Thought of another one

While tugging my arm and saying Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, feed me, feed me. I told her I would finish my last 2 bites of dinner & then assist her. I completed my dinner while she continued to tug on my arm and incessantly repeat Mommy, Mommy.

I then turned to her and said, "Thank you for waiting so patiently Sabrina, I'll feed you now."

She paused, then turned to me while the fork was suspended in midair, "But Mommy, I wasn't patient. I was tugging on your arm like this...!" :) Somebody definitely knows what patient means! ha ha!

Favorite mispronounciations:

Feather for Heather

Cabloon for balloon

nilk for milk

stoy tory for Toy Story

movers teater for Movie theatre

Sam's now arching his back a lot, I think he wants to roll over to his tummy sometime soon. We'll have to wait & see!

Goodness, life changes.

Sabrina recent quotes:

"Mommy, you're the best Mom I ever seen!"

"DDaddy, I'm going to be a doctor and fix your arm." (Arm in cast from crazy wreck.)

"God bless Daddy and Mommy and Samuel and Guinness and Mommy and Daddy."

After seeing Nemo, (who tells his daddy he "hates" him), Sabrina tries the word out saying "Mommy, I hate your husband," while laughing. This sounds harsh but when I asked her what hate means she says it means time out & asks why Nemo said that to his Daddy. Anyhow, it was random & curious.

Sabrina loves Samuel and tries really hard to get things for him, help change diapers, sing, and talk to him. We are so proud when she holds him, feeds him a bottle, and loves on him.

Of course there is the occasional (while yelling in his face), "No Mom he's not sleeping!"

Samuel is such a joy. He's a good sleeper, regularly sleeping from 9 or 11pm-4am. He can regularly roll over from his belly to his back, but it still surprises him. He is such a laugher - he loves giggling at the 'whoa' game where we raise him up over our heads and lower him down to our faces & also when we play peekaboo. He is a talker too. He loves to have your attention and gurgle, blow bubbles, and make sounds 'goo', 'ah', 'oooo' at us. He likes to answer whatever questions we ask him.

I love to sing Bible songs to him, and Sabrina's at an age that she is starting to sing them with me & learn the words. She knows most of her long night night prayer, and also leads us in the meal blessings. It's been great to see her pick up & memorize prayers & songs. I guess it is time to try for Bible verses? Not sure how to do that, but I imagine it is possible.

I went back to work last Monday, and it is very surreal. After some initial awkwardness, I'm settling in again & have resumed normal quick lunches with Pops & Kim, which feels very normal. I have moved and have new neighbors now. Closer to Kim & the kitchen which is nice since I have a couple of pumping breaks a day. I miss sitting across from Nichole though, she's on the other side of my cube wall now & it is a bit more of an effort to visit now since I can't see her... Man, pumping is not a pleasure. It does feel good to know I'm providing for Samuel & giving him the best that I can. I know I'll just have to push on through, and there are many months to go.

It's hard to shake the feeling that I'm going do this for a bit (work) & then get to come home again and be with the babies once more. I know this isn't the case, so it is hard to grasp why I have that feeling. Probably just misplaced optimism. :)

Just a little bit more...

This weekend while we were driving back from seeing Berk, her brother Rob, and an expectant Laura (YEA!), Sabrina and I SANG together! I'd sing a few words, and she'd sing them back. We got through 2-3 songs and it was sooooo cool. Natalie called during our rendition of the BIBLE song. :) Miss Nat so much, wish we could see her more. Looking forward to her life when she gets finished with her MBA in March & hoping we will be together more after that.

Tonight Sabrina entertained us at dinner, as usual, and at one point during a particularly difficult episode of trying to convince her to eat yellow squash, I completely lost my composure and dissolved into giggles. I just lost it, and had to stop talking so I could recover. Then I continued attempting to convey to her the seriousness of trying everything on her plate. :) Somehow I think she'll live without that bite of squash...As I remember, she wouldn't eat it as a little tiny baby either. And she was a baby who'd eat everything! (almost)

After dinner, she proved to be the the best little helper girl! I was moving wet clothes from the washer to the dryer, and she stood in front of the driver to receive. Then she'd take the wet clothes and add to the dryer. I really thought she would tire of the game quickly, but she stood there and kept working until the washer was empty. I was so proud of her for helping me. And doing it without me asking her to! In truth, if I had asked her to, there is no way she would have, being firmly in the land of No, no!!! :)

Then she came out to play with her puzzle pieces for a while. After a little bit, she rose up and headed to the laundry room. For some reason, this attracted both Philip's and my attention, because there really isn't anything in there but dog beds and stuff to high up for her to reach. That is nothing but.... brooms and mops! Sure enough, she walked back out with her play broom in hand and went to work attempting to sweep up some of the stuffing out of Zeus' newest demolished toy! How cute is that??? Now, she wasn't really that effective with her sweeping, but we loved the sentiment!

I promise you she gets sweeter, funnier, and more precious by the day. We never know what to expect, and that's 99% of the time a really cool thing.

That's it for now!

A few from Halloween & November...

Our Front Porch & Her Halloween Parade at School (her bunny costume hadn't arrived yet!)

Hanging out at the Park, & Ms. Hotlips Pumpkin

Being Her Smiley Self!

Today, just a normal busy day

This morning I sneezed and Sabrina said, "Bless you, Mama." I thought to myself, since when does she say that?!? I guess they teach it at school, because surely she isn't listening to me!! Anyways, I replied "Thank you, Sabrina!" with a big smile on my face.

Then, just as I was enjoying the smugness of a proud Mom, she yelled at me for the sun shining in her face - "Eyes! Eyes!" I told her I was sorry, but I couldn't control the sun's rays and to shield herself with her blanket. I guess she succeeded because she ceased complaining.

Just another day... :)

When I think of life...

I think of parties and time spent with family and friends. Now I think of two people: Mr. Philip Louis Johnson and Miss Sabrina Blair Johnson (still Darby for another couple of months). Things have been great since we got married, albeit really really busy. The home we all share now is coming along nicely, but we still have a lot to do. Sabrina is absolutely in 7th heaven ever since we moved in. She loves everything about the house, the couches, the space, the floors upstairs and down that she can drive her car all around & run on! It's awesome! Most of all I think she's glad to have her Daddy around all the time. I know I am. :)

She began asking questions at the beginning of last week. The first question was, "Where my doggy go?" Me:"Outside." Her:"yeah." She actually ate some spinach with some very tart salad dressing a couple of weeks ago, but last night she just tasted it and then drowned the spinach in her cup. Then she asked me "What dat?" I told her it was the spinach she just threw in there.... She responded, yeah.... :)

My how time flies...

How is this possible? Same pool, all grown up baby!

Pictures from May, Saul & Sabrina playtime, then Sabrina and Harper learned to hold hands at Deep Eddy Pool in late July. :) So sweet

So... my sweetie is a big girl now and her Mommy is getting married! Kathie had a baby, Allison is expecting one in a few months, and so is Laura, my future sister in law. We went on vacation and fell for Philip's wonderful family and returned to get engaged. Now we are planning a wedding on October 17th, 2009 - Joseph William's 29th birthday - and loving every minute of our time together. Life is just going so fast. Sabrina and Saul are so old now, talking to us and telling us what they want. Sabrina understands so much of what we say to her now it is kind of scary. She has a ton of words, and will try to say almost anything you ask her to (as long as she is in a good mood!) :) I'm going to attempt to jot down some of her words (in order of favorites):

Mama

No

Daddy

Up
Please

Doggy

Kitty

Wawa

eat

In no particular order:

Yellow - this means she wants to color, not that she loves that color!

Red

Green

Blue

Purple

Elbow

Nose

Mouth - pronounce moufh!

ogurt - yougurt

cheese

keys

outside

car

all done

et - tv, she wants to watch it.

pool

rock

tractor

light

bath

night night

baby

ow

uh oh

nana

gigi

papa

hanna

nat

al

ross

finn

happy

mary

shoes

hat

purse

hi

bye bye

book

Anyways, I know I'm missing some obvious ones, but I'm really very proud and happy and full of love for her and Philip. Family time and family life is the best part of life for me without a doubt.