Palm Tree Paper Studio

One of my California friends, Michelle, has just opened a business on Etsy.  Check it out for cute cards, tags, and notecards!!!  

Also, I have a new favorite site for embroidered diaper covers, burp cloths, etc.  They have the most darling ribbons, etc. to embellish with.  Of course some of you are so crafty that you probably do these kinds of things yourselves...

A Little of this, a little of that

Here's a little of what Abby Jane is doing these days and also a taste of her walking status.  It was rainy the day I shot this, or I would have done some of it outside.  She looks so tiny when we're outside and she's toddling around that it always makes me laugh.

It is a little longer (about 4 1/2 minutes), so this is where I beg off with the excuse that it's for our far-away family and our records!!!  I can't believe she turns one year two weeks from today!

Today at MOPs...

A dietician came and spoke on various "hot topics" that moms discuss.  Two of those being organic food and plastics safety.  Apparently, you should not store any food in any plastic containers (even BPA free) b/c of how the plastic leaches.  You should never microwave plastic.  You should not dishwash bottles and cups and limit any dishwashing of plastics in general.  You should remove food purchased at the store in plastic containers and put them in glass.  The only safe plastics are #1, 2, 4, and 5.  Oh yeah, and Cling Wrap is made with PVC (#3) and can do a number of terrible things if it touches your food including cause early puberty, reduced sperm count, increased rates of cancer, and obesity.  Poor old Cling Wrap.

On a daily basis, I pop out baby food I prepared from the PLASTIC ice cube trays, put them in PLASTIC Tupperware containers, and the MICROWAVE them to defrost them.  Later on in the day, I disassemble Abby Jane's sippy cups and put them in the dishwasher.  Apparently, this is less than brilliant.  So I stopped by the store on the way home from MOPs and purchased a few small glass containers in order to defrost her lunch without causing potential damage to her central nervous system, kidney function, early puberty, etc.

NOW, onto organic foods.  We started out completely organic with Abby Jane's food and now are mostly non-organic unless it's on-sale.  (Abby Jane started cow's milk last week, and we are buying that organic, but I really only intended to do that for the first month or two of it until she gets older.)  I would like to hear how YOU are non-organic and ok with it or if you have figured out how to buy organic without spending both arms, both legs, and maybe an ear.   Thanks for your thoughts- have a great weekend!!  It's actually rainy here, so it's nice and cozy after a week of 70's and sunny...

First Kiss

Our sweet friends Trisha and Jaxson live on the beach, and we had the delight of playing in their "backyard" this morning.  Jaxson is one month older than Abby Jane and decided to make his move and lay a big one on Abby Jane.  Trisha had her iPhone, so we caught the moment.  Here he starts to lay on the charm...

"Please can I have a kiss?"  Abby Jane is being quite lady-like and is playing hard to get.
This is right before or after they smooched.  Precious Jaxson continued to try to kiss her, but Abby Jane limited him to only one from her.  She thought it was more fun to play with the string of drool coming from his chin.  Yes, it was hilarious and quite precious.

11 months

It's actually been a week and a half since she turned 11 months, but better late than never!  These days she...

-walks at least 80% of the time, though she is yet to do it for our friends after church!

-new words are baby, bird, ball, puppy, pig, OOOHHHH! (said with raised eyebrows)

-fav finger foods are bananas, blueberries, pieces of turkey, rice cakes, cheese, dried apples- the girl can EAT

-books continue to be a big favorite

-loves her Baby from "Aunt" Stephanie, soccer balls, riding toy, playing with Fridge Farm pieces, her riding toy and activity table

-dances and "jumps"

-loves getting in and out of her chair

-learned to "tickle Daddy" this weekend!

-is a big water girl- loves bath time and has been great in the pool in the last week, doing fine when we put her completely under water!

-waves hi and is pointing to objects as soon as her eyes open and tends to talk until her eyes are closed

-loves facing forward in her carseat!

-points to Daddy's nose and Mama's nose when asked

-plays peek-a-boo by hiding behind the coffee table and popping out!

-explores all over the apartment, pulling things from "fair game" cabinets, toting toys with her wherever she goes!

We went down to the beach this afternoon for the first time since before Christmas, and she was SO into the sand and the birds and even stuck her toes in that COLD water a time or two... after that she walked backwards when the water came close! 

It's difficult to describe the immense amounts of sand on this child's body in this picture.

Week Three

On New Year's Day, Jodi (along with Katie and Ian) drove us down from Cartersville back to my mom's.  Jodi married into a very creative brother-in-law and sister-in-law whose Christmas gift to her and Chris was a makeover of their master bedroom (click on the Gregory's blog at right for before and after pictures)!  So Jodi came down to Mom's to get the kids out of the way.  

Jake flew home on Jan. 2 to start his Jan session of class at Azusa, and our week of seeing friends began.  The next day, Abby Jane and I drove to Birmingham and had brunch with Em York at Edgar's (LOVE the new location!)  It was so sweet to get some long overdue Em time in.

Then we drove over to Stephanie's precious home and spent the afternoon with her darling family!

For those who don't know, Steph was one of my roommates at Auburn, but I have only had the chance to be around sweet Amelia and Noah a few times, which is an absolute crime!  Needless to say, we had a fabulous time just being together and letting our babies play!
On Monday, Jo and I took the kids to play at Chastain Park with Grandaddy and Joan.  It was great to get to see them again, and it was also neat to introduce Abby Jane to a park I grew up going to!
Jo and I have gotten really close ever since she went to college, and we love any chance to get to hang out!
Katie and Abby Jane sealed the deal on their best friend status over those few extra days we had together!
Abby Jane loved to help Grammy strum the guitar!
After Jo and the kids left on Tuesday, the tempo of our days picked up, and we had the delight of seeing Keri (who discipled me since 8th grade) again and introduced Abby Jane to the ladies in Mom's accountability group (who are like second moms to me).  Ken, Sandy, Betsy, and Cade came over to play one afternoon and joined Mom and I for another barbeque fix for me before leaving town.  Mom babysat one night while I went to dinner with Lauren, Victoria, and Lyndsay for a great girl's night with sweet friends!  On our last day, we got to go over to Jane's fabulous new home and play with sweet, sweet Elisha and admire Jane's cute little baby bump for the morning!  

We finished out our wonderful last day with a refreshing walk with Grace and Kim Faison and a visit with my Miss Penny.  

The Lord came through in a HUGE way for our trip home by letting our flight be half empty! So we had an open seat next to us and plenty throughout the plane for her to crawl on and look out windows.  About midway through the flight, she was doing GREAT and I was thinking that perhaps I was supermom.  And then I remembered that there was about 500 people praying for us and came off my high horse.  Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!

Week Two

On Christmas Day, we drove up to Cartersville and joined Ken, Sandy, Betsy, Paul, Cade (21 months), and Granny, who was up in Cartersville for the day.  Here is a picture from a trip to the park that afternoon of Ken sending Abby Jane down this steep tube slide that she loved going down!
That night, we went through a farm with Christmas light displays in the back of Ken's truck- it was so fun!
Abby Jane and Cade had a great time together and are probably going to be trouble-makers together as they get older since they are so close in age!   This was taken right before Abby Jane took Cade down Christmas night after he "borrowed" the walking toy she had been playing with.  Bless his heart, he was so surprised that he didn't do anything back to her after she knocked him down, even though it would have been a bit justified!

We went back down to my mom's to see sweet friends on the day after Christmas- and we finally got to meet the Booth twins (7 months old)!  Betsy, Katie, Whitney (who couldn't be there) and I were discipled by Keri (on the right) since we were 14!

Ken, Paul, Jake, and I hiked up Pine Mountain with the kiddos one morning- it was so pretty to be in the woods.  I loved this shot of Cade following his Bop Bop's and Daddy's footsteps.The classic bath picture, though this is deceptive... they were more interested in playing with their toys than each other.

Mimi and Bop Bop with their grandbabies.  Sandy had foot surgery in early December and did an amazing job of getting around and playing with the little ones despite the fact that she was still doing some big recovering.

This rocking chair was Jake's and was HUGELY popular.  We have now put together the rocking chair we received from the Demaioribus family before Abby Jane arrived- and she loves it!
Here is Jake's Granny blowing out the candles on her birthday cake on New Year's Eve!  

Jake and I got in a date and some running errands without a child while we were in Cartersville- it sure is nice to have family around to babysit!  Our afternoon date of lunch, a matinee, and dessert cost approximately $30.  The same date in LA would have cost more like $70!  We surely enjoyed the benefits of grandparents while we could!