Grandma

My grandmother, Mary Hudson, passed away at 83 years old this past Friday morning. I will be missing her viewing this evening and her funeral tomorrow morning because I'm 36 weeks pregnant and unable to fly. While I'm sad for this loss in our family, I'm happy for her. She suffered from Alzheimer's and has not been the same woman that we knew and loved for several years now.

I'm not exactly sure how tall Grandma was because she was actually shrinking in the last few years, but at 5'2" I pretty much towered over her! She shopped in the kid's section for clothes and sometimes could wear my hand-me-downs or my sister's. She probably only weighed about 80 pounds because she walked EVERYWHERE. Even on the muggiest, hottest days, Grandma could be seen walking around Boca and occasionally friends of mine would mention that they'd picked her up and given her a ride to work, home, or church.

My Grandma was a feisty, spunky Italian woman. Anyone who knew her well, knew that she loved to argue. She HATED to have her picture taken and most of our family get-togethers involved at least one heated argument about why my Dad shouldn't be taking her picture. (He would still sneak in candid shots whenever given the chance, which we're all grateful for now.)

My grandmother loved her grandchildren well. She had a special relationship with my brother, Will, and I still remember her playing what she called "sock ball" with him when she came to babysit us. For years she worked at 7-11, and every Tuesday on the way home from school we would pop in and immediately head to the freezer section, looking through the sodas to see if we could find Grandma back there. She'd come out and hug us and give us free Slurpies.

My older brother, Dan, loved to play practical jokes on Grandma- which was easy to do since she was extremely gullible, and it was so funny to get a reaction from her. So, there was the hot sauce incidence when he pretended to be putting seasoning on her spaghetti (which backfired big-time for Dan since my parents made him eat it), the fake slamming of the fingers in the trunk; and the never-ending hide-n-seek game where she thought she'd lost him since he was in an alcove above the shower.

One of my favorite recent memories of Grandma is from Christmas just a few years ago. My husband and I had given her a huge box of Belgium chocolates (about as long as she was as tall). In the hour or so that it took us to open presents as a family, Grandma had polished off the entire box. Every time we looked over she was sneaking another bite. She's been known to do the same with the remnants of a pie from Denny's as well. Needless to say, it's obvious that I come by my sweet tooth quite honestly.

While these short stories don't do my grandmother's life justice, they help me in a small way to process my love for her, and help me remember the great love she had for her family.

Love you and miss you, Grandma.

-Abby

(Thanksgiving 2010)

Third Trimester, round 2

The second half of this pregnancy has absolutely flown by! (I definitely could NOT say the same about the first half-- I basically spent the summer laying on the couch while watching Ellie entertain herself, pushing Ellie away from the toilet when I needed to puke, and just generally feeling lazy, tired, and nauseous. Plus, the nausea lasted about a month longer than it did with Ellie-- all the way to week 20!) Anyhow, it's hard to believe that I'm now in third trimester, and still feeling pretty darn good, especially compared with last time.

*I'm not nearly as uncomfortable as with Ellie- I carried her so high I felt like I couldn't breathe.

*I've had some heart episodes like last time, but no panic attacks since I now know that I have a harmless arrhythmia that is exacerbated by the extra blood flow in pregnancy.

*My back has not hurt at all. PRAISE THE LORD!! I have been so lax in exercising and haven't done my water aerobics or been to the chiropractor at all during this pregnancy, so it's all just GRACE.

*I've been sleeping well. With Ellie I would end up sleeping an hour on the couch, an hour downstairs in the recliner, an hour in bed, and then just rotate. I'd sit cross-legged on the couch with my head resting on the back of the couch and actually sleep like that because it was the only way to get comfortable with my back pain. This week was the first time I slept on the couch for a couple of hours, but it was more due to pregnancy insomnia and having a lot on my mind than actually being uncomfortable.

*We actually got some maternity pics this time (taken at week 28)!

*I'll be full term in like SIX weeks. Yikes. SO much that needs to happen between now and then (wrapping up both part-time jobs for maternity leave), but I am SOOOO excited to hold our baby boy!

21 Months

Here are some of my favorite Ellie-isms lately:

*She's so polite and often says "dak-oo" (thank you) to me even if I'm just walking by and stroking her hair or handing her a drink. She also says "shoo-me" (excuse me) if she wants to get by, or if she burps. :) And, she totally melts my heart when she says "Wuh-loo...Mommy" (love you). I love the little pause in her new "sentences."

*She's obsessed with her new owl jammies. I hear her saying "Hi, Owl!" from her crib in the morning. (Love how she talks to inanimate objects!)

*She is quite the extrovert. Every morning I hear her going through her list of friends (people she sees at church, school, family members, etc.). She's been known to ask "Amy...soon?" at least 50 times in a given day.

*She's been sleeping a solid 12 hours at night (7 pm to 7 am) and most days takes a 2 hour nap (2 -4 pm). Of course, this bliss is probably about to come to a end as we get ready to transition to a toddler or twin bed this weekend (so baby brother can use the crib in a few months).

*She's really into reading lately and often says "Mommy... sit" while patting the floor next to her. Then she'll say "lap" and back herself up into my almost non-existent lap. Favorite books right now are "Nernie" for The Sesame Street ABC Book and "shool-ee" for Grover Takes Care of Baby (which has a picture of a stroller on the front).

*She says "Uuuhhhh, no." Most of the time this is pretty funny, like "Um, let me think about it...no." Unless, of course, she's disobeying and not doing something I asked, then, not-so-cute.

*She sings "Uppa, uppa, uppa, GUY" (translation: "up above the world so high") while rocking her baby to sleep. This video was taken about a month ago, but she can sing the entire tune perfectly now.

*Potty training is going well and I honestly think that if she wasn't in the school nursery 20 hours/week and I could actually try putting her in underwear that she'd be trained by now. Most of the time she LOVES going and sitting in there (chocolate chips = great incentive!) and is now to the point where she's sometimes telling me "po-lly". She pees in the potty multiple times a day, but doesn't yet keep her diaper dry.

*She has conversations with her stuffed animals or babies and I'll frequently hear her say, "Yeah, Oh-kaay," like she's agreeing with whatever they've just "told" her. I also love it when she says "Wooow....pree-lly."

*She started counting "one, two, free!" last week. Most of the time she's gets a bit confused and says "one, two, one" or "free, two, free". We think she really gets the concept of two though because when we give her one yogurt or one chocolate chip, she immediately says "Two?"

Man, I love this kid. :)

20 Months

*Ellie has over 70 words now...I'd been keeping track on a spreadsheet out of curiosity, but now in one day she can say as many as four new words! Yesterday as I was giving her a snack she said pointed into the kitchen and said "working" clear as day--referring to her Daddy who was indeed working in the kitchen. :)

*In the last week she started putting 2 words together. It started w/ "Bye, Daddy", but she's beginning to generalize to other 2 word phrases now as well like "more...cracker".

*Current favorite snack is crackers & peanut butter, or apples & peanut butter.



*She took a 3-wk hiatus from being interested in the potty, so yesterday we decided to give one chocolate chip just for sitting on the potty to renew interest. Lo and behold! In less than a minute she had pee'd in the potty! Then, an hour later, she did it again, and today, again.

*Her current favorite song is the wheels on the bus. She makes her fingers go around and says "whee, whee, whee". My favorite verse for her to sing is the "babies on the bus go wa-wa-wa" 'cause she makes the funniest little fake-sad face. (Still need to catch this on video!)

*She's obsessed with bikes. She also loves cars, vans, trucks, motorcycles, and buses, but she is absolutely infatuated with bikes (she is her father's daughter, for sure!).

*She runs everywhere, with great purpose and is starting to learn how to jump. She doesn't actually get airborne, but she's close! She also loves walking backwards and gets a very proud look on her face while doing so.

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Easy Pumpkin Soup

1 onion
1 Tbsp. butter/olive oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 can pureed pumpkin
1 c. water
1 tsp. Better Than Bouillon
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. shredded cheese (colby jack was good)
salt & pepper to taste
nutmeg (optional)

Saute onion in butter or olive oil 'til tender, then add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 10 min.

This is surprisingly filling, but would be great w/ grilled cheese or garlic bread.

Girl or Boy?

Mommy: Do you think the baby is a girl or a boy?
Ellie: Buh.
Mommy: Do you think the baby is a boy or a girl?
Ellie: Guh.
(Notice in each case it was the last thing she heard that she repeated.)
Mommy: Do you think the baby is a girl?
Ellie: Yeah.
Mommy: Do you think the baby is a boy?
Ellie: Yeah.

Hmmm, gender confusion, much? :)

We find out this Tuesday!!!