We found James!

So about six or seven months ago when I was suffering from a bad, bad case of morning sickness, I decided to hide one of Cohen's Thomas and Friends trains named James. You see, this particular James train is a battery-operated train that drives on his own with the push of a button. Cohen would continuously get James stuck underneath the couch or bed and then cry and beg for me to rescue James for him. After about ten times of rescuing James, I put James way up in the top of one of our closets while Cohen was napping. Normally I would just have continued my rescue missions, but I was so, so, SO sick and couldn't find the energy to get out of bed most days, much less find the energy to move a couch or crawl under the bed! And then James got lost...or rather, I lost him!

I figured that I would end up finding James while cleaning out and organizing the closets, but nope! I looked, and looked, and looked, but still no James. So last week Abraham decided to look for him. Let me add here that Abe has some unusual difficulty finding anything! Even when you tell him exactly where the item is, he still overlooks it. This is one of those traits about my husband that drives me crazy sometimes, but really it's pretty darn cute and I love helping him out to find things. Well, much to my surprise Daddy found James! James was hiding out in the top nightstand drawer in our bedroom underneath about six books that I've started reading and haven't finished yet. Silly me...I guess I should have looked in the nightstand first considering the fact that I spent almost three months bed-ridden next to that nightstand!

Cohen was so very happy the day James was found! I'm talking smiling, laughing, and dancing-around-the-house happy. Here is a picture of Cohen and James. And when I can figure out how to upload a video...I have a super cute video to add to this post!

Nesting is GOOD!

For the past few weeks, I've been in this crazy "I've-got-to-get-this-house-organized" mood. I'm already a little (okay VERY) anal about keeping the house organized and having a place for everything, but lately I've had this desire to get every room in the house organized. The nesting instinct that comes with pregnancy is great! Check out my organized closets!

The first picture is of Cohen and Abigail's closet. This one is going to get re-organized very soon because I received baby clothes and baby stuff at my baby "sprinkle" this weekend that my mother-in-law Kathie threw for me this past weekend. More details about that in a separate post!


The next photo is the spare bedroom closet upstairs. This is where I've been storing the larger baby stuff such as the infant seat, bouncer, pack n play, swing, and bathtub. See Cohen checking himself out in the mirror?

Finally, this is a photo of our office closet. The office and office closet was a disaster to say the least until just this past week. Since we had some family staying with us this past weekend, I really got the motivation to get the office organized. And yes, Abe and I have a ton of clothes! I didn't include a picture of our closet, but we basically have to use the two upstairs closets for our clothing overflow. Abe has more clothes than me actually, but those business suits hanging on the bottom row of the office closet are from my days working at the bank before Cohen came along. They all still fit me very well (pre-pregnancy, anyway!) and I just can't seem to get rid of them just yet. Maybe someday I'll have a use for them again...

Anyone want to pay me to organize your closets?

One-year Mark

I can hardly believe it, but we've been back in the Valley for one year now. I miss California so much sometimes, but at the same time McAllen just feels like home to me. Most of Abe's family members live here, so that's been really nice and I just love our house, Cohen's pre-school, my church and my mommy friends here. Now let's just see if we can make it to the two-year mark!

Yay for playrooms!

So, this is our formal dining room before...

We've used it a total of three times in the past year: Cohen's 2nd Birthday Party, Thanksgiving '08 and Christmas '08. What a waste of space! So we decided to make it a playroom instead. (By the way, can anyone else see the two "orbs" in this photo? I'm thinking they were reflections from my watch and wedding ring. Yep, I'm going with that.)

And this is what the room looks like now:

Cohen plays with his Thomas train table and trains every SINGLE day. And before bed he'll tell us, "I have to go put my trains to sleep!", and he'll go and put them inside the shed or roundhouse to "sleep". Too cute.

We're waiting on one more piece of furniture and the room will be finished. We had the bookcase and book rack made by a local cabinet guy and he's also finishing up a 3-cube bench for us too. Hopefully we'll get it this week.

Cohen decided that he'd rather sit in the basket to read his books than his special reading chair that mommy and daddy bought for him! It is so nice having this space for Cohen. I think I'm especially going to love it for hosting playgroups! It just makes our home so much more kid-friendly!

Middle names...Ugh!

So we've got about six weeks left until Baby Abigail is here and we still haven't decided on a middle name. We were thinking about the name Mercedes. This was Abraham's great-grandmother's name, but other than her name we know practically nothing else about her. We've also thought about Michaela since Abe's middle name is Michael, but I'm not dead-set on that one either. Mackenzie is another one I've been pondering. Oh, and by the way, we were hoping to give Abigail a middle name that starts with M so that she will have the same initials as Abe...AMG (well, until she's married at least!).

I have two friends that are really good with naming babies. I say this because they each have four kiddos and I just love all of their names! I think I'll go to them for some inspiration and advice.

I hope my posts aren't boring you to pieces! I know I need to post some pics...I'm just a little lazy about taking them and then making the time to save them to the computer, upload them, etc. But I am going to try to be better about this!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

...Everywhere you go.

Okay, not really. It's 94 degrees today! But here I sit making our Christmas list of gifts to give this year...and it's still September! Honestly, I just want to get all the Christmas shopping over with. With a new baby on the way in November, I'm not going to have much time to deal with it so Abe and I are starting our Christmas shopping early. And hopefully it will be finished by November 1st!

Pregnancy Survey

How far along? 32 weeks, 4 days
Total weight gain: 17 pounds
Maternity clothes? I'm still able to get by with a few non-maternity dresses and shirts, but not for long.
Stretch marks? Thankfully none at all!
Sleep: Ugh...not so good. I wake up at least 3-5 times per night to..."tinkle" and another 1-2 times because I'm soooo thirsty and need some water. Usually after one of these awakenings I have difficulty falling back to sleep for about an hour or two.
Best moment this week: Baby hiccups. So sweet.
Movement: This baby is going to be a pro at kick-boxing!
Food cravings: Popcorn and occasionally ice cream. I've been craving pancakes lately too, but I haven't given into that one yet.
Food aversions: Can't think of a single one...
Gender: Think pink...it's a GIRL!!
Labor Signs: I've got the sporadic Braxton-Hicks going on.
Belly Button in or out? In-and I think it will stay that way. It did during my pregnancy with Cohen.
What I miss: Sushi and being able to sleep on my back if I so desire.
What I am looking forward to: Girly clothes and accessories
Weekly Wisdom: Let go and let God. (Especially regarding the labor and delivery!) Also, pray for your children, even if they are still in the womb.
Milestones: Organizing three closets in the house (this nesting stuff is great!)...three down, only one more to go!