Our Little Fish

Abby is quite the fish these days. Every time we go swimming, I am amazed at how brave she is and the things she attempts. Her latest is to ask us to hold her out in the middle of the pool where she wants to let go of us and try to swim by herself. I will let her go and she immediately goes under. She tries to get her head out of the water, but she's not quite there yet. These are videos of her in action. The first is taken at our water park here. We usually go to "Toddler Time" and all the water falls, squirt guns, etc. are not turned on. When we showed up outside of "Toddler Time", the water was turned on and Abby was nervous about all the splashing and squirting of water. She warmed up to it and had no problem riding down her favorite slide. The last video just shows how much Abby loves the water. She will do ANYTHING! Even when we ask her to go under. She now goes under on her own, without us asking. She loves to open her eyes and look around. She even holds her breath! What will we do when it gets to cold to swim here? :)

Things to Look Forward To....

I've been in a slump the past couple of days....I miss my life back in Irvine, my friends, our routine, places to visit, swimming pools, the list can go on and on. Mike keeps asking me if there is anything he can do to help me feel better. I just say, "No, I just have to wait until this slump passes. Give me a couple of weeks." Mike quickly exclaims, "2 weeks? How about a couple of days?" So to help me through the "slump" process, I've been thinking about things to look forward to now that we live in Pleasanton. There are quite a few.....and I hope the list keeps growing and that I adapt to this change more quickly.....

Here is what I've been thinking about:

1. Going to more of these......

Mike and I went to an A's game with his dad and our 2 nephews. Abby stayed home with Grandma. We love baseball games!

2. Seeing more of these people....

Abby's cousin who is only a year older and may be moving even closer to us soon!

My sister and her little chub-a-lub boy. He is ALWAYS smiling!

3. Having live-in baby-sitters

Mike and I got to go to the Giants and Dodgers game earlier this week! And we got to leave Abby at home with the grandparents. We love this live-in baby-sitter stuff! :)

4. Getting to explore my hometown as a parent....There are so many things I never knew about because I didn't have a kid to entertain!

We like to go to this mini water-park in the town next to us. It has a slide that ends up in the water. Abby absolutely LOVES it and spends the entire hour going up the stairs and down the slide. I've taught her how to climb in by herself and land in the water without any help. Luckily she can stand at the bottom. The only unfortunate thing about the pool is it costs $2 each person. Not very much when you go once, but we want to go all the time! It quickly adds up.

5. Seeing Abby explore a new town....

She is still learning to enjoy these type of water parks. She'd much rather be all the way covered with water, not just sprayed!

Abby hanging out at Daddy's new work. She likes to twirl in the chair and put sticky-notes up on the windows.

We drove up to Marin County this weekend for my sister's birthday party. It was beautiful and so fun to just kick back and relax. Abby had fun in the pool of course. She is becoming quite the fish. She loves to go under all by herself, hold her breath, and then jump up out of the water. It makes me nervous how confident she is in the water. I have to watch her every move!

6. Watching Abby meet new friends and some old ones....

This is Max, my best friend's little boy. He's a few months older than Abby and is the cutest boy! He and Abby are getting to know each other. When Abby says his name, it sounds like "Snack!" I'm always trying to figure out if she means Max or snack....

It's been a fun first week here in P-town and I'm slowly adjusting to a new routine. I am glad to be back in my hometown and am excited to raise our family here. I just hope things begin to feel more normal for me. Here's to a happy week!

I Will Miss....

It's official.....I am a total waste as a blogger. Let's not get into all the reasons why I don't blog and skip right to the good stuff. We have moved to P-Town, ready for a whole new adventure in the work field. Work is looking pretty good right now--considering the mounds of debt we are facing. But that's now really fun news, is it? I've been compiling a list (mentally) the last couple of weeks of things I will miss in Irvine and wanted to journal them with pictures. Here are some things I will miss about Southern California (in no particular order).....

1. Perfect Weather. Although I often found it easy to complain about, I will miss the 70 degree, year-round temperatures. So Cal is spoiled....definitely spoiled.

Abby standing outside the San Diego Zoo. We visited while Mike was taking the Bar. She refused to look at the picture. It was a long day, and we only lasted 3 hours before she had a complete meltdown. She started to hit all the people walking by her in the stroller as I pushed her out of the zoo. Rude!

2. Swimming at the Lagoon--sand, water, slides, what more could you ask for in a community pool? And great friends to enjoy it with? Nothing can compare.....

Abby and her friend Daylynn hanging out in the sand during "adult swim" (an excuse for the lifeguards to socialize with each other...)

3. Shopping trips to the Fabric District in LA where you can find anything and everything, including fabric by the pound--a sewer's delight!

My last visit to the Fabric district. All this for $30...I am so excited to use it!

4. Student life--As much as I HATE not having a regular income, I did LOVE having Mike home a lot during the school year (minus the last 8 weeks while preparing for the BAR). I got lots of breaks, which is something I will miss!

Abby and I on the sky-ride at the San Diego Zoo. She was so worried while riding it.

5. Movie nights, craft nights, dessert nights, game nights, SYTYCD and Bachelor get-togethers, and play group! I had some great friends who I will miss dearly.....I was always inspired by them to be a better mom, a kinder friend, a creative crafter....

Abby's playgroup (minus Myles). She loved to play with these two!

Hanging out at the park--just girls while the dads watched the kiddos.

6. 9:00 church time. Here in P-town we have the unfortunate start time: 1:00! What happens to nap time? I love morning church--I am up early anyway with Abby....and she can come home and sleep the afternoon away while I sleep, read, scrapbook, or just be lazy. I will also miss her nursery---they had great leaders and Abby made lots of friends....

Yummy sandwich!

7. Golden Spoon Yogurt....Yogurt Land....America's Cup Yogurt.....I will miss our favorite yogurt places. There doesn't seem to be enough up here in Pleasanton.

8. Running trails. I know every town has their own running/walking/biking trails, but I will miss the ones in Irvine. I trained on them for 4 months and knew every turn, every mile marker. It will be an adjustment to get used to.

9. Costco Runs. We lived so close to a Costco that we were there at least 2 times a week. We loved to explore, eat samples, and look at books. Abby especially loved going in the "cold" room. She asked for it every time.

10. Spring Acre Park....Abby LOVES this park. We had a fun last "Hurrah!" with friends there this past week and the kids just ran wild.

11. Shopping at the Irvine Spectrum. We loved walking outside, looking at all the shops, and taking Abby on the carousel. She loved it, too!

Abby's last ride on the carousel.....

12. Being so close to different family members: Mike's sisters, my cousins, and my grandparents who recently passed away.

We visited Ventura one last time and Abby got to hang out with all her second cousins. We also got to visit my grandpa one last time before he passed away.

At my grandpa's funeral....Abby was fascinated with the headstone. It was a beautiful day.

13. The District Fountains: Abby enjoyed these more when she was younger, but lately is concerned about getting all wet. But I will miss walking around the District, killing time, window shopping, and the occasional stop at Borders bookstore.

14. Beach--I didn't go to the beach as much as I should have, but it was fun to be so close. Abby hopefully will learn to enjoy it more.

15. Disneyland.....It has been such a big part of our family the past three years. I am already planning a trip down sometime this fall to visit again with Mike this time. He hasn't been in over a year....

Here is a random list of things I WON'T miss:

1. Living so close to complete strangers where I can smell their cigarette smoke, hear their babies cry at all hours of the night (or dogs). No longer will I have to walk a mile to pick up our mail, carry grocceries, or just get to the car. And I can let Abby play outside now because I don't have to worry about her picking up dog-doo.

2. The lack of seasons. I know I listed the weather as something I will miss, but sometimes I think it'd be nice to actually wear sweaters and long sleeves. You know, change up the fashion. :)

3. Having no CABLE and a SLOW computer. We used an antenna and hardly got any channels.....it was frustrating during the Bar exam. I had to rent a lot of movies to make the evenings go by faster. My computer is 5 years old, but acts like it's had it's last breath. I now get to use Mike's laptop. Yay!

4. Studying and preparing for the Bar test. I will NOT miss Mike's absence, his inattentiveness, his lack of enthusiasm for anything. Those 8 weeks of preparation were awful.....and I will not miss them. :)

Mike and I outside his testing center: the San Diego Convention Center. We were smiling because it was OVER!