Somehow, it is April. The end of April even. I'm not sure how that happened. So, I last posted in February. I think we have had a lifetime since then.

Where to start? Well, we have a new family member now. Lucy (or Lucy the Wonder Dog as she is affectionately known around here) joined our family 2 months ago. She is a four year old 60 pound black lab mix and is the sweetest, goofiest dog ever. We adopted her from the Dekalb Humane Society (now known as PAWS). I had been periodically checking shelter websites for over a year but just never found the dog. Until Lucy. One Friday afternoon I realized I had not looked at the PAWS site in awhile. The main things I had been looking for included good with children, calm, and housebroken. Lucy largely fits all of these with only occasional slips from "calm". The real test though was whether Abby would like her (and vice versa). Let's just say they immediately kissed upon meeting and it was a done deal. Lucy was meant to be in our family.

Lucy had been left at the shelter by her previous family. One of them had allergies to her. I'm sad that she had been abandonded, but we turned out to be the lucky ones to have found her. She is a genuine sweetheart and she and Abby absolutely love each other. That's not to say that the first couple of weeks she was home I didn't wonder just exactly what I had done. :-) I don't think Abby's feet touched the floor for a whole week. We are past that now and Abby and Lucy play, snuggle, and look out for each other.

In March we celebrated Abby's 2nd birthday. Like Mardi Gras, Abby's birthday celebration lasted a week. Over the course of the week we got together with friends and family, went to the Children's Museum, went to the zoo, blew out candles, ate cookies and cake, and just basically celebrated. The day before her actual birthday I made cookies shaped like Kazakhstan and took them to her class at school. This year the kids were too young to know what they meant but it is a tradition I suspect we will continue. To answer the question likely brewing by now..... Yes, I have a cookie cutter shaped like Kazakhstan. I never cease to be amazed by the things one can buy over the Internet.

A couple of days after her birthday, Abby came down with what at first seemed to be a really bad cold. Usually with a cold though, she still feels just fine. This time? Not so much. Tests run at her doctor's office proved that it turned out she had the flu. And this after she had the flu shot too. My poor little girl felt awful for a whole week. She did not want me to put her down for even one second. It was a rough week and I was so relieved when she began to feel better again.

This spring we began a tradition to celebrate the Kazakh New Year. Our friend Dawn (Alec's mommy) had a wonderful suggestion that each year we plant a tree. So Kris and her daughter Avery, Abby and I all gathered at Dawn and Alec's house as the site of the first annual tree planting. The day was beautiful, the kids were precious, and the tree (as I hear it) is still standing. :-) Dawn did most of the work as Kris and I wound up chasing busy toddlers but all 3 kids were very into the tree planting/playing in the dirt at the beginning. We also managed to only have 2 boo boos, one belonging to Alec and one belonging to Abby, which were fortunately pretty easily smoothed over with kisses.

Abby's vocabulary has taken off in a way that amazes me. I know every parent must go through this but all of a sudden I can have a conversation with my daughter. Now, to be fair, it is one of those conversations that others would only understand half of it, but since Abby and I are together so much, I really know what she is saying (most of the time!) Some of my absolute favorites include:

Tallypidder - catepillar (and my current favorite)
Right der - it is right there
Dat Mommy? - Still a favorite and means what is that Mommy?
My Mommy - She has started saying this when I pick her up because several of her little friends now give me a hug when I arrive
My Lucy - needs no explanation but is so sweet
My supper - again, no explanation needed but you are likely to notice the pattern of "my" :-)
banaid - band aid
puter - computer
stickuh - sticker

There are so many more things she says. Those are the things that currently stand out.

Abby's coordination has really improved in a major way lately too. She can now manage steps (both up and down) really well, she can jump (complete with feet actually leaving the ground), and she loves to climb. Now that the weather is nice, the sand box is first on the request list. Just today she found a "tallypidder" in it. :-) Actually, her first word when we get home is usually "OUTSIDE". Most afternoons we will take Lucy for a walk and/or play in the backyard. During today's walk, we found 3 tallypidders. They were all, um, napping. As in permanently napping. Poor tallypidders.

And so is life in our corner of the world.