daddy likes to throw her up in the air and spin her around. (Think Ring-Around-The-Rosey but so fast that Abigail's feet lift off the ground.) I'm not sure what she likes more, the spinning or feeling dizzy afterwards.

4. I don't remember what she/we were doing at the exact time, but our faces were close. Abigail put her nose against mine and gave me spontaneous Eskimo kisses!

Cousins at the Pool

Abigail and I spent the morning at Alyssa's pool swimming with Marisa, Melina, Aunt Sharon and my mom. Abigail had lots of fun swimming with Melina!

All cozied up after swimming...

Holding hands, I love it!

Beatrice

My mom has a few of my childhood dolls and Abigail enjoys playing with them when we visit. This is Beatrice, one of my 'well loved' Cabbage Patch dolls.

Saturday, July 31st

We left at 9am for Tampa. Abigail played and ate breakfast with her Nina in the backseat then took a nice morning snooze. Toby rode up front with me.

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Abgail didn't wake up until we arrived in Tifton, where we made our usual stop at Chick-Fil-A. (My parents and I have been eating at this same CFA for the last 11yrs and even after making the restaurant larger, it still packs out!) Back on the road Abigail ate her chicken nuggets, some fries and drank lemonade, which she still calls 'agua' even though she knows it's not water. The drive continued and we made good time. It wasn't until Lake City when I hopped in the backseat, letting my mom drive, and turned on a Sesame DVD for Abigail.

When we got home, we had the Garcia family over for dinner to celebrate my Tia's birthday and Stephen's birthday.



What's hilarious? After each picture I snapped, she ran over to look at the picture on the digital screen! Trying to get everyone looking at the same time AND making sure everyone's eyes are open is not easy.

I love the way she pronounces 'elephant' and 'lion'. She can roar too!

Swim Class #7

Watching some Sesame Street before heading to Aqua-Tots.

Climbing onto the hippo raft.

Jumping off the hippo raft.

Trying to practice floating on her back. She's not too fond of this, but is getting better.
Kicking to the stairs so she can get the starfish toy.

Zoo with Deena, Audrey & Caroline

My mom, Abigail and I met up with cousins Deena, Audrey and Caroline at the zoo today. (Deena is my mom's cousin's daughter.) If I remember correctly, Audrey is a year older than Abigail and Caroline will be one in November. Even though they live in Atlanta we don't see them often. This was actually our first time meeting Miss Caroline!

Abigail and Audrey had lots of fun together!


Abigail & Audrey had lots of fun playing on the playground!

07-26-10 Zoo Playground (2) from Jill Barnes on Vimeo.

07-26-10 (3) from Jill Barnes on Vimeo.

07-26-10 (4) from Jill Barnes on Vimeo.