June Slideshow

June News from the Mendez Crew

Happy June everyone!

We kept ourselves pretty busy during the month of May, how about you?

This month marked my first Mother's Day, and we all had a blast. I found one of those package hotel deals, so we all packed up and jumped in the car and headed off to the coast to a tiny town called Baska. The place was great, it had an indoor heated pool and outdoor pools, and kiddie pools! Abby absolutely loved the water. She figured out it was fun to splash, and to stick her face in the water, and she would try to drink the water. My favorite part would have been the massages Joel got me as my gift. Absolutely heavenly.

Baska

Abby loves the pool

How I spent my first Mother's Day

We also spent Memorial Day weekend at the coast in a city called Zadar. We've figured out that we are now officially no longer beach people. It's just not fun when we're constantly prying rocks (it's mostly pebble beaches here) out of a certain young lady's mouth. So we crashed a hotel resort's pool and had a fantastic time. I think Abby was a fish in a former life.

Abby and Joel in the pool in Zadar

In other big news . . . we have teeth! Well, at least one. Two more are just under the surface and driving us all batty. Abby is also couch cruisin' like crazy. I really think she'll be taking her first steps sometime in the next month. She stood by herself for about 3 seconds today before she realized I wasn't holding on to her.

And I finally got a "Mama" out of her when she was feeling pitiful right before the first tooth popped in. Well, it was more like "Mamamamamamamama" and I'm not really sure she meant me, but I don't care - I'm taking it anyway.

So that was our May. For June, we have another busy social calendar. I'm hosting a party for my Bible study group, we're hosting a potluck Father's Day BBQ and another BBQ for some people leaving Zagreb this month in Joel's office. (And let's not forget a particular birthday extravaganza in July!) We just got back from a weekend trip to the military base to stock up on stuff for all these parties. Plus, the local "4th of July picnic" will be at the end of this month as well. Thankfully not here at my house!

Love to all,
Julie, Joel, and Abby

PS. I'm going to upload another slide show of some pictures to our blog, so if you'd like to see them and you get this through your email, click on www.julieandjoel.blogspot.com.

About May Pictures

Sorry guys, it looks like the slideshow only works if you are look directly at the blog, and not if you're getting the blog in your email. Lesson learned. So, to see our pictures (and they're cute, so you want to see them!), click on www.julieandjoel.blogspot.com.

Julie

May News from the Mendezes

Hello and Happy May! Can you believe 1/3 of the year is already gone? It’s just flying by.

I'm trying something new on our blog this month. Here is a slideshow of our pictures. I hope it works! (By the way, the first one is a big kiss from Abby. Literally. She came and kissed the camera when I was trying to take a picture of her!)

After Easter, Abby and I joined a group from the Embassy for a trip to the Zoo! She loved it, though really didn’t care too much about the animals. She just likes to take rides in her stroller. We also got to see them feed the sea lions. THAT was an experience. The sea lion literally jumped OUT of the water and INTO the audience, while the zoo employee fed the fish. It totally freaked out all of the Americans in the audience, which was hilarious! Abby was not really appreciative of that either.

This month we’ve been enjoying some beautiful sunny weather. Joel got a grill and is becoming quite the grillmaster. So far, we’ve grilled steaks, hamburgers, chicken and vegetables. We also made one of our regular trips to the military base, and Joel had a short business trip.

So, yes, my little baby is gone and Abby is now officially a toddler. It’s breaking my heart. But, Abby is sooooo much fun now. She sings “la la la” when I sing to her, or she wants me to sing. Miss Chatty Cathy here talks all.the.time. I think she’s starting to make up words now. She’ll say “be-ba” (Croat for baby) when she sees herself in the mirror or her baby doll. Of course, she’s got “Da-Da” down pat, something that resembles “Hey,” and lots of squeals and grunts for everything else. She’s clapping now too, which is really cute, and plays peek-a-boo. Seriously, it’s almost insane how much I enjoy playing peek-a-boo and singing silly songs. She is totally into playing with toys and plays back with you. She’s pulling up on all the furniture to stand up and hitching from place to place. (Yes, I’ve got those baby gates installed, finally.) I bought her a walker this weekend and she loves it. She can’t quite manage it by herself yet, but she is very close.

Unfortunately, her sleep is completely off lately, so Joel and I aren’t very conscious for all of this cuteness. I wish we could blame it on teething, but so far, we don’t have any of them either.

What else has been going on? I finally finished my Spanish class. Let’s just say I’m glad it’s over. As part of my final, my teacher gave me a list of topics to choose from and talk about. Halfway through, she stops me and asked me why I’m talking about “tourism.” Apparently she said “terrorism,” not “tourism.” It just went downhill from there. (And why, may I ask, would I be talking about terrorism, when I’ve pretty much learned to describe my family and the weather so far?) Joel’s class finishes this week.

Yesterday, we all went to a baseball game! Since it was a local holiday, the Marines organized a tournament with some local teams. Abby and I hung out in the stands and played with all the little girls from a local orphanage (the Marines sponsor this orphanage, so they came to play on our “kids” team). Joel coached one of the kid’s teams, and then played on the adult team. He did pretty well, too! He got several runs and did a very “impressive” (ahem) victory chicken dance on home plate.

For the rest of May, it’s generally more of the same. I start planning Abby’s 1st birthday party and ordering supplies (aaaaaack!), and Joel and I start making travel plans for the summer. We’re hoping to go somewhere Memorial Day weekend, if I can figure out where to go. Mainly, we hope to spend as much time as possible outdoors!


Love,

Julie, Joel, and Abigail

Happy Easter!

Here are some pictures from

Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt:

ready, set, go!

Abby finds her egg

Mendez family Easter Pic

Abby crawling around during the games

"Nina Linda" - (pretty girl)

Abby tending bar at the Marine House

Abby's Easter bonnet

Hope you all had a very Hoppy Easter!

Love, Julie, Joel, and Abigail

April News from the Mendezes

Abby Enjoying the Grass Today

As I type this, I'm sitting outside on our patio, enjoying the beautiful sun of a warm spring day. I'm so excited that it's finally beginning to be nice weather here!

Joel's Birthday Party

March was insanely busy for us. Joel's birthday party was last weekend (he's an old coot now at 28) and that consumed much of my brain. We had over 20 folks over, and made enough food for an army. Seriously. We ate leftovers for a full week.

I've also been chin deep in my Spanish class, which I'm very happy to report will be over soon. For all you Spanish speakers . . .
"Mi rutina del martes: Normalmente, me levanto cuándo mi hija se despierta a las 6:30am. Abigail toma tetero. Después ella ve el programa Seseme Street cuando yo me baño. Leo les mensajes, miro mi agenda y juego con mi hija. Después ella se duerme y yo limpio la casa. Por la tarde, vamos al parque y caminamos por mucho tiempo; o vamos al mercado. Por la noche, preparo la cena y como la cena con mi esposo. Llamo por teléfono a mi familia, y vo veo televisión. Me acuesto a las 10:00pm." (I had to write that for my Spanish homework last week. It's great having Joel around to "help" me!)

I'm also very happy to report that I've more or less finished scrapbooking our wedding album and our Christmas album. My next big project is Abby's baby album.

Add into that Joel's job, my job writing the Embassy newsletter, church and my Bible study, plus chasing around our squealing demon, and you get the idea of what our life is like here

Speaking of Abby (because I know that's what you guys really want to hear about anyway) . . .

Our dear darling daughter is already trying to give me heart attacks by crawling up the stairs on her own. No, we did not teach her that, she figured it out by herself. And yes, tomorrow I'm off to the store to buy baby gates. That's another thing that gave me a heart attack. I had no idea how expensive those suckers are. She's pushing up to stand on her legs though she can't quite figure out what to do when she's up there. Everyone tells me she will not only be walking before her 1st birthday, but soon. Sigh. I'm really not ready for that. (Abby found a new use for the Exersaucer, above left.)

Food is our new pastime. She really L-O-V-E-S Cheerios. She would eat them all day long if I would let here. (she fell asleep eating them once, right) However, we found out that too many Cheerios causes some serious gas, which is is not a good thing in our already gas-y baby. She rather feed herself, and loves strawberries, cantaloupe, peas, pasta, chicken and hamburger. This girl can chow down.

She loves to "love" on her toys now, and is really in to hugging - at least with me and Joel. She does a whole arm wave, and has found her inner girly squeal. Abby will get right in your face and squeal as loud as she possibly can. I mentioned to Joel how loud she "talks," and he looked at me and said, "Well, honey, she's Latin." Hahaha. Yeah, us Smiths can be pretty loud, too, so I guess I better get used to it.

Abby really is a little Latina - she understands Spanish much better than English. She really responds when you say "Ven aquí" (Come here) and loves to play "¿Dónde está Abby?" (Where's Abby?) No teeth yet, and no "Mama" either, but I am getting a "Mmmmmm" when she's really upset and wants me.

April is looking to be busy as well. This weekend we have the Easter Egg Hunt at the Embassy, as well as Easter, of course. Next weekend we do the dreaded run to Aviano for more formula and diapers, then I have a scrapbooking party at my home, and Joel has a business trip for a few days at the end of the month. Maybe we'll slow down in May, but somehow I doubt it!

So, happy April to all of you!

Love,
Julie, Joel, and Abby

Mendez March Madness!

Hello All!

Isn't Abby "Adorable?"

Thank you to everyone who has already signed up with FeedBlitz so that the blog automatically goes into their in-box. (If you haven't, please do so at FeedBlitz) Also, you might want to check your "spam" area - I noticed there were several folks who are "in process" still (it doesn't let me see who), and I wouldn't want you to miss anything because the confirmation email when into your spam folder!

February flew by. Abby and I spent the first part of it sick as dogs. I finally know what real projectile baby puke looks like. Let's just say it's not pleasant. Some flu-like virus made its way around the embassy, and Abby and I were among the first to get it. I also threw my back out trying to hold her sitting up while she and I were sleeping, so I spent a couple days on some very nice anti-inflamatory muscle relaxers. Thankfully, she's doing fine now - she is in the 50th percentile on the growth chart, according to the regional doctor that came through. We will be going in again next week for another weigh-in and check up. She's eating very well, up to two or three servings of food a day. She likes mangoes, papayas, apricots, and just about everything we've tried so far. She's not a big fan of peas, but she will eat them. Next week we start on meat.

I'm back at writing the newsletter; which is going well. I met with the management at the embassy and we've worked it out to be much less stressful than it was before - yeay - and I've been given freedom to try some new things. So that's all good. I'm still plugging away at the Spanish classes. It's kindof frying my brain right now, but my teacher tells me I'm making progress. I'm still scrapbooking away, and am almost finished with the wedding album!

Abby's big news: SHE IS MOBILE. This month she is crawling EVERYWHERE. She's very good, too. Once she picks up speed I am going to be in such trouble. We've already had to rearrange our living room furniture and pile pillows around the TV so she will stop eating the power cords. (Right now she is trying to fit a monkey into her mouth all at once.) She will follow Puzza all around the house if I let her. I have to be very careful, because just this week Puzza has lost patience with her grabbing him and pulling out handfulls of fur. He swatted her one good time. Okay, she deserved it, but if he hadn't laid down right beside her she wouldn't have been tempted. So I'm constantly trying to keep them apart now, which is hard because she LOVES Puzza.

I know how he feels, she also loves to pull my hair. Ever heard the phrase, "being snatched bald?" Let me tell ya, it hurts.

Abby spent alot of time this month sticking her tongue out at everyone and everything. And when she gets tired she gets very lovey, like an affectionate drunk or something. She has to open-mouth slobber (I mean kiss) me, and then goes to Joel, and back to me, and back to Joel, and so on. It's fun, even if you end up covered in slime.

Okay, for all those who are sick of all the babytalk: we also went to Aviano this month and stocked up on everything (Abby loves grocery shopping, above left), and we've spent two Saturdays walking around downtown Zagreb and enjoying the nice weather. You guys in the US apparently stole all of our snow. We haven't had anymore at all. It's even supposed to get up to 68 degrees (F) next week. How crazy is that. It's almost already Spring, and we never even got any winter! Oh, and Joel and I had a baby-free day by ourselves too: we left Abby with the babysitter and went to a thermal spa (heated pool) and a nice lunch literally on top of this mountain. It was cool.

The other big thing this month was Fasnik. This is like Carnival or Mardi Gras for Croatians. They trick-or-treat at Fasnik, not Halloween, and they have to sing this Fasnik song before you are supposed to give them any candy. It was cute; the kids had mostly homemade costumes, with the occasional princess or freaky wig. Abby was absolutely fascinated.

Coming up in March: Joel's birthday, for which we are throwing a HUGE shindig at our house, more crawling and snuggling with Abby, learning more Spanish, that sort of thing.

Love,
Julie, Joel, and Abigail

PS. No teeth yet. No "mama" either.

Hey Baby, It's Cold Outside! January Mendez News

Hey all!

First off, can you all do me a favor? Please click on this link: FeedBlitz and subscribe to our blog. It will automatically email you whenever I post something on the blog and will save me several steps when I blog notes to ya’ll. (You can also subscribe by clicking on the box in the right column on the blog.)

Happy New Year!

Abigail with Granny Andrews

January has all been about recovering from jet lag. Let me just tell you, baby jetlag stinks. We had no problems going to the US, but coming back was pure killer. And of course, because Abby’s schedule was all off, it meant mine was too. The first week Abby was up from 11pm-4am. By the second week, we got that down from 11pm-2am. Finally she started sleeping through the night in the third week, and that was not a moment too soon. I was just about to pull out my hair.

So, did you guys make your New Year’s Resolutions? We did. One of mine (besides getting up to date on all of my scrapbooking) is to lose the rest of the baby weight. Joel and I have been doing pretty well with our diet so far I think. And to mix it up a bit, this month I signed up for a belly-dancing class. Yep, you read that right. The International Women’s Club here is hosting a 4 week class that is a pretty good deal, so I figured, hey why not. Man, there is nothing like looking at yourself in a dance room mirror for an hour to confirm that you need to lose weight! Hahaha

Some ladies from my Bible study have decided to get together once a month and scrapbook at my house. Last Sunday afternoon was a first time, and I have to say that I am so excited that we are doing this. I’ve missed scrapbooking with other people. (Abby helped Daddy watch sports during the scrapbook workshop. It was a very difficult job.)

This month, our friends (who are also Dominican) hosted the embassy’s Latin-themed wine and cheese party. I helped cook several of Joel’s favorites of his mom’s dishes. Everyone seemed to like them, though I’m not sure I did them justice.

The weather here has finally turned cold, and that means staying indoors. The main mode of entertainment seems to be hanging out at people’s homes. Game nights and dinners seem pretty popular.

Abby is doing well; she weighs 16 pounds and is growing like a weed. She is going to be very tall I think, she has very long legs. She is really into grabbing things and playing with toys, and sits up pretty well on her own. She’s not crawling yet, but she thinks she can. She scoots in a circle on her belly, and if you put her on hardwood floors, she can go backwards. Slowly but surely, her hair is growing in. She has just enough hair now to look like a little boy, so I’m constantly putting bows on her head. Abby’s progressed to eating baby food – she’s made her way through avocado, bananas, squash, and sweet potatoes. As soon as she’s over this cold she picked up this weekend, we’ll be trying out peas.

Abby in her new high chair

Abby in her new duck bathtub, eating a duck.

Abby talks incessantly and the little bugger’s favorite word is “Dada.” That’s gratitude for ya. You should see how she just flirts with her Daddy. Who of course is the biggest sucker for all of it. But she does give the best open mouth kisses.

Abby and Joel at the park in Zagreb

Next month, I finish up the vacation I’m taking from writing the embassy newsletter, and get moving with my online Spanish. Joel will be taking a maintenance Spanish course as well. We are taking a trip to stock up in Aviano, and might even get out of the house for a date on Valentine’s Day, if we get a sitter. Abby’s hoping it will snow again, so I can make her a snowman.

Talk to you all soon!

Love,
Julie, Joel, and Abigail

Abby's First Snow!

We finally got our first snow today, and I just couldn't wait to share these pictures!

Abby in the Snow

Oooh, mommy, that white stuff is cold!

Okay, so maybe making baby snow angels was not such a good idea.

Looking down our street.

Sadly, it's already melting away this afternoon, but this morning our neighborhood looked so pretty with all the snow all over everything.

Okay, that's enough for now.

Love, Julie and Abigail

Happy New Year!

So before we get started with the new year, here are a few pictures to update you from December.

Abby's Dedication Service

At Kate's Birthday Party

Picture with mall Santa

Christmas Eve

In Alabama- Aunt Nancy finally gets to buy girl toys

With Zac and William

As you can see, we've had a great time, and Abby has been royally spoiled. Mission accomplished! (And no, Abby did not get her two front teeth for Christmas, unfortunately.)

We fly back to Croatia this week, and get back to the daily grind. We have nothing big planned, other than recovering from jet lag and getting Abigail back to her normal sleeping schedule. Shoveling snow will probably be on the schedule sometime this month, too!

Talk to you all soon!

Love,

Joel, Julie and Abigail