Encore

Here is the encore performance that the audience requested. Another friend caught this on a much better camera! You can actually see their faces in this one.

The Ambassador's Cup

Our living room has been a dance studio for the past few weeks in preparation for the Ambassador's Cup, a competition of skits between the sections at the embassy Christmas party. Justin's section is thought to be rather stiff and uptight by the rest of the embassy(a perception that is sorely wrong) so they were extremely pleased last year when Justin and a few of his co-workers changed the lyrics of traditional Christmas songs, making them funny and Philippines friendly. They got high praise last year for their effort and participation. This year Justin and his co-workers kicked it up a notch and were hoping their performance would get some laughs as well as some pats on their backs for their effort. The Embassy Manila Mission Christmas Party was held this afternoon on the back lawn of the Chancery building where the big competition was held. I captured the performance on video. Its' a terrible picture and my hand kept drooping slowly so I cut off plenty of heads. The Filipinos loved the performance and you would have thought they were famous the way they were screaming. In the end it was the white guys dancing that got the crowd going. You'll have to watch it yourself to see just how worthy it was of the Ambassador's Cup! Yup! That's right, they won. The photo sessions afterward went on for a good 30 minutes. All those single Filipina ladies love these white guys.

latest obsession

Peppermint hot chocolate is my current holiday-inspired obsession! I make my own hot chocolate with milk, dutch process cocoa, black cocoa, vanilla, and Splenda. Actually, I prefer to have Justin make it since he perfected his awesome recipe back when I was pregnant with Addie. Did I blog about this already? Oh well, I really love this stuff. It tastes good enough to be straight from Mrs. Claus' Kitchen. We are also obsessed with the Donut Shack mug. It's perfect in every way; size, weight, texture, handle shape, it's a good ole' diner mug. Justin and I fought over the mug until he brought a second one home from the Severna Park, MD shop. Home of the best hand cut donuts (and mugs!) EVER!

no teeth yet, but it's not slowing her down

Bella has been teething for, well, since she was born it seems and still no pearly whites. Not even a sharp edge on the top of her gums. She IS downing like 18 ounces of milk at night on top of milk and two meals of cereal and veggies during the day. Eating is not something she's lagging behind on. She drank so much milk last night she saturated her diaper and it soaked through her PJs.

It fits!

For Christmas last year my wonderful Aunt Mary made a gorgeous vintage dress for Addie using an old pattern and adorable fabric. We've been waiting a long time for it to fit her and finally the time has arrived. She wouldn't wear the matching hat but happily put the dress on. I'm in love with the buttons on the shoulders. It's my favorite dress she owns. Thank you Aunt Mary.

Randomness

Justin's out of town this week which sucks but I also find it nice to do my own thing in the evenings after the girls go down. Doing-my-own-thing this week is getting gifts wrapped, blogging, reading, trying to fill my endlessly hungry belly with food! No joke I swear breastfeeding is like having a tape worm for a year.

The Christmas boxes for family are coming together finally. Wheely bug has a serious injury now after Addie slammed it down on our marble floors rather harshly. Thanks to my Dad I now know what a castor is and ordered two as replacement parts. One extra in case Addie feels like turning into the Incredible Hulk again any time soon.

I'm personally in love with my new Salvatore Ferragamo bag, it's real buttery soft orange leather and smells heavenly. A little Christmas present to myself and it was a steal from my bag lady at Greenhills! BooYeah! I'm in love with the color orange right now. I know I say it all the time but I wish I could share the joy of shopping designer bags at Greenhills with all my chicas back home. Send me $50 and you will not be disappointed with what I send you back. Just name your designer.

On our Santa Claus outing a few days ago Justin located original peppermint candy canes and we had to buy a box. Candy canes aren't just hanging out at the checkout stands like they are in the States during the holidays. Addie hung them on the tree then proceeded to break half of them while she was "just holding it Mommy". No problem, the broken ones get dropped in my homemade hot chocolate. My husband makes the worlds best homemade hot chocolate with dutch process cocoa and black cocoa, little vanilla,some secret measurements I can never get right. His is magnificent. Blow your mind good with the candy cane in it! We decided we will be drinking a mug of this on Christmas Eve during our annual viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life". Get ready Meg, you are in for a great holiday with us.

My adorable Adelaide was walking home from the park with Yaya yesterday and came upon a nativity scene in front of one of the buildings. The cradle was empty of course since it's before Christmas and as they looked at the little manger scene a lady came up and asked Addie "where is baby Jesus?". Addie looked at her and replied "He's in the park" and she's right there is a baby Jesus in the nativity scene at the park. I love that Christmas is done right here in the Philippines. It's not all about Santa.

7 months and moving

Arabella is a crazy mover. She is amazingly strong for her age and literally will move herself out of a position she doesn't want or in a direction she'd prefer to go even if I am holding her. She can stand on her own at the play table or the side of the couch. She can't pull herself up yet but once she's there she's pretty sturdy. She's almost crawling still, just lots of rocking back and forth and scooting to get things. On Sunday, Justin and I took the girls to one of our favorite kid friendly spots in Rockwell Powerplant (one of our many malls): CPK (California Pizza Kitchen). No kidding. this place is delicious, way better than the one that was at Pentagon City down the road from our house in VA. Anyhow, both girls sat in high chairs at the table and I suddenly it hit me how close in age the girls really are. Two years difference really isn't that much. Bella's seventh month crept up on me and I'm not sure I like it. The second time around, the first year is going by so darn fast. So fast that I am behind on things. Bella is just now getting on a good cereal and first veggies routine and she still has to be rocked to sleep (for the most part) for naps-aw hell-for bed too. I am trying to put into words the way that I am underestimating what Bella can do at her age, as if with Addie I expected more. I think more likely I am not reading "What to Expect the First Year" and waiting for all the milestones with Bella, it's just happening. I am finding myself completely in love with Bella in a different way than I was with Addie at the same age. With Addie I think I was amazed at the very idea that she was my baby and that she was changing and growing and wow, what would happen next? With Bella I am just in love with her at every moment, not waiting for the next moment but really cherishing her right then and there. The smell of her hair, the big open mouthed gummy laugh, the deep belly button she is getting from her serious chub. Maybe because I know what is going to happen next I'm not so concerned. I look at Addie and how big she is and how she uses words like "somebody" or "crisscross applesauce" and I know that Arabella will be there in 24 short months. Maybe I'm just trying to slow the clock down and hold on to my baby for a bit longer. Today she grabbed Addie's sippy cup and tipped it up to her mouth and took a chug...what? Seriously how is this happening so fast and I must have not been looking when she figured this out.