Behind the Curve

It's been a month, but I am going to repent and blog again! I miss blogging, really, but I haven't had much to say. I find when there is so much going on and I can't talk about the big things, I am generally pretty quiet. This month, Mr. Darling and I started our new little fabric shop in an unusual way. I never expected to start by buying fabric at Joanns, but I did. And it sold, and we just finished with quilt market and shortly we will have our first bit of fabric arriving to stock our soon-to-be open online shoppe!

And Abby keeps getting bigger and bigger! We so love being her parents. She is so so funny. Tomorrow I'll try and share the story and video of Abby and the Red Balloon!

On The Issue of Hair

I have a beautiful little girl. She can really work her  eyes. She has great dimples and cheekbones. But, the issue has become her hair. It is, on the very best day, scrappy.

 But how do we get her to hold still long enough to cut it?! This child has been in motion since they day she was born, and walking just made it faster for her to get around. So now, here we are. Scrappy and happy, but not presentable.

So, I was brave. I took the scissors from Weston's haircutting kit and I cut. The first time, I could only get up the guts to cut her bangs, but then, I steeled myself against the possibility of ruining her hair and I took up my shears and I cut her curls.

 And now, you can see her adorable face. I love her smile. She is still scrappy and happy, but every now and again, she is also presentable.

Although, usually, the fanciest place Abby goes is the Dog Kennel, which she loves very much.

She can now say her very first sentence. 

"Doggie Go 'Woof Woof'"

I am so proud!

Dilly Dally Dolly

 This is the story of Abby and the Matryoshka. I am saving it forever in blogland so I can remember and laugh about it in the years to come. I promise to never show these to any of Abby's future boyfriends (unless it just happens to come up :) )

When my sweet husband served his mission for our church, he lived in a far away land called 'Ukraine' for two years. In this strange and wonderful place, they make magic dolls. Dolls that hold smaller and smaller dolls inside of them. These dollies are called Matryoshkas.

Abby loves to play with the dollies her daddy brought back with him.

She thinks the big dolly is fun, but stacking the dollies in all different combinations happens to be one of the funnest things of all!

So she stacks them...

And stacks them a different way...

And then a different way, yet again.

But sometimes, Abby likes to play jokes on her Daddy. One day, when Weston was letting Abby play with the nicest of the Matryoshka dolls (the above dollies are her 'everyday' play set) he forgot to take away the Baby Matryoshka. The baby matryoshka is so small, she is barely bigger than a grain of rice. And the painting on her is (was) exquisite.

And Abby thought it was so fun to hide the baby matryoshka in her mouth.

Oooops......

And then, Abby's Daddy couldn't find the baby any more. Until the next day.

And now her paint isn't so exquisite. But she is very very clean after multiple baths and a week or so covered in baking soda. 

Now, Abby isn't allowed to play with the baby matryoshka doll.

And the whole matryoshka family has been reunited!

The End.

Catching Up

I am so far behind, I don't know where to start! Our little baby has grown into a gorgeous little silly adorable wonderful girl. I am not good wit change. In fact, I hate it. But I love her. And I love who she is becoming. She smiles now when she sees the camera. Of course, her smile is pretty darn hilarious.

In other news, 2 duffle bags of lemons have made numerous glasses of fresh lemonade as well as a few jars of lemonade concentrate, lemon marmalade, and lemon preserves. Yum!

 Abby is still in love with doggies. She loves to play in Callie's kennel. Last week, she grabbed a box of her favorite cereal off a shelf that should have been out of reach and shut herself in the kennel. It was pretty funny for us. Perhaps you think it's funny too?

 And isn't she helpful? Any chore she sees me do, she immediately imitates. Someday, she will be in charge of poop scooping for reals!

So there it is, our lives are stable and constantly changing. Abby is becoming the little girl I always dreamed of. Her vocabulary is expanding, even if I am the only one who knows what she is saying! Her understandable words are 'hi!', 'doggy', 'daddy', 'thank you', 'bottle', 'abbyabbyabby'.

If you have a chance, come over. Visiting Abby is definitely worth the trip!

Hop, Skip, and Jump...

Want to watch a 35 second video of someone who is very happy for no particular reason? Well, today you are in LUCK! My little lady is adorably happy lately and I thought I would share some of the happiness she is bringing into our home, now that those pesky molars have come in...




And a couple of shots of her:

Over The River and Through The Woods

This weekend, my darling family an I made the trek to Arizona to visit Abby's grandparents. The weather was such a luscious break from the ice and cold here at home. We were able to walk to the park and swing on the swing sets, which this darling little girl just LOVED!

Then, she slid down the slides ALL BY HERSELF! Seriously, she is growing up way way too fast!

Then, she tried to climb back up the slides all by herself. Silly Abby!

Of course, we made our annual trip (or two) to Tia Rosa's which has seriously the best salmon tacos ever. But don't go to the one in Gilbert, make the trip to the one in Mesa. WAY BETTER!

Abby got to practice not stealing toys from other babies. 

and she got to show her Granny and Grandpa exactly how fussy she can be when she is cutting teeth. Oh, yes, teeth. And we had to travel with her, all cooped up for hours. Poor Abby. Poor us!

And now we are home, it is cold, and Mr Darling is due home tonight from a business trip. And Abby's grandparents should get here around the same time.

It will be a fun weekend with a baby blessing to boot! Yay!

Wordless Wednesday: Abby The Ham Edition

There's A Frog in the Bucket

Cookie Monster

What do you get when you combine oreo cookies and a gorgeous one year old?

A very messy, very happy one year old!

Flood Relief Auction

I love blogging. I love all of the energy and ideas that I find on other people's blogs. I especially love how it has helped the crafting industry. I have many 'bloggy' friends who live around the world and several who are currently being touched by the tragedy that is unfolding in Queensland as we speak. People are losing their children, their homes, their neighbors and even their cities. The devastation makes what happened in New Orleans look tame and predictable.

I would like to try and help. I have a new blog where I will be posting my crafty and sewing pursuits. I have posted an auction there for a little fox that I have made. He resides in an 8" hoop and he is adorable hanging pretty much anywhere!

If you would like to help and add this little fox to your family, you can find him 

here.

Poker Face

My little darling is such a ham for the camera. I guess with all of these pictures, I should take some time to tell you how much I love her. How do I love her? Let me count the ways. 

1: She is twenty pounds of perfectly adorable sweetness. 

 2: She can say 'doggy', 'Callie', 'daddy', 'milk' and as of this morning, 'sit' (said to Callie).

 3: Kissing her chubby cheeks is so very very fun.

 4: Love loves to read books. Her favorite books are 'Doggies' by Susan Boynton and 'Go Dog Go' by PD Eastman. (are you sensing a theme yet?)

 5: She still takes two naps a day. I still love naptime, but not as much as I love Abby!

 6: Abby can help you find her sippy cup, the doggy or her books or toys if you ask her where they are. I am LOVING this communicating thing!

 7: Abby no longer walks, Abby runs. Everywhere. All the time. And she is fast! She can catch up to me pretty much wherever I go in the house now.

 8: Abby sleeps all the way through the night, every single night, and has for a couple of months. I hated letting her 'cry it out', but really, I think it was the best thing for both of us.

 9: I have never met a little girl with such a sense of humor! She cracks me up all day long. It's like she knows she is telling a joke, and she can't help laughing at it herself. I love listening to her laugh!

10: Abby loves to be a part of whatever you are doing. She is so fun, loves to play peekaboo by closing her eyes or hiding behind small objects (or clear objects like the shower door). She is hilarious when she opens her eyes and sees us. 

Life has never been so busy or so fun. I love this stage of 'babyhood' and I am really enjoying being able to talk to and be understood by my wonderful little girl! I can't wait to see what she learns to do next!!!

Baby It's Cold Outside

I have to admit I love the snow.

 Especially new snow. 

And it makes me giddy inside when we get piles and drifts of snow overnight.

 Doesn't it make the world seem fresh and clean again?

 This was Abby's very very first time walking and playing by herself in the snow. 

(Thanks, Angie, for takingthe pictures!)

They should warn you how much you are going to love these little people. Seriously.