May Mendez News

Before I forget, you all need to go to vote in our baby pool! http://www.expectnet.com/games/LilyMendez

****************

Well, here it is May already!

You guys have already seen the pictures from our VIP visitor this month, but here is just one more. NO ONE got the picture of me shaking the President's hand!!! I'm so miffed. The embassy photographer got some really good ones of Joel, at least. (We've ordered those, but they haven't come in yet.)

I'm happy to say that Wednesday was a red letter day! Abby asked to sit on the potty and actually peed in it! Of course I'm out of M&Ms at the moment to celebrate with. She's been watching this potty training video I borrowed from the Embassy library (It's theme song: "She's a super duper pooper." No lie.) and has been asking to take her pants "Off" which is a new favorite word. Up until today she just wanted to run around naked.

So yes, I just talked about pee for a whole paragraph. Who cares? This is a total big deal in our house! (Can you imagine if I could get her potty trained before Lily arrives, and not have two kids in diapers at the same time?????)

Abby is TALKING now. Not just the occasional word here and there, but she is picking up new words practically every day. We've got clown, cloud, dinosaur, and octopus added to our repertoire now. Elmo has almost been overthrown by the Wiggles as Abby's new favorite show. We've had the video for maybe two weeks (another from the Embassy library) and she has memorized all the songs. And the dances. Oh and this is cute: when someone leaves, she has to blow them a kiss, tell them, "Wuv you, See you, bye bye." She likes to play hide and seek behind the couch, and also say "Who dis?", Where dit go?" And answers "I dunno" when you ask her the same questions.

We finally got an official diagnosis of reflux for Abby. So, with the reflux meds she's been on this month, plus the fact I've taken her off of soy milk, has been the miracle cure this month. Abby is back to being a great sleeper and has put on two pounds in the past four weeks! It has been fantastic.

Lily is still baking inside and doing just fine. She's rolling and flipping and kicking and just having a grand ole' time in there. Me, I'm doing fine. I'm 26 weeks along this week and really starting to feel awkward and big and tired. I'm growing out of my maternity clothes! Well, really out of my winter maternity clothes, as it should be warm now, but nope, I'm still stuck in long sleeves most of the time. I'm really sick of this weather, and I'm ready for summer to be here. And yes, I'll change my mind once I'm stuck in the Alabama heat this summer. My next OB appt is next week. Unfortunately I don't have any decent ultrasound pictures to show you. She's got a 3D ultrasound which looks really cool on screen, but when she prints out the picture - it just looks like a huge blobby mess.

I do have these to show you, though.

Me at 24 weeks. (I was taking of myself in the mirror, so it's fuzzy)

Me at 26 weeks. Still not a very good picture, but you get the idea.

Joel is just a busy beaver this month, working up a storm. He's also been doing double duty this month as the official "heavy duty lifter" in the house. He also got a poker night in.

I had some friends over to scrapbook last weekend, and I'm happy to say that I have Abby's baby album almost completed! I just have to put titles and and journal the last half of the pages, then it's all done!

We've also been working on my business website and I've been plowing ahead with my certification homework. We decided on the logo colors finally. I can't wait to have the finalized website ready to show all of you.

Our plans for our move are progressing right along - we've got plane tickets, and one of our cars sold! That just leaves one more car to get rid of, plus we're trying to get someone to adopt our cat Puzza. We can't keep him at the apartment we'll be staying at for the summer, and it's too expensive to put him in a kennel for three months. So far there are no takers here, because everyone we know is moving too! (Any takers? He's a very sweet and affectionate cat.)

In May, we have a couple of holidays coming up, which I am looking forward to. Not that we really have any plans to go anywhere. We have planned our last trip to Aviano planned at the end of the month to stock up on stuff before we move to Chile. I also have a baby shower that some friends are throwing me, and Joel and I are trying to get all those last appointments in - like dentists appointments, etc.

Abby with Alek, her boyfriendAbby at Brunch (after meeting the President)

Abby loves to give her daddy kisses.

Okay, that's it for us!

Love to all,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

PS. If you would like to show some support for my little niece Kate and her family during their summer at St. Jude's, her dad Mark has designed some really cute T-shirts and a mug that you can order: http://www.cafepress.com/sugarkate!

Some Friends Come to Visit the Mendezes

So, if you've checked out CNN you know that Croatia had some VIP visitors this weekend. And being with the Embassy, Joel has had to work around the clock for a while to set up for this visit. So, at 5am this morning, we get up, get dressed up in all our finery and head downtown . . .

to wait. . . .

and wait. . . .

and wait. . . .

for the 15 minutes we got with our VIP visitors to take these:

Here's my old pal Condi (I got my picture taken with her in Rome a couple of years ago).

There are even more pictures (which someone else took on their camera and I'm praying come out) that I don't have right now.

So George comes right up to me, points to my big belly, shakes my hand and says "Hey, good luck with that." And what did dorky me do?? "Umm, thank you." Yeah, uhh-huh, that's what I said. Really profound. Yep, there went all my "I'm too cool and up too early to be excited about being here" attitude.

In the middle of all this there was set photo op with the Pres in front of the crowd of everyone who works at the Embassy. And Joel was standing right behind Bush, on the other side of the rope. We can't wait to see that one either. I hope the Embassy photographers get their pictures out fast.

Then Joel comes around to get me (I was in the kids holding area attempting to keep Abby from getting tackled by the Secret Service - she was a little hyper by now.) We hustle over to the other side of the line, and DH shoves his way into the front to get his picture with George. So, our pal George says, "Oh, what a pretty girl, bring her up here." (PS. You'll notice the hairbow didn't make it for very long.)

And then they were gone. (Laura Bush didn't do the meet and greet today. About killed me. It's the second time I've missed a photo op with her.)

So that was our day. And all before 9:20am this morning.

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

April Showers from the Mendezes

Hello everyone!

Well, the first item up for discussion: Baby Mendez's name. Joel and I finally agreed on one. The newest Mendez will be Liliana Claire! (Yes, we'll call her Lily for short.) Abby seems to love the name and even says "Li-ly." It's pretty durn cute. And just like last time, if you want to join in on the baby pool, feel free to click here: Lily's Baby Pool.

I'm doing fine, trying not to eat us out of house and home. Because yes, I have gotten to that point in the pregnancy where I will eat everything in sight. I'm starving all the time. We will not discuss how big I am, as it's just too depressing to think I'm only halfway done. I've popped and am officially looking pregnant. Lily is doing great and kicking away. Joel's been able to feel that now, which is kindof fun.

Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, what else have we been up to this month?

Well, Abby was sick. Again. This time it was a virus and rash. On Easter. I know. I have absolutely no idea where she picked it up. She's doing fine now though. What can I say? Kids.

As far as the doctors in London, all the tests results came back negative, so we still don't have any real clue what is going on with her. We have her on the European form of Prilosec (reflux med) for the next several weeks to also see if that makes any difference, then we'll reevaluate. This week I've also decided to take her completely off soy milk and try rice milk for a while, just to see if she's developed an intolerance to soy as well as dairy. So maybe that will do the trick. We tried it one night and she slept great for her - only waking up twice because of wet diapers! So I went back and bought more rice milk to test that theory out for a week or so.

In other news, Joel and I have really been busting our bums trying to get stuff ready for our move. We've been making some inroads in the morass of paperwork that moving to Chile seems to entail for some reason; and I've been going room by room through the house and purging it of stuff we don't need anymore. I did this in Rome and it made our packout and unpacking here in Croatia so much easier. But wow, so much more house left to do! And today is just at 80 days and counting before we hop on a plane!

I'm still working with the website designer on the website for my business - I'm having trouble picking between two logos. That I have to just buckle down and commit to. Plus I'm starting the credentialling process of becoming a "certified" resume writer and career coach. Yikes.

Of course we had Joel's birthday this month. I pulled the pregnancy card out so I wouldn't have to host the party here, and we went out for a kid-free dinner with a bunch of friends. Yep, the old geezer turned 29 this year! (Don't worry, I'm already thinking of good ways to "get" him next year.) We also did a family dinner with Abby on his birthday, and we continued the Mendez family tradition of the big birthday breakfast!

Oh and the Easter Bunny at the Embassy Easter Egg Hunt? Went over about as well as Santa Claus did. Which is NOT.AT.ALL!

Beyond that, the weather is attempting to be Spring, though not doing that great of a job about it. Abby and I have been going stir crazy, so I started dressing her up in her spring dresses in the house. Thank God for girly girls!

Then lately when it's actually been warm enough, we've been getting out as much as we can. You know we might not have seen much of Croatia, but I can tell you all about their playgrounds!

On deck for April: a big VIP visit to Zagreb this weekend (just go check CNN, you'll get it), more getting ready for our move, more working on the business website, more scrapbooking, more of me getting bigger, more of Abby running amok and talking up a storm. (Oh funny story. Joel taught Abby how to say "Smell." So you ask her, "Abby, what smells?" And she says "smell" and points to her hiney. Gotta love my husband.)

Love to all,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily