Announcing the Newest Mendez Clan Member

Yep, you guessed it, Liliana Claire Mendez is here!

She decided to grace us with her presence on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 6:03am. She weighed 7 lb, 4 oz, and was 20 inches long.

Labor was very fast. Contractions started around 10pm, and then around 11pm went from 14 minutes apart to 4 minutes apart in 15 minutes. Totally not kidding on that one. I kept waiting for them to slow back down, but nope. When we got to the hospital about 3:30am, I was already dilated to 8 cm! (Imagine me screaming to God for mercy for the ten minute drive to the hospital. It might have even been funny if it wasn't me living through it.) The nurses tried to break it to me that I was not going to have time to get an epidural, but I wasn't going to hear that at all. Dude, no one stands between me and my drugs.

So, I finally get all prepped and get the epidural (GOD BLESS THE INVENTOR OF THE EPIDURAL) and the nurse checks me again. All of the sudden she's paging the doctor and a swarm of people rush in. Apparently I got my "happy drugs" just in time because here comes Lily. The doctor, nurses, and Joel are all saying stuff like, "Wow, would you look at that," etc. I ask Joel if he can see her. Then Joel looks at me and says, "Julie, she's already out."

I didn't even have to push. Seriously. (No tears or stitches either. How in the world did I luck out like that?)

So anyway, that's the story of Lily's birth. She's doing fantastic - perfectly healthy, and a champion nurser and pooper. She has black hair, dark blue eyes, pale white skin, my nose, and Joel's ears. Lily also has a bit of confusion between days and nights at the moment, which is killing her poor mommy. And oh, my new name is "Human Pacifier."

Abby is also doing great. She loves "her baby Lily," though we have to be extremely careful that she doesn't love on her too hard, if you guys get what I mean.

Joel was great during the delivery. No passing out, no turning green or anything. I was quite impressed with him.

I'm recovering nicely. I feel so much better than I did for the two weeks before the birth (off and on contractions that never went anywhere, etc.) that I'm having the worst time behaving and sitting still and "relaxing." I really could use a decent night of sleep though.

Okay, that's it for now. Here is the new Mendez family portrait.

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

PS. The winner of the Baby Pool was Lily's Tia (Aunt) Basi. Congratulations!

July Mendez News

Well, we made it. Our stuff is all packed and the movers took it off to who knows where. We spent our week in the hotel, and flew the 15+ hours and arrived in Alabama. Abby did pretty well, for a two year old that wasn't allowed to run around for fifteen hours. She fell asleep at the most inconvenient times, like going through security and customs, but other than that, she did pretty good.

We spent the last days of June moving into our apartment here and getting settled, buying our new car (more on that later), and doing alot of the shopping we'll need in Chile. We've been able to pick up alot of the big stuff we need so far - I've still got to do a major run to Sam's for diapers and wipes, but that's got to wait until my parents are free (they have the membership card) and someone else can do the heavy lifting. Joel had to spend last week in DC for work, but got to say hello to a few friends and family. Now he's "home" for a while, and we're all very happy about that.

Our first week here we also did the hospital tour and paperwork, and met my doula and OB for the first time. Lily's heartbeat was good and I'm measuring right on schedule still. So all that's going well too. Though I still have this personal belief that I'm not going to go the full 40 weeks. Heck, right now I'm just praying I make it to the 38 week mark like I did with Abby. No, the Dr didn't say anything, it's just this gut feeling I have about this one.

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(That's my personal hint that if you haven't voted in our baby pool - and let's face it, you haven't - you need to do so NOW. Just click on http://expectnet.com/game.php. You don't have much time left.)
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So we're trying to get all of our to-do lists done as quickly as we can so we won't be dealing with it after Lily is born. And yes, I am LOVING all my trips to Walmart. All these shopping trips might not make sense to most of you, but think about having to stock on baby Tylenol for a year and you might start to grasp what we are doing. Unfortunately we won't have a military base to rely on this tour. I explained it once to someone like being Pa Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie, where he would go to the store twice a year for supplies. That's what we're doing.

Yep, we bought our new car. It's a 2008 Honda Pilot. Bigger than we planned to get, but we were able to make a great deal so we're excited. It's got a third row that folds down flat, and can I just say how much I am LOVING all the space in the back! We've taken advantage of it already by buying the crib mattress and toddler bed for Abby already, and to shove all the suitcases in when we moved into the apartment. Here are some pictures:

Some of you might remember me telling you that my dad had told me he was getting Abby (and Lily) her own playhouse in their backyard? Apparently this is his new "project." Currently he's "landscaping" around it. I have to admit, it is the cutest thing you've ever seen. It also has a little kitchen to play with inside of it.

My sister is also down visiting with her boys and we are having a good time. We went to the Exploreum (Science Museum) where they saw a frog exhibit. They also had a preschool section set up like a fishing boat where little ones could "fish." (That's Abby and her cousin Nic below.) Last week my sister brought all of their fishing gear to our place and everyone fished off our pier and swam in the pool all day. Maybe I'll get a good fish/crab dinner out of this visit!

Abby is having a fabulous time getting spoiled by Nana and Papa. It's crazy. And now she has her three Crutchfield cousins hanging on her every word. She's got all of them wrapped around her little finger. We are in SUCH trouble when she gets older. All she has to do is scream their names and they come running. She wakes up asking for them and wants to talk to them before she goes to bed each night.

So that's been our month. We are SOOOOOO glad to be home in the good ole' US of A. We spent July 4th here at our place - my parents and Nancy and the boys came here and fished off our pier and swam in the pool and we ate all the fantastic BBQ that my dad made (and boy was it GOOD), and then we hung out and watched the fireworks. Everyone was exhausted by the time they were done, which I guess is the sign of a good day. Abby also learned a new word: "Fire-ire-worts" '(Fireworks). She wasn't scared of them either, though she did say that they were "loud" and pitty" (pretty).

July is just more of the same for us really, hanging out here, finishing up our prep-shopping, etc for Lily and for Chile, and also possibly welcoming the newest Mendez to the world. My due date is August 4th, so it's quite possible and probable we'll see her this month.

Talk to all of you soon.

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby and Lily

Pictures of Lily

Hey all. I had my OB appointment on Wednesday and finally got some decent pictures of Lily. Not great, but decent. So, who do you think she looks like?

3D Face Shot

2D Face Shot

She's doing great, measuring exactly on schedule. She's not as active as Abby was, that's for sure. I don't get kicked nearly as often. Lily prefers rolling and twisting and flopping all over the place.

It was very hard to even to get these pictures because someone was sucking their thumb the whole time and then had their other arm up covering up their face. She wanted to sleep and did NOT appreciate being poked to wake up.

Perhaps Lily will be my quiet child, and a good sleeper? Joel and I can't wait to find out!

Love,

Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

Late May News from the Mendezes

Hello all!

I'm writing this early because our internet will be turned off this weekend in preparation for our move, and who knows how much time I'd have to deal with the blog in the next couple weeks anyway? Plus, Abby's currently occupied with Sesame Street. So, here I am.


May has been a crazy busy month. First was Croatian Labor Day on May 1st. Joel had the day off, so we went down to the big park for their festival. They had all these booths and vendors, and the city gave away free food -- this apparently famous Croatian stew, which strangely resembles beans and weenies. Who knew beans & weenies could be a national dish?

After that, a friend of mine threw me a small baby shower.

Then came Mother's Day. Joel and I had already made plans to go out of town for a long weekend later in the month, but then at the last minute he decided we should have a dinner out that night as well. We had the restaurant to ourselves which was nice, plus Abby behaved during dinner, which is a gift in and of itself.



Last week, we took our last road trip in Croatia to visit the Istria area. We spent most of our time in Pula, which is a famous city there. They have an amphitheatre which is smaller but in much better shape than Rome's Coliseum, and is still in use for concerts, etc. The Istria area used to be part of Italy (before WWII) so there's alot of Italian influence and ruins there.

We also spent a little time in the pool and the beach. The water was freezing, but Abby didn't seem to mind at all. Joel had "chasing after Abby" duty, while I did my job holding down the beach chair and reading a book.

Our absolutely favorite things were the two agrotourismos we went to. (Agrotourismo is an Italian term for "tourist farm".) We ate some fabulous food and Abby got to see and play with animals. Oh, and Joel got to drink copious amounts of wine. The owner apparently makes his own wines and liqueurs as a hobby. Joel got to be his buddy, and all of the sudden I look over and Joel and the owner at the bar "testing" various things. Needless to say, I drove home.

Is that smell the goat, or Abby?

Abby oinking at the pig, and the pig oinking back.

Yes, Joel is on a horse. This is what happens when you drink too much wine.

In addition to all these activities, we've been incredibly busy here. We've both had dentist appointments, OB appointments, and then we've gone through the whole house organizing it for the movers. Plus, Joel's had some interest in his car, so it looks like we might have that one sold soon as well. Which will be great.

(Hey, does anyone want a cat? At the very least for the summer? We haven't been able to get anyone to take Puzza here, and we're starting to get really desperate about what to do with him. Seriously.)

My business is progressing quite well. I've been working pretty hard on getting my credentialing credits completed and am almost halfway there. The website designer has been going full throttle on the website and it's looking really good. We're down to the nitty-gritty stuff now, so hopefully by the time we get home to the US, I'll have more to share.

Lily is rolling around like crazy in there. I'm starting to get that jiffy-pop thing happening with my belly. She seems to be calmer than Abby. Abby kicked me all the time, but Lily just seems content to do rolls and flips.

Speaking of Abby, she is just a very active 2 year old now. She can practically carry on a conversation with her 2 word sentences, and she's great at getting her point across when she wants something!

We're going to be a little difficult to reach in the next few weeks. If you need us, please email us. Joel will have more access to his email than I will. Our movers arrive on the 12th and we'll move into a hotel for our last week here, and then we fly home to Alabama on the 20th. So, it's going to be a nutty month, but we are really looking forward for it all being over, and getting to see family this summer.

Talk to you all (and see some of you) very soon!

Love,
Julie, Joel, Abby, and Lily

May Mendez News

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

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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

Mendez Baby Update: It's a . . . .

So, you guys really wanna know?

Well, the Mendez family will be adding a bit of estrogen. That's right, we're having a girl!

We've known for quite a while, but I waited until we had that the "official" sonogram in case the doctor changed her mind. So, we're finally in the clear to let you all know!

The baby is absolutely fine and looked adorable on the sonogram. She was kicking like crazy, just like her big sister did. And she was sucking her thumb which was hilarious. (Okay maybe not to all of you, but my family will get that joke anyway.)

I don't have an ultrasound picture for you guys this time. The ones she gave me just weren't that good. But after my next appointment, yes, I should have something to upload for you all.

And no, I can't tell you the name yet.

Because Joel and I are still "discussing" it.

So if you all have any opinions, you better let us know soon!

Love,
Julie, Joel, Abby, and Junior-ette

March Madness at the Mendez House

Hello all! Sorry I'm a bit late but as the title says, it's been a bit of madness around here lately.

The month of February could be called the Month of Germ Warfare in the Mendez house. Seriously. We saw the insides of four different hospitals this past month. Three of which I would never ever want to step in again in my entire life.

The very beginning of the month had me rushing to the hospital late at night - a false alarm scare with the pregnancy. Don't worry, I'm completely fine and so is the baby. But let me just say that if I had ever considered giving birth in a Croatian hospital, that experience changed my mind.

Then we saw a local pediatrician because Abby was still refusing to sleep (from the cold back in January) and waking up every hour and a half and I was worried she was coming down with something again. That pediatrician was a total quack, so the next day I tried out a new pediatrician office and they seemed to be very good. They ruled out sickness, but started to blame gas and stomach pain - so we started talking food allergies or possible reflux. Which led to a starting a huge battery of allergy and bloodtests. Which took us to another hospital (where they do lab work on children here).

In the middle of this process, Abby got a horrible horrible norovirus (stomach virus -- I'm convinced she must have picked it up in the hospital while doing all that testing). In about an hour, she literally puked up everything she had eaten in the past 24 hours. I totally freaked and we took her to the hospital that evening. That in itself is a long horrible story, so let's just say that two hospitals, many traumatic experiences with needles and doctors later, and at about 4:30am, we pulled Abby out of the hospital and brought her home. She was extremely dehydrated and very ill, plus the whole gas/no sleeping thing was still going on.

We finally got out of Croatia and went to London to see some "real" doctors, where she started to improve after the virus, and we got some real help finally. We saw a pediatrician, an allergist and a pediatric gastroenterologist all within our first 24 hours in London. The general consensus is that she was getting better on her own from the virus and the initial problem was probably due to reflux. So she was admitted to a London hospital so they could run the tests for that, and then check out a couple other things to rule them out as a precaution. So that was our last hospital for the month.

I can't tell you how impressed and overwhelmed by the level of service in London. We saw some of the best doctors in London, plus the nurses and staff were just so great with Abby. They were just wonderful, and thought the "Americans" were quite amusing because we kept thanking them for taking such good care of us. (Oh, and I got the stomach bug from Abby while in London, but not half as bad as Abby. It just made our hotel stay in London so much more pleasant, if you catch my drift. Thankfully I got over it more quickly than she did.) And we were just so relieved to finally be getting real answers and real treatment after dealing with Croatian doctors for so long. And everyone there is just SOOOOO nice. We loved it.

While in London, we tried to get out a bit and enjoy our week back in civilization. We ate Indian and Lebanese and Chinese for dinner, we took Abby to the zoo on the Sunday - which was a HUGE hit - and we played in the park a couple of times. We also went to Hamley's, which is the big famous toy store there and bought coloring books. (I came with nothing to entertain Abby, not thinking we'd be there so long.) We ate in a pub a couple of times, so Joel could have a "pint." So the trip wasn't all bad.

We came home on Saturday, March 1st, and Abby was back to her normal spunky toddler self on the plane ride. We had to say "Bog (hi)" to every single person on the plane, we colored, we ate cheerios one by one, we sang "The Wheels on the Bus," we counted Mommy's fingers over and over, and anything else I could think of to entertain her for two and a half hours. Yep. my little girl was back; just about at the time where I really wanted her to take a nap!

To answer your questions: as of writing this, we have not heard back from the doctors in London yet. We are waiting on the test results from while we're there. So we don't have a real definitive answer on what's going on with Abby. We're still operating the assumption that she has reflux unless we hear something different. Which is completely easy to deal with.

And Abby is doing fine now, because I know you all are worried. She is dancing a little jig right beside me because the babysitter is about to take her for a walk. She also waves "Bye Bye", blows kisses, and gives "Big Hugs." (We watched a lot of Teletubbies at the hospital in London.)

So that was our exciting month. We are very glad to be home now and back to our somewhat normal lives! Before all that, we did make that trip to Aviano to stock up, I had friends over to scrapbook again, and we are making inroads (very slowly) in the details of our move.

In the good news column of this post, Abby did pee in the potty! Just once before she got sick, but hey I'll take it! She especially liked the M&Ms she got as a reward. Maybe if I get up enough gumption to try again in the next couple of weeks, we'll start over.

I think I'm also becoming one of those germ-phobic mothers I swore I'd never be, and probably will be investing in crates of hand sanitizer and clorox disinfecting wipes. Maybe I'll even look into installing one of those CDC deconamination units at the door of the house - like you see in the movies. Just kidding. A little. I am being very strict about how much we take Abby out of the house and where we take her and who she comes into contact with - we have dropped her swim class and playgroup until I'm sure her immune system is fully up and running. Joel and I are taking turns going to church so that I don't have to put her in the nursery.

So, what's up for March? Well, sleeping in our own beds for one thing! No really, we've got a long to-do list for our upcoming move that we really have to make major progress on this month. We are at about 100 days and counting before we leave! Plus I have got to get working our taxes and get them in this week, and I'm plowing ahead on my career coaching business. I've filled out all the paperwork for our website designer, and she is busy working on her end of things as we speak. I have another OB appointment this week I think, (after which I will post again for you guys and give you an update) and lots of running around after Abby.

So, here are a couple pictures of February -

Daddy and Abby playing with her "pretties" (Mardi Gras beads) that Nana and Papa sent her.

Abby and Mommy at the Zagreb Zoo

Abby at her favorite place in the whole world - McDonalds

Mommy and Abby eating Lebanese in London

Daddy and Abby at the London Zoo

Checking out the "seep" at the London Zoo.

Abby talking to the "giger" (tiger) at the London Zoo

Love to everyone!

Julie, Joel, and Abby