Happy New Year 2013!

With Jake back to work today after taking off the time between Christmas and New Year's Day, the holiday season really does feel like it's over.  Considering it is my very favorite time of year, this is usually bittersweet, with memories of joy, lights, cookies and songs to look forward to in another year's time.  But this Christmas we did so much, and Abigail enjoyed every tiny aspect of it, that I feel great.  I'm ready to move on to spring and what that holds (which is quite a lot this year...we have yet to name baby boy Wiener, but I bought a book and I'm hoping for a break through soon.)

Here's a summary of our holiday activities.  I hope you all had a great, great season with whichever holidays you enjoy, or just spending some nice quiet time by a fire, drinking something warm.  

One of the reason our holidays were so lovely is due to the flexibility of Jake's family.  His mother, brother and father were willing to celebrate the day after each holiday, enabling us to spend one full day with each family.  It was so nice to wake up in the morning knowing that we could take our time and spend the better part of the day in one place celebrating, instead of rushing around trying to fit everything in.  

Thanksgiving!

She LOVES to get dressed up these days (and asked me if she could wear this Thanksgiving dress this morning)

Not much estrogen in toddler world at my parents' house, but lots of cute kids!

We each lit a candle while listing what we are thankful for this year, right before dessert, it was wonderful

Eating the pumpkin pie she helped me bake--she patiently waited for this moment for over 24 hrs

Enjoying Thanksgiving #2 where she is the only grandchild and generally the center of attention :)

Just days after we finished feasting, my dad came out to San Diego for our 10th annual Christmas tree decorating.  We both look forward to our time together each year and it's become a tradition that I cherish deeply.  Abigail said all season that Grandpa "gave her" a Christmas tree.

Dad setting up the extension chord for the lights

Abigail's favorite tree-decorating activity is the step stool

Me and my Papa on our 10th year putting up my Christmas tree together

Twice we visited neighborhoods in San Diego with extravegant light displays.  The first time she clung to this little Santa that sang and didn't want to visit any other houses.  The next, we brought the stroller and saw dozens of displays.  Still, her favorite place to view sparkling lights in the evening chill was Bonair Place -- two streets down from ours was one house with a blow-up Mickey Santa holding a present and another house with a lot of decorations including a Rudolph (complete with blinking red nose).  Going "around the neighborhood" to see Mickey and "blinking nose" was a regular evening activity.

She didn't want to wear hats and jackets on these outings, but she was excited to dress like Santa

 Another semi-regular activity for the two of us was baking.  It's a good thing I happen to love baking, because I do have more than one of most baking implements (rolling pins, rubber spatulas and whatnot).  She would sit on the counter or stand on a stool and do just what I was doing nearly every time I baked something.  It wasn't until a few days before Christmas that she realized she should be asking for the fruits of her labor.  This led to some discovery for me about her taste in desserts--she likes hard chocolate (like M&M candies decorating cookies), is not the biggest fan of cocoa flavored cookies, but LOVES gingerbread.  When they are shaped and decorated like little men, she calls them Benjamin men.  She eats the M&M buttons off the front of the Benjamin men first, nearly always breaking the cookie to pieces and shoving as much of it into her mouth as quickly as possible afterward.

 

 Abigail loved all of the holiday music, especially when sung by yours truly at the Hotel Del Coronado.  I sang there three times with a new caroling group this year and had great fun.  The dynamic is definitely different from what I was used to, but they are a relaxed bunch, and they really enjoy the holiday music and spirit.  It was well worth the effort I put into learning the new music.

The first two visits she was content to sit and watch from the floor or Daddy's arms -- by the third time she was standing in my skirts ringing jingle bells along with us.

We also went to a showing of the Nutcracker at the San Diego Civic Theater.  The show started at 7 pm, so my hope was that she would make it to intermission without making too much noise and we could head home around 8:15 pm for a not-too-unreasonable bedtime.  She was great.  If I hadn't snuck in snacks and purchased cheap seats it might be a different story.  But she left the theater with the knowledge that she needed to be quiet until the lights came back on when attending the theater, and that ballerinas look like princesses and dance on their toes.

The whole family at intermission

Last year Jake decided that we should make a holiday tradition of having a nice lunch out, dressed up, to mark the occasion.  We went to the Marine Room once again this year, and Abigail couldn't have been more thrilled.  She got to wear her Santa dress and attend "fancy lunch" with the whole family.  She didn't really eat any of the food there (good thing I came prepared), but she did really enjoy dessert!  It was a beautiful day with a lovely view.  This marked year two of a good holiday tradition.

Then, of course, there was Christmas itself.  We spent the morning enjoying the Christmas setup.  Abigail is not old enough to wake up super early and expect to open presents, so she woke up a little before 7 am, and when I asked her if she thought Santa visited, she said "not yet" and laid back down.  

Ready for Santa to come

Christmas Eve Photo 

Opening her new "I know you" from Santa 

She had tons of fun opening her stocking.  It was the best thing to watch.

This much mayhem with one child can't be a good thing, though much of that wrapping was from adult presents.

This is such a classic Christmas present.  Jake's mom gave it to her, along with Candy Land, which she is obsessed with.  I didn't think she was old enough for board games!

 I am amazed to say that we enjoyed this season so much, since we've been so very sick.  Almost every single one of these events was preceded by a feverish, sometimes antibiotic requiring, sickness from Abigail, or me, or Jake.  We've had a rough winter so far in that regard, but kids are resilient, and that little smile does a lot to spread holiday cheer.

Lastly in this epic post (for those who are still reading), I wanted to share some pictures of Abigail and Da da time.  She is so happy when he is able to be home all day for an extended period.  They have a great time together and he always takes good pictures along the way.  Due to my singing commitments they had a little more alone time than would otherwise occur, which was a nice bonus.  Happy New Year!  Wishing you all the best in 2013!

New York Neffs

This past October Abigail and I went to New York to visit the Neff family east coast contingent.  Jake was set to travel to China on business sometime in 2012, so I determined long ago that I would take that opportunity to spend some quality time with my nieces, and Abigail with her cousins.  I wish that I could say that I am a great traveler, jet-setting about as I please, but it's not true.  Flying is not my favorite activity, and I suffer from motion sickness on long car rides (thanks a lot, Dad), so I find that years will tick by with the best of intentions to visit friends in northern California, the Moely family farm in Wisconsin, a long list of great friends in the DC area, or the multitude of wonderful national parks within road trip distance of San Diego.  This is something I truly need to work on.  My goal for this year was New York and Sacramento, but only one of those happened.  Adding the toddler factor into the equation certainly does not increase the chances of leaving town, since everything is complicated by one recently potty trained two year old and all the scheduling that comes with her, but we made it happen, and I'm so glad we did.

On a real airplane early in the morning

Moving sidewalks were very exciting

My little champ traveler

Excited about being close to the airplanes

Abigail was excited to get on the airplane, and she behaved wonderfully throughout the entire trip to NYC.  It was some serious work for me, juggling trips to the potty, coloring books, reading quietly, molding clay, playing memory, and telling stories.  The flight was actually just under 5 hours, but I was "on" the entire time.  She couldn't have behaved better, and she sang her ABCs over and over again as we descended.  There were a lot of families on the flight, which made it all very low stress for me as I watched the other kiddos walk the aisles and watch movies on iPads.  It was a good trip.

Eveline and Abigail quietly held hands for much of the ride from the airport to Brooklyn

Michael and Eveline picked us up at the airport and we proceeded to their lovely apartment in Brooklyn.  The girls took to one another instantly, and it was so fun to watch them play.  The three of them colored and cooked, ran and danced, and generally enjoyed each others' company.  Stephan was the ultimate host, cooking for us and taking us all around town, even when her girls were in school and she could have been spending some rare time alone.  I'm very grateful to have her as my sister-in-law.

Girly cousins

Sweet sisters

Walking to the zoo

Stephan pushing one and carrying the other on our epic walk

Watching the seal eat fish

Walking to get pizza in the rain

My biggest regret from this trip is that I forgot my camera at home.  I actually purchased a new camera case, something smaller and more portable with a pocket on the front, so that I could use my camera as a purse and carry it with me everywhere.  I proceeded to forget it on the kitchen table when we left the house at 5 am for the airport.  As a result, these sometimes fuzzy cell phone pictures are the only documentation of what was a 5 day, fun-filled trip.  Sigh.  I mostly lament the lost opportunity to get good pictures of the girls together at this age, my nieces in particular.  But we'll always have the memories.

Abigail was very, very excited to use the subway system, and boy did she impress me with her ability to be flexible, especially in relation to her recent potty training.  She did not have one accident about town, despite the fact that numerous times she had to wait up to 20 minutes to find a restroom.  We are really never in that situation at home, so I worried a little.  We got rid of two crutches by going to NYC.  The first is that she used a potty seat that I would carry around in the diaper bag when we were out and about, but I decided that I was absolutely not going to carry it around in a backpack in NY, so I left it home.  No problem, and now she doesn't need it anymore.  She also learned to go to the bathroom before leaving the house, which is something I could not get her to do before.  When I told her that if she wanted to go on the train she had to go potty first, since there are no potties on the train, she decided that was very reasonable.  Now she will pretty consistently use the bathroom when asked to if we are going to drive somewhere far or leave the house for an extended period.  Awesome.

Plugging her ears when the subway pulls in

Ticket for the ferris wheel inside toys 'r us

Love

Cheers

Matching bows

Playing in Washington Square Park

Finding Uncle Danny

Fun times together

Lyra looooves Danny

We spent one entire day walking around Manhattan with Danny, eating and seeing sights.  It was a long, napless day for Abigail, but she really enjoyed it.  We visited a college friend of mine and met her adorable baby.  Danny treated us to lunch and a carriage ride in Central Park.  We stopped to listen to musicians and to light a candle in St. Peters Cathedral.  Abigail was taking it all in and enjoying the sights.  We got home just under the meltdown line and she crashed.  Unfortunately, Danny's only day off was the day before we flew home.  It would have been nice to spend this day together early in the trip and see the two of them banter a little more.  We had dinner together prior to spending the day with Danny, and Abigail hid from him most of that visit.  But he won her over, and I got to see where my little bro lives and works.  We miss you, Danny.

Abigail warming up to Danny on our day long adventure

Carriage ride in Central Park

Some other highlights: chatting with Michael while Abigail napped over a cup of tea, seeing Johnny working, and chatting with him when he came over to keep me company on Michael & Stephan's night out, watching Abigail taste her first ice cream scoop with Aunt Stephan, and hearing the little girls call to each other first thing in the morning or after a nap.

The trip home was a little more rough for Abigail.  We flew out at 4:30 pm EST and landed at 7:30 pm San Diego time, so she was very tired.  Add to that the fact that she didn't nap the previous day or the day of flying, since we left for the airport around nap time.  Of course, being my non-sleeper, she didn't fall asleep until the plane was literally about to hit the runway, so the last hour of the flight she complained and really wanted to be home.  

I was also yelled at by a grumpy old man sitting in front of Abigail, which upset me more than I thought possible.  Abigail's legs are too short to hit the seat in front of her, but she was using the tray table for different things, like coloring and eating, and she was also playing with it.  About 2 hours into the flight the man stood up and screamed at me that I needed to keep my child under control.  Then he turned around and put his headphones back in without even looking at me.  I started crying, not sure why, but I just couldn't help it.  Abigail turned to me and said, "Ma ma sad?", but I couldn't stop for a couple of minutes.  I guess it was just stress.  I was working so hard to keep her happy and to control the situation out of consideration for the other passengers, so to be criticized harshly despite the fact that he did not once ask nicely for me to limit her use of the tray table was really upsetting to me.  That's life.  

Luckily once she fell asleep she stayed asleep, which was really amazing.  I waited until every last person was off the plane, took her head off of my lap and placed it on the seat, strapped on my backpack and positioned our suitcase with the rolling handle in place, carried her off of the plane and transferred her to the stroller, waited 20 minutes for the car service that picked us up, strapped her into the car seat, drove the 20 minutes home from the airport, and transferred her to her bed.  That was the most tired I've ever felt at 8:30 pm at night.

Going home to see Daddy

I didn't get one picture of myself with my brothers, Stephan, or my nephew Johnny.  We saw him three times and it was great to hug him and to see that he is doing alright.  We now have quite a group of New Yorkers in our family, which I think is nice.  Of course I miss them, but I'm glad they are close enough to see one another and to support each other as needed.  I only wish New York was in California.  Love you so much!

Halloween (I know, it's almost Thanksgiving!)

This blog is inspired by my friend's post for Halloween on her blog The Red Humor.  Of course, she posted it right before Halloween, which is far more interesting and appropriate, but at least I made it in before Thanksgiving.  Here's Abigail's Halloween journey thus far.  

The first year (2010) our Hallo-wiener spent approximately 8 minutes in her outfit.  

Some happy smiles

Some moments of NOT being amused.

The second year (2011) I was very aware of how simple the costume needed to be for me to actually get her into it.  She wore it three times--once for 10 minutes at a family party where we barely snapped a photo of all the little angels together; then for a Halloween daytime play group (one of our very first times meeting some of her current friends); and for an hour or two in the evening on Halloween.  She went to three neighbors' doors and asked for hugs and kisses instead of candy.

Domino crossing

But her favorite part was handing out candy to other kids and tasting the outside of wrappers.  

This is how it's supposed to work, right?

This year Abigail was in full Halloween obsession mode.  There was a small pumpkin patch a few blocks from our house with jumping houses, petting zoo, and a witch that spoke when you touched her.  Abigail couldn't get enough of this place and we spent $3 after nap time for about a week just to bounce around and laugh hysterically at the witch when her head lowered down and she cackled.  She also visited the lawns of well decorated houses every evening to look at blown-up ghosts and a clown that took its own head off.

She and Jake call all witches Glenda

She knew about 2 months before Halloween that she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty.  No waffling.  No doubts.  She saw a catalog with a little girl in a pink dress and was absolutely set on it.  I was slightly disappointed.  I had hoped to make her into a tractor, with a box and suspenders, something I could make and paint, with some sort of scoop hanging off the front.  I was open to making her a princess driving a tractor - that would have been cool too.  But she knew what she wanted, so I accepted that it was her decision.  I did, however, determine that I was still going to make her costume.  My family always made Halloween costumes, and that's my very favorite memory of the holiday.  The creativity involved, from the choice of costume to the materials used to make it, were all part of the fun.  While my favorite costume memories were inanimate objects (bag of groceries, bar of soap, drop of water), I thought that a toddler princess dress was probably not beyond my skill level.  I would not attempt this on full scale!  

Getting ready for the rockin' Halloween block party

Halloween party at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Riverside

The real deal--Halloween night

What's this, mama?

Her first M&M

I want to get diiiizy, mama

The perfect pair

As you can see, Abigail has worn this costume, and worn it and worn it.  I have already mended it three times.  Not pictured are a play group party, music class, AND Halloween lunch at school to which all the kids wore costumes.  She literally wore this dress every single day for some reason or other from the Friday before Halloween through the actual holiday on Wednesday.  I have to admit, I was very done with Halloween by the time it actually arrived.  But she loved every minute of it, and I'm so glad that I made her costume.  A few times since then she has decided "I want to be a princess", and this mommy is much happier to oblige when I think of the 20+ hours it took me to make a simple dress that probably would have taken a real seamstress 3 hours to complete.  This Halloween was a big one for my little girl.  She won't forget it soon, and I know she will love it again next year!

Catching Up

Well I don't have a real excuse for not posting in the month of October, but I do have some catching up to do.  Right now we are all sick and I'm putting off coughing in bed to post a little bit about my angel, because sorting through the pictures since my last post made me smile.

Abigail owns two different tu tu skirts, neither of which I purchased.  One was given to me at her baby shower and the other was a gift for Abigail's first birthday.  She did not show a bit of interest in either skirt until a toddler friend of hers decided to put one on at an afternoon play date.  Abigail's "mine" radar kicked in, and suddenly she wants to wear tool.  While some families have an aversion to all things girly, I have never taken issue with this particular hurdle in raising my toddler girl.  My princess allowances do have limits:  I'm very practical, so it's unlikely Abigail will be wearing hard plastic princess shoes around town; I'm a firm believer in physical play, so as long as she is willing to get her dresses nice and dirty, I don't mind her wearing them; and I believe that anything in excess can be unhealthy, so Abigail has princess sheets with a plain peach-colored comforter, as one example.  I do fully recognize the princess trap, now that I'm subject to its powers.  Abigail is bound to like anything that has princesses depicted on its surface, leading to the purchasing of fairytale books and princess puzzles that are sitting in the garage waiting for Christmas.  I will need to keep an eye on myself.  But who could resist this little beauty, after all?

Some extra pictures of our girl:

Carrying her lunch box to school

It's finally fall at the beach

I love this face--eating raisins

Dressed up for fiesta night at her school--she had a blast dancing to the live music