December News from the Mendezes

Hello all! Well, we finally got through November, and now we are plowing right through the holiday season! We've even had Abby's playgroup Christmas party already. Let's just say that Santa did not go over very well this year. Doesn't this face just break your heart?
Poor thing. So no Santa picture yet this year. (Which is okay, he wasn't that good of a Santa.) We've got a couple more chances, so maybe we'll get lucky later on.

Thanksgiving was a bit crazy, but fun. Joel had a flag football game in the morning, playing against the Marines (who are all 19 years old and in peak phsyical condition of course). He had a great time but was creaking around like an old man afterwards. I think I'm also required to mention that he caught a pass and scored a touchdown. This is not the best picture of Joel, but it's the best one I've got. I like to call this the "Oh My Gosh, I Caught the Ball" face.
Abby got into the spirit of the game as well. Hut Hut!


Okay, one last one from that morning. I'm so excited I got some good pictures for a "fall" pages with the leaves for my scrapbook.


So, after going home and scraping off a thick layer of mud (Can I just say that I always thought that flag football meant no tackling; so why was Joel covered in mud from head to toe?) we got down to the business of finishing up our meal, and had a ton of people to eat it. That was fantastic. The only problem is that we had almost no leftovers, which are almost the best part of Thanksgiving.

Before Thanksgiving, Joel and I went to the International Women's Club Charity Gala, and the Marine Ball. I don't have any pictures yet of the Marine Ball, but it was FUN. We partied and danced and had a great time. The IWC Gala . . . well, it was for a good cause. We hardly knew anyone. Apparently it was the society event of the year in Zagreb. All these "famous" Croatian people that I guess we should know were there. However, as a member of the board I did get interviewed for Croatian National TV, and was on. Yep, that's right. I'm famous now, at least in Croatia. You can see the interview online here: http://dnevnik.hr/bin/article.php?article_id=30699&show_media=83296 (just his the video button).

Before that, we took a trip back to Rome. We got to see our old friends, eat some great food, drink some great wine, eat some more great food, see more friends . . . you get the idea. Luckily we walked off most of it and didn't gain too much weight. But oh, the food was so good. Haven't ate like that in ages. Not so easy to navigate that city with a toddler and a stroller though.

So beyond all of that fun and craziness, what else have we been up to? Well, I'm still working on that online class which will finish up in December, and scrapbooking whenever I can. Joel and I both have our Bible Studies and Abby has playgroup and swim class. (Oh I almost forgot, here is a picture of her with some of our friends at swim class.)

Abby is in the middle of a huge growth and development spurt. She is getting really tall and has gained another 1 1/2 pounds in the past 2 months. She is climbing all over the furniture and trying to give me a heart attack. She is also on the verge of talking up a storm as well. She will come and tell me she's ready to go "Night Night" when she's tired, and for some reason her other new word is "big." She says baba for baby, and boy, bobo for bottle, and CuhCuh for cookies and Cookie Monster. (She also does the laugh like the Count on Seseme Street - Ah Ah Ah.) She babbles all the time, and is also getting kindof obstinate and opionated. She is not cooperating on getting rid of the bottle at all. After Christmas we're going to have to go hardcore on that, but I just don't have the energy for it right now. She's really getting into playing with her toys and carries around her baby doll with her everywhere. What else? Every night Joel and I have to do a search for our alarm clocks because every morning she finds them and hides them.

So coming up for December, we're big into Christmas mode here. I have most of my decorations up, and am just waiting for them to deliver the tree. Yes, here in Croatia they will deliver a real tree to your house, let you pick out the one you want, and put it in your stand for you, for about $50-60. Heck, that alone is an advertisement for living in Croatia! Plus we're going to the military base this weekend to do all the last minute shopping and stock up on food, as the cupboard is pretty bare. Then Christmas party for Joel's office, Christmas party at the the Embassy, Carol Service at the church, then Christmas Eve extravaganza at our house (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment) and then Christmas day here! Somewhere in there I've got to finish up my assignments for my course, and all that normal daily grind as well.

So, I hope that you all have been good enough this past year for a big man in a red suit to come down your chimney, and you all have a great holiday season!

Love,

Julie, Joel, and Abby

Mid-November Mendez News

Hello all!

Yes, I'm late this month. And I'm going to keep it short and too the point or I will never ever get this done.

It's just been that busy here this past month. My homework for the online class I'm taking is kicking . my . posterior. Now I remember why I didn't go back to grad school. It's an extremely useful course, I'm learning so much, but gee whiz. I am so sick of the homework. I'm always behind.

What else did we do in October, besides the farm trip (pictures in a different post)? Oh yeah. HALLOWEEN.

Man what a trip Halloween was. Abby was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, complete with a Toto and red ruby slippers. She loved those shoes. In fact, "shoes" was her first real word. She would talk about "sews" for hours. The first time I tried on her costume and her shoes, she wouldn't let me take them off! She walked arounnd in just her diapers and her shoes for two hours. It was too cute for me to do anything about it.

Then we went to the Embassy Halloween party, where we got jipped on the costume contest for the second year in a row (the under 3 crowd didn't get judged this year. Figures.) But Abby had a blast. She even got a bit of candy, which Mom and Dad prompty ate for her (it didn't even make it through the ride home). And on Halloween night we went trick or treating at a couple of houses.

Besides Halloween, we've had our normal daily activities. I have my Bible study on Monday mornings and several moms with kids about Abby's age come over for that. The kids play while we do our thing. We're doing the book, The Power of a Praying Parent. Great book.

Plus Abby and I go to playgroup on Thursday mornings, and swim class on Friday mornings. I have yet to get pictures of that since I'm always in the water with Abby. Oh but she has such a great time in swim class. Mainly at her age it's splashing around and not being scared of the water, but we have a good time.

I've been working on my scrapbooking as well. I'm far behind where I want to be, but I'm gotten up to May of this year in our family album. I still haven't started Abby's baby album yet. If this class wasn't killing me, I'd be caught up by now, but oh well. I've been inviting a friend and we've been doing marathon scrapbooking sessions on Sundays after church, while Abby and Joel watch football. And sometime Joel plays football, using Abby as the football.

Abby is really growing up a ton this past month. She's at least a couple inches taller, got several more teeth, and is talking now. Real words too, not just baby babble. She's quite chatty. So far she says "shoes" and "no" for nose, which is quite different when she is saying "NO," which she also says quite well! She's really into Animals at the moment. She says "meow" for Puzza, knows that Cows moo and sheep say baa. She also likes to roar like a lion. Her only Spanish word at the moment is "papo" for pato, which is Spanish for duck. She happens to love the rubber duckies in the pool at swim class.

She's also growing quite an attitude. She wants what she wants, how she wants and when she wants it. She's also started screaming and throwing little fits. Man, I thought we had a couple more months before this started. Oh well, my little baby girl is growing up.

November has been quite a busy month as well, and will continue to be so since Thanksgiving is coming up next week. I can't believe that's already here!

Anyways, I'll keep all that to talk about in the next installment. Here are some picture to tide you over until then.

Dorothy on her cellphone?

Abby and her Toto

Keeping Daddy on the Run at the Embassy Holiday Party

Abby and Mommy

Trick or Treating

See all ya'll later!

Love,
Julie, Joel and Abby

Our Trip to Eko Selo Farm

Okay, I couldn't wait until the end of the month to share these pictures! We had a great time today at the farm! Here is a slideshow for you guys! (Those of you who get this via email might have to click on our website to see it - www.julieandjoel.blogspot.com.)

October Polka-dotted News from the Mendezes

We had a busy September, what about you guys?

We're starting to get excited about our move to Santiago, Chile. We've been reading up on everything there - rules about bringing vehicles, pets, and preschools. I'm hoping that Abby can get into one of the bilingual preschools there. Their seasons are opposite the US: summer is in December, January and February. So that will be very interesting.

Abby and I started attending the weekly playgroup in September, in addition to my duties in the International Women's Club, and my Bible study group started back up as well. Joel had a very successful poker night this month (well, not financially successful). We also took a weekend trip to Aviano to stock up.

I also began an online business course. It's geared toward entrepreneurs and teaches you all about starting a business and creating a business plan. It's pretty good, though the homework has pretty much taken over my life at the moment. But it's very interesting, and I'm learning a great deal.

Abby is turning into a real little girl, right before our eyes. I got her a little chair for the living room, and she sits in it like a big kid. Abby is so curious and gets into everything. We've had to start saving toys from being flushed down the toilet. It is amazing just watching investigate and figure little things out. She now "meows" to Puzza. She meows to any animal, actually. We're trying to get her to "woof" to the dog next door, but it hasn't worked yet. She is trying very hard to talk and communicate and is starting to get very frustrated when we don't understand her. We are really working hard on words now trying to alleviate that a bit. Other than that, Abby is doing well, she even ended the month with another tooth! She got one of her molars on the right side.

You guys will be proud to know that I am already indoctrinating her into the cult of scrapbooking!

So that was our September. Our October has already started with a bang -- Abby has chicken pox (hence the polka-dotted title!). It's a very mild case, and she got it from the vaccine she got a few weeks ago. She's already doing much better, but keeping her from the playground and other kids is becoming a pain. She really misses playing with other kids.

So that's it for us. Hopefully by next week we'll be released from being stuck at the house with Abby's chicken pox. We're supposed to be going to a farm visit with the embassy next Saturday. We're looking forward to Abby petting a goat and riding a pony! (This child has very little fear, so I don't think that will be a problem at all.) Plus, Joel and I have decided that we need "date nights" and have signed up for salsa classes begining this weekend. Oh, and of course the Embassy Halloween party is coming up as well! Abby's costume finally arrived in the mail, and I can't wait to get her all dressed up!
Talk to all you soon!

Love,
Julie, Joel and Abby

Our Next Post

Well, we found out that we're moving to Santiago, Chile next summer. No details yet, that's all we know. But we thought we would pass that along.

Hey, at least we'll be in the same hemisphere as some of you now!

Love,
Julie, Joel, and Abigail

September News from the Mendezes

Well, it's September, and to say we're back in the swing of things would be an understatement. We've gotten so busy that we even missed the fact that Labor Day was a holiday.

The first half of August we spent in Alabama, then went back for a couple of days to Miami before heading back to Croatia. Abby and I had an absolute blast playing with the Crutchfield boys, and with her Miami cousins. She played so hard the entire time, and would just collapse with exhaustion at the end of the day. Oh, and she grew two new teeth while she was there as well, so now we're up to five!

(Abby in Miami, left)Abby and I arrived back in Croatia in mid-August, and had our first houseguests in Zagreb that weekend! Our friends Elaine and Joe from Rome were in the area, so we invited them to stay the night with us. We had a blast with them and only wish they could have stayed longer.

Then, with recovering from jetlag (which surprisingly wasn't that bad this time) , me recovering from a little sinus infection, a BBQ at the Embassy, and getting Abby started on the transition from formula to regular soy milk, we stayed fairly busy at the end of August. Oh, and Joel has started up with his Fantasy Football group again. We also sponsored (or, were the welcoming committee) for two families that arrived last weekend.

Abby is running (literally!) around like a crazy girl. Yep, we went right from little tentative steps to taking over the world. Last night, she somehow pulled four buttons off the keyboard of the laptop and we were frantically running around the living room looking for them before she swallowed them. Oh, and did I mention the time she pushed the buttons on the TV and changed the language to Thai??? It Joel hours to figure out how to fix that. Aaaaah, toddlerhood, right?

She is really attempting to talk now. She says "Dada," and "Poo" for Puzza the cat. Sometimes we can get her to meow or say "ruff" when she sees a cat or dog. Mostly she keeps us completely entertained with her antics. In this picture I tried to take a picture of her after her bath so you can all see how her hair is starting to curl up when it's wet. I hope it comes out well, I thought you all would get a kick out of that.

So our September schedule is in full swing. The International Women's Club starts back up next week, and I start with board meetings for that tomorrow. (Don't get me started; I still have no idea how I "volunteered" for that.) Plus, I've decided that Abby and I will join the playgroup this year, and there's talk of several moms getting together for baby swim classes this fall (indoors, of course). Abby loves the water, so that would be fun. I'm still continuing to work by doing the Embassy newsletter each week, and am moving forward with my resume coaching business. (Still working on getting a decent name for it so I can get a website - if anyone has any ideas, I'm open to hearing it.) Joel's got a "man" night, aka poker and football, scheduled at the house this weekend, and next weekend we are taking the trip back to Aviano to stock up.

So, that's our lives in a nutshell. Hope to speak to you all soon!

Love,
Julie, Joel, and Abby

Abby's 1 Year Old Photo Shoot

Here is a slideshow of pictures from Abby's 1 year old photo shoot in Fairhope, AL. Yes, Abby should be a model!

Love, Julie and Abby

PS. I wrote a blog at the end of July for August, but for some reason, it didn't go out to anyone who subscribed. I haven't figured out why. So, to see that note, please go to the website at www.julieandjoel.blogspot.com.

August News

Abby says hello from her new favorite place to play!

(No, I didn't pose her; she climbed in all by herself.)

Well, we made it to Miami just fine, as you can see. Abby was an absolute angel on the plane. She barely slept, but walked up and down the aisles of the plane charming the pants off EVERYONE. She sang "la la" at the top of her voice to everyone. I was so embarresed, but it was hilarious. She watched Elmo videos until the battaries died on our iLuv (portable DVD and iPod player) and then we attempted to keep her entertained with her toys. I counted down the minutes until our flight was over!

Our visit here has been extremely eventful: from Abby getting tooth #3 and working on #4, her luau theme birthday party, getting a checkup from a pediatrician, a disastrous attempt to take a picture of all five kids together at JCPennys, shopping, etc. We helped Joel's parents set up the internet on their new computer (where I am currently writing this). Oh, and I got the new Harry Potter book and we saw the HP movie. And that was just the first week!

Our second week was very very different. Sunday afternoon Abby came down with a NASTY stomach virus. She must of puked up everything she ate in the past year. Well, by Monday night both Joel and I came down with it, plus the cousins, and Joel's sister and her husband. So, we didn't do too much our second week in Miami, other than recouperate. It's such a shame too.

So, Joel's already off to go back to Croatia, and Abby and I fly out to Alabama in the morning. We've had a great time here seeing family and friends, the only problem (besides the puking) is that we aren't here longer!

Love,
Julie, Joel, and Abby

PS. I totally forgot to tell you, Abby's walking!!



Abby with the "Eat More Chicken" Cow from Chick-fil-A at the mall.

















Abby's Miami birthday luau













Abby and Joel with cousin Sebastian (Seba) who's 6 weeks older than Abby. Abby did not like her daddy holding another baby.











Abby with Tia (Aunt) Basi.


















Abby is so cool with shades on!

Abby's Birthday Party

Since you guys missed our "Elmo" extravaganza, I thought I would send you some pictures!









Here is our Elmo cake. I ordered some stuff, but it didn't come in, so I had to get creative at the last minute.





Here is what I came up with for the good bags, also at the last minute. I'm pretty proud of these, they turned out so cute.




Here is Abby demolishing the cake. (Don't worry, everyone else got cupcakes.) She ate Elmo's nose, and then just wiped the rest of the icing off and ate it. That was one smelly diaper afterwards.


The kids really liked the pinata and getting the candy and prizes. Abby seemed very confused by the whole thing.







Here's a great picture of Abby and Joel during the party. We had little kiddie pools and a sprinker going in the yard for the kids to play in. That was a big hit.

July News from the Mendezes

Hey guys. We're here getting ready to start packing for our trip back to the States. We'll spend two weeks in Miami and then Joel heads back to the daily grind in Zagreb while Abby and I spend some time in Alabama, and then back to Miami so we can pick up our flight back to Zagreb. A lot of flying with a one-year old and a lot of baby paraphernalia.

Speaking of that soon-to-be one-year old, she’s currently throwing a fit in the middle of the living room floor because I wouldn’t let her play with the laptop. Ah, the joys of toddlers. Don’t you wish you were here? (Here's a picture of Abby singing and waving to Elmo from before.)

Well, we’re up to two teeth and counting. I'm pretty sure there are three, but I can’t really tell because she won’t let me look.

It’s breaking my heart that my little baby will be turning ONE in just a few days, but man, she is sooo cute and so much fun. She really plays with her toys now. She keeps trying to get Puzza to play with the toys too, but he doesn’t quite appreciate being bonked on the head with the plastic giraffe. At least she’s trying to share though, right? Puzza must be her best friend. She keeps trying to kiss him and pet him all the time. (We have to watch out for what body part she tries to kiss!) Another new game we play is the “put things on the head” game. I’ll put a toy on my head, and she’ll climb up and take it off. Then she’ll put it on her head and I’ll take it off. I know. Yes, I’ve gone off the deep end. But it’s so much fun to watch her “figure” these things out. Oh, and Abby and Joel wrestle on the floor every night. She apparently has gotten very good at body-slamming.

We also got a little kiddie pool for her as an early birthday present, since we’ll be gone most of the summer. I’m not sure who’s had more fun in that thing, her or me.

We’re big party animals here, as you can see. On Friday nights, we’ve been going down to the big park and playing on the playground because they have baby slides. We play until it gets dark and then (hopefully) plop a very tired little girl into bed where she (again, hopefully) sleeps through the night.

For Father’s Day, Joel did exactly what he wanted: played with his grill. We had a ton of folks over from our church, and threw a big potluck BBQ. Joel got a couple grilling lessons thrown in as well, and everyone had a great time. That grill has gotten quite the workout this month – we also threw a going away party for some folks in Joel’s office, and that turned out to be really nice. Not too hot, some great food, plus our yard had the landscaping cleaned up by the landlord, so it looked fantastic. And, I haven’t had to cook hardly all week because of all the leftovers. Can’t ask for more than that!

This month we also celebrated our third anniversary. Yep, we’ve made it three years! We celebrated by having friends babysit for us and went out to eat Indian food.

That’s about the extent of our month. I’ve started to do a bit of resume coaching/consulting on the side, and have been going to a gym, which I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve missed my gym-rat status.

Last night was the AmCham’s 4th of July picnic. Abby saw the Croatian Ronald McDonald (who walked around carrying a beer, but I digress). She got a McD’s red balloon which was the highlight of her little life so far. The picnic turned out to be pretty nice, though not as big as we expected. But we had nice food and all you can eat ice cream bars and McDonald’s apple pies, and an open bar; what else can ask for from a 4th of July party? The highlight of the evening was that Abby stood by herself, on purpose, for about 30 seconds. Her facial expression was priceless – she looked terrified, like “what is happening to me?” Joel and I just sat there and cheered for her the whole time. We left before the fireworks because Abby (and Mommy) were worn out.

So, that’s about it for us. We’re thinking about going to a water park on the 4th, then Saturday will be Abby’s birthday party (pray for us, we might have 40-50 people here, including kids) and then the following Thursday we get on the plane bright and early in the morning. Somewhere in there I’ve got to pack, clean up the house, finish up my work and get it ready for someone to cover for me while I'm gone, take the cat to the vet for a check-up, that sort of thing.

Love to all, (and see you soon!)

Julie, Joel, and Abby