Beach Baby

Happy Birthday, Robert! As always, I'm a few days late with this post. We had a busy and fun weekend! I was away almost all day on Friday and part of Saturday afternoon listening to 6 of my students perform at solo and ensemble contest. (5 Superior ratings and 1 Excellent rating = proud teacher!) One of my students, Lanessa, is apparently very shy about practicing in front of her family and her mom heard her play for the very first time on Friday evening. She performed The Water is Wide and when the piece ended I glanced at her mom and saw tears streaming down her face! Moments like that and seeing the kids' beaming faces when their scores are posted never gets old.

Here are a couple of phone pics my students' moms sent me.

Ricky (left) actually reminds me a little bit of a young Robert.

We had friends Josie & Ronnie (with sweet little Leahna) and Tati & Mike over on Saturday evening to celebrate. Robert requested a "brats bar" and we found a great spread in one of our Food Network magazines that included some yummy toppings: Sweet & Sour Onions, Bell Pepper Relish, and Smoky Beer Cheese. I always love an excuse to bake -- especially birthday cakes -- but I ran out of time and didn't get the banana cream pie made. Maybe I was still scared away by last year's cookies & cream sugar bomb. Look at 4 month old Abby! She had such chubby, chubby cheeks!

On Sunday we started Robert's big day off right with breakfast at our favorite restaurant: Datz. After our food coma finally wore off later that afternoon, we decided to head to the beach to enjoy the gorgeous weather. The last time we took Abby to the beach she ate the sand, so we were curious to see how she'd do now that she's a little older.

So much has changed since those crawling and sand eating days!

It turns out Abby loves the water. I couldn't believe how fearless she was! The waves that came in were sometimes chest high and while she was a little surprised when they knocked her over, she was mostly all smiles. 

These two make my heart melt.

Abby seems to be much more confident in the water than her mommy, although I think I have gotten a little better since moving to Florida.

Thumbs up!

Tiny footprints in the sand. And one soggy diaper!

Happy birthday, Robert! You are an amazing husband and daddy. xoxo from your girls!

Atlanta Trip

Robert, Abby & I took a road trip to Atlanta to visit the Padgett family exactly 2 months ago. I met Anna in 2004 when we both started working at the Cincinnati Symphony...wow, I guess we are months away from our 10 year "anniversary!" I remember very clearly when we first met: she was drinking Mighty Leaf Tea from a stainless steel travel mug while we sat across from each other at our computers in the symphony's basement sales office. I'm still hooked on that Chamomile Citrus tea. The Padgetts moved to New Hampshire and Atlanta and Robert and I moved to Columbus and Florida, but we've continued to stay in touch. We're so grateful our friendship has survived the miles and the years. They're the best kind of friends -- the kind who make it easy to pick right back up no matter how many years it's been since our last visit.

I'm getting a bit sappy on this trip down memory lane, so let's get back to Atlanta. 

I took along my camera but was lazy and never got it out, and I knew Austin had things covered. He and Anna have been a little preoccupied the past few months getting ready for and now meeting baby, so Austin was just able to get these December pictures to us tonight. They're so much fun!

Anna & Austin have twins Asa & Alden who are 7 months older than Abby. They were the sweetest little friends to Abby. Look at Asa making sure Abigail eats her black eyed peas. :)

Abby loved giving Alden hugs, but Alden wasn't quite sure what to think.

Such love! From Abby at least. :)

Happy girls!

Alden has big shoes to fill, too.

More hugs from Abby.

Playing with twins can be a bit exhausting.

And this is the best we could do for a group picture with toddlers.

Anna, I'm so glad our paths crossed in Cincinnati 10 years ago! You're a beautiful person, amazing mother, and treasured friend. We hope to come visit and play again soon...and kiss Baby Arthur! Here's to the next 10 years!

Baby Bungalow Class

Abby and I have been attending a "Growing Together" class on Monday mornings at Baby Bungalow. We're so grateful for this place! I first stepped into Baby Bungalow when Abigail was just 4 months old or so. They had a "New Moms Network" class where I met two girls who started the mom's group we spend so much time with now. Now I'm a teacher at Baby Bungalow, too! I've been facilitating two "Music & More" classes on Saturday mornings. More on that in a future post. 

The "Growing Together" class is for confidently walking 1 year olds. It's so much fun! We sing songs and dance. We play with toys and make crafts. We blow bubbles and have snack time together at the table. Here are a few pictures from my phone that I was able to capture this morning.

Dot paint!

Abby was mostly concerned about getting the cap back on the bottle.

Here are all of the little kiddos. So cute!

Abby practices drinking from a cup during snack time. I'll be honest...most of it goes down the front of her shirt.

We usually play outside for awhile after class. Abby wore fancy clothes today! Her sitter, Meghan, loves The Little Mermaid and gave Abby this dress for her birthday. Meghan comes over to watch Abby on Mondays at noon when I leave teach at Polk State College, so I thought it would be fun for her to see Abby wearing it. 

Big stuff on the slide!

Happy Monday, everyone!

smart cookie

Here's phone pics catch-up #2:

Abby has new shades!

Abigail enjoys using her step stool to look out the windows. Aunt Bert mailed her some snowmen window stickies that were a big hit -- poor girl, it's the closest she got to snow this winter. She also uses the step stool to watch the recycling truck and to see cats that venture into our yard. 

Then this happened. Abby was watching a kitty in our yard the other day while I was drying my hair and when I looked in on her, she wasn't standing at her bedroom window anymore. Apparently the kitty had moved to a different part of the yard so Abigail picked up the step stool and moved it to the window in another room. Ok, I know I'm her mom and I'm biased and everything, but that seems like some pretty impressive problem solving for a 15 month old! Here she is checking out the kitty from her new location.

In other news, Abby still eats like she has a bottomless pit for a stomach. Just the other night when we had breakfast for dinner, Robert and I were pretty certain she ate more pancakes than either one of us did. She also has a sweet tooth like mommy. These might be the first sad Abby pictures I have posted to the blog -- I hope you are not too heartbroken! Mommy said, "No more cookies, Abby."

I'll leave you on a happier note from a few weeks ago during craft time. Thanks, Aunt Bethany, for the fun crayons and play-doh!

In closing, we had not one but two exciting birth announcements today! Congratulations to my dear friend Helenka Shy on the birth of her baby boy this morning. He joins big sister Maya who was born just a few days before Abigail. I can't imagine having two kiddos so close together but knowing Helenka she will make it seem like a piece of cake. Congratulations also to my cousin Rachel Earley who gave birth to Clark Christopher Michael Monnig -- weighing in at 9 lb. 8 oz! Love to all of you. News of precious new babies never gets old!

Abby + Daddy

Here's phone pics catch-up #1:

Abby looooves her Daddy. He has such big shoes to fill!

When we go on our evening walks, she plays the cutest game with Robert. If he stretches the top of the stroller cover out, there is a plastic "window" above her head and she loves looking up at her Daddy and putting her hand up against his.

I also need to get a picture of her holding his hand while she's in the stroller. He'll walk on the side of her and he can pull the stroller forward just by holding onto her hand. Super sweet. There's nothing better than daddies and daughters, is there?