Birthday Bashes and Disneyland Day

We've been so busy around the Hart household these past few weeks that it's taken me quite awhile to post...

First we celebrated Abigail's 2nd birthday with a playdate and some family time...

 

 Abigail was a little apprehensive when we all sang to her, but she enjoyed her Elmo carrot cake cupcakes anyway.

All the girls from Abby's playdate :)

We love Abigail so much and can't believe she's already 2! She is such a joy to us and while we have our challenges with her (early rising and that 2 year old self-determination), she lights up our lives with her intelligence, cute playfulness, and  love. One of her favorite things to say right now is, "One more kiss, one more hug" when David leaves for work in the morning, or when I say good night. Then she runs to our arms to deliver... it melts our hearts. She has quite the big vocabulary and it's been so fun to carry on little conversations with her. She says things like, "Oh I like your pretty earrings, Mommy!" or "Look Mommy, there's Santa Claus!" Abigail has also been very enamored with Baby Jesus and the whole story of the first Christmas this year, which has been such a joy for us to watch. Lastly, we had her check up last week and she weighed in at 25 lb. 10 oz and measured almost 34" tall (50% for both). It's been so fun to watch her grow and develop this year and we continue to look forward to the year ahead with the many changes that are sure to ensue.

Next, we celebrated my big 30th birthday. David threw me a beautiful party with our friends and we had our first non-family babysitter for Abigail. It was so wonderful to enjoy quality time with my friends and family without all our kids! Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from this fabulous party, but I am so thankful for all the hard work David (and family) did to make it special and for all who came to help me celebrate. I felt very loved! On my actual birthday, a few days later, David took the day off and treated me to a fabulous day that included homemade breakfast and a special lunch date at Craft (head judge of Top Chef, Tom Collichio's restaurant) in Beverly Hills while my dad watched Abigail. It was a very fun and memorable experience. My day also included free gelato at Pacuigo in Hermosa and a free car wash at Red Carpet with my Dad, and a beautiful dinner made by my mom and enjoyed with family. I almost forgot to mention that I got to sleep in until 8am... what a treat! I couldn't have asked for a better day. The thirties are already off to a great start!

Disneyland

We took our annual Christmas time trek to Disneyland this past Sunday with my family. We overcame some drizzly weather and enjoyed some great family fun.

 Daddy's little princess at the castle

 Abigail's favorite ride of the day... the Teacups!

 Decorating a sugar cookie with Grandpa at Santa's Reindeer Roundup.

 Our only group picture of the day 

Abigail loved meeting some of the characters throughout the day. Here are some of her favorites:

With Grandma and Pluto

Pooh Bear with Daddy and Mommy

What a fun few weeks... not to mention other fun family activities including MB fireworks, a surprise visit from David's parents for the big birthday weekend, Journey to Bethlehem, and Candy Cane Lane. Whew!

ABC's and Baby Bump update

Abigail has recently started singing! Although she's loved music for a long time, her "singing voice" has just emerged. She does most of her singing while rocking her baby and pretending to put her to bed. This video is a combo of the ABC song and Jesus Loves Me (both of which we sing at bedtime :).

Many people have said that I have recently "popped out." I agree. My belly button has also popped out already! Sometimes I worry how big I'll be at 9 months with this baby!

(Sidenote... I've completed 5 months and am now in my 6th month... so does that make me 5 or 6 months pregnant? I'm unclear!)

Happy Halloween

For Halloween this year, Abigail dressed as Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street, complete with homemade wand. I borrowed my friend Becky's basketball net pregnancy costume (baby girl was the basketball) and David assisted me as a basketball player (with an Afro). We had fun at El Segundo's Halloween Frolic where Abigail jumped in a bounce house and trick-or-treated at some shops along the way. Then we headed to my parents' house to do a little neighborhood trick-or-treating. Grandma even prepared special treats for Abby- a bag of blueberries (her favorite), stickers, and coins for her piggy bank (definitely her favorite treats of the day).

Pics from our Halloween celebration at Mommy-and-Me... (photo credits to Alison)

On Halloween morning, we trekked to the Zimmer children's museum in downtown LA with some friends for some kiddo fun. Abby had a blast pushing a shopping cart around, jumping in the ball pit, painting, and pretending in all sorts of fun "shops" and professions. Here's a few snapshots from the day...

 Enjoying the car ride with her friend Declan :)

It's a ...

We went to the doctor today for our 19- week anatomy scan and gender reveal.

So... we (the Harts) were all wrong... It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now we have to get Abby to switch from saying "brother" to telling people "sister." Looks like we're going to have a lot more ballerina princess days ahead of us :)

 

The great news is that baby is looking very healthy. Due to Abigail's heart issues at birth (she's fine now), I'm going to have another ultrasound in 3 weeks to check the baby's heart more thoroughly. Now we just need to do some major brainstorming to choose a name (we already had a boy's name selected). Bring on the baby name lists!

Whitney's Wedding and a Baby Bump

This weekend we traveled to Solvang to celebrate my cousin Whitney's wedding at Sunstone Winery.  Here's a few pics of the beautiful bride...

Congratulations Whitney and Matt!

Abby did great in the car but not so great in the hotel... she woke up at 3:30am and only went back to sleep for 30 minutes :( We had a lot of fun on our over-nighter, but had one tired girl on our hands!

4 Months Pregnant and really showing!

This Thursday I have my anatomy scan and should find out the sex of our baby. Any predictions?  Here is Abigail's prediction/ wish for the baby...

My prediction is the same as Abigail's... I'm carrying higher this time and generally just feel quite different during this pregnancy (more sick, etc). We'll see on Thursday!

September Happenings

We started off the "school year" last week with our first days of Bible study and Mommy and Me for 2012-2013. (As a former teacher and wife of a current teacher, I still think of years in terms of school years, not calendar years.) Abigail is excited about her new class and loves the fact that we have a "therapy" dog in the room too (you can see him in the background). 

 Showing off her new backpack...

Abigail loves feeding, bathing, and taking care of her Sesame Street friends. As you can see, she still loves climbing into containers of any size too.

 
One of Abigail's favorite books lately, has been Caps For Sale... it is an old book (written in the 40's), but absolutely a classic. She loves to act out the part of the monkeys in the book by shaking her finger and saying "Tsz, tsz, tsz" at the peddler. Here's a picture of Daddy and Abby dressing the part... "Caps! Caps for Sale! 50 cents a cap!"

Of course, as a reading teacher and lover of books, I'm thrilled that she is enjoying her books so much. The other day I found her in her room sitting in the glider, reading a book to her baby doll. She had closed the blinds and turned on the noise machine too (like we do at bedtime) because she was going to put her baby to bed. So cute! I love that she is getting more and more into pretend play. She's also becoming so verbal that we're starting to have little conversations. I feel like I enjoy her age more and more every day!

And lastly, I'll finish with a funny pick of our silly girl...

Coming Soon...

The Hart Family will be growing in 2013... we are expecting another baby due on my dad's birthday, March 6th!

We are all very excited about our growing family (and mommy's growing belly). Abigail is excited to tell you that she's going to be a sister (even if she looks a little dazed in this photo)...

And... when asked if she wants a sister or a brother, she replies, "bruver." We'll have to wait and see.

I had a tough first trimester (I was very sick this time), but I am so thankful that David was home this summer to help take care of Abigail (and me) when I was feeling sick and/or exhausted. I have started feeling a bit better this week though, and the belly is growing too... I had to bust out my box of maternity clothes yesterday to find some shorts that fit!

Summer Fun

We've been enjoying a pretty relaxing summer so far in the Hart household. This week we tried to take advantage of David's few remaining days off and took a trip to the LA Zoo. here's a few snapshots of our adventure...

Loving a close encounter with the Gorilla

 And the Iguana...

 And the Zebra

 We've also had lots of fun downtime just playing around in the house with some new toys.  Here's Abigail modeling her playdough jewelry...

 Jumping on Daddy for a rest/ piggy-back ride

Showing off her first clip-on earrings from her great-grandmother

 

  Going for a ride in her new wagon with Cookie Monster

We've also been soaking up lots of pool time at my parents' house, trying to stay cool in the heat. Abigail is also loving her new "chore" of watering the flowers.

Only a week and a half more of summer... we're trying to enjoy some good family time here and stay cool.

Campus by the Sea: Catalina

Last week we went to Campus By the Sea, a Christian Family camp on Catalina Island, a very special place for our family (David and I grew up going there and it is where we met in college while on staff together). It was so awesome to see Abigail enjoy the camp so much this year... beginning to love a place we have loved for so long. She had a blast in the play yard, did well in her class, enjoyed singing times, loved interacting with big kids and lots of new people, dropped lots of rocks of the pier with Daddy, and even slept pretty well (Amen!). David and I enjoyed hiking, swimming, volleyball, a great camp speaker, and some great bible study small group time. Here are some snapshots of our time together:

In the play yard...

 This precious little girl with Downs befriended Abby and was so sweet with her all week. It warmed my heart to see the amazing spirit God gave this special 8 year old girl.

 Checking out the play house...

 Enjoying a popsicle on the rocky beach

 Enjoying her new chair on our cabin's patio

Still loving the backpack on a few family hikes

 Lifeguard in Training

 On Banquet night

 Annual picture at the Vintage camp sign

Can't wait until next summer!!!