2 Month Update...

Here she is 2 months old already... isn't she cute (even with the slashes on her nose from self mutilation... a case of too long of finger nails on the day she got shots)?! ;) Abby had her well baby check-up this Monday and did fantastic, that is until they gave her her first round of shots... poor girl, she didn't do well at all. She turned bright purple for a minute because she wouldn't breathe and then after she calmed down a little she threw-up all over the table. The nurse felt really bad and so did I. She did alright for the rest of the day... no fever, but you could tell her legs really, really bothered her and thus the scratching of the nose while trying to sooth herself by sucking on her thumb (she missed obviously). She's fine now, after a couple of sleepless nights, and a few really nasty diapers. I totally forgot how awful shots were and how they screw-up whatever rhythm you had established for a couple days.

But back to the doctor's appointment... Abby's 23 1/2 inches long, her head measured at 39 3/4th cm and she's 15 lbs 2oz. I know she's a chunky one... all she does is eat and sleep all day, but she's my adorable chunky monkey!

Disneyland...

On President's Day my parents took us all (minus Abby... thanks Heidi) to Disneyland! It was a total blast and Lizzie was in heaven the whole entire time... I don't remember the last time I saw her so excited. She got to see all her favorite characters - Pluto, Goofy, and of course Mickey Mouse. We wandered through Mickie and Minnie's houses in Toontown and stood in the longest line imaginable for the shortest ride possible, but Lizzie really wanted to ride in a flying elephant, so in Dumbo's line we stood. The sad thing is I don't think we got any pictures of it, maybe Ben got some video of it though. We also watched the main street parade, which she loved and was so excited when she finally got to see Donald Duck (she'd been looking for him everywhere). By the end of the day Lizzie was exhausted... she was asleep for half of the fireworks display! It was a long day, but it was a fun day. Thanks mom and dad! And thanks Heidi for having Abby literally all day long. ;)

Lizzie and her cute Mickey ears!

Being smothered by Goofy

Look, Ben has Mickey ears too!

Our favorite encounter of the day!

Beach Day...

My family was down over President's Day weekend and we had a whole lot of fun... The first day they were here we drove, what seemed like forever to get to this place called Solvang... kind of disappointing. The only thing Danish about the place was the buildings, but at least we got to do a wine tasting (and stopped to eat at Esau's along the way - Ben and my favorite surfer cafe).

The next day we went to the beach and just hung out all day. Heidi even came to the beach with us that day, so we took up a pretty good chunk of sand. My parents loved the fact that they weren't in 2 feet of snow or freezing cold and were hanging at the beach in shorts in the middle of February. ;) Got to love California.

My brother rocking it as a surfer

Baby Abby just chillin' on a blanket on her very first trip to the beach

Lizzie making her little village with Auntie Heidi

Happy Valentine's Day...

For Valentine's Day we had a play date at the park and passed out valentine's, of course... as you can see the lollipops were, hands down, Lizzie's absolute favorite.

Just look at those chunky cheeks! ;)

The Dinner Party...

A couple weekends ago we ending up having this extravagant dinner party playtime with Lizzie, while Abby was taking her nap (it was so nice just to play with Lizzie... just the 3 of us). Ben and her went grocery shopping (pretend of course) for it and everything. We all got dressed up and Lizzie took me out to dinner while Ben was our waiter, plus "Mr. Chef" of course. Lizzie was hilarious and we all had a lot of fun. Enjoy the pictures. ;)

4 Week Update...

Here she is 4 weeks old already... man, that's gone by incredibly fast. It's crazy how much of the little newborn baby stage I've forgotten about (and Lizzie's not even 3 yet). The eating every hour and a half to two hours, endless diaper changes, spit up everywhere and all over everything, and the sleeping all day long - that's all Abby wants to do (I wish I could do that some days). Good thing they're so darn cute otherwise we'd all be in trouble. Oh, and that fuzzy little head... I could rub her head all day long, good thing she loves it rubbed too. ;) At least she doesn't have colic and screams at the top of her lungs like Lizzie did. I'm extremely grateful for that! As far as her stats; Abby's 9lbs 6oz. and 21inches long, and she just started holding her head up, crazy girl, she's already trying to catch up to her big sister.

After Seven (and a half) Years...

It's official... after seven and then some years, Ben is finally finished with school! He just completed his final two classes this last semester and now has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation. Yeah... the weekends are now ours again! I can't begin to tell you how excited and proud of him I am that he saw this all the way to the end. I know there were many times he wanted to just be done with it and totally forget the rest of it (especially when he started getting paid for animating), but after many long conversations and a few arguments it's all over. We talk all the time how we would have done things so differently if "we would have known", but looking back I'm glad (and grateful) we didn't know... so many wonderful things wouldn't have happened to us during this crazy journey, and Ben (and I) certainly wouldn't be where he is today if we took the straightforward and easy way. Somehow God knew we needed all those detours along the way. ;)

Anyways, this portion of our lives is finally finished and it's on to the next. I think we need to take a little trip back up to San Francisco though... thinking about all this really makes me miss all of our friends and one of the few places we've ever called home.

I'm extremely proud of you Benjamin and love you very much!