Visiting with the Postons in Mobile, Alabama

Christine & I drove back to Mobile, Alabama, Sunday afternoon. Spent the rest of Sunday and wee bit of Monday morning with her and her family.

2008-2-24
The adorable Isaiah Poston.

Christine said that any decent pictures of Isaiah had to be taken quickly and candidly. No problem. Remember, I'm a photographer at heart!

Isaiah with his daddy, Ted

We met Christine & Ted in August 2002, shortly after Troy and I returned from our honeymoon, to Columbia, Missouri. We met them at a Philosophy Departmental party. Christine's husband was just starting the graduate program at the University of Missouri.




Allegedly Isaiah takes awhile to warm up to strangers. Not me! In fact, not even a few hours after meeting me for the first time, Isaiah was ready for me to feed him some yogurt. I was about to try some Yo Mama yogurt for the first time, when he decided he wanted some. I offered him his spoon, in case he wanted to spoon some out on his own. Nope. He wanted me to feed him. Fed him just about all the white stuff (the plain yogurt) before we hit the fruit on the bottom.

Sweet, sweet Isaiah. I already miss that little chunk of energy, along with his Mommy (of course) and his Daddy.

Christine Poston and I reunite at last!!!

Several neighboring Anglican churches from the Alabama and Florida area got together for a women's retreat, Koinonia, this past weekend. Various blessings made this trip possible for me: Christine's frequent flier ticket and partial scholarships for both of us.

Over two and a half years had passed since Christine and I had last seen each other. A LOT happened since then. I last saw Christine towards the beginning of her third trimester of pregnancy with Isaiah in her belly. Her son is over two years old now.

I had never met Christine & Ted's little boy, Isaiah. She had never seen me pregnant.We're both pregnant with our second child. Wow!

Christine picked me up Friday night, just before 8 pm. From the airport, after grabbing a bite to eat (duh!), we drove onwards to Panama City Beach, Florida. What time did we arrive at our lodging? 12:30 AM folks. Worse yet. Neither one of us really fell asleep until 3:30 or 4 AM. No, we were not chatting it up all night long. We were two wiped out pregnant women attempting (and failing) to get some desperately needed Zzzzzzs. That first night in Panama City Beach was brutal. We slept only three hours or so.

2008-2-23
I set this picture up in the living room of the condo, where we were staying - at the Majestic.

I couldn't believe there was a tennis court on top of a parking garage! What if one of the players gets really happy-go-lucky and hits the ball off the roof of the garage?

A view of Panama City Beach from the floor where we were staying, the 16th floor.


The building that is in the center of this photograph is where we had most of our sessions and meals for the retreat.


A view from the patio in our patio. Gorgeous, eh? Too bad and so sad we didn't get a chance to walk the beach while we were there. Yup, yup, pathetic and sad.


Here we are again. In one of the rooms where we spent many an hour.

See ya when I get back!

I'm off to Mobile in a few hours. Not packed, yet; so stop asking. Don't worry, I'm getting there.

Flying into Mobile, AL, where one of my best friends (yes, I'm aware that "best" is a superlative, and yes, I have more than one best friend), Christine lives. We're going to a women's retreat in Panama City, FL. Women from several churches will be there. We'll pretty much miss tonight's activities (not too much going on, though), since I don't get in until late. I CAN'T WAIT!

I'm flying solo, well sort of. I have a little one inside my belly, but I'm not flying with any other independent passengers. That's right, little Isabella and Troy will have some quality daddy / daughter time, while wifey/mommy gets some R&R. This trip is possible thanks to Christine's complimentary frequent flier ticket and a generous scholarship from the women's retreat.

Am planning on bringing my camera. You'll hear from me after I get back. Ta ta.

Isabella, Katia, and Naomi

2008-2-10

Last night, we were at our church's pilot small group. After we finished our meeting and we were all wrapping up, as I was holding Isabella, she leaned towards Katia. Katia was up for holding two babies . . . briefly. So, here she is.

Look at her! Standing and being cute.

2008-2-10

The missing DVD has been found!

Isabella's getting more clever by the day. No matter what we do to block her from accessing things such as the DVD player and VHS player, she has a will and a way to get into what she wants. For a day or two, the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" DVD I got for Christmas, which was in the DVD player at the time, went MIA. Figured Isabella somehow got a hold of it. Neither Troy nor I could locate it.

Well, today, Troy caught Isabella in action. Friends of ours were over last night, and Maritza was watching "My Neighbor Totoro" and that DVD was still in the player. Troy saw Isabella take the DVD out and try to put it into the VHS player. Guess what else he found in the VHS player? You got it. Clever little monkey, I mean, munchkin.

Dumplings / Pot Stickers

Didn't take any pictures to capture the Lunar New Year's action yesterday. Given that I still had a lot of meat leftover, I purchased more pot sticker wraps and made more dumplings tonight.

Like my handy work? These two pictures are before the cooking shots.


Pot stickers or dumplings can be boiled or pan fried. I chose to boil them.

Here's an after the cooking picture.


Oh, and cutie patootie here saw her Mommy with a camera in hand and wanted her picture taken. Take her picture I did!

Happy (belated) Chinese New Year!

Yesterday was Chinese or Lunar New Year. We ushered in the Year of the Rat.

We celebrated by having over a family - good friends of ours - for dinner. I taught everyone how to make dumplings (a.k.a. pot stickers). These dumplings can be boiled or fried; I chose the former option. Everyone liked them so much, they had extra helpings. Yay!

Our baby that's due in May will be born in the year of the rat! Isabella was born in the year of the dog. Me, the year of the rabbit. Troy, tiger.

Drawing with markers

2008-2-2

I've read that babies around Isabella's age (16 or so months) are ready to try drawing. I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of watching someone color all over herself and her surroundings, but I wanted to provide Isabella with an opportunity to explore with a utensil in her hand, using her right brain.

Results? Well, the non-toxic crayons weren't very interesting for her. Guess it's too much work with little results. Washable, non-toxic markers? She's all over that. Literally. Not long after I took this picture, she also had blue lips and blue on the inside of her mouth, close to the lips. Important note? She had a lot of fun.