Edaville

Over the weekend we went to visit my sister and Marty. We decided to bring Anya somewhere special to kick off the holiday season. We headed to Edaville railroad for a train ride through Christmas lights! It was a memorable time.

Anya went on her first roller coaster with her aunt. It was a caterpillar :)

Dwight and I took a ride on the scrambler..

Oh Christmas Tree

We decorated the Christmas tree Friday afternoon as a family. After Anya's nap I brought her downstairs and she said, tree! She was very excited to see a tree in the house. I have been showing her the decorated Christmas trees in stores. We showed her a special ornament to hang on the tree. She tried all by herself and needed a little assistance.

Anya's special ornament for 2010... Elmo of course..Anya was excited and enjoyed taking ornaments off the tree rather than putting them on. It was fun to see her reaction to it all. We did have issues with the tree leaning forward and it almost fell over. We got that fixed and a string of lights seemed way too hot before half of it went out. All in all it was a typical tree dressing experience.. lots of fun, Christmas music, some mishaps, and a beautiful tree to show in the end. You can see the lights that were too hot, they are the bright ones. I had to take them off and replace them. I will get more pics this season, of course :)

Cutting down the tree

We cut down our Christmas tree today. The weather looked a little wet this morning but we chanced it and it was great. Since it is so early in the season there were many trees to pick from. I love this holiday tradition and it looks like Anya does as well.

Dancing to the Thanksgiving Day Parade

Happy Thanksgiving!

This morning I woke up before Anya to indulge in cinnamon cake and coffee in the quiet house. Anya woke up an hour later and we watched her favorite dvd while she ate breakfast. The Thanksgiving parade came on and I watched her face as she danced to the cheerleaders and musical skits. After each skit she would clap. I got teary watching her as I realized she has brought so much more joy to every holiday.

This afternoon we celebrated Thanksgiving with my moms side of the family. Anya fit right in with her bigger cousins and had a ball. She missed her nap and did wonderful without it. We were hoping she would nap in the car but instead she stayed awake the whole ride while saying, party party party. I guess that taught me never to tell her we are going to a party. What a little party animal.

Here is Anya getting some Grampy love..
She loved the doll station that my cousins kids own..

Her favorite game was having the girls chase her back and forth down the hall..

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for...

I chose one thing to be thankful for each day in November leading up to Thanksgiving. Here is my list of what I am thankful for.

1. Red footie pajamas. Every kid should own some.
2. Mom group and my mommy friends.
3. My parents and having them close and healthy to watch Anya grow.
4. Coffee with vanilla creamer and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.
5. My sister. She was the person who would wake me up every Christmas morning. She was the older sibling who sat with me on the bus when I was scared. Now she is the person who I can always talk to. She is a best friend that knows my whole life story.
6. Saturday morning zumba class.
7. Nap time.
8. My husband. He is hilarious and he has such a big heart. I feel so lucky :)
9. Our washing machine & dishwasher. Cleaning would be much more of a pain in the a** without them.
10. Anya Elizabeth. She makes every day unique and she has brought so much joy that I didn't even know existed to my life.
11. Our country and freedom that we have here. Thanks to all who served and are serving.
12. Computers and facebook keeping me connected with so many old and new friends :)
13. Family fun days.
14. Music. Life just wouldn't be as much fun without it. It's great on a good day, a stressful day and now I can see it's wonderful impact on my daughter.
15. Photography. Anya grows so fast and I love that each age is captured in photos.
16. My health as well as my healthy family.
17. Play dates.
18. My comfy sweats and favorite blanket.
19. I am thankful for girlfriends. The new ones and the old ones. I love the variety of ladies in my life.
20. Vacations on Sebago Lake.
21. Where we live. I love having all 4 seasons. Just when one season gets tiring, another is around the corner.
22. A roof over our head.
23. A diet that has been working.. good riddance 20 lbs. Together Dwight and I have lost almost 50 lbs.
24. A wonderful group of family members on both sides. Much love to the cousins and aunts and uncles.. and especially my nana.
25. Holidays like Thanksgiving that bring family together for yummy food, drinks and togetherness.

first 3 word sentence

Anya said her first 3 word sentence today! It was, where are you? She was hiding from us and I always say, Anya, where are you? She has been hiding and saying her own name a lot lately. This prompts me to call for her. Yesterday she began saying, are you?.. and today was the first time I have heard three words in a sentence from her. It was clear as day and it made me smile so big.

She also stacked 4 blocks :)

I am guessing this is all due to tomorrows special day. Anya will be exactly 18 months. I can't believe we have a one and half year old child!

We went for a walk today. Here is a pic :)

silly games

The video starts with her blinking her eyes because I was winking at her ;)
She loves to be my little copycat.
A new game of hers is pretending to fall asleep.

Nanas sweater

My nana knit this sweater back in the 1940s for her daughters. It was passed down and now Anya fits in it. How special is it for her to wear a sweater her great grandmother knit over sixty years ago?

Word List Update

Word List Updated
Wow
Oh wow (first 2 words together)
Cat
Mama
Dada
Mum
Uh oh
Ba-bye and bye
Yay
Ducky
Thank you
Yeah
Ook (book)
Baby
Hi
A tee (auntie)
Bubbles
Elmo
Na na (Nana)
Up
Daddy
Mommy
No
Apple
Nana (banana)
Et (Eat)
Bur (bird)
Meow
Hi Mama, Hi Dada, Hi Kitty, Hi Nana
Hermaa/Hermy (Herman)
Hat
Go
Chee (cheese)
Joo (juice)
Ny Ny (night night)
Shoe
Anya
P-Boo (peek-a-boo)
More
Cacker (cracker)
Acle (uncle)
A tee G (Auntie Jill)
Badu (Uncle Marty)
Oggie (doggie)
Kitty
You
Boo
I do do (I love you)
Two
No (nose)
Mow (mouth)
Eye
Ow-sye (outside)
Cow
Moo
Owl
Hoo hoo (sound of an owl)
Money (monkey)
Ooh ooh ooh (sound of a monkey)
Hello
High Fye (high five)
Scuse me (excuse me)
Choo (pretending to sneeze)
Saw (sock)
Peas (please)
Nill (milk)
Show
Okay
Hallo (hello)
Bear
Fry
Appy (happy)
Party
Bupper (diaper)
Alry (alright)

I have seen her sign baby, more, hat, hi/bye, milk, cracker, eat, sleep, please, dad, mom.

Her favorite words right now are show, daddy, okay, hi, byebye.

She repeats a lot of words we ask her to say. She also knows where her eyes, nose, mouth, hair, arm, leg and toes are.

She follows instructions. If we ask her to go get her sippy cup, Elmo, etc. she will listen to us and come back with the item. She most frequently asks for nill (milk), a show (dvd), or Elmo. She also asks for owsye (outside) and understands when I tell her we are going to the store. She will look for her shoes if I tell her it is time to put on our shoes. She loves to pretend to count. She will say her version of "1, 2, 3 go go go" and run across the room. Sometimes she will point to her diaper and say bupper when she needs to be changed. If I ask her if she needs a new diaper she will walk to the stairway to go upstairs to her changing table. Changing her diaper and putting her in her highchair have become increasingly difficult as she gets angry with me.


She is turning into such a love bug and giving hugs and kisses left and right. This girl has such a great personality and will now tolerate much more with shopping trips. She has started to play a bit more independently. She likes to put little people and animals in and out of her farm and little people house. She also loves to 'help' me clean and push her baby doll in the stroller.

Every day gets more fun and exciting. :)

eating a cookie while in the dishwasher

reminiscing

Tonight I came across a bunch of pictures from about seven years ago. These pictures were taken the first months that Dwight and I were dating. It was so nice to look back and forward, looking at where we have been and where we are now. I loved him then and I love him (even more) now.

18 month appointment

Today we went to Anya's 18 month appointment. She is doing wonderful and she is a very healthy girl. She is 21 lbs 14 oz and 32.1 inches. It is so neat to see her walk down the hall and into the exam room all by herself, such a big girl. At the end of her appointment she had one vaccination and her flu shot. She cried for a brief moment but recovered quickly. When the nurse was leaving the room I said, bye.. thanks. Anya looked up at the nurse (who had just poked her with needles) and said, thank you. She just melts me.

click click click

Click click click is the sound of my camera. I am trying to capture a good Christmas photo. This was much easier when she didn't know how to walk.. and run. I got a couple cute pictures yesterday but I'm not sure I have the one yet.

Little Bear

Christmas

I have a love/hate relationship with wish lists. I think they can look greedy but at the same time it can be helpful for people to know what your child likes. I made Anya one for Christmas. It's for our own knowledge but I figured I would share it in case anyone is stumped on what she enjoys.
Click here if you would like to view it. Or don't.. it's okay either way :-)

May Mamas

Last night we all got together for Megs surprise 30th birthday party. When I say "we" I mean the May mamas. All five of us gave birth in May.. Starting with Kai on May 1st and ending with Camden on May 22nd, 2009.

From left to right is Natalie (Kai), Leigh (Meredith, and another girl in her belly), Me (Anya), Meg (Camden), and Steph (Kayla).

Oh, how I love these women. We meet every Wednesday morning. We sit on the floor of someones home while our children play around us. We talk about anything and everything.

I look at this picture and think about us looking back at it in thirty years. We will still know each other, I hope. We will look back and say that it was just the beginning. We were celebrating a thirtieth birthday and this was just the start of it all.

Many things will have changed. I know we will all be able to smile with the thought of our children being so small. I know we will laugh at the knowledge that we thought we knew it all, but we didn't. Some of us will probably wish to be back at the time when our children played around us while we talked and laughed. But time doesn't stop for anyone.

Over a year ago we started this group and I knew in my heart it was something very special. Isn't it so amazing how people come into your life in a moment and change it forever?

Play dates

Anya and I love play dates. We attend a play date about twice a week now and we host at least once a month. If you would have told me this a few years ago I'm not sure I would have believed it. This picture shows how much Anya loves play dates. She lights up when she sees her friends. She happily sits on the other moms laps. She is our social girl. I also find myself loving these play dates. I am forced to socialize and I look forward to it. We connect as moms and our children benefit by learning to share and play together.

We love November