Mendez Musings: February Update from the Mendezes

January just whizzed by. Guess that's what happens when you're having fun . . . or puking. (If you don't get the puking joke, you really need to read the previous post on the blog!)

The puking has eased up, halleluiah. I'm back to most of my normal self. I've been spending most of my time trying to dig out of the disorganized cesspool I let everything get to when I took a twelve week break from, well, everything.

Abby is doing great. She is also officially almost off the bottle. She wouldn't self-wean, so we had to do the hard core cold turkey method. Not fun. Tears and tantrums and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I got to the point that anytime she starting crying I just handed her a cookie. She even got very good at saying, "Cookie" very clearly! But it was amazing, at the exact same time she went through a HUGE growth spurt and this sweet little angel turned into a voracious, human garbage disposal! She has been eating us out of house and home! You laugh, but one day I literally fed her from 7am until 6pm. She just never stopped eating. I was even worried that perhaps she had gotten some kind of tapeworm, until about a week later I noticed her onesies weren't fitting her. She grew like 2-3 inches all at once. It's crazy; I can't keep up with her.

She also decided that she was going to go on a napping strike for the past few weeks, and that was extremely rough. This girl needs her nap in order for her to function and for me not to lose my sanity. That turned into a nasty head cold though, which is hopefully run its course. I'm here to tell you that snot is nasty and gross, and when people tell you that poop and snot are cute and not so bad when it's your own kid; they LIE. Snot is Gross.

Okay, in good news about Abby - she's talking. She is picking up words right and left. It's funny how many of her new words have to do with food: pasta ("papa"), corn ("cor"), crackers ("kaker"), pretzel (don't even know how to spell how she pronounces that one), and cookie (that one is a very clear "COOKIE!") Plus "go" and "car" are new favorites. We also learned the sounds for elephant and snake and birds this month. She even does hand motions with some of them, which is pretty fun.

Besides all of that, I have been working on my scrapbooking and have finally begun Abby's baby album. I threw a surprise baby shower brunch for a girl in my Bible study, and Joel went to a poker night and I got to keep the winnings (hahaha). We also took a last minute weekend trip to Graz, Austria. There is supposed to be some great shopping there. It was supposed to only be a day trip, but well, we accidentally took the long way to get there and by time we arrive it was 3pm, so we found a cheap hotel and hit a grocery store for milk and diapers for Abby, and stayed overnight. The good news out of the adventure is we were able to eat at a very nice Spanish Tapas place for dinner.

So, that's been the major part of our month. Mostly we've been trying to get back in the groove after the holidays and start all the fun process and procedures for our upcoming move and the summer spent in Alabama having Junior. A move can never be simple and uncomplicated, of course. Well, hopefully we're starting early enough to get the worst out of the way so we can just enjoy the summer.

Coming up in February: tackling the potty-training monster, another trip to Aviano, getting more of the move details finalized, working on the dreaded taxes, and another OB appointment. Plus while you guys (in Alabama, anyway) are celebrating Fat Tuesday next week, we'll be celebrating Fasnik. That's when the kids here in Croatia dress up and go trick or treating, instead of Halloween.

Okay, a couple of pictures to tide you all over til next month: