Abby has been a busy girl. She is learning so many new things and trying to perfect others. I am having such a hard time keeping up with all the new things that she does and says.

Abby has finally worked up the courage to walk up and down steps with minimal or no assistance. She is working very, very hard at learning to jump and she's been trying to leap off of everything higher than one inch, shouting "wheeee" every time.

Yesterday, we were watching a flock of geese fly overhead and I pointed them out to her, saying, "Look, Abby! Birds." She stared very seriously at me and if she knew how to roll her eyes, she would have at that point. "Geese," she enlightens me. I could hear the sigh in her voice, for she must have thought of me as some uneducated fool. :)

She speaks in full, but short sentences fairly often now and she mixes Chinese and English flawlessly: "Abby xie (writes) ABC" every time she has a pen in hand. "Kai-kai dian shi" (turn on the television). "Abby's two bei-bei (blankies)." "Wa-wa (water - not Chinese) in nose!" when she sprayed water in her face while drinking from a water bottle. "No way, baby!" or "Oh, no, baby!" For whatever reason, she likes to tack on "baby" to the end of phrases for extra emphasis. "Whoa, baby!" as a comment on my father's driving!!

Anyway, here are some recent photos of Abby.


Chewing on an orange as she lounges on Big La-La


Playing with her beads. She calls them her "mei-mei" - pretties.


We went for dim sum a couple of weeks ago and Abby LOVED the chicken feet!


Doing extremely well with utensils, both spoon and fork. She's even done well with chopsticks!



Looking cool!


"A shoe, a shoe, a shoe!" She exclaims excitedly every time she comes across footwear.


Working on dressing herself. She can't figure out those tiny socks, though.

Last week, I was in Huntsville, Alabama on a business trip. There is very little in Huntsville and as I'm told, Huntsville would be even less except for NASA's presence there. So, I was fortunate enough to get a chance to walk through the US Space and Rocket Museum while I was there. It was very impressive. Much larger than I would have imagined.



One of the two monkeys who were the first to survive space flight lived at this Huntsville museum until 1984. Baker was the monkey's name. We got to see the nose cone of the missile where the two monkeys rode into space back in 1959.

A Bear's Roar from Cecilia Newell on Vimeo.

Last week, Abby turned 18 months. I would like to document some of her major and important milestones over the past 6 months. Her 1 year birthday was on 7/7/08.

7/20/08 - On our Alaskan Cruise, Abby learns stand on her own without support. She was able to get herself up to a standing position without pulling on anything by 8/1/08.

8/26/08 - First swimming lesson!

8/31/08 - Abby takes 10+ unassisted steps this weekend.

The 4 molars - 8/30/08 (upper left), 9/9/08 (lower left), 10/29/08 (lower right), 1/15/08 (upper right)



Below are milestones she has hit in these 6 months, but which I can not pin down dates:

> Walking backwards: learned from kids at daycare
> Speaking in very complex sentences: we were visiting Grandma Russell and she saw some ladies who were playing with her through a window disappear through the front door, so she asked twice, "Where are they going?" She has also said, "Where'd it go?" "Abby go outside." "All gone, baby!" "Nooooo, stop it."
> Being obsessed with body parts: her bellybutton's a favorite and she feels the need to touch everyone's eyes right now. I have to quickly squeeze my eyes shut when I hear her utter "eyes" and see her raising a finger towards my face.
> Jumping: her feet are starting to both leave the floor at the same time
> Recognizes a dozen or so colors fairly consistently and can say most of their names
> Can be reasoned with: We were in the car one day and she asked for peaches. I told her she could have them when we got home. She stopped asking for them immediately and was quiet the entire ride home, but as soon as I hit the bump of the driveway, she exclaimed in the most excited voice you can imagine, "PEACH!!!"
> Able to completely undress herself, including removing the diaper.
> Hums/sings to herself, while dancing.
> Mimicking everyone's mannerisms and speech nuances: examples, crossing her legs when she sits in a chair (me), grunting her affirmatives, rather than saying "yes" (me, again), and saying "Hau-le" (ok, in Chinese) repetitively (my mom)
> Can categorize information: examples, she can look at any picture of a dog regardless of breed and recognize that it's a dog and when you ask her what a cat says and later what a kitten says, she will respond, "meeewww."
> Performed her first magic trick, which she thought up on her own: she hides her bear-bear behind her back and comes up to you saying, "go?" with her hand gesture indicating, "Where did it go?/I don't know." When you say, "Oh, where's bear-bear?" she whips the bear out, waves it at you, and gleefully says, "Yay!"

What has really blown me away is how her imagination, thought process, and speech has really started to mature. She is thinking for herself about action and consequences, she assesses situations and adapts to gain the results she wants. She is a very happy kid and I am enjoying watching her grow into a strong, kind, confident person with an excellent sense of humor.

She tried so, so hard and blew so, so hard. When she's a little bit older, we'll teach her that bubble blowing is a pretty delicate process. In the meantime, it's hilarious to watch her try!

Over the holidays, we took a trip downtown to see the National Archives. I have always wanted to visit The Archives to see and be in the presence of the Charters of Freedom - The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and The Bill of Rights.

I never really noticed how much more was on display at the National Archives - like the Public Vaults exhibit and the Magna Carta. The Public Vaults is an impressive collection of documents, video and audio artifacts that capture American History. A shocking piece of information towards the end of the exhibit reminds us that as we have progressed into the digital age, the ability for the National Archives to maintain accurate and complete records become more and more difficult. This challenge has required them to think outside the box in order to validate and authenticate everything such as a piece of email to the President.

Anyway, just behind the National Archives building in DC, we stumbled across a plaza which turned out to be the US Navy Memorial. You can read more about the memorial at http://newsite.navymemorial.org/events.php

We walked around and looked at The Lone Sailor statue and some of the sculptural panels that circled the plaza.

Last night, I took Abby's temperature because she was feeling a little warm, with rosy cheeks and a runny nose. I messed up the first time and her temperature came back 94 degrees. I believe I mumbled to myself something to the effect of: "If that's true, you'd be dead."

(Her temperature was just fine at 97.7.)

Tonight, as we were getting ready for bed, she was in a playful mood and after I changed her into her sleeper, she grabbed the thermometer, unzipped her sleeper (her new favorite game is to completely undress herself - she will go as far as removing her diaper as well - after I get her dressed and ready for bed) and stuck the thermometer under her arm.

When nothing happened, she handed it to me and grunted at me to play along.

I turned on the thermometer and stuck it under her arm with the digital numbers facing up so she could watch them change.

The thermometer was slow...several seconds passed...she finally gave me a sidelong glance and said, "Dead."

No, baby. Definitely not.

For Christmas, Abby received two hair clips from Aunt Linn and Aunt Libby, who came across these hand-made gems from Lovebug Lane at a craft show in Virginia Beach. What struck me first was their cuteness and uniqueness, followed by amazement at the quality and creativity of the products after careful examination. For anyone who's ever shopped for baby/toddler girls' clothing, you know you come across hundreds upon hundreds of hair barrettes, but all of them seem to look like different colors of the same lame thing over and over again.

Oh, yes, one last thing. I did not notice the note at first, but Lovebug Lane also makes handmade hair clips for pets!!! And, boy, are they adorable!

Over the last couple of days, a very hot debate has been in the news regarding the popular social-networking site, Facebook, requesting that some photos of breastfeeding moms be removed due to user complaints.

If you have not heard about this issue, you can read about it in here in the NY Daily Post.

I was listening to the radio call-ins this morning regarding this issue and I heard mom after mom call in expressing anger at Facebook for their discriminating action against women. Apparently, a protest is even in progress by these angered women, joining a Facebook group called "Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!"

Appalled at the blatant over-reaction by these women and what will probably turn into another stupid lawsuit in human history, I actually missed my exit on my way to work!

My goodness, Facebook is by no means implying that breastfeeding is obscene. Most photos of moms nursing their babies are still allowed to be posted on Facebook, but the photos depicting too much boob and nipple - and note: which have been complained about by other users - have been requested for removal. I should think that that would be considered acting responsibly and all moms ought to be grateful that Facebook is responding to complaints to what may be considered, if not offensive content, then content that makes others uncomfortable.

I nursed my daughter for over a year and understand that in this time in history we are still building more social acceptance of breastfeeding. All moms should feel comfortable choosing between bottlefeeding and nursing, but in advocating breastfeeding, some women have really gone overboard and the slightest suggestion of a breastfeeding ban turns them berserk!

All I want to say is: Chill! Breastfeeding is a beautiful and natural process, yes, but it is also a private moment. Just as picking my teeth is a natural process (and some may consider a well-picked tooth gap a beautiful thing), I do not do it in public. Though when it's necessary, I cover up.

I don't know what my problem is, but I can never stick with a blog template. Part of the problem is I just like trying out new code and playing with HTML. If Blogger puts out a new template, I'll try it out just to see what I can customize. :)

Every time I find a new template, I think, "Well, this will do for now..." Nothing ever jumped out at me to say, "Oh, this is it! This look defines my blog!"

At one time, I considered designing my own elements to piece together a look for my blog, but that takes time, sufficient creativity, and knowledge to use a somewhat sophisticated graphics editing software. I never overcame the time hurdle, let alone the other two.

Well, today I changed the look of my blog again and for the first time, I feel somewhat excited about the look and have a tingly feeling that suggests I might keep this template....with a few minor tweaks....for longer than the other templates.

This "Japan Style" template came from the Gosu Blogger, a site which I like browsing to look at "the latest fashions." Many templates for Blogger are converted from Wordpress themes by Gosu Blogger. These Wordpress themes in my opinion are generally more sophisticated than ones designed specifically for Blogger, so I find them a tad more appealing. I have used a couple of themes from this site already.

For my email subscribers, click on the title of this post to link to the actual blog in order to see this new look - or click here.

How do you like it?

That should me my new nickname - Sicky.

I guess it started around the time Abby came home with pinkeye on November 6th.

I ended up getting pinkeye, then the 5-week cough that turned into bronchitis.

Heading back to Maryland to see Paul and the kitties, I was actually feeling very well, but then Abby visited her old daycare and brought home - well, we'll blame her because she can't speak and defend herself yet - the stomach virus that spread to each of us over the Christmas holiday.

The following week, I crashed with a screaming sore throat, fevers and chills, which brought me to an Emergency Room 3 days later. It's not strep and the flu test came back negative. We're waiting to see if it is mono!!! I'll be getting a second opinion this week in Colorado because despite having gotten the flu shot this year, I think I've really got the flu.

In the meantime, I seem to do okay if I take 800mg of Motrin precisely every 8 hours and supplement with Tylenol in between. Any lag between medication time, however, the fever immediately returns, all energy is sapped, and I'm a helpless lump on the couch, shivering under 4 covers.

Time to go rest now.

Abigail's first Holiday Program - this was the Young and Older Toddlers group, performing the Snowman song. After the performance, Abby got to meet Santa!!!


Our Christmas stockings over the fireplace and Tigger, telling us no gift can possibly be more perfect than him.


Pretty light...


Christmas Day


Aunt Linn enjoying the sunshine on Christmas morning


Abigail excited about her Giant La-La.


Playing with her drawing toy and getting ready to see what's inside her Christmas stocking


Just being silly


Belle-Belle being a lump on the couch and also on Aunt Libby's lap. Why Aunt Libby's got Abby's blankie on her head, I don't know....