The Abdalla Nest

Where Does the Time Go??

Here’s one long blog (posted from Sunny Florida) to update you on the happenings in the Abdalla household.  Movies now included!!

It makes the heart grow fonder.  While most my friends are enjoying the lazy life that is the fourth year of medical school, I’m spending two months away from the family for my Active Duty Tours, which I’m using to rotate and interview at residency programs.  Last month I was up at Offutt AFB in Omaha, which completely surprised me in being a beautiful, family-friendly, diverse (more so than San Antonio, I’d say) city.  The program was wonderful – we’ll see how it compares to Eglin, where I am now.  Eglin is somewhere between Pensacola and Destin.  The weather here is gorgeous, the beaches are gorgeous, the F-15’s are gorgeous.  The surrounding area isn’t as nice.  For example, I have to drive 45 minutes to a Barnes & Noble to get access to broadband.  The program is an opposite image of the one in Omaha… that is, its strengths are Offutt’s weakness and vice versa.  Which makes it hard to pick.  Right now I’m just looking forward to going home in a few weeks to celebrate Thomas’s birthday on the 5^th.

Thankfully, there’s lots of help for Joe and the kids while I’m gone.  Andi is back from Germany; Thomas had quite a lot of fun waiting for her when we picked her up at the airport.  He was taught how to salute by the other officers there waiting for other deployed folks.  Not only did her give her a nice sharp salute when he saw her, but even repeated it for a picture.  So she’s around now to help Joe out.  Meemee has made a trip and stayed a week to help out, as well as hosting Joe and the kids, as well as Richard and Carrie, for a long weekend.  Joe’s mom and the Abdalla cousins will be visiting this weekend, during which they're going to see the Dora live show. 

Soccer Guy.  Thomas started his new season of soccer recently, with Dad as the coach.  His team is the Rattlers.  Mia is the only teammate that has carried over from the Lil’ Kickers, but Thomas made quick work of making new friends.  The team is maybe just a little more talented than last season, but Thomas seems less engaged in the games.  He’ll do very well when he does play, however. We are trying to promote being a “good sport” and tell him that if he doesn’t want to play in the game, he should stay on the sidelines, watch the game, and cheer on his team (and the other team if they get a good play). This also give us a chance to point out when other kids are being good sports.  At least we were able to get him to sit for the team photo this time.  Evelyn, of course, is already dribbling the soccer ball remarkably well.  See Meemee’s Guest Blog below for some video of our children’s athletic talents.

Slowly but Surely.  Evelyn still is a little behind in the word department, at least in what I expect for a demanding princess.  She is slowly using more words, like "hi" , “thank you” (which is insanely cute in her little girl voice) and “bird”.  Of course, she still seems to get her point across with her typical repertoire of hollers, grunts, and cries.  I’ve heard that it’s common for second kids to talk at a later age than the first, but I also wonder if the signing we did with Thomas helped him put the whole language communication concept together sooner.  She certainly is no dullard – she is notably more intelligent than Ernie – as she has figured out how to get into things in ways Thomas never did.  She will watch you like a hawk, and be able to repeat just what you did to dial a phone, undo her car seat latches, use the remote control.  I always thought Thomas was adventurous and curious, but now I can see Evelyn is exponentially more so than he ever was.  I’d like to think she gets maybe a little of this from me (since she certainly didn’t get her looks from me), and this was confirmed when MeeMee noticed her grinning at the jets in the sky.  Mommy’s little girl!

Evie has shown the same love of music and dancing  as Thomas.  She also likes her brother’s toys more than her own, which is beginning to cause a small amount of strife.  She particularly likes the big Tonka trucks and toys cars, but her favorite is the Green Lantern action figure, with whom she will dance around, holding his hands.  We’re pleased to see that she is oblivious to gender or race stereotypes.

New LaFleur Girl.  Well, the world is less one eligible Lafleur man.  My little brother Richard (who prefers to capitalize the F in LaFleur, for some reason), married Carrie in a beautiful ceremony and rocking party (just ask Thomas).  We’re all pleased as we are pretty fond of Carrie (just ask Thomas about that, too).  It was great to have so much of the family there, even Grandpa Ollie.  There will be a special photo album for the wedding pictures, so be sure to check it out once it's posted.  Thomas was particularly charming for both the rehearsal dinner and the reception, flirting with all the girls, particularly Carrie, and dancing his little heart out with moves that would rival John Travolta.  Evelyn have moves of a different kind, through a leaky diaper and onto my mom’s gorgeous silk mother-of-the-groom dress.  Luckily I had jeans and sneakers for her to change into, so my mom spent the remainder of the reception dressed comfortably.  Overall, it was a great celebration… Congrats, you two!

Thomas really cut the rug at the reception -- almost to the point of being embarrassing.  Sometimes I just don't know what's wrong with that kid!  But here's three cute videos that are guaranteed to make you laugh outloud.

First, show the girls you can shake it.

Then dance until your dizzy.

Make sure you have a Big Finish move!

It’s worth being old if I get to eat some cake.  For my birthday, Michelle, Rachel and Andi put together a nice make-your-own pizza dinner, which was much classier and fancier then it sounds.  It’s not often I can have anchovies on my pizza, since typically I have to share.  So this was a delight, and it was a neat little personality test, I think, of who put what on their pizza.  As usual, the hosts, Nate and Michelle, were wonderful, and made Thomas and Evelyn feel welcome – in fact, Nate was the best entertainment  they had for some time, I think.  The most exciting part of the evening was the cake that Rachel, yes Rachel, made herself.  From scratch.  With an oven.  And if this cake was any example of the potential Rachel has for cooking, we need to encourage her to do it more often.  It was a decadent, delicious cake, and there better be some left in my freezer when I get back.

Nature Boy.  Despite Thomas’s OCD, which throws him into fits of anxiety when he gets his hands dirty, he loves getting outside and playing in nature.  Earlier this year we went to Concan, Texas, which is a small town on the Frio River in the hill country.  Joe’s mom had reserved us a “cabin”, basically a house with no carpeting.  We had AC, 2 bathrooms, and a full kitchen, which was good for baby Tyler and Grandma.  But the kids did get a lot of outdoor time, including some time in the river, which was just above ankle deep in some places.  Maddie and Thomas played a lot of pretend together, and Evie was taken with Tyler, even trying to feed him and swing him at times. We also celebrated Evelyn’s first birthday , during which everyone ate lots of blue icing – a pretty color which we saw in the diapers for several days after.

In response to some prodding, Thomas has also developed a fondness for horses.  He got a chance to ride one in Concan, and also at a birthday party  for one of his friends.  When we watch the Black Stallion movies, he likes to pretend that he’s Alec Ramsey and will act out some of the scenes in our living room.  I took my saddle (which belonged to a horse I used to know) and set it up on its stand so he can ride it while he watches the movie, but this only entertains him for about 5 minutes.

When we can’t get out of the city, we like to go to the Botanical Gardens here in town.  Earlier this summer they had some hula dancers , which Thomas enjoyed immensely.  I see that we might have to take him to Hawaii at some point.  Last time we visited, they had dinosaurs there, which were pretty impressive.  There was a few that freaked Thomas out a little, usually the smaller ones with lots of teeth that were hiding behind bushes.  The large ones didn’t seem to impress him too much.

Hopefully, the next few weeks will go by as fast as the summer did.  In the meantime, I'll have pictures and videos up as I get chances to.

Hot and Cold

He loves it, he loves it not.  Thomas has a love/hate relationship with soccer. He loves to play it casually and at practice, but just doesn't seem to want to get into it at games.  We were hoping that with Richard and Carrie visiting, he would want to show off a little, but instead he just moped on the sidelines. Of course it was quick chilly out last Saturday... Thomas was complaining about being his ears being cold.  Evelyn just chewed on whatever would stand still long enough for her to saturate in drool.  But we enjoyed having Thomas's Uncle and Aunt-to-be over for the weekend. 

Is that comfortable?? Thomas's new thing is sleeping on the floor.  Even if we put him to bed in bed, he will somehow find himself on the floor by morning.  He sets up a little pallet for himself and snoozes away happily.  I guess he's not hurting his back or anything by sleeping on the floor, and I remember going through phases where I would sleep on the floor, but for some reason he doesn't go to sleep as quickly, so he's been staying up pretty late at night.

Right-handed, left-brained.  Thomas wrote his name for what I'd like to believe is the first time.  We were at IHOP and I wrote his name and had him copy it.  He did pretty well, except for the letter "s", because they haven't yet gotten to "s" in his class.

Singing in the Rain

Just Singing in the Rain.  With summer coming, Thomas already has his attention turned to water sports.  He's always asking to play with Mr. Turtle. We don't know why the sprinkler toy has the distinction of requiring a "Mr." but Thomas seems to be a little intimidated by him.  Of course we keep telling him that he needs to be potty trained before he can go swimming, but that doesn't seem to be any more motivation than anything else.

Finally fulfilling his soccer potential.  Thomas and Evelyn enjoyed a weekend with Grandma Cecelia, who came to visit us since we couldn't visit her due to Thomas's soccer game.  It was a full two days, with visits to the zoo and Seaworld.  Thomas did much better at soccer this time; he even was a starter and lead his team in the kick off, which lead to an immediate goal with an assist for Thomas.  We have video, but it's on the camcorder, which will take some playing around with to transfer to the computer. 

Put one foot in front of the other.  Here's some key footage (no pun intended) of Evelyn beginning to take walking seriously.  She's beginning to use mobile objects like her walker toys to get to where she wants to go.  Here's a video of her trucking along .

There's No Crying in Soccer!

Not the performer we thought he was.  Well, Thomas isn't the soccer superstar that he had us believing he was going to be.  He does so well at practices, but cracks under the pressure of games.  First, he wouldn't even sit for the team photo, throwing a fit and crying desparately.  At his team's first game he wouldn't play until he watched from the sidelines for a while.  And at the second game last weekend, he was so crabby that he just pouted and refused to participate at all.  That's what we get for feeling superior to the parents whose kids were crybabies at practice.

Let's hope he's not allergic.  We drove down to Poteet, Texas, two weekends back for their Strawberry Festival.  While they are only the Strawberry Capital of Texas, not the World, it was still a huge festival.  Thomas ate tons of strawberries, had some strawberry ice cream, and we sampled some strawberry wine.  They had pig races, which was really fun, and Thomas got a blue ribbon for picking out the winning pig.  His favorite part, however, was the cloggers.  Even Evelyn enjoyed them, and tried clapping, which she wasn't very good at.  There were lots of good exhibits, including from San Antonio's Drum and Bugle Corps, Revolution, which I didn't know existed.  There was also a great equine rescue group, whose name I can't remember, so I'll add the link later.

Another big one.  The most fun news is that Thomas and Evelyn have a new cousin! Tyler is Maddie and Gabi's new little brother who was just born a month ago.  He was a huge newborn, about 10 pounds, and is the only Abdalla kid so far that favors his mom. It's nice that Thomas won't be the only boy cousin, although usually he has to work hard to keep up with Maddie, rather than vice versa.

Baby in a bucket.  With the weather so pleasant lately, we try to get outside as much as possible.  We took the kids to the park today and Evelyn got her first ride in a swing.  I don't know what she enjoyed more, swinging or watching Thomas swing.  She was very entertained by Thomas whooshing back and forth in the swing next to her.  Honestly, she seemed more interested in eating the swing then anything else, but as long as she's happy....

Gaining altitude.  Evelyn has been standing quite a bit lately.  She will stand up and grin at you as if to say, "Hey, look at this! Where's the applause?"  before she falls back on her bottom.  She'll do this several times in a row until it's obvious that you're getting bored with it.  She's been cruising a little, too , and even has tried to take a step while standing on her own, but mostly still gets around crawling.  She's gotten pretty efficient, although she still keeps one knee up when she crawls like Thomas did.

Shout out to our homegirl!

Just a blog to let "Aunt" Andi know we're thinking about her back here in CONUS.  She's currently deployed to an Army hospital in Germany, taking care of the soldiers who are evac'd from the frontlines.  Thomas misses her quite a bit, and if Evelyn was more cognate, I'm sure she would, too.  But it is a comforting thought to know that she's over there helping to bring others home healthy and safe.

Hints for Soccer Coaching (Thomas's First Soccer Practice)

Everyone knows it's a challenge to sucessfully coach a soccer team to greatness.  So we've put together a little guide.

First, of course, a player needs good kicking skills.  Proper foot-to-ball contact is critical.  And a good victory dance is necessary as well.

Second, the athletes should be able to handle the ball on the field.  Shooting goals takes preparative concentration. A good player also maintains control of the ball as he moves down the field, keeping in mind the first rule of soccer: No Hands!

Teammates should operate as a well-oiled machine, able to simultaneously defend and attack.  Working with your team to get the ball in the goal  is the best skill a sucessful player can have.

Easter Whales

For Easter weekend, Meemee and Pawpaw drove up to spend a few days with us.  Although the weather report was rather ominous, we hedged out bets and went out to SeaWorld anyway.  The storm hit in the middle of the orca show, which wasn't too bad, since Thomas and Meemee got wet, anyway.  And after we sheltered in a restaurant for the worst of it, the rain eventually cleared and the rest of the day was relatively clear, albeit rather chilly.  See the March 2005 album for more pictures.

Pawpaw and Thomas also did some manly work out on the back patio, fixing gates and chainsawing stumps.  Evelyn enjoyed showing off her new skills.  She's almost cruising now, and has crawling down pat.  She crawls like her brother did, on only one knee.  She also was grabbing table food off our plates any moment we weren't looking.  She demonstrated her singing talent, if you can call it that.  But mostly she liked just torturing them, grabbing their glasses and putting fingers up their noses.

Non-blog

No excuses.  Well, since I've been on Christmas break for three weeks and then on my Family Practice rotation (which is no call, no weekends, just 8 to 5), I really have no excuse for not updating the blog.  Can I say that I've just been spending so much quality time with the kids that I have no time for the computer?

And in the meantime, I was playing with some of TypePad's new features and managed to reset my blog style to the default settings, so I'll have to re-do all my preferences. Ugh!!

Eventually I'll have updates for our activities back to Thanksgiving and get the blog pretty again... In the meantime you can check out the photo albums.  Not all the pictures have captions, but you can at least see how Evelyn has grown!

How'd I get here??

Well, Evelyn's not a decathlon athlete yet, but she's beginning to get a little more mobile.  She can roll over and over for several feet, although she always looks disoriented when she realizes she's in a different place.  I don't think she's has a clear understanding of the space-time continuum thing quite yet.  She has beginning to "swim" in that pre-crawling stage.  She'll push off with her feet and reach with her arms, but really doesn't move much.   It would probably just confuse her if she did, anyway.

Thomas and Evelyn have such a great relationship!  He really dotes on her and worries when she cries and insists on kissing her all the time (which is probably why they were both sick this week some some kind of fever-inducing bug).  She is so entranced by him and if he is talking to her and tickling her, she will giggle and smile like he's the best thing since baby bottles.  They really put each other in good moods, which is very useful to us when one or the other is being crabby.

Roll 'em, Roll 'em, Roll 'em...

Evelyn rolls like a maniac now.   And she's learning that she can roll back over onto her back, rather than crying because she's stuck on her belly.   She can actually locomote a little that way, but hasn't put it together yet.  Watch the video; just ignore the part where Thomas man-handles her.