Curls

There's hope! Abby has pretty fine hair and I was so wishing that she would take after Paul in the hair department. This picture was taken on an evening with a bit of humidity in the air and guess what? CURLS!!!!

Quilting Project

I am now making a quilt for Abby. So far, I have only done the quilt tops but soon, I"ll have them all finished (soon being relative). On Saturday, I cut out my blocks, known as coins in this project. The name of this quilt is chinese stacked coin quilt. My colors are quite wild and bright but that is what makes it fun. Today, I sewed the coins together and have my strips ready. I was planning on using a pink background but I think that would be too much with all the other colors so white will probably be my choice.

[caption id="attachment_343" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="chinese stacked coin quilt strips"][/caption]

Abby is 10 months old

Today Abby is 10 months old! She is such a delight to us as she continually grows. She is rolling all over - quite the speed roller actually. I think she is on the verge of crawling. She has two teeth and possibly some on the way - if her recent behavior is any indication. Abby loves people - she's very mellow, laid-back and especially loves kids. The girls at church play with her and she is simply content. Abby is eating so much these days - I finally got her to like beans and rice.

This is a weird thought but hopefully I can get it out. Abby looks just like Paul; so much in fact that I have a hard time recognizing that she is really part of me. I get surprised actually when she exhibits a characteristic of mine.



In my head, it's almost as if she is just a really great baby that I get to take care of and raise. And yet, she is of me. She is my daughter and will probably look more like me as she demonstrates mannerisms of mine. For now though, I have to remind myself constantly that she is indeed my baby girl.

Praying with one eye open

When we were little girls, we used to get in trouble if we caught a sister with their eyes open during prayer…because of course, that meant our eyes were open too. When I pray, I like to close my eyes…I can block out all the distractions around me, try to connect my thoughts, “search me and try me o God”. I once tried hiking and praying with my eyes open and praying out-loud. It was a bit awkward for me but I was willing to try it until I ran into another hiker.

In past weeks, Abby has gotten a lot more mobile. During devotion time, she is constantly getting into trouble. Now I must pray with one eye open and less than half of my faculties working well. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when our own prayers are less than coherent!

Quilt top nearly finished

Today I was able to finish the blocks and get them all sewed together. The quilt top is finished except for the border that I will put around it. I need something for the inside border but then the outside border will be a thin strip of the red/orange material. I am thinking that I will make this into a duvet cover instead of a traditional quilt since I already have a duvet. By the way, I think I am now addicted to making quilts. It is so much fun to see the fabrics come together!

One thing that I was surprised to learn about making quilts is that they are pretty forgiving with mistakes. I am not so much of a detailed person when it comes to crafts, cooking, etc so this was a lot of fun and hid my mini-failures.

Buffets

I have a love/hate relationship with buffets. I feel like I always overeat at buffets in order to “get my money’s worth”. I mean, who goes to buffets for a nice gourmet meal? No! You go to buffet to get quantity. So, for the most part, I resist buffets. There are two exceptions to my rule. The first is Chinese. I love Chinese food – it’s my all time comfort food. I would never be able to pick only one dish and be satisfied so Chinese buffet is great. My other exception is indian food. I just love indian food – probably my favorite ethnic food genre. It’s the only place where if I leave feeling overstuffed, I’m okay with it. Since we moved here, we pass an Indian food restaurant every time we leave the apartment. Today we finally went there for lunch. We weren’t planning to go when we left the house for church so we didn’t have any food packed for Abby. She also hadn’t slept at church so she was tired. We decided to risk it anyway and went on in. Paul and I took turns getting our plates full from the buffet. The names of the dishes were the same as other Indian restaurants we’ve been to but the food wasn’t quite the same. It was okay. Probably wouldn’t go back to this same one. There was one dish with curried potatoes and cauliflower. I sliced them up and let Abby at them and boy! did she enjoy it. Her hands and shirt were stained that bright yellow curry color. I’m actually not sure if there was more food on the floor or that she ate. We became that family that left a disaster behind us. Thankfully we were in the back corner and maybe, just maybe no one else would even venture back there.
On a completely different topic – Abby is definitely learning the word “no”. She’s been doing this nasty whining that we’ve been working on with her. This morning when I said “no, ma’m”, she immediately started crying for real. Just a few minutes ago, I told her “no” when she was trying to reach for the computer. Again, she started crying. So….progress!

Valentine's Day

I wanted to make Valentine’s Day special for Paul so first thing in the morning, I put a bottle of wine, some dark chocolate and a card at his place at the table. I also wanted to make him a nice dinner. We didn’t really want to go out and also don’t have a babysitter so chef Sarah took over the kitchen. I asked Paul what he would like several times throughout the week and finally it was up for me to surprise him. I know he loves Mexican food so I decided to try to make fajitas (I’ve never actually made my own before). The meat soaked in lime marinade all day and then I fried it up with some onions and peppers. I also made Spanish rice from scratch – better tasting than the box and pretty easy too! For dessert, I made molten lava cakes. Paul tried to feed Abby before we ate so that he and I could eat at the same time. Abby started throwing a fit, didn’t want to eat, then screamed and screamed. I was trying to pass the Spanish rice and knocked over my wine glass, spilling wine all over the tortillas and Abby’s dinner – hey that might help her sleep J Finally, we decided to put Abby down in her crib and start over. Abby slept for about 30 minutes and was refreshed when she got up. She then ate and played – for those of you worrying that I fed her spinach soaked in wine, never fear, new batch of pureed spinach coming up. During her nap, Paul and I had a very delicious fajita dinner. My molten lava cakes worked!!!! I have a sweet husband who cleaned up after dinner and is now giving Abby a bath so she can go to bed. By the way, he also got me orange roses – my favorite! I love how he loves me – both practically (with dishes, cleaning, Abby) and impractically (roses, cards, etc). God has blessed me with the husband that I needed in so many more ways than I ever knew while we were dating. Random fact: Paul and I never had a Valentine’s Day while we were dating. This is our third as a married couple