Grumpy Elf

Video Clip - Here is one of Santa's little elves in action. He is just cracking me up when he says, "Merry Christmas!"

Do it Abby!

Video Clip - Abby is starting to sit up (with assistance) now-a-days so we felt she is ready to try her Bumbo seat. Here is a peek at her playing one afternoon with Thomas; can you tell that Thomas is just dying to show her how the toy works? It took all of his might not to do it for her - notice also how much she watches Thomas. She loves to see what he is up to... I wonder if that means she is going to be nosey like her Mama? Enjoy!

4 months old

Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? Abbigail went for her 4-month checkup this week and the stats are in:

weight - 13.6 lbs
height - 24 in

Abby is still petite - only in the 25th to 50th percentile of her age group, but she continues to grow and do more and more things each and everyday. One new thing this week was adding rice cereal to her diet. Our doctor gave us the green light so we started last night and it was a success. Abby ate her bowl and then downed her 7 oz bottle like there was no tomorrow. The girl can eat!

Sleep, Christmas Spirit and Chatting

I've gotten several inquiries over the last few weeks on how Thomas is sleeping now-a-days. The answer is MUCH BETTER! After implementing Operation Night-Night Chart, we have all been getting much more sleep. As you can see by the our November chart below, Thomas earned a lot of stickers beginning on Nov 10th. Out of all of those nights, only 2 times did Thomas get up in the middle of the night and wake me - all of the other nights that he didn't earn a sticker usually resulting in him coming into my room in the middle of the night and curling up with his pillow, blanket and baby bear next to my bed and falling asleep - I really didn't want to reward that behavior (but it sure was cute to find him fast asleep snooring). BTW... he loved getting all the prizes each time he earned 3 stickers.

Mommy's little Christmas reindeers
Is this not sweet? While Abby isn't happy about having to sit for another one of my quick picture escapades - Thomas trys very calmly to quiet her down with one of his kisses. He is just the sweetest to her.

Lots of hilarious conversations have been going on between Thomas and me lately. I'll quickly try to give you some highlights:

• We are driving home one afternoon from school when a ambulance is fast approaching behind us. As expected, all of the cars are pulling over into the median or shoulder to let him by. Just as I'm merging back into the left lane with everyone else, I peek over my shoulder to ensure no one is coming. There is a car "drafting" the ambulance and trying to get ahead of everyone else in my lane. Jerk. Actually I wanted use another choice word but I promised myself I would keep this blog rated "G". Anyway - I quickly yank the steering wheel back to the left so as to not hit this jerk of a driver and yelled, "YOU are KIDDING me!" Thank goodness I didn't yell any profanity because before I knew what I had said, Thomas was yelling the same thing with the exact same conviction and meaning. Except his version sounded more like this: "Mama, YOU are KIDDING me, right?" This went on the rest of the night until he went to bed.

• Over the course of the last few months, Thomas' grandparents have continued to give him money when he goes potty; I, on the other hand, have stopped giving him money because he goes to the bathroom several times a day... I would be broke if I continued to do this. Besides, he's got the idea, right? For Thanksgiving, my mom sent him and Abby each a Thanksgiving card and inside each card she stuck $1. When Thomas opened his card, he exclaimed, "Mama - look I got "Pee-Pee money"! Yeah! He then opened Abby's card for her and pointed out that she also got "Pee-Pee money" (which I thought was hilarious). Finally, I let him open the card addressed to Brian and me. When he opened the card and there was no money, he said, "Mama, you don't get any "Pee-Pee money." Good to know Thomas.

• We bought a 24" tall Christmas tree with lights to send Brian this year so that he would still have the holiday spirit all around him. The other night I asked Thomas if he wanted to see the small tree that we were sending Daddy? I placed it on the floor in the exact spot that we will be putting our Christmas tree. He sat down with his legs crossed and said, "OK Mama, I'm ready." I had all the lights off in the room and then I plugged in the tree. The small little tree lit up and Thomas immediately "ooo'ed and auh'ed" and then brought me to tears when he said, "Mama, Daddy has such a pretty Christmas tree." He contined to smile as he stared at the beautiful lights and said "I miss Daddy."

Desert Update - "God's House"

Project #2 for Brian and the RHS crew at their current location has been to build "God's House" (aka: a church). Those of you who know my hubby well know that this is quite ironic because we don't attend church on any regular basis and is now building for the "big man" upstairs. On top of that - Brian has seemed to imply that the project has not gone smoothly and there have been plenty of hiccups & holdups along the way. Take a peek at what God's RHS builders have been up to...

(Brian pointed out the very muddy conditions - he said that's what makes an already awful place to be - worse!)

Is this an amazing picture or what? Lights shining on the church and the remnants of a beautiful sunset in the background.... Awesome.

End of our Turkey break

Just a glimpse at some of the happenings over Turkey Break last week...

Thomas wanting to make his own PB&J sandwich - notice the torn bread? Yeap... I had to step in and spread peanut butter on a whole new piece by the time he was done. Hey, but at least he is interested, right?

I was NEVER a fan of baby shoes when Thomas was an infant - matter of fact, I don't think even think I put his first pair of shoes on until shortly before his 1st birthday when he was about to walk. Abbigail (and apparently all girls) is different. I already have been given LOADS of shoes and so this past weekend I figured I'd let her try a pair out. I also figured since she loves to stand while you are holding her on your lap, shoes might be a good thing! Here are her cutie feet!
She is actually "standing" a lot more in her Exersaucer - check out those shoes!

OK... funny story! I pulled out this travel bed that we had from when Thomas was an infant this weekend to bring with us when we went to my girlfriend's house. Thomas immediately called it his "black boat" - is that not hilarious? Well, at least what he did for the rest of the weekend with it was funny. He laid in it with a pillow and blanket and read books. Too funny! He did not want to admit at all that it was too small for him OR that is was for Abby. Nope - he claimed it as his.

Abber-Dabbers!

"ToJo" (sometimes Brian has been known to call Thomas this as a joke. It is "redneck" for Thomas Joseph. Get it... "To" is for Thomas and "Jo" is for Joseph. I'm not fond of that knickname but I can't help but chuckle.

Serious Injury!

I don't even know where to begin! Brian logged onto Skype the other day and as soon as the webcam was up and working, this is the image I saw on my end of the computer. As you can imagine, I said, "OMG... what happened?" He was kinda smiling, but I really did want to make sure the thumb was indeed still attached.
He proceeded to tell me that during the day, he was up 16 feet high on scaffolding and the end of the tape measure came out and sliced his thumb down to the bone. He said it wasnt' bad until he had to relax the pressure he was holding on it in order to climb down and then blood started flow'in everywhere! 4 stitches later he is up and running again - good as new! I had to be a smartass though (since he always is to me) and I asked, "Did a camel bite you" before he explained the real story! :) Thank goodness that is the only injury to speak of...

Thankful for blessings

I know I can speak for my husband when I say that we are truely thankful for blessings - more specifically - our two little blessings that God has given us. Thanksgiving was a day to reflect on how lucky we truely are for our health, our children and the love that our friends and family give to us unconditionally. What a good year it has been!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Love,

Zipper 'jammies

Just about the time Thomas could assert his independence (about a year ago), Thomas had no interest in wearing full length PJs. He liked the separate tops & bottom 'jammies. That is until tonight when I was getting Abby dressed for bed with her PJs and he noticed that there were no snaps, instead he pointed out the zipper on her pink 'jammies. He said, "Mommy, where are Abby's snaps?" I proceeded to explain to him that these were different ones - they had the super fast zipper on them. He seemed very intrigued. I asked the sure-fire-question... "do you want to wear some 'jammies tonight that have a super fast zipper?" His response was a given... "Please, yeah Mommy!" At that moment, we scooped Abby up and headed to his room. I opened the draw that had the winter PJs and I pulled out these blue ones with sharks all over them. You would have thought it was Christmas when he saw them. Two cool points for Mommy!

Showing off their Zipper 'jammies

RED HORSE babies

Before Abby grows out of the RED HORSE onesie that was given to us when we were pregnant with Thomas, I thought I'd put it on her today and take some pictures. I'm actually getting ready to pass it on to another RED HORSE mommy-to-be who happens to be a good friend. I figured she would enjoy it and get some photo ops with it like we did with both Thomas and Abby. Anyway... at first it felt wierd to put the color black on a baby girl, but then I realized that she just looked like a bad-ass baby dressed in black (I'm sure her Daddy doesn't want to hear that). Here are the two of them in Abby's room as I'm taking pictures today...

Abbigail dressed as a RED HORSE baby
Thomas dressed like a RED HORSE baby 2 years ago ... do they look alike? I personally think their noses and eyebrows are the same.

Thomas and Daddy in their gear

Update from the "Sandbox"...

... is a little funny this week. Apparently internet was down most of the day today (their only day off) and some of the guys got bored (Brian included). Just one phrase will capture their experience today - "Don't tease the camel."

There are no words being said here but if I know my husband well enough, I know that he was poking fun and teasing this camel right before these pictures were taken. Those of you who know him will agree... he is a smartass!
See... serves him right for being a smartass and teasing the desert camel! I bet he won't do that again if he wants his picture taken with him.

Not sure if this picture was taken before or after the "incident", but I can't help but think he looks like a tourist here. Are there such things as American tourists in Iraq? That seems wierd. Pointless actually. Oh well.. he is a tourist in this picture.