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